The ESP End?

I didn't think it was possible, but I'm pretty sure I'm growing tired of ESPN. The triviality of some of the things they decide to cover is getting ridiculous. Certainly, almost any news having to do with sports is pretty trivial, but I sometimes cringe at their willingness to make a story out of anything. Or nothing, really. Recently, they spent a large portion of the day discussing a hug. The details don't matter. They were analyzing a hug. I'm serious, a hug.

They'll even magically make a story out of whether or not a story should be a story. When Ben Roethlisberger was "caught" by a cell phone camera going out to a bar with his offensive linemen the week leading up to the Super Bowl, they showed the pictures all day and the story was actually whether or not it should be a story. But, when they have a good character and can turn sports into a soap opera, they'll use any opportunity to do so.

They also used to show things called highlights and stats. A pretty novel idea for its time. Now, the highlights are simply used to further the storyline they've decided to focus on and the stats don't do much to help, so they get left out. I know I can go online to get all the stats I want, but I'm already looking at something that is supposed to deliver sports information, so deliver me some actual information.

When it comes down to it, ESPN's focus has shifted from usually showing sports to mostly talking about sports as promotion for the rare time when they actually do show sports.

Some of the personalities bother me too. And Skip Bayless is about the biggest culprit. I actually used to like him. But, his head growth would make Barry Bonds jealous and his inability to ever consider the mere notion that he might possibly be wrong is simply astounding. He would argue the sky was green until he was blue in the face. And rather than actually debate people, he rotates through a group of reporters willing to concede to his reasoning in order to appear on the show.

Also, Chris Berman. Nothing more need be said.

The forced infusion of pop culture in the SportsCenter anchors' references has also gone a little too far. John Buccigross is the worst. Dude, we know you know the names of the lead singers of some mildly eclectic music groups. We get it. Please stop.

Beyond the shows themselves, the way they pick and choose what becomes a story also irks me. They are pretty much the only source for sports information on television so they really have the ultimate power to decide what becomes news. They can look down a list of things that happened and pick what to cover and, of course, they pick based on what is best for them, not the viewers.

Their selective coverage of NASCAR, something they broadcast, is an example of this. It's a personality-driven sport that's not strong enough to survive if its main personalities have tarnished images. So, ESPN doesn't cover the personal lives of the drivers as closely as they cover the personalities of other sports. You can't tell me a 22-year old, millionaire race car driver doesn't do some of the same things that an NBA player would be severely criticized for. But, they don't seem to get the same kind of scrutiny.

On the other hand, they cover athletes in major college programs and the big three sports like high-profile celebrities because those sports are popular and established enough to survive their athletes having a bad image. People would still watch the NFL if most of the players got out of jail the morning before. Or, fought dogs to the death as a hobby.

I do still enjoy some shows on ESPN and watch them daily. Shows like Pardon the Interruption, Around the Horn, Sportsnation, and others like them. They are still about the escapism in sports and don't treat it like actual news. It's still about the fun and enjoyment.

I guess ESPN has just fallen victim to the 24-hour news cycle; another outlet needing to fill time with any story they can find or, more often, any story they can make. I like the old days (is that a gray hair?) when they replayed the same thirty minute SportsCenter from 6-am to noon and then followed that with some motocross or surfing. Those were the days. Now, we have constant live coverage of something that hasn't happened yet and "breaking news" when it does.

Just show me some tape-delay powerboat racing for goodness sake.

Reggie the King

After staring blankly in a state of shock, I've finally been able to come to grips with it. Or, begin to. It's been rough so far. The weight of this new reality pressing down on me. It's almost too much effort to lift my head. The thought is still unreal. I can just stare at the ground and shake my head...

The joy. The triumph. The heartbreak. The amazement. He gave it all. Defying all odds and silencing thousands. Bowing to the crowd as boos cascaded down from every direction. Soaking it all in. Reveling in the hatred for him.

He knows they only hate him for what he's done. With a callous heart he's broken theirs. Time and time again. Enjoying it more each time.

He turned dreams into nightmares...

His foil was his greatest inspiration. To watch him suffer brought him joy. To stare him in the face and watch the gloom wash over it. To see his heart broken. That's why he did it. That's why he loved it...

Reggie Miller. The king. The record may not be his, but the title remains. The timing and the pressure. The killer instinct. The shear brutality of his cold-blooded shots. His three-pointers raining down like bombs bringing destruction to an entire city's dreams. The net exploding with each swish. The crowd erupting in agonizing moans and then falling silent. That's what fed him. And he was hungry...

More than just three points, his shots meant the elation of one city and the utter depression of another. His threes squashed hope. His threes brought opponents to their knees, head in hands, all hope lost. His threes made people either love him or hate him. But, most of all, his threes made us watch with bated breath.

And for some of us, they made him a hero. A hero who took a small town team and thrust them into the national spotlight by taking on the mighty Knicks. He brought down Goliath with his own form of that famous weapon. His arms his sling and the ball his rock. From long range he struck again and again with a fury unseen. Until the giant had fallen...

Raise your arms in triumph, Reggie...For you are still the king.

Basketball Makes the Heart Grow Fonder

As I watched college basketball last Saturday, I was reminded why I like the BCS. Of course, the BCS has its flaws and it's by no means a perfect system, but it makes the regular season important. I don't even really care to watch college basketball until March Madness. Well, I do enjoy regular season games and will watch them if they're on, but at the same time I know they don't really mean that much. Even if it's a great game between two great teams, it doesn't really matter who wins. The regular season's only real purpose is to seed for the tournament and the excitement they try to build around "bubble" teams is pretty pointless as well. Besides the occasional cinderella, a team that barely made the tournament isn't going very far, much less win it all. They could just substitute them for any other mediocre team and nobody would really care or notice. In fact, I'd prefer they play about ten to fifteen games just to gauge the teams and then have the tournament. Maybe even just go straight to the conference tournaments. It'd save a lot of tedium.

For sure, the college football regular season would still be much more exciting than college basketball, if only because of fewer games, but a playoff would drastically dampen the intensity. As it is now, every game matters in football and every win or loss can make or break a season. A game in the first few weeks can be the most important game of the season. College basketball doesn't really have an important game in the regular season. At least not a single game that can mean success or disaster for a team. In college football, that's every game. Every single week matters. Every play matters.

Having a playoff wouldn't really stop people from feeling like their team got slighted either. Only so many teams would be in the playoff and some would get left out. It'd be a whole new debate. Then it'd get expanded so more and more teams would be let in and then eventually their regular season would only be slightly less meaningless than college basketball's.

I'm not sure it'd even crown a "true" champion either. Admittedly, there would be much more consensus, but fans would still be able to find a way to argue that their team was deserving of a better chance, or even that their team was better than the champion. For example, say USC beat both Oregon and Notre Dame during the regular season and they did so pretty easily. However, all three teams still make the playoffs. Due to seeding, USC plays Notre Dame in the first round. After being blown out in the first meeting, Notre Dame barely beats USC to knock them out of the playoffs. Then, Notre Dame and Oregon end up in the championship game and Oregon wins. Two teams that were blown out by USC during the regular season are playing for the championship. But, based on the regular season results it would be hard to argue that Oregon is a better team than USC. But, Oregon won the tournament so they are the "true" champion, even if they are arguably not the best team.

In fact, as it is, the BCS is a playoff system in a way. It's basically a double-elimination tournament. Plus, it's not like in a traditional playoff every team has to play every other team so that's not a requirement to crown a "true" champion. Nobody seems to complain about the lack of a playoff during the regular season. People, of course, want it both ways. They want to keep the intensity of the regular season and have a playoff. That's not how things work, though.

Another plus of the bowl system is the bowl themselves. People will say we can keep the bowls and still have a playoff, but it wouldn't be the same. Is the NIT any real consolation for not making the NCAA tournament? Plus, even with a playoff, a team that loses more than a few games wouldn't really have a chance to win it all. But, with the bowl system, teams get rewarded at the end of the season even if they have no chance to win the championship. Sometimes even getting to a bowl is reward enough for a team. With a playoff system, they'd be outsiders playing meaningless games. A playoff system would be even more exclusionary than the BCS because it would take the meaning out of a bowl victory for a school just happy to be there.

So, I like the BCS system because I don't want the football regular season to become the basketball regular season. Basketball's regular season is simply a prelude to the postseason. The games don't really matter. Not compared to football, at least. In football, the regular season pretty much is the postseason. Every game can mean the end of your championship run. But, hope is not lost because a loss by another team can put you right back in it. It's a three month emotional roller coaster and I enjoy the ride every year. If you love college football's regular season, then you love the BCS.

Too Obvious to be Oblivious?

To be honest, I don't really know what to make of the Cam Newton situation. It's been pretty well determined that his father shopped him around, but the only school that's been proven guilty is one he never went to. He left Florida to basically avoid expulsion after getting caught cheating academically. Then, he attended Blinn Junior College and was extremely successful on the football field. It was there that Cam's father, Cecil, negotiated with people with ties to Mississippi State about paying him for his son to go there. It was ultimately decided however, for reasons unknown, that his son would go to Auburn.

It's hard to imagine that Auburn got him for free. But, nothing's been proven. Even if something is proven, the NCAA seems to have inexplicably set the precedent that as long Cam doesn't know about it, he is eligible. However, I would think that if he didn't know at the time, but does know now, then that would make him culpable. And how could he not know? I can imagine him not knowing before his father's actions became public, but I can't imagine him not remembering things or tying events together after he found out. If he didn't downright ask. The only way he would not know is if he didn't want to know. It would be the Ken Lay defense and it's not a very good one.

It seems like his father is the bad guy in this situation. And he is. But, he's not the only bad guy. He exploited a corrupt system. He knew what he was doing was wrong and everyone involved knew the same. It may have been a common occurrence that just got brought to daylight, but that doesn't excuse it or make it less wrong. A corrupt system can never be blamed for individuals making bad decisions. Corrupt systems exist because of many people making many bad decisions and using it as an excuse only serves to perpetuate it. So, Cecil Newton has to be painted as a bad character in this situation, but so do many other people. But, I guess the only real question is whether or not Cam Newton is one of them.

To answer that, there are only two possibilities. One is that he knows absolutely nothing. He did what his father told him and never asked questions. His father did an exquisite job of keeping it quiet and never slipped up or let on to anything. That is the only solution in which Cam could be cleared. But, unless Cecil is a former CIA agent and Cam just isn't that bright, it seems pretty unlikely.

The only other possibility is that he knew. Either he knew something was going on but just never asked, or he knew all along. Even if he didn't want to be part of it and avoided knowing anything, or if his father protected him from it and ensured that he knew nothing, he still must've known there was something going on. To think that his father could be found guilty of offering him up for sale to one school and then let him go to another for free is pretty hard to imagine. And it seems like Cam must realize that too.

Well, I did leave out one solution. It's the one in which Cecil asked for money from one school and then sent his son to another school for free. But that's not really a possibility, is it?

I also can't figure out how I feel about Cam Newton. If he's simply a pawn, as he claims to be, then I feel sorry for him because his father treated him like a commodity and tried to sell him to the highest bidder. To know nothing and simply be told what to do doesn't seem very pleasant. He seems to appreciate his father, though, so maybe it's not so bad. I just wouldn't want to live like that.

However, I can't imagine him not knowing so I'm a little perturbed. It seems like he's smiling in our faces and knows he's pulling a fast one on us. He just doesn't care. Cam Newton and his father exploited a corrupt system, profited, and now he's about to play in the BCS Championship game, Heisman in hand, and then make millions in the NFL. He beat the system and he knows there's nothing anyone can do about it. But, maybe that's because no one is willing to. The fans want to watch him play and the schools and sponsors want to line their pockets. Everybody wins. Nobody wins.

Mild Christmas

I'm dreaming of a mild Christmas,
Just like the ones I used to know,
Where the sweats not glistenin',
While to the forecast we're listening,
Hoping it'll be sixty or below...

An Unbroken Record

Note: I often forget that not everyone watches ESPN as much as I do. This blog post is in response to their coverage and reaction.

First of all, congratulations to the UConn women's basketball team. Winning as many games in a row as the UCLA men's basketball team is extremely impressive and deserving of praise. But, it's not the same. The level of competition and depth of talent throughout the league is not even close. The difference is the same as non-automatic qualifying conferences compared to BCS conferences. Why can a team like Boise State go undefeated and still possibly get beat out for a spot in the championship game by a team from the SEC with one loss? Easy answer: the schedule.

For a team like Boise, they have a monopoly on talent compared to the other teams in their conference and if they don't go undefeated, if not blowout all their competition, then they don't get consideration. They had an easier road to their record than a team in a tougher conference that has a bigger talent pool and more parity. For the BCS conference team, each game was a more difficult challenge and therefore an undefeated record at the end of the season is a more impressive and greater accomplishment. Not that a non-automatically qualifying team going undefeated isn't an accomplishment and proof that they are a great team, it's just that it shouldn't be compared to a school from the SEC doing the same.

That's the same with the UConn women's team. They're the Boise State of women's basketball. It's not their level of play is any lower, it's just that compared to the competition their talent level is so much higher they should be expected to win. Not only should they win each game, but if they don't win by a large margin it's a disappointment. For UConn, winning 88 games in a row isn't a triumph of overcoming opponents, it's a triumph of not blowing it. They've been favorites by a wide margin in almost every game they've played. Of course, during UCLA's streak they probably played quite a few outmatched teams, but the prevalence of them was much lower. That is, some of the time as opposed to pretty much all the time. UConn is bringing a Formula 1 car to a street race. They are so much more dominant and have such a discrepancy in talent that even on an off-night they may win by twenty.

Again, the UConn women's streak is impressive. It's a result of a commitment to excellence, great coaching and constant recruiting of the best players in the country. They're a traveling all-star team and they dominate like they should. They may win more games in a row than UCLA, but they won't break their record because they don't compare. It's not strictly about whether it men's or women's basketball either. It's that UConn has a much wider margin of talent and thus an easier road. In other words, it's not a gender versus gender thing, it's a Boise State versus Alabama thing.

The Opportunity of a Lifetime

A thought occurred to me today. It may be the best idea I've ever had. You know how it's pretty much assumed that kids right out of high school would get broken into pieces if they went straight into the NFL? Well, with that being the case, wouldn't it be pretty cool if there was a place where they could go to hone their skills while their body matures? Wouldn't it be neat if that place offered world-class facilities along with the training and coaching necessary to prepare for a million dollar career as a professional football player? If I were a young kid with the hopes of playing in the NFL, I would pay to be able to go to a place like that. But, what if it was all free? Wouldn't that be amazing? What if they even gave them a place to stay? What if they also gave them the opportunity to learn and experience things they never would have otherwise? What if they had a shot at glory and the admiration of millions of loyal fans? If a place like that existed it would be the greatest thing to ever happen to kids with a dream of playing in the NFL. It's just a shame it doesn't...

For the most talented, the fact that it's really the only way to get the training and coaching necessary to get serious consideration by the NFL should be payment enough. For the others, without a chance of going pro, the education and experiences should make it worth it. If they think it's a corrupt system making billions while exploiting an unpaid workforce, then they don't have to be part of that workforce. Someone will gladly take their place. On the field and in the classroom.

Furthermore, if you think players should get paid because it will solve problems with recruiting and boosters, it won't do that either. Someone will always be willing to pay a little more and someone will always be willing to take it. But even worse, it would be giving up. It would be like getting rid of speed limits just because you know people speed. It would be admitting that people can't be honest and, even though it seems to have been proven time and time again, I'm still not ready to do that.

Magic Breakfast Land

Since I've seen it all day during NFL games, I think this counts as sports related...

Every time I see that McDonald's commercial where the little girl asks her parents where breakfast comes from, I always think that it'd be funny if they told the truth rather than come up with some "Magic Breakfast Land."

So...

"Where does breakfast come from?"

"Well, honey, it all starts with the birth of a cute little piglet. You know, like the one in Charlotte's Web? Eventually, after spending most of its life in a cramped feed lot, they send the fattened-up little piggy to a processing plant. That's where the magic occurs. First, they send its soul to piggy heaven. Then they gut it, slice it up into pieces, and turn into the sausage you're eating right now.

Oh, sweetie, don't cry. The pig's life was miserable. You're doing him a favor by eating him. He was probably counting down the days until he could put a smile on the face of a happy McDonald's customer. The moment they ran that blade across his neck was the first time he'd been happy since the day he was born. Plus, if God didn't want us to eat pigs, he wouldn't have made them taste so good.

And do you remember that time we went to the petting zoo and you saw those cute little baby chicks? Remember how you wanted to take one home so bad and we wouldn't let you? Well, the egg in your breakfast could have become one if you hadn't eaten it. So, in a way, you get to take one home now.

But, the bad news is that if you really cared about chickens you'd have ordered a chicken sandwich rather than the egg. At least then the mother hen would have felt the sweet kiss of death rather than being kept barely alive, standing around in its own filth and longing for the day that its egg production goes down enough to make it no longer worth keeping around.

Oh no, no, honey. You're not a terrible person. Chickens are actually really dumb. They have no idea what's going on. I gave them feelings they probably don't have. I was just having fun. Pigs, on the other hand, they're pretty smart. Though, I guess they're not quite smart enough or I wouldn't have just finished my second sausage biscuit.

So, to answer your question, breakfast comes from dead animals and unborn baby chickens...aren't you gonna finish that sausage?"

Native Run

We seem to be forgetting that LeBron never chose Cleveland. He didn't choose to be born and raised in a nearby town. He didn't choose to be drafted by them. He may have never even wanted to go there in the first place. When Cleveland won the lottery that year he may have been secretly disappointed. He signed an extension to stay, but maybe that's because they were an up and coming team and he thought they had a good chance to win. Or, maybe he felt obligated because the town had adopted him as their native son. Either way, when the time came to sign another extension and there seemed to be a better option, he bolted.

Cleveland got dumped. They got a drink thrown in their face and humiliated in a crowded restaurant, but when it comes down to it, they simply got dumped. Now, they've had time to think of the perfect thing to say. The one thing they know will make him feel as bad as he made them feel. Tonight, they finally get to say it.

The Scared Little Leprechaun

There once was a punk named Finnegan,
Who started a fight he could never win,
Three shots to the face,
Put him in his place,
He may never feel his chin again.