John Daly - waste of space

He revealed today he'd been suspended from the PGA tour for 6 months. (Heck, the PGA is as bad as the NFL. Fire this guy and don't let him step on a golf course again!)

"Is it fair that I got suspended?" he said. "It's not fair in reality, but it's probably fair in perception."

How can it not be fair in reality, you drunken moron?

http://www.sportsline.com/golf/story/11211544

Here's the thing. Drugs aren't a disease. Alcohol isn't a disease. It's something that stupid people do to themselves, despite all the evidence of how hurtful it is to them, to their families, etc. etc., and rather than treating these people with kid gloves, just deep-six them in the ocean. Less waste of space, air and food on land, and fish get the food they need.

Bowl Games are Ridiculous

When I was a kid...or even into my teens, there were three or four bowl games. December 31 and January 1 - that's when you got the bowls. The Sugar, the Cotton, the Orange Bowl, the Rose Bowl, and you saw two elite college teams face off. Teams that were undefeated or at most had lost 1 or 2 games.

Nowadays - probably for a decade or so, bowl games have been totally cheapened. There are probably 20 of them now, and mnay of them feature teams that have .500 records! How can a team with a .500 record deserve to go to a Bowl, which is supposed to showcase football excellence???

All these new, upstart "bowls" should be renamed to "Games for Teams that don't deserve to play anymore this season, but have a fanbase that will pay to see one last game."

Women's Sports Talk Show begins on December 16

Talk on men's sports dominates radio talk shows and TV shows. This is only to be expected. Men's sports has been and still is where the major money is.

But in an effort to bring Womens Sports into the spotlight, the Women's Sports Talk Show has been created, on digital radio and its first show will be on December 16.

http://www.womenssportstalkshow.com/

Support women's sports, support the Women's Sports Talk Show. Listen to it, contribute questions, etc.

Both men and women, obviously, are encouraged to participate.

Garcia of Gamecocks taken out by referee

Stephen Garcia of the Carolina Gamecocks: It looks to me like the ref -- Wilbur Hackett Jr. --- shadowed him and deliberately took him down. He had several seconds to step left, or just stop moving, period, instead he moves into the guy and puts his shoulder on him.

View and make your own decision.

Josh Howard doesn't celebrate the National Anthem because he's black

Okay, in the US there's freedom of speech. So if Josh Howard doesnt' think the National Anthem is worth celebrating, he's got the right to say so.

But let's explore.

Up until the late 1960s, a majority of blacks really had no reason to be "proud of their country." Sure, they fought bravely during World War I and World War II, only to come home to American apartheid. But those brave men and women paved the way for the equality of today. Martin Luther King was raised on their shoulders, as were the white folk who fought for equality also and whom we don't hear about, and since the 1970s, most blacks really haven't had anything to complain about. Sure, racism from individuals still exists (and that's white on black, black on white, white and black on every other color, ya da ya da), but institutional racism is outlawed.

So, blacks today are more successful than they've ever been. Too many of them are content to not get educations and live off "the man" (check out the Reverend Wright's black liberation theology), and yes, too many white folk do that as well... give people welfare and its *human* nature, they'll never want to get off.

Yeah, the housing crisis is biting hard, and there again you can blame the "man", or you can blame the politicians who forced "the man" to give loans to people who couldn't afford them, and then went hogwild selling those worthless loans to other banks...oh, there's a whole can of worms there...

But it all comes down to this. There's a black man who is the Democrat nominee for President, in the year 2008. How in the world is that possible in a "racist" country? Answer...it ain't.

So let's hope Josh Howard gives some of his humongous salary, which let us not forget he gets for playing a damn game, to his fellow blacks to help lift them up to his level of affluence. Perhaps send a dollar a month to Obama's half-brother in Nairobi, raise his standard of living by 100%.

Knowshon Moreno Hurdle vs Reggie Bush Hurdle

Reggie Bush hurdled... Knowshon Moreno did too..

Which one's best?

News reporters going too far

They've gone too far in all walks of life - interviewing people just minutes after they've found out they've lost a loved one, but since this is a sports blog I'll just talk about the sports aspect of it.

Today, CBS Sportsline had an article, headlined: Young meets with Fisher after Titans ask police to help find QB
Apparently Young, who had booed by his teams "fans" throughout the game, got injured, and later on in the day, left the house without his cellphone. So, his coach called the police to track him down. And the police found him, and all was well.

So, this is a non-story, and should not have even been reported. Especially when you consider how psychotic fans are. (Remember many years ago, while in college, Steve Kerr's father had been murdered in the Lebanon. At his next game, the opposing team's fans were actually teasing at him and jeering at him because his father had been murdered! Talk abut sick.)

We seem to be at a point now where every little thing an athlete does is considered a "news report." Sure, if an idjit goes to a strip bar, throws money on the ground and then wants it back - that's news. Proves the guy's an idiot and a cheapskate. But driving around in his car and being stopped by the police only on the off-chance that he was depressed - that's not news. That's nobody's business.

Will Tiki Barber Be Fired?

I only heard about this because I read Mike Freeman's blog entry about it today.

Apparently Tiki Barber called his co-anchor at the Olympics, a woman, Jenna Wolfe, a C - unt.

At about the 28 second mark.



Tiki should be fired because you should not be able to swear on national TV.

Here's the thing, of course. Boys swear, and men swear. It's something about the testosterone, eh? I remember my father never swore around us kids, but when he got on the phone to his brother or another male friend of the same age, he'd be using damn as an adjective and hell as an adjective... because he was talking with another guy.

These days women and girls probably think nothing of swearing the same way, but that's a different rant for a different time and blog...

According to Mike Freeman, Tiki doesn't have a superbowl ring and Wolfe was teasing him about that. So when she made another joke at his expense, he didn't have the wit to come back at her with somethign clever and just so used the c-word. Which I'm a bit surprised at because Tiki is a very articulate man.

(And I know articulate has become known as the a-word, but he is articulate, so just deal with it!)

I used to like Tiki until last year when he did indeed reveal himself to be a total jerk...I'm shocked he'd be stupid enough to use such a word on the air, but, unfortunately, I won't be shocked if he doesn't get fired for it. He only insulted a woman, after all.

Sports keywords to get ads back on track.

I see that my comment on the skimpy clothing of the Olympic women has generated the type of ads on this site that I don't really want to see.

So I shall make a list of keywords here which will hopefully supersede that post from a week ago and put the ads here back on track as far as sports are concerned.

Tae Kwon Do
Karate
Martial artists
baseball
football
basketball
fencing
epee
foil
sabre
Jeet Kune Do
softball
Lady Vols
UConn Huskies

Video of Angel Matos kicking referee

In the Olympics, no less.



Apparently you get 1 minute to have your toe wrapped up, the Cuban stood up two seconds too late.

Okay, the ref may have been a bit precipitate - but the clock had run out.

No way did he deserve to get kicked in the face. That is assault, and the Cuban should go to jail. And his coach, who was "unapologetic" needs to be banned.

Of course, neither will happen.

WNBA Women Get Gold

The USA Women's Olympic Basketball Team, comprised of course of WNBA players, won the Gold medal at the Olympics a couple of days ago, defeating the Australian team easily.

Frankly, although I'm glad the Americans won, of course, I wish the Aussies had given us a better game.

But, despite the fact that they lost by double digits, that doesn't mean they are necessarily an easy win all the time.

It's the format of the Olympics that the winner of one game takes it all, and so its whoever's best on the night, and the US women had the better nerves that night, and may well have been the better team.

But it's impossible to really know unless they play 2 out of 3 or 3 out of 4. Obviously, there's no way they can do that, but I just don't like all the gloating being done on the Summitt, because of one win. (Yeah, I check out the Summitt - the Lady Vols message board - on a regular basis. A bastion of poor sportsmanship.)

Women should be athletes, not sex ads

I have been watching bits of the Olympics, and have been getting more and more annoyed about the sexism on display - that has always been on display in women's sports since the 1970s.

Women's sports don't draw enough crowds. Solution? Have them wear really, really tight outfits so that guys (and women who like that sort of thing) will flock to see them. The guys don't have respect for the women, they dont' have respect for the sport involved, but they're certainly willing to pay to see breasts thrusting out of shirts and thighs leading up into the nether regions.

The most egregious is the women beach volleyballers. In the first place of course, beach volleyball isn't a sport, regardless of whether it's being played by men or women. But the women wear the skimpiest of skimpy bikini bottoms, and only slightly larger halter tops. (Isn't it odd how no big breasted women ever play in these events? Well, big breasted women are taught from an earlier age not to thrust themselves forward, as are of course plain-looking women.)

On the other hand, I was delighted... in a sense... to see the men's swimsuits used in the diving competitions. They also wore the skimpiest of skimpy bikinis! And I gotta tell you, much as I like lookng at muscular men, I don't really get a thrill out of looking at those folds of flesh descending downward that end up as the penis. Could you wear something two inches higher so I dont have to look at that?

Now, of course, the ultimate indignity. Ping pong people aren't crowding into the stands, so the women are urged to show more curves. (The article doesn't mention if the men's side is getting more audience member - if it's also suffering, will the guys be forced to play without shirts at all. Hey, if they've got a bit of muscles, I'd watch that.)

Here's the article:
http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/beijing/tabletennis/news?slug=reu-tabletennisskirts_pix&prov=reuters&type=lgns, and one excerpt from it:

One player, Japan’s Naomi Yotsumoto, has taken matters into her own hands. At the Japanese national championships last year, she played in a daring ensemble of her own design: knee socks, a pleated mini-skirt and a shirt that left one shoulder bare.

If women want respect as athletes, they've got to dress as athletes, not as sex objects. No, I'm not advocating that they wear burkhas and full-length clothing like the fundamentalists Muslims make their women wear (not that that did Mehbooba Ahadyar, Afghanistan's only female athlete, wore all that stuff and was still called a whore by the Muslims, and now she's disappared and no one seems to know (or care) what has become of her.

On that note, Yay. A woman from Bahrain, dressed in a long sleeved white shirt and long leggings, and a white scarf on her head (hiding that horrible hair that inflames poor, innocentmen to lust), Roqaya Al-Gassra, has won a a heat on one of these track and field races. [Just saw it on my TV, but has the sound down, because a) I can't stand the commentators and b) I'm not really that interested in track and field. Of course, her success is frightening. Who knows how many psychotic fundamentalist Muslims might not even now be planning to punish her because she dared to show joy and confidence to the world! Women aren't allowed to feel like that!

Don't run til the ball gets past the infield!

I'm currently watching the Boston Red Sox take on the Oakland As. Rookie Jacoby Ellsbury, who nevertheless is 24 years old and has been playing baseball for 15 years or so... just tried to advance from 2nd to 3rd on a ball hit in front of him. Of course he was thrown out by a mile.

And I'm thinking.... what? What? How can a professional baseball player, who's been playing the game for 15 years and probably has watched the game on TV for the same amount of time, not know that you do not try to advance from 2nd to 3rd on a ball hit in front of you?

Jacoby's the latest ballplayer to make that foolish mistake, but he's certainly not the only one I've seen do it...

The boys of summer need to grow up

In a minor league brawl, pitcher Julio Castillo threw a ball - as hard as he could - towards the opposing teams dug out. It ended up missing that dugout, went into the stands, and hit an onlooker.

Castillo was arrested and is going to be charged with felonious assault.

Meanwhile, if you watch the video...it was a heckuva lot worse than the WNBA brawl, every player was involved in it - as happens whenever there is a benches clearing brawl in baseball... so much testosterone going on you could cut a knife with it.

And of course, if any player does NOT get involved in that brawl, he'd be branded a coward and would definitely never play again. But those who do get into the brawls, even if they hurt someone else, are probably heroes and their jobs are safe...

The Proof is in the Video?

It has long been known - by those of us who watch cop shows - that eyewitnesses are notoriously unreliable. Everyone sees something different, and when they tell their stories they forget things, add things (in all honesty) etc. etc.

But you'd think that when video of an incident exists, it would be easy to tell exactly what happened.

Well, yesterday, I posted the video of the WNBA scuffle between Candace Parker and Plenette Pierson.

And its funny, but the different fan bases (the Tennessee Lady Vols, who love Candace Parker, and the UConn Huskies, who dislike her ) each of whom are seeing the same video, each have diametrically opposed opinions of what happened.

The Lady Vol fans think Candace Parker was the victim all the way. Plenette Pierson threw her to the ground, then got up and started to walk across her as if she intended violence (which ensued when Candace tried to get up even though Plenette was halfway across her.)

The UConn fans claim that Candace threw Pierson to the ground, and that when Pierson was walking over her Candace deliberately brought her to the ground again.

As for myself... In the initial incident, Pierson goes to box out Parker and hits her hard with a hip. PArker seems to react by putting her arms on Pierson and pulling her down - which seems to be why Pierson jumps up so angrily and heads for Parker.

But when it comes to Pierson deliberately trying to walk over Parker...I can't blame Parker for trying to get up to be in a position to defend herself should Pierson start swinging or kicking...or just not want the ignominy of allowing herself to be stepped over. Bad for street cred, I suppose.

This is reminiscent of the many basketball games those two fan bases have argued about in the past. Invariably, invariably, the Lady Vols fans say that their team is being shorted on the personal fouls, and equally invariably, the Husky fans say theirs are. And yet their each watchign the same game from the same feed....

Candace Parker and Plenette Pierson in scufffle

In the last few seconds of the Los Angeles Sparks/Detroit Shock game, a scuffle broke out. Plenette Pierson, a violent player who has been in trouble before, either tried to run over or was pulled down by Candace Parker. (It is really impossible to see which way it was). Pierson, however, went off the deep end and went after Parker - causing one of her own players to be injured in the process.


From Youtube


http://sports.espn.go.com/broadband/video/videopage?categoryId=2378529&brand=null&videoId=3501154&n8pe6c=2

Witness the wrath of the WNBA

Not my title, but the title of this video:



"Witness the wrath of the WBNA. Mark Kriski is kidnapped and forced to apologize to the Los Angeles Sparks."

Weatherman to Lisa Leslie
Paraphrase: What's happening in the WNBA and Sparks?

Lisa Leslie to Weatherman
"If you were good at your job you'd know."

The video of Shaq dissing Kobe

The clips have been making the rounds of the various sports talk shows and can be seen at Youtube - or in the link below.



I must say I'm disappointed in Shaq. His behavior displays a distinct lack of class ...

I never liked him as a player. The referees gave him 99% of the calls, and in the unlikely event that he was ever called for a foul - he'd whine about it. "The only way to beat me is to cheat me."

Then a few days ago the news came out that Shaq wanted to help people in Florida facing home foreclosure, by buying up their mortgages. And I thought... classy guy.

And now we get this.

He calls Kobe by the "n" word. (And why Mike Freeman thinks *that* makes him an "Uncle Tom" I do not quite understand...any more than I understand why black rappers can get away with using that word, and derogatroy comments about women, and advice to kill people, including the police, and that's excused because it reflects the "black experience.") I dunno...if that's the black experience, in this day and age (1970s onward) where racism is not tolerated, and welfare is ladled out, seems to me they have only themselves to blame for their "plight," and this new black experience is not one to be proud of.

Interestingly, none of the comments - on this video at least - mention his use of the "n" word at all. I guess it's just not important...

Lisa Leslie first woman to dunk in WNBA

Earlier today I shared a video of Candace Parker dunking in a Sparks-Fever game yesterday. It was the second dunk ever in a WNBA game.

So, here's a video of the very first dunk ever made in an WNBA game - by Lisa Leslie. She did it July 30, 2002 (and interestingly, never dunked again, apparently.)

Of course it's different in the women's game. In the men's game, it's all about showboating, but if a defender "teaches a lesson" to a dunker, he most likely wont get hurt. If a female player gets taken down, an injury could occur - women are very prone to ACL tears...

Anyway: the video - rather grainy.

Candace Parker Makes Her First WNBA Dunk

Candace Parker has become the second woman to dunk in a WNBA game. She did it last night, against the Indiana Fever. The Sparks won 77-63. Interestingly, Candace only scored 10 points in the contest. She also pulled down 10 rebounds.

See the video here.



Her teammate, Lisa Leslie, was the first woman to dunk in a WNBA game. Only a handful of women - including Candace and Lisa, have dunked in college games.

Umpire deliberately hit in face by pitch?

The first time I saw the video below, I was sure I was seeing a pitcher deliberately throw a ball to hit the umpire in the face, because if you look at the catcher, he's deliberately bringing down his glove and ducking his own head as if he expected it - and I have NEVER seen a catcher react like that. [At least, not when the ball is obviously high. If it's in the dirt, you have to lean over it to deaden it off your chest protector...but this ball was clearly high.]

But, if you watch closely, the ball actually appears to hit the batter on the helmet first, and then ricochets and hits the umpire's mask. Yet, because the batter doesn't react at all as if he'd been hit - which if it hit his helmet you would have thought he would have had some reaction! such as heading towards first immediately instead of trying to stop the runner at third from coming home...

But this pitcher can't have been throwing that hard...




What's really sad about this is the reaction of the people in the stands. You can hear them cheering. Some reports of this incident say that the umpire was swearing at the players...but seems to me the coaches would have said something if this was the case - not put it on the players to get their revenge.

In addition, apparently the pitcher and catcher had a meeting on the mound just before this pitch...

However...I'm still prepared to believe that the pitcher *was* trying to hit the ump, and just got the batter first by mistake...

Meantime...

If you do a google search on "coach tells pitcher to hit batter" (in particular in the News category) you'll find dozens of examples through the years of grown men telling little children, and big children, to throw at batters. Not to mention the fine example of professional baseball players - pitchers who throw at batters because a previous batter hit a home run, or because one of their players got plunked, etc.

The latest "outrage" is because a female coach told one of her young pitchers to hit an opposing batter. (Gee, a kid of 8 years old or so couldn't throw a ball with enough force to hurt anyone...). There's lots of comments on the website reporting this, claiming that this female coach just didn't know the game of baseball, and I'm thinking to myself, what are those idiots smoking? She's just following a long line of male coaches who've done exactly the same thing.

Milka Duno videos

There were 33 drivers in today's Indianapolis 500. Of these, three were women.

The highest profile driver of these was Danica Patrick, who was consistently in 6th place until she was hit under a Yellow Card and knocked out of the race.

Sarah Fisher was knocked out also, also hit by another driver.

Milka actually finished the race, and placed 19th.

Below are some videos that are months old:

May 20, 2007


May 6, 2008


January 2008

Danica Gets Dissed

Danica Patrick participated in the Indianapolis 500 today. She didn't win, but she was up to 6th place for a while.

There were a lot of cars on that track, and a lot of drivers. I venture to suggest that many of those male drivers (for there were only three women) were commenting to their pit crews via radio that they were too slow, but the author of the SI piece on this race chose to describe Danica Patrick's comments. He uses an interesting choice of words:

Patrick, who became a national phenomenon when she led late in the race and finished fourth as a rookie in 2005, had hoped to follow her first IndyCar victory, at Japan last month, with a win in the biggest race of all.

Dixon survives crash-filled race to capture first Indianapolis 500

But she never made a serious run for the lead, complaining incessantly about an ill-handling car while talking with her crew over the radio. She started fifth but quickly fell back and got no higher than sixth the rest of the day.

"I can't do anything," she screamed during one tirade. "I am sloooooow. I am damn slow."

Any hopes of challenging at the end were ruined by Briscoe's mistake in the pits. The Australian spun his tires trying to get out and slid sideways into Patrick's blue-and-black car, which rolled helplessly to a stop, its day done with a broken suspension.

A frustrated Patrick slammed her steering wheel as she sat motionless along the lane leading back to the track. Then, after being pushed back to the pits, she climbed out of the car, ripped off her gloves and stomped angrily toward Briscoe's Team Penske pits. A track security official cut her off before she could get there.

"Probably best I didn't get down there anyway," Patrick said.

So, she a complainer, and she has a tirade.

You telling me those other drivers didn't have "tirades" themselves - or whatever the equivalent is when a man does it?

The author (his name isn't given) describes the other guys as acting in a much more calm manner...)

Andretti apologized over the radio for his aggressive move. When told that his youthful teammate was sorry, Kanaan responded, "He'd better be. That was a very stupid move. Me being a good teammate, I didn't want to turn into him and take out two cars. So I give up today."

Kanaan has led 214 laps in his Indy career -- running out front in every one of his seven trips to the Brickyard -- but he's never tasted milk in Victory Lane.

"Every time I lead, something happens," said Kanaan, who finished 29th, the worst of his Indy career.

Of course, it's easy to understand Andretti's eagerness to get to the front at Indy considering his family history.

Mario spent the last quarter century of his career trying to win a second 500, only to be disappointed every time. Michael led more laps than any non-winner in the race's 92-year history. Marco was a straightaway away from winning as a rookie in 2006, only to get passed by Sam Hornish Jr.

Kanaan "responds", he doesn't "shriek" or "spit" or whatever word the author would have used if he were talking about a female driver...

Pat Summitt has made the big time!

Someone has written, sung and recorded a rap song about Pat Summitt's encounter with the racoon last year! (A racoon got on her deck and frightened her dog...Summitt hit it with a broom, dislocating her shoulder in the process).

Very funny:

LeBron James tells his mother to sit down

Talk about making a mountain out of a molehill..for some reason someone thoughtthis was worth sharing on YouTube. LeBron and Paul Pierce fall into the crowd, LeBron's mother tells Paul Pierce off, LeBron tells her, "Sit your butt down."

I will say, though, that Paul Pierce spins LeBron round and round and deserved a flagrant foul on that!

I'm sure a lot of guys will laugh at this...

who think that sports is all about winning and not about sportsmanship anymore...

Opponents carry injured home-run hitter around bases

With two runners on base and a strike against her, Sara Tucholsky of Western Oregon University uncorked her best swing and did something she had never done, in high school or college. Her first home run cleared the center-field fence.

But it appeared to be the shortest of dreams come true when she missed first base, started back to tag it and collapsed with a knee injury.

She crawled back to first but could do no more. The first-base coach said she would be called out if her teammates tried to help her. Or, the umpire said, a pinch runner could be called in, and the homer would count as a single.

Read the rest of it at the link.

The story below is from 2006, I remember hearing about it at the time:

Canadians hail Norwegian coach's sportsmanship

The outgoing head coach for Norway's cross-country skiers has become something of a national hero in Canada, after he impulsively aided a Canadian competitor who went on to win a silver medal in Tuesday's sprint relay. The Norwegian skiers ended up fourth.

Kids, don't do this at home

"Incident during an ATP Masters tennis match between Mikhail Youzhny and Nicolas Almagro. Youzhny gets angry after at a close call and takes it out on himself."



I didn't really care for the reaction of the crowd....hopefully they gave him a standing O when he returned to the game.

Opening day

Lots of games today...

I'm busy getting my Fantasy games up to speed...I have to attend a virtual draft at 1 pm...

Beat the Streak has already started.... Home Run Derby and MLB Survivor have not yet started, for some reason...

Okay, these guys are wusses

I don't follow hockey so I couldn't tell you their names...



I bet they lost all respect from their teammates. They lost mine! I mean, jeez. Don't make a fool out of yourself like that. Just skate away!

Watch Every Mens Basketball Game at the NCAA for Free

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is the link.

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The Code: Fighting and Retaliation in the MLB and NHL

Serendipity strikes again.

Just a couple of days after Bruce Bowen acted like an a-hole in basketball, and on the same day that I was reminded how brutal hockey is, I come across a couple of new books by an author who talks about the culture of violence and retaliation in baseball and the NHL.

Confusingly, they both have the same title, The Code, but deal with two different sports. The books are written by Ross Bernstein.

Chris Pronger stomps on Ryan Kesler's leg

And on to the upstanding citizens of hockey. (And frankly the crap that goes on in hockey is so much more egregious that it isn't funny, Most of these guys should be in jail.

This happened March 14, 2008. He got an 8 game ban. A similar act by a player from a different team got a 20-game ban a few years ago.



Chris Simon stomps Jarkko Ruutu



And of course this infamous one: Chris Bertuzzi sucker punches Steve Moore - and then drives him face first into the ice, giving him a broken neck.



Interestingly, though there's plenty of video of Markus Näslund at YouTube, there is none that shows Steve Moore's hit on him, which is what caused the retaliation by Chris Bertuzzi - who has returned to hockey after a whole one year suspension.

And to further glorify violence in sport, someone has put together "Best Hockey Hits"


(and the exultant reactions of the people who watched this video and made comments - scary.)

This one is most horrifying of all - for one reason. The referees just stand there and let the two men go at each other. They don't try to separate them...they don't do anything. Why are they even on the ice?

More YouTube Videos of Bowen's play

Watch Bowen kick Amare Stoudamire in the ankle as he shoots the basket



Bowen inserts his feet in between the legs of Steve Francisas he comes down from a jumpshot



Here Bowen kicks Ray Allen in the back while he's on the ground


Here, the poster of the video says Bowen broke Allan Iverson's ankle - I don't see any overt proof of that.


Bowen knees Steve Nash in the groin


A video set to music, featuring lots of clips
Bowen high-kicks Sczerbiak in the face among others

Bruce Bowen kicks Chris Paul? - video

Below are two videos of Bruce Bowen kicking Chris Paul...or maybe not.

In the first one, the slow motion at the end seems to show that Bowen did not kick him, just lifted his foot over him, and when it was well past Paul's head, moving in the other direction! Paul flops back as if he's been kicked. Also, doesn't it look like Paul punches him in the groin at one point?

The second runs in real time, and then in slo mo, but not quite as slow as the first clip! Click on the arrow twice to play each video.

And in any event, he was suspended for a game.



This one is from the news. Quality isn't very good:

I officially don't like Joe Girardi or Shelly Duncan

A couple of days ago, a Tampa Bay Devil Ray (yes, I know religious kooks have made them change their name to the Rays, but the hell with that) player barrelled into a Yankees catcher - and broke his wrist. (To be exact: the Devil Rays' Elliot Johnson barreling over New York catcher Francisco Cervelli last Saturday)

Well...that was just unfortunate. Baserunners are running into *catchers* all the time, trying to make them drop the ball. Yes, it may be argued that it shouldn't happen in a spring training game.

Well, today Yankees outfielder Shelley Duncan was out by a mile, but nevertheless continued to run into second base and attempt to spike Akinori Iwamura - and when you're hiking your spikes up around the thigh area that is a deliberate attempt to injure, not a "good hard play."

Then Girardi didn't control his players, but said, "You don't ever want things to get ugly, and I don't think it got ugly. I think the umpires stopped it before it got ugly," Girardi said.

"Shelley told me that he was taught when you're going to be out, you go after the ball. ... Shelley made a hard, aggressive slide, and I would have to look at a replay to really determine what I thought."

On the other hand, then Jonny Gomes ran in from right field and hit Duncan in the back, and I don't like that either. That's kind of cowardly. Run up to him, sure, but yank him around so he's looking at you, then punch him in the mouth.

So, here are my hopes. I hope the Yankees tank, and I hope the Devil Rays tank. Not because I dislike the Devil Rays, particularly, but just because they capitulated to the loons and changed their name.

C. Vivian Stringer's biography published March 4, 2008

And I only heard of it when it was posted on the UConn Huskies message boards.



It's called Standing Tall, and tells of her childhood, her marriage, the illness of her daughter and the unexpected death of her husband, and her work at three different universities as a women's college basketball coach.

How To Win Virginia's Pick 4 Lottery

Or, I suppose, any state that has a Pick 4 Lottery.

Well...that's just the title, because my advice to you is... don't play the lottery!

But I'll tell you my story!

Tonight, I won $200, and while I'm relieved I'm also a leetle bit annoyed as well, and I'll explain why.

I've been playing the Pick 4 Lottery here in Virginia for about 2 months now. I had originally scoffed at it as having a too-low payout - the most you can win is $5,000, whereas other lotteries such as the Megamillions pays...well...millions.

But, it's incredibly difficult to win the Megamillions, and after pouring $400 down the drain, I decided it was time to give that up. (I'd been betting $30 and $40 at a time, when the pot got over the 80 million mark.)

However, because in the Pick 4 you only have to get 4 numbers right as opposed to 6, it's easier to win. And the payout is consequently smaller.

But, heck, $5,000 is a nice chunk of change.

So, I started playing Pick 4, and would bet my favorite numbers. And I poured probably more than $300 into it before getting my first $400 winner - ironically enough on an Easy Pick rather than my chosen numbers.

So I was about even on Pick 4, but still behind $400 on the Megamillions - but I'd written that off as expensive experience, and wasn't dedicating myself to trying to recoup that money...

Anyway, so I had this lump sum payout of $400...and I'm sure I bought some stuff I wanted with it...but I also probably poured at least $200 of that win back into the lottery trying to win again.

Then, about four days ago, I won again - another $400 pot, on another EZ pick.

And this time I thought to myself.... well, this is ridiculous. With this $400 pot, I've broken even...and if I keep betting like this - I'm only ever going to break even.

I'm just not a lucky person, I told myself, and it was time to accept it. (A lucky person is not someone who gets a $400 pot and just breaks even, a lucky person is someone who wins the whole bloody $5,000!)

Well, for the last week or so I'd been betting on the number 1213 every day. $1 on exact, 1 on Any (which gets that $400). (And I'd also spend $4 on other chosen numbers, and $5 on EZ picks.

And each day I've been telling myself - okay, this is dumb, this is the last time.

And I really meant it this afternoon, when I blew $20 on EZPicks and had two tickets, each that was just one number off.

But, I had to go to Williamsburg, VA, tonight, and I decided...oh, I've got to bet on my 1213. After having so much invested in it, I'd be really ticked off if it came in and I hadn't bet on it.

So after checking into my hotel I went out to buy my 1213. Now, what I did was this. Each wager slip has five columns so you can bet on 5 sets of numbers. So for the first 2 columns, I bet on 1213 and another number, and decided to choose the 50/50 option. (If you win exact you get $2,500, if you win "any" you get $200). And the remaining 3 columns, I bet the "Any" choice straight up.

Well, my 1213 came up - as 1123.

So instead of winning $400, once again I've only broken even, at $200.

So while on the hand I'm very happy - first of "my" number choice to win, and numbers I hadn't intended to bet on ever again... on the other hand I'm annoyed, because if I'd done the "Any" choice I'd be getting $400 right now...!!!!

So, I'm happy with that $200, which I will spend on various things at the Williamsburg Film Festival, and since my 1213 that I had invested so much money in has come up, I will now be able to stop betting on Pick 4 entirely.... because I hated to quit after having spent so much money on a certain number.

So overall, I'm still down several hundred dollars on this lottery thing, but since I've got these wins it's easier to accept that I've recouped a little of my loss, count it as another expensive lesson, and move on.

Let's face it, if you were lucky enough to win the lottery - you wouldn't need to play the lottery, because that luck would have shown through in other ways. And if your life sucks in other ways...well, you're not going to win the lottery anyway.

Unfortunately, it's just a fact of life.

Brett Favre and Irresponsible Journalism

Oh, I have such a rant today, on a variety of subjects.

First, let's start with Brett Favre.

Early this morning, on my Google desk top where I get all these news feeds, I read the headline "Brett Favre Retires." I followed it to whatever the news outlet was, and most of the comments were surprise that he'd decided to retire after his great last season.

I came back two hours later, and there's a new headline, "Favre Says Packers Didn't Want Him Enough."

As soon as I read that headline, I thought to myself, "I am so over Brett Favre. Talk about a pampered, spoiled baby."

So I click on the link, and instead of being taken to the article, I'm taken to the front page of The Sporting News, where they're advertising games and such like for various sports.

So I look at the top and there's all the sports running across the navigation bar, so I click on the NFL and I'm taken to their NFL home page, and nowhere on this page is a headline saying "Favre Says Packers Didn't Want Him Enough."

So I dont know if he said that, or if some disreputable journalist decided to make that up, or what's going on!

I would like to believe that Brett Favre would not be so childish as to decide to retire in a fit of pique because the Green Bay Packers didn't call him every day begging him to announce whether or not he'd retire.

A person is smart, people are stupid
On a side note, we've got the case that's been boiling up for a week or two. There's a video on YouTube of two Marines (but with no insignia of rank, etc.), and one of them throws a small puppy over a cliff and laughs when it hits.

And people on YouTube, and in other places, are outraged about this. And the Marines in Hawaii are promising to investigate the case. And lots of people, who have heard the man's last name being said on the video, have been sending death threats to some marine with the same last name. They don't know if he's the one who did it, but since he's got the same last name, they are quite prepared to lynch him (and no, he isn't black, but they are quite prepared to lynch him nevertheless!!!!) based on no facts whatsoever.

Now, obviously if this guy did kill that dog in such a way, and did allow his fellow marine to film it, and did allow that same friend to put it on YouTube, then obviously he's not only a vicious berk but also extremely stupid, and deserves to be put into jail for stupidity....

Why was he so upset? It's only women's basketball?

A couple of dayss ago, Michigan women's basketball coach Martin Borseth went ballistic in his post game interview. Various sports shows, for example ESPN, found this so entertaining that they aired it - over and over again - on their various sports programs.

(No, I'm not going to share it here, and yes, I'd be very, very surprised if it wasn't on YouTube by now.)

In one of the articles written on the subject, people were able to comment on it, and one of the commenters said, "Well, at least he cares about what he's doing, even if it is only women's basketball."

The italics are mine.

What is this "only women's basketball" crap? The players out on that floor care just as much about their sport and their team as the guys do, and always have. And as for "importance" - well, that's defined by money these days and now that there's a WNBA, not to mention all the money to be made overseas playing women's basketball, women's college basketball is important as a showcase for these players.

So Borseth had every right to be angry... and while he certain went OTT (over the top, in theatrical parlance), at least he wasn't kicking dirt on umpire's legs like Lou Piniella, or picking up and throwing bases like Lou Piniella, or doing the wave or whatever he was doing, like that minor league baseball coach who totally lost it a few years ago.

All hail Martin Borseth. Keep being passionate about your job, your team, and women's college basketball.

The March 3, 2008 issue of Sports Illustrated

It's been a long time since I looked at a Sports Illustrated magazine. I picked up the March 3, 2008 issue today, and was surprised by how slender it seemed. Was it always 70 pages? Or have they decreased page count while keeping the price the same? Or worse, decreased page count and increased price?

Well, print magazines are having a hard time right now, as most people get all their info from the internet, and worse, from only one source, Wikipedia. Let me take Wikipedia on directly and tell people that that source should not be the first one you check. Anyone can make changes to any article, so you really don't know if you're getting the facts or lies.

Anyway, there were two interesting articles in this issue.

1) Abusive Fans in College Hoops
This article talks about the abusiveness in male college hoops - with fans swearing incessantly at players, holding up signs referencing criminal activity, etc. They didn't mention what happened to Alexis Hornbuckle of the Lady Vols a couple of years ago, when the Cameron Crazies at the Duke game taunted her because of a shoplifting conviction in her senior year as a high school student.

But abusive fans are not only in college. The pros are worse, the more so since it's the people close to the floor in the NBA - the ones who had to pay a lot of money to get those seats, and say, "I paid my ticket, I have a right to verbally abuse that guy. It's part of the game."

And of course in baseball, there's been a 3rd base coach beaten by two drunken fans bottles and stuff thrown at the players in the outfield, etc.

Then there's the loons who threatened that poor schmuck from the Chicago Cub audience a few years ago - he interfered with a live ball that gave a batter a 2nd chance to get a hit, and cost the Cubs the World Series - he got death threats from everybody!

2) The Road to Beijing - Olympic Town, Fort Benning, GA
This is a one page article about the Army Markmanship unit, and there's a picture of Sgt 1st Class Daryl Szarenski. It's the photo of Szarenski that irrited me. He's got a pair of glasses. One eye is magnified behind glass, the other eye is hidden behind a metal tab.

This is technology taking the skill out of sports!

Now, obviously, in the military technology is very important, and anything that can help a soldier take out an enemy quickly should be embraced whole-heartedly. But in sports, it's supposed to be about the athlete and their skill, not their equipment.

Yes, I know things are evolving all the time, like the polevault pole changing from wood to fibreglass, the surfboard changing from some humongous thing to a short thing that anyone can ride on, but there are some sports that really should not be interfered with.

I'm ambivalent about the "slap skates" as I think they're called. There was some fuss in the Winter Olymics 8 years ago, where Americans hadn't been using the slap skates, so couldn't get used to them in time, and so wanted them banned from competition, and those teams that were using the skates were saying, Hey, it's not our fault if you jumped on the band wagon late.

But, again, there are some sports that should not be interfered with.

And those are: archery, and pistol shooting.

Now, of course archery has been doing its technology thing for years, and I've never liked it. Basically, you've got these three little thingies, or "booms" on the bow - extending outward, so you line up your arrow with all these things, and let it go, and it's easier for it to hit the target.

Cheating!

That's not what archery is supposed to be about!

Then we've got pistol shooting. And now it looks like you can wear eyegear that magnifies your vision so you can see the target better. You can probaby even use a laser sight to put right on the target when you fire.

Cheating!

The skill is going, or has gone out of, these sports, to be replaced by only strength. As long as you've got the strength to hold up that bow with all the extra stuff hanging off of it, you'll score high. As long as you can hold your hand steady enough to sight with that laser dot, you'll score high.

Terrible!

2) The Road to Beijing - Olympic Town, Princeton, NJ
There's a photo on this page of the Printon rowing women, and it was a joy to see these athetic women, their slender bodies packed unashamedly with muscle. These are what women should like - no more ruler-thin arms and stick-like legs! Muscular (albeit not hyper-muscular!) is sexy.

Interview with Pat Summitt after Stanford loss, 12/23/07

Click arrow twice to play



After every game, it's possible to hear audio of Pat's after-game interview with radio broadcaster Mickey Dearstone, but I'd never seen a video of it, til this appeared on Youtube. So I thought I'd share it here.

Here's also a video from about a year ago, where she's coaching her young son in an AAU game. They lost, though.

Coaches, CEOs and politicians... golden parachutes above flaming debris

Kelvin Sampson, the NCAA division 1 basketball coach who left Oklahoma under a cloud because he'd made dozens and dozens of phonecalls that he was not supposed to make, has just accepted a buyout of his contract for $700,000, from Indiana - for doing the exact same thing.

This makes no sense to me. What kind of blood-sucking lawyers do university athletic departments hire these days, that they can't write an iron-clad contract saying, "You cheat in any way, shape or form, and we get to fire you without paying you one red cent."

Surely that is how head coaches' contracts should be written.

But Jim O'Brien got fired, as he deserved, and he won a wrongful dismissal lawsuit and now he's getting paid the big bucks.

And now we've got Kelvin Sampson, who threatened to sue the university if he were fired. So they cave and "buy out" his contract, giving him $700,000.

Where does this money come from, I wonder? From taxpayers, whose tax money goes into university coffers to pay for athletic programs? From alumni gifts and stuff? From income from the football program? (I do believe that football is the only money-making proposition for most schools - all other spoorts, male and female, ride on those coattails...)

It's just ridiculous.

In what other job can you deserve to be fired, and get paid millions when you go? Only head coaches, CEOs, and politicians. The average rank and file would be out on their ears...

Do they not have to obey their mothers?

On February 2, a Christian school called St. Mary’s Academy, a private religious school that sits on a sprawling campus about 25 miles northwest of Topeka, was playing a basketball tournament.

A female referee was going to referee the game, except the athletic director of this school refused to allow her to do so.

"That would be putting a woman in a position of authority over boys, he was told — a scenario that was contrary to beliefs at St. Mary’s Academy."

Now this kind of archaic thinking is what you'd expect from Muslims, not Christians. And I'm like.... what? These are boys - boys who presumably do what their mother tells them to do. What are they going to do when a female police officer stops them for a traffic violation, I wonder, tell her that since she's a woman they don't have to do what she says? Or do all the boys of this school go straight into the church where they don't have to worry about dealing with the female of the species?

Removal of woman referee by religious school has some crying foul

Lawyers are getting their claws into sports, now

I see that a member of the Rams, the team that lost to the Patriots in some Superbowl a few years ago, is suing the Patriots organization and Bill Bellicheck for taping the Rams practices.

This is just ridiculous. But of course... there's big money in it - not only for the lawyers who will get most of the pie, but also for the players who lost the Superbowl, as the winners get big bonuses while the losers get smaller bonuses.

Next we'll see teams sue referees for making mistakes with foul calls (anyone want to bet Rutgers would love to sue the timekeeper or ref or whoever it was that froze that Tennessee clock at .2 seconds a couple of days ago?)

This type of litigation has no place in sports. Sure, if some psycho athlete blindsides a player and pounds his head into the ground - which is what happened in a hockey game a few years ago and ended up breaking the guy's neck - that's assault and the guy deserves to go to jail.

But suing because of cheating? When "everyone" does it?

Nooooo. Keep lawyers out of sports!

UT vs Rutgers: Clockgate - See the video

Someone uploaded vidoe of the final 28 seconds. Watch the clock. It sllllooooows down for about 5 seconds, then stops at .2, then quickly runs out.




Okay, this is going to be a litany of woe.

I actually watched that game until 2.47 seconds left in it, with Rutgers up by 2. Then my brother wanted to watch The Sarah Connor Chronicles, and since I've "gone off" the Lady Vols, I just went upstairs, intending to keep track of it on ESPN gametracker. (Of course, neither ESPN nor CBSSportlines had "gametrackers" that were anywhere near accurate.)

So the game ends in controversy, and I didn't see it! I *could* have seen it if I'd told my brother to just watch the Sarah Connor Chronicles on computer tomorrow (he gets TV on Demand) - but he writes reviews for me for my The Thunder Child website so I didn't want to discourage him by making him think his reviews were unimportant and having to wait a day...

So, the controversy.

According to Rutgers fans, UConn fans and 1 or 2 Tennessee fans on the Summitt, the clock stopped with .2 seconds to go, for a whole second. Had the clock not stopped, time would have ran out and Rutgers would have won by 1 point.

Because the clock stopped, a Rutgers player fouled Nicki Anosike (one of the worst free throw shooters the Vols have), and with .2 seconds left, she sinks both free throws. Tennesseee wins.

Of course, the UConn board has several threads about the Magic Clock. Havent' gone to the Rutgers board, but they probably do to.

On the Summitt, most are saying it wasn't cheating, and to get over it, but one or two long time posters see it the other way. (There are a few fly-bys, obviously Rutgers fans posting their first messages...but hey, if what every "impartial" person is saying is true, Rutgers just got "jobbed."

Of course, the Rutgers player who committed the foul - a rather blatant foul - shouldn't have done that, and they'd have won that way, too!

Well, hopefully they'll replay the game or cover the controversy on PTI tomorrow.

Super Season Ends With A Sulk

When Tom Brady's final, fourth down pass was broken up, sealing the Giants win, I turned off the TV and left the room.

I'm allowed. I was a spectator.

But when that happened on the field.... Patriots coach Bill Bellicheck also left the building. Quick shake of Coughlin's hand and out the door, even thought the refs tried to call him back because the game wasnt over - a second was being put back on the clock.

Worse than that - Tom Brady also left, without shaking Eli's hand. Indeed, according to reports I've read, the only person on the field at the end of the game to congratualte their opponents was Randy Moss - the guy who' been ripped in the media (deservedly) for walking out on his team with a few seconds to go, a couple of years ago.

Today, everything's making a big deal of the Giants, and commenting on the loss of the perfect season for the Patriots...but no one's really pointing out the bad sportsmanship that came at the end (although it was mentioned quite a bit in the writeups last night.)

I wanted the Patriots to lose and I was glad they did. I've disliked Bill Bellicheck all year. All year I've read about his arrogance and his rudeness...and he showed it again last night. I just hope that his rudeness doesn't start a trend...much like a single spike of the football in the endzone several years ago ignited what we have today, offensive and defensive players partying after each play they make as if the rest of the team didn't exist.

Be interesting to see the fallout between Randy Moss and the Patriots, and between Tom Brady and his girl-friend of the month - maybe she'll drift over to Eli Manning's side now... (that's not a rip on the guys, but rather on the empty headed models who want to be seen with the flavor of the month quarterback.)

Well...bring on the baseball!

$1 Mil a minute and this crap is the best they can do?

I've been watching Superbowl 42. Game's good, commercials are lousy.

TO see them:

Superbowl Commercials at Myspace - NFL's official site

I have seen at least three commercials that were sexist and demeaning to women - including one in which an extremely plain young woman (made up to be extremely plain, not really extremely plain) draws all eyes, because instead of wearing perfume she wears cashew nut aroma)

and a commercial in which a lot of immigrants with furrin accents are being taught how to pick up women... and of course the winner is a short, plain Korean guy with a beautiful blond model, all because he knows how to say Bud Light. Can't believe immigrant groups aren't going to make a fuss over that...it was demeaning!

On a brighter note, looks like the Giants defense came to play....

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...