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5.31.2007
England's new rugby shirt: Gay British writer Mark Simpson reviews the new English rugby shirt for its national team (photo here), and concludes that it "somehow manages to be even tighter than the last, launched just four years ago to massed gasps."
What's more, he adds, is "that it has an added sash/arrow plunging from armpit down to large, firm thigh. ... Is it just me, or does it seem to shout: 'If You Wanna Score - Flip Me Over!'?"
Simpson, credited with coining the term "metrosexual," has also written extensively about what he calls "sporno," the intersection of sports and porn as evidenced by the Dieux de Stade rugby calendar and video and Calvin Klein ads featuring shirtless jocks.
Shut up, Kobe: The big sports story in Los Angeles is the demands by Lakers star Kobe Bryant that he be traded. Or not. It all depends on which interviewer Kobe talks to at the time. Wednesday morning he told one interviwer he wanted out. Hours later he had changed his mind, but then later told the L.A. Times he does want to be traded. Why should anyone care? He's under contract for two more years, so he isn't going anywhere. I have never been a Kobe fan and wonder why everyone gets in such a lather over what he says. The Lakers won't trade him this year and he knows it, so he should just shut up, enjoy his summer and get ready for next season.
NHL ratings: Game 1 of the Stanley Cup finals was watched in 523,000 households, an 18% drop from a year ago. That is a cable rating of 0.72, barely more than a test pattern. The rating was less than half that in New York City. For the record, the Anaheim Ducks beat the Ottawa Senators, 1-0, to take a 2-0 series lead. --Jim Buzinski
5.30.2007
Internet sex object: We now bring you the case of Alison Stokke, 18, from Newport Beach, Calif. A former gymnast, she is now a champion high school pole vaulter with a 4.0 GPA and will be going to Cal. And, she is gorgeous (even I can see that.) So what's the problem? Stokke is freaked out that she's become an Internet sex sensation, with her photos posted on blogs, a fan page being set up, her dealing with a fake My Space profile and 150,000 people viewing a YouTube clip of her. "Teen tests Internet's lewd track record," said a front pagearticle in the Washington Post.
The story detailed how Stokke is concerned she will be the victim of a stalker and how her family (her dad is a defense lawyer) is scouring Internet message boards to pick out potential stalkers (he can skip the Outsports message board, where Stokke will get as much attention for her looks as Street Sense). She told the Post she felt violated, with reporter Eli Saslow writing: "Her body had been stolen and turned into a public commodity, critiqued in fan forums devoted to everything from hip-hop to Hollywood."
Allow me to roll my eyes. I do not minimize the often unwanted attention young women face (and I accept the father's desire to keep an eye on things), yet the Post article gives zero evidence that anything untoward has happened to her, save for more photographers showing up at her meets. The original photo, as the Post acknowledged, was not sexually explicit. Her family became aware of her Internet fame because she showed them sites that discussed her. And if the desire is to get less attention, cooperating with the Washington Post for an article (and two staff photos) hardly seems like the way to do it. Saslow, whose angle was the sexualization of Stokke, might have been getting a bit worked up himself when he described the photo that made Stokke a Web starlet: "At 5 feet 7, Stokke has smooth, olive-colored skin and toned muscles. In the photo, her vaulting pole rests on her right shoulder. Her right hand appears to be adjusting the elastic band on her ponytail. Her spandex uniform -- black shorts and a white tank top that are standard for a track athlete -- reveals a bare midriff."
The biggest victim as I see it is the photographer who took the original image. His copyrighted work has been posted on dozens of sites without his OK and I can't even find him name. He has gotten at least one site to remove it, but as we know at Outsports people have zero respect for copyright on the Web and it can be very time consuming to track down violators. The best outcome would be for Stokke and the photographer to team up for a calendar and split the profits -- they might as well cash in instead of letting everyone get their kicks for free. --Jim Buzinski
5.29.2007
Ian Roberts acquitted: Former Australian pro rugby star Ian Roberts, who came out while playing, was acquitted of charges that he assaulted his ex-boyfriend. The case was dismissed by a magistrate, who noted that in the three-month trial, Roberts' ex-boyfriend Ben Prideaux was told repeatedly to calm down on the stand because he was agitated. The magistrate said Prideaux "was injured either when he was dragged out of the hostel room by the much larger Roberts -- as police had alleged -- or when the defendant took steps to calm him by holding his flailing arms," the Sydney Morning Herald reported. The magistrate said there was not enough evidence that Roberts had assaulted Prideaux. Another of Roberts' exes had testified that Prideaux became agitated when Roberts tried to calm him down after a confrontation last July while the ex-player tried to retrieve some personal items from the Prideaux's hostel.
Roberts, 42 and an actor, is now living in Los Angeles (with a new boyfriend) and said the court case cost him in $100,000 in legal and travel fees. Roberts said Prideaux was "still my friend," while the accuser said "I am happy it's over," the paper said. He came out in 1995 while still playing, something still unprecedented for a male team sport athlete. Hat tip on this item to Andy of U.K. Gay News.
Stanley Cup: The Anaheim Ducks scored a goal with less than three minutes remaining to beat the Ottawa Senators, 3-2, in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup finals in Anaheim, Calif. The Ducks rallied from 1-0 and 2-1 deficits over the Senators, who had lost only three times in their three previous playoff series.
"I think every kid dreams of scoring a goal to win a game in the Stanley Cup final," said the Ducks' Travis Moen, who knocked the bouncing puck into the net with 2:51 left. Odds are that much of Southern California did not see the game, which was broadcast in the area only on cable channel Versus, not available on some cable systems. It is odd that the NHL did not strike a deal with an over-the-air channel in L.A. to show the finals. Game 2 is on Versus, but all remaining games are on NBC, available everywhere.
Spurs in charge: The San Antonio Spurs beat the Utah Jazz, 91-79, to take a 3-1 lead in their NBA Western Conference playoff series. It was Utah's first home loss this season in eight playoff games, and made it clear this series will end soon. As I wrote last week, the NBA playoffs have lost all their excitement without Dallas, Phoenix and Golden State. This has been made clear in the dropping ratings of the semifinals.--Jim Buzinski
5.26.2007
Quick hits: The 2011 Super Bowl was awarded to Dallas --Arlington, actually-- where the Boyz are building a new mega-stadium to replace venerable ol' Texas Stadium. From the reports I've read of the announcement, however, "awarded" should read "fleeced". Along with the usual luxury box and ticket perks, Big D will provide "187 hotel suites and 1,416 for the NFL and other VIP's", a total of 10,000 trained volunteers to help with events etc. and top it off, a cool $1 million to help the poor, cash-starved (and socialist) NFL defray "game day costs". Enjoy it all, taxpayers of Dallas and surrounding counties!
While the TV woes of the NHL have been well documented of late, the picture isn't that bright for the NBA during these playoffs either. Ratings are down, but what's amazing to me is the number of viewers: the games are averaging 3-5 million viewers in a country of over 300 million people. With all the the media attention that sports, and the NBA, get I'm amazed that so few people really watch the games. Um, maybe I need to stop spending so much time parked in front of the TV watching a game and on sports-related sites, it's obviously inducing media related myopia.
Ah, steroids in baseball, a perennial favorite subject of mine. Most pro athletes are as dull as watching paint dry in interviews, wisely using mostly cliches. The New York Yankees Jason Giambi flapped his gums a bit in an interview with USA Today and it might cost him. "I was wrong for doing that stuff . . . Steroids and all of that was a part of history". Wow. Apparently, Giambi also failed a test for amphetamines within the last 12 months, but knowing how pathetic baseball's hierarchy is about performance enhancers, it might be another year before Commissioner Bud "Beelzebud" Selig does anything. Memo to Selig: this issue isn't going away, your head in the sand stance blows, deal with it and let's all move on. --Jim Allen
5.25.2007
Culture of Responsibility: I was in England last Millennium and I was talking to a cousin of the friend I was with. We got to talking about some vital, contentious issue or other, like whether The Beatles or The Stones were the better band back in the day (hint: The Beatles) when I said something like "That's a travesty, they should sue". The cousin smirked at me and said "Only you Americans sue like it's a national sport".
Case in point: the Hancock family, the bereaved survivors of the late St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Josh Hancock. In a move as predictable as the sun setting every day, the family has sued the restaurant where Hancock boozed it up until he was twice the legal limit, the towing company that owned the flatbed that a drunk, probably stoned, not wearing his seatbelt while talking on his cell phone man whose SUV smashed in to AND the guy who had the nerve to have his car stall in traffic, necessitating the tow truck.
I did my time in restaurants in my early 20's and I can tell you, cutting people off from the hooch can be really, really difficult. When that someone is a minor celebrity like Josh Hancock was in St. Louis, it's *really, really* difficult. At what point does the fact that Josh Hancock sat in a restaurant for 3 1/2 hours drinking and then got in his SUV become Hancock's problem? The idea that he'd have stopped drinking if they had cut him off is absurd; he was yakking on his cell phone at the time of his death with a friend about meeting at a.....wait for it....another drinking establishment.
What's most galling to me is a statement by Hancock's father, Dean: "The facts and circumstances of Josh's death have caused great pain to all of Josh's family". I'm assuming that Mr. Hancock isn't referring to his son driving while wasted and then gabbing on a cell phone instead of calling a cab or putting the damn cell phone down while driving ripped. Since Mr. Hancock is his son's estate manager, he is responsible for "any legal actions necessary against those who contributed to the untimely and unnecessary death". So, you're going to sue your dead son as well, Mr. Hancock? --Jim Allen
5.24.2007
Quick hits: Item: Any Roddick says the Men's Fitness cover is his face and someone else's body. "I spent the last few weeks in Austin really focused on my training and getting back into shape ... but pretty sure I'm not as fit as the Men's Fitness cover suggests," Roddick wrote on his site. "Little did I know I have 22 inch guns and a disappearing birth mark on my right arm. I saw the cover for the first time when I landed after Rome ... it was pretty funny ... I walked by the newsstand in the airport and did a total double take ... I can barely figure out how to work the red-eye tool on my digital camera ... whoever did this has mad skills ... maybe Rafael Nadal wants his arms back?" Comment: At least they didn't give him Borat's body (or Borat's manager's body) or Roddick would be suing.
Item: Keyshawn Johnson calls it quits. Comment: The former No. 1 pick in the NFL draft decided to retire rather than play for a reduced salary. Mr. "Throw Me the Damn Ball" was always a better self-promoter than a receiver and his skills weren't anywhere what they used to be. Expect him to surface on ESPN as another talking head.
Item: Ottawa hopes to bring first Stanley Cup to Canada since 1993. Comment: I am rooting for the Senators since a city in Canada is more of a hockey hotbed than Anaheim, Calif. The last two cups were won by Tampa Bay and Carolina, not exactly part of the snow belt. The Ducks have the home ice, but the Senators are 12-3 in the playoffs so far.
Item: Yankees win two of three from Red Sox. Comment: Boston is still 9 1/2 games in front of New York, but the season is not quite two months old so the Yanks have plenty of time to rebound if they can get some pitching.
Item: AC Milan beats Liverpool, 2-1, to win the Champions League final in Athens. Comment: This game was huge in Europe, with millions across the continent riveted to their televisions. In the U.S. it was met with a collective shrug (though a few friends of mine were really into it). As a casual soccer observer, I get confused by all the tournaments and am not sure why one is considered more important than the other (sort of like college bowl games).--Jim Buzinski
5.23.2007
A Sooner jock's secret: The website Post Secret is one of the more fascinating places on the Internet. A Maryland man started it a few years ago as a place for people to reveal their secrets, ones mailed to him on postcards. "Each secret can be a hope, regret, funny experience, unseen kindness, fantasy, belief, fear, betrayal, erotic desire, confession, or childhood humiliation," the site says. "Reveal anything -- as long as it is true and you have never shared it with anyone before."
One was posted Sunday (see larger image) that suggests a member of a Oklahoma national championship team is gay but afraid to admit it. Given the ring in the photo, it's likely from the football team, which last won the title in 2000. What's interesting are all the questions it leaves unanswered -- who mailed it in? A boyfriend, friend, parent or coworker? Why? It's these kinds of mysteries that make Post Secret so interesting.
I was also struck by some of the comments on Burnt Orange Nation, a Texas blog that first mention the item. Two in particular rose above the normal idiotic comments often found on fan websites. "This gets at the heart of an issue," one poster said, "that has bothered me more and more in recent years: Sooners and [Texas A&M] Aggies insisting that Austin is 'full of homosexuals' and saying it as some sort of insult. Example: I recently read a comment by an Aggie somewhere boasting proudly that at A&M football games 'at least our men kiss women!' as though to imply that elsewhere, ie Austin, that's not the case. An effective insult has a grain of truth to it. Call me a nerd and it will sting a bit because, yes, I do enjoy reading books about the history of U.S. foreign policy in my free time. Tell me that my adopted hometown is accepting of its gay and lesbian community and my response is, And? I'm supposed to be insulted because I'm not a bigot? Wouldn't it be nice to have a rival fan base worthy of some respect? And yes, I'm aware that there are a handful of reasonable Sooner and Aggies out there, but the rest ... Ugh."
The second was simply intriguing: "There was a rumor going around during his career that one prominent Sooner star player was gay. I first head about it from some Sooner alumni at a game, and their attitude was, 'We don't give a shit, he's a good kid and a badass player.' "
Whomever the postcard was intended for, I hope this person is able to find peace with himself and the strength to be who he is.--Jim Buzinski
5.22.2007
Gay rugby ref: The rugby World Cup in France this fall will have an openly gay referee, Welshman Nigel Owens, Wales on Sunday website reports. "It's such a big taboo to be gay in my line of work, I had to think very hard about it because I didn't want to jeopardize my career," Owens, 35, said. "Coming out was very difficult and I tried to live with who I really was for years," he added.
The article shows that Wilson went through a lot of the same emotions as many gay men, and he also had thoughts of suicide. "I started to think there may only be one way out -- but I am who I am and I knew I couldn't go on anymore being unhappy and keeping the truth hidden." After telling his parents, Wilson then texted friends and colleagues to tell them. He said some of the initial reactions were unprintable, though people have since been generally supportive. Even fans who yell out a homophobic remark have apologized. "They usually realize what they've said and go, 'Oh, sorry Nige, didn't mean it like that'. " he said.
Wilson said he thought it might be easier for a player to be out than a referee, since the latter profession is by its nature not always popular with fans. "The fans love [players] for what they do and are a lot more prepared to accept them for who they are," Wilson. However, there are no world class rugby players who are out; had there been, Wilson says he would have confided in them. I don't know of any openly gay professional referees, though a closeted Major League Baseball umpire has posted answers to rules questions for years on Outsports.
Quinn photos yanked: The photographer who posted wedding photos of Green Bay Packers linebacker A.J. Hawk has removed them because of some funny shots of Brady Quinn; Hawk married Quinn's sister.
"Ohhh, that was just a bad decision on the photographers we chose," Hawk told the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. "Yeah, it's been an issue a little bit. We had no idea that would happen. Some photos got put out without our permission and I just feel bad for Brady. I guess you have to watch every single thing you do, because everything's public now."
Quinn was shown camping it up as a member of the Village People singing "YMCA." It caused quite a stir on the web (see May 17 Jock Talk) and I figured the photos would come down. They were perfectly harmless and in good fun, so I am not sure why Hawk feels bad for Quinn. Plus, we all got to see Quinn's impressive arms sticking out of a leather vest. --Jim Buzinski
5.21.2007
The NBA is done: Yeah, I know there are four teams and two series left, but my interest in the NBA has plunged to about zero. I imagine I am hardly alone. Utah-San Antonio and Cleveland-Detroit do little to stir the pulse and odds say the finals will feature San Antonio vs. Detroit, a repeat of the 2005 matchup that was perhaps the worst in memory (and which almost no one watched).
The league lost its three most exciting teams in the first two rounds, with Dallas losing to Golden State, which then lost to Utah, while Phoenix lost to the Spurs in a tainted series. The Suns lost Game 1 when Steve Nash couldn't stop bleeding from a cut and Game 5 after the combined stupidity of players Amare Stoudimire, Boris Diaw and NBA Commissioner David Stern caused the two Suns to be suspended. Given the nearly universal condemnation of Stern's decision to suspend the two (which I supported because the rule as written left little wriggle room), bet on the rule being changed quietly this summer.
NBC screws hockey fans: NBC did not show the overtime part of the clinching Game 5 win by Ottawa over Buffalo, opting instead to cut away to its Preakness coverage; this despite the fact that the actual race was still 75 minutes away. The network cut in briefly to show viewers the Senators' winning goal and that was it. NBC did stay with the game in Buffalo but forced everyone else to go to Versus, except that many cable systems do not carry the channel and people without cable or satellite were screwed.
"There's no way around it," wrote Allan Muir on SI.com. "This was an epic embarrassment for the league. A conference final elimination game dropped for talk about a horse that died last year and the weather at Pimlico." But Muir blamed the league and not NBC: "No, this one falls squarely on the sagging shoulders of the NHL. Instead of saving Saturday nights for Hockey Night In Canada, they've bent over backwards to provide NBC with the games it wants at the times it wants. And in giving NBC this game at this time with the hard deadline of the Preakness staring them in the face, they made the wrong decision."
It's a sad reminder how far the NHL has fallen on the American sports scene. NBC's decision to cut away from a dramatic ending to the Jets-Raiders pro football game in 1968 to show "Heidi" was a national cause celebre and changed the way sports were broadcast. Its decision on the NHL went unnoticed by about 99.5% of the population. I'll leave the last word to legendary Outsports poster Joe in Philly, a huge hockey fan: "If you needed any further proof that, despite the greatness of the sport itself, the National Hockey League is a complete joke ..."--Jim Buzinski
5.19.2007
Floyd Landis-related weirdness: I work with two guys who are big cycling fans. They love this time of year, when the three big cycling races --the Giro, Tour de France and Vuelta-- take place. They've been shaking their heads at the latest developments in the Floyd Landis soap opera.
Landis, the American who won the Tour de France last year, has been dogged by doping allegations since. The case has been a classic: tales of skullduggery in labs, French perfidy, lying, it'd make a good thriller novel. However, this week, the situation took a dive in to Bizarroland. Greg LaMond, the American three-time winner of the Tour de France, rocked the arbitration hearing about Landis' status that he was testifying at when he said he received a call a man alleging to be LaMond's uncle telling him not to testify or "I'm going to be there and we can talk about how we used to hide your weenie". Um, wow.
What makes this creepy, other than the allegation itself, is that LaMond says he confided to Landis that he'd been sexually abused by his uncle last year. Did Landis use this information, which has vast implications for LaMond and his uncle, to pressure LaMond not to testify about Landis' use of chemicals on last year's Tour? That would be really messed up if he did. Landis faces a two-year suspension and the possibility of being the first Tour de France winner to be stripped of his title, but IF LaMond confided the alleged abuse to him and IF Landis then used that against him, Floyd Landis should be shunned from polite society.
Beat LA! Beat LA! Interleague baseball play stars this weekend with Rivals Weekend (Cubs v. White Sox, Mets v. Yankees etc.). I'd like nothing better than the Anaheim Angels to sweep The Blue Scum, the Dodgers of Los Angeles. Go Halos! --Jim Allen
5.18.2007
I feel your pain: What an awful week Golden State Warriors owner Chris Cohan is having. On Tuesday, the Cinderella story Warriors were unceremoniously bounced from the NBA playoffs by the Utah Jazz. On Thursday, the news got worse: Cohan is in a world of trouble with the IRS, who claim he owes $160 million in back taxes (!!). Cohan apparently set up some not-at-all-completely-legal tax shelters during the sale of a cable TV company in 1998 and the IRS wants their damn money. It reminds me of when Los Angeles Kings owner Bruce McNall did a serious stretch of time for various naughtiness involving coins and horses. Greed, it turns out, might not be so good after all.
Playoffs: Two playoff series in two different sports had somewhat predictible outcomes on Thursday. The Detroit Pistons finally finished swatting aside the plucky, overmatched Chicago Bulls, 95-85, to win the series 4-2. The Bulls won two in a row after getting hammered in the first three games, but Detroit is simply the class of the (as usual) weak Eastern Conference. The Pistons have made the East Conference finals five years in a row and await the winner of the New Jersey v. Cleveland series so that they came brush them aside too and get on with the business of playing whoever comes out of the West.
Across the freeway from Anaheim Stadium, the Anaheim Ducks avoided the dreaded 3-1 series defecit with a nice 4-3 win over the Detroit Red Wings. Stud defenseman Chris Pronger was suspended for the game after a total cheap-shot to the head of Detroit's Tomas Holmstrom in game 3, but the Ducks rallied from blowing a 3-1 lead by scoring early in the third period (and adding an empty-netter) to win 5-3.
I was really looking forward to the Ottawa Senators v. Buffalo Sabres series, but that one has been a disappointment, with Senators having a chance to close out the series on Friday. The Ducks v. Wings --um, that sounds like something you'd get at a Hooters-- has been interesting, though, and Prongers bullshit hit on Holmstrom has added some subtext. I think the Ducks will live and die on the play of mercurial goaltender (and total hottie) Jean-Sebastien Giguere. Game 5 is on Sunday. --Jim Allen
5.17.2007
Brady as Beckham: Is Brady Quinn the American David Beckham? By that I mean Beckham as a sexual icon, who doesn't mind if people think he is gay. It has been fascinating to see how new images of Quinn get wide play on the Internet and their reaction. Though a minority disagree, the former Notre Dame quarterback is a major hottie and blogs (gay and straight) go crazy when new pictures surface. There were the Brady Quinn photos in Interview magazine, shot by Bruce Weber. There was the fascination with Quinn's hair and body on draft day, even among ESPN announcers. There was the buzz over photos that showed Quinn (or someone who looked like him) posing with his hand over a friend's crotch.
Wednesday showed the latest in Quinnmania -- pictures of Quinn at the wedding of his sister to Green Bay Packers linebacker A.J. Hawk. One (See photo) had Quinn in Village People gear, scarf, leather vest, hat and gloves, pointing with one hand and holding his crotch with another, obviously performing "YMCA." He certainly has some awesome guns. It is was pretty gay looking and blogs ate it up. The mainstream site Deadspin had 250 comments alone and I found mentions on dozens of sites.
Quinn must know what he's doing, even though he told Sports Illustrated that he was not a "pretty boy." In the Internet Age, no photo stays private for long and it's hard to imagine many athletes willingly being shot in such poses; after all, being thought of as possibly gay is about the worst thing for a lot of male jocks. Maybe Quinn is secretly gay, in which case he's popping a middle finger to everyone. Or maybe, and statistically more likely, he's like Beckham, a good-looking straight jock with a hot bod who's so comfortable with his sexuality that he doesn't mind playing up his sex appeal to women and men. Or maybe he just likes grabbing his crotch in public. Whatever it is Brady, keep it up -- your fans demand it!
Spurs win Game 5: That collective groan you hear this morning is NBA league officials after the San Antonio Spurs beat the Phoenix Suns, 88-85, to win Game 5 of their NBA Western Conference playoff series. The game was shrouded in controversy after the league suspended Phoenix's Amare Stoudemire (the team's leading scorer) and Boris Diaw for the game after they ran off the bench during a near fight started by the Spurs' Robert Horry (who drew a two-game suspension). Many thought the suspensions of the two Suns to be excessive and unfair since it was Horry who started the drama by hip-checking Steve Nash into the scorer's table. A Spurs win in Game 5 would seem tainted, which is why the league had to be rooting for Phoenix to pull it out.
The Suns started strong, leading by as many by 16 in the first half, but it was clear that, minus two starters, they ran out of gas. The Spurs went ahead for good with 30 seconds left and can now close the series out at home in Game 6. I thought the suspensions were correct since the rule is very black and white about players running onto the court; changing the rule is fine, but not while the season is in play. There is no doubt, though, that losing Stoudemire and Diaw for Horry was lopsided in San Antonio's favor. Expect NBA bigwigs to be privately rooting for Phoenix to take Game 6 and help remove the taint. --Jim Buzinski
5.16.2007
Does amputee have an edge?: Does a double amputee with carbon fiber artificial legs have a competitive edge over non-disabled runners? Seems like a screwy premise but it's become an issue in track and field. A fascinating article in the New York Times tells the story of Oscar Pistorius, 20-year-old South African sprinter who wants to be the first amputee runner to compete in the Olympics. "Pistorius was born without the fibula in his lower legs and with other defects in his feet. He had both legs amputated below the knee when he was 11 months old. At 20, his coach says, he is like a five-speed engine with no second gear," the story says. "Yet Pistorius is also a searing talent who has begun erasing the lines between abled and disabled, raising philosophical questions: What should an athlete look like? Where should limits be placed on technology to balance fair play with the right to compete? Would the nature of sport be altered if athletes using artificial limbs could run faster or jump higher than the best athletes using their natural limbs?"
The IAAF, the governing body for track and field, has prohibited the use of technological aids, like wheels or springs, thereby barring Pistorius from competing. He sprints on a pair of j-shaped blades made from carbon fiber. He has cleaned up in the 100, 200 and 400 meters at the Paraolympics, running a 10.91 100, 21.58 200 and 46.34 400. While those are fast times for the Paraolympics, they do not meet qualifying standards for the Olympics; the next Games are 15 months away, giving him the time to improve. The IAAF, which can be overruled by the International Olympic Committee, is for now sticking to its guns, with one officer saying the use of prosthetics "affects the purity of sport. Next will be another device where people can fly with something on their back." But a professor of physical therapy calls that theory hogwash, saying a real leg provides three times the spring of a prosthetic. And how different is all of this from someone who undergoes surgery to improve their vision or uses ligaments from cadavers to replace injured ones or sleeps in an oxygen tent?
No one disputes that Pistorius is a terrific athlete. "These have always been my legs," he said. "I train harder than other guys, eat better, sleep better and wake up thinking about athletics. I think that's probably why I'm a bit of an exception." I say that unless it's proven that he has some unnatural advantage, he should be given the same opportunity to compete as any other athlete. Let his hard work and his times speak for themselves. --Jim Buzinski
5.15.2007
Used jock for sale: What would you pay for a used jockstrap that is "discolored from use"? Nothing? Me too. But someone was willing to pay at least $280.99 for the jock strap worn by Chicago Bears linebacker Brian Urlacher in the Super Bowl, then discarded. The bid solicitation on EBay read: "The item is in used condition and has a tear in back strap from use. The item was obtained by myself as a locker room attendee. My duties included handling the teams gear, this item was discarded and replaced, and was worn during the first half of Super bowl XLI." The Bears lost to the Colts, 29-17.
I first saw the item on Deadspin on early Monday afternoon and it had zero bids. As this is written (midnight Eastern) there were 33 bids with a high of $280.99 and three days to go.
EBay has disguised the names of the bidders since the first one called himself (can't imagine it's a she) "9thickinches." The company says it's to protect the bidders' privacy but the real reason is likely that EBay is embarrassed by the bidders' handles.
There is a subset of men who are totally into the concept of jockstraps, so in some ways the bids aren't surprising. Occasionally at Outsports we get e-mail from people wanting to know where they can get jocks or other parts of uniforms. One site features 850 images of men in their jockstraps, many of them with the guys more out of their jocks than in. Another site boasts 7 million visits in 10 years. This site has a place where guys can exchange jockstraps. "The very best raunchy jocks from a Coast Guard jock. Hot as hell!" reads one. At least the owner of the site has a good business sense: "I would appreciate being informed if you feel you have been 'ripped off' by any person who advertises on this page," he writes. Rip off would be a good description for the high bidder in the Urlacher sweepstakes. After all, who wants the jock of a loser?
Update: In the two hours after I wrote this item, but before posting, the item has been removed from sale. Not sure if the sale was a fraud or violated some sort of EBay policy.
Suns win, then ... The Phoenix Suns went on a 16-3 run down the stretch to stun the San Antonio Spurs, 104-98, and tie their NBA Western Conference playoff series at 2-2. The highlights were two amazing behind-the-back passes from Suns guard Steve Nash to Amare Stoudemire for key baskets in the final minute.
The game was marred with 23 seconds left when San Antonio's Robert Horry body checked Nash into the scorer's table, nearly setting off a brawl. Horry was ejected and will almost certainly be suspended. What's worse for Phoenix is that Stoudemire and another starter Boris Diaw will also likely sit down in Game 5. Both players started to run on the court after Horry's foul and crossed the line that separates the bench from the field of play. In the NBA, that's pretty much an automatic suspension. Both players realized their error and made a beeline back to the bench, but cameras clearly caught them crossing the line. If both miss Game 5, the Spurs should congratulate Horry. His nasty foul might have been the play of the series for the Spurs. Sometimes, sport, like life, is unfair.
In the East, Cleveland beat New Jersey to take a 3-1 lead. The Nets had the ball, down one with 12 seconds left & and never even attempted a shot. That pretty much sums up the Eastern Conference. --Jim Buzinski
5.14.2007
Jazz take 3-1 lead: The Golden State Warriors have been the biggest reason to watch the NBA playoffs, but their ride might soon be over at the hands of the Utah Jazz. The Jazz broke open a tight game leate to win 115-101 and take a 3-1 series lead heading back to Utah. The Jazz have not lost at home in the playoffs, while Golden State is 1-4 on the road.
At least the other Western Conference semifinal between San Antonio and Phoenix is interesting, because the East is barely watchable. Detroit leads Chicago, 3-1, and all four games have been fairly dull, while New Jersey-Cleveland has me reaching for the remote after a couple of minutes. As Mark Heisler wrote in the Los Angeles Times: "These days, the East isn't just the junior varsity but the methodical, b-o-r-i-n-g conference with only one of the top nine offenses."
Sex toy win: German soccer players Michael Ballack and Oliver Kahn have been awarded $65,000 in damages after a German sex toy company sold vibrators named after them. "The company sold special World Cup edition vibrators called 'Michael B.,' referring to the Chelsea player and captain of the German national team, and 'Olli K.,' in reference to the Bayern Munich and former Germany goalkeeper, in three shops," AFP reported. The players had asked for $85,000 and settled with the company. The story never made clear why the players sought damages. Was it because of unauthorized use of their names on a commercial product (and not cutting them in), or the fact that their names were on vibrators? The vibrators sold for $94, were bright red and 6.2 inches long, so maybe the players felt they were inaccurate replicas. A Chelsea soccer website ran this headline over a version of the story: "Ballack slaps injunction on vibrator." The same site also quipped: "We fully expect to see Chelsea-approved Michael Ballack 'onion bag battering ram' vibrators on sale in the Chelsea megastore. In royal blue. And certainly a lot bigger than [6 inches]."--Jim Buzinski
5.12.2007
Quicks hits: Detroit is Hockeytown? Oh, really? I'm sitting here watching the Anaheim Ducks v. Red Wings matchup --it's 1-0 to the Wings in...oh a big fight has broken out -- and there's plenty of fans disguised as seats that I can see. The Wings can't even fill the Joe Louis Arena for the Conference finals? Calling Detroit Hockeytown is as absurd as the ghastly Dallas Cowboys calling themselves "America's Team". Wings coach Mike Babcock is kind of hot, though.
Reports are filtering out that running back Ricky Williams has failed another NFL drug test for marijuana. Williams, who was suspended all of last season for failing drug tests, has been petitioning for reinstatement. Dude, either lay off the bud until your career is over or your career *will* be over, stat. Frankly, seeing a headline like "Ricky Williams fails drug test" is as startling as one that would read "Sun will rise in East, set in West tomorrow".
Rocker Bryan Adams might be my favorite person right now. It seems that he invites people up from the audience to sing a bit at his concerts. Nice, right? Well, when you're playing in Manchester, England, home to Manchester United, and the invitee comes on stage and reveals herself to be a supporter of United's hated rival Liverpool FC by taunting the crowd that Liverpool is going to the Champions League final and United aren't, it's not a surprise that "the mood in the Mancunian audience immediately turned very hostile and the place was suddenly filled with deafening boos". Hahahaha.
The Premiership football seasons ends Sunday in England and it's been a good year for my boys Everton. They've clinched a spot in the UEFA Cup, Europe's second tier Cup competition after the Champions League, which is a fine achievement for my boys in blue. Now, if they'd only tour the U.S. in pre-season training again so I can go root for them in person. Congratulations to Manchester United for winning the title, their 16th overall. They're now only two behind the hated Red Scum of Liverpool's record of 18. C'mon on you Mancs! Damn, the Ducks just tied up the Totally Not Hockeytown Red Wings 1-1, early in the third. Damn. --Jim Allen
5.11.2007
Junior: Jim B.'s item about Barry Bonds was thrown in to relief tonight by something that happened in an ordinary regular season game between the Houston "Playoff Chokers" Astros and Cincinnati "The Big Red Machine days are long gone" Reds. Ken Griffey Jr. hit his 569th career home run, tying him for ninth on the all-time list. He tied a busted juicer, Rafael Palmeiro and is now four dingers behind total hottie in his day Harmon Killebrew for eigth all time.
Considering the ongoing Bonds circus, it's funny to see Junior tie Palmeiro. There's been a lot of discussion in the sports world about how race is playing in to the relative lack of interest outside of ESPN in Bonds breaking Hank Aaron's record. There's no denying race is a factor, as is Bond's horrible public image. For me, though, seeing Griffey tie that record reminds me that I was convinced that *he* would be the one to shatter Aaron's record, back when Griffey played for the Seattle Mariners.
Hitting 398 homers in his first ten seasons, Griffey was poised to break the record around this time. He left Seattle and it all went horribly wrong for him; moving to the Reds, his career for the last eight years has been blighted by injuries. I've never heard much rumor mongering about Griffey using 'roids, but looking at his career HR stats, they do climb significantly around the same time Barry Bonds did, the early 90's. Hmmm...... I'd say overall that unless you're a racist to begin with, Bonds being black and breaking a record by another African-American isn't the issue. I'm pretty sure that if it was Ken Griffey Jr. in the mix, the story would be getting major play outside of ESPN.
NHL playoffs resume: I rushed home from work on Thursday and turned on the moron machine in time to see the start of the third period of the Ottawa Senators v. Buffalo Sabres conference finals Game 1. It was 2-2 between two pretty evenly matched teams. However, the Sabres completely fell apart at home in the third period and the Sens walked away with a valuable 5-2 win.
I think whoever wins this series is going to win the Stanley Cup and the Sabres are going to need to make major adjustments if they're not going to disappoint their long suffering fans again. Game 2 is Saturday, which is so nice--the NHL plays games every other day, while the NBA stretches their series out to accommodate TV. --Jim Allen
5.10.2007
The Bonds chase: Barry Bonds has 745 home runs and needs 11 more to become baseball's all-time leader, passing Hank Aaron. It's curious as to how little attention, relatively, is being given to the pursuit; it seems so inevitable yet there is more resignation than passion in the coverage. A poll by ESPN this week found a racial component to views about Bonds. Among blacks, 74% wanted him to break the mark, compared to only 28% of whites. Blacks also were less likely to believe Bonds used performance enhancing drugs. On this issue, anyone who thinks Bonds has NOT taken steroids is delusional; he's all but admitted it himself.
I have never been a big Bonds fan and that has nothing to do with him using 'roids. You could probably put an asterisk behind many sports records set in the past 15 years. Drug use is rampant and most fans don't seem to care a great deal. My beef with Bonds is that he has been a big-time a--hole to fans, media and many of his teammates during his career, a surly, selfish man who has the warmth of dry ice. It's not easy to root for someone like that to beat a mark set by a classy person like Hank Aaron.
Peter Diana, a former Pittsburgh Pirates photographer, was trying to raise money for the children of two Pirates' groundskeepers who died in a car crash in 2002. The kids had no health insurance and Diana asked all visting all-stars to sign items for an auction to help the family. Diana decided to ask Bonds, who knew both men from his days with the Pirates. Bonds was the only player who refused to help. "When I asked for his help, he cursed at me. I tell you, that guy's going straight to hell," Diana told the Los Angeles Times.
It's stories like these, one of many, that make me not care about Bonds setting the record. There is no doubting the immense talents of Bonds the player, but Bonds the person has always been a minor leaguer.
Warriors down 2-0: The slippers on NBA Cinderella Golden State appear to be slipping after the Warriors blew Game 2 of their Western Conference playoff series, losing 127-117 to the Utah Jazz in overtime. The No. 8 seed Warriors led by five points with less than a minute left, but missed three free throws in the final 20 seconds that would have iced the game. The Jazz sent the game into overtime on a last-second basket and pulled away in OT to take a 2-0 series lead. In the first two games against Utah, the Warriors missing key shots and failing to get critical rebounds, the opposite of their play in beating top-seed Dallas in the first round. Utah had a plus-28 rebounding edge in Game 2, while Golden State shot only 42% from the floor and missed 11 free throws.--Jim Buzinski
5.9.2007
Swoopes at alma mater: Sheryl Swoopes, the WNBA star who came out two years ago, was a little apprehensive about visiting Lubbock, Texas, last weekend where she played college basketball 14 years ago for Texas Tech. But she wound up getting a warm reception. "I'm sure theres still people who aren't too happy with [her lesbianism]," Swoopes said as she returned to Lubbock to play in a WNBA exhibition game with the Houston Comets. "But when I made that decision I just said, 'You know what, I'll deal with whatever happens when it happens, good, bad, indifferent."
Swoopes, in an interview with AP, talked at length about the cloud hanging over LSU, where women's coach Pokey Chatman resigned amid allegations she had an affair with a player. "If it happened, ethically it's probably not good," Swoopes said. "To see something like that happen, whether it's true or not, I think its just very damaging to womens basketball." Swoopes, who admires Chatman's coaching, is concerned what affect the allegations will have on black female coaches. "We've had to work extremely hard to get to where we are, to get to the top," Swoopes said. "Pokey was a role model for a lot of young girls out there, a lot of women who are already head coaches."
Clemens? Who cares? It is always amusing to see how sports stories involving New York athletes, especially the Yankees, dominate the media discourse. Yes, the Yankees are a historic franchise with tons of history, but we all aren't hanging on every move George makes or whether A-Rod and Derek have kissed and made up yet (though we would pay to watch). So I rolled my eyes at the big news that 44-year-old Roger Clemens is coming back to pitch.
The New York media treated the story with its customary understatement. My favorite was -- no lie -- Newsday running a timeline on Clemens' first workout with a minor league team. "11:04: Before taking the mound, Clemens changes in the dugout, eschewing shorts so he can wear the Yankees' home pinstriped pants," read one entry. Fortunately, the reporter did not cover Clemens' first movement. All this attention for a team hovering at .500 and a pitcher six years away from getting his AARP card who went 7-6 last season (albeit with a 2.30 ERA). That speaks volumes of how bad Yankee pitching is and how myopic the media are. I can't say I blame Clemens for coming back -- by one estimate he will earn $7,500 per pitch this season. The big city slickers get slickered. --Jim Buzinski
5.8.2007
Getting a head rub: In 2001, then Chicago Cubs pitcher Julian Tavarez apologized after saying about San Francisco Giants fans: "Why should I care about the fans?' They're a bunch of assholes and faggots here.' So it would seem that Tavarez has a little problem with man-on-man action. But wait -- during Sunday's game with the Minnesota Twins, Tavarez seems to enjoy a long head rub courtesy of fellow Boston Red Sox teammate Manny Ramirez. Watch video here; screen capture at left. Manny also seems to enjoy it, since it lasts long enough for the commentators to notice.
Jazz take Game 1: The Golden State Warriors magical mystery ride through the NBA playoffs hit a bump Monday in a 116-112 loss to the host Utah Jazz in Game 1 of their Western Conference semifinals. The Warriors, who shocked the basketball world by beating top-seed Dallas in Round 1, led for most of the game until the Jazz took a late lead in a seesaw final two minutes. Utah matches up well with Golden State and the Warriors will be hard-pressed to match their success against Dallas.
In the East, Detroit blew out Chicago, 108-87, the second rout by the Pistons over the Bulls in the first two games. Compared to the action in the West, watching Eastern Conference games is generally dull and blowouts don't help.
Peyton meets the Queen: One more perk of winning the Super Bowl for Indianapolis Colts quarterback Peyton Manning -- he was on the guest list for the White House dinner with Queen Elizabeth. The only NFL player invited was journeyman quarterback Tim Hasselbeck, married to the "View's" Elizabeth Hasselbeck. Somehow, "Peyton Manning," "white ties" and "Queen Elizabeth" don't fit in the same sentence. --Jim Buzinski
5.7.2007
Brady Quinn cops a feel?: After about the 20th person sent me the links to the shots purporting to show Brady Quinn with his hands over another guy's genitals, I figured it was time to say something. The pictures are cute, real or not, especially the expression on the guy in the yellow shirt; he looks simultaneously horrified and intrigued. Click here for both pictures. The photos have spread over sports sites in the Blogosphere, and what's noticeable are the inane comments that pass for funny. After about the sixth double entendre of a quarterback needing to handle balls, one starts to yawn. We can be as juvenile as anyone, but the weight of sniggling gay references has the effect of making none of them that amusing; it's easy and cheap and so junior high.
What no one seems to be asking is: Is that really Quinn in the pictures? It does look like him, but if so, it's clearly a younger (say high school) version of the former Notre Dame quarterback and now Cleveland Brown. But given how easy it is to doctor images these days, it's just as possible it's a clever Photoshop job. We saw something similar a couple of years ago that allegedly showed a St. Cardinals baseball player having his crotch grabbed by a teammate at home plate, a photo later found to be doctored. Also, no one has claimed credit for the Quinn photos. I saw them first on Deadspin, which found them on a Southern Cal football website, which found them on an Ohio State football website. We have no idea who took them, when, where and under what circumstances.
The reaction and buzz about the Quinn photos also shows how the bizarre and trivial tend to rule on many sports websites. Part of this is the nature of most sports blogs to try and be snarky and pithy, so as not to lose the audience. A discussion of more substantive issues in sports would have many readers clicking elsewhere. At the same time these Quinn photos were getting a lot of play, so were shots that showed New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady carrying a "man purse" while walking around New York City. And with them came the same dopey comments. The owner of the Quinn photos should demand royalties for how often they've been viewed.
Finally, if these photos really are of Brady Quinn, they show that in the Internet age, you pose at your own peril. Something that might seem harmless and fun at the time (they are the kinds of goofy things teenagers do) could live forever on computer servers everywhere. --Jim Buzinski
5.6.2007
Run for the roses: Around 1950, when I was a kid, I placed the only horse-race bet of my life. At the county fair in my home town, the Powell County Derby was about to be run, and I liked a horse named Montana Count. He was a big sorrel gelding sired by 1943 Kentucky Derby winner Count Fleet. Plus I knew the trainer, Janet Thomson, the first woman trainer in the game. So I marched over to the betting window and plunked two silver dollars to win. The Count went off the favorite at 7-1, and romped home an easy winner. I collected a fistful of 14 dollars.
Yesterday's Kentucky Derby wouldn't have made me any richer. My girlfriend Heather and I had debated this race. She did her handicapping thing and liked Cowtown Cat and Hard Spun for her Exacta. I am no handicapper -- I just go by the gut feel. I had liked Street Sense ever since I watched him win the Breeder's Cup Juvenile last year. His ability to run down the speed horses is not something you see every day. Heather and I agreed that there were a number of nice colts in the field, and the chance of an upset. Plus there was the jinx -- two-year-old champions never win the Derby.
But yesterday a lot of people felt the jinx was ready to be broken, because they bet Street Sense down to favorite, and he went off at 9-2. Down the backstretch, the pace was slow, with Hard Spun the early leader. Street Sense was running a comfy 19th in the field of 20. As they veered into the far turn, everybody kicked it up a notch. Jockey Calvin Borel told Street Sense that it was time, and the bay colt kicked it up two notches, in a repeat of his Breeder's Cup run. He started to pass the other horses like they were standing still. It's one thing to do this when the leader is tiring. It's another to do it when the leader is still running hard. Street Sense blew past Hard Spun like a shock wave.
It was a storybook ending. The favorite won by 2 1/4. The jockey won his first Derby and burst into tears. Their progress to the winner's circle was noisy and crowded with media, family, friends, fans and security. The crowd was so ecstatic that nobody paid much attention to the Queen. No horses broke a leg. And nobody made much money at the betting window. I woulda got back 11 silver dollars and some change. --Patricia Nell Warren
5.5.2007
Hancock autopsy brings bad news: The autopsy for dead St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Josh Hancock was publicly unveiled on Friday and it was a litany of bad news. Hancock was dead "within seconds" of his car hitting a parked tow truck on an Interstate in St. Louis, according to medical examiner Michael Graham. That's bad enough, but as suspected, Hancock was drunk when the accident occurred. How drunk? His blood-alcohol level was 0.157; Missouri's legal limit is 0.08. Yikes.
Additionally, it seems that he was gabbing on a cellphone at the time of the crash to a friend about meeting them at a bar (!!) AND there was some marijuana found in the wreckage. Jeebus. AND his fatal crash was his *second* car accident in a week. Hello? Warning signs, anyone?
As long as I live on this planet, I'll never get pro athletes and drunk driving. Even if Hancock was making the major league minimum salary, he was pulling in $380,000 a year. If a player is going to go out boozing, why not hire a Towncar and a driver for the evening?
I know why, I think: pro athletes loooovvveee their big, flashy "I don't have a small dick, really, I don't!" cars and they love to show off by pulling up to a club or a bar. The Hancock situation is really sad, but given that Cards manager Tony LaRussa picked up a DUI in spring training after being found passed out at the wheel of his car, you have to wonder what kind of clubhouse culture is going on at Busch Stadium. --Jim Allen
5.4.2007
The West is the best: Among the many great things about living on the West coast of America is the fact that we sports fans have it pretty good when it comes to TV start times of games. Sure, we miss the beginning of games starting before about 6:00 pm Pacific time, but tonight's NBA playoffs illustrated why that's not a bad trade off: the pivotal Game 6 between the Dallas Mavericks and Golden State Warriors started at a comfortable 7:45 pm and ended a little before 10:00 pm -- 2:00 am on the East coast. Hope you fans back east enjoyed the game!
And what a game it was, for Warriors fans at least. Surprising the NBA by jumping out to a 3-1 lead, the Warriors tossed away a nine point lead in Game 5 and lost 118-112. At the end of the first half of Game 6, I'll bet many Warriors fans were nervous as the Mavs only trailed by two in Oakland. I admit, I didn't watch most of the third quarter, because I'd switched over to watch my beloved Vancouver Canucks lose in overtime 2-1 to the ghastly Anaheim (Mighty) Ducks and get eliminated from the Stanley cup playoffs. Imagine my shock when I turned back to the basketball game and the Warriors were up something like 17 points. What the hell happened in the Dallas locker room at half time? The Warriors held on for a stunning 111-86 win to sweep Mark Cuban's Mavericks out of the playoffs.
As Cyd noted earlier, with the Mavericks loss, that means that the two finalists from the previous NBA season were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs for the first time since 1957 (!!). It's also the first time an 8 seed (Golden State) beat a 1 seed (Dallas) since the first round went to a best-of-seven format.
One last consequence of the Warriors win was that it made Charles Barkley the butt of numerous jokes on TNT and at Oracle Arena in Oakland. Barkley's "I hate the Bay Area" stance has been great comedy fodder and it'll continue to the next round. As he snapped right after the game, "The national nightmare continues". Hahahaha.
The other NBA series being contested on Thursday was off the radar for all but the fans of the two teams playing, the Houston Rockets and Utah Jazz. Carlos Boozer scored 22 points for the Jazz, who staved off elimination in Game 6 by winning at home, despite a combined 51 points from the Rockets Tracy McGrady and Yao Ming. Game 7 is Saturday in Houston. Now that the Warriors v. Mavs series is done, I can go back to ignoring the NBA playoffs. --Jim Allen
5.3.2007
NBA ref bias? The New York Times has an interesting article
contending there is racial bias in the officiating of NBA games. "A coming paper by a University of Pennsylvania professor and a Cornell University graduate student says that, during the 13 seasons from 1991 through 2004, white referees called fouls at a greater rate against black players than against white players," the Times said in a story that ran on the front page. "Justin Wolfers, an assistant professor of business and public policy at the Wharton School, and Joseph Price, a Cornell graduate student in economics, found a corresponding bias in which black officials called fouls more frequently against white players, though that tendency was not as strong. They went on to claim that the different rates at which fouls are called 'is large enough that the probability of a team winning is noticeably affected by the racial composition of the refereeing crew assigned to the game.'
The NBA, of course, disputes the study and says that its own research found no bias. But the league refuses to release the data, so they just expect us to take their word for it.
Said Ian Ayres, an expert on the study of racial bias: "I would be more surprised if it didn't exist. There's a growing consensus that a large proportion of racialized decisions is not driven by any conscious race discrimination, but that it is often just driven by unconscious, or subconscious, attitudes. When you force people to make snap decisions, they often can't keep themselves from subconsciously treating blacks different than whites, men different from women."
Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, who has long feuded with the NBA over officiating, saw merit in the study: "We're all human. We all have our own prejudice. That's the point of doing statistical analysis. It bears it out in this application, as in a thousand others."
The study as described in great detail in the Times seems logical enough. We all have our biases, often unconscious, and I can't imagine NBA refs are any different. Black players played in 83% of the minutes calculated in the study, while 68% of the refs were white. And I would expect the league to proclaim it is color-blind. As one of the study's authors said, "Basically, it suggests that if you spray-painted one of your starters white, you'd win a few more games." Hey, don't give Cuban any ideas.
--Jim Buzinski
5.2.2007
Mavs stay alive: The rollicking, thrilling NBA playoff series between the No. 1 seed Dallas Mavericks and the No. 8 Golden State Warriors will go on after Dallas rallied from nine down with 3:20 to go to pull out a 118-112 win. Golden State leads the series, 3-2, but the Warriors looked stunned after being outscored 15-0 down the stretch, as Dallas stayed alive. Now the pressure grows on the Warriors to close out the series Thursday in Oakland or face going back to Dallas for Game 7.
A highlight, as it is when the games are on TNT, was the studio show with Ernie Johnson, Kenny Smith and Charles Barkley. TNT was showing game highlights, and had a shot of Dallas owner Mark Cuban looking, in Johnson's words, "ill" after the Warriors took their first lead. "He has a billion dollars, how can he be ill?" Barkley asked, adding that if he had a billion "I wouldn't be working here." Later, Barkley, who said he hates the Bay Area, said TNT should take the studio show "on the road to hell, I mean Golden State."
Keyshawn cut: During the NFL draft coverage on ESPN, guest analyst Keyshawn Johnson of the Carolina Panthers interviewed new Panther draft choice Dwayne Jarrett. Both players went to USC and both are wide receivers, and Johnson went on about how he would take Jarrett under his wing. Well, they better be long wings, since Carolina cut Johnson on Tuesday, saying they wanted to skew younger. Johnson, a former No. 1 draft choice, is now free to sign with any team. Look for the Patriots to call since they've signed four free agent receivers already, so what's one more? --Jim Buzinski
5.1.2007
The Cardinals pay their respects. Forget that it was the Cardinals losing another player tragically mid-season. It was tragic, and the fact that it happened to the same team five years after Darryl Kyle dies was weird enough. But when I heard that both times the team was scheduled to play the Chicago Cubs in their next game, it sounded pretty bizarre to me.
Such a shame. Anytime I hear about people being killed, especially in their 20s, in their prime, and living a life so many dream of, it really makes me value what I have and those I hold dear. We hold our sports heroes on such pedestals, as though they are superhuman. Immortal almost. And when they are snatched away at such a young age, it is sobering.
On the flip side, he did lead a blessed life. Anyone who gets to play in one of America's big four sports at the professional level is blessed. Jim and I have a policy to not make political statements on Outsports, and this isn't intended to be a political statement. But, when I was reading about St. Louis pitcher Josh Hancock's death, it made me think about the Americans who were being killed in Iraq, and the Iraqis being killed there, and I wondered if the death of each one of them gets the same attention as Hancock's death is receiving. Of course, the answer is no. Maybe Hancock's death with drive a few people to consider the deaths, accidental or otherwise, of everyone a little more carefully. It certainly has done that to me. Hopefully, I won't forget it too soon. -Cyd Zeigler jr.
Two of the best ever team up. No, it's not yet another over-the-top anointing of the Patriots' acquisition of Randy Moss. Tiger Woods and Michael Jordan, two of the best athletes their respective sports have ever seen (and some would argue THE best) will tee it up together at the Wachovia Championship pro-am in Charlotte, N.C., this week. No word yet when the two will play a little one-one-one. -Cyd Zeigler jr.
4.30.2007
The Moss trade. It was absolutely hysterical to hear all of the Patriot-hating NFL commentators and writers say how, by acquiring Randy Moss, the Patriots were selling their soul, sealing their doom, and that they were obviously desperate. As Jim wrote to me on Sunday: "Good. One more reason to hate New England." I understand it. Fans of all the rest of the teams just saw the best team in the NFL just get considerably better. One guy called them the "New England Yankees." The difference is that New England has not made a habit of bringing in top talent, and have long been way under the salary cap. I hardly think they should be vilified for finally wanting some top-tier acquisitions.
For years, New England has made the most of its players, and they have been hailed for taking mediocre talent and turning them into Super Bowl winners. When the Patriots acquired the likes of Corey Dillon and Bryan Cox, deemed "problems" by other people, some scratched their heads. But those two players played their hearts out for the Patriots and were never distractions. Randy Moss wanted to come to the Patriots, and it is only for the Patriots he was willing to restructure his lucrative contract. Before he even arrived in Foxboro, he was already acting like a Patriot. -Cyd Zeigler jr.
Whiny Quinn. It was so bogus to hear people during the draft say how sorry they were for Notre Dame quarterback Brady Quinn, as though he somehow "deserved" to be drafted earlier than the 22nd pick. But reality was, he wasn't. The Browns told him on Friday they wouldn't be taking him with the third pick. Few teams worked him out more than the Miami Dolphins, and they passed him up with the ninth pick. With all of his talking and bravado in the weeks leading up to the draft, his refusal to take part in certain aspects of the combine, he has acted like a spoiled little brat, and he clearly didn't convince these teams that he was worth a high pick. It was great to see him eat some humble pie on Saturday. And when he came on the stage chewing gum, and then sat down for an interview with ESPN while chewing gum, I lost what little respect I had for him. Totally classless.
I also heard a couple people say how sorry they were that he lost money because he got drafted out of the top 10, meaning his first contract won't be as high. Oh, cry me a river. He'll get probably a three-year, $10 million contract and a $5 million signing bonus, on top of probably the other $10 million in endorsement deals he'll make in the next three years. Forgive me if I don't feel sorry for some 23-year-old who will make $25 million before he's 26 for playing a game he loves. Gay guys want to fawn over him because he's an attractive white guy. If he was black, we wouldn't be listening to any of this "poor Brady" nonsense. -Cyd Zeigler jr.
The champs are done. The defending NBA champion Miami Heat got the boot from the playoffs in the first round, losing 92-79 in game four against the Chicago Bulls at home. Yep, facing elimination the defending champs lost by 13 at home. Lame lame lame. It reminds me of Shaq's early career in Orlando and Los Angeles, when his team went 0-fer in the series that saw his exit for several straight years.
A few hours later, the Golden State Warriors stunned the Dallas Mavericks, 103-99, to take a 3-1 lead in their playoff series. If the Mavs lose, it will be the first time since 1957 that both finalists from the previous season lost in the first round of the playoffs. -Cyd Zeigler jr.
Barkley rules: The best thing about the NBA playoffs on TV is the TNT studio crew led by Charles Barkley. He was hysterical after the Mavs lost Game 4 to Golden State. Wearing a Mavs jersey, Barkley, who had picked Dallas in 5, said, while slumped on the set, "The Bay Area sucks. ... I would rather live on Alcatraz than San Francisco or Oakland." --Jim Buzinski
4.28.2007
Penner > Daniels fallout: A day after the story broke that Los Angeles Times sports writer Mike Penner would soon become Christine Daniels, it's been fascinating to read the reaction at various places.
I'm a big blog whore, checking in on at least 50 of 'em a day, mostly about sports, gay issues and politics. OK, and opera and classical music, but that needn't detain us here. The reaction of sports blogs like Deadspin has been somewhat predictible: sniggering jokes about "peeners and vagoos" mixed in with "so what"? The gay blogs are kind of funny, because in the main, they don't really know about sports, so they don't really "get" the subtleties involved in what's going on. The political blogs have been a bit of a disappointment, combining the frat boy sneering of some place like Fark with some really hideous comments about transgendered people.
I've never met Mike Penner, though I know Billy Witz, quoted in the story, through Jim B. I've loved Penner's writing for years --he's really sharp about the sports media especially-- and that's obviously not going to change. Woah! I'm watching the Canucks v. Ducks game right now and a fight's broken out. A linesman inserted himself between the two players and just got rocked with a couple of punches. Damn! 1-1 in the second..... Anywho, as a cliched comment about the Penner > Daniels situation goes, Mike Penner has real balls to announce what he did in the sports pages and needless to say, he has the full support of us here at Outsports.
A Reminder: By the time you read this, you'll already be parked in front of your TV or computer, sweating anxiously in anticipation, but remember, the NFL draft is this weekend. Try not to get flooded with hype. I think I'll spend the weekend reading opera blogs..... --Jim Allen
4.27.2007
I'm so bored with the NBA: The headline should be sung to the tune of the great Clash song, I'm So Bored With The U.S.A.. Seriously, I just can't excited about the NBA playoffs. At all. Sure, it's getting blanket coverage on almost all cable systems (for the opposite, see: the NHL), but even with nothing on the moron machine tonight, I couldn't be bothered to tune in the Phoenix Suns v. Los Angeles Lakers tilt.
Part of it is that though I love basketball as a sport --when my knees were decent, I loved playing point guard in pickup games-- the NBA version bores me to tears. Too much individualism, way too many "clear out one side of the court while someone goes one-on-one" plays and most of all, a team gets a rebound, makes two passes and a guy jacks it up from 30 feet. Zzzzzzzz.
A perfect example is my favorite NBA team, the Lakers. It's feast or famine depending on what Kobe Bryant does, and Thursday night, he had "it". His 45 points lead the Lakers to a 95-86 win over the Suns, delaying the inevitable of the Suns advancing. The Detroit Pistons swatted aside the Orlando Magic 93-77 and will probably complete the series sweep on Saturday, not that anyone will be watching because every sports fan in America (and probably everywhere in the world too) will be tuned in to the NFL draft, given that it's the greatest event on the American sports calendar. For the record, the Utah Jazz beat the Houston Rockets 81-67 to keep alive in their series; they're now down 2-1.
On the other hand...: For some reason this year, I'm really pumped up about the Stanley Cup playoffs. Despite my beloved Vancouver Canucks getting crushed by the hideous Anaheim (Mighty) Ducks, 5-1 in their opening game on Wednesday, I was glad to watch the last period of the Ottawa Senators v. New Jersey Devils games on VS. Yes, that makes me one of about 47 people who are watching the games on that sad-sack channel (something like only 60% of homes get it here in Los Angeles, in the second largest market in the country).
What a cracking good game the Sens v. Devils was, what I saw of it after coming home from work that is. Ottawa totally schooled the still quite gorgeous Martin Brodeur of New Jersey for four goals in the first period to take a 4-0 lead, but the Devils whittled the score down to 4-3 after two periods. A goal by Wade Redden 43 seconds in to the third period essentially settled the game but the Devils never gave up. I simply love ice hockey as a sport and think that NHL commissioner Gary Bettman and whoever else in the league made the disastrous decision to leave ESPN, even if they'd have had reduced terms if they'd stayed, should be fired. Go Canucks! --Jim Allen
4.26.2007
Goodell laws down the law. Again. It's starting to become crystal clear the kind of administration NFL commissioner Roger Goodell will levy on the league. It's not aristocracy, not even oligarchy. It's tyranny. After suspending two players who have not been found guilty of anything, one of whom was suspended for an entire season and has to beg for reinstatement, Goodell is wielding his power to get what he wants from teams. It seems the commish is upset that someone blabbed about Calvin Johnson admitting in a scouting interview that he had tried marijuana. That doesn't go well with the clean-as-a-whistle image Goodell is trying to force on his new minions, and Goodell knows that Johnson will be a high-profile player this weekend and in the coming months, so he's threatening the gas chamber for anyone else who blabs.
Come back, Paul Tagliabue! Your successor has your desire for a stronger, better league, but he has none of your tact or grace. -Cyd Zeigler jr.
Hype, hype, hype. Yesterday, the Dallas Mavericks and the San Antonio Spurs were headed to embarrassing first-round exits in the NBA playoffs after both lost game 1 at home. Now, after winning game two, they're both headed to the Conference finals. The headline on ESPN.com this morning: "Lone Star Rising." Elsewhere, the Mavericks won, putting the pause on the panic button that loomed after one loss, "and they didn't even need Dirk."
The constant overreaction to whatever happened last night is a hallmark of mass media (be it sports or politics) in this country. How many times have I already heard that it's time for the New York Yankees to panic because they're four games back with 140 games to go, and they've been missing some of their biggest stars in the lineup (some of whom will be returning this weekend)? At least four.
On CNNSI.com, a columnist (I won't even do him the service of mentioning his name, since thats why he made the statement in the first place) is claiming that "there is not a bigger event on the U.S. sports landscape than the NFL Draft. And that includes the Super Bowl." His genius theory is because every American (yes, EVERY American) talks about the NFL draft for three months, but they only talk about the Super Bowl for two weeks. Words do not exist to describe the idiocy of that statement. An entire six-month regular season and a one-month playoff are played, all building up to the World Series, NBA Championship and Stanley Cup. No matter how hard Mel Kiper tries, the draft isn't even on the radar screen of "big" sporting events. But, this columnist got us to mention his column, so he accomplished his goal. -Cyd Zeigler jr.
4.25.2007
New York City Council bans aluminum bats; baseballs next. The latest sign that the apocalypse is near comes out of New York City. The City Council there voted 41-4 to override a mayoral veto of a bill that will ban, as of this September, aluminum bats from any high school baseball games. The 41 misguided councilmembers who voted to take aluminum bats out of kids' hands did so because of some theory that aluminum bats make baseballs move faster, making it tougher for defensive players to get out of their way. That's right it is a theory that has never been proven. The council decided that the unfounded theory was more important than 30 years of playing with aluminum bats.
"I don't think it's the city's business to regulate that," New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg wisely said when he vetoed the bill. Unfortunately, to the city council, everything is their business. The city council is now famously headed by out lesbian Christine Quinn (D-Chelsea).
What's the big deal? College baseball is played with aluminum bats. If you were a coach and you had to choose between recruiting a kid whose been playing with the same equipment for 10 years, or who has been swinging with a different bat, which would you choose?
According to the New York Times, a coalition of aluminum bat makers, coaches and others calling themselves "Don't Take My Bat Away" will seek a federal injunction to stop the implementation of the bill. Let's hope the judges have a little more sense than a bunch of ridiculous career politicians.
What's next? Your guess is as good as mine. The baseballs themselves are far more dangerous than softballs; plan on seeing the city council introduce a bill to force boys to play softball instead of that "deadly" sport of baseball. How about cushions on the boards in hockey? Flag football will replace tackle football. I mean, we have to make sports safe, right? -Cyd Zeigler jr.
4.24.2007
Halberstam: A great one taken away in his prime. One of the greatest sports writers in America's short history has suddenly taken away Monday when David Halberstam was killed in a car crash in Menlo Park, Calif., the Associated Press is reporting. He was 73.
Halberstam is best-known for his novels about politics and sports, and he was widely recognized as a master of both genres. He won a Pulitizer Prize in the '60s for his reporting on the Vietnam War for the New York Times. He also wrote books about Michael Jordan, Bill Walton and the 1949 Yankees-Red Sox pennant race. At the time of his death, he was headed to an interview with NFL Hall of Famer quarterback Y.A. Tittle for his upcoming book The Game, about the 1958 NFL Championship between the Baltimore Colts and the New York Giants, considered one of the greatest football games fo all time.
I will most remember him for The Education of a Coach, an intimate portrayal of Patriots coach Bill Belichick. Halberstam had a way of getting Belichick to open up about his personal and professional life, his thought processes and his mind. The book isn't just a Xs and Os book about football; it's one very intelligent person's perception of one brilliant man's philosophy of coaching and strategy. I have incorporated some of the lessons learned in that book into various aspects of my own life, and they have paid dividends.
Halberstam will be missed by sports nuts, politicos, and inquisitive minds. -Cyd Zeigler jr.
Landis still guilty. When disgraced Tour de France champion Floyd Landis tested positive for banned substances last summer, he went on a whirlwind tour of his own claiming he was innocent. According to French newspaper L'Equipe, he has even more explaining to do. Seven backup samples have all tested positive for a synthetic steroid, virtually sealing his eternal reputation as the Ben Johnson of the cycling world.
No doubt other cyclists take banned substances to illegally improve their performance. But Landis' anointing as the next coming of Lance Armstrong, and his vociferous self-defense last summer, made him the poster child for doping in the sport. I should say the secondary poster child; Amstrong has the top prize all locked up. -Cyd Zeigler jr.
