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7.31.2006
More Doping Scandals: U.S. sprinter Justin Gatlin is the latest elite athlete to be caught up in a drug scandal, after he admitted he tested positive for high testosterone in April. If the test is confirmed, the man who shares the world record in the 100 meters faces a lifetime ban.
Like most who test positive, Gatlin has no idea how any banned substance wound up in his body. But his coach Trevor Graham is at least getting creative, telling the Washington Post that Gatlin "had testosterone cream rubbed into his legs by a massage therapist who carried a grudge against him before the April race at which he tested positive for steroids. & Graham said Gatlin, who faces a lifetime ban from track and field for the positive test for the anabolic steroid, thought the cream was a harmless lotion. Graham said when he walked in on the massage session the therapist hurriedly stuffed a white jar of the substance in his pocket."
Excuse me while I laugh. This is like Barry Bonds saying he thought his huge muscle growth could be explained by him thinking he was using flaxseed oil. Graham's alibi, though, doesn't quite match that of Tour de France winner Floyd Landis, who now says his positive steroid test may have been caused by him drinking Jack Daniels the night before the test.
While both Gatlin and Landis might be acquitted, the use of drugs is so prevalent that we can only scoff at their spin; better they just shut up and wait for all the tests to come through.
Philly Fire Sale: The rich get richer as the New York Yankees acquired Bobby Abreu, a two-time All Star outfielder and starting pitcher Cory Lidle from the Philadelphia Phillies for four minor leaguers. It's a sign the Phillies have given up on the season, while the Yankees are gearing up for the stretch run against the Red Sox.
There was some good news out of Philly, as Chase Utley extended his hitting streak to 31 games. He still is 25 behind the all-time mark of 56, set by Joe DiMaggio in 1941. --Jim Buzinski
7.28.2006
Tour de Doping: The Tour de France, already reeling from suspensions of top riders before the race, may have to disqualify winner Floyd Landis after he tested positive for "an unusual level of testosterone/epitestosterone." If a second test confirms this, Landis could be stripped of his title. Landis, an Ameircan, told Sports Illustrated he did not inject testosterone.
"No, c'mon man," he said. SI gave this as Landis' possible explanation: "The next step, he says, is to submit to an endocrine test that may help him prove that he just happens to be a guy walking around with an inordinate amount of testosterone in his blood. He raised the possibility that the cortisone shots he's been taking for his ravaged right hip -- the hip he'll soon have replaced -- may have had some effect on the test. Then he revealed this: 'I've had a thyroid condition for the last year or so and have been taking small amounts of thyroid hormone. It's an oral dose, once a day.' He raised the possibility that that medication may have skewed the test that appears to damn him."
Arlene Landis, his mom, was less than 100% supportive, telling AP that she wouldn't blame her son if he was taking medication to treat the pain in his injured hip, but "if it's something worse than that, then he doesn't deserve to win. I didn't talk to him since that hit the fan, but I'm keeping things even keel until I know what the facts are. & I know that this is a temptation to every rider but I'm not going to jump to conclusions ... It disappoints me."
It seems that every cycling story has a drug angle; the now-retired Lance Armstrong has been lucky to have never tested positive, meaning he was either the only clean rider out there among the elite riders, or has doctors that know how to beat the test. These days, everyone is under suspicion.--Jim Buzinski
7.27.2006
College Football Homoeroticism: Sports Illustrated's feature on how college football teams bond had straight sports blogs atwitter, especially this shot from Troy University in Alabama. Deadspin quipped, "This photo, from Sports Illustrated's "College Football Summer Bonding" story, is rather obviously more gay than anything at the Gay Games in Chicago last week." I can assure you the football players at Gay Games were in much better shape than these guys. The blog "Everyday Should Be Saturday" held a caption contest; some of the entries were lame, but I did like: ""Hey, you got semen in my offensive linemen! No, you got offensive linemen in my semen!"
What always gets me, though, whenever provocative shots of male jocks are shown, is how squeamish straight guys are. The "ick" factor is quite high for them. "We apologize for this whole post," Deadspin said. "Well that was a nice way to open my Deadspin day. I need to see some girls or something, pronto," said one poster. "Quick, someone post a picture of Anna Benson naked!" said another. I doubt that straight women would feel such a need to demand man flesh if confronted with a picture of a bunch of female athletes cavorting. It just shows how insecure most men are when it comes to sexuality.
Dodgers Blue: In losing to San Diego on Wednesday, the Dodgers are off to their worst post-All Star Game start since 1944. "The Dodgers are 1-13 since the All-Star break, a stretch of futility never before seen by fans in L.A. Since moving from Brooklyn after the 1957 season, they have gone 2-12 on 18 occasions," the L.A. Times said. --Jim Buzinski
7.26.2006
Tom Brady, Watch Model: Would you pay $1,300 for a watch because Tom Brady models one? The folks at Monvado think so. "Movado is all about style and precision and that fits exactly what I try to bring both on and off the field, so I hope it's a long term association," the New England Patriots quarterback said, according to Fashion Week Daily. "A professional athlete's life is highly scheduled. I practically need military discipline to keep pace, so time is definitely something I'm interested in." I've never understood why anyone would buy a product just because an athlete endorsed it, but there's a reason companies spend billions a year doing just that.
From David Letterman: "Did you see the Miss Universe last night? This was ugly -- Miss France was eliminated for head-butting."
Baseball Weirdness: In Major League Baseball this season, it pays to play in the right division. The Oakland A's and Anaheim Angels are each a pedestrian 51-49, but tied for first, with 51-50 Texas only a half-game behind. In contrast, the Chicago White Sox are 59-40, third-best majors record, but 7.5 games behind Detroit, and only a half-game up on the New York Yankees for the wild card. It looks like one good team in the American League will miss the playoffs, while a mediocrity in the West gets in. --Jim Buzinski
7.25.2006
Jock Talk is taking the day off.
7.23.2006
British Open, day 4: There was little doubt about the outcome, really, but on Sunday Tiger Woods clinched the deal with a superb final round at the Royal Liverpool course in Hoylake, England to win his second British Open in a row. That's eleven major titles for him and he's definitely got the record of 18 by Jack Nicklaus in his sights. It looked like hottie Sergio Garcia, playing in an eye-searing yellow outfit, was going to challenge Woods' dominance but he bogeyed four of the first nine holes in the final round and that was that. He looked hot in his tight fitting shirt, though. Chris DiMarco was again Woods' bridesmaid, as he was at last years Masters, finishing two shots behind.
It was an emotional day for Woods and DiMarco. Woods' dad died before the U.S. Open and he wasn't a factor there. In England, of all places, he let his emotions out, sobbing after tapping in his final putt. "I'm kind of the one who bottles things up a little bit and moves on. But at that moment, it just came pouring out. And of all the things that my father has meant to me and the game of golf, I just wish he would have seen it one more time". DiMarco's mom died of a heart attack on the Fourth of July and he was visibly moved when he finished too. It's cool that the two guys weren't afraid to show some feeling and not keep up the automaton pose. Next up, majors wise, is the PGA Championship, being held at Medinah Country Club west of Chicago in mid-August.
Yellow Floyd: Finishing off an up and down week, Floyd Landis held on to win the Tour de France, as the riders ended the grueling race in beautiful Paris. After a disastrous leg on Wednesday that saw him fall eight minutes behind, he mounted an astonishing comeback on Thursday, ending up only 30 seconds behind the leader, Oscar Pereiro. It was gripping, stirring stuff and when he did well at the final time trial on Saturday, the fabled yellow jersey given to the overall winner was all but his. He didn't make any mistakes on Sunday and so he got to ascend the podium and be crowned Tour de France champion.
Landis becomes the third American to win the Tour, following Greg LaMonde and Lance Armstrong. The only blip on his incredible race was that even before the Tour started, two of the favorites, Ivan Basso and Jan Ullrich, were sent home after being linked to a doping scandal in Spain. I saw some "He should have an * next to his name because he didn't race the best field" kinds of comments on message boards this morning, and while that's true, it's also not Floyd Landis' fault that Basso and Ullrich were such cementheads in getting caught. Oh well, cycling goes in to hibernation for another year as far as the American sports public is concerned, but congratulations to Floyd Landis. --Jim Allen
7.22.2006
British Open, day 2: Order was restored to the sporting universe on Friday at the British Open in Hoylake, England. Playing fairly conservatively,
Tiger Woods matched his best score for a round in a major (65) to take a one shot lead over Ernie Els. After a very poor U.S. Open in June, Woods reasserted
himself and this stat should cheer ABC/Disney --Woods doing well = good ratings-- and depress the people chasing him: seven times he's lead after 36 holes
at a major and he ended up winning all seven tournaments. In addition to Els, Chris DeMarco and Retief Goosen are in contention, unlike first round leader
Graeme McDowell. Predictably, he faltered on the second day, shooting a 73 to fall seven strokes behind. Still, that was better than Vijay Singh, who had a
miserable time of it at the Royal Liverpool course and missed his first cut in 15 majors. As usual, it's Tiger Woods' tournament to lose.
Add him
to the list: As I watched the Anaheim Angels lose their second straight game to the Kansas City Royals tonight (!!!!), I noticed that Shea Hillenbrand
had been traded by the Toronto Blue Jays to the San Francisco Giants. Hillenbrand had been mentioned in trade talks between the Jays and Angels and I was
screeching like a deranged hyena on the Angels blogs I go to "Clubhouse toxin! Clubhouse toxin!".
Hillendbrand is a good hitter, but he's been with four
teams now since 2001 and the reason he was dealt from Toronto may indicate why: even though he's a subpar fielder, he complained about DH'ing, he allegedly
wrote "The ship is sinking" on a clubhouse board, almost got in to a fistfight with manager John Gibbon (though Gibbon is far from blameless for that) and
generally was a bit of a disruption.
After a bit of Googling, I found why I remembered him as being less than a fine, upstanding citizen. In the process of
burning his bridges with the Boston Red Sox, he appeared to call General Manager Theo Epstein a fag during a radio interview ca. 2005. Here's his
explanation: "What I said was 'Trade me now, fag.' And I regret saying 'fag,' because that's obviously discriminatory toward homosexual people - I regret
saying that. But I didn't say it toward Theo, I was saying it toward one of the radio show hosts I was bantering with on the show". Um, so presumably, the
DJ asked Hillenbrand a question and he got called a fag for his troubles? Oooookkkkaaaayyyy. So, I think we have another chowderhead athlete to add to the far from complete
Outsports list of anti-gay slurs uttered by athletes and those
connected with sports. --Jim Allen
7.21.2006
British Open, day 1: It was nice to read reports Thursday of the first round of play at the British Open golf tournament in Hoylake, England without
seeing any bitching by the alleged best golfers in the world about the course. It was so dry at the course near Liverpool that fire trucks were parked nearby in case of anything catching fire. However, this is England and some rain over the night before made the fairways and greens quite manageable.
As usual as at a major, a relative unknown is our leader after the first round. He's cutie Northern Irishman Graeme McDowell. I liked this story I read: it seems he was in a pub on Wednesday --tsk, tsk, the night before a major tournament-- when a local lad gave him a tip on his swing. He took the advice and promptly shot a 66 the next day. Pub + kid giving you advice = tournament lead. I like that. There's a gaggle of players behind him, including Tiger Woods, who is one stroke off the lead. Some of the focus is on Phil Mickelson after his meltdown at the U.S. Open and he's in the mix, three strokes back. Lots of golf to go etc. etc.
Silly sanctions: The Zinedine Zidane World Cup headbutting saga came to an end Thursday, and oh how grateful I am for that. French footballer Zidane was suspended for three matches and fined about $6,000 for his moment of insanity in extra time during the World Cup final against Italy. Of course, Zidane has retired, so he'll do community service in lieu of the three match ban. Marco "Your mother and sister are terrorist whores" Materazzi was banned for two Italy matches and fined a little over $4,000 for provoking Zidane. Whew, glad that's done. The English football season starts in a little over a month and hopefully, once the traumatized children who witnessed Zinedine Zidane's bonehead move have recovered --I thought if I read one more sanctimonious windbag clutch his pearls about The Children Witnessing Poor Role Modeling I was going to scream-- perhaps I'll be allowed to enjoy the season without ever hearing about this again.
It figures: Jim B. and I are convinced that what we write on Jock Talk has the power to influence sporting events. Case in point: yesterday, I sounded the death knell for American cyclist Floyd Landis after he imploded on a brutal mountain stage of the Tour de France afer he went in to the stage leading it but lost almost 11 minutes during it. In a Dewey beats Truman moment I wrote "With Floyd Landis all but done --it would take an amazing comeback in the final four days to win...". So what did the Pennsylvanian do on Thursday? He kicked ass, and is now in third place, only 30 seconds off the lead. It's a really stunning reversal of fortune; on Wednesday, Landis looked like he wouldn't even be able to answer the bell on Thursday, let alone be that close to the yellow jersey. If he wins, he can thank Outsports, Jock Talk and me. --Jim Allen
7.20.2006
We are the champions, we are the champions: Jim B. has been calling me from Chicago with results of the Gay Games flag football tournament. He's the quarterback for Team Outsports and Wednesday was the semifinal > final. It was getting late in the day here in Los Angeles and I hadn't heard from him yet. I started wondering if they'd lost and he'd thrown his cellphone in to Lake Michigan or something.
Not to worry: Team Outsports are the gold medalists after beating the San Diego Toros 35-7 to reach the championship game, where they beat the New York Bad Apples 26-13. I know Jim and Cyd were really pumped up for this tournament and to take a team that was a mix of players from Los Angeles and New York and then adding Esera Tuaolo to the mix and winning the title with minimal practice together is really something. Congratulations to Outsports' founders and all the players on Team Outsports! /shameless plugs for the website.
Meltdown: I work with a guy who is a huge cycling fan. He knows cycling like I know English football so it's been fun to hear him talk about the Tour de France. I was reading this entry on Deadspin that was full of snarky praise of American Floyd Landis when my coworker said "Wow, Landis just imploded at the Tour". Um, no, not a lot of work gets done at my office, but he was right: holding the leader's yellow jersey, Landis just disintegrated on the brutal leg, which included 8,668 feet high Col du Galibier, the highest point in this year's Tour. He lost almost 8 minutes on the other climb, La Toussuire, and gave up the yellow jersey to Oscar Pereiro of Spain. It was amazing to watch Landis later on video: it was like a wind-up toy slowing down.
Landis is going to have hip replacement surgery in the fall but he refused to use that as an excuse. "It wasn't lack of food, it wasn't my hip. I just had nothing left". Pereiro is a former teammate of Landis and he was sympathetic afterwards. "I'm very sad about what happened to him. I'm very proud to be in yellow but I wanted to fight him for the yellow jersey". With Floyd Landis all but done --it would take an amazing comeback in the final four days to win-- the final ride in to Paris should be quite interesting. --Jim Allen
7.19.2006
R.E.S.P.E.C.T.: One of things that Jim B. and I mock constantly is the concept of "respect" in sports. It's pretty predictable: some team or player
kinda comes out of nowhere and makes a championship run. They're paired at the final hurdle with a strong team/player that's won it all before. Now, it's
true, some teams/players will take the "It's an honor to be here" route but more often, the whining about not being respected starts at about the second
press conference. One theory posits that it might have something to do with the fact that a lot of athletes are as dumb as a box of hair and that it's easy
for coaches to fire them up with tales of the press hating them and the other team thinking they're garbage.
So, how to explain Tiger Woods? The press fellates him at every opportunity -- the disappointment when he's not in the running at a tournament is palpable -- and the other players on the PGA tour praise him to the skies, with a few "Hey, we're pretty good too" comments thrown in. I've been to England five times and one of the first things I do when I get off the plane at Heathrow is head for a newsagent and stock up on tabloids so I can gawk at the stuff they print. The British tabloids are legendary for
their ability to fan controversy, smear people with snark that would strike an American athlete dead--they're definitely not used to being talked to like
that on this side of the pond--and cause people to sue them for libel.
In advance of the British Open which starts Thursday, the tabloids are licking their chops: Our Lad Nick v. Tiger. Nick Faldo committed the heinous crime of *gasp* criticizing Woods while doing a TV commentator gig in 2005 and the American hasn't forgiven or forgotten. I imagine that when the pairings were announced and Woods and Faldo were drawn together, the Fleet Street hacks danced in the aisles at the muck they could stir. It seems the two haven't spoken in 18 months; remember, these are two grown men. I'm looking forward to the first round of The Open and I'll definitely be scanning the sport headlines at the online editions of The Sun, News of the World and other fine paragons of British journalism on Thursday night.
Steelers death watch: The Anaheim Angels, until they won their title in 2002, were said to be playing under an Indian Burial Ground Curse. The urban legend was that Anaheim Stadium was built on an Native-American burial ground and that's why there were so many bizarre incidents surrounding the team. I think the Pittsburgh Steelers might be the NFL equivalent.
In a story that I read in the Los Angeles Times today (it's behind a registration firewall), the Steelers seem to be cursed as well: a staggering 18 former Steelers have died since 2000. Some were sadly common "athlete not able to handle life after the cheering stops" stories, such as Terry Long committing suicide last year. Others were more macabre: Steve Courson was killed last year when a tree he was cutting down fell on him and crushed him to death. Others are more troubling though because of the possibility that steroids played a part in their deaths.
Former Buffalo Bill's linebacker (and former Saints coach) Jim Haslett admitted last year that he tried steroids while he was playing. He set off a storm of controversy in Pittsburgh by saying, basically, that the Steelers pioneered steroid use in the NFL during their great 70's run. He recanted, of course, but the story in the Times was disturbing because seven of the 18 died were listed of having died of heart related problems. As was pointed out, a number of those cases were of lineman, who are overweight both before and after their careers, but speculation is that they died of steroid-related causes. The Times made it clear that there is no solid proof of that and as such, it must remain speculation, but there's some weird vibes in the Three Rivers area, that's for sure. --Jim Allen
7.18.2006
The end is near: It's pretty much a given that major cycling events like the Tour de France and track meets in general are among the sports that are
awash in performance enhancing drugs. In what is surely a sign of the impending end of the world, golf is now being fingered for possible chemical
enhancement among players. Golf! OK, I'm not even going to get in to the endless debate about golf even being a sport or whether the players are athletes
(yes and yes, for the record) but duffers juicing? Unreal.
The British Open starts Thursday at the Royal Liverpool course in Hoylake, England. The
Royal & Ancient is the governing body for golf rules and they were pressed this week to institute a drug testing policy for the Open. Does this mean that
Tiger, Vijay and Retief are in the locker room getting human growth hormone injected in to their butts by their caddies? Not likely if the two articles I read
about this were accurate.
The French have tested 157 golfers at French-run tournaments and they found 21 percent positive results. However, a closer reading leads one to laugh: what are these supposed performance enchancers being abused? Marijuana, cocaine, ecstasy and sambutamol, which is found in asthma inhalers. While it seemed that Phil Mickelson was on acid when he imploded at the recent U.S. Open, I don't really get how the claim that golf, at least in Europe, needs to instigate a strict testing policy. While I guess someone could take a few puffs to chill out a bit or a line or two to give their play a boost, it seems a bit hysterical to claim there's a drug abuse culture in top-tier golf.
What's a little troubling is the same head-in-the-sand attitude from golf's administrative side that has plagued baseball for over a decade. "There is no particular evidence of drugs helping you in golf, and there is no particular evidence of anyone taking them" claimed Peter Dawson, CEO of the Royal & Ancient. His first claim is absurd on the face of it: anabolic steroids would help a player drive the ball farther and beta-blockers would ease tension, important when putting, for example. As for his second claim, if there's a will --say, taking a drug that will help you win millions for four days work-- then human nature being what it is, then of course performance enhancers are going to be used. Say it ain't so, Tiger, say it ain't so!
Team Outsports splits: I didn't get the full details, but apparently Team Outsports, which numbers Jim B., Cyd and Esera Tuaolo among its players, won one game and lost one in flag football at Monday's Gay Games in a sweltering Chicago. --Jim Allen
7.17.2006
Gay Games memories: I've only been to one Gay Games, the 1994 edition in New York City. I was an outfielder for a C-level softball team based in Los Angeles. New York in the summer, yikes. Having lived most of my life on the West coast, I wasn't used to the humidity. The first night was the opening ceremony. It was amazing to see all the athletes from other countries and to walk through the lighting rig which served as an entry point for all the people in the parade of nations. A big cheer went up when the United States came through on to the main field and it was quite a buzz to hear that.
When I wasn't playing softball, I went to Brooklyn to watch Jim B.'s Team LA play flag football and help run the flag football portion. There were two Los Angeles teams, Team LA and Team West Hollywood, and it was NOT love and kisses between the two squads, that's for sure. I also went to Coney Island and watched some of the ice hockey. I loved watching that because those teams were finally getting a chance to show what they could do in a big gay event. Team Los Angeles smoked Team Vancouver, if I remember right. Ha, take *that* Canucks!
Early on, I was at the main hotel where the check-in was. Everyone had their ID badges on strings around their necks and people would just come up to you and grab it and look at it to see your name and sport. So it was that I grabbed this tall guys badge in an elevator. He played water polo for an East Coast team and was just my type. He was a philosophy major in college so I couldn't believe my luck that this hottie was interested in me AND he could discuss logical positivism. We agreed to meet up later in the week and after some missed communications (this was before cellphones were ubiquitous), we spent a day together. It was the perfect vacation romance: we had lunch, went to the Museum of Modern Art and mocked Monet's effing water lilies--most. boring. paintings. EVER.--walked around some and then went back to my place. It was a magical day and I'll always be grateful to him for hooking up with me out of all the man-meat there.
The softball team I was on got eliminated and this was cool as I could devote my time to Jim B.'s flag football team. It turned out that the final was between the two Los Angeles teams. It was a tense affair, somewhat scrappy. In the second half, Jim B. threw a disastrous interception that was run back almost 60 yards. Our friend Dan, playing with two broken ribs, took off after the guy, caught him and grabbed his flag near the goal line. West Hollywood scored but Jim B. showed what a great player he is by shrugging off the pick and driving his team down for the go-ahead score. He threw a perfectly threaded pass to a guy who was the fourth option and voila! Team LA had the lead with about two minutes to go. After playing some great defense, they held West Hollywood and won the championship. All hype aside, it was one of the most exciting sporting events I've ever seen.
The closing ceremony is something I'll never forget. It was at Yankee Stadium and we entered through the bullpens. I walked through the gate and there it was: *that* field, *that* stadium. I was stunned, it was an amazing thing to experience for this baseball fanatic.
I was so buzzed by the whole experience that I went home and resolved to come out to my boss at work. He was a nice man but he was
also a devout Mormon and so I wasn't sure how he'd react. He was a champ, however, wanting to know all about my team and what kind of hitter I was
(horrible) and so on. I learned something about pre-judging others that day, that's for sure. I still have my medal that they gave all participants and
despite the fact that softball team-wise it wasn't the greatest thing, I'll always treasure the eight days I spent in New York during the summer of 1994. --Jim Allen
7.15.2006
Italians lose on penalties: A mere five days after Italy hoisted the World Cup in Berlin, the Italian football (soccer) world, and European football as a whole, was thrown in to chaos on Friday. In a decision that has implications across Europe, Italian clubs Juventus, AC Milan, Lazio and Fiorentina were
dealt penalties of varying severity for their part in a match fixing scandal that dogged Italy all through their triumphant World Cup campaign. A brief note
for novices: football leagues in most of the world run on the relegation/promotion system. A league will have anywhere from two to four divisions. At the end of the season, the bottom two or three teams in the top division standings are relegated to play in the 2nd tier for the next season. The top two or three teams in the second tier standings come up to replace them. In Italy, the top division is called the Serie A, the next level Serie B and so forth.
On Friday, an Italian sports tribunal ruled that the four teams, and individuals involved with them, were guilty of trying to fix matches by jobbing the referees who officated at matches, among other charges. Juventus, who have won the most Serie A titles with 29, were slapped silly by the tribunal: they are relegated from Serie A to Serie B, are stripped of their last two Serie A titles, had 44 points stripped from their 2005/06 season (meaning no Champions League or UEFA Cup for them) and perhaps worst of all, must start next season in Serie B with a staggering 30 point handicap before the first ball of the season is kicked, making a quick return to Serie A highly unlikely.
To put this in an American perspective: it's as if the New York Yankees were demoted to AAA ball, had their last two World Series titles stripped from Monument Park, had to trade most of their starting lineup for peanuts while starting their season in AAA already 20 games behind before a pitch is even thrown. It's a stunning penalty and, obviously, Juvenutus and their supporters are howling.
The other teams didn't get whacked as badly but it was still bad: Fiorentina are relegated to Serie B with a
twelve-point deficit, Lazio Relegated to Serie B with seven-point deficit and Milan stay in Serie A but start with a 15-point deficit, which almost ensures that they will be relegated to Serie B at the end of the season. In addition, they are docked 44 points from last season, which = no European football for them.
The implications are vast. In England, relegation is often referred to as "The 20 million pound [roughly 36 million dollars] difference". That's because when a team is relegated, they lose out on the top division's television money and revenue sharing, the amounts of which drop off drastically
as you go down each division. Because of the loss of revenue, teams often have fire sales on their top players, meaning they often struggle in the new division, meaning they can't go back up to the higher division immediately. In addition, they lose out on the chance to play in the lucrative Champions League, which, if a team has a good run to the quarterfinals can mean up to an extra $50 million in revenue.
Of course, as is often the case in life, one person's misfortune is another's opportunity and that is the case here. Juventus supplied five starters for the Italian World Cup squad and the story wasn't even on the wires for three hours before all the big clubs in Europe were offering the four clubs cut-rate deals for their top players. The four teams made defiant noises about not being picked clean, but the reality is they will have no choice but to sell their best players. Obviously, the clubs will appeal the decision but every article I read seemed to think that they didn't have much of a chance of reversing it. Enjoy playing in crappy stadiums with shitty locker rooms before smaller crowds next season Juve, Lazio (you Fascist loving bastards) and Fiorentina. --Jim Allen
7.14.2006
Baseball, part two: With baseball resuming last night, I thought I'd look at what the second half of the baseball season might have in store.
The Detroit Tigers have been the surprise of the season so far, with a major league best 60 wins. Can they sustain that? I don't really think
so--they're clicking on all cylinders now but they haven't really put any distance between them and the champion Chicago White Sox, who are only 2.5 games
out. I expect the Tigers to wake up in September and realize they're the Tigers and so the more experienced and deeper White Sox should win the Central
Division.
I'd love to see the Toronto Blue Jays end the Eastern division hegemony of the *shudder* Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees *shudder* However, I think David Ortiz is determined to carry the Sawx to the playoffs on his back and I think he'll succeed. The Yankees are aging and have the feel of "last hurrah" about them. It's not been uncommon for both to teams to make the playoffs as division winner/wild card in recent years, but look for the second place team in the Central to snag it this time.
Jim Morrison of The Doors once sang "The West is the best, the West IS the best", but alas, the Western division blows this year. The current leader, the Oakland A's, would be in fourth place in the other two divisions, but with the last place Seattle Mariners only three games out, it might be a case of who's the least mediocre deciding the division. The A's are second half chokers, the Texas Rangers have their usual mix of great hitting and iffy pitching and the Anaheim Angels are in a 'tween situation: they want to unload some deadwood to give some of their hot prospects a shot, but they're in a division that they can win, so it's sink or swim with what they've got. I'm getting a vibe about the Mariners, but, homerism aside, I expect the Angels to win the division and then promptly get swept by whoever they play in the first round of the playoffs.
The National League is a little more clear cut. In the Eastern division, it will take a Mets collapse of historic proportions --like, oh say, the Angels of 1995 or the Cubs of 1969-- to lose the division. They're 12 games up as I type this and even if they stumble a bit in the dog days and cause mass panic amongst their fans, I think they'll end the Atlanta Braves record of winning 14 straight division titles. For that alone, sending the dull, underachieving Braves and their weak fans home early, the Mets will deserve praise.
The St. Louis Cardinals lead the Central Division by four games as I type this, but this is the most intriguing division so far this season. The fourth place team, the Milwaukee Brewers, are only six games out and while it may be a year too early for their young talent, the Houston Astros and Cincinnati Reds are ready to contend, now. The Astros got off to typically awful start, but they're playing better and the Reds have made some moves to shore up the appallingly bad Arson Squad bullpen. I suspect that the division hinges on whether Albert Pujols stays healthy for the Cardinals. As an aside, Cards shortstop (and ex-Angel of course) David Eckstein is totally freaking adorable.
Bizarrely, Western division is a mirror of its AL counterpoint: a bunch of poor teams that are tightly bunched together. Only five games separate the San Diego Padres at the top and the Arizona Diamondbacks at the bottom. Naturally, I'd love nothing more than the Dodgers to go on a 75-game losing streak, but alas, they've rebuilt from sabremetrics idiot Paul DePodesta's disastrous reign as General Manager and
have a real shot to win the division. The Padres have an old-ish squad, and like the Yankees, I get a "better win this year or it's time to rebuild" vibe from them. With a division this close and so many inter-division games remaining, I'll have to fall back on the old cliche: "It's anybody's ballgame!" --Jim Allen
7.13.2006
Mr. Enlightened: Openly gay former NFL player Esera Tuaolo spoke on sexual orientation at a rookie symposium last month in San Diego. The event was a very positive step forward and Tuaolo was glowing in his praise of the reaction from the soon-to-be NFL players. There was one discordant note when he was asked by one player: "Is it offensive if I call you a faggot if you are a faggot?"Profootballtalk.com said it has been told by two sources that the player in question was USC star running back Lendale White. No one has yet asked White if it was him and Tuaolo told Outsports he had no idea who the player was. Tuaolo also stressed the positive, saying one bad reaction out of 300 people is pretty good. We agree with him. The story should be the support Tuaolo received, not one homophobic comment.
Zidane speaks: French soccer star Zinedine Zidane told his side of the story (sort of) on why he head-butted Italy's Marco Materazzi in the World Cup final,
causing his ejection. "It is very offensive, very personal. It affects my mother, my sister. These are very hard words," he said to French TV.
"So you hear it once and then you try to walk away, and I do walk away. Then he repeats that for a second time. And the third time, well, I'm a
human being. There are some words sometimes, which can be harder than ... Well, I'd rather have received a right-hand punch in the [face]
rather than hear that."
While apologizing to any children let down by his actions, Zidane insisted he had no regrets. "I can't say I
have any regrets about what I did because that would be like admitting that he (Materazzi) had every reason to say what he said," Zidane said.
He added that, "The reaction must be punished, but if there had been no provocation, there would have been no reaction. Do you think that two
minutes from the end of a World Cup final, two minutes from the end of my career, I wanted to do that?"
Materazzi has admitted to goading Zidane, but denies saying anything personal. "I didn't say anything to him involving racism, religion or politics, and neither did I say anything about his mother," Materazzi said. "I lost my mother when I was 15 years old, and I'm very sensitive about mothers. Zidane has always been for me a myth, and I admire him greatly."
I could have totally understood Zidane decking the Italian after the match if the
insults were that vile, but doing it during the match hurt his team and played right into Italy's hands.--Jim Buzinski
7.12.2006
In Support of Gay Marriage: New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft and Stacey Lucchino, wife of Boston Red Sox chief executive Larry Lucchino, are among signatories to an ad urging the Massachusetts legislature to reject a proposed amendment that would ban gay marriage. The body must twice endorse the amendment and then it would go to the voters (likely in 2008) to overturn the state supreme court's 2004 ruling allowing gay marriage.
Kraft, his wife and Lucchino's wife were among 165 business and civic leaders who urged the legislature to reject the amendment. The executive director of the Catholic Action League, which is against gay marriage, ripped into the sports execs. "`One marvels at the brazen effrontery of the leadership of the Patriots and the Red Sox, both of whom have gone to the Legislature seeking special interest handouts from the taxpayers, now complaining that the General Court has more important issues to worry about than the definition of marriage, the bedrock of our social order," C.J. Doyle said in a statement, according to the Boston Globe.
Doyle should stuff it. The Catholic Church, as a tax-exempt organization, gets special treatment from the government, yet that doesn't stop it from butting into the political arena. Bravo to the Krafts and Mrs. Lucchino for standing up for what they believe in, especially in defiance of the powerful church.
AL Wins Again: The American League rallied for two runs in the top of the ninth inning on a triple by Texas' Michael Young to beat the National League, 3-2, in baseball's All Star Game, the ninth straight win for the AL.
The win assures that the American League will have home-field advantage for the World Series. Using an exhibition to decide something potentially that important is one of the more asinine things in sports. To show how much appeal the All Star Game has lost, there was not one message on Outsports' Discussion Board afterwards. No one cares about the game any more and there are much better things to do than listen to Joe Buck and Tim McCarver blather on for three hours. --Jim Buzinski
7.11.2006
Johnny Weir to Appear in Heels: On a slow summer sports news day, thank heavens for figure skater Johnny Weir. We learn from the Dallas Morning News that Weir describes his fashion look as "very androgynous." We also discover "he makes his modeling debut in the next Heatherette fashion show in New York this September. And an upcoming avant-garde fashion spread in Black Book magazine showcasing him in a Chanel dress and heels will surely raise some eyebrows. No doubt, the fashion industry will be ready for him when he hangs up his skates."
On hiswesbite , Weir also catches us up with what he's been up to since the Olympics: "In other news, my family has a new addition, a new miniature Jack Russell named Nikita. He is the youngest of our five little dogs. We have Bon Bon, Sam, Vanya, Augustusz and Nikita. I am loving the summer sales right now! Christina Aguilera's album is going to be hot. I am so excited for 'The Devil Wears Prada' film to come out. I turn twenty two soon which makes me feel very old. I have a new found love of swan diving off the side of a boat. I have a new passion for sprinting. Irina sent me the song of Cheburashka as a ringtone, so my phone plays Cheburashka. That's all for now. If something wonderful or shitty happens I'll let you know. "
It's easy to be a big fan of Weir -- what other athlete would promise to let us know if anything shitty is happening? Or show up in a fashion spread in heels? Or admit that he "recently splurged on a Balenciaga army coat and a hoodie by Libertine with a skull made out of rhinestones on the back"? Weir gets my vote for sportsman of the year.
Zidane Still Not Talking: A day after the head butt heard around the world, French soccer star Zinadine Zadane still won't say why he went after Italy's Marco Materazzi. Zidane appeared in public briefly at a rally in Paris and has promised to talk, but so far all we have is speculation that Materazzi called him either a "dirty terrorist" or and "Arab terrorist." Zidane's parents are from Algeria. "It is absolutely not true, I did not call him a terrorist. I'm ignorant. I don't even know what the word means," the Italian news agency Ansa quoted Materazzi as saying. He doesn't know what "terrorist" means? Maybe the Italian education system is worse than we thought.
There is also speculation from the video that Materazzi grabbed Zidane's nipple and twisted seconds before the head butt. I watched the footage in slow motion and Materazzi definitely grabbed Zidane's shirt in the nipple area and yanked; a few seconds later he was head-butted. A Brazilian TV station hired a lip reader who claims the Italian called Zidane's sister a prostitute. Whatever the provocation, it still doesn't excuse Zidane from doing what he did, especially with the World Cup on the line.
Ironically, Zidane was awarded the Golden Ball, given to the World Cup's top player. The award was voted on by the media at halftime, well before the head butt. Zidane is now calling it a career, which prompted David Letterman to quip that he was retiring "so he could spend more time head-butting his family."--Jim Buzinski
7.10.2006
Zidane Loses It and So Does France: You have to give some credit to French star Zinadine Zadane for his now infamous head butt to the chest of Italy's Marco Materazzi in the waning minutes of the World Cup final: In true soccer fashion, he didn't use his hands. But the shocking incident that led to Zidane's expulsion in his final game before retiring is all anyone is talking about (For the record, Italy won on penalty kicks, 5 to 3 after a 1-1 draw). The French feed of the head butt had been viewed an amazing 1 million times by Monday morning on You Tube, where you could also watch it in Japanese, Italian and German.
It's impossible to find an American sports equivalent to his actions; it would be as if John Elway, in his last game in the Super Bowl, got thrown out in the third quarter for fighting. Zidane wasn't talking after and no one knew what Materazzi might have said to piss him off. Zidane has acted this way before in matches, but losing his head at that moment Sunday was incomprehensible.
As for the game itself, Outsports reader Metromathis summed it up well: "It was a microcosm of the tournament, featuring controversial calls, beautiful goals, botched offsides calls, red cards ... and lots of great plays." The ending was anticlimactic, though, and they need to get rid of penalty kick shootouts in the final -- first goal in OT wins. This is how the Stanley Cup playoffs work and some of the most memorable contests have been marathons. The soccer "purists" I was watching the game with had all sorts of excuses about why sudden death wouldn't work (the players would be too tired, they would go into a defensive shell) but none were convincing. It's hard to feel one team is superior when they've scored the same number of goals. Neither goalie came close to stopping a penalty kick, with France's one miss hitting the crossbar and falling inches short -- Zidane would not have missed that kick.
As for Italy, they will not be a popular champion -- one friend called them the Oakland Raiders for their dirty play, another the Baltimore Ravens for their plodding defensive style. And they couldn't even beat the U.S. As for Zidane, I hear the WWF needs a new villain.
Wimbledon: Amelie Mauresmo deserves huge credit for her first Wimbledon title. No one will ever doubt her mental toughness again. And the fact that she's an out lesbian is becoming more and more irrelevant to reporting on her career, itself a small step forward. On the men's side, Roger Federer proved he could beat Rafael Nadal, winning his fourth Wimbledon title in a row in four sets. Nadal and Federer have become so dominant that fans feel cheated in they don't play in the final of any tournament they enter.--Jim Buzinski
7.8.2006
Man in tights: This morning a top headline on AOL News is MAN IN EYELINER VS. MAN IN TIGHTS. While the world goes into meltdown around us, AOL News evidently has nothing better to do than tweak the gay thing while Pirates of the Caribbean and Superman Returns do battle at the box office. It's a pathetic attempt to shore up the stereotype that men of action -- including athletes -- are supposed to be heterosexual.
Not to mention that Superman Returns is directed by openly gay Bryan Singer and stars Brandon Routh, whose publicist has issued denials that he's gay. Or that Johnny Depp has set off his own raging rumors, especially after playing a wild bi in Libertine, which didn't make it into wide theatrical release because it was deemed too "gay" for mainstream audiences. AOL goes on to pose the truly brain-dead question: "Can a man who wears makeup overpower a superhero?" Um, yes...if the man who wears makeup has a better place-kick. --Patricia Nell Warren
Get your GuillenTini! Get your GuillenTini right here! Via Deadspin comes the mind boggling story that proves that capitalism has no shame when it comes to making money. The Kit Kat Lounge and Supper Club -- how very Cabaret -- in Chicago is offering until the end of the baseball season a concoction called The Effen Ozzie GuillenTini. Of course! It doesn't sound too bad, a mixture of fruits and vodka, though, of course, martini purists would shudder at the mere thought (paging my friend Patrick, paging martini snob Patrick).
The co-creator of this potential abomination says in the Chicago Sun-Times that "Guillen has been a supporter of the gay community. What he said was no big deal, and we wanted people to know it's time to get over it". I don't agree with any of the three parts of that statement but hey, I'm an old Queer Nation radical queer, so, whatever. If you're in Chicago for the upcoming Gay Games, drop in to the Kit Kat and down a Effen Ozzie GuillenTini for me.
It figures: One bit of luck that the World Cup has had is weather. It's actually been a little too hot for a football tournament. However, now that only the third place game between hosts Germany and diving, whining, crying Portugal on Saturday in Stuttgart and the final between 1998 winners France and diving, whining, crying Italy on Sunday in Berlin remain to be played, the forecast is for, of course, rain and thundershowers all weekend in both cities. Neither venue has a roof and it would be a real shame if either game were bogged down by a mudbath pitch. If it does rain, expect a lot of Seattle Seahawks-esque "Well, if [weather, referees calls that go against them, the movement of sunspots on the Sun etc.] hadn't happened, we'd have won" from the loser's fans. --Jim Allen
7.7.2006
All-Star rostzzzz: I love baseball, but oh how the All-Star game bores me to tears. I haven't watched one in years, to be honest, and
this year will be no exception. The biggest problem I have with the game is the fact that fans get to choose the starting lineups, not the players or managers. This is years ago, but it seemed like Cal Ripken would be having a dog year and he'd still be the starting American League shortstop. Even worse is what I called "The Eighty Game Wonder".
That's a player who's had a great half-season but by the end of the year is pretty averaget. At the start
of the season, the Detroit Tigers Chris Shelton had a bunch of stories written about him, about how he was going to be the new elite power hitter in the American League, blah blah blah. Cue Shelton going in to a 7-for-53 slump that he's only recently started to emerge from. I know it's not viable, really, to do an All-Star game after the season; they'd have to hold it in Arizona every year, as Pittsburg, this year's host city, would likely not be hospitable in late October.
It also doesn't help for me that Commissioner Bud "Beezlebud" Selig made the really bonehead move a few years ago of making the league that wins the All-Star game the league that gets homefield advantage in the World Series. In a tenure littered with mind-numbingly bad decisions, that surely ranks in the Top 5. How lame is it that baseball doesn't decide on that crucial thing based on records? It was bad enough when they alternated it between leagues, but the new format is miles worse. Oh well, at least that means I don't have to worry about how badly the Angels of Anaheim are playing defense for four days next week. Good luck to the American League on Tuesday, because on the one-in-eight bazillion chance the Angels make the World Series this year, I'd like for them to have the home field advantage.
Diving ist Scheisse: I've really enjoyed the World Cup so far this year, despite teams I was rooting for (England, Germany, Czech Republic, Ghana) faltering at various stages. One thing that's been bad, really really bad, is the diving and playacting. It's hard to convince skeptics of what a wonderful sport the real football is when those two things are such a big part of the games. Thanks to Fox Soccer Channel, I'm able to watch a variety of leagues. In England, diving is just not fair cricket and is pretty much discouraged.
It's hilarious watching the Argentinian league, though, as the players go down like a sack of rocks in the box if a defender even breathes on them. What's worse is the universal rolling around like someone's attacked the player with a machete and then voila! said macheted player gets up and runs perfectly *after* the ref has bought their lame-ass act and given the opposing player a card (see: Jim B.'s example of Thierry Henry from yesterday).
Franz Beckenbauer is a towering figure in international football, having won the World Cup for Germany in 1974 (as a player) and in 1990 (as a coach). He wants the sport's governing body, FIFA, to crack down on diving and playacting and he might have the pull to get a serious discussion going. One solution is to take a page from the NHL and have a second referee. I think, on the whole, the referee's do a good job in very trying circumstances.
However, you have these middle-aged guys who might not be in the greatest of shape trying to keep up with some of the best conditioned athletes on the planet. They simply can't keep an eye on everything that goes on (such as players elbowing an opponent away from the play) as the games are currently structured so a second referee might be a good move. A more radical solution would be that penalty kicks would only be given for obvious handballs in the 18-yard box. It's an interesting idea, but it has about as much chance of happening as Trinidad & Tabago winning the World Cup in 2010. --Jim Allen
7.6.2006
World Cup Final Set: After nearly a month of play, the World Cup final has come down to Italy vs. France after the Tricolor's 1-0 win over Portugal. France has reached its second final in the past three cups and faces an Italian team that last reached the final in 1994/
France won on a penalty kick by the great Zinedine Zidane in the 33rd minute. It summed up the worst part about the World Cup -- the magnitude of an official's call. France's Thierry Henry was making a run at the penalty area when Portugal's Ricardo Carvalho attempted a tackle but kicked Henry on the shin. On cue, Henry fell into a heap as if both legs had been amputated. It wasn't the worst acting job we saw or a truly horrible call, but the foul was ticky-tack and certainly not worthy of a penalty kick. With such kicks being almost automatic, the referee in essence handed France the deciding goal.
It wasn't as bad as the penalty kick awarded Italy in their elimination match against Australia in the final minute (the Italian player should have won an Oscar for his writing performance), but it showed that soccer has no match for having the refs play such a big role in the outcome. It would be like certain fouls in the NBA giving a team 15 free throws in the fourth quarter, or in the NFL all pass interference calls spotted at the 1-yard line.
We come to the end of the Cup that has been average at best. There have been some great matches (Poland-Germany, France-Brazil, Germany-Italy come to mind) but a lot of snoozers (anything involving England) and a raft of crapola yellow and red cards. Nothing has matched the excitement of the first two rounds of matches, where all 32 teams were alive and played inspired soccer. Too often in the elimination matches teams have played not to lose and the result (to my admittedly untrained eye) has been flashes of brilliance surrounded by action not much more riveting than a test pattern. Let's hope the final does not end 0-0 and is decided by penalty kicks. --Jim Buzinski
Barbaro Improves: The holiday brought welcome news from the horse-racing front. Barbaro is doing better. It is more than a month since the Preakness, when the colt broke his right hind leg in 20 places. Tuesday a TVG newsbreak showed him enjoying a nice bath with the hose and giving his handlers a little grief. Barbaro is still at the New Bolton equine hospital in Pennsylvania, where he just got a new cast and two new screws in the leg.
Larry Bramlage, the noted veterinarian who operated on Barbaro and still supervises his care, is now a TV star. But he takes it in stride. Recently he told TheHorse.com, "The overall coverage of Barbaro has brought the public up to speed on what we can do with an injury like that." --Patricia Nell Warren
7.5.2006
The Germans are pissed. After holding Italy scoreless for 118 minutes in their World Cup semifinal match, the Italians found the goal twice in the final three minutes of extra time and handed the home team their first loss of the tournament, 2-0.
In five World Cup meetings, Germany has never beaten Italy, and the Italians have bested the Germans three times. Italy was last in the World Cup finals in 1994 in the United States, losing in a shootout to Brazil.
A shootout was where this game was headed, until Fabio Grosso kicked home the winning goal in the 119th minute. The Germans, no doubt, were hoping for a shootout, as their record historically in matches decided by shootout is much better than that of the Italians.
France and Portugal play today for the right to meet Italy in the finals on Sunday. -Cyd Zeigler jr.
A streaker at Wimbledon? Good heavens! A streaker upset the ladies and gents at the All-England club on Tuesday, dropping his clothes and running onto the court during the quarterfinal match between No. 4 Maria Sharapova and No. 7 Elena Dementieva.
"I heard the crowd go a little wild," Sharapova said, "and I looked back and saw the man jumping up and down." Your guess is as good as mine as to what else was jumping up and down.
While a naked guy running around on some grass is always good for a laugh, it's also a bit scary. A fan ran onto a court in 1993 and stabbed Monica Seles, ending the dominance of her play (she won eight Majors before the stabbing; only one after). Sharapova said it took about 10 seconds for any security to reach the court; 10 seconds is way too long to have a crazy man running around potential targets. -Cyd Zeigler jr.
7.4.2006
Happy Independence Day! We at Outsports wish all Americans a Happy Independence Day. Whether you're enjoying some tennis in England, the World Cup semifinals, or you're watching your favorite baseball team, we hope you take a moment to remember the unique events of July 4, 1776, and that you pause a moment to pay homage to them.
Beckham Bows Out. So tomorrow we have Germany playing Italy for semi-final one. Next day it's Portugal playing France for semi-final two. The winner of that match will play for the World Cup next Sunday. I'll predict it will will be Germany v. France. Interesting combination, considering the world history between the two countries. Also interesting: how the U.S. English-language media coverage slacked off on covering the World Cup after the U.S. was eliminated.
Meanwhile there was the press conference this morning as David Beckham resigned from being captain of the English national football team. He was in tears. In the match with Portugal, he was clearly off form, gimping along, and had said he was not well in the match with Ecuador. Sad chapter-end in the career of the brilliant and colorful "metrosexual" player whose free-kicks were immortalized in the film title "Bend It Like Beckham." Hopefully his story will go on after he gets himself well. Nothing has been said, as far as I know, about the exact nature of his health problems. Earlier this year, Beckham said he wanted to go on playing with Real Madrid. At issue was whether el Real is going to continue its policy of buying high-profile players from other countries. -Patricia Nell Warren
7.3.2006
Americans suffer defeat in England before Independence Day: Every year, the Americans seem to do incredibly well at Wimbledon, which has long coincided with Independence Day. But for the first time in nearly 100 years, no Americans will play in the Wimbledon quarterfinals.
The biggest disappointment is probably Andre Agassi; though he was not favored to win his match against No. 2 Rafael Nadal, given how much Nadal has struggled on any surface by clay, there was a decent chance Agassi could get past him. Unfortunately, Nadal, the biggest fraud in tennis in years, made it through.
The final American to be ousted was Shenay Perry, who lost 6-2, 6-0 on Monday to seventh-seeded Elena Dementieva.
In all 23 Americans entered the women's and men's tournament, with the likes of Venus Williams, who won the tournament last year, presenting the best chance of winning. Alas, they'll all be celebrating Independence Day after, ironically, suffering defeat in England. -Cyd Zeigler jr.
7.1.2006
Germany in World Cup semifinals: Holy crap, what a football match in Berlin on Friday. In muggy conditions at the great Olympicstadion, Germany
pulled off a famous win, winning on penalty kicks against Argentina to advance to the semifinal against Italy, who beat a very poor Ukraine 3-0 in Hamburg.
The first half in Berlin was a tense affair, with Argentina content to lay back defensively and soak up the Mannschaft pressure, while hoping to poach a goal
on the counter.
As is common, a goal completely changed the complexion of the game. Roberto Ayala's 49th minute header for the Argentinians silenced the vociferous German crowd and it was real nail biting stuff for the next 30 minutes or so. Polish born German striker Miroslav Klose's 80th minute goal set up a very tense finale and Gremany prevailing on penalty kicks 4-2. It was also a very well refereed game by Slovakian Lubos Michel, which was a relief after some of the atrocious work in the group stages. Unfornately, a brawl between the two teams *after* the penalty kicks marred an otherwise enthralling contest, but it's a minor blot on a match that will be talked about for years.
People complain to me "Why should such a big game be decided by penalty kicks?". The game Friday was a perfect example why. First, after the thirty minutes of extra time, it was blatantly obvious that both teams had completely run out of gas and the game degenerated in to a "foul to get 30 seconds of rest" kind of thing. If it was a sudden death format, the games would last four hours because both teams would put eight defenders back, playing not to lose.
Secondly, the penalty shootout is just incredible drama. My retort to people that whine about it? "Why do I suspect that you had no problem with a freaking field goal kicker, who some football players don't even consider a real football player, winning how many Super Bowls in the last few seconds?". Cue the crickets on their part. In any case, hottie German coach Jurgen Klinsmann's controversial decision to go with in form Arsenal goalkeeper Jens Lehmann paid off big time as he made two saves against Ayala and Esteban Cambiasso's penalty kicks. A great win for the hosts and I hope they stuff the diving, whining Italians 148-0 in the semifinal on Tuesday.
Tour starts under cloud: I'm still kind of shocked after reading a bunch of online articles about it earlier today, but it's unreal that the Tour de France, which starts today, didn't even get to the first starting line before being engulfed in a doping scandal. With Lance Armstrong retired, this Tour was, to the use the sports cliche, "wide open for anyone to win". Instead, two of the favorites, Jan Ullrich and Ivan Basso, were just the big names sent home before even pedaling a metre after a recent doping investigation in Spain spilled over to the Tour. The Spanish investigation linked over 50 riders on various teams to a doctor, Eufemiano Fuentes, after Fuentes was busted in May with performance-enhancing drugs.
I'm a casual cycling fan, loving the Tour every year, but this is getting absurd. As a friend said to me the other day, "They should just give up. Almost everyone dopes, just accept it that doping *is* the level playing field". While I admire my friends combination of resignation and cynicism and generally approve of a "better living through chemistry" aesthetic, I can't see that happening any time soon. The fragile credibility of the sport would nosedive if the authorities gave up prosecuting dopers, but it's hard to see anything substantial being done. It's common sense that the chemists are always going to be ahead of the testers as long as there's the money and prestige involved in winning the Tour de France. It's just sad that such a cool sport gets written about for the wrong reasons, such as soccer and its hooligans. It's a cliche, but the Tour really is wide open for anyone to win now. --Jim Allen
6.30.2006
Aussie, Aussie, Oy Vey: When Jim B. and Cyd jetted off to Sydney in 2002 for the Gay Games, I had the grave misfortune of being responsible for
reading the piles of e-mail that Outsports gets each day. Amid the "increase your dick size" spam, helpful tips that a link was broken and suggestions about
stories were a subset of e-mails that I call "Sports Illustrated Amnesia". These often stunningly angry missives accused Outsports of all sorts of heinous
crimes against the gay community, the main one being that the sports content was used to mask the real intent of Outsports: being a porno website. I gave up
replying "Um, SI's swimsuit issue, hello?" after the third or fourth such tirade.
I was reminded of this when I read a story about an Australia-based
website called Gayfooty.com. Gayfooty.com is for the gay fan of AFL (i.e. Aussie rules football) and a quick tour shows a lively, fun site despite a questionable color (colour?) scheme. The site recently made the news when the AFL Players Association (ALFPA) sent a letter to the website adminstrator asking that all pictures of the players in the locker room and showers be removed. Regular visitors to this site know that Jim B. and Cyd were embroiled in a lawsuit over photos on the site.
The AFLPA's insistence that they would have done the same thing if the website was called "Sheilas Drooling Over Pictures of Footy Players In The Shower" is risible on the face of it and from this comment from the Melbourne paper The Age's website comments section, others aren't buying that either: "It is Ok for AFL players to pose for the annual "beefcake" calendar but those same photos can't be used on a gay site. It is a matter of privacy the Players Association say but obviously those players weren't worried about privacy when they posed for the photos. It is only an issue of privacy if gay men want to see the photos but it is ok if straight woman want to see the photos. Interesting concept of privacy!".
Apart from that apparent hypocrisy is the idea, also put forth by the plaintiff in the Outsports lawsuit, that the mere presence of a person's photo on a gay-related website is defamatory and insulting and makes them the object of ridicule and scorn. I've never seen it adequately explained how a website that 99.99% of the straight world (and a very large percentage of the GLBT one as well) doesn't even know exists is causing emotional trauma by posting publicly available pictures. It's hilarious to see how, out of curiosity after reading about such flaps, people will go to the site to check out the pictures, thus.....wait for it....possibly making them the object of ridicule etc. because they pointed the website out.
In an amusing sidenote, in The Age's article about this, it seems that in 1993 rugby league player Andrew Ettinghausen successfully sued the magazine HQ after they published a picture that showed a bit of his willy. It was his reasoning that cracked me up: "Ettinghausen claimed that the photograph exposed his penis and held him up to public ridicule and contempt". Um, dude, depends: if you're hung like Jim Thome, it wouldn't be ridicule and contempt that people would be expressing, I assure you. If you're not, well, maybe you had a point. --Jim Allen
6.29.2006
A day of records and runs: Funny how things like this add up at the same time. There were a bunch records and streaks that were set or were kept alive on Wednesday. Here's a sampling:
NBA Draft - The University of Connecticut tied the record for most players drafted in the first round with four: Rudy Gay went to Houston at 8; center Hilton Armstrong was picked by New Orleans at 12; and Marcus Williams and Josh Boone both went to the New Jersey Nets with the 22nd and 23rd picks. A fifth former Husky went to Seattle with the 40th pick. The fivesome was knocked out of the NCAA tournament by upstart George Mason in the Elite Eight; not a single Patriot was drafted.
MLB - The Pittsburgh Pirates officially suck. Not only could Barry Bonds still be hitting home runs for them, but they are still in a record losing streak - 13 games as of Wednesday night - that is the longest in franchise history. They're now over halfway to tying the MLB record for straight losses (23); and assuming they post a losing record this season, they'll be just three seasons short of tying the MLB record for consecutive losing seasons. A girl can hope!
Tennis - Roger Federer extended his record-breaking string of consecutive wins on grass to 43 with a spanking of Tim Henman, 6-4, 6-0, 6-2, in front of the Brit's home crowd. Henman has been a Wimbledon semifinalist four times; always the flowergirl, never the bride. -Cyd Zeigler jr.
6.28.2006
Insight into the genius of Ozzie Guillen and John Rocker: A couple big names in the Ozzie Guillen "faggot" story have offered their thoughts in the last couple of days, painting a worse picture about homophobia in baseball than I certainly would have painted.
John Rocker, who started the parade of homophobic comments in the press in late 1999, called the sensitivity training that Ozzie Guillen has been ordered by Major League Baseball to take a "farce," saying he never sat through his sensitivity training that MLB ordered him to take.
"The guy told me when I got there I had to show up to make it look good for people, so after about 15 minutes I left and walked right out of the room and it satisfied the powers that be," Rocker told the Chicago Tribune. This was after Guillen told a Spanish-speaking media outlet that he didn't intend to engage in the sensitivity training, before he back-tracked faster than Lance Armstrong denying his use of performance-enhacing drugs.
Afterelton.com posted an interview they did with with Greg Couch, the Chicago Sun-Times columnist who originally exposed Guillen's "faggot" comment and called on MLB commissioner Bud Selig to take action against Guillen.
Asked what he thought about Guillen's attitudes toward gay people, Couch said: "He doesn't hate them. I think he just thinks of gays as not being men. So that's how he insults Mariotti. People have emailed me and said, 'Come on, fag doesn't mean gays, it means not brave or courageous.' I mean, it's unbelievable."
Asked if baseball was more homophobic than other sports, Couch said: I don't think baseball is more homophobic than football. I don't know. I think in sports in general you find more homophobia."
The dumbest comment was not surprisingly from Rocker. I hear this argument way too much from people who are simply not informed about the First Amendment:
"This is a free country. If he wants to use a lewd term, he should be able to use a lewd term," Rocker told the Chicago Tribune. "Can't you use a lewd term in America if you want?"
Yes, you can. You can use any lewd term you want. And the First Amendment protects you from punishment by the government for using a lewd term. But, the private sector is another issue. If your employer wants to fire you for using a term like that, they can. Major League Baseball is well within its rights ordering Rocker and Guillen to sensitivity training; and the public is well within in rights to criticize the homophobic comments by baseball players and skewer the players for it.
A "real man" would be able to take that criticism, not act like a little whiner stomping his feet and saying, "I'm not doing this training." Say what you want just be ready to take your punishment. -Cyd Zeigler jr.
6.26.2006
Four favorites advance: Half of the quarterfinal teams are set in the World Cup; and, unfortunately, there are no surprises. Germany, Argentina, England and Portugal all continued their winning ways this weekend as none have lost a game during this World Cup. That will, of course, change in the quarterfinals when two of these teams are sent packing -Cyd Zeigler jr.
I want to smack somebody: As I've said, I've really been enjoying this World Cup. Though, watching the games on Saturday really made me want to smack some of these guys. First, the flops have got to stop. These guys are supposed to be some of the fittest, strongest, most athletic men in the world. And they go flying across the field when the shoe laces of an opposing player hit them in the let. It just undermines their credibility as athletes and eliminates any possibility of a career in acting after their soccer-playing days are over.
Also, the celebrations are just too lame and too long. At least NFL wide receiver Chad Johnson, as with many other football players, puts some creativity into what he does after he scores a touchdown. These guys just running around, grabbing the number on their jersey, just looks so lame. Plus, the extent of these celebrations really has opened my eyes to why the NFL is so adamant about curtailing the celebrations after touchdowns. Running around and carrying on for 30 seconds smacks of amateur hour.
Finally, enough of the fake injuries. Getting knocked over, then rolling around on the ground like your leg just got cut off, which causes the game to stop for two minutes, then suddenly jumping up and finding the strength to go on ? again, amateur hour.
Despite this lame nonsense, it has been an enjoyable World Cup, and I'll keep tuning in. -Cyd Zeigler jr.
Lance in hot water: It's getting to the point now where you start wondering how apropos the old saying is: "Where there's smoke, there's fire." Lance Armstrong is being accused of telling a doctor in 1996 that he had taken performance-enhancing drugs; and now former cyclist Greg LeMond has testified that Armstrong threatened him for discussing the possibility of Armstrong using performance-enhancing drugs.
"He threatened my wife, my business, my life," LeMond said. "His biggest threat consisted of saying he would find 10 people to testify that I took EPO. Of course, he didn't find a single one."
We don't know what Armstrong did or didn't do. Few people do. But, this accusation from LeMond paints Armstrong as a bit of a hard-headed bully. We'll see where it ends up. -Cyd Zeigler jr.
6.24.2006
Round of 16 set: The two weeks of group play at the World Cup came to an end Friday with the final three teams booking passage to the next round. France finally played like a semblance of their 1998 Cup winning team in beating Togo 2-0, while Switzerland won the group with a 2-0 win over disappointing South Korea. In the other group action of consequence, Ukraine squeaked in to the Round of 16 with a controversial 1-0 win over Tunisia. The full bracket of matches can be seen here.
Referee Rumbles: Yesterday Cyd said: "I keep hearing, "They just hate the U.S.." -- people
saying the U.S. got bad call after bad call in their last two games. Any truth to it?" Yes, the U.S. isn't well liked so it's no surprise that they put up with animosity that is better directed at the Bush administration. But let's get a broader perspective. Example: Many Europeans feel hostility against blacks because of undocumented aliens from Africa. A white European referee might push penalties against the four new African teams. And in fact there have been controversial calls against the Africans. In addition to two questionable calls against the U.S., there are uproars about penalties during France v. Korea and Argentina v. Serbia/Montenegro. The Czechs blame their loss to Italy on a penalty call. A little more perspective: FIFA demands that the refs crack down on elbowing, diving, shirt-grabbing and such. Let's face it -- the U.S. outcry about penalties borders on sore losing. U.S. team manager Bruce Arena isn't going to court over the Ghana call, though he said he was disappointed. The gist of his post-game remarks: let's go home and learn how to play better football. --Patricia Nell Warren
More rumbling: I was going to write last Friday about how good the refereeing in the World Cup had been. In the space of a week, that's not viable. Bearing in mind that I can't stand whining about officials winning/losing games (see: all the Angels fans who whined about the call on Josh Paul in last year's playoffs), some of the calls have been....dodgy. In the United States' game against Italy, I thought each of the three red cards handed out were deserved. The penalty call on Oguchi Onyewu against Ghana, not so much. Graham Poll of England melted down in the Croatia v. Australia match, giving one player three yellow cards. Of course, two are enough to be sent off. Poll was being mooted to ref the final in Berlin but no way now.
For quotes that exhibit a level of cluelessness that mere humans are thought to not be able to attain, it'd be hard to beat United States defender Jimmy Conrad's "I think we showed that we can compete with any team in the world, on European soil or anywhere. We?ve gotten to the point in U.S. soccer where it comes down to one or two plays, and we didn?t make that one or two plays".
The mind reels at the obliviousness of Conrad; the United States took a step *backwards* from their showing in 2002 and all they showed the world is that they're good athletes without anyone that can play even close to the level of the best Europeans or South Americans. Landon Donovan was supposed to provide the creativity but he showed why he bombed in the German Bundesliga on two separate tries: he was anonymous for most of the three matches and in the game against Ghana, he had a wide open lane towards the goal off of a corner kick but eschewed that golden opportunity to instead pass the ball, at which point the undoubtedly grateful Ghanian defenders broke up the play. If Landon Donovan is one of the United States' elite players it shows a) how lame the MSL really is, no more than the second level of leagues in England, Spain, Germany and Italy and b) how much work is left to be done to be consistently good when it matters, not just against Barbados. --Jim Allen
