EL HOMBRE KNOWS SPORTS
Before Michigan took advantage of yet another Mama Cass job by Notre Dame last Saturday night, 114,804 partisans (save a couple thousand poor bastards from South Bend) roared as the school honored 1991 Heisman Trophy winner Desmond Howard. U-M declared him a “Michigan Legend” and decreed that the number 21 jersey would forever feature a patch signifying Howard’s new designation. It was a touching moment, and Howard’s tears appeared real as he reflected upon his time in Ann Arbor. For a few moments, Wolverine fans were transported back to a time before luxury suites, gigantic video boards, ear-splitting music pumping through stadium speakers and Tressel’s Tattoo and Pawn T-shirts.
Now, El Hombre is not so naïve to think that college football 20 years ago was a clean sport, filled with players who majored in Metallurgy Studies and for whom the laboratory was as important as the gridiron. Nor is he such a rube to believe the unsavory people circling programs back then were merely colorful, Runyon-esque characters who were largely harmless and didn’t sully the game’s credibility. (Hello, Uncle Luke.) One need only read John Sayle Watterson’s exhaustive history of the game, “College Football: History, Spectacle, Controversy” to understand that there has not been one moment since the game’s inception in 1869 (or, for you Harvard fans, 1874) that was without stain.
But as Michigan attempted to reach back into its vivid history by honoring Howard before its first-ever night game, there was a palpable sense that the magic and wonder of the sport’s first 135 or so years was forever leaving us – even if much of that charm was perpetuated by a myth-making media that refused to tell us that George Gipp never went to class. A cynic might note that the tribute to Howard came primarily because he is part of espn’s self-aggrandizing pre-game synergy-fest, and that caravan just happened to roll into town for a day of broadcasts. As the school staged a sporting spectacle that was admittedly dazzling, it was hard not to see it merely as a slick expansion of the Michigan brand.
The events of the past several months – and certainly of those to come – have forever torn away any illusion that this is a full-fledged business enterprise, no different than what goes on at General Motors, without the bailout, of course. In fact, it’s even money NCAA schools will outsource their operations to India within the next 25 years, provided that exchange student from Bangalore can run a 4.25 40.
This is not a new refrain; the marvel of college sports has been dissipating rapidly over several years. But with each new conference realignment rumor, each new report of a scandal and each criminal attempt by the NC2A to consolidate its power at the expense of powerless athletes bring us ever closer to a complete surrender of any of the ideals on which the concept of college sports was built.
El Hombre isn’t just talking about Miami and the revelations that the owner of a sports agent concern was playing Bacchus to Hurricane players. It’s not just about Texas A&M, which in an effort to escape the shadow of its big brother is in effect signaling the end of the Big 12 and the history (Big 8, SWC) that came before it. It’s not just about how disingenuous TV networks are promising billions to leagues for broadcast rights and turning college football and basketball into programming that has the same feel as a Wednesday night sitcom.
It’s all of the above. And more.
There’s an article in the recent Atlantic Monthly that examines what it calls the “shame” of college athletics. It’s absolutely recommended reading, even if the sucker runs about 7,000 words and requires some serious endurance to complete. In it, Taylor Branch reveals the decades-long effort by the NC2A to build strength at the expense of the young men and women it’s supposed to represent. For instance, the term “student-athlete” was not coined to describe the hard-working men and women chasing the Homeric ideal of a sound mind and sound body. Instead, it was created to differentiate said folks from university employees, the better to prevent them from suing for workman’s comp benefits in the event of an injury. How’s that for a diabolical plan?
Branch carefully lays out the NC2A’s successful attempts to exploit the images and likenesses of its athletes for gigantic profit. He details the attempts by crippled former players to get compensation for their suffering and how the NC2A continues to avoid any significant payout. And finally, he describes the coming days, when the larger, more successful schools will break away from the organization to govern themselves and reap even more significant financial windfalls.
That last part is what should truly trouble college athletics fans. Within even a year, we may see a completely different big-time landscape, one that cares little for historical rivalries and tradition. Everything will revolve entirely around money, and once that becomes the aim, nothing else is the same. Again, not too much of this is new, but it appears we’re heading for the final reckoning, and that’s too bad.
Last Saturday night in Ann Arbor was a fine convergence of old and new. The band classics meshed well with “Welcome to the Jungle,” and pumped-up Michigan Stadium, with its big screens and luxury seating, looked great under the lights. But as the mingling took place, it was clear what was on the horizon, just as the events of the past several months have given us clues of the world that awaits. Those of us who remember the days when college sports had an element of romance – even “hundred-dollar handshakes” seemed quaint when compared to Nevin Shapiro’s Love Boat junkets – can be sustained by the memories. The next generation, however, will have none of that at its disposal, only a manufactured excitement created and funded by TV networks that creates the illusion of pageantry.
Oh, and the athletes will still be getting screwed over. At least that much won’t change.
* * *
EL HOMBRE SEZ: So, we’re supposed to consider the recent efforts by player agents to decertify the NBA Players Association as a positive step toward ending the labor strife that threatens to scrub the 2011-12 season? What’s next, letting players’ posse members sit in on the negotiations? NBA commissioner Uncle David Stern is ready to go to the mattresses on this one, even if that deprives us of Timberwolves games. Inviting the agents in can’t do anything but weaken the players’ position…All those years Sarah Palin was yelling “Go Blue!” in Alaska, we thought she was talking about the cold weather. Turns out she was a Michigan fan all along and that given her choice of side dishes, she’ll always choose Rice over potatoes…How about the way those Colts rallied together after learning Peyton Manning wouldn’t be playing much, if at all, this season? The last time a team showed that much fortitude, the Mets were gagging away the 2007 NL East pennant. Or was that the 2008 crown?...Nice “apology” by Serena Williams after her most recent petulant on-court outburst. Nicer “fine” by the USTA. Wow, a whole $2,000. Next time, she won’t be allowed to watch TV for a week.
* * *
YOU GOT A PROBLEM WITH THAT? The Eagles are just 17 wins away from deserving the ludicrous “Dream Team” moniker awarded them by backup QB Vince Young, he of the career 42 touchdown passes and 42 interceptions. Last Sunday’s season-opening win over the Rams was impressive because of the Birds’ big-play potential, but the continued inability of the team’s $100 million quarterback to recognize blitzes and run the offense with precision is disheartening. Vick is indeed a marvel in broken-field situations, but he demonstrates limited skill in sniffing out complicated defensive schemes and getting rid of the ball quickly. He was hit 21 times last week, and even right tackle Todd Herremans said Vick needed to get better at understanding when blitzes were coming. The most damning evidence of Vick’s limitations came when he said earlier this week that the final part of his QB development was learning how to identify that part of the defensive approach. Final part? That’s something he should have been working on all along, and the admission that he can’t handle it demonstrates why Eagles fans should be wary about Vick’s ability to lead them to the Super Bowl. He still sees himself as a QB who “wants to make plays,” which is code for not wanting to fit into a specific scheme. The Eagles preyed on the Rams last week, but until Vick can catch up on a part of his job that he should have tried to master since college, they’re not real Super Bowl contenders.
* * *
AND ANOTHER THING: For some college seniors, the acceptance letter they receive from a college of choice is a starter’s pistol signaling the beginning of a slump. They figure that since they have achieved the ultimate goal of high school – college admission – they can coast home. After taking six of seven from the Braves and Brewers last week, the Phillies appear to have adopted a similar attitude. In the process, they have highlighted some of the possible obstacles to a world title. First off, their offense has gone to sleep. The Phils have scored 11 runs in their last six games. Granted, their lineups have looked at times like the belong playing in the Governor’s Cup series for the Iron Pigs, but the slump shows just how this team can struggle for prolonged periods – like, say, last year’s NLCS against San Francisco. Meanwhile, the bullpen, already short thanks to the presence of unreliables like David Herndon, Michael Schwimmer and Brad Lidge, has gone from a strength to a question mark. After walking a total of six batters in July and August combined, Antonio Bastardo has issued five free passes in six appearances in September, and has gotten a total of four men out in his past four appearances. He needs rest, and two weeks may not be enough. The Phils are cruising toward 105 wins or so, but that means nothing if the bats and bullpen don’t deliver in October.
-EH-
Showing posts with label Michael Vick. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Michael Vick. Show all posts
Friday, September 16, 2011
Friday, January 7, 2011
Ready For Some (Playoff) Football
EL HOMBRE KNOWS SPORTS
Earlier this week, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell sent out an intimate e-mail to about 5 million of the league’s customers declaring that labor peace will be achieved, and America’s number one sporting religion will not miss a minute of revenue gathering. On the confidence scale, it was akin to Justin Bieber’s saying he was ready to whip up on Randy Couture. Unless Goodell and his robber baron bosses can get players to accept a longer season, less money and a continued capricious approach to discipline – “The NFL: We care! (About offensive players.) – we’re looking at a work stoppage that could threaten the scintillating mini-camp, OTA and exhibition game portions of the program.
The biggest sham in the whole labor mess is the league’s insistence on an 18-game season. Or at least the P.R. run-up to it. After trying to convince us throughout the last several months that the players’ welfares were truly at the heart of league policy, Goodell and the billionaires want to add two games to the schedule, thereby expediting the future need for joint replacements and adding dozens more opportunities for players to endure the kind of dementia-inducing hits that already have 45-year old former warriors stumbling around like Lindsay Lohan on a bender.
Give Goodell and his propaganda ministers credit for concocting a scheme that has softened up fans in advance of the 18-game season. By fining (defensive) players for helmet-on-helmet hits and inventing terms like “defenseless receiver,” they have made it appear as if safety is the league’s top priority. This from a group of people who denied for years that blows to the head had dangerous short and long-term effects.
It is against that backdrop of hypocrisy that the NFL playoffs begin. Enjoy them, folks, because it could be many months before the big fellas start destroying their bodies for our enjoyment again. Of course, unless you live in New England, it’s going to be hard to derive too much pleasure from the proceedings, since the Patriots are so much better than everybody else that the tournament seems as pertinent as a public service announcement from the cast of “Jerseylicious.”
El Hombre isn’t so addled (yet) that he doesn’t remember the early February day in 2008, when the undefeated Pats lost to New York in the Super Bowl, delighting Mercury Morris and proving that nothing is guaranteed in the NFL. But this New England outfit seems different – and better equipped to go the distance – than did its predecessor. Tom Brady’s rock-star look notwithstanding, this is about the biggest blue-collar collection of successful players in recent memory. When your offensive skill package includes a Gronkowski, a Chadron State product, a double-hyphenated running back and a “star” receiver whose career average per catch is 10.7 yards, and you still lead the league in points scored, you have something special. And you want to talk about a “no-name” defense? Try these on for size: Banta-Cain, Ninkovich, Chung and Mayo. That sounds like one of those law firms you see advertised on local cable stations.
It all begins with Captain Hoodie, who espouses the philosophy that you don’t get the best 53 players; you get the right 53 players. For him, winning football is not the province of superstars but of players who want to sacrifice their egos for the system. That’s why he had no problem jettisoning overcooked wideout Randy Moss, once he went into full tantrum mode. It’s about production, not endorsements, and these Pats have a roster full of bottom-line players who appear invincible right now.
Of course, it’s rather easy to extol the proletarian virtues of a team when its QB is the best around. Brady is enjoying his second-best season (the remarkable ’07 campaign is out of reach), completing 65.9% of his passes and tossing 36 TD strikes against a mere four picks. He has maximized his production despite a stable of receivers that includes no big-play threat and precious little proven depth. That Brady is playing at such a high level is a testament to his powers, as well as the Patriots’ ability to outscheme and outexecute opponents. You may have more star power, but their team is superior to your big names.
That’s not to say the Pats are bulletproof. Baltimore smacked them around in Foxboro last year. The Steelers have shown plenty so far. And even Rex Ryan’s bunch is dangerous, provided it doesn’t fold up again in New England when the Pats start firing live ammunition, or if the coach gets distracted by a pair of sexy cheerleader feet.
Over in the NFC, the Falcons would like you to believe they are Super Bowl timber. They’re not. Roddy White is having a great year, but teams with just one receiver have problems against good post-season defenses. The scariest teams in that conference appear to be the two wild cards entries, New Orleans and Green Bay. The Saints beat Atlanta on the road a couple weeks ago and still have Drew Brees under center, last time El Hombre checked. The Packers, meanwhile, get plenty of attention for their great passing game, but it’s the Green Bay defense – ranked fifth in the NFL – that is the team’s biggest asset, particularly on the road. Don’t be surprised if one (or even both) of them is in the NFC title game.
That’s a few weeks off. Right now, fans need to get ready for the Wild Card round and perhaps the last time early January football will be of the playoff variety. If commissioner Goodwill and his owners get their wishes, this time of year will still be regular season, contusions and concussions be damned. Stay tuned for the next e-mail.
Here are this week’s playoff picks. Get ready to cash in, baby! New Orleans minus-10.5 over Seattle; Indianapolis minus-2.5 over the Jets; Baltimore minus-3 over Kansas City; Green Bay plus-2.5 against the Eagles.
* * *
EL HOMBRE SEZ: So, LeBron James has dubbed Miami the “Heatles,” has he? Clever, but James forgets one thing: People actually cheered when the Beatles came to town. He and his made-for-championship cronies don’t engender similar affection…Don’t know about you, but El Hombre has been riveted to the post-Jan. 1 bowl action. You just can’t beat a Middle Tennessee-Miami (OH) matchup. And that Kentucky-Pittsburgh clash promises to be a real humdinger. Looking for a culprit? Consider espn, which continues to manipulate everything it can about sports to suit its programming needs…Kudos to caring Penn State coach Joe Paterno, who denied quarterback Robert Bolden’s request for transfer. It isn’t enough that schools can terminate players’ scholarships after each season or run them off when their performance doesn’t match expectation. Now, Paterno wants to restrain an unhappy player from finding a better situation. Let your people go, Joe…Rafael Palmeiro is upset that he received only 11% of the vote in the recent Hall of Fame balloting and still blames someone else for his positive steroid test. Tough darts. Let’s hope voters continue to punish the juicers by denying them entrance to the Hall. If that means fewer members, so be it…Stay tuned to this space for periodic updates on the shocking scandal that has rocked the cricket world. Three Pakistani players have been accused of bowling “no-balls” at prearranged times during a test match with England and face lifetime bans. Speaking of no balls, how about that “performance” by Miami in the Sun Bowl. The Hurricane players dressed like they were ready for a forced march to Murmansk and played like they couldn’t wait to get back to Coral Gables. New coach Al Golden has plenty of work to do.
* * *
YOU GOT A PROBLEM WITH THAT? Many media members and plenty of fans are devoting substantial energy to the Packers’ passing attack when assessing Sunday’s Green Bay-Philadelphia wild-card playoff game. While Aaron Rodgers and his crew of sticky-handed receivers are extremely dangerous, the real challenge for the Eagles comes from the Packer defense, which ranks fifth in the NFL and is no doubt frothing at the opportunity to see whether Michael Vick will continue his regression to the run-around QB he was in Atlanta. In a way, you can’t blame Vick’s move backward. He’s learning a brand new way to play the position, so it’s natural that he uses his instincts as a default reaction to new and more dangerous schemes from rival defenses. Plus, since he’s behind such a shaky offensive line, it’s hard to hang in and progress to the third read when marauding blitzers are charging toward him. If the Eagles want to have a chance Sunday, they had better keep Vick clean. Otherwise, he’ll be running around and likely commit backbreaking turnovers that will contribute to an early post-season exit.
* * *
AND ANOTHER THING: By waiting until Jan. 5 to make Rich Rodriguez’s dismissal official, Michigan head coach David Brandon added extra pressure to his search for a new head football coach. Worse, if he truly believed Rodriguez could have saved his job with a strong bowl showing against the SEC West’s fifth-place team, Wolverine fans shouldn’t have too much faith in his ability to choose the right man to replace Rodriguez. It was obvious to everybody that Rodriguez had to leave, and U-M’s ugly losses to Wisconsin and Ohio State proved that. If Brandon needed to see the Wolverines stumble around in the second half against Mississippi State(!) in order to decide Rodriguez’s fate, he wasn’t paying much attention the rest of the season. Let’s hope he was merely trying to save the $1.5 mil that came off Rodriguez’s buyout after Jan. 1 and that he has been compiling candidates all along and working back channels to make the right hire. And don’t think it has to be someone who is necessarily a “Michigan Man.” For instance, even though Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald has denied interest, he is definitely considering the spot but keeping it very quiet, due to his current post as a Big Ten head coach.
-EH-
Earlier this week, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell sent out an intimate e-mail to about 5 million of the league’s customers declaring that labor peace will be achieved, and America’s number one sporting religion will not miss a minute of revenue gathering. On the confidence scale, it was akin to Justin Bieber’s saying he was ready to whip up on Randy Couture. Unless Goodell and his robber baron bosses can get players to accept a longer season, less money and a continued capricious approach to discipline – “The NFL: We care! (About offensive players.) – we’re looking at a work stoppage that could threaten the scintillating mini-camp, OTA and exhibition game portions of the program.
The biggest sham in the whole labor mess is the league’s insistence on an 18-game season. Or at least the P.R. run-up to it. After trying to convince us throughout the last several months that the players’ welfares were truly at the heart of league policy, Goodell and the billionaires want to add two games to the schedule, thereby expediting the future need for joint replacements and adding dozens more opportunities for players to endure the kind of dementia-inducing hits that already have 45-year old former warriors stumbling around like Lindsay Lohan on a bender.
Give Goodell and his propaganda ministers credit for concocting a scheme that has softened up fans in advance of the 18-game season. By fining (defensive) players for helmet-on-helmet hits and inventing terms like “defenseless receiver,” they have made it appear as if safety is the league’s top priority. This from a group of people who denied for years that blows to the head had dangerous short and long-term effects.
It is against that backdrop of hypocrisy that the NFL playoffs begin. Enjoy them, folks, because it could be many months before the big fellas start destroying their bodies for our enjoyment again. Of course, unless you live in New England, it’s going to be hard to derive too much pleasure from the proceedings, since the Patriots are so much better than everybody else that the tournament seems as pertinent as a public service announcement from the cast of “Jerseylicious.”
El Hombre isn’t so addled (yet) that he doesn’t remember the early February day in 2008, when the undefeated Pats lost to New York in the Super Bowl, delighting Mercury Morris and proving that nothing is guaranteed in the NFL. But this New England outfit seems different – and better equipped to go the distance – than did its predecessor. Tom Brady’s rock-star look notwithstanding, this is about the biggest blue-collar collection of successful players in recent memory. When your offensive skill package includes a Gronkowski, a Chadron State product, a double-hyphenated running back and a “star” receiver whose career average per catch is 10.7 yards, and you still lead the league in points scored, you have something special. And you want to talk about a “no-name” defense? Try these on for size: Banta-Cain, Ninkovich, Chung and Mayo. That sounds like one of those law firms you see advertised on local cable stations.
It all begins with Captain Hoodie, who espouses the philosophy that you don’t get the best 53 players; you get the right 53 players. For him, winning football is not the province of superstars but of players who want to sacrifice their egos for the system. That’s why he had no problem jettisoning overcooked wideout Randy Moss, once he went into full tantrum mode. It’s about production, not endorsements, and these Pats have a roster full of bottom-line players who appear invincible right now.
Of course, it’s rather easy to extol the proletarian virtues of a team when its QB is the best around. Brady is enjoying his second-best season (the remarkable ’07 campaign is out of reach), completing 65.9% of his passes and tossing 36 TD strikes against a mere four picks. He has maximized his production despite a stable of receivers that includes no big-play threat and precious little proven depth. That Brady is playing at such a high level is a testament to his powers, as well as the Patriots’ ability to outscheme and outexecute opponents. You may have more star power, but their team is superior to your big names.
That’s not to say the Pats are bulletproof. Baltimore smacked them around in Foxboro last year. The Steelers have shown plenty so far. And even Rex Ryan’s bunch is dangerous, provided it doesn’t fold up again in New England when the Pats start firing live ammunition, or if the coach gets distracted by a pair of sexy cheerleader feet.
Over in the NFC, the Falcons would like you to believe they are Super Bowl timber. They’re not. Roddy White is having a great year, but teams with just one receiver have problems against good post-season defenses. The scariest teams in that conference appear to be the two wild cards entries, New Orleans and Green Bay. The Saints beat Atlanta on the road a couple weeks ago and still have Drew Brees under center, last time El Hombre checked. The Packers, meanwhile, get plenty of attention for their great passing game, but it’s the Green Bay defense – ranked fifth in the NFL – that is the team’s biggest asset, particularly on the road. Don’t be surprised if one (or even both) of them is in the NFC title game.
That’s a few weeks off. Right now, fans need to get ready for the Wild Card round and perhaps the last time early January football will be of the playoff variety. If commissioner Goodwill and his owners get their wishes, this time of year will still be regular season, contusions and concussions be damned. Stay tuned for the next e-mail.
Here are this week’s playoff picks. Get ready to cash in, baby! New Orleans minus-10.5 over Seattle; Indianapolis minus-2.5 over the Jets; Baltimore minus-3 over Kansas City; Green Bay plus-2.5 against the Eagles.
* * *
EL HOMBRE SEZ: So, LeBron James has dubbed Miami the “Heatles,” has he? Clever, but James forgets one thing: People actually cheered when the Beatles came to town. He and his made-for-championship cronies don’t engender similar affection…Don’t know about you, but El Hombre has been riveted to the post-Jan. 1 bowl action. You just can’t beat a Middle Tennessee-Miami (OH) matchup. And that Kentucky-Pittsburgh clash promises to be a real humdinger. Looking for a culprit? Consider espn, which continues to manipulate everything it can about sports to suit its programming needs…Kudos to caring Penn State coach Joe Paterno, who denied quarterback Robert Bolden’s request for transfer. It isn’t enough that schools can terminate players’ scholarships after each season or run them off when their performance doesn’t match expectation. Now, Paterno wants to restrain an unhappy player from finding a better situation. Let your people go, Joe…Rafael Palmeiro is upset that he received only 11% of the vote in the recent Hall of Fame balloting and still blames someone else for his positive steroid test. Tough darts. Let’s hope voters continue to punish the juicers by denying them entrance to the Hall. If that means fewer members, so be it…Stay tuned to this space for periodic updates on the shocking scandal that has rocked the cricket world. Three Pakistani players have been accused of bowling “no-balls” at prearranged times during a test match with England and face lifetime bans. Speaking of no balls, how about that “performance” by Miami in the Sun Bowl. The Hurricane players dressed like they were ready for a forced march to Murmansk and played like they couldn’t wait to get back to Coral Gables. New coach Al Golden has plenty of work to do.
* * *
YOU GOT A PROBLEM WITH THAT? Many media members and plenty of fans are devoting substantial energy to the Packers’ passing attack when assessing Sunday’s Green Bay-Philadelphia wild-card playoff game. While Aaron Rodgers and his crew of sticky-handed receivers are extremely dangerous, the real challenge for the Eagles comes from the Packer defense, which ranks fifth in the NFL and is no doubt frothing at the opportunity to see whether Michael Vick will continue his regression to the run-around QB he was in Atlanta. In a way, you can’t blame Vick’s move backward. He’s learning a brand new way to play the position, so it’s natural that he uses his instincts as a default reaction to new and more dangerous schemes from rival defenses. Plus, since he’s behind such a shaky offensive line, it’s hard to hang in and progress to the third read when marauding blitzers are charging toward him. If the Eagles want to have a chance Sunday, they had better keep Vick clean. Otherwise, he’ll be running around and likely commit backbreaking turnovers that will contribute to an early post-season exit.
* * *
AND ANOTHER THING: By waiting until Jan. 5 to make Rich Rodriguez’s dismissal official, Michigan head coach David Brandon added extra pressure to his search for a new head football coach. Worse, if he truly believed Rodriguez could have saved his job with a strong bowl showing against the SEC West’s fifth-place team, Wolverine fans shouldn’t have too much faith in his ability to choose the right man to replace Rodriguez. It was obvious to everybody that Rodriguez had to leave, and U-M’s ugly losses to Wisconsin and Ohio State proved that. If Brandon needed to see the Wolverines stumble around in the second half against Mississippi State(!) in order to decide Rodriguez’s fate, he wasn’t paying much attention the rest of the season. Let’s hope he was merely trying to save the $1.5 mil that came off Rodriguez’s buyout after Jan. 1 and that he has been compiling candidates all along and working back channels to make the right hire. And don’t think it has to be someone who is necessarily a “Michigan Man.” For instance, even though Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald has denied interest, he is definitely considering the spot but keeping it very quiet, due to his current post as a Big Ten head coach.
-EH-
Friday, September 25, 2009
The Bullpen Follies
EL HOMBRE KNOWS SPORTS
This is the time of year when El Hombre can count on a call from Deep Nose, elated Miami Hurricane alumnus and keeper of all things Phillies for the rogues and misfits who comprise our long-time season-ticket consortium for the World Champions. DN is in full accumulation mode, which means he is trying to gather as many ducats as possible for the post-season, the better to feed the hunger of our group and its ancillary members, not to mention his own speculative efforts on Stub Hub. He’s a busy man, that Deep Nose, but his efforts always result in maximum opportunities for us, and that’s a good thing.
While Hurricane QB Jacory Harris, who is so smooth he should travel with backup singers, has Deep Nose’s mind dancing, so too does the specter of a Phillies-Yankees World Series. Not only would it afford the local nine a chance to erase the stain of the four-game sweep at the hands of the Bombers in 1950, but it would also allow Deep Nose to pull in a pretty penny for some of the preferred seats in our allotment. “I hadn’t even thought of that,” DN said when reminded of the possibility. One imagines his eyes taking on cartoonish dollar-sign shapes at the thought of investment-banking pirates shelling out top dollar to see A-Roid choke in the Fall Classic.
Trouble is, while the Yankees could well find themselves making TV executives smile with a run deep into October – and perhaps, for the first time, November – the Phillies may not hold up their end of the bargain. The team’s travails as it careened toward the NL East title, a designation that sounds better than it really is, have fans’ minds and stomachs in an uncomfortable twist. This is a team with so many flaws, it’s a wonder it will end the season with about 95 wins. That is in large part a testimony to its ability to beat up on the rotten teams in the NL East, most notably the fetid Nationals (15-3) and the odious Mets (11-6). Without those teams to slap around, the Phils could well be scuffling for a wild card spot.
But they will enter the post-season as division champs, provided they take care of the minor business of whittling that magic number of four down to nil, a task the Milwaukee Brewers will no doubt be happy to make easier. And if the Phils can charge down the stretch, they might even find their way to the top spot in the league, or at least the number two position, behind the Dodgers. That will guarantee home-field advantage in the opening, best-of-five crapshoot, never a bad thing.
Once there, however, the Phillies face some big-time obstacles that could well prevent a repeat championship performance. Last year, the Phils were an imperfect team with a perfect bullpen. This year, they are an imperfect team with an imperfect bullpen. That’s not a good condition for a title aspirant. Closer Brad Lidge has blown 11 saves and might have to enter the witness protection program if he fails to do the job in the post-season. It would be nice if fireballing Ryan Madson could take care of the job, but he doesn’t seem to have the, ahem, fortitude to handle the responsibility. For a while, Brett Myers and Chan Ho Park were candidates, but injuries have waylaid each of them, and they will be lucky to be eligible for action in the playoffs, much less handle a job as vital as the closer’s. The most recent germination from manager Charlie Manuel’s fertile mind was Tyler Walker, a journeyman reliever who has looked good at times this year but hardly imbues the populous with too much confidence. The top resume item he can muster is 23 saves for a 2005 Giants team that finished 12 games below .500.
While the bullpen staggers through September, trying to get healthy and appear reliable, the Phillies lineup continues to live for the big inning and the patron saint of Earl Weaver: the three-run homer. A sacrifice fly is as rare as a reasonably priced concession item at Citizens Bank Park. The Phillies’ inability to manufacture runs is almost pathological. It’s almost as if winning a game 4-2 with a bunch of hits, sacrifices, stolen bases and walks is sacrilegious. Playing long-ball is fine when the Nationals are in town, but when the weather turns colder, and the collars become tighter, it’s not so easy to swing freely.
The saving grace for the Phillies might just be its starting rotation, which could be the deepest in team history. When a team’s wins leader is relegated to the bullpen, something good is happening. But it’s dangerous to think that the same guys who throw into the eighth inning in August and September can do that in October. A hundred pitches don’t go as far in the post-season cauldron as they do on a sultry summer evening. The bullpen will have to perform.
So, Deep Nose will continue his hunting and gathering, and the Phillies will continue to madden fans with their nightly bullpen travails. Let’s hope they can figure things out in time for October baseball, if only to see the smile on DN’s face when he can list lower-level Series tickets against the Yankees for obscene amounts of money. The team owes him that much.
* * *
EL HOMBRE SEZ: The NC2A is considering taking actions to reduce drastically the burdens on athletes in Division II and might even cut back a little in D-I basketball. Of course, no cutbacks are needed in big-time football, with its 12 (and sometimes 13) game regular season, conference title tilts, bowl games and year-round conditioning. The NC2A really cares about its student-athletes. (Cough, cough.) That’s why it can’t have a playoff…The Pirates drew a robust crowd of 3,000 to Thursday’s game against the Reds, and one of the reasons given for the intimate gathering was the nearby G-20 summit. Yeah, fans couldn’t wait to get a look at Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva. It couldn’t have been that a matinee between the rotten Bucs and floundering Reds was as attractive as the idea of the torrid love affair between Papa John Phillips and his daughter Mackenzie, could it? Nahhhh…The announcement that Russian gazillionaire Mikhail Prokhorov is buying the New Jersey Nets had to strike a little fear into the team’s players. On other NBA teams, poor play or a rotten attitude will result in a trip to the bench. With Prokhorov in charge, the same behavior may earn an exile to Yakutsk…Can’t understand why the NHL is having so much trouble getting its Phoenix franchise stabilized. Hockey has such a great history and tradition the desert. Boneheads…The city of Industry, which sits about 15 miles east of Los Angeles, has cleared a major hurdle in its bid to build a stadium that could lure an NFL back to the nation’s second-largest market. Imagine the excitement as fans cite 62 leisure alternatives to watching the L.A. Jaguars play in person. By the year 2025, the franchise will be looking to move, just as the Rams and Raiders did before it.
* * *
YOU GOT A PROBLEM WITH THAT? Michael Vick makes his triumphant return to the NFL Sunday when the Eagles play Kansas City, and his presence on the active roster should help the team ratchet the drama quotient sky high. There shouldn’t be too much trouble this week, since starter Kevin Kolb has done nothing during his career to warrant any complaining about the deployment of Vick, who could become the greatest option QB in NFL history. In two weeks (the Birds have a bye next Sunday), however, things could get a little dicey. Donovan McNabb isn’t the most secure fellow around, and his return to the offense, coupled with Vick’s insertion, could lead to some friction. Number Five groused about not being able to generate sufficient offensive flow when Vick was used in an exhibition game. Imagine how he’ll handle being moved to the slot while Vick runs veer plays during contests that count. Meanwhile, Vick has said he thought he’d be starting for a team by now, a laughable statement from someone who brings more baggage than an airport porter and was never a pinpoint passer to begin with. Vick should take his 8-10 snaps Sunday, try to outrun a couple linebackers and keep his mouth shut. He certainly deserves a second chance, but he has to prove himself after a two-year layoff and demonstrate that he can thrive in a grown-up offense, not a run-and-gun scheme, before someone will consider him worthy of a starting gig.
* * *
AND ANOTHER THING: Thursday night’s loss to South Carolina proved that the hype surrounding Mississippi was irrational and the by-product of college football’s propaganda partners’ needs to prime the promotional pump in advance of each season. The Rebels were anointed the nation’s hot team, along with Oklahoma State (hello, Houston) on the basis of an upset win over Florida and a triumph over Texas Tech in the Cotton Bowl last year. All of a sudden, the Rebs were top-10 – and Thursday, they were top-five – material. The loss shows just how ridiculous it is to publish polls in August and early September, before teams have shown anything. If the popularity contests didn’t matter in the formula to choose a “national champion,” it wouldn’t matter, but because the USA Today election is part of the BCS scheme, it should have its basis a little more in fact than conjecture, since an early poll establishes an artificial hierarchy that rewards name brands. Take the Houston/OK State situation. The Cougars go to Stillwater and slap around Boone Pickens’ all-stars. That earned them a spot in the polls seven place behind the Cowpokes. That makes sense. At least the Harris Interactive Poll, which is comprised of a motley bunch of ex-coaches, B-list journalists and other assorted characters, doesn’t debut until next Monday. Perhaps its voters will take into account that success is earned on the field, not by a program’s tradition. Then again, given its track record and the asinine nature of the BCS, no one should count on anything of merit coming from the Harris poll. Get ready for another season of nonsense that devalues the world’s greatest sport.
-EH-
This is the time of year when El Hombre can count on a call from Deep Nose, elated Miami Hurricane alumnus and keeper of all things Phillies for the rogues and misfits who comprise our long-time season-ticket consortium for the World Champions. DN is in full accumulation mode, which means he is trying to gather as many ducats as possible for the post-season, the better to feed the hunger of our group and its ancillary members, not to mention his own speculative efforts on Stub Hub. He’s a busy man, that Deep Nose, but his efforts always result in maximum opportunities for us, and that’s a good thing.
While Hurricane QB Jacory Harris, who is so smooth he should travel with backup singers, has Deep Nose’s mind dancing, so too does the specter of a Phillies-Yankees World Series. Not only would it afford the local nine a chance to erase the stain of the four-game sweep at the hands of the Bombers in 1950, but it would also allow Deep Nose to pull in a pretty penny for some of the preferred seats in our allotment. “I hadn’t even thought of that,” DN said when reminded of the possibility. One imagines his eyes taking on cartoonish dollar-sign shapes at the thought of investment-banking pirates shelling out top dollar to see A-Roid choke in the Fall Classic.
Trouble is, while the Yankees could well find themselves making TV executives smile with a run deep into October – and perhaps, for the first time, November – the Phillies may not hold up their end of the bargain. The team’s travails as it careened toward the NL East title, a designation that sounds better than it really is, have fans’ minds and stomachs in an uncomfortable twist. This is a team with so many flaws, it’s a wonder it will end the season with about 95 wins. That is in large part a testimony to its ability to beat up on the rotten teams in the NL East, most notably the fetid Nationals (15-3) and the odious Mets (11-6). Without those teams to slap around, the Phils could well be scuffling for a wild card spot.
But they will enter the post-season as division champs, provided they take care of the minor business of whittling that magic number of four down to nil, a task the Milwaukee Brewers will no doubt be happy to make easier. And if the Phils can charge down the stretch, they might even find their way to the top spot in the league, or at least the number two position, behind the Dodgers. That will guarantee home-field advantage in the opening, best-of-five crapshoot, never a bad thing.
Once there, however, the Phillies face some big-time obstacles that could well prevent a repeat championship performance. Last year, the Phils were an imperfect team with a perfect bullpen. This year, they are an imperfect team with an imperfect bullpen. That’s not a good condition for a title aspirant. Closer Brad Lidge has blown 11 saves and might have to enter the witness protection program if he fails to do the job in the post-season. It would be nice if fireballing Ryan Madson could take care of the job, but he doesn’t seem to have the, ahem, fortitude to handle the responsibility. For a while, Brett Myers and Chan Ho Park were candidates, but injuries have waylaid each of them, and they will be lucky to be eligible for action in the playoffs, much less handle a job as vital as the closer’s. The most recent germination from manager Charlie Manuel’s fertile mind was Tyler Walker, a journeyman reliever who has looked good at times this year but hardly imbues the populous with too much confidence. The top resume item he can muster is 23 saves for a 2005 Giants team that finished 12 games below .500.
While the bullpen staggers through September, trying to get healthy and appear reliable, the Phillies lineup continues to live for the big inning and the patron saint of Earl Weaver: the three-run homer. A sacrifice fly is as rare as a reasonably priced concession item at Citizens Bank Park. The Phillies’ inability to manufacture runs is almost pathological. It’s almost as if winning a game 4-2 with a bunch of hits, sacrifices, stolen bases and walks is sacrilegious. Playing long-ball is fine when the Nationals are in town, but when the weather turns colder, and the collars become tighter, it’s not so easy to swing freely.
The saving grace for the Phillies might just be its starting rotation, which could be the deepest in team history. When a team’s wins leader is relegated to the bullpen, something good is happening. But it’s dangerous to think that the same guys who throw into the eighth inning in August and September can do that in October. A hundred pitches don’t go as far in the post-season cauldron as they do on a sultry summer evening. The bullpen will have to perform.
So, Deep Nose will continue his hunting and gathering, and the Phillies will continue to madden fans with their nightly bullpen travails. Let’s hope they can figure things out in time for October baseball, if only to see the smile on DN’s face when he can list lower-level Series tickets against the Yankees for obscene amounts of money. The team owes him that much.
* * *
EL HOMBRE SEZ: The NC2A is considering taking actions to reduce drastically the burdens on athletes in Division II and might even cut back a little in D-I basketball. Of course, no cutbacks are needed in big-time football, with its 12 (and sometimes 13) game regular season, conference title tilts, bowl games and year-round conditioning. The NC2A really cares about its student-athletes. (Cough, cough.) That’s why it can’t have a playoff…The Pirates drew a robust crowd of 3,000 to Thursday’s game against the Reds, and one of the reasons given for the intimate gathering was the nearby G-20 summit. Yeah, fans couldn’t wait to get a look at Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva. It couldn’t have been that a matinee between the rotten Bucs and floundering Reds was as attractive as the idea of the torrid love affair between Papa John Phillips and his daughter Mackenzie, could it? Nahhhh…The announcement that Russian gazillionaire Mikhail Prokhorov is buying the New Jersey Nets had to strike a little fear into the team’s players. On other NBA teams, poor play or a rotten attitude will result in a trip to the bench. With Prokhorov in charge, the same behavior may earn an exile to Yakutsk…Can’t understand why the NHL is having so much trouble getting its Phoenix franchise stabilized. Hockey has such a great history and tradition the desert. Boneheads…The city of Industry, which sits about 15 miles east of Los Angeles, has cleared a major hurdle in its bid to build a stadium that could lure an NFL back to the nation’s second-largest market. Imagine the excitement as fans cite 62 leisure alternatives to watching the L.A. Jaguars play in person. By the year 2025, the franchise will be looking to move, just as the Rams and Raiders did before it.
* * *
YOU GOT A PROBLEM WITH THAT? Michael Vick makes his triumphant return to the NFL Sunday when the Eagles play Kansas City, and his presence on the active roster should help the team ratchet the drama quotient sky high. There shouldn’t be too much trouble this week, since starter Kevin Kolb has done nothing during his career to warrant any complaining about the deployment of Vick, who could become the greatest option QB in NFL history. In two weeks (the Birds have a bye next Sunday), however, things could get a little dicey. Donovan McNabb isn’t the most secure fellow around, and his return to the offense, coupled with Vick’s insertion, could lead to some friction. Number Five groused about not being able to generate sufficient offensive flow when Vick was used in an exhibition game. Imagine how he’ll handle being moved to the slot while Vick runs veer plays during contests that count. Meanwhile, Vick has said he thought he’d be starting for a team by now, a laughable statement from someone who brings more baggage than an airport porter and was never a pinpoint passer to begin with. Vick should take his 8-10 snaps Sunday, try to outrun a couple linebackers and keep his mouth shut. He certainly deserves a second chance, but he has to prove himself after a two-year layoff and demonstrate that he can thrive in a grown-up offense, not a run-and-gun scheme, before someone will consider him worthy of a starting gig.
* * *
AND ANOTHER THING: Thursday night’s loss to South Carolina proved that the hype surrounding Mississippi was irrational and the by-product of college football’s propaganda partners’ needs to prime the promotional pump in advance of each season. The Rebels were anointed the nation’s hot team, along with Oklahoma State (hello, Houston) on the basis of an upset win over Florida and a triumph over Texas Tech in the Cotton Bowl last year. All of a sudden, the Rebs were top-10 – and Thursday, they were top-five – material. The loss shows just how ridiculous it is to publish polls in August and early September, before teams have shown anything. If the popularity contests didn’t matter in the formula to choose a “national champion,” it wouldn’t matter, but because the USA Today election is part of the BCS scheme, it should have its basis a little more in fact than conjecture, since an early poll establishes an artificial hierarchy that rewards name brands. Take the Houston/OK State situation. The Cougars go to Stillwater and slap around Boone Pickens’ all-stars. That earned them a spot in the polls seven place behind the Cowpokes. That makes sense. At least the Harris Interactive Poll, which is comprised of a motley bunch of ex-coaches, B-list journalists and other assorted characters, doesn’t debut until next Monday. Perhaps its voters will take into account that success is earned on the field, not by a program’s tradition. Then again, given its track record and the asinine nature of the BCS, no one should count on anything of merit coming from the Harris poll. Get ready for another season of nonsense that devalues the world’s greatest sport.
-EH-
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Let The Craziness Begin
EL HOMBRE KNOWS SPORTS
This was the perfect off-season for the NFL. Attention focused on whether egomaniacal receivers could send 140-character messages to fans during games, if an egomaniacal owner had turned punts into backyard touch football, whether an egomaniacal quarterback would return from his second retirement to satisfy an adoring media’s need to praise him and whether a country filled with highly-flawed people will offer a second chance to a highly-flawed quarterback.
In other words: Plenty of drama, nothing about football.
Tonight, mercifully, that changes – at least somewhat. We’ll still be subjected to the weekly malarkey involving locker room disputes and various other theatrical episodes (the prediction here is that Chad Ochocinco dictates his Twitter postings to a friend in the stands, thereby circumventing the league’s anti-Tweeting rule and forcing an emergency amendment), simply because networks have decided fans don’t care about why the Bills can’t run the football. Mostly, we’ll be able to focus on the on-field action, which is just fine.
Then again, the craziness is kind of fun. So, here is a look at the season ahead, which no doubt will continue to push the NFL beyond the WWE as the nation’s top sports entertainment concern.
Billsh**: It’s a good thing Dick LeBeau has a shot at the Hall of Fame to think about, because if he spends too much time pondering his team, he might ask the bartender for a Red-Bull-and-arsenic. LeBeau had to suffer through a training camp that included Terrell Owens’ injured toe (just the fact that T.O. was there had to be stressful for a throwback like LeBeau) and an offense that was so impotent that Pfizer refused an entreaty to help it. Things were so bad that LeBeau fired offensive coordinator Turk Schonert, triggering a spate of OC beheadings. A season that had promise in the spring now looks like a disaster movie in pre-production. Buffalo opens Monday night in Foxboro and may close more quickly than a crappy Broadway musical.
Mental Health Issues: Back when Al Davis was stalking the Raiders hallways in his trademark white sweatsuit and delighting contrarians by flipping off NFL commissioner Pete Rozelle, he was a maverick and good for a stodgy league. These days, he’s a cartoon character. Worse, his franchise is so poorly run and inept that the UFL would probably deny it entrance. The problem is Davis, who remains wedded to his antediluvian “vertical passing game” and has established new standards for paranoia. It’s time for commissioner Roger Goodell to round up original AFL “Foolish Club” members Ralph Wilson, Barron Hilton and Bud Adams and stage an intervention to remove Davis from the Raiders or risk irreparable (if things haven’t already gone that far) damage to one of the league’s signature franchises.
Disposable Parts: Rodney Harrison is retired. So is Tedy Bruschi. Richard Seymour has been exiled to Oakland (whom did he anger?), and new faces are all over the roster. If you want a true example of how business is conducted successfully in the NFL, look no further than New England, where Bill Belichick discards players when they can no longer serve him. All three players had big roles on the Patriots’ Super Bowl teams, but all are beyond their primes, or in Seymour’s case nearing that point and in the final year of a contract. It might seem cruel, but Belichick is showing how to win by building through the Draft and with key free-agent acquisitions. The Patriots are favored to win the AFC East this year and might take it all, and they’ll do it with a team that hardly resembles its last championship outfit. Seymour isn’t happy to be property of the Al Davis Traveling Circus (he still hasn’t reported for duty), but he has to respect Belichick’s business model, because if Mr. Bundchen stays healthy, the Pats will be darn good again.
QB Follies: It sure was a wild off-season for the NFL’s most important position. Forget about Cowboy Quarterback’s Narcissus imitation and take a look at what went on around the rest of the league. Chicago discovered offense for the first time in decades by trading for petulant Jay Cutler, who pouted his way out of Denver when new coach Josh McDaniel tried to acquire Matt Cassel. Detroit and the Jets gave their starting jobs to a pair of rookies, hoping Mark Sanchez and Matthew Stafford can replicate the ’08 performances of Matt Ryan and Joe Flacco and lead their teams to the playoffs. Or, in the case of the Lions, win a game. Cleveland coach Eric Mangini staged a months-long, super-secret battle for the starting job between Brady Quinn and Derek Anderson (Quinn won – shhhhh!). San Francisco chose Shaun Hill over Alex Smith and Nuclear Waste, Oakland decided JaMarcus Russell’s tender psyche couldn’t handle having hyperkinetic Jeff Garcia around to provide competition and try to run onto the field every time Russell got hit, and Michael Vick returned from the joint to run the wishbone in Philly.
New Sheriff In Town: There are new coaches in New York, St. Louis, Tampa Bay, Kansas City, Detroit, Cleveland, Monte Carlo, Beverly Hills, London, Paris, Rome and Gstaad. In other words, forget about the thorny-crested whippoorwill. The most endangered species in America is the NFL coach. Some of the new guys are brash, like Buddy Ryan’s spawn, Rex. Others are low-key, like Indy’s Jim Caldwell. No matter what their personalities, each has one thing in common: Either win in three years or start looking for a coordinator’s job somewhere else.
How It Shakes Out: When forecasting the NFL, it’s best to expect the unexpected. In other words, all but the Lions and Raiders are in play when it comes to the playoff picture. So, here goes. NFC East – Giants; NFC North – Packers; NFC South – Falcons; NFC West – Seahawks; NFC Wild Cards – Vikings, Eagles. AFC East – Patriots; AFC North – Steelers; AFC South – Colts; AFC West – Chargers; AFC Wild Cards – Ravens, Titans.
Wild Card Playoffs, NFC: Eagles over Packers; Seahawks over Vikings; AFC: Ravens over Colts; Steelers over Titans. Divisional Playoffs, NFC: Falcons over Eagles; Giants over Seahawks; AFC: Patriots over Titans; Chargers over Ravens. Conference Championship, NFC: Giants over Falcons; AFC: Chargers over Patriots.
Super Bowl: Chargers over Giants.
* * *
EL HOMBRE SEZ: It’s one thing to provide support for someone else. It’s another to become a buffoon. Ohio State QB Terrell Pryor’s explanation of why he is on Michael Vick’s side in the QB’s return to the NFL was buffoonery at its lowest. To wit: “Not everyone is the perfect person in the world. Everyone does – kills people, murders people, steals from you, steals from me. I just feel that people need to give him a chance.” Sounds like the Ethics Department at OSU should be trying to get Pryor as a teaching assistant. What a bonehead…Allen Iverson says “God chose Memphis” as the team for him this year. Of course, the Almighty had some help from the other 29 teams, none of whom would touch the aging, ball-hogging gunner with Marcin Gortat (a seven-foot Pole)…Let’s hear it for Kaleb Eulls, who disarmed a girl who was waving a gun on a school bus last week, saving 22 students from a possible tragedy. Eulls, who has committed to play football at Mississippi State next year, deserves the kind of hero-worship usually reserved for on-field success. His tackle of the girl was the most important takedown of the season…Alabama will reportedly pay football coach Nick Saban $4.7 million a year over the next nine years, as part of an agreement reached earlier this week. Funds will be raised for the contract extension by selling common sense to those who think this is a good idea.
* * *
YOU GOT A PROBLEM WITH THAT? Phillies manager Charlie Manuel practically cried after Wednesday night’s win over the Nationals while describing how tough it was for him to remove Brad Lidge from the game when the human kerosene can loaded the bases with one out in the ninth and the Phils holding a 5-3 lead. Perhaps Manuel’s sadness came from the realization that he should have done this a month earlier. Whether Lidge’s problem is physical, psychological or karmic doesn’t matter. What matters is that by continuing to put him on the mound, the manager was hurting the team. It’s bad enough the Phillies have the world’s least disciplined lineup and a horrible bench. (Why is Matt Stairs still allowed to hit?) Do they have to keep trotting out an ineffective closer? It looks like Ryan Madson will get the job for the time being, but he should be a caretaker for the next week while Brett Myers gets comfortable again. Then, Myers pitches the ninth. Madson’s head can’t handle the responsibility, and Myers has proven he can do it. It may not result in playoff success, but there’s no way Lidge can do it anymore.
* * *
AND ANOTHER THING: El Hombre doesn’t pretend to know all of the facts in the case against former Pleasure Ridge Park HS football coach Jason Stinson, who is accused of wanton endangerment and reckless homicide in the death of Max Gilpin. With the temperature 94 degrees, Stinson had his players run nearly 30 wind sprints after an already grueling practice. Yesterday, Charles Sweat told the court that he and another player lifted Gilpin – who had been vomiting and stumbling as his body temperature rose to 107 degrees – off the ground to help him finish the sprints. Plenty of other coaches have pushed their players beyond reasonable limits in the stifling heat, but Stinson is one of the few to be prosecuted because of it. Even if he is acquitted, let’s hope the case causes other coaches to back off when conditions become unfit for extreme physical activity and that trainers and other medical staff will establish guidelines that have teeth to prevent the deaths of any other youngsters like Gilpin.
-EH-
This was the perfect off-season for the NFL. Attention focused on whether egomaniacal receivers could send 140-character messages to fans during games, if an egomaniacal owner had turned punts into backyard touch football, whether an egomaniacal quarterback would return from his second retirement to satisfy an adoring media’s need to praise him and whether a country filled with highly-flawed people will offer a second chance to a highly-flawed quarterback.
In other words: Plenty of drama, nothing about football.
Tonight, mercifully, that changes – at least somewhat. We’ll still be subjected to the weekly malarkey involving locker room disputes and various other theatrical episodes (the prediction here is that Chad Ochocinco dictates his Twitter postings to a friend in the stands, thereby circumventing the league’s anti-Tweeting rule and forcing an emergency amendment), simply because networks have decided fans don’t care about why the Bills can’t run the football. Mostly, we’ll be able to focus on the on-field action, which is just fine.
Then again, the craziness is kind of fun. So, here is a look at the season ahead, which no doubt will continue to push the NFL beyond the WWE as the nation’s top sports entertainment concern.
Billsh**: It’s a good thing Dick LeBeau has a shot at the Hall of Fame to think about, because if he spends too much time pondering his team, he might ask the bartender for a Red-Bull-and-arsenic. LeBeau had to suffer through a training camp that included Terrell Owens’ injured toe (just the fact that T.O. was there had to be stressful for a throwback like LeBeau) and an offense that was so impotent that Pfizer refused an entreaty to help it. Things were so bad that LeBeau fired offensive coordinator Turk Schonert, triggering a spate of OC beheadings. A season that had promise in the spring now looks like a disaster movie in pre-production. Buffalo opens Monday night in Foxboro and may close more quickly than a crappy Broadway musical.
Mental Health Issues: Back when Al Davis was stalking the Raiders hallways in his trademark white sweatsuit and delighting contrarians by flipping off NFL commissioner Pete Rozelle, he was a maverick and good for a stodgy league. These days, he’s a cartoon character. Worse, his franchise is so poorly run and inept that the UFL would probably deny it entrance. The problem is Davis, who remains wedded to his antediluvian “vertical passing game” and has established new standards for paranoia. It’s time for commissioner Roger Goodell to round up original AFL “Foolish Club” members Ralph Wilson, Barron Hilton and Bud Adams and stage an intervention to remove Davis from the Raiders or risk irreparable (if things haven’t already gone that far) damage to one of the league’s signature franchises.
Disposable Parts: Rodney Harrison is retired. So is Tedy Bruschi. Richard Seymour has been exiled to Oakland (whom did he anger?), and new faces are all over the roster. If you want a true example of how business is conducted successfully in the NFL, look no further than New England, where Bill Belichick discards players when they can no longer serve him. All three players had big roles on the Patriots’ Super Bowl teams, but all are beyond their primes, or in Seymour’s case nearing that point and in the final year of a contract. It might seem cruel, but Belichick is showing how to win by building through the Draft and with key free-agent acquisitions. The Patriots are favored to win the AFC East this year and might take it all, and they’ll do it with a team that hardly resembles its last championship outfit. Seymour isn’t happy to be property of the Al Davis Traveling Circus (he still hasn’t reported for duty), but he has to respect Belichick’s business model, because if Mr. Bundchen stays healthy, the Pats will be darn good again.
QB Follies: It sure was a wild off-season for the NFL’s most important position. Forget about Cowboy Quarterback’s Narcissus imitation and take a look at what went on around the rest of the league. Chicago discovered offense for the first time in decades by trading for petulant Jay Cutler, who pouted his way out of Denver when new coach Josh McDaniel tried to acquire Matt Cassel. Detroit and the Jets gave their starting jobs to a pair of rookies, hoping Mark Sanchez and Matthew Stafford can replicate the ’08 performances of Matt Ryan and Joe Flacco and lead their teams to the playoffs. Or, in the case of the Lions, win a game. Cleveland coach Eric Mangini staged a months-long, super-secret battle for the starting job between Brady Quinn and Derek Anderson (Quinn won – shhhhh!). San Francisco chose Shaun Hill over Alex Smith and Nuclear Waste, Oakland decided JaMarcus Russell’s tender psyche couldn’t handle having hyperkinetic Jeff Garcia around to provide competition and try to run onto the field every time Russell got hit, and Michael Vick returned from the joint to run the wishbone in Philly.
New Sheriff In Town: There are new coaches in New York, St. Louis, Tampa Bay, Kansas City, Detroit, Cleveland, Monte Carlo, Beverly Hills, London, Paris, Rome and Gstaad. In other words, forget about the thorny-crested whippoorwill. The most endangered species in America is the NFL coach. Some of the new guys are brash, like Buddy Ryan’s spawn, Rex. Others are low-key, like Indy’s Jim Caldwell. No matter what their personalities, each has one thing in common: Either win in three years or start looking for a coordinator’s job somewhere else.
How It Shakes Out: When forecasting the NFL, it’s best to expect the unexpected. In other words, all but the Lions and Raiders are in play when it comes to the playoff picture. So, here goes. NFC East – Giants; NFC North – Packers; NFC South – Falcons; NFC West – Seahawks; NFC Wild Cards – Vikings, Eagles. AFC East – Patriots; AFC North – Steelers; AFC South – Colts; AFC West – Chargers; AFC Wild Cards – Ravens, Titans.
Wild Card Playoffs, NFC: Eagles over Packers; Seahawks over Vikings; AFC: Ravens over Colts; Steelers over Titans. Divisional Playoffs, NFC: Falcons over Eagles; Giants over Seahawks; AFC: Patriots over Titans; Chargers over Ravens. Conference Championship, NFC: Giants over Falcons; AFC: Chargers over Patriots.
Super Bowl: Chargers over Giants.
* * *
EL HOMBRE SEZ: It’s one thing to provide support for someone else. It’s another to become a buffoon. Ohio State QB Terrell Pryor’s explanation of why he is on Michael Vick’s side in the QB’s return to the NFL was buffoonery at its lowest. To wit: “Not everyone is the perfect person in the world. Everyone does – kills people, murders people, steals from you, steals from me. I just feel that people need to give him a chance.” Sounds like the Ethics Department at OSU should be trying to get Pryor as a teaching assistant. What a bonehead…Allen Iverson says “God chose Memphis” as the team for him this year. Of course, the Almighty had some help from the other 29 teams, none of whom would touch the aging, ball-hogging gunner with Marcin Gortat (a seven-foot Pole)…Let’s hear it for Kaleb Eulls, who disarmed a girl who was waving a gun on a school bus last week, saving 22 students from a possible tragedy. Eulls, who has committed to play football at Mississippi State next year, deserves the kind of hero-worship usually reserved for on-field success. His tackle of the girl was the most important takedown of the season…Alabama will reportedly pay football coach Nick Saban $4.7 million a year over the next nine years, as part of an agreement reached earlier this week. Funds will be raised for the contract extension by selling common sense to those who think this is a good idea.
* * *
YOU GOT A PROBLEM WITH THAT? Phillies manager Charlie Manuel practically cried after Wednesday night’s win over the Nationals while describing how tough it was for him to remove Brad Lidge from the game when the human kerosene can loaded the bases with one out in the ninth and the Phils holding a 5-3 lead. Perhaps Manuel’s sadness came from the realization that he should have done this a month earlier. Whether Lidge’s problem is physical, psychological or karmic doesn’t matter. What matters is that by continuing to put him on the mound, the manager was hurting the team. It’s bad enough the Phillies have the world’s least disciplined lineup and a horrible bench. (Why is Matt Stairs still allowed to hit?) Do they have to keep trotting out an ineffective closer? It looks like Ryan Madson will get the job for the time being, but he should be a caretaker for the next week while Brett Myers gets comfortable again. Then, Myers pitches the ninth. Madson’s head can’t handle the responsibility, and Myers has proven he can do it. It may not result in playoff success, but there’s no way Lidge can do it anymore.
* * *
AND ANOTHER THING: El Hombre doesn’t pretend to know all of the facts in the case against former Pleasure Ridge Park HS football coach Jason Stinson, who is accused of wanton endangerment and reckless homicide in the death of Max Gilpin. With the temperature 94 degrees, Stinson had his players run nearly 30 wind sprints after an already grueling practice. Yesterday, Charles Sweat told the court that he and another player lifted Gilpin – who had been vomiting and stumbling as his body temperature rose to 107 degrees – off the ground to help him finish the sprints. Plenty of other coaches have pushed their players beyond reasonable limits in the stifling heat, but Stinson is one of the few to be prosecuted because of it. Even if he is acquitted, let’s hope the case causes other coaches to back off when conditions become unfit for extreme physical activity and that trainers and other medical staff will establish guidelines that have teeth to prevent the deaths of any other youngsters like Gilpin.
-EH-
Thursday, August 27, 2009
The Land of Second Chances
EL HOMBRE KNOWS SPORTS
Michael Vick is scheduled to play quarterback for the Eagles tonight in an exhibition game against Jacksonville. He could take two snaps or 20, perhaps out of the shotgun or under center. He’ll no doubt show some rust, but he’ll probably make some plays, too. When it’s all over, and the protesters have screamed themselves hoarse, and players return to the numbing march of the pre-season, Vick will do what tens of thousands of released felons have done for centuries in this country.
He’ll return to work.
Every person who writes about the Eagles QB feels compelled to include an almost-boilerplate disclaimer in any column regarding the former dog-fighting kingpin and the heinous nature of his crimes. So, here is this missive’s obligatory proviso: Vick’s actions were terrible and unconscionable. They displayed an appalling lack of respect for other living things. When he was caught, he tried to hide behind the “culture” defense, as if any horrific crime can be explained away by the twisted logic that if others are doing it, it’s not so bad. Psychologists say that cruelty to animals (along with an unhealthy obsession with fire and rooting for Ohio State) is an indication of potential disregard for human life down the line. Vick was wrong and deserved to be punished severely.
And he was. He served a stiff, 18-month prison sentence, forfeited millions of dollars in assets and future income and was transformed from the face of the NFL to pariah and had his name attached to the horrible crime.
It’s hard to find someone outside of the dog-fighting arena that believes Vick wasn’t given what he deserved. And, now, he is being given what he also deserves: a chance to put his life back together. There are provisions, of course. He had better stay away from any situation that could bring a sniff of suspicion from the gendarmes. He must show contrition for the rest of his days, no matter how irritating the questions become and how stridently the animal activists protest his inclusion in society. Vick has to be a perpetual spokesman against dog fighting – even after his playing days are through. His rehabilitation will be done in a very public way, and one misstep will bring a firestorm of criticism and invective. This is Vick’s life now and forever. He created it and must live with it.
That’s how it goes in America. You mess up, you do your time, you try to move on. In the vast majority of cases, that process takes place far away from the headlines and TV cameras. Vick’s situation is different, because his high-profile profession made him the poster-boy for dog fighting, despite thousands of other miscreants who partake in the ugly pursuit on a daily basis. But make no mistake, he deserves no less of a second chance than anyone else who has paid a debt to society. No matter how you want to play it, Vick deserves to be playing football tonight.
There seems to be a new approach in America to forgiveness and rehabilitation, and Vick is getting the full effect of it. Maybe it’s the economy. Maybe it’s global warming. Maybe it’s reality television. But for some reason, we really want to see people pay a heavy price for whatever they do. For years, we have said America is about second chances, but it would appear as if the toll for those opportunities has risen at a pace that outstrips inflation. Yeah, we’ll forgive you, but only once you’re destitute and laid completely bare. In Vick’s case, he hit that bottom when he and the rest of the Bad Newz Kennels crowd started copping pleas, and the $130 million man became Inmate Number 7. It’s time for him to move on. And if you think that playing football gives him some kind of magical free pass from what he’s done and what he has had taken from him – rightfully – over the past several years, then you are either naïve or cynical. Keep one thing in mind: If Vick starts reverting to his Ron Mexico days, even a little bit, he is done. He’ll be tossed out of football, hoisted up on the highest yardarm and made to walk the plank. And he’ll deserve it. For now, however, give him the chance to make good (or bad). That begins tonight, when he takes a snap and tries to ply his trade.
Meanwhile, Plaxico Burress meets with his prison consultant about how best to approach his pending two years in stir. He finally copped a plea after realizing the New York authorities were intending to hit him harder than Troy Polamalu for bringing a loaded semiautomatic pistol into a nightclub last November. His sentence may seem excessive to some, because the only person hurt as a result of the stupid move was Burress himself. But since clubs like the Latin Quarter often attract an element for whom bringing roscoe along is de rigueur, the NYC crowd wants to send a message. Pack, and you will be slapped down.
Two years from now, Burress will be out, and no doubt looking for employment to support his family, which will swell by one during his time in stir. And when he does, the NFL should allow him back in. He’ll have to prove himself contrite, of course, and the media will help him do that, just as 60 Minutes did for Vick. Burress will deserve a second chance, just like Vick does. It’s up to him whether he makes the most of it or tosses it away.
That’s how it’s supposed to work in this country. Right?
* * *
EL HOMBRE SEZ: As one of the largest critics of Majoke League Baseball’s steroid abusers and enablers and the inflated performances they have fostered, El Hombre feels like a hypocrite when he celebrates Usain Bolt’s ridiculous exploits. The Jamaican sprinter has been absolutely electric since the ’08 Olympics and watching him run is pure, unadulterated pleasure. But is he clean? Please, oh, please say it’s so…Is there a player in the majors dumber than Billy Wagner? Probably not. Now clear of Tommy John surgery and hoping to become a reliable pitcher again, he seriously considered staying with the sad-sack Mets, rather than joining the Red Sox as a set-up man for Jonathan Papelbon. A key consideration was whether the Sox would pick up his option for next year (Wagner didn’t want that to happen), at a cool $8 million. Chances are Wagner won’t get that on the open market, and if he did, it likely wouldn’t be with a team as good as Boston. Once again, money trumps the chance to win…Kudos to Vandy hoops coach Kevin Stallings, who forfeited a $100,000 pay raise in order to fund a team trip to Australia. The excursion was planned because Commodore center A.J. Ogilvy is an Aussie and went on as scheduled because of Stallings’ largesse in the wake of institutional budget cuts. Well done, coach…Thank goodness the NFL, NCAA and other sports confederations fought so hard to stop gambling on games in Delaware. Now there won’t be any more betting on sports outside of Las Vegas. Right…More Bolt: His handlers are discussing a book deal with some publishers. The guess here is that it will be a fast read…The WNBA season is rocketing toward a scintillating close with playoff berths hanging in the balance andzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.
* * *
YOU GOT A PROBLEM WITH THAT? With fewer than 40 games remaining in the season, it is absolutely time for the Phillies to begin investigating other options at closer. Brad “Lights On” Lidge has blown an MLB-high nine saves this season and has shown no consistency or reliability in the spot. That may be okay in a division with no real competition and a league that seems to have few worthy regular-season challengers for the best overall record, but it won’t cut it in the playoffs, where shaky late-inning relief is a huge reason teams blow championship shots. Lidge shouldn’t be thrown onto the Adam Eaton Memorial Ash Heap, but the Phils need to groom someone to share the job with him, so that when Lidge has worked a couple days in a row, he doesn’t have to go out to the mound when he doesn’t “have anything on the ball,” as was the case in Tuesday’s hideous meltdown against the Pirates. Or, when he can’t stop opposing batters from slapping him around, the Phillies will have another option. The sad part of it is that going into the Phillies’ half of the ninth against the Pirates, Lidge and Chan Ho Park were both warming up. Had manager Charlie Manuel made the right choice, Park would have tried to close things out. That would have taken advantage of his great work of late and given Lidge a night off after three straight days of work. Manuel has been vocal in his support for Lidge, but he can’t blow the team’s chance at a repeat by sticking with an unreliable performer. Let Park start closing and see how he does. Or, if Brett Myers is healthy and ready to be effective at the big-league level, let him take a shot. It will most likely be better than what Lidge has given us.
* * *
AND ANOTHER THING: It would be absolutely wonderful if the Minnesota Vikings were torn apart by in-fighting, factionalism and other divisive circumstances and finished below the Lions in the NFC North. Wednesday’s report of a “schism” (What, did the Vikes sign Martin Luther?) in the Minnesota locker room over Cowboy QB’s recent decision to unretire was welcomed by anyone who celebrates the team, rather than the individual. If indeed there are large groups of players on the squad with significant issues over C-QB’s egomaniacal behavior, kudos to them. And no amount of practical jokes, swashbuckling play or aw-shucks, made-for-TV smiles by Number Four will change that. Coach Brad Childress took a huge risk waiting this long to import an outsider on a team that had already developed an identity and had bonded around two other quarterbacks. In the end, this might become the textbook example of why football is unlike most other sports, due to its need for team harmony, no matter how jaded we may think the millionaire players may be. Of course, it wouldn’t hurt if the new passer was absolutely awful and was given no choice but to return to a quiet life of mowing lawns and shaving every third day back in Mississippi.
-EH-
Michael Vick is scheduled to play quarterback for the Eagles tonight in an exhibition game against Jacksonville. He could take two snaps or 20, perhaps out of the shotgun or under center. He’ll no doubt show some rust, but he’ll probably make some plays, too. When it’s all over, and the protesters have screamed themselves hoarse, and players return to the numbing march of the pre-season, Vick will do what tens of thousands of released felons have done for centuries in this country.
He’ll return to work.
Every person who writes about the Eagles QB feels compelled to include an almost-boilerplate disclaimer in any column regarding the former dog-fighting kingpin and the heinous nature of his crimes. So, here is this missive’s obligatory proviso: Vick’s actions were terrible and unconscionable. They displayed an appalling lack of respect for other living things. When he was caught, he tried to hide behind the “culture” defense, as if any horrific crime can be explained away by the twisted logic that if others are doing it, it’s not so bad. Psychologists say that cruelty to animals (along with an unhealthy obsession with fire and rooting for Ohio State) is an indication of potential disregard for human life down the line. Vick was wrong and deserved to be punished severely.
And he was. He served a stiff, 18-month prison sentence, forfeited millions of dollars in assets and future income and was transformed from the face of the NFL to pariah and had his name attached to the horrible crime.
It’s hard to find someone outside of the dog-fighting arena that believes Vick wasn’t given what he deserved. And, now, he is being given what he also deserves: a chance to put his life back together. There are provisions, of course. He had better stay away from any situation that could bring a sniff of suspicion from the gendarmes. He must show contrition for the rest of his days, no matter how irritating the questions become and how stridently the animal activists protest his inclusion in society. Vick has to be a perpetual spokesman against dog fighting – even after his playing days are through. His rehabilitation will be done in a very public way, and one misstep will bring a firestorm of criticism and invective. This is Vick’s life now and forever. He created it and must live with it.
That’s how it goes in America. You mess up, you do your time, you try to move on. In the vast majority of cases, that process takes place far away from the headlines and TV cameras. Vick’s situation is different, because his high-profile profession made him the poster-boy for dog fighting, despite thousands of other miscreants who partake in the ugly pursuit on a daily basis. But make no mistake, he deserves no less of a second chance than anyone else who has paid a debt to society. No matter how you want to play it, Vick deserves to be playing football tonight.
There seems to be a new approach in America to forgiveness and rehabilitation, and Vick is getting the full effect of it. Maybe it’s the economy. Maybe it’s global warming. Maybe it’s reality television. But for some reason, we really want to see people pay a heavy price for whatever they do. For years, we have said America is about second chances, but it would appear as if the toll for those opportunities has risen at a pace that outstrips inflation. Yeah, we’ll forgive you, but only once you’re destitute and laid completely bare. In Vick’s case, he hit that bottom when he and the rest of the Bad Newz Kennels crowd started copping pleas, and the $130 million man became Inmate Number 7. It’s time for him to move on. And if you think that playing football gives him some kind of magical free pass from what he’s done and what he has had taken from him – rightfully – over the past several years, then you are either naïve or cynical. Keep one thing in mind: If Vick starts reverting to his Ron Mexico days, even a little bit, he is done. He’ll be tossed out of football, hoisted up on the highest yardarm and made to walk the plank. And he’ll deserve it. For now, however, give him the chance to make good (or bad). That begins tonight, when he takes a snap and tries to ply his trade.
Meanwhile, Plaxico Burress meets with his prison consultant about how best to approach his pending two years in stir. He finally copped a plea after realizing the New York authorities were intending to hit him harder than Troy Polamalu for bringing a loaded semiautomatic pistol into a nightclub last November. His sentence may seem excessive to some, because the only person hurt as a result of the stupid move was Burress himself. But since clubs like the Latin Quarter often attract an element for whom bringing roscoe along is de rigueur, the NYC crowd wants to send a message. Pack, and you will be slapped down.
Two years from now, Burress will be out, and no doubt looking for employment to support his family, which will swell by one during his time in stir. And when he does, the NFL should allow him back in. He’ll have to prove himself contrite, of course, and the media will help him do that, just as 60 Minutes did for Vick. Burress will deserve a second chance, just like Vick does. It’s up to him whether he makes the most of it or tosses it away.
That’s how it’s supposed to work in this country. Right?
* * *
EL HOMBRE SEZ: As one of the largest critics of Majoke League Baseball’s steroid abusers and enablers and the inflated performances they have fostered, El Hombre feels like a hypocrite when he celebrates Usain Bolt’s ridiculous exploits. The Jamaican sprinter has been absolutely electric since the ’08 Olympics and watching him run is pure, unadulterated pleasure. But is he clean? Please, oh, please say it’s so…Is there a player in the majors dumber than Billy Wagner? Probably not. Now clear of Tommy John surgery and hoping to become a reliable pitcher again, he seriously considered staying with the sad-sack Mets, rather than joining the Red Sox as a set-up man for Jonathan Papelbon. A key consideration was whether the Sox would pick up his option for next year (Wagner didn’t want that to happen), at a cool $8 million. Chances are Wagner won’t get that on the open market, and if he did, it likely wouldn’t be with a team as good as Boston. Once again, money trumps the chance to win…Kudos to Vandy hoops coach Kevin Stallings, who forfeited a $100,000 pay raise in order to fund a team trip to Australia. The excursion was planned because Commodore center A.J. Ogilvy is an Aussie and went on as scheduled because of Stallings’ largesse in the wake of institutional budget cuts. Well done, coach…Thank goodness the NFL, NCAA and other sports confederations fought so hard to stop gambling on games in Delaware. Now there won’t be any more betting on sports outside of Las Vegas. Right…More Bolt: His handlers are discussing a book deal with some publishers. The guess here is that it will be a fast read…The WNBA season is rocketing toward a scintillating close with playoff berths hanging in the balance andzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.
* * *
YOU GOT A PROBLEM WITH THAT? With fewer than 40 games remaining in the season, it is absolutely time for the Phillies to begin investigating other options at closer. Brad “Lights On” Lidge has blown an MLB-high nine saves this season and has shown no consistency or reliability in the spot. That may be okay in a division with no real competition and a league that seems to have few worthy regular-season challengers for the best overall record, but it won’t cut it in the playoffs, where shaky late-inning relief is a huge reason teams blow championship shots. Lidge shouldn’t be thrown onto the Adam Eaton Memorial Ash Heap, but the Phils need to groom someone to share the job with him, so that when Lidge has worked a couple days in a row, he doesn’t have to go out to the mound when he doesn’t “have anything on the ball,” as was the case in Tuesday’s hideous meltdown against the Pirates. Or, when he can’t stop opposing batters from slapping him around, the Phillies will have another option. The sad part of it is that going into the Phillies’ half of the ninth against the Pirates, Lidge and Chan Ho Park were both warming up. Had manager Charlie Manuel made the right choice, Park would have tried to close things out. That would have taken advantage of his great work of late and given Lidge a night off after three straight days of work. Manuel has been vocal in his support for Lidge, but he can’t blow the team’s chance at a repeat by sticking with an unreliable performer. Let Park start closing and see how he does. Or, if Brett Myers is healthy and ready to be effective at the big-league level, let him take a shot. It will most likely be better than what Lidge has given us.
* * *
AND ANOTHER THING: It would be absolutely wonderful if the Minnesota Vikings were torn apart by in-fighting, factionalism and other divisive circumstances and finished below the Lions in the NFC North. Wednesday’s report of a “schism” (What, did the Vikes sign Martin Luther?) in the Minnesota locker room over Cowboy QB’s recent decision to unretire was welcomed by anyone who celebrates the team, rather than the individual. If indeed there are large groups of players on the squad with significant issues over C-QB’s egomaniacal behavior, kudos to them. And no amount of practical jokes, swashbuckling play or aw-shucks, made-for-TV smiles by Number Four will change that. Coach Brad Childress took a huge risk waiting this long to import an outsider on a team that had already developed an identity and had bonded around two other quarterbacks. In the end, this might become the textbook example of why football is unlike most other sports, due to its need for team harmony, no matter how jaded we may think the millionaire players may be. Of course, it wouldn’t hurt if the new passer was absolutely awful and was given no choice but to return to a quiet life of mowing lawns and shaving every third day back in Mississippi.
-EH-
Thursday, August 13, 2009
The Right To Work
EL HOMBRE KNOWS SPORTS
Rick Pitino had a little more on his mind than Jeremy Tyler when he stepped to the podium at Louisville Wednesday and began the public portion of his recovery from self-imposed wounds to his reputation. Seems the Cardinals’ hoops coach had injected himself into the national healthcare discussion with his admission that he had provided $3,000 to a paramour for “health insurance,” when she came to him six years ago with news that she was in the family way with his spawn.
Wearing an open-collared shirt and a grave expression, Pitino followed the blueprint in his remarks, admitting his “indiscretion,” asking forgiveness from Louisville, the fans, his family and any media types who might be screaming for his resignation/removal from the bench. He talked about the need to move forward, how the best way to confront a bad situation is head-on and that “if you have a problem and you tell the truth, it becomes part of your past; if you lie, it becomes part of your future.” That’s profound stuff, to be sure, and it’s part of the reason – along with the Cardinals’ need to compete with a fully-operational University of Kentucky Death Star down the road and need to sell tickets in a rough economy in the new arena they’ll be inhabiting next season – that Pitino will likely survive this sordid affair.
When Pitino does return to the business of coaching college basketball, he’ll have to meet with assistants to come up with some new big-man prospects to pursue, because the 6-11 Tyler, U of L’s top recruit for 2010, has decided to pass on his senior year of high school to play for Maccabi Haifa. Saying that next season would be “extremely boring” if he had to face the triple-teams that rivals used to neutralize his size and skill, Tyler has chosen to become the first American-born player to leave high school early and play professionally overseas.
And he won’t be the last. Say what you want about the magic of the prom and how seniors “rule the school,” but guys like Tyler have different priorities and goals than the typical prep senior. They want to play NBA basketball, and they are exploring new avenues to reach their ultimate destinations. There will no doubt be many people who moralize about Tyler’s family, agent (former NBA player B.J. Armstrong) and adviser (shady former sneaker shill Sonny Vaccaro) and their allegedly exploitative treatment of the young man, but they will be wrong. All around the country and the world, elite athletes are being removed from their cozy schoolyard cocoons and fast-tracked toward professional careers. Tennis players are harvested while still nine and 10 years old for special training. Golfers get the same treatment. Special “academies” have sprung up throughout the country designed to cultivate young talent and distribute it to the proper outlets. And yet Tyler and those around him are going to be excoriated for doing essentially the same thing: playing in an environment that will allow him to grow quickly.
Oh, but he’s being paid for it. And by missing out on his last year of school, he’s missing a chance at an EDUCATION, which is the buzzword used by the college basketball hucksters to stop those promoting the right-to-work in their tracks. It’s a classic tactic, the kind of apple-pie and mother term that can’t be assailed. “What? You want to deprive these youngsters of an EDUCATION? Well, you have some pretty strange ideas, mister.” Forget that the kids who want to play in the NBA, particularly those of the one-and-done variety, couldn’t care less about Intro to Philosophy (Descartes: “To be is to do.” Nietzsche: “To do is to be.” Sinatra: “Do-be-do-be-do.”) and are generally checked out of classes by March of their freshman years. The people pimping their TV product are disingenuous about the game, to be sure. They talk about the awful NBA and its powerful spell while trying to sell ads and attract eyeballs by hyping the latest Duke-Carolina matchup or screaming about this season’s best newcomers.
Jeremy Tyler has made a calculated move designed to further his pursuit of a career. He may well graduate with his class at San Diego HS after taking classes on the net or completing coursework with a tutor in Israel. Or, he might just take the G.E.D. Not that either option matters to the NBA executives who will be assessing his potential. They don’t care about chem lab. They want to see his drop step. Tyler’s time with Maccabi Haifa will improve his game, and the years he spends abroad will help him grow more than any history lecture could. You want to study the Middle East conflict? He’s going to live it, baby.
As for those who scream about the deterioration of America’s youth and the evil attraction of professional basketball at the expense of the “pure” college game, wake up. Tyler is an 18-year old man who can go to war, be charged with capital murder (and, in some states, fry) and get married. (It’s unclear which is more risky business.) He wants to go to work, and that’s not a bad thing. And anyway, El Hombre hears that this year’s prom theme at San Diego High is “All-a-Twitter.” Who wants to be part of that?
As for Pitino, he’ll be just fine. The Cardinals need a heavyweight on their bench for the coming wars with John Calipari and UK. Louisville can’t afford to take a step back, not with so much at stake. And as the coach looks for someone to replace Tyler in the 2010 recruiting class, he’s advised to be careful on the home visits and steer conversation away from his moral obligation to prepare mothers’ sons for life. Stick to basketball. That’s what this is all about, anyway. Jeremy Tyler knows that, perhaps better than everybody else.
* * *
EL HOMBRE SEZ: Reason number 932 professional golf is a joke: Tiger Woods broke the rules. Tiger Woods wasn’t fined. Think the PGA is scared of him? Nahhhh. Everybody knows a showdown between Hunter Mahan and Steve Stricker at this week’s PGA Championship would make for compelling TV…If the U.S. soccer team wants us to believe that it is becoming a world power, as its crowing after a second-place finish at the Confederations Cup indicated, it must stop playing for a tie on the road in World Cup qualifying matches. Once Mexico evened the count Wednesday at the Azteca Stadium beehive, the U.S. lined up at the 18 and assumed a defensive shell. Disaster was inevitable, and it struck in the form of a 2-1 loss in front of the typically classless tricolores throng…If there is a bigger jerk in professional sports these days than Chicago Blackhawks forward Patrick Kane, then stay away from him. Kane became abusive with a cab driver over 20 cents and allegedly hit the man who didn’t have sufficient change from $15 for a $13.80 fare. (He had the buck.) Kane will most likely avoid jail time for his alleged assault, but this wimp on the ice who delivered all of 18 hits last year sure looks like a classless dolt, especially after pulling out the “Do you know who I am” line. We sure do now, Patty…If you watch just one thing on TV this weekend, make sure it’s the 100 meter final at the World Track and Field Championships in Berlin. Usain Bolt and Tyson Gay are likely to square off in what could be one of the most compelling sprints in history...David Mamet is taking on The Diary of Anne Frank, for Disney of all places. Didn’t know there was so much profanity in the story. Wonder what part Alec Baldwin will play.
* * *
YOU GOT A PROBLEM WITH THAT? The Phillies absolutely made the right decision in moving Satchel Moyer to the bullpen to make room for Pedro Martinez in the starting rotation. The Old Man was losing his precision, and when your fastball tops out at a school zone speed limit, you had better hit your spots. Moyer’s whiny reaction belied his 51 years in the major leagues and was surprising from someone who should know more than just about everybody that baseball is a business. Now, this whole thing comes with a codicil. Martinez may have picked up the victory Wednesday night against the Cubs, but his performance was hardly overwhelming: 5.0 IP, 7 H, 3 ER 99 pitches. If he’s going to need 100 pitches to get through five innings, even with a 12-1 lead, Martinez will be better suited in relief work, because at least Moyer could get into (and most of the time through) the sixth. Martinez deserves a couple more starts, but let’s not get carried away with his debut, because he looked very much like a guy at the end of his road.
* * *
AND ANOTHER THING: The entire Michael Vick situation is getting more ridiculous by the minute. As the disgraced QB approaches inclusion on an NFL team’s roster, his spin cycle is in danger of careening out of control. Vick will be on “60 Minutes” Sunday for the obligatory public mea culpa. He has had “adviser” Tony Dungy doing advance work for him. The TV folk are laying the groundwork for his return. Is there anybody else out there who smells dead, rotting fish? For the record, “60 Minutes” is aired by CBS, an NFL TV partner. Dungy works for NBC, another league outlet. (And wouldn’t you be a little mad, as a sports director, that one of your employees is withholding information from you?) And, of course, espn is a full-fledged propaganda cohort. Vick’s coming back, and the NFL is creating the perfect environment for his return and a great storyline for the upcoming season. If you think any of this is happening organically, you probably are betting on the Lions to make the playoffs this season.
-EH-
Rick Pitino had a little more on his mind than Jeremy Tyler when he stepped to the podium at Louisville Wednesday and began the public portion of his recovery from self-imposed wounds to his reputation. Seems the Cardinals’ hoops coach had injected himself into the national healthcare discussion with his admission that he had provided $3,000 to a paramour for “health insurance,” when she came to him six years ago with news that she was in the family way with his spawn.
Wearing an open-collared shirt and a grave expression, Pitino followed the blueprint in his remarks, admitting his “indiscretion,” asking forgiveness from Louisville, the fans, his family and any media types who might be screaming for his resignation/removal from the bench. He talked about the need to move forward, how the best way to confront a bad situation is head-on and that “if you have a problem and you tell the truth, it becomes part of your past; if you lie, it becomes part of your future.” That’s profound stuff, to be sure, and it’s part of the reason – along with the Cardinals’ need to compete with a fully-operational University of Kentucky Death Star down the road and need to sell tickets in a rough economy in the new arena they’ll be inhabiting next season – that Pitino will likely survive this sordid affair.
When Pitino does return to the business of coaching college basketball, he’ll have to meet with assistants to come up with some new big-man prospects to pursue, because the 6-11 Tyler, U of L’s top recruit for 2010, has decided to pass on his senior year of high school to play for Maccabi Haifa. Saying that next season would be “extremely boring” if he had to face the triple-teams that rivals used to neutralize his size and skill, Tyler has chosen to become the first American-born player to leave high school early and play professionally overseas.
And he won’t be the last. Say what you want about the magic of the prom and how seniors “rule the school,” but guys like Tyler have different priorities and goals than the typical prep senior. They want to play NBA basketball, and they are exploring new avenues to reach their ultimate destinations. There will no doubt be many people who moralize about Tyler’s family, agent (former NBA player B.J. Armstrong) and adviser (shady former sneaker shill Sonny Vaccaro) and their allegedly exploitative treatment of the young man, but they will be wrong. All around the country and the world, elite athletes are being removed from their cozy schoolyard cocoons and fast-tracked toward professional careers. Tennis players are harvested while still nine and 10 years old for special training. Golfers get the same treatment. Special “academies” have sprung up throughout the country designed to cultivate young talent and distribute it to the proper outlets. And yet Tyler and those around him are going to be excoriated for doing essentially the same thing: playing in an environment that will allow him to grow quickly.
Oh, but he’s being paid for it. And by missing out on his last year of school, he’s missing a chance at an EDUCATION, which is the buzzword used by the college basketball hucksters to stop those promoting the right-to-work in their tracks. It’s a classic tactic, the kind of apple-pie and mother term that can’t be assailed. “What? You want to deprive these youngsters of an EDUCATION? Well, you have some pretty strange ideas, mister.” Forget that the kids who want to play in the NBA, particularly those of the one-and-done variety, couldn’t care less about Intro to Philosophy (Descartes: “To be is to do.” Nietzsche: “To do is to be.” Sinatra: “Do-be-do-be-do.”) and are generally checked out of classes by March of their freshman years. The people pimping their TV product are disingenuous about the game, to be sure. They talk about the awful NBA and its powerful spell while trying to sell ads and attract eyeballs by hyping the latest Duke-Carolina matchup or screaming about this season’s best newcomers.
Jeremy Tyler has made a calculated move designed to further his pursuit of a career. He may well graduate with his class at San Diego HS after taking classes on the net or completing coursework with a tutor in Israel. Or, he might just take the G.E.D. Not that either option matters to the NBA executives who will be assessing his potential. They don’t care about chem lab. They want to see his drop step. Tyler’s time with Maccabi Haifa will improve his game, and the years he spends abroad will help him grow more than any history lecture could. You want to study the Middle East conflict? He’s going to live it, baby.
As for those who scream about the deterioration of America’s youth and the evil attraction of professional basketball at the expense of the “pure” college game, wake up. Tyler is an 18-year old man who can go to war, be charged with capital murder (and, in some states, fry) and get married. (It’s unclear which is more risky business.) He wants to go to work, and that’s not a bad thing. And anyway, El Hombre hears that this year’s prom theme at San Diego High is “All-a-Twitter.” Who wants to be part of that?
As for Pitino, he’ll be just fine. The Cardinals need a heavyweight on their bench for the coming wars with John Calipari and UK. Louisville can’t afford to take a step back, not with so much at stake. And as the coach looks for someone to replace Tyler in the 2010 recruiting class, he’s advised to be careful on the home visits and steer conversation away from his moral obligation to prepare mothers’ sons for life. Stick to basketball. That’s what this is all about, anyway. Jeremy Tyler knows that, perhaps better than everybody else.
* * *
EL HOMBRE SEZ: Reason number 932 professional golf is a joke: Tiger Woods broke the rules. Tiger Woods wasn’t fined. Think the PGA is scared of him? Nahhhh. Everybody knows a showdown between Hunter Mahan and Steve Stricker at this week’s PGA Championship would make for compelling TV…If the U.S. soccer team wants us to believe that it is becoming a world power, as its crowing after a second-place finish at the Confederations Cup indicated, it must stop playing for a tie on the road in World Cup qualifying matches. Once Mexico evened the count Wednesday at the Azteca Stadium beehive, the U.S. lined up at the 18 and assumed a defensive shell. Disaster was inevitable, and it struck in the form of a 2-1 loss in front of the typically classless tricolores throng…If there is a bigger jerk in professional sports these days than Chicago Blackhawks forward Patrick Kane, then stay away from him. Kane became abusive with a cab driver over 20 cents and allegedly hit the man who didn’t have sufficient change from $15 for a $13.80 fare. (He had the buck.) Kane will most likely avoid jail time for his alleged assault, but this wimp on the ice who delivered all of 18 hits last year sure looks like a classless dolt, especially after pulling out the “Do you know who I am” line. We sure do now, Patty…If you watch just one thing on TV this weekend, make sure it’s the 100 meter final at the World Track and Field Championships in Berlin. Usain Bolt and Tyson Gay are likely to square off in what could be one of the most compelling sprints in history...David Mamet is taking on The Diary of Anne Frank, for Disney of all places. Didn’t know there was so much profanity in the story. Wonder what part Alec Baldwin will play.
* * *
YOU GOT A PROBLEM WITH THAT? The Phillies absolutely made the right decision in moving Satchel Moyer to the bullpen to make room for Pedro Martinez in the starting rotation. The Old Man was losing his precision, and when your fastball tops out at a school zone speed limit, you had better hit your spots. Moyer’s whiny reaction belied his 51 years in the major leagues and was surprising from someone who should know more than just about everybody that baseball is a business. Now, this whole thing comes with a codicil. Martinez may have picked up the victory Wednesday night against the Cubs, but his performance was hardly overwhelming: 5.0 IP, 7 H, 3 ER 99 pitches. If he’s going to need 100 pitches to get through five innings, even with a 12-1 lead, Martinez will be better suited in relief work, because at least Moyer could get into (and most of the time through) the sixth. Martinez deserves a couple more starts, but let’s not get carried away with his debut, because he looked very much like a guy at the end of his road.
* * *
AND ANOTHER THING: The entire Michael Vick situation is getting more ridiculous by the minute. As the disgraced QB approaches inclusion on an NFL team’s roster, his spin cycle is in danger of careening out of control. Vick will be on “60 Minutes” Sunday for the obligatory public mea culpa. He has had “adviser” Tony Dungy doing advance work for him. The TV folk are laying the groundwork for his return. Is there anybody else out there who smells dead, rotting fish? For the record, “60 Minutes” is aired by CBS, an NFL TV partner. Dungy works for NBC, another league outlet. (And wouldn’t you be a little mad, as a sports director, that one of your employees is withholding information from you?) And, of course, espn is a full-fledged propaganda cohort. Vick’s coming back, and the NFL is creating the perfect environment for his return and a great storyline for the upcoming season. If you think any of this is happening organically, you probably are betting on the Lions to make the playoffs this season.
-EH-
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Hooray! Training Camp Has Begun
EL HOMBRE KNOWS SPORTS
One of the reasons people remain so devoted to soap operas is that there are never reruns. Viewers don’t have to suffer through an encore of this affair or that miraculous recovery from a rogue strain of beriberi. The story moves inexorably forward, as if a day without some new drama from Erica Kane would cause a national emergency. And just try to interrupt the cycle with something as mundane as a ballgame or coverage of a papal assassination threat, and you would find out just how devoted Erica’s fans could be.
The soaps move inexorably forward, as expected. Professional sports, however, are supposed to have quiet times. Or at least that’s the way it used to be. These days, about the only major league that adheres to the old model of off-season hibernation is hockey, and given its television ratings, one can’t decide whether to consider the icy pursuit “major” anymore. Even it tries to stay relevant during the warm-weather months with its own free agency and mildly amusing story lines like the league’s death struggle to keep a franchise in Phoenix, which loves hockey as much as TV networks love quality programming.
The NFL is another story. By treating its free agency period like a Sweeps Week version of “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?” (back when it was good), the league keeps fans enticed through February. March and April are consumed by the Draft. May is all about the mini-camps and OTAs. But the real genius comes in June and July, when without fail, storylines emerge that keep the NFL news cycle churning, even if the items in question are suited for “All My Children” than the sports page. During the past six weeks, fans have been bombarded by stories about Britney Favre’s waffling, Michael Vick’s freedom and Plaxico Burress’ apparently futile attempts to stay out of the joint. So, during the long stretch of summer heat, when players and coaches hit vacation spots, “spend time with their families” and prepare for the hell of training camp, fans aren’t allowed to forget about football. For some, the daily stories of Favre’s will-he/won’t-he nonsense and the national debate over when Vick should play again were worse than a WNBA doubleheader. Others delighted in the coverage, if only because it kept them close to the game they love.
The good news is that training camps are finally open, and we can now concentrate on the battle for Jacksonville’s backup linebacker spot and the inevitable pre-season body count. The Hall of Fame Game (in retro AFL unis, no less) is a mere 10 days away, and that means it’s appropriate to consider some of the buzz throughout the league.
Enough, Already: In order: 1. Favre is a selfish diva who benefitted from Minnesota coach Brad Childress’ unwillingness to set a deadline that would have preserved some dignity for his franchise. If Favre decides to play in two, four or nine weeks, his offensive line should give him the same treatment the cons gave Paul “Wrecking” Crewe when he returned to action after deliberately throwing those interceptions. 2. Kudos to Roger Goodell for his treatment of Vick. His “conditional reinstatement” puts the onus on Vick to behave. Now, the question is whether a team wants to disrupt its offense by signing a QB who can’t work in the pocket. 3. Burress is going to jail and should have copped a plea. New York mayor Michael Bloomberg wants to make an example of him, and every Burress protestation will add time to his sentence.
QB Shuffle: The Favre Debacle notwithstanding, there are some interesting quarterbacking plot lines to be developed the next couple months. It looks like the Jets have already committed to Mark Sanchez, who should ask his coach to stop taunting linebackers in the AFC East so that Sanchez isn’t torn apart as revenge. The Lions are trying to decide whether it makes sense to let Matthew Stafford take over a circus that will consider three wins reason for a parade. Hey, if he’s the top overall pick, he should be mentally tough enough to handle that. Peyton Manning did. In San Francisco, it’s either Shaun Hill or Alex Smith. Ugh. Maybe John Brodie will come out of retirement. The Raiders have 61 million reasons why charismatic Jeff Garcia won’t take the starting job from JaMarcus Russell, even if Russell looks like a colossal mistake. Tom Brady is back in New England. Tony Romo is looking for love in Dallas. Ben Roethlisberger is trying to clear his name in Pittsburgh. And Jay Cutler wants to win something – anything – of consequence in Chicago.
Rising Stars: Last year, the Cardinals astonished everyone by shuffling off decades of futility and mismanagement by reaching the Super Bowl and actually giving the Steelers a scare. El Hombre will give a better idea of this season’s surprises in his gala 2009 NFL Preview, but it would be instructive to pay close attention to some teams during the exhibition games. For the past couple years, Houston has been a trendy pick for the playoffs, but this year, it might really happen. The Texans have slowly accumulated weapons on both sides of the ball and could be ready for 10 wins. With the Vikings’ relying on the Tavaris Jackson/Sage Rosenfels QB nightmare, the NFC North door could be wide open for the Packers, who may just have the division’s most stable situation under center. And it may just happen that the Saints take a step forward, although it’s going to take an examination of their shaky defense during the pre-season to see whether that’s possible.
New Faces, New Places: Matt Cassel is in Kansas City. Cutler is in Chi-town. The Jets have Bart Scott, and the Seahawks have T.J. Houshmandzadeh. But let’s face it; the only newcomer anybody cares about is up in northwest New York helping popcorn sales. The T.O. Celebrity Nuthouse has checked into Buffalo for what it hopes is an extended run, but what will most likely end in early departure, just as T.O.’s last two residencies have. Say a novena for Trent Edwards, the Bills’ quarterback, and get ready for the craziness.
Games to Watch: Ha! Fooled you. There isn’t a single exhibition matchup worth watching, except for the fact that it has been six months since football has been on and that at this point a Lions intra-squad scrimmage would be appealing. Watch the first half of every game you can and hope for a quick August.
* * *
EL HOMBRE SEZ: It’s a good thing FINA, the world’s swimming governing body, has decided to ban the full-body swimming suits that are allowing journeymen to set world records. If this continues, it won’t be long until a swimmer crams himself into a dolphin’s mouth and does the 200 freestyle in 15 seconds…Since the Pirates have traded away just about every real ballplayer they have, fans should punish them by staying away completely. Why pay big-time prices for AAA (or worse) baseball? The Steelers have been successful in the market. So have the Penguins. But the Pirates are a joke. This franchise should either be disbanded or forced to find ownership that cares. Until then, any fan who goes to a Pirates game is a sap…The non-stop Tweeting. The unannounced trip to the White House. The reality show. The WWE appearance. One of three things is happening with Shaq: A) He needs money because of his ugly divorce B) He is masking a drop in skills and trying to use style over substance for his pending trip to Cleveland C) He’s just a big knucklehead who should be enjoyed. El Hombre will go with C for now, but don’t be surprised if the others turn out to be correct, too…The X Games start soon (who really cares when?) and that means espn will jam even more faux-hip people down our gullets in its ever-growing attempt to cultivate young viewers and bother the rest of us…Go away, David Beckham. Go away.
* * *
YOU GOT A PROBLEM WITH THAT? The Phillies’ decision to go for a discounted Cliff Lee over Roy Halladay might seem to make sense in these recessionary times, but it has put GM Ruben Tomorrow and ace pitching prospect Kyle Drabek in tough positions. If the Phillies don’t win the World Series this year, and Lee doesn’t have a dynamite post-season, fans will scream that the team should have traded for Halladay, whom they have been told – right or wrong – would almost guarantee them a championship. Worse, if the Phils don’t win it all, and Drabek isn’t the next Grover Cleveland Alexander, fans will howl since the young hurler was seen as the impediment to acquiring Halladay. By conducting such a public courtship of the Blue Jays hurler and even going so far as to have headlines like “Phils still front-runners for Halladay” on the team’s web site, the Phillies led fans to believe that Halladay was the prime target, and Lee was a backup plan, even if he is the 2008 AL Cy Young Award winner. And just imagine what would happen if the Phillies meet the Red Sox in the World Series, and Boston just happened to trade for Halladay. Should Halladay dominate, Tomorrow will be an even bigger pariah, and even more pressure will land on Drabek. There is no shame in getting Lee, but the yearning for Halladay has created something of a public relations problem for the Phillies.
* * *
AND ANOTHER THING: It shouldn’t matter whether Hank Aaron, Reggie Jackson and the ghost of Cy Young believe that Pete Rose belongs in the Hall of Fame, he shouldn’t get in. So far, MLB commissioner Bud Sellout has remained firm on the issue, but with that jellyfish, it’s hard to be sure he’ll stand strong for the duration. Rose bet on baseball, and that’s not allowed. Every clubhouse door has a huge sign on it warning about the lifetime ban those who violate the edict will receive. Rose violated it. Then he lied about it. Lied about it some more. Only when he stood to profit from his admission, did he come clean. There is no question he had the on-field resume for induction, but if the steroid cheats and Joe Jackson belong on the outside (and there is no certainty Jackson should be there), then Rose absolutely must remain out. If Sellout – or any future commissioner – relents, then that sign must come down and MLB’s efforts to stop gambling in places like Delaware must cease. There can be no middle ground on this.
-EH-
One of the reasons people remain so devoted to soap operas is that there are never reruns. Viewers don’t have to suffer through an encore of this affair or that miraculous recovery from a rogue strain of beriberi. The story moves inexorably forward, as if a day without some new drama from Erica Kane would cause a national emergency. And just try to interrupt the cycle with something as mundane as a ballgame or coverage of a papal assassination threat, and you would find out just how devoted Erica’s fans could be.
The soaps move inexorably forward, as expected. Professional sports, however, are supposed to have quiet times. Or at least that’s the way it used to be. These days, about the only major league that adheres to the old model of off-season hibernation is hockey, and given its television ratings, one can’t decide whether to consider the icy pursuit “major” anymore. Even it tries to stay relevant during the warm-weather months with its own free agency and mildly amusing story lines like the league’s death struggle to keep a franchise in Phoenix, which loves hockey as much as TV networks love quality programming.
The NFL is another story. By treating its free agency period like a Sweeps Week version of “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?” (back when it was good), the league keeps fans enticed through February. March and April are consumed by the Draft. May is all about the mini-camps and OTAs. But the real genius comes in June and July, when without fail, storylines emerge that keep the NFL news cycle churning, even if the items in question are suited for “All My Children” than the sports page. During the past six weeks, fans have been bombarded by stories about Britney Favre’s waffling, Michael Vick’s freedom and Plaxico Burress’ apparently futile attempts to stay out of the joint. So, during the long stretch of summer heat, when players and coaches hit vacation spots, “spend time with their families” and prepare for the hell of training camp, fans aren’t allowed to forget about football. For some, the daily stories of Favre’s will-he/won’t-he nonsense and the national debate over when Vick should play again were worse than a WNBA doubleheader. Others delighted in the coverage, if only because it kept them close to the game they love.
The good news is that training camps are finally open, and we can now concentrate on the battle for Jacksonville’s backup linebacker spot and the inevitable pre-season body count. The Hall of Fame Game (in retro AFL unis, no less) is a mere 10 days away, and that means it’s appropriate to consider some of the buzz throughout the league.
Enough, Already: In order: 1. Favre is a selfish diva who benefitted from Minnesota coach Brad Childress’ unwillingness to set a deadline that would have preserved some dignity for his franchise. If Favre decides to play in two, four or nine weeks, his offensive line should give him the same treatment the cons gave Paul “Wrecking” Crewe when he returned to action after deliberately throwing those interceptions. 2. Kudos to Roger Goodell for his treatment of Vick. His “conditional reinstatement” puts the onus on Vick to behave. Now, the question is whether a team wants to disrupt its offense by signing a QB who can’t work in the pocket. 3. Burress is going to jail and should have copped a plea. New York mayor Michael Bloomberg wants to make an example of him, and every Burress protestation will add time to his sentence.
QB Shuffle: The Favre Debacle notwithstanding, there are some interesting quarterbacking plot lines to be developed the next couple months. It looks like the Jets have already committed to Mark Sanchez, who should ask his coach to stop taunting linebackers in the AFC East so that Sanchez isn’t torn apart as revenge. The Lions are trying to decide whether it makes sense to let Matthew Stafford take over a circus that will consider three wins reason for a parade. Hey, if he’s the top overall pick, he should be mentally tough enough to handle that. Peyton Manning did. In San Francisco, it’s either Shaun Hill or Alex Smith. Ugh. Maybe John Brodie will come out of retirement. The Raiders have 61 million reasons why charismatic Jeff Garcia won’t take the starting job from JaMarcus Russell, even if Russell looks like a colossal mistake. Tom Brady is back in New England. Tony Romo is looking for love in Dallas. Ben Roethlisberger is trying to clear his name in Pittsburgh. And Jay Cutler wants to win something – anything – of consequence in Chicago.
Rising Stars: Last year, the Cardinals astonished everyone by shuffling off decades of futility and mismanagement by reaching the Super Bowl and actually giving the Steelers a scare. El Hombre will give a better idea of this season’s surprises in his gala 2009 NFL Preview, but it would be instructive to pay close attention to some teams during the exhibition games. For the past couple years, Houston has been a trendy pick for the playoffs, but this year, it might really happen. The Texans have slowly accumulated weapons on both sides of the ball and could be ready for 10 wins. With the Vikings’ relying on the Tavaris Jackson/Sage Rosenfels QB nightmare, the NFC North door could be wide open for the Packers, who may just have the division’s most stable situation under center. And it may just happen that the Saints take a step forward, although it’s going to take an examination of their shaky defense during the pre-season to see whether that’s possible.
New Faces, New Places: Matt Cassel is in Kansas City. Cutler is in Chi-town. The Jets have Bart Scott, and the Seahawks have T.J. Houshmandzadeh. But let’s face it; the only newcomer anybody cares about is up in northwest New York helping popcorn sales. The T.O. Celebrity Nuthouse has checked into Buffalo for what it hopes is an extended run, but what will most likely end in early departure, just as T.O.’s last two residencies have. Say a novena for Trent Edwards, the Bills’ quarterback, and get ready for the craziness.
Games to Watch: Ha! Fooled you. There isn’t a single exhibition matchup worth watching, except for the fact that it has been six months since football has been on and that at this point a Lions intra-squad scrimmage would be appealing. Watch the first half of every game you can and hope for a quick August.
* * *
EL HOMBRE SEZ: It’s a good thing FINA, the world’s swimming governing body, has decided to ban the full-body swimming suits that are allowing journeymen to set world records. If this continues, it won’t be long until a swimmer crams himself into a dolphin’s mouth and does the 200 freestyle in 15 seconds…Since the Pirates have traded away just about every real ballplayer they have, fans should punish them by staying away completely. Why pay big-time prices for AAA (or worse) baseball? The Steelers have been successful in the market. So have the Penguins. But the Pirates are a joke. This franchise should either be disbanded or forced to find ownership that cares. Until then, any fan who goes to a Pirates game is a sap…The non-stop Tweeting. The unannounced trip to the White House. The reality show. The WWE appearance. One of three things is happening with Shaq: A) He needs money because of his ugly divorce B) He is masking a drop in skills and trying to use style over substance for his pending trip to Cleveland C) He’s just a big knucklehead who should be enjoyed. El Hombre will go with C for now, but don’t be surprised if the others turn out to be correct, too…The X Games start soon (who really cares when?) and that means espn will jam even more faux-hip people down our gullets in its ever-growing attempt to cultivate young viewers and bother the rest of us…Go away, David Beckham. Go away.
* * *
YOU GOT A PROBLEM WITH THAT? The Phillies’ decision to go for a discounted Cliff Lee over Roy Halladay might seem to make sense in these recessionary times, but it has put GM Ruben Tomorrow and ace pitching prospect Kyle Drabek in tough positions. If the Phillies don’t win the World Series this year, and Lee doesn’t have a dynamite post-season, fans will scream that the team should have traded for Halladay, whom they have been told – right or wrong – would almost guarantee them a championship. Worse, if the Phils don’t win it all, and Drabek isn’t the next Grover Cleveland Alexander, fans will howl since the young hurler was seen as the impediment to acquiring Halladay. By conducting such a public courtship of the Blue Jays hurler and even going so far as to have headlines like “Phils still front-runners for Halladay” on the team’s web site, the Phillies led fans to believe that Halladay was the prime target, and Lee was a backup plan, even if he is the 2008 AL Cy Young Award winner. And just imagine what would happen if the Phillies meet the Red Sox in the World Series, and Boston just happened to trade for Halladay. Should Halladay dominate, Tomorrow will be an even bigger pariah, and even more pressure will land on Drabek. There is no shame in getting Lee, but the yearning for Halladay has created something of a public relations problem for the Phillies.
* * *
AND ANOTHER THING: It shouldn’t matter whether Hank Aaron, Reggie Jackson and the ghost of Cy Young believe that Pete Rose belongs in the Hall of Fame, he shouldn’t get in. So far, MLB commissioner Bud Sellout has remained firm on the issue, but with that jellyfish, it’s hard to be sure he’ll stand strong for the duration. Rose bet on baseball, and that’s not allowed. Every clubhouse door has a huge sign on it warning about the lifetime ban those who violate the edict will receive. Rose violated it. Then he lied about it. Lied about it some more. Only when he stood to profit from his admission, did he come clean. There is no question he had the on-field resume for induction, but if the steroid cheats and Joe Jackson belong on the outside (and there is no certainty Jackson should be there), then Rose absolutely must remain out. If Sellout – or any future commissioner – relents, then that sign must come down and MLB’s efforts to stop gambling in places like Delaware must cease. There can be no middle ground on this.
-EH-
Thursday, July 23, 2009
The Good, Old Days
EL HOMBRE KNOWS SPORTS
This was supposed to be a sparkling missive about the pending commencement of NFL training camp, which ends our long months of wandering through the barren landscape of sports that Don’t Quite Measure Up. At least that’s what it said on the Big Editorial Calendar on the wall. But that was before Ken Keltner Day. And before the 95th anniversary of Babe Ruth’s Major League debut. And before El Hombre watched HBO’s amazing 90-minute paean to Ted Williams. And before what would have been Pater Familias’ 89th birthday.
For fans of baseball whose view of the game goes beyond the highlight, the homer and the needle, names like Ruth, Williams and Keltner (look it up) conjure images of sport as it once was, or at least as we have romanticized it. Don’t knock the power of romance in the world of sports. No matter how many beers Ruth consumed or how much of a distant figure Williams was with his children or how much of a racist S.O.B. Ty Cobb was, their time in the game is considered more magical than what we see in today’s version, if only because it exists in different, less immediate universe. And that’s where Pater Familias comes in.
PF was the perfect resource for a sports-mad youngster, because he had Perspective. Context. When Johnny Bench was emerging as one of the greatest catchers of all time, someone had to be there to remind everybody about Bill Dickey and Mickey Cochrane (not to mention Roy Campanella and Yogi Berra). When Hank Aaron made his assault on Babe Ruth’s home run record, there was a need to inform everybody that not only could the Sultan swat; he could also pitch (94-46 record, 2.28 ERA) and hit for average (.342 career). If you had a question about any of the major sports (that included hockey back then), Pater Familias had an answer. Make that the answer. A defense attorney, he was not one to equivocate. If he said Joe DiMaggio was the greatest centerfielder of all time, you didn’t argue, no matter how much you believed Willie Mays was tops. Wilt Chamberlain was the best ever. Period. And nobody ran the football better – or ever will – than Jim Brown.
Pater Familias checked out back in 2000, after a pretty long (79 years, despite a decades-long devotion to tobacco) run. He accomplished a lot and saw a lot, particularly on the athletic fields. He was at Yankee Stadium in ’46 when Army and Notre Dame waged the best battle of futility – 0-0 – of all time. He sat in the snow at Shibe Park in 1948 when the Eagles and Steve Van Buren knocked off the Cardinals to win their first NFL title. Saw Ruth, Cobb, DiMaggio, Williams, Speaker, Mays, Aaron and just about any other great baseball player before 1970 play – and many of the giants after that, too. Witnessed countless battles between Chamberlain and Russell. Saw both Tom Harmon and Ed Marinaro tear up his beloved Penn Quakers at Franklin Field. And watched the world’s greatest runners scorch the track from his perch as Chief Judge of the Finish at the Penn Relays. He loved the Boston Celtics, because they played together as a team. And because they won. In fact, Pater Familias was something of a frontrunner, a fact reinforced by the identities of his four favorite teams: Celtics, Yankees, Packers and Canadiens. Though he enjoyed the orchestra, ballet, the theater, Shakespeare. fine dining, mathematics and an argument on any subject, his was truly a sporting life. For that El Hombre is grateful.
But there are days, like last Saturday, when that sporting life seems way too short. The commemoration of Ruth’s debut received a small mention in the “This Day in Sports History” section of the newspaper (another of his great loves), but the occasion warranted so much more than just a couple lines of agate type. It called for stories of Ruthian accomplishments. About how this great, big man dashed about on such thin legs – but was still a tremendous baserunner. About how his pop-ups soared so high that Ruth was sometimes between second and third bases when the wounded balls finally collapsed into fielders’ mitts. About how he began his career using a mighty 54-ounce bat, before easing off to a 40-ouncer. About his pitching 29 2/3 consecutive scoreless innings in World Series play. The facts are available to anybody. The legend needs an eyewitness.
HBO’s biography of Williams provides that you-are-there feeling, with outstanding audio and video footage, interviews with writers who covered the Red Sox great and who met him later and the perspective that comes from years of reflection following a the death of a titan. It was a great trip back and a reminder of what the game of baseball was like before it could be boiled into a 90-second package of top plays and canned applause. Pater Familias would have loved it, because it was an even treatment of Williams, but more than that, a generous presentation of the sport he loved. When the show was over, and the goose bumps had subsided (of particular note is a reading, by Robert Redford, at the program’s end of an excerpt from the marvelous “Hub Fans Bid Kid Adieu” article by John Updike that appeared in the Oct. 22, 1960 issue of The New Yorker) there was only one thing left to do: Make the call. And, to tell the truth, for a split second, El Hombre considered it, just as he has dozens of times during the past nine-plus years.
Then he remembered. Perspective and Context have to come from other avenues these days. It isn’t the same, but what can you do? The good news is that Pater Familias’ ability to make the past come alive has given his son the desire to do the same thing for his Niños. They may not have the same thirst for history, but they ask questions. And while relating stories of the 1970s doesn’t have the same romantic lure as tales from the Golden Age, perhaps those Niños will have fond memories of stories they’re told when they become adults.
Maybe they’ll even want to pick up that phone. Here’s hoping EH will be there to answer it.
* * *
EL HOMBRE SEZ: As much as the thought of an unclothed Erin Andrews, the ESPN reporter, gets the heart fluttering, the slimeball who shot the peephole video of her deserves to be jailed and sued until he doesn’t have a Roosevelt to his name. And shame on The New York Post for publishing images from the video. We have always known The Post was sleazy, but this makes the Weekly World News look like The Manchester Guardian…Notre Dame and Army have announced a deal to play their 2010 game in new Yankee Stadium, in an attempt to recapture some of the magic of the teams’ previous games in the Bronx. The big differences between, say, the epic ’46 struggle between the two teams and today are that the new Stadium has none of its predecessor’s distinct character and that the only time you’ll see 0-0 on the scoreboard when the teams play again is right before kickoff…Russian “prime minister” Vladimir “Leader for Life” Putin reports that preparations for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi are right on schedule, despite the fact that he has replaced the project leader twice and is concerned about “prices and bureaucracy” torpedoing future efforts. Fortunately, Putin has a big incentive for those involved in constructing venues and improving infrastructures: They all want to live…If there is any image in the world of games this year sadder than the look on Tom Watson’s face when he stuttered that putt on 18 last Sunday, it’ll be enough to make Richard Simmons glum. Had Watson won the tournament, it would have been a remarkable accomplishment. The fact that a 59-year old was able to come within a stroke of a major title, however, reinforces the fact that golf is not a sport. Feel free to refute that by mentioning any other sport in which someone that old can come that close to winning a big-time competition…The Seahawks and the Washington State Lottery are debuting a scratch ticket with a $50,000 first prize. Emboldened by the announcement, Detroit and the Michigan Lottery have decided to stage a similar game. First prize is two tickets to a Lions game. Second prize is season tickets.
* * *
YOU GOT A PROBLEM WITH THAT? The Eagles begin training camp Sunday with rookies and selected veterans’ reporting – and a lot of questions. Chief among the concerns is the health of running back Brian Westbrook and defensive coordinator Jim Johnson. We have been told Westbrook will be ready for the Birds’ opener Sept. 13, and that is reasonable, even if he has little real work before then. Of course if Westbrook doesn’t recover completely from surgery to remove bone spurs in his right ankle, the Eagles are cooked, because rookie LeSean McCoy and colossal ’08 disappointment Lorenzo Booker don’t come close to measuring up. Johnson’s situation is much different. The venerable assistant is fighting melanoma and may not be able to return at all. On the field, that means 35-year old Sean McDermott will be calling defenses for the first time, no small consideration given Johnson’s value to the team over the past decade. Off the field, Johnson’s condition could be quite troubling for defensive players, many of whom have known no other coordinator during their professional careers. Despite those questions, the great news is that football season is starting, and soon all will be right with the world.
* * *
YOU GOT A PROBLEM WITH THAT? (PART TWO): Get Roy Halladay. Today. Spend whatever it takes. Got that?
* * *
AND ANOTHER THING: “Sources” say that Roger Goodell wants to see legitimate remorse from Michael Vick about his dogfighting role and is looking to see how the former Falcons QB conducts himself before deciding whether to reinstate him for NFL action. Goodell’s giving Vick almost a whole week as a free man before issuing his verdict (the two are supposed to meet today or tomorrow) and that’s ludicrous. How can Goodell possibly know whether Vick has changed from one meeting and a couple days out of stir? If Goodell wants to give Vick a conditional ticket back to football, so he can sign with a team and go through training camp, fine. But the return pass must come with a suspension, the better to see how Vick behaves over a longer period. Yes, he has done his time. Yes, he deserves a second chance. But the NFL can’t just let him back without a probationary stretch. Let him work out with a team and get back into the NFL life, but remember that it’s easier to put on a good show for a week than it is for two or three months. Let’s get a track record here before allowing Vick back completely.
* * *
ONE MORE FOR THE ROAD: El Hombre wants to send out his best wishes to loyal reader, American hero and bon vivant Bill “Bitsy” Grant, an avid Phillies fan, loyal Saint Joseph’s Hawk and dedicated Salesianum alumnus, who is in a big-time fight against one helluva foe. Now, Bitsy landed at Normandy back in ’44, so he’s no stranger to struggle. And he raised eight children – six of them girls – so he isn’t frightened easily. The smart money’s on a big recovery, but Bitsy can use all the prayers and positive energy he can get. Continued prosperity for the Phils wouldn’t hurt, either. Get well soon, Bitsy!
-EH-
This was supposed to be a sparkling missive about the pending commencement of NFL training camp, which ends our long months of wandering through the barren landscape of sports that Don’t Quite Measure Up. At least that’s what it said on the Big Editorial Calendar on the wall. But that was before Ken Keltner Day. And before the 95th anniversary of Babe Ruth’s Major League debut. And before El Hombre watched HBO’s amazing 90-minute paean to Ted Williams. And before what would have been Pater Familias’ 89th birthday.
For fans of baseball whose view of the game goes beyond the highlight, the homer and the needle, names like Ruth, Williams and Keltner (look it up) conjure images of sport as it once was, or at least as we have romanticized it. Don’t knock the power of romance in the world of sports. No matter how many beers Ruth consumed or how much of a distant figure Williams was with his children or how much of a racist S.O.B. Ty Cobb was, their time in the game is considered more magical than what we see in today’s version, if only because it exists in different, less immediate universe. And that’s where Pater Familias comes in.
PF was the perfect resource for a sports-mad youngster, because he had Perspective. Context. When Johnny Bench was emerging as one of the greatest catchers of all time, someone had to be there to remind everybody about Bill Dickey and Mickey Cochrane (not to mention Roy Campanella and Yogi Berra). When Hank Aaron made his assault on Babe Ruth’s home run record, there was a need to inform everybody that not only could the Sultan swat; he could also pitch (94-46 record, 2.28 ERA) and hit for average (.342 career). If you had a question about any of the major sports (that included hockey back then), Pater Familias had an answer. Make that the answer. A defense attorney, he was not one to equivocate. If he said Joe DiMaggio was the greatest centerfielder of all time, you didn’t argue, no matter how much you believed Willie Mays was tops. Wilt Chamberlain was the best ever. Period. And nobody ran the football better – or ever will – than Jim Brown.
Pater Familias checked out back in 2000, after a pretty long (79 years, despite a decades-long devotion to tobacco) run. He accomplished a lot and saw a lot, particularly on the athletic fields. He was at Yankee Stadium in ’46 when Army and Notre Dame waged the best battle of futility – 0-0 – of all time. He sat in the snow at Shibe Park in 1948 when the Eagles and Steve Van Buren knocked off the Cardinals to win their first NFL title. Saw Ruth, Cobb, DiMaggio, Williams, Speaker, Mays, Aaron and just about any other great baseball player before 1970 play – and many of the giants after that, too. Witnessed countless battles between Chamberlain and Russell. Saw both Tom Harmon and Ed Marinaro tear up his beloved Penn Quakers at Franklin Field. And watched the world’s greatest runners scorch the track from his perch as Chief Judge of the Finish at the Penn Relays. He loved the Boston Celtics, because they played together as a team. And because they won. In fact, Pater Familias was something of a frontrunner, a fact reinforced by the identities of his four favorite teams: Celtics, Yankees, Packers and Canadiens. Though he enjoyed the orchestra, ballet, the theater, Shakespeare. fine dining, mathematics and an argument on any subject, his was truly a sporting life. For that El Hombre is grateful.
But there are days, like last Saturday, when that sporting life seems way too short. The commemoration of Ruth’s debut received a small mention in the “This Day in Sports History” section of the newspaper (another of his great loves), but the occasion warranted so much more than just a couple lines of agate type. It called for stories of Ruthian accomplishments. About how this great, big man dashed about on such thin legs – but was still a tremendous baserunner. About how his pop-ups soared so high that Ruth was sometimes between second and third bases when the wounded balls finally collapsed into fielders’ mitts. About how he began his career using a mighty 54-ounce bat, before easing off to a 40-ouncer. About his pitching 29 2/3 consecutive scoreless innings in World Series play. The facts are available to anybody. The legend needs an eyewitness.
HBO’s biography of Williams provides that you-are-there feeling, with outstanding audio and video footage, interviews with writers who covered the Red Sox great and who met him later and the perspective that comes from years of reflection following a the death of a titan. It was a great trip back and a reminder of what the game of baseball was like before it could be boiled into a 90-second package of top plays and canned applause. Pater Familias would have loved it, because it was an even treatment of Williams, but more than that, a generous presentation of the sport he loved. When the show was over, and the goose bumps had subsided (of particular note is a reading, by Robert Redford, at the program’s end of an excerpt from the marvelous “Hub Fans Bid Kid Adieu” article by John Updike that appeared in the Oct. 22, 1960 issue of The New Yorker) there was only one thing left to do: Make the call. And, to tell the truth, for a split second, El Hombre considered it, just as he has dozens of times during the past nine-plus years.
Then he remembered. Perspective and Context have to come from other avenues these days. It isn’t the same, but what can you do? The good news is that Pater Familias’ ability to make the past come alive has given his son the desire to do the same thing for his Niños. They may not have the same thirst for history, but they ask questions. And while relating stories of the 1970s doesn’t have the same romantic lure as tales from the Golden Age, perhaps those Niños will have fond memories of stories they’re told when they become adults.
Maybe they’ll even want to pick up that phone. Here’s hoping EH will be there to answer it.
* * *
EL HOMBRE SEZ: As much as the thought of an unclothed Erin Andrews, the ESPN reporter, gets the heart fluttering, the slimeball who shot the peephole video of her deserves to be jailed and sued until he doesn’t have a Roosevelt to his name. And shame on The New York Post for publishing images from the video. We have always known The Post was sleazy, but this makes the Weekly World News look like The Manchester Guardian…Notre Dame and Army have announced a deal to play their 2010 game in new Yankee Stadium, in an attempt to recapture some of the magic of the teams’ previous games in the Bronx. The big differences between, say, the epic ’46 struggle between the two teams and today are that the new Stadium has none of its predecessor’s distinct character and that the only time you’ll see 0-0 on the scoreboard when the teams play again is right before kickoff…Russian “prime minister” Vladimir “Leader for Life” Putin reports that preparations for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi are right on schedule, despite the fact that he has replaced the project leader twice and is concerned about “prices and bureaucracy” torpedoing future efforts. Fortunately, Putin has a big incentive for those involved in constructing venues and improving infrastructures: They all want to live…If there is any image in the world of games this year sadder than the look on Tom Watson’s face when he stuttered that putt on 18 last Sunday, it’ll be enough to make Richard Simmons glum. Had Watson won the tournament, it would have been a remarkable accomplishment. The fact that a 59-year old was able to come within a stroke of a major title, however, reinforces the fact that golf is not a sport. Feel free to refute that by mentioning any other sport in which someone that old can come that close to winning a big-time competition…The Seahawks and the Washington State Lottery are debuting a scratch ticket with a $50,000 first prize. Emboldened by the announcement, Detroit and the Michigan Lottery have decided to stage a similar game. First prize is two tickets to a Lions game. Second prize is season tickets.
* * *
YOU GOT A PROBLEM WITH THAT? The Eagles begin training camp Sunday with rookies and selected veterans’ reporting – and a lot of questions. Chief among the concerns is the health of running back Brian Westbrook and defensive coordinator Jim Johnson. We have been told Westbrook will be ready for the Birds’ opener Sept. 13, and that is reasonable, even if he has little real work before then. Of course if Westbrook doesn’t recover completely from surgery to remove bone spurs in his right ankle, the Eagles are cooked, because rookie LeSean McCoy and colossal ’08 disappointment Lorenzo Booker don’t come close to measuring up. Johnson’s situation is much different. The venerable assistant is fighting melanoma and may not be able to return at all. On the field, that means 35-year old Sean McDermott will be calling defenses for the first time, no small consideration given Johnson’s value to the team over the past decade. Off the field, Johnson’s condition could be quite troubling for defensive players, many of whom have known no other coordinator during their professional careers. Despite those questions, the great news is that football season is starting, and soon all will be right with the world.
* * *
YOU GOT A PROBLEM WITH THAT? (PART TWO): Get Roy Halladay. Today. Spend whatever it takes. Got that?
* * *
AND ANOTHER THING: “Sources” say that Roger Goodell wants to see legitimate remorse from Michael Vick about his dogfighting role and is looking to see how the former Falcons QB conducts himself before deciding whether to reinstate him for NFL action. Goodell’s giving Vick almost a whole week as a free man before issuing his verdict (the two are supposed to meet today or tomorrow) and that’s ludicrous. How can Goodell possibly know whether Vick has changed from one meeting and a couple days out of stir? If Goodell wants to give Vick a conditional ticket back to football, so he can sign with a team and go through training camp, fine. But the return pass must come with a suspension, the better to see how Vick behaves over a longer period. Yes, he has done his time. Yes, he deserves a second chance. But the NFL can’t just let him back without a probationary stretch. Let him work out with a team and get back into the NFL life, but remember that it’s easier to put on a good show for a week than it is for two or three months. Let’s get a track record here before allowing Vick back completely.
* * *
ONE MORE FOR THE ROAD: El Hombre wants to send out his best wishes to loyal reader, American hero and bon vivant Bill “Bitsy” Grant, an avid Phillies fan, loyal Saint Joseph’s Hawk and dedicated Salesianum alumnus, who is in a big-time fight against one helluva foe. Now, Bitsy landed at Normandy back in ’44, so he’s no stranger to struggle. And he raised eight children – six of them girls – so he isn’t frightened easily. The smart money’s on a big recovery, but Bitsy can use all the prayers and positive energy he can get. Continued prosperity for the Phils wouldn’t hurt, either. Get well soon, Bitsy!
-EH-
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Justice, NFL Style
EL HOMBRE KNOWS SPORTS
When NFL commissioner Roger Goodell issued his official mountaintop farewell after the final mini-camp, OTA, and in the case of the Raiders, DTA (Disorganized Team Activity) had ended, he sounded more like a high school principal than the leader of professional sports’ most lucrative concern. As the kids ran out of team complexes like students’ heading into summer break, they could hear the voice booming from loudspeakers across the country, warning them about the evils of drunk driving.
The final sentence of the proclamation was the most telling: “Let’s make sure that the 2009 season does not bring more tragedy or embarrassment to ourselves and our employees.” Goodell even went so far as to mention Donte Stallworth, the Cleveland receiver who is serving 30 days in stir for hitting and killing a man while driving drunk – and thanks to new information made known yesterday – high. Goodell has suspended Stallworth “indefinitely” and has promised to make known the final disposition of that nebulous sentence soon.
As Goodell weighs the merits of relieving Stallworth of his livelihood for a quarter, half or full season, a debate has sprouted about whether Goodell has the right to impose a substantial penalty at all. There is no doubt that Stallworth should have a chance to play in the NFL again, just as Michael Vick deserves another shot, but some league discipline must be imposed, and it must have teeth.
Some say Goodell must make up for the court’s relative leniency. Although there was no intent to kill the man who walked in front of Stallworth’s car early one morning, he still took another life, and 30 days seems like a pretty small price to pay for that. Despite showing what appears to be true remorse and settling with the man’s family for what is no doubt a hefty amount, Stallworth received a pretty light penalty. (IMPORTANT CODICIL: Anyone who has ever seen the HBO classic “Oz” knows that even five minutes in the joint can lead to any number of nightmares, particularly if Schillinger gets a hold of you, so 30 days can seem like forever, or the length of an WNBA game.)
Goodell’s job is not to correct the court’s work. His sole responsibility is the health and economic welfare of the (insert dramatic pause) National Football League. Because of that role, he must consider Stallworth’s crime within the framework of how his return to action will affect the league and its reputation. Back in ’98, Leonard Little killed a woman while driving drunk and spent 90 days behind bars. Then-commissioner Paul Tagliabue slapped Little with an eight-game suspension, but the defensive end returned and eventually became a Pro Bowler. Though MADD picketed Little’s first game back with the Rams after the suspension, there was no furor surrounding his return and only a small percentage of today’s fans would be able to recall the crime.
Now comes Stallworth. While he sits in jail, Goodell must judge the damage the wide receiver has done to the league, not to mention the ramifications of a player’s driving drunk and high, a daily double of NFL conduct violations. Worse than breaking his employer’s rules, Stallworth perpetuated the myth of athletes’ behaving badly. Despite being but a minute portion of the overall NFL personnel universe, people like Stallworth become the image of the highly-paid performers. No amount of charitable work can erase it. Donovan McNabb could eradicate swine flu from the landscape, and he wouldn’t be able to overcome the damage Stallworth has done to players’ or the league’s reputations.
That’s where Goodell comes in. His job as commissioner is to propagate the NFL and make sure that its financial health persists and improves. To do that, he must deal swiftly and sternly with those who are threats to that well being. Stallworth’s crime has hurt Goodell’s league and its business. If he does not come down hard on Stallworth, particularly in an economic climate where people are struggling to pay high ticket prices and to make sure their kids have the GI Joes with the Kung-fu grip, he runs the risk of giving back some of the goodwill and market share the league has accumulated during the past several decades.
Yes, Goodell has to pounce, on both Vick and Stallworth. The question is whether they deserve the same suspensions, and the answer is no. Although Vick did more time for his dog-fighting crimes, there’s no way the killing of any animal – no matter what the quantity – trumps the taking of a human life. PETA can scream from the treetops (just be careful not to disturb the slender-billed grackle) all it wants on that one, but it’s wrong. Vick deserves a half-year away from the NFL, and Stallworth needs to be seated for a full season. That way, he’ll get the opportunity to take care of his community service obligations and remain clear of the spotlight, and the league can show that it takes this kind of behavior very seriously. By giving Stallworth a substantial penalty, Goodell will be looking out for his league by protecting its image. He’ll also be sending a distinct message to other players that will be stronger than any “behave yourselves” letter he could write.
And, come September, when everybody returns to class, they’ll know the principal isn’t going to back down.
Now, about that summer reading.
* * *
EL HOMBRE SEZ: A tip of the helmet to SI’s Chris Ballard for his back-page story in the magazine this week. Click on the link and read on. If you don’t choke up, call Keith Richards’ doctor, because you need a transfusion. http://tinyurl.com/lnvs7w Some might consider it sacrilegious to root against an American in anything, but you have to cheer for Andy Murray to become the first British man to win at Wimbledon since Fred Perry in 1936. Maybe he’ll get a shoe named for him if he does triumph…The price tag for a courtside seat at the renovated Pauley Pavilion in ’12-13? Try a one-time 500 large serving of cheddar, followed by annual “contributions” of $17,000/seat – plus the tickets’ cost. Yeah, college sports are a pure, amateur pursuit. Pay the damn players already…Tennessee has received a commitment from a 13-year old grid star whose brother and father played for the Vols. No word on whether coach Lane Kiffin told the kid that if he went to South Carolina, he’d never become any good on Rock Band…Okay, so the U.S. soccer team coughs up a 2-0 lead against Brazil in the Confederations Final, and all of a sudden the red-white-and-blew-it is a world power. Calm down, everybody. Let’s see how the Yanks do Aug. 12 in the World Cup qualifier in Mexico while dodging bags of human excrement…A judge dismissed attempts by Ro(H)g(H)er Clemens to revive some of his defamation claims against former trainer Brian McNamee. Awwww. Now McNamee gets a chance to sue Clemens. Ain’t justice great?
* * *
YOU GOT A PROBLEM WITH THAT? Those 1-2-3-4-5-Sixers did the right thing by drafting Jrue Holiday last Thursday. NBA personnel sources tell El Hombre that Holiday will be a first-rate point man in a couple years, thanks to his size, athletic ability, competitiveness and defensive skills. He played out of position at UCLA last year and still had more assists per minute played and per possession than did Darren Collison, who dominated the ball. While the Sixers wait for Holiday, they remain an imperfect team, even if they re-sign free agent PG Richard Pryor. They have no real center, no two guard and their two best young players – Andre Iguodala and Thaddeus Young – play the same position. The Sixers have a bunch of ugly contracts and at a time when teams are clearing space for 2010 free agency, their salary cap is clogged worse than the commode at an offensive linemen’s convention. Don’t expect big things next season. Or the one after that.
* * *
AND ANOTHER THING: Manny Ramirez returns to the lineup this weekend after serving his 50-day sentence for taking fertility drugs to spark testosterone growth after steroid use. (Allegedly.) Expect an outpouring of love from Dodgers’ Stepfords and a celebration of the cheater’s talents by the league’s propaganda partners. Let’s hope Hall of Fame voters commemorate the occasion by promising never to vote for the bum and to remind people as needed about his crimes against baseball. It will be easy to view the juiced-up slugger as a sympathetic figure, given the welcome he’ll receive, but don’t ever remove him from the list of drug abusers and don’t give in to the temptation to say it was just “Manny being Manny.” Let the pajama-wearing, traveling-secretary-bullying lab creation get into Cooperstown the same way the rest of us do – with a ticket.
-EH-
When NFL commissioner Roger Goodell issued his official mountaintop farewell after the final mini-camp, OTA, and in the case of the Raiders, DTA (Disorganized Team Activity) had ended, he sounded more like a high school principal than the leader of professional sports’ most lucrative concern. As the kids ran out of team complexes like students’ heading into summer break, they could hear the voice booming from loudspeakers across the country, warning them about the evils of drunk driving.
The final sentence of the proclamation was the most telling: “Let’s make sure that the 2009 season does not bring more tragedy or embarrassment to ourselves and our employees.” Goodell even went so far as to mention Donte Stallworth, the Cleveland receiver who is serving 30 days in stir for hitting and killing a man while driving drunk – and thanks to new information made known yesterday – high. Goodell has suspended Stallworth “indefinitely” and has promised to make known the final disposition of that nebulous sentence soon.
As Goodell weighs the merits of relieving Stallworth of his livelihood for a quarter, half or full season, a debate has sprouted about whether Goodell has the right to impose a substantial penalty at all. There is no doubt that Stallworth should have a chance to play in the NFL again, just as Michael Vick deserves another shot, but some league discipline must be imposed, and it must have teeth.
Some say Goodell must make up for the court’s relative leniency. Although there was no intent to kill the man who walked in front of Stallworth’s car early one morning, he still took another life, and 30 days seems like a pretty small price to pay for that. Despite showing what appears to be true remorse and settling with the man’s family for what is no doubt a hefty amount, Stallworth received a pretty light penalty. (IMPORTANT CODICIL: Anyone who has ever seen the HBO classic “Oz” knows that even five minutes in the joint can lead to any number of nightmares, particularly if Schillinger gets a hold of you, so 30 days can seem like forever, or the length of an WNBA game.)
Goodell’s job is not to correct the court’s work. His sole responsibility is the health and economic welfare of the (insert dramatic pause) National Football League. Because of that role, he must consider Stallworth’s crime within the framework of how his return to action will affect the league and its reputation. Back in ’98, Leonard Little killed a woman while driving drunk and spent 90 days behind bars. Then-commissioner Paul Tagliabue slapped Little with an eight-game suspension, but the defensive end returned and eventually became a Pro Bowler. Though MADD picketed Little’s first game back with the Rams after the suspension, there was no furor surrounding his return and only a small percentage of today’s fans would be able to recall the crime.
Now comes Stallworth. While he sits in jail, Goodell must judge the damage the wide receiver has done to the league, not to mention the ramifications of a player’s driving drunk and high, a daily double of NFL conduct violations. Worse than breaking his employer’s rules, Stallworth perpetuated the myth of athletes’ behaving badly. Despite being but a minute portion of the overall NFL personnel universe, people like Stallworth become the image of the highly-paid performers. No amount of charitable work can erase it. Donovan McNabb could eradicate swine flu from the landscape, and he wouldn’t be able to overcome the damage Stallworth has done to players’ or the league’s reputations.
That’s where Goodell comes in. His job as commissioner is to propagate the NFL and make sure that its financial health persists and improves. To do that, he must deal swiftly and sternly with those who are threats to that well being. Stallworth’s crime has hurt Goodell’s league and its business. If he does not come down hard on Stallworth, particularly in an economic climate where people are struggling to pay high ticket prices and to make sure their kids have the GI Joes with the Kung-fu grip, he runs the risk of giving back some of the goodwill and market share the league has accumulated during the past several decades.
Yes, Goodell has to pounce, on both Vick and Stallworth. The question is whether they deserve the same suspensions, and the answer is no. Although Vick did more time for his dog-fighting crimes, there’s no way the killing of any animal – no matter what the quantity – trumps the taking of a human life. PETA can scream from the treetops (just be careful not to disturb the slender-billed grackle) all it wants on that one, but it’s wrong. Vick deserves a half-year away from the NFL, and Stallworth needs to be seated for a full season. That way, he’ll get the opportunity to take care of his community service obligations and remain clear of the spotlight, and the league can show that it takes this kind of behavior very seriously. By giving Stallworth a substantial penalty, Goodell will be looking out for his league by protecting its image. He’ll also be sending a distinct message to other players that will be stronger than any “behave yourselves” letter he could write.
And, come September, when everybody returns to class, they’ll know the principal isn’t going to back down.
Now, about that summer reading.
* * *
EL HOMBRE SEZ: A tip of the helmet to SI’s Chris Ballard for his back-page story in the magazine this week. Click on the link and read on. If you don’t choke up, call Keith Richards’ doctor, because you need a transfusion. http://tinyurl.com/lnvs7w Some might consider it sacrilegious to root against an American in anything, but you have to cheer for Andy Murray to become the first British man to win at Wimbledon since Fred Perry in 1936. Maybe he’ll get a shoe named for him if he does triumph…The price tag for a courtside seat at the renovated Pauley Pavilion in ’12-13? Try a one-time 500 large serving of cheddar, followed by annual “contributions” of $17,000/seat – plus the tickets’ cost. Yeah, college sports are a pure, amateur pursuit. Pay the damn players already…Tennessee has received a commitment from a 13-year old grid star whose brother and father played for the Vols. No word on whether coach Lane Kiffin told the kid that if he went to South Carolina, he’d never become any good on Rock Band…Okay, so the U.S. soccer team coughs up a 2-0 lead against Brazil in the Confederations Final, and all of a sudden the red-white-and-blew-it is a world power. Calm down, everybody. Let’s see how the Yanks do Aug. 12 in the World Cup qualifier in Mexico while dodging bags of human excrement…A judge dismissed attempts by Ro(H)g(H)er Clemens to revive some of his defamation claims against former trainer Brian McNamee. Awwww. Now McNamee gets a chance to sue Clemens. Ain’t justice great?
* * *
YOU GOT A PROBLEM WITH THAT? Those 1-2-3-4-5-Sixers did the right thing by drafting Jrue Holiday last Thursday. NBA personnel sources tell El Hombre that Holiday will be a first-rate point man in a couple years, thanks to his size, athletic ability, competitiveness and defensive skills. He played out of position at UCLA last year and still had more assists per minute played and per possession than did Darren Collison, who dominated the ball. While the Sixers wait for Holiday, they remain an imperfect team, even if they re-sign free agent PG Richard Pryor. They have no real center, no two guard and their two best young players – Andre Iguodala and Thaddeus Young – play the same position. The Sixers have a bunch of ugly contracts and at a time when teams are clearing space for 2010 free agency, their salary cap is clogged worse than the commode at an offensive linemen’s convention. Don’t expect big things next season. Or the one after that.
* * *
AND ANOTHER THING: Manny Ramirez returns to the lineup this weekend after serving his 50-day sentence for taking fertility drugs to spark testosterone growth after steroid use. (Allegedly.) Expect an outpouring of love from Dodgers’ Stepfords and a celebration of the cheater’s talents by the league’s propaganda partners. Let’s hope Hall of Fame voters commemorate the occasion by promising never to vote for the bum and to remind people as needed about his crimes against baseball. It will be easy to view the juiced-up slugger as a sympathetic figure, given the welcome he’ll receive, but don’t ever remove him from the list of drug abusers and don’t give in to the temptation to say it was just “Manny being Manny.” Let the pajama-wearing, traveling-secretary-bullying lab creation get into Cooperstown the same way the rest of us do – with a ticket.
-EH-
Thursday, May 21, 2009
A Second Chance
EL HOMBRE KNOWS SPORTS
As dawn broke on that summer morning in Joliet, IL, large doors ground open, and a solitary figure stood, waiting to greet the outside world for the first time in three years. He wore a black suit, black hat, dark glasses and a broken Timex watch. In his pocket were $23.07 and a pair of prophylactics, one unused and one, ahem, “soiled.”
It was Independence Day for “Joliet Jake” Blues, and he was concluding his service of the state, having served 60 percent of his five-year sentence for knocking off a liquor store to pay his band’s sizeable room service tab at a previous Kiwanis Club gig. He was a free man, having survived Wednesday night’s “wicked pepper steak” and other assorted indignities. It was a new beginning.
Early Wednesday morning, another solitary figure emerged from incarceration looking for a fresh start. Unlike Jake, he wasn’t going to be picked up by his brother in an old Mount Prospect City police car and ferried to the St. Helen of the Blessed Shroud Orphanage to see the Penguin. He was headed home, for two more months of confinement and a $10/hour job working construction. Then the real work would begin. For Michael Vick, re-entering society was going to be a little tougher than it was for Joliet Jake. A lot tougher. No matter how much he lost and how much he paid for his dog-fighting crimes, Vick was still on the wrong side of the ledger sheet for many people, some of whom offered him no hope of ever climbing back to even, much less moving into the black again.
When Vick left Leavenworth Federal Prison, he did so a broken man. He had lost his job, his money, his reputation, his celebrity and most of the people who had surrounded him when he was flying high. His crimes were heinous, to be sure. His betrayals were many. And his fall was a high-speed plummet the likes of which few professional athletes have experienced. Vick had gone from the face of the world’s most popular sports league to a pariah. He deserved to be cut down in a very public manner. He deserved jail time and the shame that comes with it. He deserved the substantial financial hit he took.
And now he deserves a second chance.
Throughout the entire dog-fighting mess, El Hombre was squarely on the other side of the Vick camp. He believed none of the lies, tolerated none of the arguments made about the “cultural” nature of the crime and refused to consider the apologists who tried to make a man with a nine-figure football contract out to be a tragic figure. Vick got what he deserved, no question about it.
Now, he should get what every American is promised – the opportunity to rebuild his life after paying his penalty. When Vick emerges from home confinement in mid-July, he will do so as a relatively free man. He’ll still have some probationary requirements, and he won’t ever be allowed to own a dog again, but Vick will be able to seek employment, spend time with friends and family, travel (with limits, at first) and try to fashion a new world.
If an NFL team will have him, he should be allowed to play. He should serve a suspension this season, as final penance for his sins against the league, and he must show legitimate (and El Hombre means legitimate) remorse for what he did. But if all of that is satisfied, Vick should be fair game for whoever wants to sign him. That’s his right.
A lot of people disagree. They believe his punishment should have no end, that Vick ought to serve out an indefinite sentence, complete with periodic parades through jeering mobs, the better to humiliate him and prevent him from regaining any dignity. Again, what he did was awful. It was cruel and ghastly. But he has served his sentence, and it’s time to forgive.
You remember forgiveness, don’t you? It’s the bedrock of many religious faiths and a prime characteristic of American society. You can’t scream for infinite punishment and then hide behind a set of beliefs that preaches turning the other cheek. If Vick is indeed remorseful – and he’s going to need a little more than a cursory “I’m sorry” to NFL commissioner Roger Goodell – he deserves some absolution. We won’t forget his prior transgressions, but we need to give him a chance at re-entry to society. For all of those people out there who feel the NFL would be sending a poor message to children if Vick were allowed to play football, consider what a great example we would be setting by giving him another shot at getting it right.
The good news is that this is almost a win-win situation. If Vick does return to the NFL, he will likely do it at an entry-level spot, because what team would risk investing their future on someone with as much baggage as Vick? He is one dumb interview response away from a public relations nightmare. After two years out from the NFL, there’s a big question about whether he can even play the game at a high level anymore. So, should Seattle or St. Louis or Team X decide to sign Vick, it’s unlikely he’ll be brought in as a starter. He’ll have to work his way back to a regular position, as it should be. It’s not like someone is going to bestow another nine-figure contract on him. And if he messes up, he’ll be gone in 60 seconds.
Now, this welcome back to the high-profile, big-money life of professional football comes with a caveat: Vick has to prove he’s sorry, and that won’t come from just one face-to-face meeting with Goodell or the intercessions of Tony Dungy, Jesse Jackson or Dr. Phil. Vick needs to live right and to prove he understands the severity of his betrayal of the league, Falcons’ owner Arthur Blank and the millions of fans who helped get rich and famous. That may require half the ’09 season. It could take the whole year. That’s up to Goodell and the people who will investigate Vick in the coming weeks and months. But it has to happen.
And after that appropriate period, Vick should have another chance at football. He’ll have to prove himself on the field all over again, and he’ll have to live with his transgressions and the impact they had not only on his victims but also on those who adored him. He’ll never be the same person. He probably won’t be the same player. But if he has true remorse for his crimes, he should get the same forgiveness and second chance accorded so many others. If he blows that opportunity, then at least we as a society will know we did what was right.
Think about it; Vick did the wrong thing. Should we do the same?
* * *
EL HOMBRE SEZ: After 149 at-bats, Big Papi finally hit a home run, proving that long droughts truly come to an end. Next up: A-Rod tells the truth…The prevailing wisdom is now that the Clippers have won the Draft Lottery, Oklahoma forward Blake Griffin’s basketball career is headed for trouble. That’s not fair to the Clips. After all, it’s not like they blew their last top pick on Michael Olowokandi or anything. What’s that? Oh, never mind…It’s nice to see that some college conferences are tightening up in these tough economic times, but their members’ budgets remain bloated and embarrassing at a time when institutions are cutting course offerings, laying off faculty and staff and trimming student services. Oh, yeah, they’re also throwing millions at the athletic departments. It’s time for football and men’s basketball to cut the fat for real, the better to reflect the tough times and show they are part of the community, not an outside entity…Less than two months after being hired at Kentucky, Johnny Cal has completed the best recruiting class in the country. If Jodie Meeks returns for his senior season, the Wildcats could have a team capable of taking out the Kings in a best-of-seven. Say what you want about him, but Cal can bring in the talent…R.I.P. Wayman Tisdale. The former Oklahoma star and 13-year NBA vet was a tremendous basketball player, a fine jazz musician and a solid citizen. It was just a few months ago that we heard he was faring well in his fight against cancer, so his death came as a surprise. His is a big loss.
* * *
YOU GOT A PROBLEM WITH THAT? As the NBA playoffs continue, and Denver makes its bid for the franchise’s first berth in the NBA Finals, it becomes more and more clear that the Nuggets’ swapping of Allen Iverson for Chauncey Billups is one of the most one-sided deals in recent league history. Billups has brought stability, leadership and timely production to Denver, while amplifying what Iverson’s critics (including your humble narrator) have been saying for years. There is no doubting A.I.’s considerable talent, but his has always been a me-first game. And it’s amazing people are just coming to understand this. Is the NBA so adept at creating and promoting its stars that reasonable people look past the glaring inadequacies in their games? It must be, because Iverson was heralded for years as one of the NBA’s best, all the while preventing the Sixers from achieving great things with his selfish play. Yes, 2001 was terrific, but how much of that was Iverson and how much of that was Larry Brown and his ability to build and coach a support system around the guard? You’ll notice that once Brown left, the Sixers floundered. Now, with no contract and a stated unwillingness to sublimate his need to dominate the ball, Iverson faces an uncertain future. No team will throw money at him, because none can afford to have him ruin whatever chemistry it might have. It’s entirely possible that unless Iverson has a remarkable attitude change in the coming months that he will be without an employer come October. That may seem unfathomable to some, but it’s a reflection of an aging scorer’s dwindling physical skills, coupled with an approach to the game that has little to do with team success. It’s sad, but it’s true.
* * *
AND ANOTHER THING: The Nuggets are a great feel-good story, and Chauncey Billups homecoming is heartwarming, but the team still needs to learn how to win. Tuesday’s loss to the Lakers demonstrated that Denver isn’t quite at a championship level yet. It missed free throws, didn’t work hard enough rebounding the ball and made some dumb mistakes down the stretch. Championship teams take games. They don’t try to play well and wait for a gift. Denver learned that in the first game and had better apply its lessons quickly – like tonight. It’s the same thing that is happening to Chicago in the NHL Western finals series. The young Blackhawks have accomplished a lot, but the Red Wings are stone killers. It’s still possible to shock the world, but for the most part, professional sports rely on veteran leadership and the ability to make big plays late in games. The Nuggets had better remember and apply that.
-EH-
As dawn broke on that summer morning in Joliet, IL, large doors ground open, and a solitary figure stood, waiting to greet the outside world for the first time in three years. He wore a black suit, black hat, dark glasses and a broken Timex watch. In his pocket were $23.07 and a pair of prophylactics, one unused and one, ahem, “soiled.”
It was Independence Day for “Joliet Jake” Blues, and he was concluding his service of the state, having served 60 percent of his five-year sentence for knocking off a liquor store to pay his band’s sizeable room service tab at a previous Kiwanis Club gig. He was a free man, having survived Wednesday night’s “wicked pepper steak” and other assorted indignities. It was a new beginning.
Early Wednesday morning, another solitary figure emerged from incarceration looking for a fresh start. Unlike Jake, he wasn’t going to be picked up by his brother in an old Mount Prospect City police car and ferried to the St. Helen of the Blessed Shroud Orphanage to see the Penguin. He was headed home, for two more months of confinement and a $10/hour job working construction. Then the real work would begin. For Michael Vick, re-entering society was going to be a little tougher than it was for Joliet Jake. A lot tougher. No matter how much he lost and how much he paid for his dog-fighting crimes, Vick was still on the wrong side of the ledger sheet for many people, some of whom offered him no hope of ever climbing back to even, much less moving into the black again.
When Vick left Leavenworth Federal Prison, he did so a broken man. He had lost his job, his money, his reputation, his celebrity and most of the people who had surrounded him when he was flying high. His crimes were heinous, to be sure. His betrayals were many. And his fall was a high-speed plummet the likes of which few professional athletes have experienced. Vick had gone from the face of the world’s most popular sports league to a pariah. He deserved to be cut down in a very public manner. He deserved jail time and the shame that comes with it. He deserved the substantial financial hit he took.
And now he deserves a second chance.
Throughout the entire dog-fighting mess, El Hombre was squarely on the other side of the Vick camp. He believed none of the lies, tolerated none of the arguments made about the “cultural” nature of the crime and refused to consider the apologists who tried to make a man with a nine-figure football contract out to be a tragic figure. Vick got what he deserved, no question about it.
Now, he should get what every American is promised – the opportunity to rebuild his life after paying his penalty. When Vick emerges from home confinement in mid-July, he will do so as a relatively free man. He’ll still have some probationary requirements, and he won’t ever be allowed to own a dog again, but Vick will be able to seek employment, spend time with friends and family, travel (with limits, at first) and try to fashion a new world.
If an NFL team will have him, he should be allowed to play. He should serve a suspension this season, as final penance for his sins against the league, and he must show legitimate (and El Hombre means legitimate) remorse for what he did. But if all of that is satisfied, Vick should be fair game for whoever wants to sign him. That’s his right.
A lot of people disagree. They believe his punishment should have no end, that Vick ought to serve out an indefinite sentence, complete with periodic parades through jeering mobs, the better to humiliate him and prevent him from regaining any dignity. Again, what he did was awful. It was cruel and ghastly. But he has served his sentence, and it’s time to forgive.
You remember forgiveness, don’t you? It’s the bedrock of many religious faiths and a prime characteristic of American society. You can’t scream for infinite punishment and then hide behind a set of beliefs that preaches turning the other cheek. If Vick is indeed remorseful – and he’s going to need a little more than a cursory “I’m sorry” to NFL commissioner Roger Goodell – he deserves some absolution. We won’t forget his prior transgressions, but we need to give him a chance at re-entry to society. For all of those people out there who feel the NFL would be sending a poor message to children if Vick were allowed to play football, consider what a great example we would be setting by giving him another shot at getting it right.
The good news is that this is almost a win-win situation. If Vick does return to the NFL, he will likely do it at an entry-level spot, because what team would risk investing their future on someone with as much baggage as Vick? He is one dumb interview response away from a public relations nightmare. After two years out from the NFL, there’s a big question about whether he can even play the game at a high level anymore. So, should Seattle or St. Louis or Team X decide to sign Vick, it’s unlikely he’ll be brought in as a starter. He’ll have to work his way back to a regular position, as it should be. It’s not like someone is going to bestow another nine-figure contract on him. And if he messes up, he’ll be gone in 60 seconds.
Now, this welcome back to the high-profile, big-money life of professional football comes with a caveat: Vick has to prove he’s sorry, and that won’t come from just one face-to-face meeting with Goodell or the intercessions of Tony Dungy, Jesse Jackson or Dr. Phil. Vick needs to live right and to prove he understands the severity of his betrayal of the league, Falcons’ owner Arthur Blank and the millions of fans who helped get rich and famous. That may require half the ’09 season. It could take the whole year. That’s up to Goodell and the people who will investigate Vick in the coming weeks and months. But it has to happen.
And after that appropriate period, Vick should have another chance at football. He’ll have to prove himself on the field all over again, and he’ll have to live with his transgressions and the impact they had not only on his victims but also on those who adored him. He’ll never be the same person. He probably won’t be the same player. But if he has true remorse for his crimes, he should get the same forgiveness and second chance accorded so many others. If he blows that opportunity, then at least we as a society will know we did what was right.
Think about it; Vick did the wrong thing. Should we do the same?
* * *
EL HOMBRE SEZ: After 149 at-bats, Big Papi finally hit a home run, proving that long droughts truly come to an end. Next up: A-Rod tells the truth…The prevailing wisdom is now that the Clippers have won the Draft Lottery, Oklahoma forward Blake Griffin’s basketball career is headed for trouble. That’s not fair to the Clips. After all, it’s not like they blew their last top pick on Michael Olowokandi or anything. What’s that? Oh, never mind…It’s nice to see that some college conferences are tightening up in these tough economic times, but their members’ budgets remain bloated and embarrassing at a time when institutions are cutting course offerings, laying off faculty and staff and trimming student services. Oh, yeah, they’re also throwing millions at the athletic departments. It’s time for football and men’s basketball to cut the fat for real, the better to reflect the tough times and show they are part of the community, not an outside entity…Less than two months after being hired at Kentucky, Johnny Cal has completed the best recruiting class in the country. If Jodie Meeks returns for his senior season, the Wildcats could have a team capable of taking out the Kings in a best-of-seven. Say what you want about him, but Cal can bring in the talent…R.I.P. Wayman Tisdale. The former Oklahoma star and 13-year NBA vet was a tremendous basketball player, a fine jazz musician and a solid citizen. It was just a few months ago that we heard he was faring well in his fight against cancer, so his death came as a surprise. His is a big loss.
* * *
YOU GOT A PROBLEM WITH THAT? As the NBA playoffs continue, and Denver makes its bid for the franchise’s first berth in the NBA Finals, it becomes more and more clear that the Nuggets’ swapping of Allen Iverson for Chauncey Billups is one of the most one-sided deals in recent league history. Billups has brought stability, leadership and timely production to Denver, while amplifying what Iverson’s critics (including your humble narrator) have been saying for years. There is no doubting A.I.’s considerable talent, but his has always been a me-first game. And it’s amazing people are just coming to understand this. Is the NBA so adept at creating and promoting its stars that reasonable people look past the glaring inadequacies in their games? It must be, because Iverson was heralded for years as one of the NBA’s best, all the while preventing the Sixers from achieving great things with his selfish play. Yes, 2001 was terrific, but how much of that was Iverson and how much of that was Larry Brown and his ability to build and coach a support system around the guard? You’ll notice that once Brown left, the Sixers floundered. Now, with no contract and a stated unwillingness to sublimate his need to dominate the ball, Iverson faces an uncertain future. No team will throw money at him, because none can afford to have him ruin whatever chemistry it might have. It’s entirely possible that unless Iverson has a remarkable attitude change in the coming months that he will be without an employer come October. That may seem unfathomable to some, but it’s a reflection of an aging scorer’s dwindling physical skills, coupled with an approach to the game that has little to do with team success. It’s sad, but it’s true.
* * *
AND ANOTHER THING: The Nuggets are a great feel-good story, and Chauncey Billups homecoming is heartwarming, but the team still needs to learn how to win. Tuesday’s loss to the Lakers demonstrated that Denver isn’t quite at a championship level yet. It missed free throws, didn’t work hard enough rebounding the ball and made some dumb mistakes down the stretch. Championship teams take games. They don’t try to play well and wait for a gift. Denver learned that in the first game and had better apply its lessons quickly – like tonight. It’s the same thing that is happening to Chicago in the NHL Western finals series. The young Blackhawks have accomplished a lot, but the Red Wings are stone killers. It’s still possible to shock the world, but for the most part, professional sports rely on veteran leadership and the ability to make big plays late in games. The Nuggets had better remember and apply that.
-EH-
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