Here are some stories I thought you might enjoy. Good stuff.
SI's 2007 MLB Preview. Angels win World Series. Print that off and then laugh at it in October.
School credit for the Final Four? Interesting. And expensive.
SI write Tom Verducci gets to be ump-for-a-day. This is a good piece.
Ryan Howard and his highschool sweetheart. Don't worry--not a romantic novel.
Saturday, March 31, 2007
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Hold Your Horses
Well, just about every media outlet out there is having an absolute hernia trying to figure out whether or not Billy Donovan will be the next coach at the University of Kentucky.
Honestly, I can see why. Since Tubby left the Bluegrass for The Gopher State, a line of dominoes that has encompassed the entire college basketball nation has been felled and it's an overwhelming set of events that lends itself to what could be one of the biggest college basketball stories a few years on either side of it.
Add that to the fact that we are in what "they" call an Information Now society, and it's easy to see why we all want answers now. No, we want them yesterday. Or even the day before.
I would say to all of us--
Slow your roll.
Extract those panties from your crack.
Er, take a chill pill.
You get the idea.
There's a little performance this weekend in Atlanta call the Final…Something…and it seems to me that one Billy Donovan will partaking in that festival of basketball for a second year in a row. He'll be attempting to do something that no one has done except Mike (hold a sec while I
research the spelling) Krzyzewski has done since the Days of Wooden--and that's repeat as national champions in college basketball.
It seems to me Billy might have a tad on his mind.
Forget the fact that he's employed by Florida. Forget the fact that he's a professional and would never say, "Yeah, you know what, I will be taking that job in Lexington" at any point before the Gators are officially eliminated or until the victory parade is over. Forget the fact that he's finally going through this procedure by doing what we all want coaches to do and that's say absolutely nothing either way if he's not sure what he'll do about a coaching opportunity elsewhere.
People can talk about their sources. People can say, "My friend, ******, said that Billy stayed the night at his house and between braiding each other's hair and watching My Little Pony, he told me that he'd love to take the Kentucky job and that those Big Blue fans were just "dreamy". People can say whatever they want to say between now and this weekend and the masses will pounce on every shred of news and take it as Gospel.
Want to know why?
Because Billy won't disagree with them. Billy can't disagree with them. And neither will the University of Kentucky.
Billy's got a job to do. And no matter what so-and-so's friend "******" may say, UK can't really talk to Billy until the job is finished.
That's the bottom line.
So let's just all wait--it's an excellent story. No doubt about it. But this story has a few more chapters before it reaches its conclusion. Yeah, I know you (and I) want to know the ending, but you can't jump to the end of a book without reading the middle unless you don't care if you ruin the story.
And even if you do want to ruin the story by jumping to the end, you impatient booger, you can't--the ending hasn't been written yet. And right now, it looks like only Billy holds the pen to finish our story, but we all know where he is right now.
Doing his job.
____________________
Fair or Fault?
Did anyone see the highlights of the Serena Williams' match Monday where apparently someone was heckling her? Sending racial slurs onto the court like Serena smashes her serves over the net?
ESPN was running this raw footage of the match during SportsCenter and we could hear and see Serena complaining to the umpire and the umpire talking with stadium officials and fans pointing at the guy in question and eventually the guy is ejected from the stadium.
ESPN fuzzed out this guy's face. You know, where they make it blurry like when 60 Minutes or some news show won't show a victim and alters their voice? Why would they do that?
If you go to a sporting event, make an absolute fool of yourself, that's just tough luck, you're gonna look like a fool. We don't fuzz the faces of the guilty. That's why someone always has a coat or a bedsheet handy at the courthouse steps. Otherwise, everyone is going to know what you look like on the news. Including your boss. Your friends. And your wife.
Why would ESPN fuzz this guy's face? That makes absolutely no sense to me.
Then comes this report this morning that the guy, Donald Winton, denies saying anything racial. Sure, he may have said other mean things like "lazy", etc., but he did not use the N-word, according to him.
Is that why ESPN fuzzed out his face? Why would Serena make that up? Does ESPN know something we don't? Is it possible that Serena just got mad and served up the racial card so she could focus on the rest of the match? Doesn't seem likely, but impossible?
This is remotely interesting. Keep an eye on that. May be that we've read the final chapter on this, but if this guy really didn't do anything other than say she was lazy, he's absolutely doing the right thing and that’s screaming to the press that's she's a liar.
If he's lying, though, he's an even bigger idiot than I thought he was after he got kicked out.
Honestly, I can see why. Since Tubby left the Bluegrass for The Gopher State, a line of dominoes that has encompassed the entire college basketball nation has been felled and it's an overwhelming set of events that lends itself to what could be one of the biggest college basketball stories a few years on either side of it.
Add that to the fact that we are in what "they" call an Information Now society, and it's easy to see why we all want answers now. No, we want them yesterday. Or even the day before.
I would say to all of us--
Slow your roll.
Extract those panties from your crack.
Er, take a chill pill.
You get the idea.
There's a little performance this weekend in Atlanta call the Final…Something…and it seems to me that one Billy Donovan will partaking in that festival of basketball for a second year in a row. He'll be attempting to do something that no one has done except Mike (hold a sec while I
research the spelling) Krzyzewski has done since the Days of Wooden--and that's repeat as national champions in college basketball.It seems to me Billy might have a tad on his mind.
Forget the fact that he's employed by Florida. Forget the fact that he's a professional and would never say, "Yeah, you know what, I will be taking that job in Lexington" at any point before the Gators are officially eliminated or until the victory parade is over. Forget the fact that he's finally going through this procedure by doing what we all want coaches to do and that's say absolutely nothing either way if he's not sure what he'll do about a coaching opportunity elsewhere.
People can talk about their sources. People can say, "My friend, ******, said that Billy stayed the night at his house and between braiding each other's hair and watching My Little Pony, he told me that he'd love to take the Kentucky job and that those Big Blue fans were just "dreamy". People can say whatever they want to say between now and this weekend and the masses will pounce on every shred of news and take it as Gospel.
Want to know why?
Because Billy won't disagree with them. Billy can't disagree with them. And neither will the University of Kentucky.
Billy's got a job to do. And no matter what so-and-so's friend "******" may say, UK can't really talk to Billy until the job is finished.
That's the bottom line.
So let's just all wait--it's an excellent story. No doubt about it. But this story has a few more chapters before it reaches its conclusion. Yeah, I know you (and I) want to know the ending, but you can't jump to the end of a book without reading the middle unless you don't care if you ruin the story.
And even if you do want to ruin the story by jumping to the end, you impatient booger, you can't--the ending hasn't been written yet. And right now, it looks like only Billy holds the pen to finish our story, but we all know where he is right now.
Doing his job.
____________________
Fair or Fault?
Did anyone see the highlights of the Serena Williams' match Monday where apparently someone was heckling her? Sending racial slurs onto the court like Serena smashes her serves over the net?
ESPN was running this raw footage of the match during SportsCenter and we could hear and see Serena complaining to the umpire and the umpire talking with stadium officials and fans pointing at the guy in question and eventually the guy is ejected from the stadium.
ESPN fuzzed out this guy's face. You know, where they make it blurry like when 60 Minutes or some news show won't show a victim and alters their voice? Why would they do that?
If you go to a sporting event, make an absolute fool of yourself, that's just tough luck, you're gonna look like a fool. We don't fuzz the faces of the guilty. That's why someone always has a coat or a bedsheet handy at the courthouse steps. Otherwise, everyone is going to know what you look like on the news. Including your boss. Your friends. And your wife.
Why would ESPN fuzz this guy's face? That makes absolutely no sense to me.
Then comes this report this morning that the guy, Donald Winton, denies saying anything racial. Sure, he may have said other mean things like "lazy", etc., but he did not use the N-word, according to him.
Is that why ESPN fuzzed out his face? Why would Serena make that up? Does ESPN know something we don't? Is it possible that Serena just got mad and served up the racial card so she could focus on the rest of the match? Doesn't seem likely, but impossible?
This is remotely interesting. Keep an eye on that. May be that we've read the final chapter on this, but if this guy really didn't do anything other than say she was lazy, he's absolutely doing the right thing and that’s screaming to the press that's she's a liar.
If he's lying, though, he's an even bigger idiot than I thought he was after he got kicked out.
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
The Birth of the Blog
Welcome to the The Sports Forum Blog. It's here where our listeners can connect with the show (and I can connect with you) throughout the week.
Unfortunately, we only have 2 hours together on the air, which isn't a lot of time to cover an entire week of sports. Hopefully, one day soon that time will increase, but for now, we're finally able to do something that I've wanted to for a while--have a web presence for the show.
It came down like this--I've been the ESPN Fantasy Games Correspondent for the Cincinnati Reds for the last 3 seasons (and 1 season with the Angels before that). That blog takes up a lot of time, as you can imagine. Today, I get the word that ESPN will be disbanding correspondents for the 2007 season. No real reason why, and they were more than a little secretive as to why they made that decision. Nonetheless, their loss is our gain--more time for The Sports Forum Blog!
Just like our show on the air, we'll probably take a bit to get our feet under us and see exactly how we'll use this space. Also, just like the show, I make the promise to you that this blog will shoot for and achieve the 3 primary goals of The Sports Forum:
Put us on your favorites or the bookmarks for your browser just as I hope that TalkRadio 1080 has become a button on your radio presets so you can tune into the show.
The Blog Begins...
Unfortunately, we only have 2 hours together on the air, which isn't a lot of time to cover an entire week of sports. Hopefully, one day soon that time will increase, but for now, we're finally able to do something that I've wanted to for a while--have a web presence for the show.
It came down like this--I've been the ESPN Fantasy Games Correspondent for the Cincinnati Reds for the last 3 seasons (and 1 season with the Angels before that). That blog takes up a lot of time, as you can imagine. Today, I get the word that ESPN will be disbanding correspondents for the 2007 season. No real reason why, and they were more than a little secretive as to why they made that decision. Nonetheless, their loss is our gain--more time for The Sports Forum Blog!
Just like our show on the air, we'll probably take a bit to get our feet under us and see exactly how we'll use this space. Also, just like the show, I make the promise to you that this blog will shoot for and achieve the 3 primary goals of The Sports Forum:
- Be entertaining.
- Be informative.
- Be interactive.
Put us on your favorites or the bookmarks for your browser just as I hope that TalkRadio 1080 has become a button on your radio presets so you can tune into the show.
The Blog Begins...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)