Author Archive
O on August 5th, 2009
Most football fans get ecstatic when training camp starts because that means that football is here. All of the NFL teams can be excited as hope usually springs eternal in July and August. All fans can believe that this year will be their team’s year. While everyone is optimistic about this season, they had better keep in mind that this could be the last time the NFL could be in its current form as the players’ contract is up in March and if there’s no agreement by then, the NFL could forever change for the worst.
There are so many issues on the table between the players and the owners that the very league as we know it could disappear overnight. The biggest issue at hand will be the salary cap and how the players hate it and the owners love it. Well, some owners, like Jerry Jones (Cowboys) and Daniel Synder (Redskins) do not love it, but they are still in the minority. If there is not an agreement by this spring, the 2010 season could very well not have a salary cap, which could eventually kill small market teams like Green Bay, Minnesota, or Pittsburgh.
The most pressing issue during the negotiations very well be involved the retired NFL players and their pension fund. The NFL players union have been a complete embarrassment concerning their former players and not only does the union have resistance from the owners in this issue, but the public at large thinks it is a joke that they do not watch for the former players in the NFL. So many retired players are in such distressing health, it is a flat-out travesty that they have so little money and no insurance to take care of injuries that received playing in the NFL. How former NFL player’s union president, Gene Upshaw, a former player, did not ever address this issue is one of the many mysteries and the current president, DeMaurice Smith, should rectify such an obvious oversight of the union.
Finally, the number of games will definitely be another negotiating point. Of course, the owners are trying to get some more money, but how will the players be compensated for the extra games? Going from 16 to 18 games would mean more wear and tear to the players and even though this would probably mean less exhibition games, would the roster number stay the same? More games would mean more injuries, so the number of players on the roster should rise as the number of games rise, right?
All of these issues are of little worry now as the new season has started with training camps across the league beginning. The thing is that these same issues with be all football fans talk about after the Super Bowl and more importantly, how will these negotiations affect next season and the seasons afterwards.
O on June 23rd, 2009
I do not think there is a bigger “heads-tails” athlete in this world than Vince Young. People either love him or they can not stand him. He is a hero in the state of Texas where he won high school and college championships. Yet, in the state of Tennessee, they view Young altogether differently. Despite having a record of 18-11 as a starter for the Titans, Titan fans do not want any part of Young anymore. Kerry Collins now has the starter’s role and Young has made comments to the effect of how he wants to play. How could a quarterback go from Offensive Rookie of the Year to a quarterback that no one wants in 30 months?
I personally believe the beginning of Vince Young’s downfall had more to do with Young’s personality than his play. Young had a segment about him on 60 Minutes and he was crushed for it. Media outlets and call-in shows called him “spoiled” and “selfish.” Now this segment was at the beginning of last season, which was ironically was the beginning of the end of Young’s popularity in Tennessee.
Young struggled at the beginning of his second season. He threw interceptions at an increased pace; he also got injured in week 6 and they missed a week. Even with Young struggling, the Titans were 6-2 halfway in the season and then they really struggled, losing 3 games in a row. Now 6-5, the fans in Tennessee began to criticize Young. Even with the criticism, Young led the Titans to 4 victories in 5 games to make the playoffs, but he again struggled in the playoffs against San Diego. The Titans had a good season, but Vince Young seemed to be catching a lot of flak.
In his third season, Young get injured in the first game of the season and never get back his starting job from Kerry Collins for the remainder of the season. After the game, rumors spread that Young did not want to go back in the game because the fans were booing. The next night, the Titans claimed they were looking for Young and afraid that he would commit suicide. Young claimed that he never wanted out of the game and was no threat whatsoever in committing suicide, but how did it get like this and why did those reports get to the media?
This off-season, Young has said he wanted to play and get his job back. Well, he will not have that chance as long as Kerry Collins is healthy. How ironic is it that Young, the person who got them out of being the worst team in the 2006 may be facing his last season in Tennessee in 2009? Well, it is just another turn in the career of Vince Young in Tennessee.
O on June 15th, 2009
If Kobe Bryant seemed happier than he has ever been when winning an NBA title, it was because he was. Now no one is happier than the first time they win a championship, but for Kobe, this felt like the first time. When Kobe first won a NBA title, he was twenty-one years old and was compared with Michael Jordan almost as often as he heard his name. When Kobe won his second title, when everyone else was celebrating, Kobe cried by himself in the shower with the turmoil with his family concerning his new marriage and his teammates with his new growth. When Kobe won his third title, he was evolving, but no one wanted him to change or grow into anything more than what he already was. With three NBA titles at the age of twenty-three, Kobe wanted more while everyone else was happy with what was going on.
This was where his famous feud with Shaquille O’Neal always came into play. While Shaq thought Kobe was all into himself, Kobe thought the very same thing about Shaq, especially when Shaq would show up out of shape and use the season to play himself into shape. This led to conflict between the two superstars that also led to the split between them in the offseason of 2004, which got more attention in any sporting event that season. Shaq was traded to Miami and Kobe was left to take the total blame for the fall of the Lakers.
What never gets talked about is how the Lakers got rid of everyone and bought a whole new team to Kobe, one that did not nearly resemble the team that went to the NBA finals in 2004. Kobe had to start over with a team that not only had no shot for the championship, but a team that did not even make the playoffs. All of the blame went to Kobe, who had also just gotten over a rape trial that threaten not only his freedom, but also his marriage. Not much seemed to have gone right for Kobe, but it made him grow up, something that he had not been able to do early on in his career.
After three seasons of not making it past the first round of the playoffs, Kobe had enough and squarely put the pressure of improving the Lakers on the front office. In turn, they brought in players such as Trevor Ariza and Shannon Brown, but the two biggest moves that made the Lakers championship contenders was when they bought in Derek Fisher, who came back to the Lakers after being on the first three titles with Kobe, and Pau Gasol, who brought Kobe a number-two option, something Kobe had never had before. The front office did their job and now it was up to Kobe to do his.
Since the trade for Pau Gasol, Kobe Bryant has been on a roll. He won his first MVP later that season and led the Lakers to their first NBA finals appearance since 2004, but they lost to the hated Boston Celtics. During the summer, he led the national team to a gold medal victory over Spain and his new teammate Gasol. Finally, Kobe led the Lakers back to the NBA finals and this time, they won the title that had eluded him for seven years and he won the NBA finals MVP. He celebrated like it was the first time, which for him it may have been. Now there was finally a championship title that he could enjoy.
O on June 10th, 2009
With the Los Angeles Lakers and the Orlando Magic going up against each other in the NBA finals, an old rivalry has been rekindled. No, it is not the rivalry that existed between the organizations when the Lakers signed Shaq away from the Magic in 1996. It is not the rivalry between the two cities over which one is better between Disneyland (Anaheim, CA) and Disney World (Orlando, FL). The rivalry that has been rekindled is the rivalry between Adam Morrison and J.J. Redick, who three years ago were the two best college basketball players in the country, but today, they find themselves on the bench for both of their teams who happened to make the NBA finals this season.
Both Morrison and Redick were heralded coming into the NBA because of what they both accomplished in their college careers. Morrison was originally from Montana, but moved to Spokane, Washington later on and played college basketball for Gonzaga University for three years. Morrison was not heavily recruited out of high school, but he was good immediately at Gonzaga and within two seasons, he was averaging 19 points per game at Gonzaga. It was his last season that everyone remembers as Morrison averaged 28.1 points as he led the nation in scoring and was the winner or the runner-up in just about every national player of the year award in college basketball that season.
J.J. Redick was the most hated player in the country for 3 years, but he was also the most accomplished as well. Duke was the most popular college basketball team in the country and Redick was the catalyst behind a lot of the success at Duke during his time there. His forte was his perimeter shooting and his accuracy from the free-throw line. He played in the ACC, known as the best conference in the country when it comes to college basketball, set many records in the conference such as most consecutive free throws made, most career ACC tournament points, and he was the ACC career point leader until Tyler Hansbrough broke his record in March. He was the ACC Player of the Year in 2005 and 2006, the Naismith College Player of the Year, and the John R. Wooden Award in his last season at Duke.
If these two were so great in and for college basketball, why have they not done well in the NBA? Well, the answer used to be their defensive ability since neither one has exceptional athletic ability. In Morrison’s case, injuries have hindered his ability to attack the basket and to play defense. In Redick’s case, he has never been able to get his shot on his own and he does not have the size or athleticism that a lot of players have. The thing is that one of these players will have something that eluded them in college and that was a championship. What is sad that they will have very little say in who actually wins the title.
O on June 3rd, 2009
It has been the talk of the sports world for the last 5 days. Lebron James not shaking hands with the Orlando Magic after the Magic beat the Cleveland Cavaliers 4 games to 2 to win the Eastern Conference finals and advance to the NBA finals. He then added on to the problem by saying a day later that he doesn’t shake hands with opponents that beat him because “I’m a winner and I’m a competitor.” Say what? I’ve been in and around sports for 37 years now and I’ve never heard that one until 5 days ago. Someone should have given Lebron some better advice or some at all.
The images I remember most about the Olympics is the sportsmanship of it all. Yes, you have some who use illegal substances to try and get ahead, but I’m talking about the competitions. In 1980, when the United States beat the Soviet Union in hockey in one of the biggest upsets ever in the Olympics, I remember how the Soviet players looked on in disbelief and then got in line to shake the Americans’ hands, even though as countries, we did not like each other. In 1988, I remember the same thing happening except this time, the sport was basketball and the winners were the Soviets, but there were the Americans to shake their hands.
Lebron James carries himself as well as one can expect a 24 year old to be able to handle himself, but he was dead wrong on this one. What made it worse was him attempting to explain why he did not shake hands instead of apologizing for not doing so. To me, the explanation was the worst offense of all because that was an opportunity to make him an even bigger figure in terms of helping children who do not know any better to know better. Now they do not, with Lebron’s help. Hopefully, someone will get to him and explain that those before him like Magic, Michael, Wilt, Kareem, Dr. J, and Jerry West, all who he has praised recently, were extremely proud competitors themselves and they all went to shake the hands of those who were victorious if it was not themselves. It is all part of being a winner and a competitor in any sport and if Lebron wants to be known as either one, it is something he had better learn quickly or he will be known as the opposite of both.
