i love the cliche's we get from sports..

I love the cliche's we get from sports. "Defense wins championships". "ya gotta be a horse to pull the wagon"., "Play like champions today". " I wanna thank god for ..." What the hell is a "barn burner?" I thought that if your barn is burned, isn't your "goose cooked"? When a team gets "taken behind the woodshed" does that mean they are getting a "whuppin"? If "defense wins Championships how come there are only I believe 7 super bowl M.V.P.'s out of 43 games? Why is the quarterback the highest paid player usually on most teams. The baseball all-star game this year gave the M.V.P. award to Carl Crawford for his outstanding catch to preserve the game for the American League. I remember watching a NHL all-star game once and I think Brodeur got the M.V.P. because he didn't allow a goal in his period of playing. Very rarely do the players who excel on defense get rewarded singularly for their excellence. When the Patriots defeated the Rams in the Super Bowl, I thought they would give the award to a defensive player but they didn't. I will the defense quote alone and move on to other fun ones.
In golf they say "you drive for show and putt for dough". So Hank Kuene, J.B. Holmes and John Daly can drive the ball to another planet but cannot putt to save their lives. When Tiger came on tour everyone seemed in awe that he could dive the ball so straight and hit his irons pretty far too. When he putted well he won. Phil Mickelson hits ball pretty far too but he is famous for shanking shots at the wrong time. He can putt like crazy but has moments that just defy logic. Some more quotes, "if you have two quarterbacks, you don't have one"!!!! I love this quote because every team needs more than one quarterback to be successful. You never know when you are going get that season ending injury. Ask the Patriots, Bengals, Eagles just to name a few. Who is Nellie? The coach from the Golden State Warriors? Keith Jackson used to say "Whoa Nellie" whenever someone did something that was outstanding and when something was pretty stupid. He loved talking about farm life as well. I embellish one his quotes," He is as happy as a pig rollin' around in bucket full of dookey on a saturday afternoon in Arkansas!!" I miss Keith Jackson on the telecasts these days. He should be allowed to do one game a year.
What is a "holy cow"? Phil Rizzuto called people 'Huckleberries'. Do people really get their "ankles broken" playing basketball. If you having a "maalox moment " then you need to be on the toilet. Chick Hearn equated a certain victory with the jello jiggling and eggs cooling in the refrigerator. So many quotes, so many memories ..

where the black people at?

When you turn on any sporting event these days do you ever see black faces in the crowd? The NBA has its celebrities in the front row and some of them are black. Spike Lee is at most Knick home games. Will Smith will be at 76er games. Denzell is a Laker fan, Nelly owns a piece of the Cavaliers and he is at games involving good teams. Jay-z does the same for the Nets. Isn't it sad that i could name the faces in the crowd? Now on most football teams, the celebs are in a press box and if they are a former player, they may end up on the sidelines. But what about average Joe and Jane? Ticket prices are not outrageous. Maybe the camera pans only at specific shots. The T&A shot created in the 60's is still live and well today. Isn't that how Pam Anderson got discovered?
When the NBA instituted this rule that mandated that its players dress business casual I immediately thought that is was a slap at cultural diversity. When i heard that basically David Stern wanted to send a message to the fans of the league that this is business, I laughed my head off. Then i realized that he had a point. He felt that these people are basically paying the salaries of these players and they wanted to see a millionaire basketball dress like he took his wealth seriously. Throwback jerseys though cool and trendy, may cost as much as a two-piece suit but not good enough for the people doing most of the consuming of the product. The NFL players usually take the dress thing to the nines. Have you ever seen Ray Lewis without his suit and hat on before a game? When I was in High school, we wore a jacket and tie if we had on the road to games. We looked good and usually played well.
So where are the black people? I tell you where we are. We are at home watching the games. You know why? Who represents us? In baseball, the decline of the black players is rapid and steady. In the 70's and 80's most teams had at least 35-40 percent blacks on them. It seemed that each team had an up and coming player or the next "Willie Mays" type player. Last season in the Major Leagues 6 black starting pitchers in the entire major leagues. The Major League All star game this year had only 4 or 5 representatives from both leagues combined. The Latino population in baseball has grown exponentially. Most Major league rosters have twice as many Latin players than black players. All teams seem to have a headquarters in the Dominican Republic or somewhere in Latin America spreading the baseball doctrine. Little league fields are being turned into soccer fields and football fields. Football and Basketball have made all of their front row or good seating available to corporations and celebrities. I sat on the floor at a Clippers game 5 years ago and felt better than special. I got to eat and drink all i wanted and me friend Dave and I walked over to the Pistons bench during a timeout and discussed plans for the evening with Rick Mahorn and Grant Hill. I went to see the Giants play the Chargers down in San Diego and the good seats were for the families and corporate sponsors. Now I had juice back in the day and I so I was getting a lot of quality seats when i went to Lakers Games at the Forum. I even met Wayne Gretzky when the Kings played the Rangers in Gretzky first game against the Kings as a Ranger. I promise you there were no black faces in the crowd there either. I felt special...
So until all of the sports realize that I have money too, I will stay home with the rest of my brethren and get fat and watch the games on my 52 inch television.

east coast bias??? what is that?

What I love most about being out here on the West Coast is listening to the bitterness people have about the east coast in sports. Can we help it? All of the major sports teams that matter most are located on the east coast. The NBA sucks if the Celtics aren't good. The Major League Baseball sucks if the Yankees or Red Sox stink in baseball. Even if the Mets suck baseball sucks for me. In football, when the Giants matter, the NFL is better. Despite what all of the Cowboy and Patriot fans think. In hockey, the 1994 playoff run by the Rangers put hockey on the map in this country. Detroit may win every year, but I guarantee you that if the Rangers win the cup this season, ESPN will buy the hockey package back because it will be devastated that it allowed their championship run go uncovered. The Lakers and the USC Trojans are the only show out here. Every year USC loses a winnable game and takes them out of the national championship picture. Kobe Bryant keeps the Lakers relevant out here even if he doesn't win championships because he is compelling t.v. He is the closest person to emulate Micheal Jordan so people enjoy watching his rise and fall. A month ago, the Red Sox and Angels played a game in Boston and the umpire seemed to be intimidated to make a call and it cost the Angels the game. Right after the game someone from the Angels said that the know of two parks where umpires wouldn't make that call. He didn't specify but we know he meant Boston and New York. Though he may right and based on what we have seen in the post season with bad calls helping the Yankees win a couple of games, what can we say. When the Bulls were winning championships, most people felt that they got a lot of calls that benefited them. Micheal Jordan only fouled out of one playoff game to my knowledge. Nowadays, people are saying that the university of Florida is getting that treatment. The two bogus calls against Arkansas that helped put Florida in position to win Saturday have people talking down south.
I guess the lesson here is win championships or have the media centers in the country located on your neck of the woods and then you can dictate to the world what you want. The fact that A-rod is delivering really shuts up people all over he country. When Mark Sanchez was winning for the Jets, he was the second coming of Joe Namath. In fact CBS out here has aired every New York Jet game this season. I know Sanchez went to USC, but the Chargers and Raiders play out here too. I know most of you think that I am biased being from New york and basically just trumpeted the New york area teams like a cheerleader, but you know what i say to be true. Even right now as the New york Knicks are struggling, the NBA is wishing that somehow some way that the Knicks can somehow win enough games to make the playoff. Or They are hoping that next season the Knicks could sign either Lebron James or Dwanye Wade. Amare Stoudamire would look great in a Knick uniform. The papers in New York would have a field day. The old joke about the east coast bias was based on the fact that many of the newspaper reporters would not stay up and watch the ends of games on the west coast so they seemed only interested in sports on the east side. Then Earvin "Magic" Johnson took over the west coast in basketball. Wayne Gretzky became a King and people began caring about west coast hockey Ken Griffey Jr. made me care about the west coast sports scene in baseball. Joe Montana and Jerry Rice made the west coast relevant in football after the Raiders started to flounder. Great players have been out here and have made the west coast relevant but i will take the energy and passion of the east coast any day of the week..

when do you blame a coach or manager for a loss?

As I listen and read all of the rhetoric emanating from last nights loss by the Yankees, I ask myself if the people who write newspapers or talk on talk shows really believe what they say and write? Joe Girardi made a few too many moves yesterday according to most pundents around the country yesterday and he actually cost his team the game. I blogged weeks ago about the Joe Torre school of managing games late. Joe G. is a disciple of Joe Torre and some say that his style last night was more like Tony LaRussa because of the notebook preparation he had on all of the hitters on the Angels. In my opinion regardless of whose style it was the pitcher should have been able to retire a .211 hitter and send the game to the 12Th inning and beyond. I never blame a baseball manger for a loss. Unlike basketball and football, so many less elements are involved in a baseball game than in the other sports. Girardi went to talk to Andy Petite and on the next pitch he gave up a home run. To me that is fate. Now taking a pitcher out who was having success and bringing one in playing the percentages is again fate. Can a manager over manage a situation? Yes. They usually have their reasons for doing what the did. I will explain. In football, if your team is down 34-17 at halftime of a game and you come out and try to run the ball down 17 points like the giants did on Sunday, you ask yourself why are we doing this when we need 17 points to catch this team that appears to be unstoppable. I question the logic of any coach who would do that because you need 3 more possessions just to catch up, and as anyone knows the clock runs more when you run the ball because when you pass and is incomplete, the clock stops. In baseball, if you believe that a pitching change is warranted, you have to be certain of what you are doing and stick with it. There is no going backwards in baseball. You cannot change your mind after one pitch. What is done is done. The Yankees took Johnny Damon out of the game in favor of Jerry Hairston. Damon a better hitter and natural outfielder may have positioned himself better to catch that ball that fell and allowed the winning run to score. We will never know. In football, you have an opportunity to correct mistakes but too many "ifs" have to happen. If your defense then stops the team and you are still at the same score and then you start to pass you may be able to get back into the game. Also in basketball and football, you can diagram plays that you can make that will give the success you are after. In baseball you can set up plays and situations but a lot things have to happen. So in short, Joe Girardi knows that if the Yankees have all of their all star players hit home run in a game, they should not lose it. And when the newspaper is looking for a scapegoat for a manager playing a hunch or percentages, the manager will be at fault for the loss. I blame Coughlin for the loss by the Giants. The Jets and Bills had perfect defensive game plans that allowed them both to stay in the games with the Saints and the Giants essentially had three weeks to prepare for the game. Everyone has injuries.. Running the ball down by 17 to start the half is ridiculous.

who knew...

Every Saturday and Sunday i am glued to the television watching as much football as i can. I think I know as much as the guys and gals who are getting paid to do what they do and i am often asking myself, "who Knew"? Let me give you an example, Who knew that Jay Cutler would be a franchise quarterback based on his college career? Vanderbilt won like 10 games in his entire career there and somehow that got him to be a 1st round draft pick. I watched him play twice his last year at college and he threw as many interceptions as completions in a the games. Yet he is a multi-million dollar quarterback and he has developed into a star. Some of my favorite who knew people are Ryan Leaf, Emmit Smith, Eli Manning, Steve Emtman, Jerry Rice and of course Lawrence Taylor. All of these for different reasons. Leaf and Emtmann for the short careers that they had. Rice, Smith and Taylor for really not having amazing college resumes and becoming the greatest layers of their positions of all time. Eli for winning a Super Bowl so early in his career showing ability that i never saw in college. Emtmann was going to revolutionize the game. He could not be blocked in college at all. So my million dollar question is how do these scouts and personnel people know what they are seeing out there. Is it experience or is it a lucky draw.
I can give several examples of players who were nobody in college and somehow someway are stars in the pros. Tom Brady was a 6th round pick by the Patriots and has 3 rings on his finger.The number 1 draft pick that year was Courtney Brown... He was a great college player from Penn St. and has had a sad career playing in Cleveland. How about Terrell Davis another 6th round pick? Ki-Jana Carter was the first running back selected. He got injured on the first hand off of his pro career and bounced around the league after that. I am not taking shots at the higher drafted player, I am just wondering why don't the people we expect to be stars in the pros pan out to be stars. The New Orleans Saints has Reggie Bush on their team. He has more highlight plays in college than anyone i have ever seen. He is on the field less than 45 percent of the times that the saints have the ball. Kurt Warner is going to the Hall of Fame. He went from being a bagger at a local super market to the Super Bowl. He wasn't drafted. In1994, Heath Shuler and Trent Dilfer was drafted. Dilfer won a super Bowl but not as the star but as a game manager for the Ravens. Shuler made a lot of money and never amounted to much as a Redskin. Now he is politician.
What has had gotten me on this rant is everyday I keep hearing about the upcoming draft and where these future stars are going to end up. When i see guys like Tony Romo, Joe Flacco, Ryan Fitzpatrick leading NFL teams it makes me wonder about where do these scouts find the talent. It seems like it is bad to play on a winning college team. Matt Leinart was a god in college and so was Vince Young. They are now cheerleaders. Drew Brees and Kyle Orton were great in college but did not have any signature wins. Some one please explain the formula to me.... Peyton Manning is an aberration. Brett Favre had one great win over Florida St. Now he is the statistical greatest quarter back of all time. Matt Ryan was good in college... is he the next star... who knew..

Whose life is it..

I remember during my 20 years stint at UMASS- AMHERST watching the a college game and I cant remember if it was a senior bowl or the annual Ohio St. and Michigan tilt, watching the safety from Michigan Vada Murray get injured in the game when Michigan had the game in hand. I remember Bob Griese talking about how it would be tragic if the young man's career is over thus costing him a chance to make millions. He never played in the NFL and to my knowledge he never played in Canada either. Watching Sam Bradford get dumped on his bad shoulder on saturday, i couldnt help but think of Vada Murray. Murray was an all-american player who could do it all on the field. Look how high he is on this block field goal attempt scary.. Sam Bradford would have been the number 1 player taken in the draft last year some people say. He most certainly would have been next year but he came back to college to try and win a national championship for his university. I respect that but what role does a coach have in telling a student athleet to stay or go?
When Shaquille Oneal was at LSU, his coach Dale Brown told Shaq to go pro because he felt that the other teams in the conference was going to injure him. There had been several incidents where opposing players were excessive fouling Shaq and in a game against Tennesse Brown had had enough and ran on the court to restrain Shaq from retaliating against this over- matched player. They were fouling him to make him shoot foul shots and taking the fun out of the game for Oneal who would have been the 1st overall pick in the draft in the previous season. Even though LSU never did much in the big tournament during Shaq's time there Coach Brown did the right thing by telling him to go get paid. Dean Smith told Micheal to get paid. Sam Bradford is getting a lot of heat because he came back and no one really knows if he got advice to stay in school or go pro. Colt McCoy announced during the season last year he was returning so we will never know if he had any advice. Tim Tebow probably heard from every armchair quarterback that he was not ready for the pros and stayed in school to make his legacy even bigger than it is. When he had that concussion two weeks ago everyone in Florida had a heart attack. Coach Bob Stoops is getting criticized for poorly advising Bradford when Bradford should have gone pro this year. Now Bradford has one more year of eligibilty left and could come back next year. Should Coach Stoops push him out the door? I think he should. You go to college to find a career. Whether it is medicine, sports, arbor culture, you go to school to find a future. Unlike college basketball which has rules that i find ridiuclous, a college football player has to be in his 3rd year of college or over 20. The college basketball rule says 19 or over. Then everyone chimes in about dying for your country at 18 and being able to make a living. Then i go crazy... Coaches should be on the phone trying to look out for the best interest for their players period. The coach is usually the closest thing to a parent they should protect the players from themselves and provide the best advice possible. Football is a violent sport where players get hurt all of the time. No one could have forseen this disaater and i am surprised that an insurance policy wasn't taken out before the season for him, McCoy or Tebow. There several players that have these dilemmas each season. Mark Sanchez did not listen to his college coach and went pro. He is living the dream and despite his performance yesterday, has been playing quite well. Maurice Claret and Mike Williams tried to go pro against the wishes of their coaches and universities and they are both out of the league. Claret got drafted much later than he expected and is doing a bit in prison right now. Williams got fat played sparingly and is out of the league. Williams is a tragedy because he really was a man amongst boys on the field. He just was too young. Claret thought he was the equivalent to Lebron James and really got bad advice. Nothing is certain in life. The horrible tragedy of the cornerback from Connecticut being stabbed over the weekend should serve as a reminder that life is short and play hard. and get paid...

get that monkey off my back

When I hear a broadcaster say a player has to get that monkey of his back, I think about all of the great athletes, men and women who absolutely hate that expression. When Steve Young won the Super Bowl in 1994 and NFL Films captures him saying "will somebody get this monkey off my back", and Gary Plummer obliged him, I actually got a bit emotional. He had a great career but he will never replace Joe Montana in the hearts and minds of the 49ers. He threw 6 touchdowns in the game so he not only got the monkey his back he walked him out of the park. Ray Bourque winning the cup with the Avalanche got the monkey his back. Peyton Manning winning his Super Bowl. Kobe winning without Shaq got his monkey of back. When Danica Patrick finally won a race, the monkey got run over by her car.
As the postseason advances, we will hear until our ears about A-rod has a huge monkey on his back. Even if he gets big hits in games, if the Yankees do not win the World Series the monkey will stay on A-Rod's back. He is the most tragic figure in sports today.
There are others who are in his category. Dinara Safina was the number 1 player in women's until last week. She is a constant figure in the finals and semi-finals of many tournaments over the past two seasons. For some reason she melts down under the glare of the big lights. Dale Earnhardt Jr. was supposed to be the next great diver and he has not won a race in two years and is falling of the map. The Chicago Cubs is the franchise that has the biggest monkeys on their backs. The Vikings and Bills are football biggest monkey carriers. Tracy Mcgrady is the monkey porter in the NBA. He has never gotten out of the first round of the playoffs. The one year that his team makes the second round, he is injured. He is constantly ridiculed for comments he made in a playoff series when the Orlando Magic played the Detroit Pistons. Sergio Garcia is the Golf world's monkey porter. He has been touted as the games next mega star for years and has fallen behind some of his contemporaries. He is treated like a brat for some of his behavior issues and his "waggles".
It must be so painful to see young players come into a sport and win either right away or within a couple of years. Eli Manning and Big Ben winning rings in the early days of their career. Tiger Woods, Venus and Serena Williams, winning majors early in your career. Derek Jeter and Ryan Howard in baseball must make A-Rod go crazy. Ryan Howard is a freak. He continues to do well in the post season for the Phillies.
My advice is just win baby and be like Albert Pujols. His postseason numbers are quite pedestrian but he has a ring and no one can take that away from him. A better example may be Chris Moneymaker in poker. He wins the main event and hasn't come close since to winning anything since. All of the big name guys tease him but he just puts his ring in their face and that usually shuts them all up. So good luck to A-Rod, T-mac, Sergio, Dinara, and Dale Jr. we will keep watching. Phil Ivey your day will come too.....