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8.21.2007
Vick to plead guilty: We have all seen the last of Michael Vick in an Atlanta Falcons uniform. That's no big shocker. But what many still haven't figured out is that we've seen the last of Vick in the NFL.
Next Monday, as Monday Night Football visits Atlanta, he'll plead guilty to some charges that link him to dog fighting and gambling. He'll end up spending a good 12 months in jail for it.
That alone doesn't kill his chances in the NFL. What commissioner Roger Goodell is going to do will fix that. Goodell likely won't ban Vick from the league. He won't have to. What he will do is hand down a 16- to 32-game suspension. Don't think it will be that much? Consider this. Dog fighting is bad enough. But, Vick will likely plead guilty to gambling on dog fighting; and the NFL has no patience for its players gambling on anything. Plus, Vick lied to Goodell when they met in the spring. Vick will be lucky to get away with just a 16-game suspension.
Mike has to be signed with a team for that suspension to tick off. So, if the Falcons release him, another team would have to pick him up as he's walking out of jail, then wait the one to two seasons for his suspension to expire, then try to get him out on the field. I highly doubt that will happen.
Even if it does, Vick is looking at possibly taking the field in the 2010 or 2011 NFL seasons, when he's in his 30s. That might not be a big deal for other quarterbacks, but for a passer who relies on his legs, it's a very big deal. He'll then be a 30-year-old quarterback who hasn't played a down in three or four seasons.
Just what a coach looks for in a QB to hand the reigns.--Cyd Zeigler jr.
8.20.2007
Pro football, not for dummies: "Pro Football Prospectus 2007" is one of those rare books that successfully marries detailed statistical analysis with enjoyable writing. A must for any NFL fan and any fantasy football player, the 500-page book is chock-a-block with detailed breakdowns of all 32 teams, plus all skill players in the league.
The heart of the book, written by Aaron Schatz and writers from Football Outsiders.com is their DVOA (Defene-Adjusted Value Over Average), a system that better weighs statistics to give a more true measure of a team's success. "DVOA breaks down every single play of the NFL season, assigning each play a value based on both total yards and yards towards a first down." Yes, a book written by stats geeks. But you needn't truly comprehend their system to enjoy the book, since most of it is written in a breezy style that still makes its point. For example, the authors positively hammer new San Diego Chargers coach Norv Turner. Their 2007 prveview of the teams says: "Uh, oh, the Chargers got Norved." They then back it up with a chart that shows Turner is among the worst coaches in NFL history in holding a fourth-quarter lead (somebody did some serious research on this chart). They ask the question a lot of us did when the Chargers hired him: "Why do people keep hiring Norv Turner if he is bad as he appears?"
The book continues in that same vein, making it an enjoyable read for even casual fans. Hard-core types like me will eat it up, especially the essays on various parts of the game (I especially enjoyed the one on onside kicks and the two-point conversion). If you buy one NFL book this season, make it "Pro Football Prospectus 2007." --Jim Buzinski
8.17.2007
Ramblings: We are well and truly in the Dog Days of Sports now. Baseball drones pleasantly on, the NFL and college "football" haven't started their regular seasons, hockey and the NBA are blessedly a few months away --how can you miss something if it never really leaves?-- only the tennis U.S. Open remains of the grand slams in golf and tennis, so I'm just going to ramble here.
With their comprehensive 3-1 win Tuesday over Tottenham Hotspur in North London, where the weather is cool and cloudy, my beloved Everton FC of Liverpool are top of the table in the English Premiership. Of course, they've only played two games so far this year, but what they heck. Considering all the awful years the Blues have had since ca. 1990, I'm going to grasp on to any positives that I can. A side benefit of being decent is that Everton shows up on my TV more. Case in point: they'll be on Fox Soccer Channel on Saturday morning at 7:00 am, playing in Reading. It's a nice excuse to not sleep in 'til noon on Saturday.
"Fire Mike Scoscia, now". That's my joking response to Jim B. every time the Anaheim Angels lose. The Angels were cruising in their division but have played only okay since the All-Star break. Even still, they have the second best record in all of baseball, 1 1/2 games behind the Boston Red Sox 72-48. How nice that the Angels and the Sawx will be playing three games at Fenway Park this weekend. Traditionally, the Angels have sucked goat balls there, so I'm sort of bracing for a sweep by the Red Sox. As with Everton, I've spent many a season watching awful Angels teams, and the World Series win in 2002 hasn't removed that nagging feeling of "The bottom is going to fall out at any minute".
Stadium geek stuff: As a kid, I loved sports stadiums. I would sit for hours with drawing paper, a box of colored pencils and a ruler and design baseball and hockey stadiums. I was even so obsessive that I would draw the individual seats and calculate the official capacity of my creations. Ah, if only smoking pot and listening to Pink Floyd in headphones hadn't diverted my attention, maybe I'd be working for HOK Sports, the leading stadium designers in the world.
This reverie was prompted by news that the New York "Football" Giants and the New York Jets --both of whom currently play in New Jersey, of course-- secured financing to the tune of $1.3 billion to pay for their new stadium in....wait for it....New Jersey. As Cyd well knows, the Jets plan to build a stadium down the street from where he lives in Manhattan spectacularly crashed and burned. So, despite Jets grumbling that they were second class citizens at Giants Stadium in the Meadowlands, the reality that building an NFL stadium these days is really, really expensive trumped that and the Giants and Jets decided to again share a stadium.
The Gints and J.E.T.S. Jets Jets Jets will hopefully start play in 2010 at their new 84,000 seater, being built near the current stadium. I'm sure color schemes, not to sound gay or anything, will be a factor. The Jets hate that they have to drape tacky green stuff all over the original Giants blue when they play at the Meadowlands, so maybe they can arrive at neutral color.
The $1.3 billion financing package includes a staggering $650 million buy-in from both teams, in the form of loans. Proving that not all big things are in Texas, the new stadium cost beats out by about a puny $300 million what the Cowboys are spending on their new digs. For comparison, the Oakland A's are building their new ballpark in the East Bay for about $400 million. Of course, a "football" stadium is bigger both in size and scope than a baseball stadium, but the amount of money being thrown around by the Giants and Jets is still pretty staggering. [I put "football" in scare quotes to mock a sport that is not, 99% of the time, played with the feet, but with the hands] --Jim Allen
8.16.2007
God and 'Chuck & Larry' on Sirius' NFL Radio. I have been listening to NFL Radio's training camp tour on Sirius for the last couple of weeks. Adam "annoying guttural inflection" Schein and Solomon Wilcots have done a pretty good job hitting most of the NFL's training camps and getting some great interviews with top-name talent at every camp. They loved the Baltimore Ravens in particular; they just haven't stopped talking about Ray Lewis since they got on their knees and worshiped him.
One interview in particular that stuck with me was a conversation with Arizona Cardinals DE Bertrand Berry. The day NFL Radio was there, Cardinals head coach Ken Whisenhunt gave the players the morning off and told them to head to the movies. Most of the guys went to see "The Bourne Ultimatum" (which, by the way, is great). But Berry saw "Chuck and Larry."
As soon as Berry said it, Schein piped up and questioned the decision: How dare he go see a movie about two guys getting married instead of a movie where cars blow up and people die. But Berry was totally cool. He immediately said he loved the movie, in large part because of the great chemistry between Kevin James and Adam Sandler, who play straight guys pretending to be gay. It was like he was talking about Sharon Stone and Michael Douglas in "Basic Instinct." OK, bad analogy, but you get the point. He was totally into it. It even helped me overlook his drooling over Jessica Biel.
One disconcerting piece of NFL Radio: A homophobic ad that I've heard now a couple times. I've reached out to Sirius' PR department; more on that later. -Cyd Zeigler jr
Becks scores: Soccer's reigning metrosexual David Beckham scored his first goal in his first start for the L.A Galaxy, as he was a captain for the game for the first time, just four weeks after he arrived in La La Land. The score was on a free kick in the 27th minute. It's fitting that his first score should be on a free kick, as it was his banana-like kicks that brought him part of his fame and drove the title for the Oscar-nominated film, "Bend It Like Beckham." Beckham also got an assist on a Landon Donovan goal before he was handed a yellow card and benched.
Secondary to all of this, of course, is the actual score of the game. I guess I might as well post it here, since it is part of the story. The Galaxy beat D.C. United, 2-0.
BoSox & Bombers both blow comebacks: Both the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees (five games behind the BoSox) were down by three runs late in their games on Wednesday. Both of them came storming back in the ninth inning (the Yanks thanks to a home run with two outs). And Both ended up losing to teams with winning percentages closer to Barry Bonds' age (.043) than his home run total (.759). Watching the games, with the momentum of the home teams in a race for the playoffs, I just assumed the two storied franchises would pull out another great victory. Especially the Sox, with Manny Ortiz at bat, down 1, two outs, men on first and second. Instead, they still have a five-game lead. You have to wonder if the Yanks will be able to gut out another AL East crown, having come back from 14.5 games to narrow the Sox lead so much. Three years ago, you could bet your house on the Sox collapsing in September. They did the same thing last year. Is the curse of the Bambino dead, or did it just take a two weeks off in 2004? We'll find out in about six weeks. -Cyd Zeigler jr.
8.15.2007
Salon does Outsports: Salon sports columnist King Kaufman is one of our favorite sports writers. He's smart, witty, knows his sports, and he's very gay-friendly. He's straight as an arrow, having just moved his family to the Bay Area from St. Louis, but he is engaged by gay issues in sports, and he addresses them with great gusto. That's a tough combination to find among sports writers.
Kaufman shared with me his one criticism of the book: That we talk about Outsports too much in the first third of it. He said after that, we stopped. I hear what he's saying. And I definitely respect his opinion. It was at the publisher's behest that we put "Outsports" in the title. And, as I said to him, even if they hadn't, and even if they hadn't told us to not be afraid to talk about Outsports, we probably would have spent a good amount of time on it, anyway. We do think Outsports is a big part of the recent history of gay sports. We think our readers, and in particular our active discussion-board members, have helped drive some gay-sports news. And we're very proud of that. If a criticism of the book is that Jim and I are proud papas, and Outsports is our toddler just now learning how to walk, then I certainly stand guilty as charged.
And if you haven't read Kaufman's sports column on Salon.com, I urge you to do so. As one Salon/Outsports reader wrote, it just might become one of your first stops every morning. -Cyd Zeigler jr.
8.14.2007
WANTED: Woody "Joker" Austin. Authorities are on the look-out for a crazy person who goes by the name of "Woody" and who, late Sunday, started throwing crazy bombs at a golfer who had just beaten him for a Major Championship.
Woody "Joker" Austin was last seen in Tulsa, Okla., licking his wounds from a beat-down by the best golfer in the history of golf, Tiger Woods. Early signs of his insane post-tournament meltdown began appearing during his late charge on the back nine, as he tried to push his poorly driven golf ball further by "swooshing" his arms forward. He also began tugging on his ear and pumping his fists in an erratic manner. EMTs were quickly called to the scene as several onlookers called 911 believing Woody was having a seizure. He later explained he was trying to get the crowd to cheer for him.
"I wanted to hear them," Austin said. "You always hear it for [Woods] nd you hear it for yourself but the decibels are different. I wanted to hear it for me. I wanted him to know there was someone else out there." Apparently, Austin believed that either he was as popular as Woods, or that Tiger believed he was touring Southern Hills by himself.
You said in the media on Friday that he played just an unbelievable round [when Woods shot a PGA Championship-record-tying 63] and that he was in control and that he was just toying with the field," Woody went on to say. "I outplayed him on Friday, but he beat me by seven shots. It just happens that he scored better." Woody, who shot a 69 the day Tiger shot an "inferior" 63, was apparently referring to ancient Roman golf that wasn't determined by number of shots, but by a judges panel that awarded golfers scores of 1 to 10 on each hole.
"I don't think anybody plays any better than I do when I'm on," Woody explained to the press, again, after losing to Tiger. He followed that up with this admission: "I know that's crazy."
Police believe Woody may be headed to Edmonton, Canada, where the Canadian Women's Open will be held this weekend. The man who is the self-proclaimed greatest golfer in the world will attempt to win his first tournament as a professional there. Unfortunately, he missed the "Insane Clown Championships," which were held earlier this year. -Cyd Zeigler jr.
8.13.2007
PGA Championship, Final Round: I'd like to apologize to Graeme Storm, the Englishman who formerly worked in a cake factory, for hyping him in my Friday column. He lead the PGA Championship at Southern Hills in Tulsa after one round, but I doomed him with my praise. After shooting 5 under par on the first day, he shot a combined 18 over par the last three days, finishing seventh from the bottom slot. Sorry, Mr. Storm, I came to praise you, but ended up burying you, such is the awesome power of the Jock Talk Curse.
Today, I come to praise Tiger Woods, and since he won the tournament, there's no chance of me burying him. It was fascinating to watch him play over the weekend: his usually reliable long game was iffy, but his somewhat iffy putting game was pretty reliable. After poor Graeme Storm fell off the face of the golfing earth on Friday, it was left to a gaggle of players comprising Woody Austin, Ernie Els, Steven Ames and Aron Oberholser to chase Woods throughout the weekend. Just when it looked like Tiger was going to actually choke away a tournament --his horrible approach shot on 14 was one such moment-- he'd pull off a clutch shot to keep his two stroke lead.
I worked for years in the corporate headquarters of a bank and I certainly have a thing for guys that look like assistant vice-presidents of retail banking (i.e. the exact opposite of anyone you'll see in the Picture This feature). So it was that I found myself cheering for 43-year old Woody Austin, a former bank teller playing in only his 15th major --perspective: Tiger Woods has 13 majors wins after today-- who made a spirited charge and finished at six under, two shots behind Woods. What did him in was shooting par (!!) on Friday, he just couldn't close that gap.
So, that closes out the four majors for this golfing calendar. Next up is the the made-for-TV (and the players bank accounts) FedEx Cup. Players have accumulated points throughout the year and they'll play four tournaments in four weeks to decide who gets to win a huge amount of money. As Jim B. noted to me a few weeks ago, you can be a fairly anonymous player on the tour, and as long as you regularly finish in the Top 20 or so, you can make a really good living. Forget grooming ones kids to be the star quarterback, groom them to be an average golfer instead. They'll make about the same money and they'll be able to walk without the aid of hip replacement surgery when they're 50.
Life Begins Anew: There was a nice start to the English football season for me on Saturday. My favorite sports team, Everton, ran out winners 2-1 over the wonderfully named Wigan Athletic, under lovely sunny skies in Liverpool. If you are a Manchester United supporter, however, it was pretty grim stuff: not only did your Red Devils draw 0-0 at Old Trafford against minnows Reading --calm down, football haters, scoreless draws happen-- but more worryingly, Wayne "Traitor To Everton, The Bastard" Rooney picked up a hairline fracture in his foot and could be sidelined for quite a while. It's nice to have the real football back, now I'll have a reason to drag my carcass out of bed on Saturday morning so I can watch the matches shown on Fox Soccer Channel. --Jim Allen
8.10.2007
PGA Championship. Day 1: In my first report about the Open Championship in Scotland a few weeks back, I mocked sports commentators who go in to events with scripts, a pre-event narrative. I vowed to not use my version, The Unknown Who Leads After Two Rounds. Erm.....I renounce my renunciation.
As usual, I watched the live stream of TNT's coverage of the PGA Championship from Southern Hills near Tulsa on my computer at work Thursday. It was nice to see an Englishman, the wonderfully named Graeme Storm, be The Unknown Who Leads After One Round. He's a typical anonymous tour player, hailing from Hartlepool in Northeast England, with a lovely bit of chest fur and the best. surname. ever. to boot (though I'm not fond of the way he spells it). He seemed to be enjoying himself on Thursday: in his press conference, he seemed bemused by all the attention that goes to the leader of a major. Purely from an eye-candy point of view, I hope he sticks around among the leaders for the next few days.
I don't blame the people who used the "it's going to be really, really hot at Southern Hills" storyline going in to the tournament, because well, it was really, really hot at Southern Hills on Thursday. The heat index (temperature + relative humidity) was 110. Wikipedia has this under their heat index entry: 105-130: Danger! Sunstroke, heat cramps, and heat exhaustion are likely; heat stroke is possible. Yikes.
Luckily, golfers are superb athletes, in the very highest aerobic fitness, near that of triathletes. Well, OK, no, that's a lie. For example: fat tub of goo (tm David Letterman) John Daly is in second, 2 strokes behind Graeme Storm's five under. How did Daly prepare for the tournament? It was too hot to practice, so he played the slots at nearby Cherokee Casino. He also sucked down soda's instead of water and chain smoked throughout his round. The debate about whether golfers are really athletes just got some ammo for the "hell no" crowd.
My god is Padraig Harrington, cousin of Atlanta Falcons quarterback Joey, gorgeous. Nice to see the recent Open Championship winner in the hunt at four back. Open Championship choking dog Sergio Garcia is five back, Tiger Woods is six back and Phil Mickelson's miserable run continued, as he's eight shots back. The Golf Channel has been replaying this one shot of his that's classic: he was about 20 feet from a bunker, needing to hit a wedge shot over it to make the green. He mishit it so badly that the ball only went about 30 feet and landed in the middle of the bunker. Sad.
Also sad was me jinxing him: while watching at work, I mumbled to the screen "C'mon Lefty, hit a good tee shot". Cue him sending spectators scrambling as he hooked the ball in to some trees > the crowd. Sorry! The wheels have come off of Mickelson's game, I wonder if his wrist is completely crocked? Friday will reveal who makes the cut or not, I wouldn't be surprised if Phil Mickelson was sent home early, again. Lots of golf to go, however. And Graeme Storm? If you shoot an 87 on Friday and disappear off the leaderboard (i.e. the TV coverage), it's been nice meeting you. --Jim Allen
8.9.2007
Judge says gay soccer players don't belong: Brazilian judge Manoel Maximiniano Junqueira Filho has declared that gay people shouldn't be playing soccer, unless their playing against other gay people. Among other genius quotes from the judge, Deadspin unearthed this one:
"It's not that a homosexual can't play ball. If he wants, then play it. However, form his own team and start another federation. Schedule games with those that prefer to fight against themselves."
I figured all of Brazil's soccer players are gay; from what I've heard, just about everyone in Brazil at the very least bats from both sides. Or Rio de Janeiro at least. -Cyd Zeigler jr.
Showing some Bush:Men's Health and Men's Fitness have both graced their mid-summer covers with young guns from the NFL. Brady Quinn shows off his biceps and offers "The Brady Quinn workout" to the mag's readers. I love some of the quotes in the story. While he was holding out and trying to negotiate a contract worthy of a top-10 draft selection (read: he was drafted just before I was), he had this gem for Men's Health: "I'm most focused on winning. If you win, everything else takes care of itself." Too bad he forgot about that during his big games at Notre Dame; against teams .500 or worse, he was a fantastic 17-3; against teams with a winning record, he was 12-16. In his three bowl games and four games against USC, he was a whopping 0-7. He finally signed a contract with the Cleveland Browns on Tuesday, so we'll see if he can refocus on winning soon enough.
The other quote from the story that I loved was this from the writer: "As I look at Quinn standing waist-deep in a pool during his Men's Health cover shot, 'solid but special' is not the phrase that comes to mind. 'Can't miss' seems far more appropriate. At 6'3", 236 pounds, and a remarkable 5 percent body fat, Quinn is a striking image of health. Armed with a football, he takes a deep breath and disappears in to the sparkling blue chlorine bath. A moment later, the 22-year-old explodes out of the water, turns in midair, and fires a sopping-wet spiral into the Phoenix sun. Naturally, it hits me right between the numbers." Ahem.
Meanwhile, The guys at Towleroad continue to keep their well-trained eyes on the hottest men in sports, and they've shared with us the latest cover of Men's Fitness, featuring the Trojan God of Speed, Reggie Bush (above). I love Bush. Well, you know what I mean. Beyond my love of watching him play football, I find myself wanting to see him succeed. He seems like a genuine guy with a big heart. And with all the attention he gets from Towleroad, I've got to imagine his gay fanbase is growing and growing and growing . . . -Cyd Zeigler jr.
8.8.2007
756. So this is where I was when Barry Bonds broke the all-time home run record. I was standing in my living room tuned to SportsCenter. They kept breaking away every 40 minutes or so to show Bonds at bat. Bonds had been chasing the record for weeks now, seemingly getting a homer every month or so. When they cut away to him, I'd stand up, shake my head thinking, "why are they wasting their time," then I'd sit back down and get back to answering email.
My partner, Dan, had passed out on the couch an hour before it happened. When he hit the record-breaker, he was still passed out. He's still sawing logs as I write this. The cat is pawing the rug, trying to pick up a milk-jug top that he's become particularly fond of. So I was alone in that moment, sipping some limoncello I had poured myself just a few minutes before.
Forgive me for all of that, but I want to remember where I was when it happened, even if the record is broken again in eight years.
I couldn't be happier that Bonds broke the record in San Francisco. All of those loser fans in Los Angeles and San Diego who booed him constantly, even when he broke the record, can suck it. The fans in San Francisco deserved to be there in the moment when it happened, and I'm glad Bonds was in a warm, welcoming place on this special night.
I have to give Hank Aaron so much credit. If you missed it, he had pre-taped a 60-second congratulations that the ballpark showed on the big screen just moments after the record-breaking moment. Aaron was heartfelt, sweet and unabashed in his praise of Bonds and the dedication it took to breaking the record.
On the other hand, MLB commissioner Bud Selig should be ashamed of himself. To miss this proud moment for Bonds, baseball, and athletes everywhere who sacrifice their bodies for immortality, Selig should simply resign. He is not fit to be commissioner of Major League Baseball. You know what? He can suck it too.
Bonds has put up with a lot of bullshit over the last few weeks. But I'm so happy for him that, when he wakes up Wednesday morning, he will be the all-time home run leader in all of baseball. And I thank him for this special moment that I got to experience alone in my apartment with the all-time home run king, 30,000 Giants fans, and my TV. -Cyd Zeigler jr.
8.7.2007
God hates Colts? Since the Indianapolis Colts won the Super Bowl six months ago, their coach Tony Dungy has praised God for helping them win. He's been on his soap box preaching his gospel about winning "right," as thought everyone else before him has won "wrong." But throughout Dungy's preaching, the team has lost a host of top players who helped them win that title. This offseason saw the departures of the true Super Bowl MVP, RB Dominic Rhodes; LB Cato June, whom some delusional Colts fans are now calling "overrated;" DBs Mike Doss and Nick Harper, whom some Colts fans are calling "replaceable;" WR Brandon Stokley, who is now quickly forgotten because the team got a rookie who's supposed to be the third coming of Christ; they lost Pro Bowl OT Tarik Glenn to retirement last week, and Dungy and Manning said it wouldn't affect the team. But now comes the kicker (and not the liquored-up one): The indestructible Colts lost DT Anthony McFarland to injury this weekend. I sure hope God is a 350-pound tackle!
All of this could be that the Almighty one is too busy forcing people to Amazon and Barnes & Noble to buy the preacher's new book. Dungy's tome about how he lives life right and how everyone who doesn't live life the way he does is somehow not as worthy of God's praise has been jumping around the top 50 of Amazon's bestsellers since it was released almost a month ago. It has even landed at the very top of the New York Times' list of nonfiction-hardcover books written by self-righteous self-important anti-gay black men.
Over the coming months I'll be tracking how God feels about Dungy and the Colts on a weekly basis, depending on what God has inflicted upon the team, or how God has lead them to victory. This week, I'm giving the Colts an angry Jesus face; because to take away McFarland, somebody must have slept with somebody else's wife or something. -Cyd Zeigler jr.
8.6.2007
OUTSPORTS FASHION-POLICE ALERT
Eagles look hot (albeit like UCLA) in throwbacks: I absolutely love the throwback jerseys the Philadelphia Eagles will be wearing for their home throwback game September 23 against the Detroit Lions. It's to celebrate the Eagles' 75th anniversary. Yeah, to most they look like UCLA colors, or those powder-blues that the Chargers wear from time to time. I just can't wait to watch the Eagles, whom I've always known as green and white, run around the field in blue and gold in about six weeks.
This from the Eagles' official website: "The blue and yellow colors were the first colors worn by the Eagles, after the Frankford Yellow Jackets went bankrupt and the NFL awarded the Philadelphia franchise to a syndicate headed by former University of Pennsylvania teammates Lud Wray and Bert Bell for an entry fee of $2,500. The Swedes were in Philadelphia before the arrival of William Penn and he incorporated their colors into the City of Philadelphia's flag."
One thing I wonder about is how it could affect the quarterback. Assuming it's Donovan McNabb, he's been throwing to guys in green for almost 10 years. Yeah, he'll probably get in a week of workouts throwing to blue and gold, but I just wonder if there's an ever-so-slight hesitancy suddenly throwing to another color completely. That the Lions also wear light blue (with silver instead of gold) can't help.
Start saving now, though; authentic jerseys are listed on the Eagles online store at $275. For most American families, that's a Christmas present and a birthday present combined. You can get replicas for about $80. -Cyd Zeigler jr.
Outsports hits North Carolina: For Christmas, I told Jim I'd buy him a ticket to any NFL game he wanted this season. He'd been hemming and hawing since the schedule came out in April, and he settled on Indianapolis Colts at Carolina Panthers, Oct. 28. His feeling: His Colts are his favorite team, and he's never been the Carolina. I figured they'd be "easy" tickets to get (and by easy I mean, as compared to getting tickets here in New York City). Of course, the first day they go on sale to the public, only people living in the Carolinas can buy them. Since a friend in Charleston (who helps organize the great group, The Southern Boys) couldn't even get through to buy tickets the first 10 minutes they were on sale, I was off to StubHub. We'll be sitting somewhere in Georgia for the game.
The day before, we're going to go to the UNC-Wake Forest football game in Winston-Salem. If anyone else is going to be at either games or will be in the area, let us know. -Cyd Zeigler jr.
Andy Roddick needs to stay away from Big Macs: Sorry I missed posting this last week. Andy Roddick, maybe the biggest disappointment in tennis right now, blamed a loss last week on some fast food he had eaten the night before.
Until now, he hadn't discriminated as to which food he'd choke on. Sometimes it was French, other times it was Australian. I'm sure he'll find his way to a White Castle in about a month. -Cyd Zeigler jr
8.5.2007
Bonds ties Aaron: Barry Bonds hit a home run in the second inning off of San Diego Padres pitcher Clay Hensley for his 755th career home run, which now ties him with Hank Aaron for the all-time lead. According to news accounts, the fans in San Diego reacted with both boos and cheers. "I want to thank the fans. They have been outstanding," Bonds said. "It's been a fun ride. I really appreciate the way San Diego handled it and the way their fans handled it." This had to be in contrast to his reception in Los Angeles earlier in the week, where he was roundly booed every time he came to the plate or made a play in the outfield.
Baseball commissioner Bud Selig was on hand as a reluctant witness, given all the grief Bonds has caused with the allegations of steroid use. According to AP, "Selig watched Bonds tie Hank Aaron's home run record -- his mouth agape, hands stuffed in pockets and nary a cheer on his lips." This seems to describe Selig's normal demeanor, so maybe they had an automaton to take his place since no one would be able to tell the difference.
Bond's pursuit of Aaron has been one of the most joyless record stories in sports history. He has been disliked -- with good reason -- by the media, fellow players, baseball management and fans, and the steroid stuff was the topper. He could set the record as early as Monday (he is taking Sunday off) and I bet few people will recall where they were when Bonds hits #756. --Jim Buzinski
8.3.2007
Stuck: As a big baseball fan, I'm well aware of how important statistics and records are in this sport. While I loathe the whole sabremetrics thing, where stats geeks have absurd stats for everything --proof of the old dictum "There's lies, there's damn lies and there's statistics"-- I do like the records part of being a fan
Three players are currently stuck in their chases to reach milestones. There's Barry Bonds*, of course, in his chase to eclipse Hank Aaron's all-time home run record; he again failed to tie Hammerin' Hank on Thursday and is on hold at 754 dingers. It's hilarious to watch commission Bud "Beelebud" Selig follow Bonds around to be all official and everything, when his body language screams "I'd rather be sliced with knives and have pickle brine poured all over me than follow this man who has made my life a hell for the last five years".
The New York Yankee's Alex Rodriguez, who if he stays healthy should eclipse whatever home run total Bonds eventually ends up at by the time he retires, is stuck on 499 career home runs. Seems the pressure to get to that nice, fat number might be taking a toll on him: after Thursday's game, he's mired in a 2 for 24 slump. Rodriguez is almost a certain first ballot Hall of Famer, but getting to the mystical 500, which seems to be a gateway to the Hall, would enhance his credentials.
Another mystical gateway number is 300 wins for a pitcher. Even a good but not great pitcher like Don Sutton got in to the Hall largely based on the fact that he had 324 career wins. A man that Sutton used to cover in his guise as a post-career broadcaster, Tom Glavine, is stuck at 299 wins. He came oh so close on Tuesday, but his New York Met's teammate Guillermo Mota couldn't hold a 2-1 lead and now Glavine heads to Wrigley Field in Chicago to try again on Sunday.
Life begins anew: Since I'll be writing about the PGA Championship from Southern Hills near Tulsa in next week's slot, I feel I should note that the Dog Days of Summer, sports calendar-wise, end next Saturday when the English football season kicks off. I'm cautiously optimistic about my beloved Everton's chances this year. Not to win the title --that's going to be the usual slugfest between the big chequebooks of Manchester United, Chelsea and The Red Shite of Liverpool FC-- but the Blues are playing in the UEFA Cup and have a solid squad that should finish with a guaranteed European slot for next season.
Fox Soccer Channel will be a constant on my digital cable box and it'll be fun to listen to the great English football announcers like the Dick Enberg Of England, Martin Tyler, who can purr something like "Oooh, that's an insouciant little touch by Rooney there, the Liverpudlian will be well pleased with his effort" and not sound like a pompous gasbag.
I I'll also note as I watch a mid-December Bolton Wanderers v. Blackburn Rovers match how often the notorious English xenophobia rears its head in a broadcast. This takes the form of mentioning the nationality of the non-English players --even Scots, Welsh and Irish are duly noted-- at every turn. For example: "Well done by the German international Ballack there" or "The Argentinian will have to be disappointed with his effort on that shot". The American equivalent would be if the awful Al Michaels mentioned that Brett Favre was from the South every other time he touched the ball. --Jim Allen
8.2.2007
Pacman in tights? That's what we've all got to be wondering after news that Pacman Jones, he who is suspended by the NFL's King Roger I, is strongly considering a contract offered to him by TNA wrestling. No, not T&A, TNA - Total Nonstop Action - Wrestling. Of course, the Tennessee Titans of the NFL - No Fun League - are apparently pointing out to Jones that it could be a contract violation. So let's get this straight. The NFL won't let him play football, and now they won't let him wrestle or comment on wrestling. Or bash someone over the head with a folding chair.
Gay dogs protest Vick: My former boss and former editor at the New York Blade had hairy, bug-eyed pekingese dogs until the last one passed away a year or two ago. He found himself the proud owner of two pit bulls in the last year. He named one of them "Killer" and one of them "Precious." They both could be called the latter, though. They've got tons of energy, they are so incredibly friendly, and while their bark is pretty loud, their bite is no more than a gentle nuzzle. I've thought of them plenty since the news of a dogfighting ring potentially involving Michael Vick surfaced. I just can't imagine someone being so cruel to those two dogs.
Well, Precious and Killer finally had their say, and the New York Times was there to document it. Weinstein brought both of the dogs to a protest outside of Niketown in Manhattan last week; and the doggie-kisses from Precious in the photo are much more indicative of that particular pit bull than any fighting.
Nike has since suspended their endorsement deal with Vick. I try my darnedest to always hold my guilty verdict until the jury verdict is in. I was one of those guys who was furious with how the media convicted the Duke lacrosse team as soon as that lying whore made accusations. So, I want to hold back and wait for all of the facts to come out on Vick. But, like so many, I just can't stop thinking about those monsters forcing Precious and Killer to, well, kill each other. Pekingese, on the other hand . . . -Cyd Zeigler jr.
8.1.2007
My night with Barry: Barry Bonds is still stuck on 754 career home runs -- two shy of breaking Henry Aaron's baseball record -- after failing to hit one Tuesday night at Dodger Stadium. I happened to be at the game and the atmosphere was less electric than I would have thought. Bonds walked twice, struck out once and flied out once as the San Francisco Giants won, 3-1.
Every time Bonds came up there was a cascade of boos, and twice the crowd started with a "Barry sucks!" chant that lasted a minute or so. But it seemed as if everyone was playing an assigned role, Dodger fans booing a hated Giant. I wondered, though, how many people secretly were hoping he'd hit one out so they could say they were there when history was made. I was and I am not a fan of Bonds and couldn't care less about the whole home run chase. On his two walks, the crowd also booed lustily and it seemed they were pissed that Dodger pitcher Brad Penny was being ultra-careful in pitching to him and not taking him on man-to-man. Of course, this being Los Angeles, the stadium was less than half full the first time Bonds came up, and the close-to-full house emptied after he was lifted in the seventh inning for a pinch runner.
The biggest scandal of the night wasn't Bonds and the steroid allegations that have haunted him. It was when I bought a Dodger Dog and Diet Coke and was told the tab was $10.25. Dave Kopay had a dog, a bag of peanuts and a beer and got 75 cents change from a $20. It was the only time of the night I really wanted to boo.--Jim Buzinski
7.31.2007
Bill Walsh, R.I.P. Bill Walsh, the Hall of Fame San Francisco 49ers coach who won three Super Bowls, died Monday of leukemia at 75. As Paul Zimmerman of Sports Illustrated wrote in a tribute, "How many real football geniuses have there been?" as he recounted Walsh's brilliance. There was his record: Walsh went 102-63-1 with the 49ers, with six division titles, a 10-4 playoff record after three Super Bowls. There is the legion of former assistants who went on to fame and glory as head coaches. And there was his innovative offense, what he called the "Cincinnati offense" after his days as an assistant there, but what others came to call the "West Coast offense," replete with short, precise passing that changed the run-heavy NFL forever; Joe Montana was its chief engineer and after that the mantle was passed to Steve Young and has spread around the league.
I was once told a Walsh story that I was never able to verify but it seems to fit in with everything I had heard about him as a coach and person. Walsh was asked how he would have handled a gay 49er coming out. He said it would be a one-week story because he would not let it be a distraction; he didn't care about a player's orientation, but only whether he could play.
In a 2004 ESPN the Magazine article about Lindsy McLean, a former 49ers trainer who suffered many taunts after his homosexuality became an open secret in the locker room, we learned a secret about Walsh.
Walsh, who hired McLean from the University of Michigan in 1979, told the trainer that his son, Steve Walsh, died of AIDS in 2002, a revelation that shocked McLean. As a retirement gift, Walsh gave McLean and his longtime partner George Paiva a trip to Hawaii. But Walsh was also troubled by the abuse McLean received and that he kept to himself. "I'm sure bad things like that happened," Walsh told the magazine. "There's no way I would have known these things because he was so private. If he'd come to me, he knows all hell would have broken loose. I suppose that's why he never told me."
Priest has a dream Kansas City Chiefs running back Priest Holmes, whose career appeared over two years ago with a dangerous spinal condition, says a dream last week led him to want to play again. "Revelations and signs and things of that nature, and believing in Christ, having dreams -- those are definitely some things I believe in," Holmes said in an NFL.com story. "I don't know why I had the dream. But I saw myself playing football. I went to my church and I asked them if they could see me playing football again. And the word that that came out of their mouths was 'yes.' And that's the reason why I'm here." Holmes has still not been cleared to play, and realizes he has an uphill climb.
Holmes reminds me of Cyd, who always lets me know when he has had some weird dream, usually dealing with the NFL. There was this in an e-mail right before the Super Bowl: "I had my most vivid NFL dream in maybe two years last night. The final score of the game: Bears 10, Colts 3." Actual final: Colts 29, Bears 17. I hope Holmes' dreams prove more prophetic than Cyd's. --Jim Buzinski
7.30.2007
Gay ex-Yankee employee wants you to write tell-all book: Paul Priore made a splash a few years ago when he sued the New York Yankees, claiming he was fired for being gay, and that he was sexually harassed by members of the team. He has claimed first-hand knowledge of the kinds of stories (involving, say, future Hall of Famers and the steam room) that many gay men would love to get their hands on. And now, he wants to write a book about his experiences.
Rather, he wants someone else to write it. Priore posted a classified ad on Craigslist titled, "Co-Writer Sought for Proposed Explosive Book on New York Yankees." Said writer would be working "on spec," and would get paid if the book is sold to a publisher. The National Enquirer, it seems, wasn't willing to pay for the story. -Cyd Zeigler jr.
His feminine side: Patrick Kane, 18, is a 5-10, 160 hockey phenom and the first draft choice this year by the Chicago Blackhawks. He is also not afraid to show he has a softer side.
In a Q&A with the New York Times, Kane (photo above) revealed some things few male jocks would admit:
FAVORITE MUSIC: Lately, I have been into '90s love songs, like "Kind and Generous" by Natalie Merchant.
FAVORITE TV SHOW: "Friends." I like chicklike stuff. I like love songs, and when I saw "The Pursuit of Happyness," I cried.
Bravo to Kane; here's hoping he leads Chicago to the Stanley Cup and cries every minute of it.
Iraq wins soccer title: Iraq won its first Asian soccer championship with a 1-0 win over Saudi Arabia in Indonesia, a rare bit of joy for a country where dozens are killed daily in car bombs, shooting or abductions. "Those heroes have shown the real Iraq. They have done something useful for the people as opposed to the politicians and lawmakers who are stealing or killing each other," said Sabah Shaiyal, a 43-year-old policeman in Baghdad. "The players have made us proud, not the greedy politicians. Once again, our national team has shown that there is only one, united Iraq."
It's highly doubtful that one soccer win will do much to united a country torn by with sectarian strife, but reports from Iraq say that for one afternoon people were able to celebrate. Four people died in post-match gunfire; dozens died last week in suicide bombings as people went into the street to celebrate the team's semifinal win. Iraq's coach, the Brazilian Jorvan Vieira, looked on in relative calm, announced after the game that he was quitting to go back to Brazil. The players credited Vieira with making them a team and getting them to forget their religious differences. But in Iraq today, the coach's safety was far from guaranteed, so one can't blame him for going to his relatively safe country.
"I can't describe my feelings because I've never had such a great feeling,' Qusai Hadi, 31, from Basra, a largely Shiite Muslim city in southern Iraq, told McClathchy news service. "Those players planted happiness in every Iraqi's heart. I wish I could kiss them, one by one. I hope this happiness lasts forever.' --Jim Buzinski
7.28.2007
In defense of the Tour de France: Two days ago, we ran an item called "Tour de Farce" (see below). Reader Matthew Feitshans takes us to task and offers a rebuttal:
I disagree with your "officially a joke" comment about the Tour. I would rather watch an event like the Tour, which actively pursues cheaters and bounces them out of the race even when it will be bad for ratings, unlike baseball which is clearly looking the other way when it comes to the topic of doping. Other sports also have much less oversight (tennis being a notable exception) than cycling.
We happen to be at a point where the cycling world is just pulling back the covers on the issue (at least, more successfully) and so there appear to be a disproportionate number of stories. Start to test NFL players like they do cyclists and I think there would be a shocking result. Valid criticism in the cycling community (of which I am not a part, only an occasional fan) justly points out that individuals and teams are doing a better job at anti-doping policies than the international cycling body. That needs to change.--Matthew Feitshans
7.27.2007
Scandal: What a time to be be a sports fan. There's always been an element of scandal surrounding sports, especially when in the 1970's the sports media stopped being little more than extension of leagues/teams' PR departments and, in the wake of Watergate, started to do more investigative journalism.
Now, however, I almost dread clicking on the sites and blogs that I get my sports news from. What new thing will I find that means some sport or other takes another hit to its credibility? For example, when I got to work on Thursday morning, all two of my co-workers, huge cycling fans, could talk about was the meltdown of the Tour de France that Jim B. chronicled yesterday. They did enjoy his headline, however.
My scandal de jour is the potentially really nasty series of events surrounding NBA referee Tim Donaghy. It's bad enough the revelations that have come out so far: he's under investigation by federal authorities for betting on games and even more damning, providing insider information to gamblers and people who are Not At All Nice (i.e. the Mob) who got their hooks in him over gambling debts.
These revelations have sent people scrambling to find evidence that he fixed games and sadly, there might be a case. What's interesting is that, although don't really involve fixing games, that the man who was so nondescript that the NBA media gave the incorrect pronunciation of his name (it's Dahn-ah-gee, hard 'g') until the story broke, was involved in the two biggest messes in recent NBA history.
Malice in the Palace, the still-astonishing brawl that broke out between the Indiana Pacers, Detroit Pistons and their fans in Auburn Hills, MI in 2004 was a game Tim Donaghy worked. That's unfair to connect him and his alleged gambling issues, really but the second one....not so much. Game 3 of the Western Conference semifinals between the Phoenix Suns and San Antonio Spurs was widely considered the "real NBA final" as it was obvious that whoever won the series was a good, erm, well, a good bet to win the NBA title (the Spurs did just that).
The Game was a PR nightmare for the NBA as the officiating came under scrutiny after Robert Horry hip checked Steve Nash into the scorers table and the Suns big man Amare Stoudemire and teammate Boris Diaw were suspended for leaving the Suns bench area. That's not controversial --they clearly broke the rule about that, though whether the actual rule is any good is still up for debate-- but the fact that there was a series of baffling calls, including the fact that the Spurs Bruce Bowen was pounding on the Suns key player Steve Nash all night and only picked up two fouls.
t really, really suck if it turns out Tim Donaghy had action on the game and refereed accordingly. It would make the bizarre events of this years Tour de Farce or the recent refereeing scandal in Italian football (i.e. soccer) pale in comparison. I don't think any American sports fan, or a fan of the NBA wherever one might live, wants *that* to happen. --Jim Allen
7.26.2007
Tour de Farce: The Tour de France is officially a joke. From the New York Times: "Chaos and disgrace enveloped the Tour de France early Thursday after the event's overall leader, Michael Rasmussen, was removed from the race by his Rabobank team for lying about where he was training." This year's Tour has lost at least two teams, the winners of four stages and the overall leader." All dropped out after suspicions about doping, a year after American Floyd Landis failed a drug test after he won.
There is no doubt that the sport of cycling is awash with drug users, at least among the very elite racers. Seven-time winner Lance Armstrong retired just in time, able to claim that he has never failed a drug test, a true statement but one that strains my credibility given how many people have come forward to claim he was doping. But the Armstrong brand is so solid that he has been able to escape with his reputation still intact. Not so for the racers snared the last two years, nor for 1996 winner Bjarne Riis, who admitted he was doping when he won that year. Sponsors have dropped teams and interest has waned. The shame is that minus a foolproof drug test it may be impossible to clean up the sport.
A night to remember: Ryan Raburn is a household name only in his own. The backup Detroit Tigers outfielder had only 15 at-bats heading into Wednesday's against the Chicago White Sox and was only called up from the minors on July 6. He was in the lineup when Gary Sheffield was scratched and all he did was hit two home runs, a double and a single that drove in seven runs in Detroit's 13-9 win. All this came after he was asked to bunt in the first inning.
"I don't know who the dumb (guy) was who had him bunt the first time," Tigers manager Jim Leyland said. "I wanted to try and get a run on the board in the first inning. It didn't work, obviously. Maybe it made him mad." Said Raburn, 26: "I think it's probably the best game I've ever had, and probably ever will." --Jim Buzinski
7.25.2007
Sign of the times: At a Los Angeles sporting goods store I visited Tuesday they were advertising Michael Vick #7 jerseys for youths, 50% off. There were a lot on the rack.
The news that NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has told Vick to stay away from the Atlanta Falcons training camp indicates he is unlikely to play this season. The NFL can simply say it wants to keep Vick out until it conducts its own investigation and that can take months. Peter King of Sports Illustrated says he doubts Vick will ever play again for Atlanta. That sounds about right and Vick may be finished permanently unless he is totally exonerated from the dog fighting charges. Right now, the totally adorable but erratic Joey Harrington is Atlanta's quarterback.
He Who Shall Not Be Named: He is now the manager of the Greenville Drive, a Boston Red Sox affiliated Single A team. Charles P. Pierce of the Wall Street Journal wrote about the new manager and his players that "He's as fascinated with them as he is with the fact that he's in charge of their lives now, even though he's not much older than they are, and he sports more tattoos than any of them do, and is as far from the tobacco-chomping career minor league skipper as Pearl Jam is from Porter Wagoner."
He is Gabe Kapler, and he got his nickname "He Who Shall Not Be Named" from the early days of the Outsports message board. We used a very primitive system that did not have categories so each message was simply stacked on top of the other. Kapler made some waves when he posed shirtless for a fitness magazine and some of our readers went ga-ga. So many messages were posted about Kapler that it drowned out other messages and drove other posters crazy, and they instituted a HWSNBN policy. --Jim Buzinski
7.24.2007
Is the NBA fixed? The news that the FBI is investigating NBA referee Tim Donaghy for allegedly betting on games he officiated is the worst of the scandals surrounding sports right now, even worse than the Michael Vick dog fighting indictment. "Authorities are examining whether the referee made calls to affect the point spread in games on which he or associates had wagered thousands of dollars over the past two seasons, according to a law enforcement official," AP said. "The referee had a gambling problem and was approached by low-level mob associates through an acquaintance, the official said."
"Fixed" is the deadliest word in sports because it strikes at the heart of the idea that matches are won fairly in the arena. Sure, refs make horrible calls in all sports, but mistakes are ultimately forgiven because they don't call into question the essential fairness of the officials. But the accusations swirling around Donaghy are more dangerous to the NBA than players going into the stands after fans.
Of all the major team sports in the U.S., basketball would seem the easiest to fix, given the high number of points per game, where swings of a couple of points late make little difference to the outcome but can make or break a gambler who has bet the pointspread. Longtime NBA observers have been talking this weekend about how common tales of conspiracy have been talked about from players, owners and those in management. The Donaghy charges will make all NBA games suspect unless they can be disproven or shown to be an isolated incident.
Fans are already trying to "prove" that certain games are fixed. A YouTube video called "Tim Donaghy and crew fix game 3 of Suns-Spurs" has been viewed 120,000 times, and one called "Dwyane Wade gets Preferential Treatment from Tim Donaghy" is also online.
The NBA will need to drop its usual PR spin and face this issue head-on if charges are filed. Total transparency will be needed to prevent a sizable number of fans from confusing the NBA with the WWE. --Jim Buzinski
