Three...eh maybe four or five and your out.

The nfl this week has started serious talks with the players union about enforcing strict penaltys against players that cross that line of lewd or violent conduct. The straw that broke the camels back was apparantly mr. pac man jones nba all star weekend that included taking eighty-one thousand dollars into a strip club in a trash bag and ended with someone in his entorage shooting someone else. This has apparantly started a public relations barrage from the nfl's head office, Roger Goddel the comissh has started this whole three strikes proposition and it looks like the players union is behind it with a whole lot o' hot air. So here is the question, what is the definition of a strike and how does one qualify for one? I mean obviously if you do something direct, like drink and drive that should be one; but what about if somone you're with acts up, are you now also responsible for their actions as well? This seems to me to be a little hard to define. I think that the idea is good behind this but a little hard to determine the actual definition of what is improper. Did chris henry deserve a strike for riding in a car with someone who was under the influence even though he was not? The reality is a hard pill for most to swallow, that the nfl does have its good guys, but, there are a lot of thugs that live a wild crazy lifestyle in this game. It is a warriors game, and that does not excuse a person for their actions, but it does in the end lead to more violent tendencies off the field. Always has, more so than the other leagues. So before we all jump on the bandwagon and say that pac man is this, and pac man is that, just remember that it is very difficult to monitor all the people around you in the fastlane of the nfl sometimes. This will also be interesting to watch to see if it tests the oldest of sports unwritten rules, if you can play and are a high quality player on the field...no matter what...in the end you'll get another chance.

The curse of the texans

It has been recently reported that the Houston Texans are considering trading quarterback David Carr if the right offer is there going into this years draft. The abundance of quality qb prospects in their drafting region ( yeah...its the top five ) have obviously influenced this thinking. Oh, really texans? You think you should maybe look at taking a quarterback? Well that is brilliant. But i think people were saying that...ummm..maybe last year. In a move that will probably go down as one of the worst draft decisions in history, the texans passed last year on not only reggie bush but vince young. Collectively one and two in the rookie of the year voting. Last year when even the subject of replacing carr was brought up they took a very defensive stance ,literally, and refused to listen to reason and picked Mario Williams...yeah nice pick. It seemed so natural, young a Houston native and star of the college championship game was right there for the taking and if not him then regggie bush, if they did that people could hardly fault them. But they didn't. There was all the draft hype of the terrible score of Young's wonderlik test about how one train going one direction at this speed, and one going another at that speed, and at what time does train b get to destination x. Yeah that test was obviously thrown out the window right about the time that vince took a terrible team and almost made the playoffs. I mean i really felt bad for the Houston fans when he goes in there last year and runs thirty nine yards for an in your face win. The whole stadium just kind of sat there and looked frozen and horrified. But you know what, this piece isn't really about a told ya so to the texans, as it is more a tribute to the dumb draft moves of all time...oh wait, yes it is...texans you now have the current title of stupidest move by a franchise in recent years. Good luck.

So who do you like....Oden or Durant with the top pick.

This year in college basketball there are actually two players who have the potential to make a big impact with any NBA team that drafts them first, Kevin Durant out of Texas and of course Greg Oden from Ohio State. The debate has started, and this is very interesting because of the magnitude of the selection for each franchise. Of course the person sitting in the second spot doesn't have the pressure because they'll just take the other one, but, in this one you have the big man versus the tall versatile scorer. In Oden you have not just any big man but, a very athletic even keel big man who we haven't even seen how good he can be in collage because he has played most of the season with a broken hand. He has also taken to using his off hand in free throws, a feat not necessarily seen in centers these days....ahem...um you hear that shaq? Oh, and he's a seven footer, yeah, a true seven footer who plays great defense and rebounds...that's all. Now Durant, he is six foot nine and can score from anywhere...i mean anywhere. He shoots with great accuracy from outside and is a fast slashing force at all ends of the court. He simply dominates the game while reminding people of a kevin garnett/tracy mcgrady type player. So who do you go with? Both players are freshmen by the way so they will just get better and better theoreticaly. I dont know, i am leaning a little on the durant side just because he looks so nice right now but, i mean, how do you pass up the big man? It will be a hard choice either way..and a decision that impacts a franchise for years to come.

Come on C's it's been a long time...

The Boston Celtics just recorded their franchise record sixteenth straight (and counting going into fridays game) loss this season. What a slide that is for one of the leagues greatest franchises, i mean what is going on here boys? They have had time, ample time, to eventually get some semblance of a competitive team together. There was a time....ehh..about ten years ago where the ol Len Bias excuse had some credibility, and then there was the untimely death of Reggie Lewis that hurt the C's. I wonder, has the Boston curse simply shifted forms...and now resides in the generic fleet center? Maybe the spirits are angry about leaving the garden? Oh sure, that would be convenient...but the reality is that even when they just missed getting Tim Duncan by one pick in the draft things just have not worked out for the c's. I feel bad...like i should do something for this franchise. I have grown up a lifelong laker fan, even though being born in Boston should make me a die hard celtic fan....i mean i grew up with the bird era...but unfortunately the lakers were too flashy and fantastic with Magic for me to look anywhere else.
So i do feel for them, i mean dammit the league itself needs this team! What a sad state it is when the knicks, celts, sixers, all the old great franchises are just stuck...stuck in a downward pull of nowheresville. The celts do have some promise, they have added a lot of youth and are the youngest team in the league, Sebastian Telfair, Gerald Green, Al Jefferson to name a few. But so what, to me the biggest mistake they made in recent years was not respecting birds savvy as a basketball executive and letting him go back to Indiana and set up shop with the pacers. I mean for a while i guess i did enjoy them struggling for one reason or another but now after what, fifteen odd years of sucking...its time to get a winner in there. Maybe in a few years we will see some of that youth pay off, and this post will seem irrelevant, not like it isn't anyway, and all will be ok for the celts. I hope so, because all i know is that it has been a long time since the celts have been relevant. So lets go c's im rooting for you now, in my own weird don't really care way...because, and i quote the former attempted celtic coach Ric Patino, "Larry Bird ain't walking through that door...Robert Parrish, Kevin Mcale ain't walking through that door folks.."
Indeed they are not.

Amechi's out..tyson's going in..and can someone feed artests dog

In accordance with his book release recently John Amechi, the six foot ten former NBA center out of Penn state, has announced his coming out party. He is the only NBA player ever, past or present, to formally announce that fact. This is quite a bold and admirable move in a sports culture that doesn't exactly want to hear these things. Sports as a whole doesn't exactly deny that there have been gay athletes over the years, but they certainly don't want them to take center stage...after all imagine the ole' good play tap with a little extra squeezing of the charmin...for shame. But, i guess he should be applauded or something, no other athlete i can remember has taken such a public stance as this, to be rumored is one thing but to stand up and say publicly something that is so taboo is another.
Also in the news this week is the report that Mike Tyson has reportedly checked into a drug rehab center to counteract the arrest he had on felony drug charges..bravo Tyson that is bound to work. He was quoted as saying that he uses cocaine "whenever he can get his hands on it." Well since he cant seem to get his hands on anyone else in a fight, he obviously is in that post fight stage in his life that seems to me might be much more dangerous for him than any Las Vegas ten round night. Good luck mike, and good luck with that tonga war tattoo on your face when you're sixty...if you make it there.
Animal service officers recently seized the great dane of NBA star and notorious scrap happy Ron Artest this week. Neighbors apparently complained for weeks that the dog appeared starving and noticeably neglected. So, after a weeks notice, the animal cops show up and take the dog away. So upset by this matter (could you imagine how far it would have to go for neighbors to notice let alone take action) that the gated community has a plan to vote on new guidelines that would require homeowners to properly care for their animals. Ok sure, so it might be a case of people in a gated community looking out their windows and nothing better to do. But, come on artest, you wake up in your mansion and slop some gravy train down in marmadukes bowl...its not that hard...what an idiot.
Finally, this story is the ultimate show of either stupidity or maybe just maybe the worlds only true die hard fan, you decide. Scott Wiese a 26 year old bears fan told friends that his beloved bears would absolutely win the super bowl. If, in a show of idiocy, his bears did not win he would change his name to Peyton Manning. He even signed a petition at Katz piano bar in Decatur last week in front of two hundred people to drive his point home. Well as we all know sadly for scotty his bears lost, and so just like any dutiful fan would do...right...he trudged to the Macon Co. courts facility to file the paperwork..atta boy scotty...you just earned yourself the stupidest fan move of the year...congratulations. Hey everybody ( in dufus manning voice) I'm peyton manning)...

The superbowl, rex grossman, and othe ramblings

The super bowl took place this weekend and just in case you missed it, the colts defeated the bears by just a little more than the spread..and the colts in the process shook the ol proverbial monkey off the back of Peyton, Dungy, and the whole Indy colts franchise. Well let me be the first to congratulate the colts because they have always been there, but, always just fall a little short. Well not this time, as the colts looked like the team that is now just as much power as they are finesse....and let me just say that i was wrong about tony dungy...ok..i was wrong, he coached a great game and has always led his team with quiet excellence, so cheers to you. Grossman, where do i start here...has some semblance of talent...but when the time comes to deliver, he not only doesn't come up with anything positive he looks darn right silly out there sometimes. Look he has a great arm and is young enough to rebound and i think go on from this, but, all I'm saying is that maybe we've seen his ceiling.. i mean maybe that's as good as it gets with him.
Now on to Peyton manning...he has now cemented his place in the upper level quarterbacks of history. Right up there with Elwa, Montana, Unitas, Marino, all the greats. He shakes off all that stat guy label stuff with one big win, and dare i say it Brady fans, didn't he just creep a little closer or maybe even pass your beloved Brady? Well most importantly he can at least enter in to those discussions..
Once again i ran into the superbowl this year with all the expectations of a fantastic unbelievable extravaganza, and what i got is bloated, bored and disappointed. It always seems like the game itself just never lives up to the hype, and maybe that is in the end it's curse. The game itself i always look forward to and then it just seems to fizzle out, and this one with all the friggin rain....oh yeah, it rained the whole game, was another in the long line of superbowl flops in my book. So when the time comes and it lives up to the expectations i will capitalize the game known as the superbowl.

The man without emotion

There have been all these opinions in the press this week about how wonderful it would be if Tony Dungy wins and gets the proverbial monkey off his back...the general consensus is that it couldn't happen to a better man...one of the class acts of the nfl....a true gentleman....and apparently, when i watch him at least, not an emotional bone in his body.
What is this creature? Has he no passion? I have seen him interviewed many times and i don't know....sure he might be reasonably unoffensive but so is bryant gumbal....and i don't want him to lead me either..
When i watched him over the years in press conferences it was strange because, if you didn't know the score of the game, or watch any of the highlights, you would never know who won the game by the way he acted....like a long slow monotone lecture class....it could put you right to sleep..
It is true that he did smile after the afc championship win....wowie...i dont know about you but i like my football coaches with a little fire in his britches...could you imagine the quiet recommendation he might give to you after a mistake you make in a game...or maybe he'll just avoid it all together and give you an impassive look....ooh man hey tony are you upset that your team just lost the super bowl? Probably not or maybe he is....hmm i just cant tell.

You've got to get sportsaskew back, dude.

Beware the underdog

Well this is my first official post on my bloggie so im prettty excited about it...if nothing else it should improve my typing skills.....
Everyone seems to be talking about peyton manning this, and peyton manning that....well i got news for ya afc band wagon its going to be a lot closer than you think...everyone has doubted the bears all season, and i am not a big bears supporter by any means but i do love the underdog in general in sports. All the great coaches make their teams at least think they are the disrespected, no one thinks you can do it, they said this about you type team...even when billicheck has won three superbowls he still always plays this card...and why is it so effective?
Well its kind of obvious, these hulking neanderthals need a little something to take the edge off of the pressure of the big game...why not tell them that no one thinks you can do something...it has the effect of focusing and angering the frank-un steens...im not saying that all football players are some sling blades but i just mean that it is a game of aggression, look at the florida ohio state game for example, i know it was in college....Look at the steelers run last year, freed from the burden of the favorite tag they were loose enough to ride the u-card all the way last year... the underdog card is the strongest motivator in sports... so pressure builds for mr manning and the bears, and there are some big fast guys on that side, just keep listening.