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9.30.2005
Baseball in focus: The last week has seen the baseball playoff picture simplify considerably. The Angels of Wherever won the first two games of their must-win series against the Oakland A?s and clinched the American League West. The Chicago White Sox, depsite playing poorly for most of the second half, clinched the AL Central because the Cleveland Indians can only tie them, but the Tribe lose out on head-to-head record. The Boston Red Sox trail the New York Yankees by one game in the East and it?s simple: the Red Sox have to sweep the Yankees in their three games at Fenway Park this weekend or the Yankees will win the division; oh the horror for Sox players and fans should the hated Yankees clinch at Fenway. The AL Wild Card will probably come down to the Indians and Red Sox, who are tied with 93-66 records. The Indians play three at home with the White Sox, who will probably rest some players in anticipation of next week?s playoffs. The Indians = huge Yankees fans this weekend.
The National League is even simpler: the St. Louis Cardinals, Atlanta Braves and the hapless San Diego Padres have won their divisions already. Amazingly, the Padres can finish below .500 and still win the division if they don?t win two of three against the Los Angeles Dodgers this weekend in San Diego. The only NL excitement left?barely?is the Wild Card but it will take a massive choke job by the Houston Astros to toss away a playoff berth: the ?stros have a two game lead over the Philadelphia Phillies?sorry, Joe in Philly?and if they beat the Chicago Cubs today (Friday) and the Phillies lose to the Washington Nationals, that?ll be that. It would cap a great comeback for the Astros, who were left for dead at the All-Star break. The playoffs start this coming Tuesday, but first things first. --Jim Allen
9.29.2005
Shirtless NHL, part two: Maybe everything isn't so normal, afterall. American pro sports have lagged behind the rest of the world in showing us some skin. While rugby players across Europe are taking off their clothes in calendars, American pro athletes seem reticent to even show us a pec or two. Maybe the NHL, in its desperation and with its Canadian and European influences, is loosening the drawstrings.
Sidney Crosby, the Pittsburgh Penguins' latest draftee right out of high school, certainly caught my eye with his half-shirtless photo in October's Vanity Fair. Let's hope we'll be seeing more of Crosby in the coming months. Apparently, according to Crosby's agent, Pat Brisson, the NHL has been contacting magazines about using Crosby in photo spreads. I for one am glad Vanity Fair took them up on their offer. Even if more don't, here's hoping Crosby's Web site starts filling up that "photos" section soon.
The Ottawa Citizen had an interesting take on the photo and the NHL's initiative around Crosby: "Crosby's beefcake shot is one more sign that the NHL is trying to expand its appeal in the U.S., and among Generation Y fans -- those between the ages of about 16 and 25, said Frank Pons, an assistant professor of sports marketing and consumer behaviour at the University of San Diego who studied hockey marketing as an MBA and PhD student in Quebec City and Montreal."
What's interesting about it to me is that it doesn't say they're trying to attract women with the beefcake shot, but "Generation Y" - that age group that is less and less heterocentric and more and more sexually aware. It's that generation of young men who will look at a picture of a hot guy and actually say, "wow, that guy's hot." That the NHL is obviously acknowledging this is promising. -Cyd Zeigler jr.
9.28.2005
Martha Burk is back: It's surprising that NBC would consider airing an NHL promo that shows a shirtless player being dressed by a scantily clad woman. Then again, with the ratings the NHL is expected to draw when the regular season starts next Wednesday.
It also shouldn't be such a surprise that Martha Burk, the chairwoman of the National Council of Women's Organizations who protested the Masters because Augusta National would not allow female members, is protesting the ad. Gosh, that coupled with the NHL season starting, it's nice to know that all is back to normal in the world. -Cyd Zeigler jr.
Bad news around NFL clubhouses: The injury bug has hit the NFL hard this week, with the futures of severla teams in serious jeopardy.
By far the hardest-hit are the New York Jets. Not only did they lose a home game to the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday, and not only did they lose backup quarterback Jay Fiedler for probably the season, but they also lost starting quarterback Chad Pennington for up to the rest of the season with a rotator-cuff injury. The club has signed former Jets QB Vinny Testaverde to backup Brooks Bollinger, the third-year quarterback out of Wisconsin who has attempted a whopping nine passes in his pro career.
The Buffalo Bills also got some bad news, having lost super-stud linebacker Takeo Spikes for the season. The Bills' defense has been playing well this season, but this injury is probably going to spell trouble for them. If only quarterback J.P. Losman could get injured, that might actually help the offense.
All of this should be good news for the New England Patriots, who are aiming for their third-straight division title. But, the Patsies got some bad news of their own: safety Rodney Harrison is done for at least the season (if not longer) with, essentially, his knee completely destroyed. He tore three ligaments in his knee: the anterior cruciate ligament, medial collateral ligament and posterior cruciate ligament. With the loss of Tedy Bruschi in the offseason, Harrison's injury now completes a dismantling of the emotional heart of the middle of the Patriots' defense.
Arizona's QB Kurt Warner is out this week; Lions' starting cornerback Fernando Bryant is out for the season; Tennessee running back Travis Henry has been suspended for substance abuse; and Denver Broncos' starting cornerback Champ Bailey is day-to-day with a hamstring injury.
It sucks to have some of the games' top players out; but, I can only imagine a few front-office personnel are quietly celebrating. -Cyd Zeigler jr.
9.27.2005
Not-so-pretty in pink: "The pink locker room" sounds like a book about gay athletes. That's exactly what the University of Iowa athletic department was probably thinking when they painted the visitors' locker room at Kinnick Stadium pink. Now, a professor is giving the pink locker room the red light.
Erin Buzuvis has said that the pink color scheme in the visitors' locker room promotes sexism and homophobia, and she is planning to challenge whether the color scheme violates NCAA policy. The pink locker room goes back to the days of former Iowa coach Hayden Fry and has been expanded in the current renovation of the stadium. Everything is now pink, including the carpeting, metal lockers, brick walls, sinks, shower floor and the urinals.
Now Buzuvis is claiming that she is getting death and rape threats because she dares question the legitimacy of painting a visitor's locker room pink. I'm not remotely surprised.
Instead of painting the visitor's locker room the same color as the Iowa team's locker room, I say paint the Iowa locker room pink. -Cyd Zeigler jr.
The 60:52 football game: NFL games are supposed to be 60 minutes long. The Patriots-Steelers game Sunday afternoon, though, was an extra 52 minutes long. That's because the the clock operator majorly screwed up.
With 14:51 left in the game, Steelers receiver Cedric Wilson ran a reverse for no gain. The clock then ran down to 13:59. At that point, there was a false start. The clock operator then reset the clock back to 14:51.
Given that the Patriots scored the game-winning field goal in the last 52 minutes, I have to imagine this timekeeper may have Erin Buzuvis' problem this week. -Cyd Zeigler jr.
9.26.2005
Baseball's Final Days: Wow--the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox enter the last week of the baseball season tied in the American League East, and they wind up playing each other the last three games. Cleveland trails Chicago by 2.5 games in the Central and the two teams play each other the final weekend. And in the National League, the Houston Astros lead the Philadelphia Phillies by one game in the wild card race.
It's hard to remember a baseball season that has had this much uncertainty this late. The Red Sox could win the division or miss the playoffs entirely; ditto for the Yankees and their $200 million payroll. Making a prediction is foolish, so just enjoy the ride.--Jim Buzinski
The Trojan march continues: The USC Trojans this week have broken their own record of consecutive weeks atop the AP Poll, marking the 23rd straight week they were voted No. 1 by the Associated Press. They got a little scare, though, in Oregon; trailing 13-0 to the Ducks in the second quarter of their game on Saturday, the Trojans put up 45 straight points to secure the team's 25th consecutive win.
It's funny to me to keep hearing people bag on the Pac-10 as a football conference. In USC, you have the class of Division I-A football. Three other teams - UCLA, Washington State and California are undefeated. Oregon's only loss was to USC. Forty percent of the conference's teams are in the AP Top 25. Yet, the Big Eleven, Big XII, SEC and ACC alums still love to talk about how bad the Pac-10 is. Sure, Stanford lost to UC-Davis. But hell, the ACC has Duke! -Cyd Zeigler jr.
NFL Week 3: Check out our news and notes and hotties from Week 3 in the NFL.
9.24.2005
Mmmmm?.beer?nectar of the Gods: I love beer, especially German beer. Thanks to strict purity laws, German beer has an all-around quality that flavored water like Coors and Budweiser and Miller can only dream of. I?m going to have to search out some Bitburger this weekend after seeing a story from Reuters. Bayern Munich is already running away with the German football league, the Bundesliega. They?ve won six straight games to start the season and 15 overall when the nine straight games they won to end the 2004-05 season are factored in. Bitburger brewery is offering 10,000 litres (roughly 2,200 gallons) of beer to the fans of the first team that can beat Bayern. I?m not quite sure what the incentive for the players of opposing teams is other than professional pride, but hey, if I was a supporter of Hamburg SV living in Germany, I?d be rooting like hell for Bayern to get routed on Saturday in Hamburg. Go Hamburg SV!
More Moreno idiocy: Arte Moreno has done some good things in his time as owner of the Angels of Wherever. He got Disney out of the picture, for a start. However, his decision to change the team name to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim unleashed a storm of mocking coverage and lawsuits from the city of Anaheim. Moreno?s at it again. David Robinson, the ex-San Antonio Spurs great, lends his name and prestige to a non-profit elementary school called the Carver Academy in San Antonio. What?s Carver got to do with the Angels?
Nothing, but somebody in the Angels front office decided that it was a great idea to sue Robinson and Carver for copyright infringement because the Carver Academy logo looks similar to a a logo the Angels stopped using in 1996 when they became the Anaheim Angels. Great move Arte Moreno (the buck stops with him, not the legal department)?sue a beloved sports figure who?s running a school for low-income kids in San Antonio over a logo that even Angels fans have mostly forgotten about, there?s been so many in the team?s history. I love the players and the team, but I?m getting a "Gene Autry ruining everything" vibe from Arte Moreno now. --Jim Allen
9.23.2005
ChiSox: chokers: I still have the mental scars from the California Angels (as they were called then) epic collapse in the 1995 season. Leading their division by 11 games on August 1st, they were cruising. Then shortstop Gary DiSacrcina broke his wrist and the wheels fell off. They ended up tied with the Seattle Mariners at the end of the season and got crushed in the one-game playoff at the Kingdome. After that, I stopped taking sports so seriously?it wasn?t worth the anguish of being so involved in a team so much. This is a way of saying to Chicago White Sox fans: I feel your pain.
The White Sox might set the standard for Epic Collapse In Our Time before the season is out. The White Sox were a whopping 15 games ahead of the Cleveland Indians on August 1st this year; when Jim B. asked me who I thought the best team in baseball was around that time, I instantly answered "The White Sox, by light years". D?oh! With the White Sox losing to the Minnesota Twins 4-1 in 11 innings on Thursday and the Indians winning a slugfest against hapless Kansas City 11-6, the White Sox lead is now 1 ﾽ games. To be fair, the White Sox have played poorly since August, but really, it?s more a case of a young, mostly unknown group of Indians who are playing out of their heads now that has caused the gap to close between the two teams.
Even if the Indians don?t win the Central Divsion, they?re in good shape to win the Wild Card slot; they?re 1 ﾽ in front of the Boston Red Sox; the White Sox could also get in the playoffs as the Wild Card. The White Sox have 10 games left, the Indian 9, with the teams closing out their schedules with three games at Jacobs Field in Cleveland. And those heartbreakers, the Angels? Three games ahead of the Oakland A?s, with four games in Oakland on tap next week. Yeah, the National League has the wild card race (the Houston Astros up by two over the Philadelpha Phillies), but all the pennant race action is in the American League this year.
Black Cocks: Get your mind out of the gutter, this isn?t about African-American men?s penises. For marketing reasons, the New Zealand national badminton team?yes, badminton is another sport that?s huge outside of U.S. borders?decided to call themselves the Black Cocks (the shuttlecock is the thing they wack over the net and the great New Zealand rugby team is the All Blacks) and it worked, sort of. They got sponsorship from condom companies and so forth, but this week, the national governing body conceded that the nickname was just too gimmicky, with too much potential for problems in less sarcastic countries that they dropped the nickname. With that decision goes a headline writers dream name; for example, the article I saw this item in was entitled "New Zealand finds Black Cocks hard to swallow". --Jim Allen
9.22.2005
Are the same old Red Sox back? Until last year, the Boston Red Sox had been known for choking in September (or the occasional October). Looks like they?re starting to rebuild their 86-year-old tradition. With just 20 games to go, they were leading the Yankees in the AL East by 3.5 games. On Wednesday, just 10 games later, they fell out of first place for the first time since July 18 after losing two out of three games to the lowly Tampa Bay Devil Rays. As the Red Sox have lost five of their last 10, the New York Yankees have become the hottest team in baseball, winning nine of their last 10 after beating the Baltimore Orioles Wednesday night, 2-1. The Yankees have lost only one series since Aug. 18 and are 23-9 in that stretch.
We?ll find out if these truly are a new Red Sox organization, or if they?re the same old club that just got lucky last year. The last three-game series of the season will feature these two longtime AL East rivals once again duking it out for the division title and maybe the lone playoff spot left. -Cyd Zeigler jr.
Would you pay $10M for a helmet? Robby Gordon has put the helmet he threw at Michael Waltrip?s car during a race in New Hampshire last weekend on Ebay, with all proceeds going to help Harrah's Employee Relief Fund, a charity designed to aid Harrah's employees affected by Hurricane Katrina. Bidding had gotten up to $10 million before Ebay pulled the helmet because they couldn?t verify if the bid was real. They relisted the helmet on Wednesday with the help of Auction Cause and the bidding at midnight on Wednesday was back over $44,000. It?s amazing how much disposable income some people have. -Cyd Zeigler jr.
9.21.2005
Nationals ban chapel leader: The Washington Nationals' chapel leader doesn't believe Jews will go to heaven, according the The Washington Post. Better make that soon-to-be-former-chapel leader. Nationals outfielder Ryan Church asked Moeller if Jews are "doomed" because they don't believe in Jesus. According to the Post, Moeller nodded his head. The Nationals have suspended Moeller from the clubhouse while they investigate the allegations.
We really don't even need to finish this story. You know the rest. The Nationals have distanced themselves from the alleged nodding of the head, Jewish leaders are outraged and accusing the Nationals of hate-mongering and the aptly named Church says he wouldn't normally call anyone's religious beliefs into question.
The only thing we're missing is the non-apology apology. -Cyd Zeigler jr.
9.20.2005
Monday Night Double-header: ABC and the NFL should be congratulating themselves for putting together a great event last night featuring not one but two Monday Night Football games.
The first game featured the New York Giants AT the New Orleans Saints AT Giants Stadium. The game was moved from the Saints' homefield at the Superdome after Hurricane Katrina blew through New Orleans. The entire night was dedicated to helping Hurricane Katrina relief efforts in the South. Presidents George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton welcomed viewers to the double-header on ABC as NFL stars from the past and present - including Bart Starr, John Elway and Donovan McNabb - answered calls at an NFL phone bank for the Bush-Clinton Katrina Fund.
The Giants took advantage of the shift in location by jumping all over the Saints from the opening kick, which was fumbled by Fred McAfee. The Giants quickly put the ball in the end zone en route to a 27-10 drubbing of the Saints. Just eight months after finishing the 2004 season with a 6-10 record, the Giants have started the 2005 season with two straight wins.
In Dallas, the Cowboys were coasting, 13-0, over the Washington Redskins when the roof caved in. Mark Brunell hit Santana Moss twice on long touchdowns in the final 3:46 to give the Skins a 14-13 shocker. It was Washington's first win in Dallas since 1995 and it marked the first time in 58 games that a Bill Parcells team lost a fourth-quarter lead of 13+ points. The first Brunell-to-Moss score came on 4th and 15, the second was a 70-yard rainbow. Amazing.
9.19.2005
USC definitely doesn't SUC: The USC Trojans have been the best football team in the country for longer than any other team in history. Or, so says the Associated Press. USC has been ranked No. 1 in the AP Poll for 22 consecutive weeks, which is a record.
Prior to USC's run, the record had been 21 weeks, which the Miami Hurricanes did in the 2001 and 2002 seasons. Southern Cal is also third on the all-time list with 18 consecutive weeks from 1972 to 1973. They were already the first team to be ranked No. 1 consecutively spanning parts of three seasons. We'll see how long that lasts in the next month as three of USC's next four opponents are ranked in the Associated Press' top 25.
Troy's latest conquest was Arkansas on Saturday night, whom they pounded, 70-17. They have beaten their first two opponents by a combined 99 points.
NFL Week 2: Check out our news and notes and hotties from Week 2 in the NFL.
9.17.2005
Baseball pioneer dies: It was announced Friday that baseball pioneer Charlie Williams had died September 10th at the age of 61 from diabetes. Charlie who? you say? Williams was the first African-American umpire to call balls-and-strikes in a World Series games, that?s who. He had the dubious distinction of working behind the plate in the 1993 World Series game between the Toronto Blue Jays and Philadelphia Phillies; the game lasted a mind-numbing 4 hours and 15 minutes and finished with the Blue Jays winning 15-14. "He called it the game from hell, because it went on so long" said his wife, Diana. No doubt. R.I.P.
In Randy Moss' face: Leaving no marketing stone unturned, Oakland Raiders receiver Randy Moss now has for sale on his website an item that?s sure to delight people that you give gifts to: a realistic Randy Moss mask, complete with wild Afro. Um, Randy, your mask looks a little stoned there, but what the hey, I guess he was going for a realistic look. Available for delivery by Halloween, I?m sure.
9.16.2005
Now *that?s* dedication: From the News of the Weird file comes a story from?where else?--Australia. I love Australian Rules football, apart from the hot guys who seem to have their tight shorts pulled down all the time. It?s a wild and woolly game with some of the toughtest mofo?s playing pro sports on the planet. I sometimes suspect that the players have to be insane to play a sport that?s as violent and physical as the NFL but without the pads and helmets. The insanity theory gets a boost from the story of Brett Backwell, who plays for Glenelg of the SANFL, which as far this Yank can tell, is sort of a minor league feeder set-up for the major league AFL.
Three years ago, he broke the ring finger on his left hand while playing and it?s caused him pain ever since. His solution? Have the finger amputated below the second knuckle. Doctors suggested that his fingers be fused together, but oh no, cut the thing off was Mr. Backwell?s decision. "It's obviously pretty sore but with all the drugs I've had it (pain) probably hasn't hit me yet" Backwell said in a statement, post-operation. I?d say you were ON drugs to make that decision in the first play given there were viable options, but hey, it wouldn?t be Aussie Rules otherwise.
Shut up and disappear: I?ll say it right up front: I can?t stand Lance Armstrong. For seven years, I?ve wished he?d tear an ACL or shred his hamstring during a mountain stage in the Tour de France just so he and his supporters would shut the hell up. Despite no conclusive proof, I?m skeptical of his claims about being drug-free; it just seems impossible that in a sport that?s rife with steroids and performance enhancers that the man who has dominated the sport?s premiere event would be clean. Maybe it?s the way he always phrases his denial of being a juicer: "I?ve never failed a test". Not the same as "I?ve never injected drugs in to my body to help my performance", is it?
In any case, a week after Cyd wrote about his "comeback" to combat those pesky rumors, Armstrong issued a statement so dripping with pomposity and hubris, that well, I?ll just quote him: "Sitting here today, dealing with all this stuff again, knowing if I were to go back, there's no way I could get a fair shake -- on the roadside, in doping control, or the labs". My translation: "If I came back, I'd be the most scrutinized athlete ever and I don't want to risk getting caught and trashing my reputation". Ah, just shut up and disappear from public life Armstrong. --Jim Allen
9.15.2005
Gabe "The Babe" Ruptures Achillies: Outsports-reader favorite Gabe Kapler ruptured his left Achilles tendon while rounding second base on a fifth-inning home run hit by Boston Red Sox teammate Tony Graffanino Wednesday night. Kapler was starting at center field in place of Johnny Damon, who is still suffering from pain in the shoulder he injured last month. The Red Sox went on to beat the Bluejays, 5-3.
Kapler has been a favorite of gay men since he appeared in a fitness magazine wearing nothing but a small, tight, squarecut bathing suit. He has spent his Major League career on four teams: Detroit, Texas, Colorado and Boston.
Kapler's obviously very attractive, but it's his personality that has made me a fan - and I'm not joking. I've talked with Kapler a few times on the phone. He is an incredibly nice guy who has no problem with gay people, gay fans, or gay anything else, for that matter. He so very much wants to be remembered as a good baseball player; and I think that will be his legacy. Will he be one of the greats? No. But, he has a World Championship ring, a batting average of .271 and a slugging percentage of .422. Not too shabby. Hopefully this won't be the end of his career, but I've got a bad feeling about it. -Cyd Zeigler jr.
9.14.2005
Shaq chases down gay-bashers: Miami Heat center Shaquille O'Neal helped the police arrest a man suspected of assaulting a gay couple over the weekend.
Shaq was driving around South Beach at 3 a.m. on Saturday when he noticed a man, Michael Gonzalez, 18, yell anti-gay slurs at the couple from a car. Gonzalez then got out of the car and threw a bottle at the two men, hitting one of them. Gonzalez then got back into the car. As it sped off, O'Neal trailed behind, flagging down a police officer who arrested the man.
O'Neal has long talked about how he intends to become a police officer after his basketball-playing days are over. In fact, he is in the process of joining the Miami Beach police.
"For this incident I don't want to be credited as an individual who does police work," O'Neal said in a statement, according to the Associated Press. "I want to be credited as a Miami Beach police officer."
I can only imagine that the alleged attacker had a second thought about when he'd done when he noticed he was being trailed by a 7-foot-1 brick house. -Cyd Zeigler jr.
9.13.2005
Dolphin rescued at sea: Former Miami Dolphin running back and NFL Hall of Famer Larry Csonka was rescued in the Bering Sea by helicopter on Sept. 8, Anchorage Daily News has reported. For those who don't know, the Bering Sea is the body of water between Alaska and Russia.
Csonka was on a fishing expedition with a film crew when 9-foot seas and gale force winds overwhelmed the 28-foot boat they were in. A Coast Guard helicopter was dispatched from Kodiak, 600 miles away, to rescue the fishing group.
"We might very well have died if we stayed out there. It was tense," Csonka told the Daily News. Csonka runs Zonk! Productions, which films episodes for his outdoor sports TV show. -Cyd Zeigler jr.
Falcons get vengeance: The Atlanta Falcons got a hint of revenge on Monday Night Football, beating the same Philadelphia Eagles team that beat them in the NFC Championship game last year. Atlanta got the 14-10 win on Michael Vick's legs and thanks to two lost fumbles and an interception thrown by Eagles QB Donovan McNabb. To be sure, David Akers' two missed field goals didn't help the defending NFC champions, either.
It capped off a weekend of surprises that saw eight of last season's 12 playoff teams lose their first games. Only the Patriots, Falcons, Colts and Steelers won their opening games this season after making last year's playoffs. -Cyd Zeigler jr.
9.12.2005
College Football Weekend: The Big Ten had a lost weekend as three Top 10 teams?Iowa, Michigan and Ohio State?fell, the latter two at home. Ohio State lost a thriller to Texas and Vince Young (no disgrace), but Michigan looked lame in falling to Notre Dame, 17-10. Iowa was routed, 23-3, by Iowa State.
Meanwhile, the team that overcame the most adversity was LSU, which won at Arizona State, 35-31. The game was originally scheduled for Baton Rogue, but was moved to Tempe because of Hurricane Katrina. "This is not a made-for-TV movie," coach Les Miles said. "This was a real-life trauma where friends and family had to stay in the dorms and the town swelled to take in the New Orleans evacuees. We are treating people that are injured and disadvantaged 200 yards from our stadium. We have a scrimmage, and Blackhawk helicopters are flying people from New Orleans over our heads."
Notre Dame moved into the Top 10 after its win over Michigan as the Fighting Irish hype machine kicked in after only two games. ESPN?s Beano Cook predicted the Irish would wind up playing for the national championship. Gee, Beano, let?s cancel the rest of the season and just hand the trophy to Notre Dame. It?s nice that they?ve started 2-0 on the road for the first time since 1918, but beating Pitt (which lost to Ohio) and Michigan (with a weak quarterback) isn?t like beating the Patriots and Colts. -- Jim Buzinski
Federer Wins U.S. Open: How dominant is Roger Federer, who won the men?s U.S. Open in four sets? Listen to Andre Agassi, the player who lost to Federer: ''He's the best I've ever played against,'' Agassi said after his 6-3, 2-6, 7-6 (1), 6-1 defeat. ''Pete [Sampras] was great. No question. But there was a place to get to with Pete. You knew what you had to do. If you do it, it could be on your terms. There's no such place like that with Roger. ''
In winning his second consecutive Open, Federer ran his record in finals the past two years to a sick 23-0. He may dominate men?s tennis like no other player before. It?s Roger?s world and the other players usually just hope for second place.--Jim Buzinski
NFL Week 1: Check out our news and notes and hotties from Week 1 in the NFL.
9.10.2005
San Antonio Saints?: On the 7th, Cyd speculated that the New Orleans Saints, homeless after Hurricane Katrina, could be mooting a permanent move to Los Angeles. Frankly, I was hoping that the Indianapolis/Baltimore Colts, with cuties Peyton Manning and Brandon Stokley, would be the team who would have their stadium blackmail attempts fail and move here, but alas. The Colts will be getting a shedload of money from the state of Indiana and groundbreaking is imminent on a retractable roof stadium costing $500 million to replace the too-small RCA Dome. The new stadium is scheduled to be open in time for the 2008 season.
Enter San Antonio as a real possibility as the new home of the Saints. The reason? Owner Tom Benson is from San Antonio and his business?car salesman?that gave him the scratch to buy the Saints is located there. The thinking is that he?ll wait until Katrina is being handled and isn?t front page news anymore and then announce the move to the Alamodome. Morally repugnant? Perhaps. Good business? Absolutely. Take a guess which will win out in the end.
England, my England: Although the English Football league (i.e. soccer) is my favorite sport, I mainly laugh at the English national team as it attempts to recapture their one moment of glory, winning the 1966 World Cup in London. It?s classic to read the online editions of the English newspapers, especially the rabidly xenophobic Sun. The amount of hype and sheer nonsense written is staggering; it?s like the NFL opening night x 1,000,000. Every move is analyzed to death, the players and coaches are constant tabloid fodder and suicide hotlines are manned every time the national team plays.
This fun, if slightly predictible, saga took a dive in to the hysterical this week with the defeat of England by Northern Ireland?Northern Ireland!--in a World Cup qualifying match played in Belfast on Wednesday. England looked dire in the 1-0 defeat and the howls of outrage in the media and on the English football boards and blogs I visit is just comical. The English never learn: their national team is never as good as it?s supposed to be, despite some excellent players, so when they crash and burn as they did in Belfast, the knives come out for the manager. It?s hard to imagine for American sports fans how much pressure the coach of England is under at all times: imagine a job that was a combination of the New York Yankees, Los Angeles Lakers, Dallas Cowboys, North Carolina men?s basketball and Nortre Dame football in terms of expectations and you come close.
Sven-Goran Eriksson of Sweden was not a unanimous choice as the manager when he was hired; there was more than a few snide, ugly remarks about how "Johnny Foreigner" was now in charge of the sacred national team. All that barely concealed xenophobia bubbled up this week and Eriksson has become "embattled" and "under fire". I?d suggest that the English adjust their expectations to make them more in line with the United States men?s team: good, but not good enough to win tournaments. Of course, in the country that invented Association Football, that?s never going to happen?there?s a certain percentage of the English national team fanbase that think winning the World Cup is England?s Divine, God Given Right--so as a fairly neutral observer, I?m more than happy to read the stuff about the English national team and chuckle at how a mere game can make otherwise sane people lose their minds. Go Everton FC! --Jim Allen
9.9.2005
NFL season opens: The National Football League season got underway Thursday and?..Thursday? That?s just wrong but TV rules so there it is. As is usual with the No Fun League, they can?t leave well enough alone and just play a game. No, they have to nearly smother the game and the hour preceeding it in bombast, hype and country music. I?m not nave to think that rock n? roll is even the slightest bit rebellious any more?the corporatization of rock music that began ca. Woodstock is complete and total now?but it?s just plain weird to see a pre-game music show for a league that?s fanatical about controlling its image that has:
* The Rolling Stones, whose great Sticky Fingers album is rife with drug references (um, Sister Morphine anyone?) and who still number Keith Richards, the ace rebuttal to Just Say No anti-drug hypocrisy and
* Ozzy Osbourne, singer of songs containing lines like "Would you like to see the Pope/On the end of a rope/do you think he?s a fool?" and "Look in to my eyes/You?ll see who I am/My name is Lucifer/Please take my hand"
being trotted out to provide carny show entertainment for the NFL, both acts now considered so safe that even the NFL wants them on. Oh well, it?s still better than NASCAR.
The game itself, between the Oakland Raiders and New England Patriots, was interesting for about 2 ﾽ quarters, until the Pats coaching and talent ground down the Raiders. The Raiders only trailed the two-time Super Bowl champion Patriots 17-14 at halftime but the wheels came off in the third quarter. The Pats picked off the Raiders Kerry Collins at the Raiders 20 and took only three plays to score, effectively sealing the game. One slight ray of hope for Patriots opponents this year: on the subequent point-after, the usually automatic Adam Vinatieri didn?t convert. Hey, with a team as good as the Patriots are, that?s sometimes all they give you. It was a typically cool, professional performance by New England and they still have to be considered the team to beat this year. So far. Until I need them to lose in a betting pool.
One plus for the Raiders is that the Randy Moss Era got off to a good start: 5 catches for 130 yards for the former Viking, including a 73-yard catch-n-pass in the second quarter that briefly gave Oakland the lead. The rest of the league kicks off on Sunday and I?m looking forward to a season of sitting on my friends couch on Sunday, New York and Los Angeles Times in a pile at my feet, chips and drinks to the right and my friend proving again that he is the wizard of the channel changer as he catches all the good plays live via the NFL Sunday Ticket package. --Jim Allen
9.8.2005
Agassi and Blake make instant classic: I can only imagine that people in New York will be waking up this morning and wondering how the hell they shut their TVs off with Andre Agassi down two sets to love. Yet, I can only imagine that almost everyone but those 20,000 left in Arthur Ashe Stadium wrote off the 35-year-old as he and James Blake entered the third set. For those who did stick around, they were treated to one of the best matches I have ever seen: an incredibly played five-set match that ended with a tiebreak that left another chapter of a legend?s resume.
In the end, No. 7 Agassi pulled off the comeback, winning, 3-6, 3-6, 6-3, 6-3, 7-6 (8-6). It was the first time in his 20 U.S. Opens that Agassi came back to win after losing the first two sets of a match.
As Outsports tennis pundit Chris Fife said after the match, ?they will be showing this match during rain delays for years to come.? As if it wasn?t enough that it the match ended in a fifth set tiebreak, each point seemed to be played with increasing intensity and desire. During Agassi?s first match point, Blake ripped a shot down the line with the confidence of still being up two sets to love. It was a match that both men should be proud of; and everyone who stayed up late on the East Coast should have deemed was well worth it. - Cyd Zeigler jr.
Too quick a comeback: I am firmly in the camp that says, once you?ve retired, stay that way. I don?t care if you?re the best-ever (Michael Jordan), second-best-ever (Magic Johnson) or just trying to win your first championship (Charles Barkley). Once you?ve called the press conference and said good-bye, leave it alone.
The latest in a long line of guys who just can?t stay retired may be Lance Armstrong. Just a few weeks after announcing his retirement, the seven-time Tour de France winner is now grousing that he may come back for number eight, all to piss off the French. It has been some French officials in the last few weeks who have been claiming that Armstrong was using illegal substances when he won at least his first TdF championship in 1999.
Two things here, Lance. First, you JUST RETIRED. No one wants to hear you come out of a six-week retirement. At least give us a little drama: hold out until Christmas. Second, these guys say they have six urine samples of yours from 1999 that prove you were taking the blood booster EPO. Boy, you better hope to got that they?re lying because, even if you claim you had to take it because of the cancer, the way the press fried Rafael Palmeiro, they aren?t going to let you off easy. -Cyd Zeigler jr.
9.7.2005
The Los Angeles Saints? The New Orleans Saints have been entertaining the thought of moving from New Orleans for years. They now have a damn good reason. While team owner Tom Benson certainly must have been thinking more along the lines of Los Angeles, right now he's advocating for Baton Rouge. With the team's 2005 home schedule up in the air, Benson has now voiced his support for playing at Tiger Stadium on the LSU campus, keeping the team in Louisiana.
For the long term, it's still unknown whether the Saints will be staying in New Orleans or not. But, it certainly doesn't look like it. With officials now starting to say that the Superdome needs to be torn down, it would be a couple years before a stadium of sufficient size could be built to hold the team.
Enter Los Angeles. With the L.A. Colisseum sitting empty on Sundays, and some in the city actively trying to lure a team to the nation's second largest TV market, it certainly seems like a move out of the Gulf coast could happen sooner than later for the Saints, and L.A. could get an NFL team for 2006 - years before anyone else had thought.
The NFL said today that it is not considering Los Angeles as the team's home for the rest of the season. However, they did not comment on the possibility of L.A. becoming the team's new permanent home. While at least one member of the L.A. Board of Supervisors, Mike Antonivich, has said they don't want to look like they are poaching a team from an embattled city, that doesn't mean that's not what they're trying to do. - Cyd Zeigler jr.
9.6.2005
Saints Get MNF Game: With the moving of the Sept. 18 game between the New Orleans Saints and the New York Giants to the Meadowlands in New Jersey, the game has been pushed back a day and will air the night of Monday, Sept., 19. The first half will air nationally on ABC before the regularly scheduled Cowboys-Redskins game and will continue after halftime on ESPN; select markets, such as New York and parts of the Gulf Coast, will keep the entire game on ABC.
The NFL has consistently shown an ability to make good decisions when tough scheduling situations arise. A couple years ago, a Miami-San Diego game was moved to Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, Ariz., when wildfires in San Diego prevented the game from being held. Money was raised at that game to help people displaced from the fires. I'm sure the NFL is hoping for much of the same to come out of moving the game to the New York City area and putting it in primetime.
While it certainly opens up the issue of forcing a team (the Saints) to not only give up their home field, but to have to play a road game instead, I think the NFL's solution is a great one that will have a positive effect for the people who were most affected by hurricane Katrina. -Cyd Zeigler jr.
I disagree with Cyd on this one. I see no reason why the Giants should get a ninth home game and force the Saints to play a "home" game at an opponent's stadium. There are plenty of sites closer to New Orleans, outside the immediate storm area, that could host the game. And if the NFL wants to raise money, they could easily do it from another site. Saints coach Jim Haslett is upset with the NFL's decision and I don't blame him. Baton Rouge would have been the best site, but that is still crammed with evacuees, so why not San Antonio? It's certainly closer to New Orleans than East Rutherford, N.J. This is a bad decision by the NFL. --Jim Buzinski
Another big All-American Matchup: James Blake's comeback tour at the U.S. Open will continue in the quarterfinals with a match against Andre Agassi. Blake has been working his way through ranked players this tournament, beating No. 2 Rafael Nadal in the third round and beating No. 19 Tommy Robredo in the fourth round, 4-6, 7-5, 6-2, 6-3.
No. 7 Agassi, now 35, is the oldest man to make it to the U.S. Open quarterfinals since 1991. -Cyd Zeigler jr.
9.5.2005
College Football Finally Back: The biggest shocker of the first weekend of the college football season was TCU?s 17-10 stunner at Oklahoma. It portends a long season in Norman, with one poster on an OU message board writing: ?All is not lost.? That?s usually a sure sign it is.
Auburn, which lost a ton of talent in the offseason, lost 23-16 to Georgia Tech. With OU and the Tigers losing, two of the top three teams from a year ago have already lost.
Notre Dame and new coach Charlie Weis got a lot of attention with their 42-21 drubbing of No. 23 Pitt. Weis had been the acclaimed offensive coordinator of the three-time Super Bowl champion New England Patriots. Before Irish fans get too excited, though, it helps to realize that Pitt?s defense stunk last year and looked no better Saturday. The Fighting Irish face a much tougher task this weekend when they play at Michigan.
U.S. Soccer Shines: With its 2-0 win over Mexico in Columbus, Ohio, the United States soccer team qualified for its fifth straight World Cup. It?s one more sign that the U.S. is no longer a world soccer doormat. -- Jim Buzinski
9.3.2005
Friday quick hits: Venus and Serena Williams are undoubtedly the biggest draws in women?s tennis. So who was the scheduling genius that did the draw for this years U.S. Open in New York? With both sisters winning on Friday, the draw has them playing in the fourth round on Sunday; surely, the organizers would have preferred an all-Williams final, if the sisters had cooperated by winning all their required matches. In any case, most of the other matches went to form?the #1 woman?s seed, Maria Sharapova, and the #1 men?s seed, Roger Federer, both won. There should be some interesting tennis over the Labor Day weekend.
* The New Orleans Saints are going to be nomads this year. With the appalling devastation in New Orleans from Hurricane Katrina causing major damage at the Saint?s Superdome stadium, it now appears that they?re going to be the NFL version of the Montreal Expos of a few years ago: play home games wherever they can. The team opens at Carolina on September 11th, but their "home" game against the Giants will likely be played at?Giants Stadium in New Jersey. One thought was using the 65,000 capacity Alamodome in San Antonio as a temporary home, but that?s been nixed due to the stadium being used as part of Katrina relief efforts. In the context of the nightmare that is New Orleans now, where their pro football team plays is about 4,827th on the list of important things, but life does go on, especially in the NFL. --Jim Allen
9.2.2005
Thursday miscellany: Thankfully, college football started on Thursday. Not that I?m a fan?liking UCLA and having to deal with the loathsome Southern Cal Trojans sucking out all the sports news oxygen here in Los Angeles will do that?but at least there?s one more sport to potentially write about during these dog days of early September. The Steve Spurrier regime got underway in Columbia, South Carolina, as the University of South Carolina Gamecocks beat the hapless Central Florida Gold Knights 24-15. The game looked ugly from wire reports, but Spurrier put it in perspective. "It was a tough night. But we're one and oh and we're not going to sit around and cry about it". That?s good Steve.
There were no surprises at the U.S. Open tennis tournament on Thursday. Most of the top-ranked men didn?t play, but Andre Agassi survived a slugfest with Ivo Karlovic to advance. The remaining top women had little trouble against their lesser ranked opponents, with out lesbian Amelie Mauresmo, seeded #3, dispatching Sesil Karatantcheva 6-0, 6-1.
It wasn?t great baseball by a longshot, but the Anaheim Angels, managed to scrape together a few runs, get some great starting pitching (again) and not have the bullpen implode to beat the Oakland A?s 3-0 on Thursday to draw even in the American League West. The AL wild card standings are a mash up: the Angels, A?s and New York Yankees are even, with the Cleveland Indians only a game back. All four teams have 29 games to play. The National League wild card is up for grabs too, with Philadelphia Phillies leading the Houston Astros by ﾽ game and Florida Marlins, New York Mets and Washington Nationals all within 3 games. There?s also some division races that are not quite done yet; the American League West, of course, but in the East, Boston Red Sox still have their 3 ﾽ game lead over the Yankees and the Phillies, while probably a better shot as a wild card, are still only four back of the post-season choking dogs supreme, the Atlanta Braves, in the National League East. There?s a long way to go, however, but it would be nice to have some down-to-the-wire pennant races this year. More fodder to write about for us here at Jock Talk?? --Jim Allen
9.1.2005
Hurricane extends beyond sports and the Gulf Coast: The effects of Katrina's destruction are spreading far beyond the Gulf coast -- and deep into the sports world. As Outsports readers know from the headlines, the city of New Orleans is underwater and being completely evacuated. The mayor estimates thousands dead. People won't be returning there for weeks, until the waters recede and basic cleanup of corpses, chemical spills, etc... can be done.
The thousands of refugees who made it to NOLA's Superdome are now living in horrible conditions -- the Superdome was damaged during the storm and all its services are down -- so the people are being transportged to the Astrodome in Houston, where they will be put up for a while. Refugees will surely number in the hundreds of thousands, so other sports facilities across the South are being pressed into service as emergency facilities, though the condition of some of them -- i.e., possible damage as the hurricane continued to churn inland -- is in doubt. Games are being cancelled, schedules re-arranged.
Teams on the road who had homes in the hurricane's path went through agonies until they got some news. Biloxi, Miss., was also hard hit, so Pittsburgh Pirate rookie Paul Maholm was relieved to learn that his home in Biloxi was still in one piece. Others weren't so lucky. Green Bay Packers quarterback Brett Favre found out that his family home in Kiln, Miss., was destroyed.
LSU postponed its Saturday night game with North Texas. "This not the time to play a football game," says LSU athletic director Skip Bertman. "This is a dire situation that rivals any in the history of our state, and our priorities are on participating in recovery efforts."
Outsports readers who've spent time in New Orleans will surely be as sad as I am to think that this beautiful, historic and spirited city, unique in the United States, may never be the same. I've been in close touch with some of my gay and lesbian NOLA friends who evacuated, and they say they may not be going back. The gay community in New Orleans -- businesses and organizations and private individuals -- will surely be experiencing grim hardships for some time to come. Wildcat Press had planned to have a big yard sale this coming weekend and we've decided to donate part of the proceeds to NOLA relief.
Maybe other Outsports folks might undertake similar relief efforts, or simply give to the organization of your choice, like the Red Cross. For a list of relief organizations, go here to find an organization. If you want to give directly to a GLBT community organization, I'm trying to find out what is being done, and will get back to everybody with contact information. -Patricia Nell Warren
8.31.2005
Roddick is Tennis' Phil Mickelson: Every sport has them: the superstar athlete that always seems to underperform when expectations are the highest. Basketball had Charles Barkley; football has Peyton Manning; until earlier this month, golf had Phil Mickelson. Tennis has Andy Roddick. Yes, Roddick won a U.S. Open; but, even at 23, a lot more has been expected of him.
His performance at this year's U.S. Open certainly isn't going to elevate his reputation as an underperformer. He lost Tuesday evening in the first round to Gilles Muller, 7-6 (4), 7-6 (8), 7-6 (1).
Roddick is obviously a solid player. Hell, I couldn't beat him. I couldn't get a point off of him. But, when you consider him among the elite players of his time, you have to look at guys who have been able to win more than one Major (Agassi, Federer); right now, Roddick is behind that group.
He's just 23, so he's got some solid tennis ahead of him. But, with other young men winning tournaments and Roger Federer dominating Roddick every time, Roddick's legacy is quickly becoming based on his losses rather than his wins. -Cyd Zeigler jr.
8.30.2005
Shave It Off: Some guys look good with facial year but most don?t and Detroit Lions Joey Harrington is among the latter. Harrington is sporting an awful looking beard, which is seemed to be designed to make him look tougher. All it does is make him look like he spent a month on ?Survivor.? This was the same problem that Tom Brady had last year, but he had the sense to shave it before the Super Bowl. Joey, quit pretending to be something you?re not and instead focus on being the best quarterback you can be. Facial hair has never completed a pass.
U.S. Open Opens: Andre Agassi may be nearing the end of his playing career, but he?ll always have New York. Agassi got the superstar treatment he deserved as he played in his 20th straight Open. He easily won his first match in a straight sets iver Romania?s Razvan Sabau.
''Andre, 20 more years,'' one fan yelled near the end of Agassi?s match. ''It's hard not to react to that sort of thing,'' Agassi said. ''It took me a while to understand the mentality of a New Yorker. They don't have a lot of time to waste. If they're going to do something, they're going to bring it. They expect the same from you. That's something I've grown to appreciate and embrace.''
On the woman?s side, Svetlana Kuznetsova lost in straight sets to fellow Russian Ekaterina Bychkova to become the first women?s defending champ to lose in the first round the following year. --Jim Buzinski
8.29.2005
A Division Change: The Oakland A?s completed a sweep of the Baltimore Orioles on Sunday; that?s not a surprise. But what was a shocker was to see the Anaheim Angels get swept by lowly Tampa Bay. The loss knocked the Angels out of the division lead in the American League West and a half-game behind the New York Yankees for the wild card lead. Don?t look now, but the team making a run in the A.L. is the Cleveland Indians, who have been a league-best 19-7 in August and are only a game out of the wild card race.
In the National League, the Philadelphia Phillies still hold a half-game wild card lead, while the hot team is the New York Mets, winners of seven of 10. September will be fun.
Storm Porn: Having two close friends living in New Orleans (they evacuated along with everyone), I found myself watching more cable news than normal on Sunday. It struck me how much CNN, Fox and MSNBC love this stuff, almost like they?re rooting for the hurricane to be as strong as possible. Most offensive was CNN?s constant referral to itself as being the ?Hurricane Headquarters.? How nice of them to brand disaster like a department store brands itself as your ?Back to School Headquarters.? Sickening. --Jim Buzinski
8.27.2005
Friday quick hits: As a follow up to yesterday?s item, an injury to Milton Bradley might have kept the Los Angeles Dodgers from having to deal with the Bradley-Jeff Kent feud. Bradley hurt his knee on Monday, and he?s been told he?ll need season-ending surgery. He?s seeking a second opinion, but I cynically expect the Dodgers would love nothing more for him to disappear for the rest of the year, then trade him in January. One thing that was weird about researching that story is that in the over dozen reports I looked at, none mentioned any specifics of what Kent is supposed to have done to cause Bradley to go public with his grievance. I don?t think it?s the Dodgers stonewalling, I just think that the specifics were never mentioned by Milton Bradley.
* The Washington Nationals came closer this week to getting their new baseball-only stadium built in the south part of the District of Columbia on the Anacostia River. Three construction firms were awarded a contract to begin the preliminary work on a project that the Nats hope to have done in time for the 2008 season. The new stadium is expected to cost $279 million, with a staggering $256 million being allotted for "other costs", presumably infrastructure improvements. Maybe the move from Montreal wasn?t such a bad idea after all?..
* The Rolling Stones are on tour again and the outfield grass at Boston?s Fenway Park paid the price this week. The Stones are touring with a typically gargantuan stage set and the two shows at the Red Sox ballpark thrashed the grass so badly that most of the outfield turf had to be replaced. The Red Sox, desperate to maximize revenue at the major league?s smallest ballpark, have started renting out Fenway for concerts, with Jimmy Buffett and Bruce Springsteen having played there in the last few years without a problem. I wish I was a headline writer at a news site for this story:
"Fenway Park Can?t Get No Satisfaction"
"Fenway Park Can?t Always Get What It Wants"
"Sympathy for the Red Sox Grounds Crew"
"Hey, Stones, Get Off Of My Outfield Grass" etc. etc. --Jim Allen
8.26.2005
History repeats: In 1987, the Los Angeles Dodgers general manager Al Campanis caused a firestorm of controversy when, during an interview, he claimed that African Americans lacked "the necessities" to be managers and front office staff in baseball. Living in Los Angeles, it was a major, major deal; it dominated sports news for weeks after. Now, while I?d normally love anything that makes the hated Dodgers look bad or impact them on the field, I?m getting Campanis flashbacks this week and I just can?t indulge in Dodger bashing at this point.
To say that Milton Bradley has had a controversial time of it during his stint with the Dodgers is a vast understatement. Suspensions, outburts to the media, throwing a water bottle at a fan, it?s a long list of stuff. Bradley is the only black player on the Dodgers, a disturbing fact for the team that broke the color barrier with Jackie Robinson. Jeff Kent is, by his own admission, a difficult person to be around. He doesn?t mingle with his teammates and only really talks to them when he?s yelling at them for not doing their jobs. He?s a white guy from a working class area of Los Angeles. Reports out of the Dodgers camp had the two players at loggerheads in spring training over various issues, including that perennial lame-ass "my dick is bigger than yours" thing that drives me crazy: who?s the team leader.
After Kent did a patented bit of yelling at Bradley for allegedly not hustling recently, Milton Bradley used the nuclear option: he went to the press and accused Jeff Kent of having a problem with African American players. Whether all that?s true or not doesn?t really interest me; what does is how this how played out in the local and national press. Blacks make up about 9% of major league players, a big drop from even a decade ago.
One of the side effects of this is that black players feel increasingly isolated, as Bradley does by being the only black player on the Dodgers. African American athletes have long complained?and it?s mostly justified in my view?that they get double standard treatment from the largely white sports press. Any foibles a black player has are magnified and endlessly pontificated on (see: Owens, Terrell) while white players like Jeff Kent can act like total jerks and have that minimized or not even become an issue. You see it in racial code words all the time: blacks are "athletic" while white players are "disciplined and focused" and so forth.
I?ve sensed a slight shift in tone in the coverage I?ve read of the Bradley/Kent situation. There seems to finally be a belated awareness that, hey, maybe African American athletes really do have a point about how they are treated by the white sports press, that there *is* a difference in the way black and white athletes are covered and marketed. Can?t we all just get along?--Jim Allen
8.25.2005
Cock Fight: PETA, the animal rights group, has asked the NCAA to ban the use of the nickname ?Gamecocks,? saying it promotes cockfighting, a ?hideous blood sport.? Jacksonville State and the University of South Carolina each use the nickname.
"Our position is that since cockfighting is illegal in 48 states in this country and a felony in South Carolina - you go to jail, period - we don't think schools should be promoting this illegal act with their mascots," said Dan Shannon, PETA manager of campaigns.
PETA said it has no problem with animal nicknames like Beavers and Bears since they "highlight the power and beauty in the natural world," USA Today reported.
"It's a safe bet that officials at South Carolina and Jacksonville would never dream of calling their athletic teams the Dogfighters, Wifebeaters, Looters or Road-Ragers! By calling them the Gamecocks, USC sends a message to sports fans that cruel, illegal cockfighting is something to cheer about," another PETA official said.
But a letter writer to USA Today told PETA to stick it. "Perhaps PETA should study up on both Revolutionary War and South Carolina history, " Adam Myrick of Florence, S.C., wrote. "One of South Carolina's military heroes in the Revolutionary War, Thomas Sumter, was referred to by British soldiers as ?the Gamecock.? I believe this is the true source of the Gamecock nickname, not any association or fascination with the ?blood sport? as PETA proclaims. "
Of course, it?s easy to mock PETA, so I will resist the temptation (but be my guest). But we never want the name changed, for reasons writer Todd Heustess spelled out in Outsports: Grown men, who have never heard of WeHo and probably have never seen ?Will & Grace,? will wear baseball caps with ?Cocks? emblazoned across the front. T-Shirts proclaim ?You Can?t Beat Our Cocks? on game day. When USC plays a hated SEC rival or when we used to play Miami, fraternity-sponsored banners adorned the stadium proclaiming ?Dem Dogs Can?t Lick Our Cocks? or ?The Hurricanes Can?t Blow Our Cocks!? I mean is this not the ultimate for a gay sports fan or what? -- Jim Buzinski
8.24.2005
Armstrong Accused Again: The French sports newspaper L'quipe says that Lance Armstrong tested positive for a performance-enhancing substance while winning the Tour de France in 1999. On his website, Armstrong said, "Unfortunately, the witch hunt continues. ? The "article was nothing short of tabloid journalism."
The paper ran a four-page report, called ?The Armstrong Lie,? alleging that Armstrong used EPO, which helps muscles carry more oxygen, a huge benefit for a cyclist. The paper said it matched what were called frozen ?B sample? urine samples to Armstrong. The A samples were not frozen and are no longer available and any sanctions by the sport can only happen if both the A and B samples test positive. (There was no test for EPO in 1999).
"I will simply restate what I have said many times: I have never taken performance-enhancing drugs," Armstrong said. But Jean-Marie Leblanc, the director of the Tour, called the newspaper's report "very complete, very professional, very meticulous." And World Anti-Doping Agency chairman Dick Pound has called on cycling officials to investigate the claim. "It's not a 'He said, she said' scenario," Pound told the San Jose Mercury News.
"There were documents. Unless the documents are forgeries or manipulations of them, it's a case that has to be answered."
This is not the first time Armstrong has been accused of doping, but he has remained consistent with his denials and is entitled to the benefit of the doubt. It seems unlikely that this case will put the issue to rest, one way or the other, and one hopes Armstrong doesn?t become the next Rafael Palmiero. "He's stuck with a cloud," Dr. Gary Wadler, a noted doping expert, told the Los Angeles Times. Wadler said that because the research into this sample was done for scientific purposes, rather than to see whether a particular athlete was to be sanctioned for cheating, "it is disquieting to me that this became public in the way it did. Both parties -- the sport and the athlete -- are entitled to have due process and be able to provide appropriate issues of evidence." -- Jim Buzinski
