The Bottom Line

Missing the point...

2007-02-16T09:04:00.000-06:00

Today in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, I happened across a column by Jim Moore, who inexplicably calls himself and his column the "Go 2 Guy." Cheesy name aside, the column really disappointed me for any number of reasons not the first of which being that Moore's column, whether he'd like to admit it or not, condones the felonious drug use and possession by two Gonzaga basketball.

According to Moore, when Josh Heytvelt, arguably Gonzaga's best player and Theo Davis, didn't turn their headlights on, the reason why a Spokane police officer stopped the Chevrolet Trail Blazer (the irony of the name of the vehicle they were in is striking) the two players were riding in, that was the worst decision they made that night.

Really, Jim? That was the worst decision they made that night. Are you sure it wasn't the whole driving around with 'shrooms in your car thing because that seems like an awfully bad decision to me.

Moore's next genius dissection of this incident is the discovery by the police officer of aforementioned bag of 'shrooms sticking out of Heytvelt's gym bag. His analysis of this incident is so ungodly stupid, I can't help but post it in its entirety.

"If I'm Heytvelt, as soon as I see blue lights in my rear-view mirror, the first thing I'm doing is "un-protruding" my mushrooms by stuffing them deep into my bag, underneath my sneakers and practice jersey and zipping the whole damn thing shut. That just seems like a Foreign-Substance Fundamental 101."

There you go kids, if you're riding around with mushrooms in your car, Seattle Post-Intelligencer Jim Moore gives you specific instructions on how to best hide your stash from the Po-Po.

And then there's the kicker. An argument that I've heard one hundred times before from parents who freely used drugs themselves. And again, I'm going to have to quote Moore directly because I can' t put it any better than he did.

"Yes, here in Washington those magic mushrooms are felonious goods, and I know I'm missing the point, that kids shouldn't do drugs, period, particularly when they're part of a team. It's a privilege, not a right, and so on. But kids do do drugs."

Not all kids do drugs, Jim. I'm 23 years old and I've never used an illegal drug in my life. I know that there are young people who have and do use illegal drugs on a regular basis but that doesn't make it ok or, in this case, legal. I remember reading a feature in SI a month or so ago about Alando Tucker, the all-world Wisconsin forward who is probably the best all-around player in college basketball, making a pact with his father not to use drugs or alcohol. That seems to be working out pretty well for him, don't you think? And you can bet that if he was busted with a bag of 'shrooms or brownies laced with 'shrooms, the local papers would eat him alive. They wouldn't smirk and make light of a situation that, had it not happened to two Gonzaga basketball players likely would have resulted in jail time.

And then there's the rub.

I'm not going to condone Heytvelt's and Davis' actions, but at the same time, haven't they been punished enough? Reinstate Heytvelt in time for Saturday's game against eighth-ranked Memphis and allow Davis to be a member of the team again.

Too often, society is willing to overlook the faults and slip-ups of the talented. And this is no exception. Who cares if you admittedly stole laptops from dorm rooms (UConn's Marcus Williams) or were riding around in your Trail Blazer with a bag full of 'shrooms if you can help us WIN?

Well done, Jim Moore.

2007-02-15T14:17:00.000-06:00

15, 373 points. 7,095 assists. 1,428 steals. All of Tim Hardaway's statistics wiped away by four words:

"I hate gay people."

It seems like every newspaper, sports talk radio show and sports blog has picked up on the story that I first heard about while laying in bed last night after watching 'Lost.' My stomach churned as I listened to Hardaway tell Miami Herald columnist and sometimes-ESPN talking head Dan LeBatard describe his stance on homosexuality in NBA locker rooms. In the wake of former NBA center John Amaechi coming out of the closet, it seems that anyone who ever wore an NBA jersey has been asked how they'd feel if one of their teammates was gay. The responses have ranged from surprisingly refreshing (Charles Barkley) to awkward and quasi-homophobic (LeBron James) to ignorant and flat-out homophobic (Shavlik Randolph) to revolting and bigoted (Hardaway).

I certainly don't think that Hardaway's comments are in anyway indicative of the way the majority of NBA players, or for that matter the majority of Americans, feel about homosexuals in any workplace.

All Hardaway did when he told LeBatard that homosexuals had no place in this country was diminish what was an otherwise respectable NBA career. Was Hardaway one of the greatest point guards ever to play the game? Not by a longshot. However from this point forward, when someone mentions the name "Tim Hardaway," you won't think of a no-look pass or his patented cross-over, you'll think of the moment when Dan LeBatard challenged Hardaway's comments as "flatly homophobic" and bigoted and Hardaway branded himself forever as a bigot.

Here's a link to a transcript of the conversation posted by the Miami Herald.

http://www2.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifNCAA (FINALLY) makes the right call on shorter games..

2007-02-14T15:01:00.000-06:00

The Dallas Morning-News is reporting that the NCAA has scrapped the rules aimed at making college football games shorter.

I think this is definitely the right move for college football. The clock rules may have made the games shorter (on the average about 15 minutes) but to say that they reduced the quality of the game would be an understatement. The rules were universally panned by players and coaches and even sparked a website. You know you're hated when you have your own hate-site (just ask Ron Zook)

There are some other rule changes that I'm a little apathetic about..

Timeouts will be 30 seconds instead of 65 seconds
The play clock will be just 15 seconds after a TV timeout
Kickoffs will kicked from the 30 instead of the 35 in an attempt to reduce kickoffs

I've blasted the NCAA before and rightfully so but I think they finally made the right move on SOMETHING.

Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops said he doesn't think people who drive hours to watch a football game care about how long the game runs, he told the Morning-News, "I don't know if they come to see a quick game, a game to played in three hours," he said.

I firmly believe that football fans, either in the stands or watching at home, care if the game runs long or not. But the networks do care. They have a budgeted time slot that they give a game and they want the game to be over in that allotted time. That's why this decision was made in the first place and I wish the NCAA would have acknowledged that from the start and not front like they're taking up the sword and trying to protect the integrity of the game.

Here's a link to the Morning-News article.

Tiki rips Coughlin, Part........ well, it's at least 10

2007-02-14T09:22:00.000-06:00

Sometimes I'm willing to give players the benefit of the doubt when it comes to news conferences. I've read pieces in the New York Post, Daily News and the Times about Tiki Barber's formal introduction to the world as NBC's newest "Today" show correspondent as well as an analyst on NBC's Sunday Night Football. In that news conference, judging by all the stories I've read, Barber used his TV debut as an the opportunity to (once again) blast Giants coach Tom Coughlin.

Now what I don't know is whether or not, Barber was provoked to do so by questions from the media. But let's assume for a second that he wasn't. We can do so because Barber's mouth has allowed us to do. Let's assume that in talking about making the transition from the backfield to 30 Rock, he decided to elaborate on why he decided to leave football following what were arguably the best 3 seasons of his career and just couldn't help himself.

Say what you want about Terrell Owens, and as an unashamed Eagles fan I often do, but T.O. has never publicly ripped a coach the way Barber has on more than one occasion. So why does Barber get a pass? Why isn't Tiki Barber the egomaniac that T.O. is branded of being, and probably is?

In the press conference, Barber talked about Coughlin's rules and how physically demanding his practices were. Barber was quoted by New York Newsday as saying:

"I never got breaks, never got to just relax, and it took a toll on me. He pushed me in this direction. He kind of forced me to start thinking about what I wanted to do next and I went after it. "There would be days where I couldn't move on Wednesday and he'd get mad at me for going half-speed. I told him, 'Coach, I can't do it. I'm going to be out here, I'm never going to miss a practice. But I can't give you what you want all the time.'"

In reviewing his statistics, you can't question Barber's game but after reviewing Barber's comments, you almost have to question his heart and his toughness.

The truth of the matter is that the Giants, as crazy as this sounds, will probably be better off without Barber. They had to get Tiki his touches and that probably came at the cost of seeing Eli Manning develop the way other QBs of his draft class have developed (Philip Rivers, Ben Rothlisberger).

The truth of the matter is that the Giants will miss Tiki Barber's production but they won't miss his divisive off-the-field sniping of his own head coach. Barber may have been a great player but he was far from a great leader.

Barber, truthfully, is lucky to have gotten out when he did. If the Giants had to go through another season of dysfunction with Eli Manning under-producing and Barber complaining about feeling '"forgotten" in the Giants offense, his "good guy" image would have been severely damaged.

And while we're on the topic, what is Tiki Barber's legacy? When he announced his retirement at 31, he was wrongly criticized for being a quitter. But don't get it twisted, Tiki Barber is no Barry Sanders. A recent ESPN poll asking whether or not Tiki Barber was a Hall of Famer came back a land slide, over 80 percent of those polls felt Barber was not worthy of enshrinement. And I would tend to agree with them.

As an NFL anaylst, Barber can publicly blast Coughlin until he's blue in the face, and he probably will, but the timing of this smacks of sour grapes.

When I read what Barber had to say about Coughlin, for the 75th time, I just couldn't help but wonder why T.O. is toxic and Tiki Barber isn't?

What would Jesus do if he had to wrestle a girl? Put that on a wristband

2007-02-13T08:21:00.000-06:00

Yesterday an article ran in the Albany Times-Union, a paper I admittedly only read because I have family in that area, and I happened, by chance, across a story about eighth-grader Brian Walsh who is readying himself to forfeit his chance at a state title because he may have to wrestle a girl.

He won't wrestle a girl for a number of reasons.
1) The school he attends, Loudonville Christian, passsed, at the behest of his parents, a policy banning boys from wrestling girls.

2) He think it's disrespectful to women. (I mean who wants to be treated as equals anyway, right?)

3)It's described by his father as a "no-win" situation. His father claims that if he wins, he's just beating up on a girl but if he loses then he lost to a girl.

4) HE'S AFRAID OF GETTING BEAT BY A GIRL!

I think what's most disgraceful here is the extent to which this kid has been brainwashed to think that what he's doing is morally just. And he and his parents are wrong.

If Walsh (and his parents) want to make this choice for their son, then that's fine. But what message does this send this kid? By wanting to maintain a "respect for women," Walsh's parents are instilling in him a belief that men are superior to women. Walsh's parents aren't allowing him to explore the possibility that women are just as capable of doing anything that men can do. Wouldn't he be better served by the opportunity to learn, at a young age, that women are his equals?

The most telling quote of the entire piece was when Walsh said "It's tough, you know," Walsh said earlier this week, "making it to the finals and then walking away. I've kind of struggled with it. But whatever happens, happens. I support the decision."

"I support the decision." Should he be supporting his own decision? No, he should be making it. Does this sound like a kid who really wants to do this? Don't you think, if really given the choice, he wouldn't prefer to compete? Of course he would, that's why people play sports at any level. You play to compete.

And what about the girl? Do you think her feelings are going to be hurt if she loses? I highly doubt it. When I think about some of the finer female athletes that I've known in my life, if she's anything like them, her victory would feel much less hollow if she won the state title because no one wanted to wrestle her because she was a girl.

The sad thing is that at the end of the day, both of these kids are being denied the chance to compete and participate in a sport because the adults around them are behaving poorly.

In this day and age, it's absolutely nuts that people choose to bring their religious beliefs into arguments that otherwise have nothing to do with religion.

"It's just not what we feel honors the lord Jesus Christ," Camilleri, the school's AD, said Monday. "This is the correct position, the godly position for us at Loudonville Christian to take. ... We're here to please the Lord, not to please man."

Godly position? This is 8th grade wrestling!

Here's the link to the article in the Albany Times-Union. There's an accompanying column by Brian Ettkin.

2007-02-12T15:23:00.000-06:00

You want to shorten college football games? Talk to the networks.

2007-02-12T11:22:00.000-06:00

Yesterday, my girlfriend was kind enough to bring me the Sunday Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Having had lots of things to do yesterday, including watching old episodes of "The Office", playing Madden and watching a 2-hour Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, I did not have the time to read said paper. So as I'm sitting here reading yesterday's paper, I came across an article by Tony Barnhart, the AJC's primary college football reporter.

The article talks about the rules made by the NCAA last year to make games faster, rules that included a running clock at rather inopportune moments, i.e., when a change of possession occurs. The article quotes several prominent coaches (Steve Spurrier, Mark Richt, Ralph Friedgen, Tennessee offensive coordinator David Cutcliffe) as saying that what the new rules are really doing is hurting the game from a strategic standpoint as well as from the vantage point of the fans.

First of all, I'm not sure who was complaining about the length of college football games. Compared to the NFL, college football games are quick. The truth of the matter is that the game on the field wasn't and isn't making the game longer, it's the commercials and TV timeouts. And that has absolutely nothing to do with the game.

The article says that despite a survey that said 57 percent of Division I-A coaches wanted to go back to the old rules, the new rules weren't likely to change.

Barnhart quoted Dennis Poppe, the NCAA's managing director for football as saying, "I think we could see some modification at the end of the half and the end of the game," Poppe said. "The key is whether or not this change impacts the integrity of the game and the way it's supposed to be played. If there is a good reason to make another change, we'll make it."

What's disgraceful about this is that the rule change was never meant to benefit or improve the integrity of the game.

So let me get this straight, the coaches think the rules are hurting the game and actually lessening the integrity of the game but the NCAA essentially has no intention of changing them. So if the NCAA isn't acting on behalf of the "student-athletes" or on behalf of the coaches, who are they trying to protect? The answer: the networks, the conferences and their respective wallets.

Here's a link to yesterday's AJC article.

Illinois/Indiana rivalry very much alive

2007-02-12T10:02:00.001-06:00

Because I live in the South, I was unable to get the Illinois/Indiana game on CBS on Saturday, instead getting an UCLA/West Virginia game that turned out to be a classic.. still I remained uninterested and didn't watch it.

After reading articles about the game in the Chicago Tribune, Sun-Times, St. Louis Post-Dispatch and the Indianapolis Star I think I got a pretty good feel for how the Hoosiers played and how Hoosier Nation greeted Bruce Weber.

I think it's safe to say that this is the rivalry that Hoosier fans and the team can hang its on. I'm not sure how Champaign will greet Eric Gordon when he steps foot in Assembly Hall but my guess is that it's not going to pretty. But I think that the Hoosiers have their Darth Vader... he's smug, unlikable... and he whines. They have a villain.

The traditional IU rivalries, Purdue and Kentucky have fizzled of late and Hoosier Nation needs someone to hate. And they've found that someone...

You think IU fans believe in their new coach?

Leave Ron Zook Alone

2007-02-09T09:39:00.000-06:00

National Signing Day, which one sportswriter ridiculously compared to the Super Bowl and the first two days of the NCAA tournament, has come on gone.

On that day of days, I read any number of stories from newspapers across the country about any number of recruits to any number of schools. Without a doubt the biggest surprise was the draft class that Illinois and Ron Zook were able to snag on Wednesday. I read a story in the New York Times in which former Michigan State coach John L. Smith essentially accuses Zook and his staff of recruiting violations.

"Where there's smoke, there's probably fire," Smith told The Times.

The main question is how could a program like Illinois, void of a rich football tradition of any kind, recruit four-star kids from Metro areas, other than Chicago? And since there's no reasonable answer.. he must be cheating.

While I don't think Zook is the most competent coach on the planet, the guy is one helluva recruiter. Even when he took over a Florida program that wasn't fantastic when Spurrier left to coach the Redskins, the guy still pulled down impressive recruiting classes year after year after year, classes that included Chris Leak, Dallas Baker and other members of the Gators team that won the National Championship.

In a story today in the Chicago Tribune, Zook wonders aloud who these rumors may have come from. And he's got a pretty good feeling that they started with a man who tucks half of his stomach into his pants — the snot-sicle king himself, Notre Dame head coach Charlie Weis.

Notre Dame and Illinois competed for many of the same prospects including Arrelious Benn and Martez Wilson. Weis just couldn't seem to understand why anyone would want to go to Champagne when they could wake up the echoes at Notre Dame.

Until something is proven that demonstrates Zook's guilt, I think the reality appears to be that Zook is a fantastic recruiter. He had a good track record at Florida and it appears that it's continuing at Illinois.

Here's a link to the Tribune article today.

2007-02-07T09:14:00.000-06:00

As I work my way up my news reader, I happened across an article about Chicago Bulls rookie Tyrus Thomas. I had heard grumblings yesterday about comments Thomas made to a reporter from the Chicago Tribune about his desire, or lack thereof, to compete in the NBA's slam dunk contest during All-Star weekend.

Thomas was quoted in the Tribune as saying, "I'm just going to go out there, get my check and call it a day."

When asked if being around some of the game's greats could be beneficial for a rookie, he responded, "I'm just into the free money. That's it. I'll just do whatever when I get out there."

In a follow-up to that story, Thomas appears to have taken a stand-up attitude about the whole thing. He didn't claim he was misquoted by the reporter but rather said that he's going to use this as a lesson that he needs to be careful about what he says and how he says it and that he couldn't fault the reporter for doing his job.

I'm mildly amused by Thomas' comments because I think this is a reflection of what the slam dunk contest has become. Everything that can be done, for the most part has been done. The only innovative thing I've seen recently was when Steve Nash demonstrated his soccer skills in helping teammate Amare Stoudemire in the dunk contest. I think the dunk contest needs to be discontinued and replaced with a skills competition or something of that ilk. I know it will be hard to part ways with the dunk contest because of the nostalgia and great moments attached to it (see, Jordan and 'Nique, Dr. J., Cedric Ceballos dunking blindfolded, etc.) but I think the times has come to move forward and start a new tradition.

In today's piece in the Chicago Tribune, Thomas said he was going to donate any slam dunk winnings or additional money he would receive for participating in the dunk contest to his high school. That is something I don't believe for a second. Maybe I'm a little cynical but I firmly believe that had this story not come to fruition and had Thomas not described his slam dunk contest check as being "free money", that check would be finding it's way to the Tyrus Thomas pocket fund.

Thomas has since found out some of that "free money" from the dunk contest is now going back to the Chicago Bulls who have fined the rookie from LSU for his comments.

Here is the link to the Chicago Tribune article today....

2007-02-06T11:32:00.000-06:00

Today, I happened across a really interesting piece in the Florida Times-Union in Jacksonville, Florida. Chase Goodbread's piece talks about football recruiting, particularly in the state of Florida, and how often times when a recruit gives a verbal committment to a school, the recruiting of that player by others schools usually doesn't stop.

On first gleen, my thoughts were 'the NCAA must do something about this.' I thought this because it seems to me like when a kid makes that choice, he's making it for a reason and that decision is presumably well-thought out. And on a personal level, I was disappointed when hearing that Jerimy Finch, a standout safety from Indianapolis-Warren Central, is back on the fence between Michigan and Indiana after de-committing to Michigan to become a Hoosier in the fall.

But on the other day, isn't it a kid's right to change his mind as long as he hasn't signed on the dotted line? I can't help but wonder if it isn't time for the NCAA to begin forcing kids to sign written committements when they make verbal committments. In other words, should the NCAA have a rolling committment deadline with the drop-deadline being Feb. 7.

I'm interested in hearing some opinions about this... but I think that the verbal committment has been rendered essentially useless because they're not binding in anyway.

http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/020607/hig_7815562.shtml.. here's a link to Times-Union piece.

2006-09-29T10:37:00.000-05:00

Today is indeed a sad day in sports. Clinton Portis, the eccentric, if not a little weird, running back for the Washington Redskins has announced he is retiring all of his alter-egos, including Dr. "I Don't Know", Sheriff Gonna Getcha and Southeast Jerome. While I am somewhat of a throwback to the days when players played and were seen to and not heard but I don't mind personalities like Ports' and Bengals wide receiver Chad Johnson.

The major difference between those from the cut of Portis and Chad Johnson and those from the cut of T.O. is that they are not having fun and enjoying themselves to the detriment of their team and their teammates. While Johnson's list of those who have to cover 85 seems like its self-aggrandizing, everyone, even those on the list, know that's just Chad being Chad.

It may seem hypocritical to say that it's ok for Chad Johnson to dance in the endzone but it's not ok for T.O. to consistantly draw attention to himself, on and off the field. And maybe it is. But I firmly believe that if Johnson or Portis believed that what they were doing was hurting their respective teams, they wouldn't be doing it. T.O. has shown that he will do whatever he wants to do regardless of the outcome.

2006-09-28T12:09:00.000-05:00

T.O. - The Day After

When first hearing of this wildly speculative story. I was skeptical but I wasn't completely incredulous. This is an athlete who has shown himself to be so wildly insecure and starved for attention that the possibility that he would be so unhappy so as to take his own life was not, in and of itself, all that surprising.

However, after watching yesterday's press conference, it becomes clear to me that Owens is not a man who took 35 vicoden and attempted to take his own life.

I found myself having an unusual thought yesterday as I contemplated the possibility that T.O. had actually tried to kill himself: I felt bad. As a Philadelphia Eagles fan for the better part of my functional life, I have nothing for disdain for Terrell Owens as a person. In the dictionary, next to the word "toxic", you'll see a picture of number 81. However, off the field matters, especially of this nature, are something entirely different. This isn't a matter of off the field ridiculousness, it really is (or was) a matter of life and death. It's moments like this that make you realize that athlete, no matter how much they try to differentiate themselves from those who pay to watch them, are just ordinary people with many of the same problems and afflicitions that plague all of us.

With the suicide rumor dismissed, I'm ready to get back to hating T.O.

2006-09-26T13:51:00.000-05:00

I thought I'd take aim at Bruce Feldman's column on ESPN.com that he publishes weekly, where he ranks the power conferences. Basically what Feldman does is evaluate the performance of a conference's teams in any given weekend and then assign point values, plus or minus, and then tally those points to assess how a conference fared in that weekend.

What I can't help but notice is the means he is going to to justify keeping the SEC on top for yet another week. While, I don't disagree that the SEC is one of the tougher conferences in the country, I felt like this was an especially dull weekend in the SEC. What with Auburn playing Buffalo, Florida playing Kentucky and Georgia playing Colorado. However, Feldman still finds a way to give the SEC 1 point because LSU destroyed Arizona, a team that gave USC a little bit of a tough time this past weekend. So the SEC gets a point for a game it didn't even play? Meanwhile, he gives Ohio State 1 point for beating Penn State in the slop. But what he actually writes is even more ludicrous: "Ohio State shuts down a ranked team, staying unbeaten (+1)". Yeah no big deal.

I think it's time that the Big Ten finally got whats due them. By season's end, they will have 2 teams in the BCS bowl contention and probably a team in the national championship game. Forget that Wisconsin is as tough as unranked draw as there is, especially at Camp Randall, and Michigan State is one complete and utter fold job from being the conferences' 4th undefeated team.

Stay tuned to next week's column when Feldman the SEC receives two points for looking snazzy in their uniforms.