"Imagine if you go there to see Miss Universe and you end up having Miss Iowa, you might get those kind of boos. But it's OK," he said. "They had to understand that as an organization we have to make sure the kid is fine."
The quote above came from tonights emergency starter for the Washington Nationals, Miguel Batista, or Miss Iowa, I guess. Batista pitched tonight because rookie "phenom," Stephen Stasburg, Miss Universe, had inflammation in his pitching shoulder.
Now, it is easy to understand what Batista meant, and it is even easy enough to see how maybe you could use this as a good comparison, sort of, but my question is why on earth did he pick poor Miss Iowa, and more importantly how must she be feeling right now.
Maybe I am wrong, and maybe nobody will be offended, but I will be very surprised if that is the case. How about saying it would be like coming to see the President of the United States and you end up seeing the Mayor of DC. After all, they are the Washington Nationals, and they do play in Nationals Stadium, and call it a hunch, but I have to believe it would be hard to offend almost anyone if you compared seeing them to seeing the President, but Miss Iowa??
This one just struck me as funny and felt I had to share!!
Thank you ESPN for spurring today's sports thought!!
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Layup
"Not everybody agreed with ESPN's decision to air LeBron's live TV event. ... it ultimately undermined the network's journalistic integrity and spun out of control."
This one is not tough, what journalistic integrity?
ESPN will write, print, show, air whatever they need to in order to keep the masses coming, to keep them entertained. ESPN has become the Barnum and Bailey of Sportscasting. Yes they have some good reporters out there in the field, but the percentage of "journalistic integrity" at ESPN versus not has actually had me writing the occasional email to ESPN writers that do write a great story, or cover a story with sensitive content in a classy way.
ESPN is no different than our society in this way, unfortunately, but it is true that there is no so little "journalistic integrity" that the rare appearance of such is what catches the eye, rather than a lack thereof.
The Lebron James "Decision" show was simply a manifestation of Lebron and all his ills and ESPN's lack of journalistic integrity all coming together in one place. The perfect storm of US sports absurdity.
It is time that ESPN, professional sports, professional athletes and US sports in general get back to the basics to clean up our act in this country.
Here is the real question, if Lebron had stayed in Cleavland, and that whole show had been a celebration of that fact and of Cleavland and Cleavland sports, would ESPN be admitting any error in judgement at this point?? And yes that was a rhetorical question.
Thank you ESPN for spurring today's sports thought!!
This one is not tough, what journalistic integrity?
ESPN will write, print, show, air whatever they need to in order to keep the masses coming, to keep them entertained. ESPN has become the Barnum and Bailey of Sportscasting. Yes they have some good reporters out there in the field, but the percentage of "journalistic integrity" at ESPN versus not has actually had me writing the occasional email to ESPN writers that do write a great story, or cover a story with sensitive content in a classy way.
ESPN is no different than our society in this way, unfortunately, but it is true that there is no so little "journalistic integrity" that the rare appearance of such is what catches the eye, rather than a lack thereof.
The Lebron James "Decision" show was simply a manifestation of Lebron and all his ills and ESPN's lack of journalistic integrity all coming together in one place. The perfect storm of US sports absurdity.
It is time that ESPN, professional sports, professional athletes and US sports in general get back to the basics to clean up our act in this country.
Here is the real question, if Lebron had stayed in Cleavland, and that whole show had been a celebration of that fact and of Cleavland and Cleavland sports, would ESPN be admitting any error in judgement at this point?? And yes that was a rhetorical question.
Thank you ESPN for spurring today's sports thought!!
Monday, July 19, 2010
MJ Speaks
Very simply put, MJ finally said what so many have thought and said, and in so many ways, but thankfully, as usual, MJ said it with many fewer words, and from a perspective that no one else on the planet could ever have, and with a class that he carries because of his father, those he played with and against, Magic, Bird and Pippen primarily, and because of his respect for the game.
Lebron has made a fool out of himself, he has made himself rich, and he has given himself a much better chance to win a championship than he had in Cleavland, maybe, but he has done so in such a way that not only has it all become a circus, but Lebron has become the clown.
So many people said it today, and I firmly believe it, sports, and athletes, are simply not the same anymore. It has all lost something. I blame it on Facebook.
Thank you ESPN for spurring today's sports thought!!
Lebron has made a fool out of himself, he has made himself rich, and he has given himself a much better chance to win a championship than he had in Cleavland, maybe, but he has done so in such a way that not only has it all become a circus, but Lebron has become the clown.
So many people said it today, and I firmly believe it, sports, and athletes, are simply not the same anymore. It has all lost something. I blame it on Facebook.
Thank you ESPN for spurring today's sports thought!!
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Are You Kidding Me
The Cavs fans are backing their owner, that I believe and am happy to see. Some of them have offered to pay his fine, I will come back to this, but the Cavs owner Dan Gilbert has asked that the money they would use to help pay the fine go to the Cavs Youth Fund instead, a classy move!!
OK, you better sit down, the NBA has fined Dan Gilbert $ 100,000 for his comments about Lebron's decision to leave, and at the same time the Commish has slapped Lebron on the wrist, barely, by saying that his decision to make his announcement on the ESPN show the Decision was in poor taste.
I'm sorry, I must have missed something, Lebron gets a slap on the wrist for what was at the least collusion, and at the most significantly worse than anything Pete Rose ever did to baseball. Lebron orchestrated the building of his own team from the ground up in Miami, which now has four significant all-stars on it and more to come. All Dan Gilbert did was tell the truth!!
Anyone that watched the Boston series with the Cavs, or even just the highlights, knows that Lebron gave up. He quite on his team, and there was no doubt about it. Also, you could tell by his body language that he know he was done as a Cav, so how do you now say that what he has done since then has been OK, and that Dan Gilbert was wrong??
Our society is upside down!!
Thank you ESPN for spurring today's sports thought!!
OK, you better sit down, the NBA has fined Dan Gilbert $ 100,000 for his comments about Lebron's decision to leave, and at the same time the Commish has slapped Lebron on the wrist, barely, by saying that his decision to make his announcement on the ESPN show the Decision was in poor taste.
I'm sorry, I must have missed something, Lebron gets a slap on the wrist for what was at the least collusion, and at the most significantly worse than anything Pete Rose ever did to baseball. Lebron orchestrated the building of his own team from the ground up in Miami, which now has four significant all-stars on it and more to come. All Dan Gilbert did was tell the truth!!
Anyone that watched the Boston series with the Cavs, or even just the highlights, knows that Lebron gave up. He quite on his team, and there was no doubt about it. Also, you could tell by his body language that he know he was done as a Cav, so how do you now say that what he has done since then has been OK, and that Dan Gilbert was wrong??
Our society is upside down!!
Thank you ESPN for spurring today's sports thought!!
Monday, July 12, 2010
Worst Three Days In Sport
For the absolute sports fan, not just baseball fan, but sports fan this is definitely the worst three days in sports, right now. From three days starting today, there is nothing to watch. This is true every year, but with this being a World Cup year, ended yesterday, and with Lance effectively done, it is so much worse.
Want to know how much worse? ESPN has found almost nothing to write about, and that is saying something. I am sure they are sitting back in their offices in Connecticut hoping that another University of Tennessee football or basketball player will do something else that defies all logic and intelligent thought of any kind, but if not there is just nothing going on. Maybe they should have paid Lebron a little more for his hour to move it to this week.
Hockey finished up a while ago, basketball just a couple of weeks ago, football, well aside from a very brief and uneventful Brett Favre sighting, nothing to report there, and baseball had a few guys swing for the fences tonight, which entertained the beer drinking, own fart smelling baseball fan, and tomorrow night is the All-Star game, the best young pitcher in baseball won't be there, that would have made me watch, and no matter what the managers do, this game still ultimately means very little.
Thursday the New York Yankees and Tampa play, and The Red Sox welcome Texas and their newly acquired Cy Young candidate, and The Open Championship begins, please Tiger, please!!
Thank you ESPN for spurring today's sports thought!! or lack thereof!!
Want to know how much worse? ESPN has found almost nothing to write about, and that is saying something. I am sure they are sitting back in their offices in Connecticut hoping that another University of Tennessee football or basketball player will do something else that defies all logic and intelligent thought of any kind, but if not there is just nothing going on. Maybe they should have paid Lebron a little more for his hour to move it to this week.
Hockey finished up a while ago, basketball just a couple of weeks ago, football, well aside from a very brief and uneventful Brett Favre sighting, nothing to report there, and baseball had a few guys swing for the fences tonight, which entertained the beer drinking, own fart smelling baseball fan, and tomorrow night is the All-Star game, the best young pitcher in baseball won't be there, that would have made me watch, and no matter what the managers do, this game still ultimately means very little.
Thursday the New York Yankees and Tampa play, and The Red Sox welcome Texas and their newly acquired Cy Young candidate, and The Open Championship begins, please Tiger, please!!
Thank you ESPN for spurring today's sports thought!! or lack thereof!!
Criminally Absurd
Rev. Jackson: Cavs owner put LeBron in danger.
When you read a headline like this you realize that the world, or at least our piece of it, has gone spinning completely off its axis!!
There are two points of absurdity here, one, Cavs owner put Lebron in danger?? and by the way, are we really supposed to care about one of the richest, and most spoiled, athletes on the planet??
These two thoughts are obviously directly connected. Lebron James made his decision, plus had it televised in an hour long special, plus had the decision made many moons ago while playing with his fellow "Dream Team" pals, so how is anyone else responsible for the millions of people now wishing ill against Lebron. You live with the choices you make in this life, all of them, and even if mommy says do what will make you happy Lebron, I am sure she also reminded him that he, and he alone will have to live with the consequences!!
There is so much here that is crazy it is somewhat hard to think clearly, but no, the white man did not put the poor helpless black man's life in danger by speaking his mind, Reverend Jackson has taken this way too far, Lebron is a big boy now, spoiled, uneducated, selfish, but big. Our society has made it VERY ok to be selfish, to have no loyalty, to take the expression "look out for number one," way too far, and as usual the media, especially ESPN, will "print" anything as long as it is sensational enough to sell!!
Thank you ESPN for spurring today's sports thought!!
When you read a headline like this you realize that the world, or at least our piece of it, has gone spinning completely off its axis!!
There are two points of absurdity here, one, Cavs owner put Lebron in danger?? and by the way, are we really supposed to care about one of the richest, and most spoiled, athletes on the planet??
These two thoughts are obviously directly connected. Lebron James made his decision, plus had it televised in an hour long special, plus had the decision made many moons ago while playing with his fellow "Dream Team" pals, so how is anyone else responsible for the millions of people now wishing ill against Lebron. You live with the choices you make in this life, all of them, and even if mommy says do what will make you happy Lebron, I am sure she also reminded him that he, and he alone will have to live with the consequences!!
There is so much here that is crazy it is somewhat hard to think clearly, but no, the white man did not put the poor helpless black man's life in danger by speaking his mind, Reverend Jackson has taken this way too far, Lebron is a big boy now, spoiled, uneducated, selfish, but big. Our society has made it VERY ok to be selfish, to have no loyalty, to take the expression "look out for number one," way too far, and as usual the media, especially ESPN, will "print" anything as long as it is sensational enough to sell!!
Thank you ESPN for spurring today's sports thought!!
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
Stop The Madness
OK, so we all know I am not exactly a Lebron James fan, in fact I firmly believe that if Lebron were to join the Heat is would be the third best player on that team, but I need to continue here for a moment tonight. This is not really about Lebron, but about sports in this country period, it is just that Lebron is the most obvious and visable symptom.
A one hour special to announce a decision as to where he is going to play basketball next year?? Yes, it is great that he will help the Boy's and Girl's Clubs of America, but does anyone really buy that they are the only reason he is doing this special?? Not to mention the "whores" that ESPN have become...OK we will come back to that one at a later date because they do give me something to write about every day.
We have youth sports in this country that has gotten so bad that I actually saw a player, in a youth game, under elevens mind you, shove a coach!! Yes I said shove a coach. Now, I give the coach, parent helping out as a coach, a great deal of credit for not losing it on the player, and in fact he stayed patient with this young man, and I use the term as loosely as humanly possible,and gently made his point before leaving him on the end of the bench for the rest of the game to rot. But, this kind of behavior is not the exception at this point, it is the rule.
It started, I guess, with the spike in football, and then the Icky shuffle, and now it has reached a point hat college players in the major sports celebrate and taunt routinely, and as it works it way down, none of the work ethic, respect for coaches, respect for teammates, opponents, the games themselves, or even competition exists anymore and so you simply have spoiled, entitled little "shits" running around believing they rule the world, and then we wonder why we have had to use "professional" athletes, and I use that term loosely as well, for all the team sports in the Olympics.
Take a look at the teams, the countries, the different sports that all of sudden everyone is getting good at, and look at the United States. Look at the World Cup and the countries that were suddenly competitive. We have lost control of youth, athletes, and sports in this country, and we have definitely lost control of youth sports. People will tell me well it is because we don't have enough good coaches at the youth levels, or the high school levels, the sport is simply growing too fast. Well maybe we should take some control over how we grow the sports we grow in this country and maybe the people that want to help should do a little more than just show up, and if we do that, if the "grown-ups" take responsibility and ownership of educating themselves about that which they are trying to teach, including the sportsmanship and respect components, then maybe the youth players will take their lead.
What a novel concept, coaches leading players by example, glad I thought of it!!
Thank you ESPN for spurring today's sports thought!!
A one hour special to announce a decision as to where he is going to play basketball next year?? Yes, it is great that he will help the Boy's and Girl's Clubs of America, but does anyone really buy that they are the only reason he is doing this special?? Not to mention the "whores" that ESPN have become...OK we will come back to that one at a later date because they do give me something to write about every day.
We have youth sports in this country that has gotten so bad that I actually saw a player, in a youth game, under elevens mind you, shove a coach!! Yes I said shove a coach. Now, I give the coach, parent helping out as a coach, a great deal of credit for not losing it on the player, and in fact he stayed patient with this young man, and I use the term as loosely as humanly possible,and gently made his point before leaving him on the end of the bench for the rest of the game to rot. But, this kind of behavior is not the exception at this point, it is the rule.
It started, I guess, with the spike in football, and then the Icky shuffle, and now it has reached a point hat college players in the major sports celebrate and taunt routinely, and as it works it way down, none of the work ethic, respect for coaches, respect for teammates, opponents, the games themselves, or even competition exists anymore and so you simply have spoiled, entitled little "shits" running around believing they rule the world, and then we wonder why we have had to use "professional" athletes, and I use that term loosely as well, for all the team sports in the Olympics.
Take a look at the teams, the countries, the different sports that all of sudden everyone is getting good at, and look at the United States. Look at the World Cup and the countries that were suddenly competitive. We have lost control of youth, athletes, and sports in this country, and we have definitely lost control of youth sports. People will tell me well it is because we don't have enough good coaches at the youth levels, or the high school levels, the sport is simply growing too fast. Well maybe we should take some control over how we grow the sports we grow in this country and maybe the people that want to help should do a little more than just show up, and if we do that, if the "grown-ups" take responsibility and ownership of educating themselves about that which they are trying to teach, including the sportsmanship and respect components, then maybe the youth players will take their lead.
What a novel concept, coaches leading players by example, glad I thought of it!!
Thank you ESPN for spurring today's sports thought!!
Monday, July 5, 2010
Who Cares
It is amazing to me how much attention NBA free agency is getting, and specifically the "Lebron watch." Who cares really??
Obviously people in Cleavland and Ohio in general care, and I can understand that because this is the closest they have been to good in a professional sport in a while, but when you look at it, what has Lebron really done for the Cavs except not win when it matters. I am a huge Celtics fan, but if I were a Cavs fan I would not even want Lebron back after he essentially mailed in the back half of that series.
Lebron is going to get paid some absolutely obscene amount of money for someone that has never delivered, and is definitely NOT the best player in the league, or number two, or even three. The Cavs got rid of their coach because it obviously couldn't be Lebron's fault right?
I think Dwayne Wade is a classy, talented basketball player that deserves to get paid well for what he does, and I hope he stays with the Heat becasue seeing him out of that uniform would be like seeing Micheal out of a Bulls uniform, or Kobe out of a Lakers uniform. The rest of this is just noise.
There are so many more players in every professionally sport that bring more to work every day, to their teams, to their cities, and to their sports, that it simply amazes me that so many seem to care so much. If Derek Jeter were looking at other options that would matter, but Lebron...please!!
Thank you ESPN for spurring today's sports thought!!
Obviously people in Cleavland and Ohio in general care, and I can understand that because this is the closest they have been to good in a professional sport in a while, but when you look at it, what has Lebron really done for the Cavs except not win when it matters. I am a huge Celtics fan, but if I were a Cavs fan I would not even want Lebron back after he essentially mailed in the back half of that series.
Lebron is going to get paid some absolutely obscene amount of money for someone that has never delivered, and is definitely NOT the best player in the league, or number two, or even three. The Cavs got rid of their coach because it obviously couldn't be Lebron's fault right?
I think Dwayne Wade is a classy, talented basketball player that deserves to get paid well for what he does, and I hope he stays with the Heat becasue seeing him out of that uniform would be like seeing Micheal out of a Bulls uniform, or Kobe out of a Lakers uniform. The rest of this is just noise.
There are so many more players in every professionally sport that bring more to work every day, to their teams, to their cities, and to their sports, that it simply amazes me that so many seem to care so much. If Derek Jeter were looking at other options that would matter, but Lebron...please!!
Thank you ESPN for spurring today's sports thought!!
Sunday, July 4, 2010
CC - See What
I have had this debate many times over the past couple of years, and now that ESPN has listed CC Sabathia as one of their possible starters in their "who should start the all-star game" poll I guess it is time to have the debate again.
Not much of a debate here really, CC Sabathia is constantly considered as an all-star, or worse, as a Cy-Young contender when the facts are pretty simple, if he didn't play for the Yankees, and that amazing offensive line-up they put out there every day he would not even get noticed.
At the end of last season he was thought to be a "finalist" for the Cy-young, and the question here is why?? At the end of last year CC had an ERA that was no less than a full run higher than everyone else being considered. At this point in the season this year the same is true. CC has one ten games, but it has taken him 17 starts to get that done while it has taken Clay Bucholz 15, and the whole world knows that the Red Sox offense was for shit in the month of April.
If you look at ESPN's own stat page for MLB and compare AL pitchers you will see that CC does not even rank in the top ten in ERA. He is always going to be there in wins as long as he is in the 3s with ERA and playing for the Yankees. Put CC on one of the anemic offensive teams, or even the Red Sox, a now decent offensive team, and he has maybe six wins, maybe.
The Yankees are a great team, with the emphasis on team, and they play in a big ballpark with an amazing offense and gold glove defense, especially up the middle. CC should buy all of those guys cars for allowing him to be so average and win so much!!
Thank you ESPN for spurring today's sports thought!!
Not much of a debate here really, CC Sabathia is constantly considered as an all-star, or worse, as a Cy-Young contender when the facts are pretty simple, if he didn't play for the Yankees, and that amazing offensive line-up they put out there every day he would not even get noticed.
At the end of last season he was thought to be a "finalist" for the Cy-young, and the question here is why?? At the end of last year CC had an ERA that was no less than a full run higher than everyone else being considered. At this point in the season this year the same is true. CC has one ten games, but it has taken him 17 starts to get that done while it has taken Clay Bucholz 15, and the whole world knows that the Red Sox offense was for shit in the month of April.
If you look at ESPN's own stat page for MLB and compare AL pitchers you will see that CC does not even rank in the top ten in ERA. He is always going to be there in wins as long as he is in the 3s with ERA and playing for the Yankees. Put CC on one of the anemic offensive teams, or even the Red Sox, a now decent offensive team, and he has maybe six wins, maybe.
The Yankees are a great team, with the emphasis on team, and they play in a big ballpark with an amazing offense and gold glove defense, especially up the middle. CC should buy all of those guys cars for allowing him to be so average and win so much!!
Thank you ESPN for spurring today's sports thought!!
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