Michael Wilbon has angioplasty

Just read this news on a message board. No link to the source article was provided, but found a brief mention confirming it at Sports Media Watch.

Michael Wilbon, who co-hosts ESPN's "Pardon the Interruption" and
writes a column for The Washington Post, remained hospitalized Tuesday, a day after undergoing an angioplasty in Scottsdale, Ariz.

Wilbon was taken to a Scottsdale-area hospital early Monday morning. Doctors found a minor blockage in one of his arteries and performed the angioplasty.

He is expected to leave the hospital soon, possibly as early as Wednesday.

Wilbon missed the airing of Monday's episode of "PTI" and was replaced by ESPN.com's J.A. Adande, who co-hosted with Tony Kornheiser via satellite from San Francisco. A possible date for Wilbon's return to the show is unknown.

I knew he hadn't been on Pardon the Interuption for a couple of days but I just assumed he was on vacation.

Here's to a quick recovery, Mr. Wilbon! It's the banter and rapport between you and Tony Kornheiser that makes the show!

Why most athletes are scum bags

The Seattle Times is doing a series of exposes on the 2000 Washington Husky team that won the Rose Bowl, despite the fact that it had some horrible human beings on their roster.

To Huskies fans a tragic hero, to the courts a wanted felon
Curtis Williams, a guy who consistently beat his wife (who, it enrages me to say, quite often denied that he had done so! Jesus christ!), and yet was given pass after pass by the athletic department.

Convicted of assault and accused of rape, star player received raft of second chances
Then we've got this guy, Jerramy Stevens, still alive, going to be playing for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers next year, a "good man."

So.... why are most athletes scum bags? Because they've been pampered all their lives. They do something bad when they're young, that most "normal" people would get thrown in jail for, and they're given a free pass. Over and over again. So they don't grow as human beings, they dont' ever learn their lessons... then they get into the professional leagues, where they're making tons of money, and they believe the rules don't apply to them - because they never have before.

The athlete ultimately has to take responsibility for his (or her) own actions, but a lot of the blame has to go to all his or her enablers over the years...

If I were a football prognosticator, I'd be fired

I didn't think the Chargers could beat the Pats, but I wanted them to...and I really thought the Packers would take it to the Giants...

Chargers gave a good account of themselves, but that one underthrown ball by Rivers which turned into an interception really hurt them.

Favre's interception in OT - silly, silly, silly...but at least Tynes was able to redeem himself...

I hope the Giants can beat the Patriots...but I'm not sanguine.

On a side note, my bete noir - the people at the Summitt, strike again. Vanderbilt, another Knoxville, TN basketball team, played the Lady Vols and of course were beat. The Summitteers hate Vanderbilt...the only reasons I can think of is that Vanderbilt is a more expensive college to get into, and when Tennessee goes to Vanderbilt to play in their gym...Vandy has the temerity to raise the prices for the game.

Of course...the fact that Tennessee itself - not women's basketball but the football teams - raise their prices when they're playing in-conference - that just goes over their heads.

Anyway, Vanderbilt has a bowling team, and apparently they've won a women's National Championship in bowling. So a few of the pure sportswomen on the Summitt who were at the game, had little posters they'd made, making fun of Vandy, in particular, "Enjoy your bowling championship."

Small, petty, poor sportsmanship, but there's a whole thread about this on the Summitt where they're just laughing and thinking that it's the greatest thing since sliced bread.

Unfortunately, the chances of UConn and Tennessee meeting in a title game have gone down a bit. UConn has lost two of its best starters to ACLS, and they've been replaced by inexperienced freshmen. So...we'll see.

And on a side note, another comment about sportsmanship at the Summitt... some game was on TV a few days ago, and of course the sportscasters brought up the cancelled UConn-Tennessee game. Something like, "This could be the most important game of the season," and the other sportscaster said, "That used tobe the UConn-Tennessee game.)

"Sportscasters should just talk about the game and not make personal remarks," the Summitteers whine. (I paraphrase.)

But you just know, if the UConn-TN game had not been cancelled, and the sportcasters had made that remark without saying that the UConn-TN game was the game of the season, the Summitteers would have been all over them for not saying it.

Ah, you've just got to laugh...

Making avalanches out of a snowflake

Golfweek editor booted over cover featuring noose

Tiger Woods was not offended by Golf Channel anchor Kelly Tilghman' "lynching" commenet, but that's not good enough. She's apologized for some ill-chosen words - that's not good enough. The Golf Channel's suspended her for 2 weeks, and Al Sharpton of course wants her fired.

For a simple joke.

Now we've got the Golfweek editor who has been fired because of the cover featuring the noose. And why? The article certainly didn't condone lynching, it apparently was simply discussing the comment and the reaction to it... and yet the editor gets it in the neck because of it.

I think the time has come. No commentator will ever be able to make a joke again. I'm reminded of the guy who was fired because he made a comment about his wallet when he was doing a show with Lou Pinella, and Pinella is of Mexican heritage and decided that all Mexicans had been insulted by that simple joke.

It is such a joy to listen to Pardon the Interuption - you've got a white guy and a black guy who are good friends - or at least seem to be - and can tease and joke with each other and know that everything that's said is taken "in the spirit that it is meant." That's the key phrase.

I'm also reminded - although this doesn't have anything to do with sports - of a news article I just read, that was published in England a couple of years ago. England has quite a large Muslim population, and they have power. They also don't like pork. So Piglet is banned from T-shirts, and even from TV - mustn't offend the Muslims. Their religion must be respected. The fact that the vast majority of people don't have a problem with pork and are Christian - well, their religion or beliefs - that Piglet is just one of the sweetest characters ever created - need not be respected.

And apparently chocolate and vanilla swirl cones are banned as well, because the swirl looks like the symbol for Allah and that of course is blasphemy....

We live in a scary world, and its only getting scarier.

You think you've got problems?

http://www.sportsline.com/tennis/story/10577428/1

Sania Mirza is a tennis player from India. She's a good one. But she's also a woman who comes from a Muslim country, and Muslims don't like women to show their faces, let alone their bodies, and instead of being proud of their tennis star, a lot of Indians are upset with her. And if a fundamentalist Muslim gets upset...look out.

She's a very courageous woman, and I hope she's able to live her life safely and successfully...and that other women in India and other Muslim countries can also start living.

2 playoff games, and the Lady Vols

I watched most of the two playoff games today - Washington losing to the Seattle Seahawks and the Pittsburgh Steelers losing a heartbreaker to the Jaguars. Each team that lost had their chances to win, but had some bad luck, and bad decision making, which ended their season.

For example Washington had been behind all of the game, and gets a touchdown from Todd Collins to go up 14-13 in the 4th quarter. Then Seattle scores their touchdown. Washington gets the ball back and gets an excellent runback...then Collins gets greedy and throws the ball too far, and it's intercepted. (His receiver, Moss, said afterwards he thought the play was dead which is why he stopped running...let that be a lesson to you, pal - defenses have to stop with whistles, offense wide receivers should keep bloody running their routes!

Anyway, after that the wheels fell off.

With Pittsburgh, their attempts inthe 2nd half at two point conversions failed, and then with 3 minutes to go, Roethlisberger ran rather poorly on 3rd and long and Pittsburgh had to punt away, allowing the Jaguars to march down the field. That whole final series was very poorly done on the Steelers' part. Throw at least once for a first down instead of trying to run for it!!!

Lady Vols
Then, we get the Lady Vols. Well, not the Lady Vols so much as the fans at the Summitt, who continue to make me shake my head.

The Lady Vols beat their opponent tonight, 14th ranked Notre Dame, by 14 points, 87-63. During the post game interviews, Notre Dame coach Muffett McGraw criticized her team for playing poorly, not defending well, and being intimidated by the Lady Vols.

But...she did not say that the Lady Vols were the better team, and this omission has a couple of fans at the Summitt outraged at "Muffett's" (as they call her) lack of class. How dare she not say that the Lady Vols were the better team! How dare she!

And you've just got to laugh. There are a certain number of fans on the Summitt who are obsessed by their team, have each and every player on a pedestal, and diss every team the Lady Vols play. And if, in the final news conferences, the losing coach doesn't pay the "appropriate" respect to Pat Summitt and the Lady Vols, they get really, really upset. So upset that they probably can't sleep for days with the outrage of it.

And I'm like....so what? Doesn't the coach of the other team have a responsibilty to her players, her fans? Why should she have to use the phrase, "the Vols were the better team", just to make the Lady Vols fans happy?

I just shake my head...