Category Archives: Sports

Choosing between two evils: Superbowl XLII

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belichick_913.jpgcoughlin.jpgEarlier today I was reminiscing about the 2004 election between John Kerry and George Bush when I realized that this weekend’s Superbowl is perfectly analogous to that election.   Yes we have the New England Patriots, going for their fourth NFL championship in the past 7 years, and the New York Giants hoping to not be embarrassed.   Who do you root for?   Boston or New York fans?   Eli Manning or Tom Brady?   Tom Coughlin or Bill Belichick?   Might as well be Hitler or Bin Laden.

As much as I hate to do it – I just can’t stand seeing Boston win another championship.   Maybe if their fans weren’t such assholes, or if their coach wasn’t so damn smug, or their QB so damn good – I could sit back and enjoy history in the making.   As it is, this lifelong Philadelphia Eagle fan, and therefore a lifelong hater of anything having to do with the New York Giants must root for them this weekend.

What else can I do?

I hate Boston

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First off, let me apologize in advance for my friends that live and/or grew up in Boston – you can’t help it; I still love you guys.

Anyway – after watching the umpteenth ESPN report on Bill Belichick and the New England Patriot I’ve finally had it.   Actually I probably had it this past summer when the Yankees vs. Red Sox reduced the rest of the civilized world to afterthoughts; or maybe when the Minnesota Timberwolves decided to save Danny Ainge’s job.   Yes the Boston sports teams are good, but do I have to hear about them every waking moment?   It seems that we went from the Boston media whining about “The Curse” to being totally inundated with Boston is great sports stories 24/7.   Yes, the adulation is deserved, their teams are on a run that is ridiculous, but the national media too often seems like national means New York and Boston and some other cities.

Take this weekend’s game versus the Jets.   The Patriots are 3 touchdown plus favorites to win   This is a game that no one should be paying attention to.   But add a little spygate redux and the game is dominating the NFL coverage on ESPN.   It’s a game that no one should care about, but ESPN tells us we should.   Wait until the Patriots play the Dolphins – undefeated vs. winless – we’ll be hearing about that all week.   It’s just too much.

I think part of the problem is that too many of the writers, editors, researchers, etc. come from the Boston area and are fans of the teams there.   They have succeeded in making Boston the center of the known universe (or at least broadcasting their belief that that is so).   So essentially we get incomplete sports coverage shoved down our throats.   I remember when ESPN was actually good;   when it wasn’t just slam dunk, “booya”, touchdown, “jacked up”,   HR, “en fuego”.   Now it’s just about creating stories and whoring products.   And if the stories just happen to showcase a Boston team – then all the better.

Yes some of this is sour grapes.   I live here in Philadelphia where our sports teams basically suck.   We’re in a streak that makes the Red Sox curse a non-story .   25 years without one of 4 teams winning a championship – multiply that out and you get a 100 seasons of futility. Yet I don’t see Will Smith producing a documentary whining about it like Ben Afleck did.

Anyway, I guess it could be worse; the Bruins could win something.

The Mitchell Report

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As you may have heard, the Mitchell report was released today and it’s a mixed bag.   The list of names is based on talking to a couple of people.   There was no cooperation by 99% of baseball players, so what we have is an incomplete list, based on hearsay, with no positive tests.   I feel as if the commotion is a lot of hullabaloo   over nothing   new.   The players listed aren’t new for the most part; the recommendations were all recommendations that we’ve seen before.   It’s also interesting the names that weren’t included; no Sammy Sosa or Mark McGwire.

steroidsOne thing I do wonder is whether or not people will indite Roger Clemens the way Barry Bonds has been.   It’s always been unfair that Bonds has been the poster child, but it probably will be unfair if Clemens is attacked in the same way.   I think the only thing that would have been fair is if Selig had labeled the entire past 25 years an embarrassment that was allowed by everyone involved in the sport, and short of punishing everyone, you have to punish no one.   Mitchell as much said the same by asking that the commissioner not punish anyone.

The bottom line is that regardless of this report and the few names listed, the problem was widespread in baseball.   To believe otherwise is naive.   Baseball has done a disservice to the sport and to the fans.   The benefits of this era were reaped by baseball.   After the 1994 strike, people turned away from baseball – Sosa and McGwire brought them back.   Today baseball is as popular as it’s ever been today.   Officials turned a blind eye and pocketed the dollars.

Baseball should just turn the corner and make sure nothing like this every happens again.

A little more of my childhood died today

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Evel Knievel, along with Muhammed Ali, was one of the bigger characters of my childhood.   Evel Knievel died today at 69. I remember having the Evel Knievel stunt cycle and annoying my parents to watch him do some crazy stunt on ABC’s Wild World of Sports.   It’s a wonder I didn’t break my neck trying to replicate one of his stunts.

RIP to Evel… as well as to my childhood.

Time runs out for Barry B*nds

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I think that baseball in general deserves an asterisk.

After 4 years, plenty of speculation, and the realization by everyone that performance enhancing sports are prevalent in all sports, the poster boy for all that is wrong in baseball was indicted by a federal grand jury.   While he hasn’t been found guilty, it sure doesn’t look good.   Somehow the government has found enough evidence to take this trial.   I think it’s good that this has gotten to this point.

That said, I don’t think it’s fair that he’s the only one being indicted.   Baseball has benefited because of steroids; attendance went up, they’re making more money than ever – it’s been a great time to own a baseball team.   Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa have had their whispers, but Sammy is back, and while there is disappointment with McGwire, there is none of the venom that Bonds has experienced.   A lot of people, me included, think race is involved in the public reaction to Barry Bonds – it seems as if when black athletes go wrong, the public seems to go wild demanding not just justice, but vengeance.   I hate to bring race into it because I don’t believe it has anything to do with whether or not he did wrong.   He deserves to be punished if he lied, and I think he did.   I also think that unfortunately, the high profile offenders are all black: Pacman Jones, Michael Vick, Tank Jones, etc.   And of course most of the media, the management, and fans are white.   It shouldn’t matter, but it’s there and won’t go away.

There’s talk of striking his records – will they strike Giambi’s?   I think over the past 25 years there has been rampant cheating in baseball and everyone in the game turned a blind eye; to say otherwise is disingenuous.   To single out one or two players out is simply not right.   I think every record that took place from 1995 through 2003 should be marked as occurring in the “steroid era” and for Major League Baseball to take some responsibility for the mess that occurred.   They were in charge and I don’t believe they couldn’t have done anything.

Of course there’s the fact that Bonds is an asshole to the media and the publics view of him is based on what we read in the papers on see in the news.   Ask yourself why do people hate him so much?   What basis do we have for this hatred?   Do you know him personally?   The public feelings about Bonds is directly related to how he is portrayed in the press.   With so many rumors, how could you not hate him?

Baseball has wanted closure on this embarrassment, and it looks like they’ll get it. Bonds will never play again and he’ll won’t get into the Hall of Fame, and I think those things are somewhat deserved.   But the fact is baseball was rotten to the core, but as of today the mantra will be: it was all Barry’s fault.