Bread and Circuses
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Archive for May, 2007
May 31, 2007 at 7:22 pm · Filed under Uncategorized
"Faith has been broken. Tears must be cried." Mick Jagger, Keith Richards "Wild Horses"
Alex Rodriquez is spending time at strip clubs in Toronto with a woman who isn’t his wife.
Did I ask?
Actually, I didn’t, but the New York Post thought the rest of us might want to know so they photographed the Yankee third baseman with a young woman in Toronto. Then they photographed ARod’s wife leaving with their home with the couple’s daughter and few belongings. The actions of the Post reporters remind me not a little of the insurance commercial where the two squirrels run out in front of a car, forcing it to swerve off the road, and then give each other high fives.
Being angry at the New York Post for thrusting Alex Rodriquez personal life into the papers isn’t productive. Bears do unspeakable things in the woods and tabloids chase people around with cameras, hoping they will catch something tawdry. It’s who they are. It’s what they do.
Which leaves us with Alex Rodriquez and Lindsay Lohan. Both are young, both celebrities, both talented. Sadly, both appear bent on doing things that will make their lives more complicated.
Few people think a thing about Lohan’s personal life being grist for various entertainment TV shows, magazines, and newspaper columns. She’s an actress and, the arguement goes, intrusions into her personal life come with the territory.
We get upset, however, when the personal lives of sports figures are revealed. The angst writers and fans felt over revelations that Mickey Mantle didn’t stay in his room on the road drinking milk and writing home to his mom lingered for years even after his death, to the point where a fictionalized account of his non-fiction womanizing was pulled pre-publication earlier this year amidst howls of protest from baseball fans.
The reaction in New York to l’affaire Rodriquez has been instructive. If you check out call-in shows and sports blogs you’ll think the average Yankee fan is a Constitutional scholar by day. Peering over their glasses like William F. Buckley, they intone that "Ah, the basic, er, principle here ipso facto, is the presumption that young Mr. Rodriquez is free to walk the streets unencumbered by the purient interests of the press." Or, as one put it, "To be honest, I’m a dog of a guy, and it made me like him a little bit more."
The difference is one of illusion. We understand that Lindsay Lohan’s world is make believe, but we lose ourselves in sports. We want that world, the one we turn to when the real one becomes too complicated, to be an arena for heroic men and women to do great deeds. Evidence to the contrary, we believe that our college’s football players go to class, our baseball team is steroid free, our basketball stars straight shooters on and off court, and that it all means something.
If you look too closely the flaws in the diamond, and the players on it, become clear. Which is why we want to excuse Rodriquez’ forays into high priced strip clubs and low rent off the field behavior or condemn the media for discussing it.
"Say it ain’t so, Joe" the kid asked Joe Jackson in 1920. "Say it won’t affect your hitting, Alex" is the refrain in 2007.
So here we are. Lindsay Lohan is on the TV in the kitchen with her car smashed up on a curb and Alex Rodriquez is in the den roaming the streets of Toronto with "Miss X".
All I can say is this. Lindsay, Alex, please go home. The game is about to come on. I don’t have time for you now. Or later.
14 Comments
May 29, 2007 at 7:20 pm · Filed under Uncategorized
Starring Dustin Hoffman as Manager Phil Garner.
Tom Cruise as GM Tim Papura.
Valeria Golino as owner Drayton McLane
(hey, you got a better idea?).
(McLane): Phil has a problem
communicating and learning. He can’t even manage or probably even…understand
his pitching staff in a traditional way. To him, changes in routine, even
small ones, can be terrifying.
(Garner): Six innings. A
starting pitcher goes six innings. Then lefty lefty, righty righty, lefty
lefty, righty righty. Four a game. Or five. A major league pitching staff
should have a minimum of thirteen pitchers. Each pitcher should pitch
four times a week. Each pitcher will pitch no less than seventy and no
more than eighty-five games a season.
From 1962 to 1965 the Astros were known as
the Colt 45’s, then they moved to the Astro Dome and became the Astros.
In 1965 Houston used 21 pitchers, beginning alphabetically with
Don Arlich, then Bob Bruce, then Mike Cuellar, then….
(Papura): Does he know how much
money we’ve spent on this team?
(McLane): No. He doesn’t understand the concept of money.
(Papura): He doesn’t understand the concept of money. I just spent $112 million…
and on Carlos Lee and he doesn’t understand the concept of money? Well, that
is poetic, don’t you think?
(Garner): What’s his name? Lamb. Then who’s playing first? Yes. Who? The fellow playing third base for Houston. Who? Ensburg. No, Lamb. Third base? I don’t know? Lamb. Right field Lamb. Third base Loretta. No, who’s on first? Lamb. No, Loretta, No Lamb, No…
(Papura): Why is he doin’ that?
(McLane): Whenever he gets nervous, he does ‘Who’s On Third?’ It’s his way of dealing with you optioning Matt Albers and stuff.
(Garner): Craig Biggio. Ten thousand, five hundred forty-three at bats, two thousand nine hundred and seventy-two hits. Two twenty eight, two twenty eight, two twenty eight…
(Papura): It’s okay, Phil. Come on. My main man.
(Garner): Brad Ausmus, my main man. My main man. Brad Ausmus. Bradley David Ausmus, New Haven Connecticutt, April 14 1969. Three thirteen slugging average. Three thirteen. Who’s on first? Lamb?…
(Papura): If I traded Ensburg tomorrow and didn’t say anything, he’d never notice, would he? I mean, if we never won another game..
(Garner): Lamb. On third base. I don’t know. Right field.
(McLane): I’m not sure, but I don’t think winning is his first priority.
(Garner): Lefty lefty, righty righty. It’s 27 pitches to 100, pull the starter. Pull the starter. Pull the starter.
(Papura): Listen, ah, Phil. Our playoff hopes died last week.
(Garner): That means Roger won’t pitch for us again.
(Papura): I thought maybe we could go watch us play the Reds, Phil. Jennings is going to pitch.
(Garner): He pitched in April. Not scheduled to pitch ’til June.
(Papura): He’s gonna pitch tonight - Tuesday.
(Garner): I’m not doin’ anything on Tuesday. - Yeah, Tuesday. Let’s go to a game. - Yeah.
(Papura): Come on, Phil.
(Garner): It’s a Long way to the playoffs…
(Papura): I know, Phil, I know.
(Garner): We’re playing Cincinnati. I buy all my clothes at a K-Mart in Cincinnati. The have relief pitchers in Cincinnati. I need thirteen relief pitchers.
(Papura): I know, Phil, I know.
2 Comments
May 28, 2007 at 6:23 am · Filed under Uncategorized
NBA players are measured for greatness differently than those in other sports. In baseball or football stats not only paint a picture of greatness, they define it. Who was Lou Gehrig? We all know the answer. Twenty-one hundred thirty consecutive games 493-1995-.340. Why is the baseball world spinning on it’s head over Barry Bonds and Aaron’s record? Because he brushed his thumb on the scale of greatness and created a false weight, no matter how close to true it was.
Basketball is a team sport. We don’t just talk about Larry Bird. We discuss the "Larry Bird era", the period of time Bird picked up the Celtics and carried them to three championships. His averages? Who knows? Flip the coin. How many times did Gehrig play on a World Series winner? Six. But you have to look it up. It’s not even listed at the official Lou Gehrig website as one of his accomplishments.
Which brings us to Tim Duncan, the most unassuming super star in pro sports. If ever a seven foot player averaging 21 points and 11 rebounds for a career could be overlooked, Duncan is the one. But you can’t ignore this. If the Spurs take the shiny hardware back to Texas for the summer, it will be the 4th time in Duncan’s 10 year career. By the standards of NBA greatness we’ll have to have a serious conversation. Duncan or Jordan?
The question itself is heresy. Jordan is the Babe Ruth of basketball. The defining image. "Air Jordan". Slashing to the basket, hanging above the rim with his tongue stuck out, the visible fire in the eyes. Duncan? No nickname that has stuck, no defining play beyond a soft hook from the lane, only mild excitement on his face. The clock is punched titles are won, the man disappears.
But what if Duncan, still only 31, catches Jordan in titles by the time he is 35? And tags on one or two more before retiring? Are we in the Tim Duncan era now and either don’t know it or choose not to recognize it? Is Duncan the essential component. The player who powers the great basketball machine on an era. Is he as important to the Spurs titles as Jordan? By the measure of a team sport, where does he take his place among the greats?
Consider this. Duncan’s Spurs have won 72% of his regular season games. Magic Johnson is the only other NBA player to achieve that, on the way to 5 titles. Bird got 71% and 3. In a far different era, Bill Russell walked away with the NBA Championship 11 times, a winner in 70% of his regular season games. Like Jordan, Kareem Abdul Jabbar was on six title teams but won 68% of his regular season games to 64% for Jordan. Wilt Chamberlain, to the eternal scorn of purists, won only 2 NBA titles and 64% of his regular season games, consigned by history to be Russell’s foil.
The obvious answers come to you. Regular season wins don’t matter, just who is left standing at the end. Jordan rebuilt the Bulls from scratch and suffered their growing pains. He interupted his career at the height of the Bulls achievements. He pulled his winning percentage lower by coming back with the Wizards. All true, but the question remains. Jordan or Duncan?
Turn the question around. If you had both Jordan and Duncan available and could plug one or the other into the Spurs or Bulls lineup today, who would it be? Would the Spurs with Jordan but without Duncan have a better chance of winning than say the present day Bulls with Duncan? My money would be on Chicago with Duncan.
If somehow the Jordan-Pippen Bulls could take the court against the Duncan-Parker-Ginobilli Spurs, who would win and what would it say about the relative greatness of Duncan and Jordan? Again, my money would be on Duncan.
Does Duncan have a stronger supporting cast? Although the Bulls didn’t win the title during Jordan’s two year abscense, they did win regular season games at close to the same percentage. What would the Spurs chances of maintaining their win percentage be without Duncan?
All of this is lazy day pondering. In the end it doesn’t matter. Jordan will remain first among equals with basketball fans. He is, indeed, the Ruth of basketball and will likely remain so to fans one hundred years from now. Michael Jordan is Michael Jordan and worthy of every accolade he has won. But if Jordan is Ruth, surely Tim Duncan is basketball’s version of the consistently great Gehrig.
I ask the Duncan-Jordan question only to raise a point. Not to say Duncan will ever eclipse Jordan, which is a ridiculous notion. Just to say there is a looming shadow falling across the NBA record books. That shadow is being cast by the Spur from Saint Croix.
In the excitement of the NBA finals many are proclaiming LeBron James as the next Michael Jordan. Before we make that leap maybe we should pause and write the name Tim Duncan in the same book as that of Jordan, Russell, Johnson, Bird, Jabbar, and Chamberlain.
A little lower than that of Michael Jordan, but not that far down the page.
46 Comments
May 26, 2007 at 8:50 am · Filed under Uncategorized
Remember the scene in "The Babe Ruth Story" when William Bendix, playing Babe Ruth, promised to hit a home run for a little kid gravely ill in a hospital? In the movie, and apparently in real life, Ruth not only hit a homerun that day he hit three. Johnny Sylvester not only lived but was around to visit Ruth when Ruth was dying of cancer. Well, that was then and this is now.
Last week NiShea Gilbert played a voice mail she alleges is from her husband, Tampa Bay Devil Rays outfielder Elijah Dukes. Here’s part of the transcript, from the St. Petersburg Times:
"Hey, dawg. It’s on, dawg. You
dead, dawg. I ain’t even bulls——-. Your kids too, dawg. It don’t
even matter to me who is in the car with you. N—–, all I know is,
n—–, when I see your m—–f—— a– riding, dawg, it’s on. As a
matter of fact, I’m coming to your m—–f—— house."
Later, according to Gilbert, Dukes sent her a text mail message with an image of a pistol in it. Reached for comment, the outfielder excused himself by saying he had a video game to finish.
Now comes the Ruth story, updated for the new millennium. Benched for two home games, Dukes travelled to Chicago and returned to the starting lineup last night. In the 7th inning he slammed a three run home run to give his team a 4-3 lead. The WhiteSox rallied to win 5-4 and spoil the "story book" happy ending.
They don’t make them like the Babe anymore, but they are turning out Elijah Duke’s left and right these days. As statistical probability would dictate, some of them play professional sports. The lucky ones play major league baseball home of the most compassionate, or clueless, employers in the world.
Here is what the Devil Rays had to say after finding out that Dukes wife had a restraining order out against him, that he had come to a public school she taught at to confront her in front of her students, and allegedly left the voice mail and text message described earlier.
"He has made a lot of strides, but obviously this is something that
certainly requires our attention."
Perhaps a fair statement at the time, but where are we now? The Rays have had time to confirm that there is a restraining order against Dukes, that he did go to the school and confront his wife, and has not denied being the voice on the tape?
Here’s what manager Joe Maddon said yesterday:
"I chose tonight (to get Dukes back on the field) because I felt it was time to move things along, He’s a member of this team. I thought about
it a lot, talked to (executive vice president Andrew Friedman) about it
a lot. I just want to get back to playing baseball and put this thing
behind us."
The Dukes situation is alot of things. Behind us is not one of them.
Grant that Tampa Bay management is in a tricky area regarding Dukes’ contract. His wife has not filed charges against him, so voiding his contract is not an option. Suspending him when there are no charges against him isn’t practical. If Tampa Bay were to release Dukes the Player’s Association (which has to represent his interests by law) would file charges related to unlawful termination.
Still, there are options. One of which is to consider Dukes’ behavior an illness of sorts and put him on the DL and into counseling. Would the union grieve that? Yes. Would they win? Coin flip. Sending Dukes down to the minors is another good choice, but the Rays AA and AAA affiliates are publically on record that he cannot return due to previous incidents with those teams. But there is no rule that says Dukes can’t be sent to A ball. Finally, Tampa Bay could just get over their fear of Fehr (Player’s Association President Donald Fehr), cut Dukes, and let the courts sort it out.
Maybe the best option Tampa Bay has is to trade Dukes for anything they can get, even if it’s a couple of broken bats and a roll of adding machine tape. If nothing else, it puts him out of the Tampa Bay area for the rest of the summer and away from his ex-wife.
Doing nothing, which apparently is the Devil Rays plan, is not a viable option. Dukes has already been arrested five times since 2003. The mother of one of his five children reported harrassment similar to what Gilbert has complained of. Dukes has accepted no responsibility for his actions in the most recent case.
At the least, Dukes presence on the field is going to cause problems with fans concerned about domestic violence and damages the team’s image in Florida. And if the text message of the pistol came from Dukes he isn’t someone a reasonable person wants to share a locker room with. If you are arguing in favor of Dukes staying on the team you are arguing the likelihood of him staying away from his ex-wife and out of trouble. If you want to make that bet you should head for the track and lay money on the long shots instead.
When Jason Giambi tells the truth about steroids in baseball all and sundry in baseball’s establishment rise up in righteous anger. But when Phillies pitcher Brett Myers knocked his wife around on a public street in Boston last year the team and the commissioner were silent. Now Selig is once again mute, and probably will remain so until some player seriously injures or murders his wife.
There is a good chance baseball can make a mistake in Dukes’ case and get sued. There is a good chance they can do nothing and watch the consequences of their inaction play out on Court TV sometime in the future. It’s baseball’s call.
15 Comments
May 25, 2007 at 6:03 am · Filed under Uncategorized
Can anyone here play this game?
Eighty-five missed shots. Just 18 points off the fast break, but 38 off turnovers. Nineteen free throws made. Fifteen missed.
Pistons 79 Cavaliers 76.
NBA Baskeball it’s…..the greatest sleep aid since Sominex.
Brand me a hater. Tell me I just don’t get it. Talk to me about defensive intensity. I don’t care. Just wake me when this series is over. And while you’re at it, leave a wake up call for the sleep walkers I saw last night on the floor.
Except for Rasheed Wallace, who actually appeared to care. Who made some big time moves with the game on the line. Who appeared to have a clue.
It starts with the coaches. Mike Brown of the Cavaliers looks like Al Roker of the Today Show having some sort of breakdown. Throughout the Detroit series he’s managed to do what no NBA player guarding LeBron James did during the regular season. He’s shut King James down.
The Cavaliers offense looks like it came from an over 50 recreational league. Walk the ball down the court. Stand around while everyone catches their breath. Dribble around a little. Fire one up from twenty feet. Walk back down to the other end of the court.
Then there is the electrifying talent that is LeBron James. Most of the night he stood around on the left side of the offense like a man waiting at a subway platform. Give him a hat, a brief case, and a ticket for Midtown. He’ll fit right in. Occasionally he got the ball and drove to his right to get a basket or a foul. It’s a nice move, and even sort of entertaining the first three or four times you see it. Then you realize that, at least for tonight, this is it. That was his move. Wow. Contain my excitement.
The Pistons are lucky to be up 2-0. Granted, they play hard on defense and there is some talent, but the offense runs like an old refrigerator shuddering to a stop at the end of the freeze cycle right before the compressor blows. It appears that Flip Saunders has installed the offense he ran at Golden Valley Lutheran College.
Offenses should be easily described. "Electrifying". "Precision". "Aggressive".
Here are some verbs for the Detroit Pistons offense. "Somnolent". "Inert". "Misfiring."
Chauncey Billips, a legitimate scoring threat, took just 7 shots and waited until the 4th quarter to start playing. Tayshaun Prince was 0-8. Rip Hamilton packed 18 minutes of production into 37 minutes of playing time. I suppose those performances were because Cleveland was so "intense" on defense?
This series will stumble on and one team, likely Detroit, will win. LeBron James can go back to worrying about becoming an "international icon" and selling tennis shoes. And San Antonio can take the NBA Championship trophy back to Texas.
It’s life in the slow lane. The Pistons and Cavaliers are driving 35. Pull over and get some lunch. These guys aren’t going anywhere soon.
21 Comments
May 23, 2007 at 5:24 pm · Filed under Uncategorized
If you memory extends only back to Curt Cobain musically you probably don’t remember the Byrds, Beatles, or Ed Sullivan. Your loss. But let me assure you, we have a wonderful collection of entertainers for you today. A really, really, big shoe…(hey, that’s what I always heard).
Hand over your quarterback and nobody gets hurt. The Miami Dolphins want Trent Green of Kansas City to be their quarterback in 07′. The Chiefs want rid of his salary. But the Fish don’t want one of the top five passers of the last five seasons bad enough to give up more than a 6th round draft pick. Yeah, and maybe KC should include the plane he flies to Miami on. More salary cap madness. Teams are making contract decisions instead of football decisions and somehow we’re supposed to be happy with pariocrity.
But, they’re his dogs! Clinton Portis of the Redskins showed how far the divide is between the NFL and a sizeable number of it’s players, with his impassioned defense of Michael Vick against charges of dog fighting. No word from Portis yet on the ethics of the Ron Mexico incident, plastic bottles with hidden compartments, and obscene gestures. Something tells me he’s OK with those as well.
Quote of the day. Jason Giambi on steroids (well, not ON steroids, but on the TOPIC of steroids in July 2002). It is ”blown way out of proportion. Guys have a lot of talent and take
pride in what they do,” Giambi said. ”Particularly for me, guys who
work hard all year round, now that’s why you’re hitting homers? If
you’re going to do that, how far are you going to go back? Reggie
Jackson. Was he on them? It gets kind of ridiculous to speculate until
we have some kind of way to go through it.” Reached for comment today on the breaking amphetamine story, Giambi reportedly accused Ty Cobb of being a speed freek and stormed off without answering further questions.
But the X-Ray vision is wearing off. Tiger Woods is going back for additional lasik surgery because some of his old eyesight problems have returned. Reports now coming in of heavy drinking by pro golfers after they realized Woods vision and depth perception would be improved by the surgery, and that he was playing at a disadvantage until now. Yikes!
Love those headlines. "Steelers release Gardocki". I guess his family paid the ransom.
It’s rigged, I tell you, rigged. The NBA is leaning on Portland and Seattle to take part in it’s welfare for millionaires program by building the owners of those teams new stadiums. Guess who wins the Oden-Durant sweepstakes? Portland (5.3% chance for 1st pick) and Seattle (9.65% chance of getting 2nd pick). I was no math major, but the odds of those two teams getting the top two picks were the same as those of David Stern recording a rap CD (or about 1/2 of 1% if you do the math). I smell a rat.
So easy a caveman could do it. Wonder if those cavemen on the commercials would finish in the top 10 if they drove for Hendrick Motor Sports? A trained ape? The winner of a reality TV show? How about one of the drivers from the 30-43 spot in the field? The problem is that we don’t know if Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Kyle Busch, or Casey Mears are really that much better than their competitors. The top of NASCAR’s field each week is being determined by engineers and testing time, and that’s a prescription for lower fan interest.
If all you know about horses you learned watching Mr. Ed on TV…Do yourself a favor and go to one of the good tracks and catch some horse racing. It’s not the Super Bowl, World Series, or NBA finals but then again there’s nothing in any of those that compares with standing by the rail and listening to the thunder of the field coming down the home stretch. The Preakness last week was a great race to watch on TV, but when they say "You have to be there." they are telling the truth.
And finally, the Boston Celtics.
12 Comments
May 22, 2007 at 7:17 pm · Filed under Uncategorized
Is this any way to treat an international icon? Ten points on 11 shots and not a single free throw attempt. This is what I got HD TV for?
Now, LeBron James doesn’t owe me for the TV. I didn’t buy a Sony just to watch "King" James. But it would have been nice of him to at least show up for my first playoff game with the new set. I adjusted the contrast, experimented with the colors, but somehow I couldn’t see him. Not in the open court, not in the paint, and especially not at the foul line. Obviously the set is defective. After all, a 6′8" 26 point a game scorer doesn’t just disappear into 40 inches worth of pixels. Right?
Wrong. For 45 minutes James became the NBA’s version of the cheshire cat minus the smile. As he said before the game, you take what they give you. Evidently Detroit was not a charitable mood.
So what happened?
It’s easy to blame James, but save a pointed finger for Cavs coach Mike Brown. Brown learned playoff basketball from Rick Carlisle, and maybe that’s the problem. The Pacers had talent but they didn’t have an open court player like James. Nobody does. Which makes the Cavs fixation with the half court offense somewhat puzzling.
It wasn’t that Detroit controlled the boards. Cleveland outrebounded the Pistons 49-41. It wasn’t that Cleveland tried to run and couldn’t. They simply didn’t make the attempt. The most telling stat of the night is this one: 16 assists for Cleveland. You don’t get assists from a standing start, which is where Brown’s offense spent most of the night.
Basketball is played in 3D. Played well it almost goes beyond to some uncharted area. Last night the Pistons turned off the high definition talent of the Cavs superstar and made the game black and white. 2D at most.
You give the Pistons their due, but still you wonder. Was the reason Cleveland played into Detroit’s hands simply a matter of a self-fulfilling prophesy? Not so much that Cleveland can’t beat Detroit, but that they don’t believe they can. Faced with a tough opponent , the Cavaliers can either get tough or get gone. Last night they looked satisfied with just being in the game at the end. If Cleveland played like a team without heart, where was the leadership to give it to them? Not on the bench with the coach, not on the floor with LeBron James.
James has yet to learn what Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, and Larry Bird knew instinctively. It’s not so much what you do when you go up with the ball. It’s what you do the next play after you’re knocked down with it. LeBron James didn’t need a couple of seasons of college ball to learn to play, but maybe it’s becoming obvious that he needed them to learn how to win.
Is Detroit-San Antonio now inevitable? Not really. If Cleveland is willing to run, willing to make mistakes, willing to exploit the tremendous talents James has in open court then the Cavs can certainly win. But first the team, starting with the coaching staff, has to become more afraid of losing than of the big, bad Pistons. And LeBron James, international icon, has to stop playing hard and play harder. It’s the difference between HD and 2D and the difference in winning and "happy to be here".
1 Comment
May 20, 2007 at 5:27 pm · Filed under Uncategorized
Marcus Camby had a choice. Spend the next year playing for USA Basketball in preparation for the 2008 Beijing Olympics or spend time with his wife and two young daughters. Camby chose his family, in a decision his agent called "gut wrenching".
I’m not surprised at Camby’s choice. It’s the "gut wrenching" part of it that I find puzzling. What is it Camby was giving up, and what is it worth?
The usual line Olympic line goes something like, "Proud to represent my country, proud to be chosen, proud to play with these wonderful players." Nonsense.
In 1988 the Olympics separated from the ancient Greek ideals that were supposed to be their bedrock, allowing professional athletes to take part. 19 years of sponsorship deals and "dream teams" later the games are a melding of "The Wide World of Sports", reality TV, corporate image making, Nikism (think Nihilism with uglier shoes), and network self-promotion. The athletics? They are in there. Somewhere.
Is Camby missing out on representing his country? Let me put it another way. Does Camby, or any other Olympic athlete represent you or your country? How about Carmelo Anthony? Bode Miller? The US swimmers who clowned around using the flag for a prop during the awards ceremonies in 2000? Michael Jordan, who threatened not to show up on the medal stand in Barcelona because it would mean being photographed in a moment of triumph wearing a uniform with the Reebok logo? You thought MJ represented you, he thought he represented the swoosh. How ironic.
Then there is the Catch-22 that is playing for Team USA in basketball. Win and your victory impresses nobody. "It’s the NBA All-Stars. How could they not win?" Lose and you’re a disgrace to yourself, your country, and American style basketball. Sign up for the Olympics and a chance to get called a fundamentally unsound, rich, arrogant representation of all that’s wrong with basketball in this country. Pass.
Still thinking Olympic glory sounds appealing? How about risking your pro career to injury while playing in a glorified exhibition game? Taking the finite number of leaps, cuts, and dribbles you have available and spending some of them against Puerto Rico or Greece? Playing part of the following NBA season dead tired after spending your off season recovery time in a circus.
For your troubles you also get exposed to the risk of terrorist attack. In a world where symbols of the US are at risk, you’ve just signed on to be a high value target.
The "Miracle On Ice" is a relic of bygone times. Jesse Owens ran to prove that he was free to be an athlete. Today he would be owned by a shoe company and cautioned to make nice with Hitler on the podium so there would be a nice shot of Owens, Hitler, and the logo. Jim Thorpe represented his country. Michael Jordan represented his company.
Here’s to Marcus Camby. In a world where so many athletes make bad choices, Camby made a good one.
No Comments
May 18, 2007 at 7:42 pm · Filed under Uncategorized
You have to like the underdog. Not pulling for the little guy is not an option in these parts. This is America. It’s part of the social contract. Unless you’re a heartless narcissist. Or a Yankee fan. I apologize in advance if anyone is offended by that last remark. Some of my best friends are heartless narcissists.
Which brings me to Lino Urdaneta, relief pitcher, New York Mets. I was happy to see the 27 year old Venezuelan finally make it back to the show, if for no other reason than he held the dubious distinction of never having retired a single major league batter. Not one. OK, he only faced 8 batters back in 2004 with the Tigers but still, the guy was due. In an imperfect world Lino was perfect. In an imperfect sort of way. Exactly the kind of minor league lifer everyone wants to see make good.
Mets GM Omar Minaya reaches into the minors each summer and finds the most interesting players. Last year it was Jose Lima, this year Urdaneta. In the big “U”, Minaya found an 11 year minor league veteran of 17 teams who somehow managed to pitch at least part of every year since 1999 in “A” ball. That’s the equivalent of repeating first grade. Eight times. Read the rest of this entry »
May 17, 2007 at 8:23 pm · Filed under Uncategorized
Is David Stern a brilliant sports commissioner, paranoid power freak, or Kennesaw Mountain Landis in a better suit? I’m leaning to the Landis comparison after Stern’s nuclear version of justice leveled the Phoenix Suns and helped San Antonio to a 3-2 series lead after the one game suspensions of Amare Stoudamire and Boris Diaw.
Stoudamire and Diaw left the bench after Robert Horry checked Steve Nash into the sidelines at the end of Game 4 of the Suns-Spurs series. A check is really what it was, a hockey play in a basketball game, something nobody would have batted an eye at if it was Sabres-Senators. But, this being the NBA it became a cause celebre and an endless tape loop on ESPN. As for Stoudamire and Diaw, their actions on leaving the bench consisted of nothing more than a few harsh words and some milling about. Hardly worth a suspension, especially in a playoff game.
“Rules are rules” thunders the NBA, without explaining why those rules are absolutes unfettered by judgement or degree. The simple answer is that Stern is a bit paranoid. He and the league are saying that players must be suspended for leaving the bench, because who knows what will happen if they do. Which, when considered calmly, is more than a bit insulting to the players. Read the rest of this entry »
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