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9.30.2006
Weak sauce: In the context of some of the comments on Outsports' list of anti-gay slurs, the latest example of the genre is pretty weak. Paul Scholes plays midfield for Manchester United and during ManYoo's Champions League match on Wednesday, he was caught by a lipreader (!!) yelling "fucking poof" at the referee after getting a yellow card. Of course, there's no way of knowing if Belgian ref Frank De Bleeckere is gay or not without asking him (he's certainly handsome enough); Scholes' snarled words are depressingly common in that situation.
What causes this to rise above the usual non-story that this would normally be is an Englishman named Peter Tatchell. Mr. Tatchell runs (or seems to be the only active member) the queer direct action group OutRage!, patterned on ACT UP. He's made Scholes comments a cause celebre in England. In an editorial in the paper The Guardian, Tatchell calls for an investigation of Scholes by the footballing authorities, an apology and a committment for him for gay rights.
Although I agree that if Paul Scholes had hurled racial abuse he'd be in much hotter water, Peter Tatchell's list of demands strikes me as overkill, frankly. As Jim B., Cyd and I like to snark, there's apologies and then there's non-apology apologies. I suspect that if Scholes even dignified Peter Tatchell with a response (he's been silent so far), it'd be completely half-hearted, PR-ed and spin doctored to death and, in the end, totally pointless. Ozzie Guillen's comments in the link above are much worse, in my view, and I think that making a huge deal out of every incidence of anti-gay slurs will render complaints null, because there won't be any gradation between them. --Jim Allen
9.29.2006
Sorry, no more football for you: Obviously, high school football is an important part of life, for good and bad, for a lot of people. In places like Texas, Friday night is akin to a religion and even here in laid back California, my high school (the Poly Parrots, thank you) had bitter rivals in the shape of Grant and North Hollywood. For a school in Michigan, that's not enough.
Oscoda Area High School is a 530-student school located in a town on Lake Huron in northeast Michigan. So far this season, they've been outscored 164-0 in their four games. After forfeiting a game against Pinconning last Friday, the coach of the team, Kyle Tobin, recommended that the remaining four games of the season be cancelled, a decision the local school board approved. "I have 28 years of coaching experience in high school and college, and I know the difference between a team playing bad and a team that's unsafe" Coach Tobin remarked, a refreshingly sane statement coming from someone involved with teenagers in sports.
Naturally, senior quarterback Mike Gondek didn't feel that way, saying "All I ever wanted to do was play football. My teammates never felt so unsafe that we didn't want to be out there". Kyle Tobin will be forever known in that remote part of Michigan --there's more lakes than towns when you look at it on Mapquest-- as The Coach That Cancelled A Season but I sympathize with him.
In one of my few experiences of playing organized tackle football, I was stupidly put on the offensive line and I got steamrolled by much larger players. Just because I had a body like a fire hydrant doesn't mean that I was physically able to handle it and it's a better end to the season for Oscoda than headlines saying "NE Michigan high school football player paralyzed after hit in game".
Sorry, no more penalty shootouts for you: I might be one of the few people on the planet who likes penalty shootouts deciding major football (soccer) tournaments. I think the drama and the tension are amazing, but FIFA President Sepp Blatter doesn't agree with me, the bastard. "When it comes to the World Cup final it is passion, and when it goes to extra time it is a drama. But when it comes to penalty kicks it is a tragedy. Football is a team sport and penalties is not a team, it is the individual". Well, OK then.
In a case of the cure might be worse than the disease, Blatter is proposing a tied match be replayed --a horrible idea and not at all workable due to TV-- or that players be subtracted as time goes on, which seems to mitigate against the whole nonsense he was bleating about "teams". Of course, haters *cough* Jim B. *cough* Cyd *cough* have a "play until you drop" attitude, but that would have the clubs such as Manchester United, Barcelona and River Plate that provide the players for national teams howling about potential injuries. It's a tough nut to crack, but hopefully more thought is put in to this before the next World Cup in South Africa in 2010 than the meager stuff Blatter is proposing. --Jim Allen
9.28.2006
Madden Curse: We might have discovered a surefire way to take care of Osama bin laden -- put him on the cover of the next Madden video football game. Nothing has been more successful than putting NFL stars out of commission. MVP Shaun Alexander of the Seattle Seahawks graces the cover of Madden 2007. Poof! He breaks a bone in his foot and is sidelined indefinitely.
Gamespy has the rundown: "The history of the so-called Curse goes back to the 2000 edition of the game, when the Detroit Lions' Barry Sanders shared the cover with John Madden. Sanders retired before training camp, so that year's cover athlete wasn't even on the field. In 2002, that year's cover athlete Daunte Culpepper struggled and had his season cut short by a knee injury. The 2003 cover featured Marshall Faulk, who, after suffering an ankle injury, failed to rush for 1,000 yards and never did so again in his career. Falcons quarterback Michael Vick, who graced the 2004 cover, fractured his right fibula the day after the game was put on store shelves. Last year, quarterback Donovan McNabb had a troubled season, with a sports hernia in the first game and the Eagles underperforming in every possible way."
9.27.2006
A Gay Jock's Fears: Australian rugby star Ian Roberts came out at the height of his career in 1995, becoming virtually the only team sport athlete to ever do so. He told an Australian court Tuesday that he was "terrified" that he would be linked at the time to a pedophile ring, the Australian media reported.
Roberts was friends and roommates in 1996 with Arron Light, a teenage prostitute who police said was allegedly abused by members of a pedophile ring. Arron disappeared shortly before he was to give evidence against alleged members of the ring in 1997. His skeletal remains were found buried in a shallow grave five years later.
Roberts told a court investigating Arron's death that the news about Arron had hit him "like a sledge hammer between my eyes and I was terrified what people would think and that it would destroy me in the public arena," media reports said. "Me having come out as a gay sports person one moment then to be involved in a child sexual assault case, it is always going to be situation where people of ignorance ... associated pedophiles with being gay. I had just come out now this happened, people are going to obviously assume it's all one and the same."
Police had charged Frederick George Rix in the killing, but he was never charged since no body had been discovered at the time; he remains a person of interest in the case. In court Tuesday, Roberts said that Rix had sexually assaulted him 25 years ago, a charge Rix denied; Rix was so disruptive during Roberts' testimony that he was threatened by the judge. Roberts said he pleaded with Arron to go to the police to protect others.
"In the end it wasn't just about Arron." Roberts said. "It was about anyone else these people might have been harming. I made that clear to Arron as well." The inquest is continuing.
Pennant Races All But Over: Heading into the final days of the baseball season, there is no drama in the American League, while the race is wild in the National League. In the A.L., Oakland clinched the West, joining New York, Minnesota and Detroit in the playoffs. The defending champion Chicago White Sox, whose 87 wins would easily give them a spot in the National League playoffs, are officially eliminated. Maybe manager Ozzie Guillen will blame it on the fags.
The real drama is in the National League. San Diego leads Los Angeles by two games in the West, but the Dodgers lead the Phillies by a game in the wild card race. The Central race was all but over a week ago, but Houston has won seven straight while St. Louis has lost seven straight, so the Astros are only 1.5 games out. If the Cardinals collapse and miss the playoffs, it might go down as the biggest choke of all time. --Jim Buzinski
9.26.2006
Saints Go Marching In: The New Orleans Saints beat the Atlanta Falcons, 23-3, in the first NFL game played at the Superdome since Hurricane Katrina 13 months ago. The Saints looked, for one night at least, like the best team in the league, and they were clearly fired up by the crowd. They blocked an Atlanta punt on the game's fourth play, recovered the ball in the end zone and never looked back.
It was a nice moment for New Orleans, but it was only a moment. The city is still far from functioning and may never regain its pre-storm luster. As one restaurant owner told Billy Witz of the Los Angeles Daily News: "Like my daughter put it, this is bread and circus. If you've lost your home and are in the process of putting it back together, I don't know if you're excited about all this."
Don't tell that to ESPN, which bludgeoned us with How Symbolically Important it all was. The worst was Tony Kornheiser, who oozed annoying gravitas all night. When the Saints scored, he told us How Important the Saints Were to the city. When they took a time out he told us. When a Saint was hurt he told us. I'm surprised he didn't thank the advertisers for their support. For once, Joe Theismann was the least objectionable since he at least focused a lot on football. Meanwhile, play-by-play man Mike Tirico yelled at the top of the lungs every time the Saints did something positive. I found myself rooting for Atlanta so they would ALL JUST SHUT UP!
This was a nice dog-and-pony show by the NFL to show how committed it is to New Orleans; the proof will be, though, after this year. I still suspect the team will be headed to L.A. in the next few years, which will make Monday night a fleeting memory. Spike Lee, whose HBO documentary on Katrina is a must-see for anyone who cares about the city, summed up the evening best: "It's four hours, then back to your FEMA trailer." --Jim Buzinski
9.25.2006
Simms Loses Spleen: Further proof that the NFL is a nasty business -- Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Chris Simms had emergency surgery to remove his spleen following several hard hits in the Bucs' 26-24 loss to the Carolina Panthers. Simms needed a blood transfusion and will be in the hospital several days. If he plays football again, it won't be for at least two to three months, so he might miss the rest of the season. Check out our weekly notes on the NFL action, including the hottest players we saw. --Jim Buzinski
Safe European Home: As a total Anglophile it pains me to write this, but opening up the team that plays the United States in golf's Ryder Cup to non-Brits was the best thing that happened to that team. Before that team change at the 1979 event, the United States dominated completely but Europe has won eight of the last eleven. So, when the United States went in to Sunday's final series of events behind, it was almost a certainty that Europe would retain the Cup, which they did.
It's simply bizarre that the United States has better players overall, including arguably the greatest pro golfer ever in Tiger Woods (calm down all you Jack Nicklaus fans), and they still get schooled by the Europeans. Woods had a decent time of it in Ireland, going 3-2-0, but he's now 1-4 in Ryder Cup competition. Phil Mickelson was awful, going 0-4-1; he's won one match in his last two Ryder Cups. The United States team was rather weak this year, with four rookies, while four of the six players who automatically qualified didn't win one match all weekend, so Lefty wasn't the only reason the Yanks struggled.
In truth, the United States didn't choke, they were simply outplayed by a fired up European team. I usually roll my eyes at "Player XXX is playing this one for his dog that died last week" kind of sentimental claptrap, but there's no denying that Darren Clarke's recent travails (i.e. his wife dying of breast cancer last month) were a big motivating factor. Even more impressively, after the win Clarke downed a pint of Guinness in almost one breath as the highly partisan crowd went nuts. Oh well, the United States can try again on home turf in 2008, when the event will be played at Valhalla in Louisville, Kentucy. Europa! Europa! --Jim Allen
9.23.2006
Europa, Europa: As I've made obvious over the years, I'm very pro-Europe; I've been to England numerous times and I've loved Holland, France and
Germany when I was there, moreso than any place I've been in the United States. One of the few events that I can cheer for Europe as an entity is the golf
Ryder Cup. It helps that Europe has dominated play over their American counterparts in the last decade, winning eight of the last Cups, dating back to 1985.
Yep, I'm a golf front runner.
This year's edition of the Ryder Cup is taking place in Straffan, Republic of Ireland. After the first day on Friday,
it looks like European domination will continue. There was a lot of pre-Cup noise about Tiger Woods, his wife, an Irish tabloid and Woods' wife being
accused of being a porn actress. The theory was "Tiger plays best when he's mad and has something to prove", but he plonked his very first shot in to a
water hazard. That set the tone for the Americans, and they were thoroughly outplayed, losing seven of eight matches, trailing 5-3 (the format is confusing, this is a good primer).
As Jim B. often says, sports
is the best form of drama there is, and in a good drama, you usually need someone to root for. This weekend, it's Northern Ireland's Darren Clarke. He
watched his wife wither away from breast cancer over the last two years, with Heather Clarke dying in August. He got a raucous ovation from the partisan
crowd at the first tee and was visibly moved by the thought. If there's going to be any drama, sports-wise, on Saturday and Sunday, the United States is
simply going to have to play better and show that having the best golfer in the known universe (Woods) and probably the second best (Phil Mickelson) actually
means something. Go Europe!
Male cheerleader attacked: From Cyd's home state of Massachusetts comes a dreary tale of homophobia. Malden and
Melrose high schools, north of Boston, were doing the Friday Night Lights thing, playing a high school football game. After the game, a 17-year old male
cheerleader from Malden alleges that he was taunted with anti-gay slurs by a girl rooting for Melrose.
I admit, I've snickered more than once at male
cheerleaders, buying in to the stereotype that all male cheerleaders are gay; I don't actually think that's true, as many have said it's a great way to meet
chicks. In any case, after the taunting, the cheerleader was allegedly punched in the face and chest by a kid with a "a lip piercing and a black hat" and a scuffle broke out. The kid was treated at a local hospital for a bloody lip and released. I won't be joking about the sexuality of male cheerleaders any more; when it gets to the point that kids are being smacked around because of that stereotype, that's not cool. --Jim Allen
9.22.2006
Go to jail, do not pass go: Ah, the BALCO story, a Jock Talk writer's best friend. The company at the heart of a wide-ranging steriods scandal that has tainted baseball and track keeps on giving, as evidenced by news Thursday. A federal judge in San Francisco ordered two journalists, Lance Williams and Mark Fainaru-Wada, jailed for up to 18 months on contempt of court charges for their failure to spill the beans on who leaked them testimony from the grand jury investigating BALCO. The order was suspended pending appeals to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. The two men have written a book, Game of Shadows that named names, especially Barry Bonds', in the scandal around a San Francisco area company known for its involvement in steroids.
I'm not a journalist by any stretch of the imagination, I just impersonate one two days a week for Outsports. As such, I don't really have a dog in this hunt. On the one hand, a court strong arming the press to cough up sources is not something that makes me very comfortable. Yet, the two men are being threatened with jail because they won't name who gave them information that was not theirs to know; grand juries should not be sources for expose books.
The impression I got from the three articles I read about this is that the two men had better prepare for jail time if they aren't willing to rat out their sources. A 1972 Supreme Court decision is the precedent here, as that decision compels reporters to comply with court orders in cases like these. As a TV news anchor might say, stay tuned for further developments.
Send him to Anaheim: I had SportsCenter on in the background last night while surfing the Net and in typical ESPN fashion, they spent a good five minutes (repeated twice in the hour or so I had SC on) about how third baseman Alex Rodriguez is not liked by his New York Yankees teammates, the not-at-all nice things Jason "Sure, I used steroids" Giambi allegedly said about him etc.
I have a solution for all the turmoil that's supposedly engulfed the Yankees clubhouse: let them lose in the first round of the playoffs, blame Rodriguez for that failure and be so fed up with him that they ship him and his big salary (with the Texas Rangers paying a part of his $25 million a year salary, it would cost any team acquiring him about $16 mil a year) to the Anaheim Angels for some minor leaguers and a bag of peanuts. Hey, it could happen..... --Jim Allen
9.21.2006
"Fag Sports Website": Last week, we ran an article on hazing in the NFL, that got a nice plug from the website Bad Jocks, which chronicles the underbelly of sports. "Our friends at OutSports.com have done another great story, this time on the National Football League's hazing of rookies. While usually done publicly and not nearly as sexual as colleges sports initiations, these incidents still seem to be escalating . . . and also not setting a very good example for the youth of America," Bad Jock wrote.
This endorsement did not go over well with at least one Bad Jock reader. As the site wrote: New Hate Mail From Some College Boy - This email came in overnight in response to a link we had last week to a well-written article about hazing in the NFL in OutSports.com which also happened to quote a friend of the site, Prof. Hank Nuwer. Apparently that didn't set well with the enlightened college crowd who felt compelled to express their outrage at us. Which begs the question: How did such a small mind get into college in the first place?
You MORONS collaborate with OUTSPORTS.COM, the fag sports website? Do you know how sissy and wimpy and politically correct that website is? You have NOTHING on jocks acting badly now that it's found out you contract with a homosexual website. Wow...you guys really showed your sissiness by colloborating with such political correctness wimps. Nobody in our dorms trusts your site anymore. MConway21
At least MConway21 spelled our name right, though he should have used his spellcheck for the rest of the letter.
9.20.2006
So Much for Big Mo: On Monday, the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the San Diego Padres, 11-10, in one of the most amazing endings in baseball history. Down 9-5 in the bottom of the ninth, the Dodgers hit back-to-back-to-back-to-back home runs, the first time this has happened in 42 years, to tie the score. The Padres went ahead, 10-9, in the 10th inning, and the Dodgers' Norman Garciappara won the game with a two-run home run. With the win, the Dodgers pulled into the National League West lead by one-half game. Many predicted the Padres would collapse.
On Tuesday, though, it was as if the dramatics had never happened. San Diego beat Arizona, while the Dodgers lost to lowly Pittsburgh, giving the Padres back the division lead. As former Orioles manager Earl Weaver once said, "Momentum is tomorrow's starting pitcher."
Coach Head Butts Players: A coach for a teenage soccer team in Romania channeled his inner Zidane and head-butted one of his players who had made a mistake. Ovidiu Stinga was suspended for four games and fined after attacking forward Andrei Ionescu at the end of the game where the opposing team scored a last-second goal. Believe it or not, the team said it would appeal the punishment because Ionescu did not file a complaint against his coach. And I thought crazy youth coaches were a purely American phenomena. --Jim Buzinski
9.19.2006
Sooners Cry Foul: It seems pretty obvious that Oklahoma got screwed by the refs and replay officials in its 34-33 college football loss Saturday at Oregon. The Ducks scored two late touchdowns to win, the last coming after recovering an onside kick. The Pacific-10 conference acknowledged mistakes were made and suspended the game officials and the instant replay crew for one game.
The Pac-10 admitted that replays showed an Oregon player touched the ball on the onsides kick before it traveled 10 yards, which would have given the ball to Oklahoma. "Errors clearly were made and not corrected, and for that we apologize to the University of Oklahoma, Coach [Bob] Stoops and his players," Pac-10 Commissioner Tom Hansen said in a statement. The Sooners also complained about a pass interference call called on them.
Showing how important football is in Oklahoma, school President David Boren sent a letter to Big 12 Commissioner Kevin Weiberg, asking him to push for the game to be stricken from the record books and having the officials suspended for the rest of the season. Weiberg's response? Too bad. "There is no provision under NCAA or conference rules for a game result to be reversed or changed as a result of officiating errors, nor do I believe there should be," Weiberg said in a statement.
Yes, the Sooners were robbed, but there is no excusing those "fans" who have threatened the replay official, Gordon Riese. "I'm struggling with it," Riese said in an interview at his home with AP. "I feel so bad I missed that call, it's driving me crazy." Riese said that he has received menacing calls and even death threats. "They not only threatened me, they threatened my wife and kids," Riese said. "I can't sleep, I can't eat, my blood pressure is skyrocketing." Great, so a guy who made an honest mistake during a game is now worried about his life because some dangerous idiots think he should die. One more sign that too many people take sports way too seriously.
Jags Blank Steelers: Jacksonville beat Pittsburgh, 9-0, in the lowest-scoring Monday night game ever. It was great if you liked defense, but I was less than enthralled. Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger made his first start since an emergency appendectomy and it was obvious he was not 100%. The Steelers would have been better off starting backup Charlie Batch, who was great in leading Pittsburgh to a Week 1 win.
ESPN continues to show they do a lame job covering pro football. By game's end I was wondering why Jacksonville Coach Jack Del Rio isnt already in the Hall of Fame, the way he was being pimped by Joe Theismann. Tony Kornheiser added nothing to the telecast and for some reason NBA star Dwayne Wade was brought into the booth for the end of the second quarter. Last week we had Jamie Foxx inflicted on us, a sign that ESPN plans on making this a regular feature. As Wade was leaving, play-by-play guy Mike Tirico made two mentions that we would see a lot of Wade's Miami Heat on ABC-ESPN's NBA coverage. So that's why he was on.--Jim Buzinski
9.18.2006
What's in a Name: This story is a bit old, but it's funny and we've not seen it before. The sports headline of the year from the Register in Britain: "NZ finds Black Cocks hard to swallow." The New Zealand Black Cocks badminton team is having second thoughts about the name it adopted a year ago. Badminton New Zealand adopted the name a year ago as "a gimmicky label to attract sponsors and fans". It worked to a degree, because the organization was quickly inundated with cash offers from companies such as - you guessed it - condom manufacturers, the New Zealand Herald reports.
Nigel Skelt, the president of Badminton New Zealand, said that, "At the recent New Zealand Open, crowds were yelling out 'c'mon the Black Cocks'. Whether the team actually adopt the name officially, they're already known as the Black Cocks." This does not sit well with the International Badminton Federation, which according to Skelt, doesn't want "to see the game lose its composure for the want of a gimmicky name. If you're over in China and you get introduced as the Black Cocks, it raises some issues." I could not find an article which said what the team ultimately decided. (hat tip to Deadspin)
Pennant Race Stretch: With two weeks left in the season, four of the six baseball divisions are all but over. The New York Yankees and New York Mets have all but clinched the A.L. and N.L. East respectively, while St. Louis and Oakland are running away with the N.L. Central and A.L. East. Out in the N.L. West, though, the San Diego Padres took two of three from the Los Angeles Dodgers to take a half-game lead, while Minnesota has cut Detroit's one huge lead in the A.L. Central to one game.
The wild card race in the American League has Minnesota over fading Chicago by four games, while the Dodgers lead the pesky Philadelphia Phillies by only one game.
NFL Week 2: Check out our weekly notes on the NFL action, including the hottest players we saw. --Jim Buzinski
9.16.2006
Make it stop, part 1: How long is the Michelle Wie freak show going to continue? The sixteen year old should be playing on the women's tour, where she'd likely be a force. Instead, she continues to play men's events and she continues to stink. On Friday at the wonderfully named Lumber Open in Farmington, Pennsylvania, Wie shot a 9 over 81 for a 36-hole total that was 14 over par. In her last 99 holes against men, she's made a grand total of seven birdies, and after Friday's play was at the bottom of the leaderboard. I fully support women in sports, but this is absurd.
She's totally overmatched, as Scott Verplank noted when he said "There's not a 16-year-old, male or female, in the world who can compete out here". Please stop it, Ms. Wie, it's becoming embarrassing to see you totally outclassed in these events. How likely is that to happen though when she says delusional things like this: "I just had a bad two weeks, that's it, no more, no less. I feel like I'm getting better and better. My game is progressing. My shots are going to the fairway now". Is that it? You're not doing second shots from behind a clump of trees all the time? Make it stop, please, make it stop.
Make it stop, part 2: It's an American soccer fan's --all five of us-- worst nightmare, really. After the U.S. crashed out of the World Cup in Germany, coach Bruce Arena did not have his contract extended. Now the name being floated to replace him should freeze the heart of all five of us: Sven-Goran Eriksson. Yikes! If there was one coach whose team underperformed in Germany more than Arena's it was Eriksson's England. German hottie Jurgen Klinsmann, who lives in one of the Los Angeles area beach cities, has said flat-out he's not interested in the job, showing he's a smart man as well.
Now comes the rumors of Eriksson, who was constantly criticized for not being able to motivate players and tactical ineptitude, getting the U.S. job. It's not likely to happen because Eriksson got very used to the huge salary that the English Football Association paid him. That's a good thing, because I think the U.S. needs to hire a young, fresh coach to completely revamp the national team, not a stale retread who left his last job due to poor performances and off-field scandals. Of course, expect Eriksson to be hired next week! --Jim Allen
9.15.2006
University of Spoiled Children: It's pretty common knowledge here in Los Angeles that despite the Raiders, the Rams and their scumbag owners leaving
town after the 1994 season, there was still pro football being played at the Coliseum: by USC. Stories coming out about the USC football program again point
to the basic truthiness of that bit of snark.
Now, it's true, as a UCLA fan, I'd be the first to dance on the USC football program's grave and sing
Hallelujah over wrongdoing at Heritage Hall. In this case, the cause for potential celebration are reports that former Trojans running back Reggie
Bush and his family received something in the neighborhood of $100,000 in gifts and other stuff from two agents.
Unfortunately, I have a long memory
and I can't really take *that* much glee in any potential nightmares the Trojan's football program might go through because I well remember the taint of
money surrounding the great John Wooden-era UCLA basketball teams. Uber-fan Sam Gilbert was famous for spreading his wealth around the Bruins program, and
the program got put on probation and ordered to sever ties with Gilbert in 1981 (Wooden retired in 1975).
At this point, only the hopelessly naive
believe that big money college sports is anything but a big business. I wish there was a way to end the charade, really. Reggie Bush was partly responsible
for bringing in millions to the USC athletic program, so why shouldn't he benefit? Yes, he was on scholarship, but that's a fraction of the value he brought
in. It's illegal, of course, but I think that's a flaw of the system, not a scathing indictment of Bush and his parents. Still, if nothing else, it will be
fun to watch the Los Angeles Times sports section act with hypocritical horror at the latest allegations after spending the last five years fellating the
Trojans every chance they got.
Never trust anyone over 30: That old hippie saying might actually apply just as well to parents and kids
sports. I well remember the appalling way parents (including my mom) acted at Little League games back in the 70's but it's even worse now, with Mom and
Pops seeing big $$$$ if Junior can throw a curveball for strikes.
From Uniontown, PA, about 40 miles SE of Pittsburgh, comes the heartwarming story of
a coach, bribery and autism. It seems that Mark Downs really wanted to win a playoff game with his team of 8 & 9 year olds. He wasn't a fan of the Little
League rule that everyone must play, especially in such a crucial game, so he offered one of his players $25 to bean a teammate with autism and other
developmental issues in warmups before the game, knocking the poor kid out of action. It seems the hitkid, Keith Reese, did a good job, hitting teammate
Harry Bowers in the groin with a ball and then later dinging him in the ear.
Downs was convicted Thursday of corruption of minors and criminal
solicitation to commit simple assault. Ah, what nice, sanitary language for something really creepy. It's 9 year olds playing baseball! I knew many a kid
who dreaded playing baseball because their dads had so much emotionally invested in them doing well that they'd get yelled at afterwards for failing to hit
the cutoff man. Add this to the recent story of the football coach going amok (see the 9/6 entry) and the 2nd string punter stabbing the starter (see
yesterday) and it just seems that organized sports might be going a little insane. --Jim Allen
9.14.2006
When Punters Attack: Shades of Tonya vs. Nancy, the backup punter for the Northern Colorado Bears football team was arrested and charged with assault after he allegedly stabbed the starting punter in his kicking leg. Wearing a hood to cover his face, Mitch Cozad allegedly attacked Rafael Mendoza in a parking lot earlier this week in Greeley, Colo., causing Mendoza to be treated at a hospital for a deep puncture wound that caused severe bleeding. It is not clear when he will kick again. "I'm looking forward to getting back to playing with my team. I'm upset this happened but at the same time there's nothing I can do and just move on," Mendoza, 6-1 and 175 pounds, said.
Cozad, 5-11 and 200 pounds, was released on bond and suspended from the university. David Dykes, a teammate, told the Greeley Tribune that Cozad had "an extreme hatred, competition and jealousy" for Mendoza and his No. 1 punting position, according to a police affidavit. He was caught when an employee of a store near where the stabbing took place saw someone remove tape from the license plate of a car. The plate read 8-KIKR, which is Cozad's number, the affidavit said; the vehicle was registered to Cozad's mother.
Northern Colorado was outscored 83-10 in its first two games, causing Greeley Tribune columnist Tom Wright to note: "Now they have to keep track of who's whittling wood chips into weapons on the bench." Added Wright: "In April, Cozad was competing for the starting job at the University of Wyoming. But after the former walk-on for the Cowboys had a lackluster performance during the spring, Cozad imagined he could come to the Division I-AA level and snab the job. Well, at least he took a stab at it."
Bye, Bye Braves: It happened so quietly that few noticed, but on Tuesday the Atlanta Braves were officially eliminated from the National League playoff race after 14 consecutive years of winning their division. It was a great run for a team that won only one World Series in that time despite being the best team in the regular season on several occasions. It's hard to see how they rank in baseball history a model franchise that developed Hall of Fame players or a team that virtually every year consistently underachieved. Probably a little of both. --Jim Buzinski
9.13.2006
Expensive Win: The Green Bay Packers hadn't been shut out in 15 years, so furniture store owner and Chicago Bears fan Randy Gonigam figured his promotion would be just for laughs -- if the Bears shut out the Packers, everyone who bought furniture at his store Labor Day weekend would get it for free. Final: Chicago 26, Green Bay 0. Cost of the furniture? $275,000.
"It still felt awfully strange sitting there in the fourth quarter," Gonigam told the Chicago Tribune. "Just knowing we would be giving back all this money to all these people." He hedged his bets by taking out special event insurance and traffic to his store that weekend was up 30%, but it still was a costly win. As the Tribune said: "If Brett Favre had bought a La-Z-Boy at World Furniture Mall over Labor Day weekend, it might help explain why the Hall of Fame-bound, Green Bay Packer quarterback took such a beating Sunday from the Chicago Bears."--Jim Buzinski
Animal Bulletins: For you horse lovers out there -- it's been a while since I reported on Barbaro. Things were looking gloomy a couple of months ago when the horse developed laminitis. This is an inflammation inside the hoof resulting from not being able to keep equal weight on all four feet, owing to his broken hind leg.
But on HRTV, during a break in the Keeneland yearing sale, I happened to catch an interview with Mrs Jackson, who is Barbaro's owner-breeder. She says that the stallion really turned around after the laminitis low. He is "blossoming," she says. He is walking square now. His coat is shiny, he's eating up a storm. And he has gotten very "nasty" (her word) because he doesn't get much exercise yet and he's so full of himself. Mrs. Jackson is hoping that he will be able to go on and sire.
The Keeneland sale, an annual tradition in the horse world, is where young racehorse prospects go under the auctioneer's hammer. $100,000 was a cheap horse today. Top price ever paid for a colt was $16 million. And hey, some of you think cars are expensive.
On another animal front -- Saturday I happened to catch the Superior satellite auction of bucking bulls on RFD-TV. More young prospects for sale -- horned ones for rodeo this time. Cheaper too -- $50,000 is probably a top price for one of these guys.
Those of you who read my piece about gay rodeo and "Brokeback Mountain" will remember the part in it about bucking bulls. Today they can actually breed these animals just like racehorses. It turns out that the propensity to buck is inherited. And one of the most desired names on a young bull's pedigree is a great bucker named Broke Back V. Yes, you heard right.-- Patricia Nell Warren
9.12.2006
Monday Night Football: Another fine tradition ruined. ESPN debuted its version of Monday Night Football that was longer and louder than what ABC did for 30 years, but not better. There is one reason for that -- Joe Theismann. He's a total narcissist as an announcer, in love with his voice and almost never has anything insightful or interesting to say. At one point he told us that the Redskins defense did not want to commit a penalty to give the Vikings a first down. No shit, Sherlock.
Theismann and new analyst Tony Kornheiser have zero chemistry, though the latter is often fairly direct and irreverent. At one point, Kornheiser said teams should use giraffes as defensive linemen to make the quarterback throw high. It was a kind of goofy Seinfeldian observation, but Theismann totally ignored it and started talking about something that had no point and trailed off. Kornheiser also called out new Redskins offensive coordinator Al Saunders, getting $2 million a year and not yet earning any of it in the opener. But Theismann, league man that he is, defended Saunders and said the players needed to perform; another "no duh" moment. He's like having a bad guest at a party, the kind who sucks the oxygen out of the room.
The telecast itself was also not first-rate. For example, both Theismann and Kornheiser mentioned the success Minnesota was having on third down, but neither time was a graphic shown telling the viewer what the percentage was. I had to go online and look it up to find it was 53%. Oh, by the way, Minnesota won 19-16, but by that time I could have cared less. In the second MNF game of the night, the San Diego Chargers blasted the Oakland Raiders, 27-0, holding the Raiders to 129 yards. I was riveted solely because I have LaDainian Tomlinson in my fantasy league and eked out a one-point win when LT gained two yards with seven minutes to go to top 130 yards rushing and get me a bonus.--Jim Buzinski
Linemen sleeping together: Washington Redskins LB Marcus Washington introduced the team's starting defense in their Monday Night Football game with an odd revelation about the closeness of the team's defensive line: "The D line. These guys are special because they're a close-knit group. They party together, eat together, run together. They don't sleep together, 'cause most of 'em are married."
Is Washington telling us that, if most of them weren't married, they would sleep together? With all of those 300-pounders on the Redskins' D-line, that's either a scary, or a titillating, image. -Cyd Zeigler jr.
9.11.2006
Federer, Again: Roger Federer won the U.S. Open men's title by defeating Andy Roddick in four sets. Ho hum. It's one more sign that greatness can be a bit boring, even while acknowledging the feat. Federer has won nine of the last 14 Grand Slams and his third Open. This year, only Rafael Nadal (on clay at the French Open and grass at Wimbledon) has given him any real test. Roddick did tie the match Sunday at 1-1, but did anyone really think Federer was going to lose?
Bravo Martina: Martina Navratilova turns 50 next month, one more reason her mixed doubles title with Bob Bryan at the U.S. Open was amazing. It also put an official end to her competitive career. "I took a photo on centre court," she said. "Just for posterity sake." Navratilova retires as one of the most dominant and successful athletes ever, in any sport.
NFL Week 1L Check out our weekly notes on the NFL action, including the hottest players we saw. --Jim Buzinski
9.9.2006
Quick hits: Don't drink and drive is a pretty obvious No No. Driving while naked is also not cool. As if the Detroit Lions didn't have enough problems going in to the NFL season, now they have the sorry spectacle of defensive line coach Joe Cullen being arrested twice within a week for separate offenses. The first one took place on August 24th. Cullen pulled up to a drive-thru at a Deaborn, Michigan, Wendy's and ordered a combo of burger, fries and a soda. No big deal, except that Cullen didn't have a bit of clothing on him. Needless to say, the drive-thru worker was startled, alerted their manager and Cullen was ultimately pulled over a while later and charged with indecent and obscene behavior. A week later, Cullen was pulled over after someone called the cops that a guy was weaving in traffic and driving without their headlights on. Boom! a .12 blood alcohol level later (.08 is the legal limit in Michigan) and Cullen was busted. Add in an arrest in 2005 when he was busted for public drunkenness while a coach at Mississippi and the fact that Joe Cullen is seeking treatment for a drinking problem must be counted as welcome news.
Jim B. didn't mention it in his report of the opening game of the NFL season last night, but we both thought NBC did a good job in their first regular season game since getting the NFL again. When I was growing up, it was CBS and NBC that ruled the NFL, TV wise; oh how ESPN and Fox make me yearn for those days again. The NBC telecast was pretty clean visually, with the score/down ticker running along the bottom of the screen instead of at the top and not a lot of whooshing/flashing graphics cluttering the screen between downs. The camera work was good, the directing solid and no triple-ultra-reverse angle gimmick shots to be found. I loathe Al Michaels as an announcer, so it was Mute Button > CD's sound-wise, but I thought if I saw one more promo for the Colts v. Giants, erm, Peyton v. Eli Manning game on Sunday night, I was going to scream. The amount of hype that the game has been given almost guarantees that it will stink.
I'm really disappointed that today's Everton v. Liverpool Merseyside Derby football match isn't being televised in the United States on cable (it's only on satellite provider DirectTV's Setana Sports channel). It's becoming more and more common, this fragmentation of coverage. As watching sports becomes part of technologically advancements, it's almost certain that if you don't own every type of transmission device --cable TV, Hi-Def, the right cable provider, satellite, the right kind of computer software etc.-- it's going to becoming harder to just watch what you want. Sure, the fragmentation ultimately offers more choices --seeing English football on TV in the NFL on CBS/NBC-era I mentioned above was unthinkable-- but the building I live in can't accommodate satellite dishes, so I'm out of luck in this case. I just wish technology would advance to the point that I can have anything being broadcast anywhere in the world streamed right in to my cerebral cortex, but alas, I probably won't live long enough to see that eventuality. --Jim Allen
9.8.2006
Steelers Win Opener: The 2006 NFL season began the way the 2005 ended -- with the Pittsburgh Steelers winning and the officiating at the center of controversy. Pittsburgh beat the Miami Dolphins, 28-17, scoring 14 points in the final six minutes. The highlight was a go-ahead 87-yard pass from backup quarterback Charlie Batch to tight end Heath Miller with the Steelers down 21-17.
Miller raced down the sideline and dove in the end zone, but replays showed he clearly went out of bounds (I replayed it and eh first stepped out at about the 3). TV viewers could tell there should be a review, but the Dolphins coaching staff in the booth was apparently watching "Project Runway," as they took forever to let coach Nick Saban know he should challenge the call. Saban finally threw the red flag, about a second before the Steelers kicked the extra point, but he half-assed underarmed it and the officials never saw it. So the play stood. Coaches are allowed to run onto the field to throw the flag, and Saban's nonchalance was puzzling as was the collective failure of his staff to see the review.
Still, the officials blew the call, not a good thing for a league still stinging from lousy officiating in the Super Bowl, won by Pittsburgh over Seattle.
Coach Gets Kissed: The Steelers clinched the game on a 42-yard interception return by Joey Porter with 2:59 left. Cowher greeted Porter on the sideline and grabbed him, getting within inches of his face. Porter then leaned over and kissed Cowher on the neck. Cowher then drew him closer and said something. NBC liked it so much they replayed it twice.
"I love the guy for real man and it was just out of the moment," Porter said. "You know, he was right there hugging me and wouldn't let me go, so I just like (Porter makes a kissing sound) to get him away from me."
Said Cower: "I was pretty excited." A reporter asked him if he was OK with Porter's kiss. "It was better than the last time when I initiated it," Cowher said, in reference to his 1997 sideline kiss of then-quarterback Kordell Stewart (the subject at the time of rumors he was gay). I did not know that Porter and Cowher were members of the Pittsburgh chapter of Black and White Men Together. --Jim Buzinski
9.7.2006
U.S. Open Shocker: So much for the expected U.S. Open final between Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. Federer is still very much alive (he's the heavy favorite to win the men's title), but Nadal lost in stunning fashion to 54th ranked Russian Mikhail Youzhny in four sets in the quarterfinals. It ended any chance that Federer and Nadal would meet for a third straight time in a major.
While Nadal fell, Andy Roddick was rising, easily defeating Australia's Lleyton Hewitt, 6-3, 7-5, 6-4 victory, to reach the semifinals for the first time since winning the Open in 2003. It seems as if Roddick's new coach/guru Jimmy Connors is having a positive impact.
Up next for the heavily favored Federer is American James Blake. "If I beat him, it sure as heck doesn't mean I'm the best player in the world, but maybe for a day I'll think that," Blake said. "But if I lose to him, there's clearly no shame in that."
A Baseball No-No: Florida Marlins rookie pitcher Anibal Sanchez pitched a no-hitter Wednesday against the Arizona Diamondbacks, 2-0. Sanchez, from Venezuela, is the first pitcher to throw a no-hitter since May 18, 2004, ending the longest drought in baseball history. There were 6,364 major league games between no-hitters. The longest gap previously was 4,015 games from Sept. 30, 1984, to Sept. 19, 1986, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. --Jim Buzinski
9.6.2006
Father Assaults Youth Player: Cory Petero of Stockton, Calif., is in the running for jackass of the year. Petero, 36, ran onto the field at his son's youth football game and blindsided one of the players, who is 13. On tape, you can see Petero's kid getting knocked to the ground by Brian Wood at the end of a play. The elder Petero obviously thought it was a cheap shot, so he upped the ante by running onto the field and leveled Wood, knocking him to the ground and nearly sparking a brawl.
Petero, an assistant coach on the team, was arrested and charged with felony child abuse. Wood's hit on Petero's son was pretty tacky and he was hit with a personal foul penalty. But that does not excuse daddy running onto the field and pretending he's Ray Lewis. The Delta Youth Football League has already kicked him out as a coach and it will be interesting to see what creative punishment a judge can come up with.
Why Zidane Did the Head Butt: Marco Materazzi, the Italian player head-butted by Frenchman Zinedine Zidane in the World Cup final, admitted that he insulted Zidane's sister. In an interview published in Gazzetta dello Sport, Materazzi said that after he held Zidane's shirt, Zidane said, "If you want, I'll give you the jersey later." Materazzi said: "I responded that I preferred his sister, it's true. It wasn't something nice, true. But luckily there have been dozens of players who have confirmed that a lot worse things are said on the field."
There had been speculation that Zidane was called a terrorist or that the Italian insulted his mother. If what Materazzi said is true, it makes Zidane's actions -- getting kicked out of the final late into overtime -- even more idiotic. You hear a lot worse in any playground game. --Jim Buzinski
9.5.2006
Happy New Year: In the U.S., Labor Day really is the start of the new year, even if the calendar pegs it at Jan. 1. School is back in session, vacations are over for most people, the new TV season starts, and football is back. This weekend kicked off the college football season and Thursday the NFL starts.
In college ball, the most insufferable broadcast was ESPN's Miami-Florida State game, which was shown on something like eight channels and hyped to the hilt. ESPN has a habit these days of doing some much promotion that the game itself can never live up to the hype. I turned on ESPN2, where they had eight screens, including ones devoted entirely to sideline shots of coaches Larry Coker and Bobby Bowden; as eye candy it's not exactly Brady Quinn and Jeremy Bloom. The game itself was a yawner, won by Florida State, 13-10, as the Seminoles actually made a field goal when it mattered against the Canes.
Elsewhere, Tiger Woods erased a three-shot deficit to win the Deutsche Bank Classic for his fifth golf tour win in a row. He has won seven of the 14 tournaments he's been in this year. That's pretty sick.
Speaking of sick, the Pittsburgh Steelers win be without quarterback Ben Roethlisberger in their NFL opener against Miami after he underwent an emergency appendectomy. Everything went right for the Steelers in their magical eight-game run to the Super Bowl last year, and this year karma may be demanding payback.
The U.S. Open on Monday was highlighted by Amelie Maursemo's three-set win over Serena Williams. It reaffirmed a changing of the guard in women's tennis, since Williams had been 9-1 in career matches over Mauresmo but Serena's days of tennis dominance seem about as long ago as the last time Tiger Woods lost. --Jim Buzinski
9.2.2006
Quick hits: Should the Boston Red Sox start holding exorcisms at Fenway Park or something? The team has been hit by injuries all year, but ever since they got swept in their five game series with the New York Yankees a few weeks ago, things have really gone south. On Friday, stud rookie closer Jonathan Papelbon left their game against the Toronto Blue Jays with a shoulder strain; that's not good for a veteran pitcher, let alone a rookie. But wait! It gets much worse: slugger David Ortiz was released from the hospital on Thursday after spending the last two weeks sidelined with heart palpitations. But the capper has to be rookie pitcher Jon Lester being diagnosed Friday with anaplastic large cell lymphoma, a form of cancer. The condition is apparently not terminal and Lester will begin treatment soon. Wow. The Sox being eight games behind the Yankees and out of the wild card chase are mere footnotes to all that.
Speaking of teams going nowhere, I officially put a fork in my boys the Anaheim Angels on Friday. A 9-0 loss to the Detroit Tigers was bad enough, but they look like a team that's given up. I'm hoping the Jock Talk Curse will work in reverse and they'll go on a 15-game winning streak, but that's highly unlikely. The Angels need to clean out some deadwood in the offseason but they have a promising core of young players, so all it not as grim as it is in Boston. Oh well, now I can turn my attention fully to English football.
Andre Agassi has been a men's tennis fixture for as long as I can remember. I mean, it was so long ago, he had long hair with blonde highlights in it and was married to actress Brook Shields, not tennis legend Steffi Graf. By the time you read this on Saturday, his wonderful career could be over. Agassi has said he'll retire after the U.S. Open, capping a career with eight Grand Slam victories, including a Wimbledon title in 1992 and U.S. Open titles in 1994 and 1999. His back is a problem though, and he's had cortisone injections in an attempt to stave off pain. Luckily for him, the weather in New York City has been miserable --Cyd, forecast for Los Angeles on Saturday: 86 degrees, some clouds, a nice breeze, shorts & t-shirt weather-- so he might get an extra day or three of rest before he meets German Benjamin "Not Related to Boris" Becker in his third round match. --Jim Allen
9.1.2006
Sports, music & science: Apart from sports, my favorite things in life are music --the greatest thing humans have created, ever-- and science. This
week, a pair of stories had the three of them intertwining.
From England comes a story that combines sports and science in a manner that would make a horror novelist balk at using it as a storyline. The great baseball player Ted Williams was alleged to have had his body frozen for re-animation after he died but he was a piker compared to what some Premier League football (soccer) players are up to these days.
According to the London Sunday Times, eight footballers have had the stem cells from their newborn children's umbilical cord blood frozen. Since their child shares their DNA, the footballers hope that further research and development will allow them to use the harvested stem cells to help repair cartilage and ligament damage.
What a cool premise! Joe Footballer gets scythed down in a brutal tackle, tears his ACL to ribbons but thanks to little Graham's stem cells, Joe Footballer is back on the pitch within six weeks, right as rain.
Of course, in a horror novel, it would all go hideously wrong and little Graham's stem cells would be the DNA of Satan or something and Joe Footballer would go on a killing spree. It does seem a promising line of inquiry but as NFL player --and hottie supreme-- Carson Palmer has shown recently, rehabbing a horrible knee injury the old fashioned way works too. Who knows if I'll be writing Jock Talk in ten years, but this will definitely be a story to keep an eye on.
The second story I saw this week concerns my beloved music. If you've seen an American team sporting event on TV or in person, there's a 99.8% chance that you've heard one of two pieces of music: the Boom Boom CLAP Boom Boom CLAP rhythm of Queen's We Will Rock You or Gary Glitter's Rock n' Roll, Pt. 2 (WARNING: sound could start when you click on the link), perfect for yelling "HEY!" in unison. I love the clip in the link, from 1972, back when rock stars wore glitter in their hair, makeup, 6 inch platform boots and still had sex with more women than 100 non-rock star straight guys would in ten lifetimes.
The connection between that insanely catchy tune and sports is this: Gary Glitter has probably had a lot of sex during his career (it began in the early 60's) and I'd be willing to wager a good percentage of those females were jail bait.
In November, 1997, he was arrested and convicted for having child pornography on his computer after he took his PC in for repairs and kiddie porn was found on its hard drive. He was jailed and after his release drifted to various countries before ending up in Vietnam. In November, 2005, he was arrested for --wait for it-- sex with a minor and is currently languishing in jail there.
The NFL is sometimes mockingly called the No Fun League for it's somewhat bizzare anti-celebration edicts that stifle the creativity of touchdown scorers. The No Fun League jibe was rolled out again this week when the league pressured teams to not use Glitter's song after touchdowns.
I understand the reasoning but it's more than a touch hypocritical in two ways: the first being that, as mentioned above, Paul Gadd has had a consistent record of extremely not legal dealings with girls under the age of consent since 1997 and it becomes an issue now? The other is that NFL players aren't exactly Trappist monks, as the flurry of arrests of just Cincinnati Bengals players in the last six months have shown. Still, the NFL isn't the most popular sport in the United States because they're clueless about how to run their business, so all in all, the loss of Rock n' Roll, Pt. 2 is a good business decision by the suits in Manhattan. --Jim Allen
8.31.2006
'Billie Jean' to host U.S. Open forever: The National Tennis Center in Flushing, which annually hosts the U.S. Open, has been dedicated and named for openly gay tennis great Billie Jean King, who won the tournament singles title four times from 1967 to 1974; she also has five women's doubles and four mixed doubles titles at the Open. The new official name for the home of the Open: The USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.
Even more so than being one of the two most decorated open lesbians in tennis history, King is probably most famous for breaking down barriers for women in tennis by winning the "Battle of the Sexes" against two-time U.S. Open champion Bobby Riggs, who was 55 at the time, in 1973.
Paul Zimmerman, a.k.a. Dr. Z, is one of Outsports management's favorite sports writers, focusing his sharp pen weekly on the NFL. He wrote an interesting column this week about his theory that Riggs threw the match against King. I don't know if I believe it, but he makes some good points. As Dr. Z says, you can draw your own conclusions. -Cyd Zeigler jr.
8.30.2006
Rain rain go away: Tuesday was a nasty wet day at the U.S. Open, and it doesn't look like it's going to get much better. All of the matches on Tuesday were pushed to Wednesday. Nine did get underway, including top-seeded and openly gay Amelie Mauresmo up one set to Kristina Barrois, 6-1, 2-5.
Scattered rain showers are forecast for much of the next 10 days, and heavier rain is expected on Saturday and Sunday as the remnants of Hurricane Ernesto pass through the Northeast. Too many pushed matches will mean back-to-back playing days later in the tournament, which could result in sloppier play. But, as long as the rain keeps coming, it will just keep delaying the retirement of Andre Agassi. -Cyd Zeigler jr.
U.S. into basketball semis: The few doomsday-ists left will have to wait at least one more game to see the United States lose in the world championships in Japan, as they dismantled Dirk Nowitzki's German team, 85-65, in the quarterfinals.
While their past wins this tournament have come with incredible offensive outbursts (they hovered around 50 percent shooting for the tournament), they shot only 37.6 percent in this one, but used a stifling defense to build on their one-point halftime lead and bury the Germans.
Next up for the Americans is Greece, which is also undefeated at 7-0. -Cyd Zeigler jr.
8.29.2006
British soccer club reaches out to gays. What is hopefully a harbinger of things to come, Manchester City Football Club is reaching out to gay fans and championing gay rights. The club is hiring openly gay workers at its stadium, which has made it the first British football club to be recognized as 'gay-friendly' by the local gay-rights group Stonewall; They have also donated to Stonewall to join the group's Diversity Champions list; They are advertising in local gay publications; And they have given free tickets and coaching to Manchester's gay soccer team.
While soccer remains outwardly homophobic in England, leadership in the sport seems to be growing in its gay-positive messages. According to an unnamed league spokesperson in the Observer, it was "a brave move by Man City. The fact that a high-profile Premiership club are taking this step to break down barriers is clearly positive and hopefully other clubs will follow their lead."
"The endgame for them is to recruit new supporters," said local gay soccer player Jason McAuley. "A lot of gay men and lesbians have always seen football as a very straight sport and very homophobic in the stands, but some gays in Manchester have been to see Man City and really enjoyed the experience, so I think the club's efforts to reach out to the gay community are paying off. They are changing people's perceptions."
If it's the pink dollars, or pink pounds, that help us continue to break down barriers and convince sports teams and leagues to embrace it, then so be it. We've got to use everything we can.
Manchester City is presently 1-1-1, just over a week into the FA Premiere League regular season. -Cyd Zeigler jr.
MNF gives us 2005 NFL flashback: The Monday Night Football game between the Green Bay Packers and the Cincinnati Bengals was like a flashback to 2005. Oh, how things haven't changed.
First, the Packers looked terrible in their embarrassing 48-17 loss to the Bengals, and quarterback Brett Favre was the worst. In his team's first three possessions, he fumbled a ball that was returned for a touchdown, he threw a pass well behind a receiver that was tipped and intercepted, he had two passes batted down (one of which was a screen pass!), and he got sacked. He left the game with a 65.8 passer rating, and that didn't even take the sack and the fumble into account! I've got to believe Favre is thinking right now, "why did I come back this season?"
On the flip side, the Bengals looked like the team that won the AFC North last season. Carson Palmer, in his season debut after recovering from knee-ligament surgery, looked like the League MVP, throwing for 140 yards and three touchdowns on just 14 attempts. The Bengals' defense also looked great, disrupting virtually everything the Packers attempted.
Finally, Joe Theismann. How did ESPN change two-thirds of their NFL crew and Theismann made the cut? I'm actually beginning to think he has a learning disability. It was just the same old thing we saw last year and the year before and the year before: He latches onto one story and that's virtually all he talks about. On Monday night, it was Carson Palmer's knee. It seemed every play he talked about Carson Palmer's knee, from how it was or was not bent to who was near it on a play to how he didn't look down at it to how he favored it to how he didn't favor it to how it affected wide receiver Chad Johnson to how fans reacted to it to how Brett Favre must feel about it to how the weather was being determined by it. It was bizarre. I couldn't help thinking several times, "Enough of Carson Palmer's knee!" The guy threw three touchdowns; the knee was the first-quarter story!
Please Bob Iger, if you're reading this, do every NFL fan a favor and can the last remaining Chucklehead. After so many years listening to his drivel, we deserve it. -Cyd Zeigler jr.
8.28.2006
Blue Jays' Pride Night gets a win. The Third Annual Toronto Blue Jays Pride Night went off without a hitch Friday, with the Jays winning 6-3 over the Kansas City Royals. The Jays are now 3-3 on Pride Night (2-2 with roof open, 1-1 with the roof closed).
The event was moved from its usual Pride Week time, and the heavy advertising and postering of previous years was eliminated to cut costs. Still, there was a turnout of about 175 to 200 people, with some lively lesbians leading the section in arm-waving and the wave, and waving rainbow flags and such (which was shown on the Jumbotron in between innings).
Billy Newton-Davis was a very popular national anthem singer. Jerry Howarth, the long-time Blue Jays radio announcer, came down to the field before the game to meet him, and many in the crowd recognized him.
Attendees seemed to be quite happy we had a more concentrated group than last year (when the gay group was somewhat dispersed among the general crowd). -Event organizer Mark Kari
CBS News on Logo's 'Out To Win' The guys and gal from CBS News on Logo spent about 10 days at the Gay Games in Chicago and three days at the Outgames in Montreal, providing daily coverage of both while they were there. On Sunday night, Logo premiered a new CBS News on Logo special about the state of gay athletics entitled, "Out To Win." They form their report around the two premiere gay-sports events this summer, talking to athletes and celebrity-athletes about where gay sports have been and where they are headed.
Jason Bellini and Itay Hod are a smart pair, each playing their role in telling the story of the growing segment of gay culture that seems to have piqued Bellini's intellect and aroused Hod's primal interest. It's particularly refreshing to see CBS News on Logo take event organizers to task and not just put out the same old "isn't everything just great" attitude that so much of the rest of gay media tends to do with seminal events like the Gay Games and Outgames.
The special also pays homage to some of the pro-athlete pioneers who have helped open doors for gay men and lesbians: Martina Navratilova, Greg Louganis and Dave Kopay sit down and talk with CBS News and offer their insights. They even found time to sit me down and let me throw out a bunch of soundbites.
All in all, the piece is pretty darn good. No one involved would call themselves a sports fan, but they showed why Logo struck a deal with CBS: They're all professionals, they're all journalists, and they know how to tell a story, whether it's about gay sports or not. -Cyd Zeigler jr
Editor's note: Outsports has entered into an agreement to co-produce a series of interstitials for Logo.
8.26.2006
Sucker!: I've never gotten in to the sports memorabilia thing. I never collected baseball cards as a kid, have refused bobblehead dolls when they've been handed out at Angels games and after nearly getting my head ripped off by Greg Lake of my favorite band Emerson, Lake & Palmer in the parking lot of the Wiltern Theater for not holding a poster correctly so that he could sign it, not even autographs.
Not so Jeff Kranz. Until this week, the former New York investment banker made his living collecting and selling autographed Barry Bonds stuff: bats, balls, shirts, gloves, the works. After seeing the Pirates rookie Bonds at Shea Stadium in 1986, he got in to the memorabilia thing from an investment angle, hitching his wagon to Bonds as it were, figuring that if Bonds became the star that he eventually did, a signed bat that had been used in a game would be a good investment. He was right: spending an estimated $250,000 over the years on Bonds related items, he could sell a single signed, used bat for $3,500.
It's a crazy market, somewhat like the market for modern art, with wild price fluctuations, absurd overbidding and so forth; there's also fraud and forgery. Kranz was so in to this as a business that he would travel to see Bonds play, then get him to sign stuff. In one case, he paid Bonds $40,000 to sign 1,000 items (!!), which he then resold. He was officially A Friend of Barry. It was all humming along nicely until Barry Bonds former business manager Steve Hoskins, whom Kranz bought most of the items from, was accused by Bonds of forging his signature on numerous items and then pocketing the dough.
Bonds went to FBI agents in San Francisco to file a complaint and this is where the story gets interesting: the FBI had him under investigation for his role in the BALCO steroids case without Bonds knowing it and when out of the blue they asked Bonds if he was juicing, he denied it. Now he's facing possible perjury charges for that statement and the one he made to a Grand Jury investigating BALCO in 2003. In a scene from a bad crime movie, former manager Hoskins was cleared of wrongdoing, so Barry Bonds basically engineered his own potential legal downfall.
Meanwhile, the accusations of forgery and steroids use allegations devastated the market for Bonds memorabilia: that $3,500 bat would now fetch $1,100. Jeff Kranz was used to face time with Barry Bonds; they'd talk on the phone, Kranz would chat with him in the dugout before games and so on. That is, until FBI agents visited him with Bonds in tow and Bonds claimed a signed glove that he had worn as a rookie was a fake.
Kranz was livid, as it came from a reputable source and auction house, but it got worse when the Feds seized a bunch of expensive stuff, held it for months and returned it without explanation. Is Kranz bitter? You bet! "I just thought, I may never get the stuff back," he says. "And I knew he wasn't going to help me. Knowing the person he is, he wasn't going to make up for my loss".
But Jeff Kranz has moved on. After an online auction of Bonds stuff that ended this week, he's out of the Barry Bonds business. He's already set his investment banker eyes on a new mark: Arizona Diamondback pitcher Brandon Webb, who Kranz thinks is a "future superstar". The "future superstar" is 44-42 in his career so that's not quite working out just yet. Pro athletes have all sorts of hangers on and people that want a piece of them around and certainly Jeff Kranz isn't as bad as the cocaine dealers that infested major league clubhouses during the Reagan administration. But it can be dicey to mix friendship with business (Kranz was at Webb's wedding); let's hope Jeff Kranz and Brandon Webb don't find that out the hard way. --Jim Allen
8.25.2006
More Danton weirdness: Outsports has followed the bizarre saga of former NHL player Mike Danton since it appeared on media radar screens in the United States in 2004. Short version: young Canadian kid falls under sway of Svengali-like coach/agent, becomes so estranged from his family that he changes his name from Jefferson to Danton, ends up arrested, convicted and sentenced to over seven years in prison for being a part of a plot to murder said Svengali. Needless to say, it could make a compelling movie.
On Tuesday, the Svengali, David Frost (not the British talk show host), was arrested in Kingston, Ontario, Canada and charged with using his status as an authority figure to coerce four boy and three girls, all between the ages of 14 and 16, in to taking part in sexual activity. He was charged with 12 counts of sexual exploitation and one count of assault.
It appears from a brief bit of Googling that the sexual exploitation charge is applied when an adult who is in a position of authority and/or trust has sex with a person under the age of 18. The police charge that in the mid-1990's, Frost had a hotel suite in the town of Deseronto, where he was coaching a team of teenagers. It seems the suite became known in the town for its wild parties and sexual activity. Frost's explanation? It was just hockey players doing what hockey players do. Hmmmm...
Frost was bailed after posting $10,000 Canadian dollars (about $9,025 US) bail from a court in Napanee, Ontario. As he was entering the court, a player Frost used to coach, Jesse Wansborough, yelled at him "I hope you rot". Talking to reporters, Wansborough said "I'm disgusted with the fact that Mike Danton is in jail and David Frost is out free, living the life". Um, dude, plotting to kill someone isn't exactly the legal equivalent of a parking ticket, but point taken.
In yet another bizarre twist to this case, Danton's biological father, Steve Jefferson, was recently arrested and released after making not-at-all nice phone calls to David Frost. The reason for the calls? A report on the popular Canadian television show fifth estate --no, the f and the e aren't capitalized-- included tapes of conversations between Frost and Danton. At one point, Frost is heard pestering Danton to say that he loved him, until Danton finally did. Ewwwwww.
I may be wrong, but there's never been proof that Mike Danton is gay or bisexual, which was hinted at in the intial stories about this case. Now, it's just become a strange sports-related case that has made an issue of the junior hockey leagues of Canada, which have a history of all sorts of misdeeds by its participants, including players, coaches and administrators. If he serves his entire sentence at the prison in New Jersey where he currently resides, Mike Danton will be released some time in 2011. I suspect, based on the latest developments, that David Frost will be in prison far past that date. --Jim Allen
8.24.2006
ESPN tape-delays f#@$ing Little League World Series: You can understand the Super Bowl being broadcast on a five-second delay. The MTV Music Video Awards? Give them a five-day delay. But, when the Little League World Series needs to be on a delay, you know the world is coming to an end.
But that's just what ESPN is doing after Staten Island manager Nick Doscher slapped one of his players following the player's audible obscenity that was broadcast over ESPN during the team's 1-0 loss to Lemont, Illinois, on Tuesday.
"Little League International was extremely disappointed in the behavior of the player and coach involved in the incident," the organization said in a statement, according to the Associated Press.
"Because the incident was not noticed by any umpire, the Little League International Tournament Committee has reprimanded the player and manager. Both have been advised that any further similar or unsportsmanlike behavior will result in removal from the Little League International Tournament."
It's not surprising that the kid might swear during a tight baseball game. The way swear words are thrown around in movies, in music and on the Internet, you really can't blame him too much for letting loose with an F-bomb or whatever else he said. But the manager smacking the kid? Maybe there's an assistant-coaching position waiting for him on the Texas Tech men's basketball team. -Cyd Zeigler jr.
Barlow compares former coach to Hitler: Running back Kevan Barlow, recently traded from the San Francisco 49ers to the New York Jets, let 'er rip against his former Niners coach, Mike Nolan, comparing him to Adolf Hitler. Barlow quickly apologized, saying he was overly emotional about his seemingly sudden trade to a team over 3,000 miles away from where he made his home.
Far too often people make over-the-top comparisons between those they vilify and Hitler. Hitler attempted to exterminate an entire race while conquering Europe. No matter how the Niners treated Barlow, there is just no real comparison between the evil impetus of World War II and an NFL head coach.
Still, it's partly understandable where it comes from. NFL teams trade their unwanted players like they were trading cards. When you've had your heart set on living in a city and playing with a group of teammates, it can't be easy to be shipped off with little or no warning. Hopefully the Jets will be a good home for Barlow and those comments will be forgotten. -Cyd Zeigler jr.
