If there is one thing I am thankful for as I head into my dotage it is that I am no longer under the control of an editor who can say something like, “I need you at The Super Bowl.”
That happened to me once, back in 1980, when I was happily covering college basketball for The Washington Post and George Solomon announced to me that, since I had done such a good job covering a number of Philadelphia Eagles games during the season, he was sending me to The Super Bowl.
This was the way George did things: he always wanted you to believe that he was doing YOU a favor when he gave you an assignment. All of us knew that and understood it so it wasn’t a big deal. Very early in my tenure at The Post, George walked up to me in the newsroom on a Friday afternoon and handed me a credential for that Sunday’s Redskins game.
“Listen,” he said. “You’re doing a hell of a job covering Maryland, you deserve a treat. Go to the game Sunday, sit with (Paul) Attner (the Redskins beat writer at the time) and (columnist Ken) Denlinger and have a good time.”
I was very happy that George had noticed how hard I was working. I was also exhausted. I had to cover a Maryland game at Pittsburgh the next afternoon and wouldn’t get home until late Saturday. On Sunday, I would have to write what was called, “the follow,” on the Maryland game but that meant a phone call to Coach Jerry Claiborne and maybe an hour writing. The rest of the day was mine.
So, I thanked George for the offer but said I was really looking forward to a quiet day (almost) off.
“You should go,” George said. “It’ll be fun.”
I’d gone to Redskins games before. They weren’t really my idea of fun. In the press box during Maryland games we joked and had fun throughout. The press box at a Redskins game was more like going to church or temple. The only one who ever seemed to crack a joke was Mo Siegel, the long-time Washington Star columnist.
“Maybe another time,” I said finally. “But thanks for thinking of me.”
George’s face went from friendly to all-business in about 2.4 seconds. “Look,” he said. “I need a sidebar.” He stuck the credential out. “You can park in lot 10. Easy walk from there.”
The Super Bowl assignment was pretty much the same deal. I tried—briefly—to tell George I’d really rather cover Ohio State at Virginia (Herb Williams vs. Ralph Sampson) on Super Bowl Sunday but I knew it was a done deal. So, off I went to New Orleans (which wasn’t a bad thing) to spend a week writing stories about how excited the two teams were to be there. In those days The Super Bowl was a smaller event, there was no “radio row,” as there is now and the coverage, while saturated, wasn’t around the clock.
Even so, I was glad to get home and return to college hoops. Nowadays, Super Bowl week has become little more than a corporate bazaar. The flaks walk up and down radio row pitching their products, which come in the form of athletes and coaches. Kurt Warner is pitching milk; Mark Sanchez and DeMarcus Ware are selling a soft drink and Sam Bradford, who isn’t even in the NFL yet, is pumping one of the phone companies. The list is endless. They’ll all go on anytime, anywhere as long as they get to make their corporate pitch.
On Wednesday, I happened to be in the car midday when one of the DC stations had Bradford on. It was clearly a hastily arranged interview because Bradford was somewhere on South Beach and on the phone, not on radio row. Still, the station took him because there’s been talk the Redskins might draft him.
So, one of the hosts asked him about The Big Game. “It’s going to be great,” he revealed exclusively. “It’s going to be exciting.”
Gee Sam, thanks for that.
“Who you picking?” the host asked, trying to keep some kind of conversation going.
“I think I’ll keep that to myself,” he said.
Huh? Did he think he was being asked his position on Health Care or Afghanistan? Does he honestly think anyone is going to remember or care on Monday if he said Saints or Colts? It is amazing how today’s jocks are trained in non-speak. Ask them what day it is and they’ll say, “Can’t really tell you but I’m sure it’s going to be great and you can bet my teammates and I will step up and give 110 percent.”
Bradford, who is part Native American, also refused to answer a question about whether he had any problem with the nickname of the Washington football team. The host, Kevin Sheehan, a really good guy who can go from zero to Redskins in a matter of seconds, took that as a good sign. “He has no problem with the nickname,” he concluded when the interview had mercifully ended.
Actually he had said he didn’t want to express his opinion. The only thing he had an opinion on was the great deal on the phone he was pitching.
You pick up the newspapers and while (thankfully) there’s no one pitching products, you are reading the same stories day after day. Who will make history, Manning or Brees? In Washington, which may be the most parochial alleged big city in America, today’s column was about Saints defensive coordinator Gregg Williams. Why? He was once the Redskins defensive coordinator. There will, of course, be a story on Mark Brunell, now a backup quarterback and holder for the Saints who Joe Gibbs brought to town as the savior a few years back. It didn’t exactly work out.
People ask me if I’m interested in The Super Bowl. “Sure,” I answer. “As soon as the game starts, I’ll be interested. Until then I don’t really need to hear another word or read another word because the chances are I’ve already heard or read all the words before.”
Of course this is exactly what the NFL wants. That’s why they stick the bye week in there even though no one involved in the game—players, coaches, media, fans---has any need for it. It gives the league a full week to be front and center with all of its various pitches and products. People talk about the game and all the hype surrounding it because they feel like they have to talk about it.
I understand that the guys sitting on radio row have a hard time turning down almost anyone with a name who wanders by trying to get his sales pitch on the air. After all, why be in the host city if not to get “names,” on the air. My God though it is numbing.
Someone please call me at 6:30 Sunday night and remind me the game’s starting. Once it is over (four hours later) we can all turn our attention to something important: Selection Sunday will only be five weeks away.
*****
Two comments today on posts from yesterday. First, to the indignant Ray F. defender of all women in athletics: You’re right I DID say that the silly comments made by two women’s basketball coaches were an example of why it is SOMETIMES tough to take women’s sports seriously. I make similar comments about coaches and athletes who talk in jock-speak, about lawyers and agents never caught in a truth and about people in my profession (no doubt including me at times) who take ourselves too seriously.
Your refusal to simply admit what the coaches said was ridiculous is exactly what I’m talking about. A lot of people in women’s athletics take themselves much too seriously. Most women’s sports—tennis, gymnastics and figure skating are notable exceptions—aren’t nearly as popular as the men’s version of those sports. And yet a lot of people act as if they are or should be simply because they say it should be.
A few years ago when I still worked for ESPN I was taping, “Under the Boards,” (my name for the segment by the way, ESPN stole it after I left) at Cole Field House one day shortly after the Maryland women finished practicing. I started my first item with a reference to Massachusetts, calling the Minutemen, “the top basketball team in the country,” (they were ranked number one).
As I finished I noticed Chris Weller, then the women’s basketball coach at Maryland, whispering in the producer’s ear. Then she left.
“What was that about?” I asked.
“She said you should say the top MEN’S team in the country,” the producer said.
I was seriously tempted to shout after Weller: “Really, are there women’s teams out there BETTER than U-Mass?”
Please people, get over yourselves.
I will admit to being a wise guy about it on occasion. Years ago I was walking with my then-wife through Cameron Indoor Stadium on a Sunday afternoon. We were standing at one end of the floor. The women were practicing. A manager raced up and said, “Sir, I’m sorry, this is a closed practice.”
To which I responded: “Oh My God, does that mean I can’t get OUT?”
Second topic: The vitriol back and forth between loyalists of different military branches yesterday. Hey folks, we’re all on the same side, remember? I know there are rivalries and jealousies between branches and academies, but my goodness, let’s not get nuts here.
There were also comments that were plain stupid—which is unusual for this site. Someone claimed Marcus Curry was being protected by the academy because he was a “black football player.” Please. Ask Lamar Owens, an African American quarterback and team captain who was thrown out of the Navy for drinking and having sex with a female midshipmen (rules violations at Navy, the norm at civilian schools) if black football players are protected. Ask Nate Frazier, who was separated for an honors violation last August—and would have been BY FAR Navy’s best defensive player this season—if black STAR football players are protected.
As I said, based on the information that we have, I think Admiral Jeffrey Fowler needs to separate Marcus Curry unless there is some mitigating circumstance (besides his football ability) we don’t know about. But the bleating directed at the academy and the Navy is ridiculous. And the guy who claimed the academies have lowered their academic standards in a “pathetic,” attempt to play Division 1-A football should ask Missouri and Houston just how pathetic Navy and Air Force were in their bowl games. They could also ask Notre Dame how pathetic Navy has been in recent years. They should also get to know some of the kids who play football at the academies.
Okay, time to go back to listening to Kurt Warner sell milk.
Thursday, February 4, 2010
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Updated -- This week's radio segments (Sports Reporters, Gas Man, Tony Kornheiser Show):
Today I joined The Sports Reporters' Steve Czaban and Andy Pollin in the normal timeslot (5:25 ET on Wednesday's). Click the permalink, then the link below, to listen to the segment. This week we spent a great deal of time talking about the PGA Tour controversy around Mickelson and McCarron and touched on Tom Watson's recent comments on Tiger Woods and his on-course behavior.
Click here to listen to the segment: The Sports Reporters
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I also made my regular appearance on The Gas Man at 5:25 PT on Wednesday. In this segment, we spoke spent most of the time talking about college basketball and the NCAA's apparent move to expand the tournament.
Click here to listen to the segment: The Gas Man
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On Thursday I joined the newest The Tony Kornheiser Show in my normal Thursday slot (11:05am). We had the usual banter with maybe just a little extra thrown in, and talked about the 'star-power' in the upcoming Olympics and goings on in the PGA Tour...with too many details on the square groove controversy.
Click here to listen to the segment (starts within 1st minute): The Tony Kornheiser Show
Click here to listen to the segment: The Sports Reporters
----------------------
I also made my regular appearance on The Gas Man at 5:25 PT on Wednesday. In this segment, we spoke spent most of the time talking about college basketball and the NCAA's apparent move to expand the tournament.
Click here to listen to the segment: The Gas Man
---------------------
On Thursday I joined the newest The Tony Kornheiser Show in my normal Thursday slot (11:05am). We had the usual banter with maybe just a little extra thrown in, and talked about the 'star-power' in the upcoming Olympics and goings on in the PGA Tour...with too many details on the square groove controversy.
Click here to listen to the segment (starts within 1st minute): The Tony Kornheiser Show
Addressing a few comments and e-mails – PGA Tour, Navy, Arenas and women’s basketball topics
I know I’ve said this before but one of the things about the blog that I’ve truly enjoyed is reading the posts and the e-mails. With few exceptions they’re smart and they often raise good questions or make me think about an issue in a way I hadn’t previously thought about it.
An example: Someone reminded me yesterday that in writing about the Phil Mickelson-Scott McCarron square grooves controversy I had failed to point out occasions when golfers had bent the rules to their advantage.
Years ago in Phoenix, Tiger Woods claimed that a boulder blocking his path to the green was a moveable object—even though it took about a dozen people to actually move it. By rule, he was allowed to have a bunch of fans move the boulder for him even though that sort of thing clearly was not the intent of the rule.
In 2004 at The Masters, Ernie Els hit a ball dead left on the 11th hole and found himself under branches and rocks and pebbles to the point where he needed to take an unplayable lie. He called for a rules official believing he had the right to a free drop because that sort of debris is almost always removed before play begins at Augusta National. The rules official, Jon Brendle, who has been with the tour forever told him that there was nothing in the rules requiring the debris be removed and thus, he had to deal with it. Els then requested—as is allowed—a second opinion. This time the rules official was an Augusta member—not a professional but someone who had passed a rules test although he didn’t work on tour week in and week out the way Brendle did. He overruled Brendle, saying the INTENT was to remove the debris and therefore Els was entitled to a drop.
In essence, he made up a rule on the spot. Brendle was so angry about the incident he’s never gone back to work at Augusta.
There have been other moments: Greg Norman accusing Mark McCumber of using his club to improve his lie in the rough at The World Series of Golf in 1995. Norman was so angry he refused to sign McCumber’s scorecard. Mark O’Meara was once accused by a Swedish player (I forget his name) during a tournament in Europe of moving his coin up on the green, which infuriated him—and no doubt still does. And, of course, there are still tour players who will never forget that Vijay Singh was once banned from The Australasian Tour for signing for a wrong (lower) score. I once asked a long-time tour player if perhaps Singh’s three major titles and the fact that he was in the golf Hall of Fame might mitigate in Singh’s favor. The player looked at me, shrugged and said, “once a cheater always a cheater.”
People still talk—almost 30 years after it happened--about the Tom Watson-Gary Player incident at the first Skins game when Watson accused Player of removing an imbedded root in a bunker. Last year, Sandy Lyle caused a stir at The British Open by saying Colin Montgomerie had taken an illegal drop at a tournament in Indonesia in 2005.
That’s sort of the point about golf I was making: incidents like this are so rare that they are still remembered and talked about years later. Players were angry about Tiger and the boulder because clearly someone playing without a huge gallery—or playing in a Saturday morning foursome—wouldn’t be able to move the boulder. Many—MANY—players thought the Golf Gods got it right in ’04 when Phil Mickelson caught Els from behind at Augusta. That’s why McCarron raising the specter of “cheating,” got so much attention. I’m not saying the spirit of the rules is NEVER violated but it’s pretty rare.
Now onto some posts that I really disagree with or, in one case, I have no problem with the issue just the tone in which it was raised.
That would be the guy who referred to Navy slotback Marcus Curry as a “pothead,” and called Navy an “elite bastion of lower learning.” Here’s betting he couldn’t last a day at Navy. (On the other hand, neither could I). He also accused me of “situational outrage,” because I hadn’t commented yet on Curry. Two things: I’ve been a tad busy and, beyond that, I’m not going to get outraged about a college kid smoking pot. I do have an opinion on the case though and here it is:
Curry tested positive, according to numerous sources, for marijuana recently. Navy, as most people know, has a zero tolerance policy when it comes to drug use. Curry claimed the marijuana got into his system because he had smoked a cigar at a party that was laced with the stuff. I’m guessing most of you are like me: everyone has a story when they test positive for anything.
Apparently the commandant of the brigade, Matthew Klunder, recommended separation (expulsion) for Curry. Admiral Jeffrey Fowler, the superintendent, has—at least thus far—not followed through on Klunder’s recommendation.
Curry’s a very important member of next year’s football team. He is by far Navy’s best slotback, dangerous as a runner and a receiver and he’ll only be a junior next season. I’d hate to see him gone. That said, I don’t think Fowler has a choice: zero tolerance doesn’t mean zero tolerance unless you’re a star football player with an excuse. The ONLY way Fowler can justify such a decision is if there is precedent; if there are other Mids—non-athletes—who have been given a second chance because Fowler or the disciplinary board has found some credibility in their explanation. Marijuana isn’t a steroid or cocaine or heroin but it is against the law and against academy rules. My guess is—and that’s all it is—that one way or the other, it will be difficult for Curry to return next fall. That, sadly, is as it should be based on what I know.
Post number two was from a guy upset because I wrote yesterday that Gilbert Arenas’s lawyer wrote his Washington Post op-ed. He somehow saw the comment as racial—referring to Tony Kornheiser and I as “old white guys,” who didn’t think Arenas’s remorse was completely genuine.
Good God, this has nothing to do with race. In fact, the example I used of famous people in jockworld not ever believing they were truly wrong was Bob Knight. I would expect anyone—including a politician—to have his lawyer or lawyers or lawyers and a speechwriter, put together something like this. My point was that even with a lawyer putting it together Arenas (and the lawyers) STILL tried to point the finger at the media. As for the guy writing in about the initial, overblown New York Post story—yup, that was inaccurate. Gilbert’s response though was to the whole notion of him bringing guns in the locker room: it was no big deal, something to be laughed at. Sadly, he got that wrong.
Finally, someone wrote in claiming I was being unfair to women’s athletics when I made fun of two women’s basketball coaches a week ago. The first was Terri Williams-Flournoy, who tried to defend The Big East’s ridiculous decision to not release the names of three players (two from Georgetown, one from Louisville) suspended for a pre-game fight. Putting aside the fact that anyone with eyes could see who was suspended, she claimed the players were, “children,” and thus entitled to privacy. College students aren’t children. They can vote, they can go into the armed forces and they better be able to act like adults or they won’t get through college. What’s more, the incident took place in a public forum—an arena where tickets had been sold and TV cameras were present.
The poster, in claiming the “double-standard,” pointed out that Georgetown had refused to let any players talk to the media after its men’s team lost at Syracuse. I don’t doubt that for a second. That said, I think if anyone checks my record on the subject of Georgetown basketball, they wouldn’t exactly accuse me of protecting the Hoyas on any level. Remember the phrase, “Hoya Paranoia,” back in the 80s? That was me. One reason I generally avoid Georgetown games is because access to the players is so ridiculously guarded.
John Thompson (the elder) and I had more than a couple of screaming matches about access to players years ago. I remember saying to him one night, “if I could, I’d look you right in the eye and tell you that you’re full of s----.” Thompson’s 6-10. Fortunately he thought the line was pretty funny.
The other comment that upset this poster was me making fun of Maryland Coach Brenda Frese for saying, “this proves we can play with anybody,” after her team had lost at home to a Duke team that had lost by THIRTY-THREE to Connecticut a few days earlier. More double standard said the poster, I’d never make fun of a men’s coach that way. Go back and read what I wrote. I said, “It seems to me that coaches in all sports do this, throwing things like this out on the assumption that no one will challenge them on it.”
Sorry pal, no double standard here, just two coaches—regardless of sport or sex—being called for saying dumb things.
Keep those posts and e-mails coming everybody!
An example: Someone reminded me yesterday that in writing about the Phil Mickelson-Scott McCarron square grooves controversy I had failed to point out occasions when golfers had bent the rules to their advantage.
Years ago in Phoenix, Tiger Woods claimed that a boulder blocking his path to the green was a moveable object—even though it took about a dozen people to actually move it. By rule, he was allowed to have a bunch of fans move the boulder for him even though that sort of thing clearly was not the intent of the rule.
In 2004 at The Masters, Ernie Els hit a ball dead left on the 11th hole and found himself under branches and rocks and pebbles to the point where he needed to take an unplayable lie. He called for a rules official believing he had the right to a free drop because that sort of debris is almost always removed before play begins at Augusta National. The rules official, Jon Brendle, who has been with the tour forever told him that there was nothing in the rules requiring the debris be removed and thus, he had to deal with it. Els then requested—as is allowed—a second opinion. This time the rules official was an Augusta member—not a professional but someone who had passed a rules test although he didn’t work on tour week in and week out the way Brendle did. He overruled Brendle, saying the INTENT was to remove the debris and therefore Els was entitled to a drop.
In essence, he made up a rule on the spot. Brendle was so angry about the incident he’s never gone back to work at Augusta.
There have been other moments: Greg Norman accusing Mark McCumber of using his club to improve his lie in the rough at The World Series of Golf in 1995. Norman was so angry he refused to sign McCumber’s scorecard. Mark O’Meara was once accused by a Swedish player (I forget his name) during a tournament in Europe of moving his coin up on the green, which infuriated him—and no doubt still does. And, of course, there are still tour players who will never forget that Vijay Singh was once banned from The Australasian Tour for signing for a wrong (lower) score. I once asked a long-time tour player if perhaps Singh’s three major titles and the fact that he was in the golf Hall of Fame might mitigate in Singh’s favor. The player looked at me, shrugged and said, “once a cheater always a cheater.”
People still talk—almost 30 years after it happened--about the Tom Watson-Gary Player incident at the first Skins game when Watson accused Player of removing an imbedded root in a bunker. Last year, Sandy Lyle caused a stir at The British Open by saying Colin Montgomerie had taken an illegal drop at a tournament in Indonesia in 2005.
That’s sort of the point about golf I was making: incidents like this are so rare that they are still remembered and talked about years later. Players were angry about Tiger and the boulder because clearly someone playing without a huge gallery—or playing in a Saturday morning foursome—wouldn’t be able to move the boulder. Many—MANY—players thought the Golf Gods got it right in ’04 when Phil Mickelson caught Els from behind at Augusta. That’s why McCarron raising the specter of “cheating,” got so much attention. I’m not saying the spirit of the rules is NEVER violated but it’s pretty rare.
Now onto some posts that I really disagree with or, in one case, I have no problem with the issue just the tone in which it was raised.
That would be the guy who referred to Navy slotback Marcus Curry as a “pothead,” and called Navy an “elite bastion of lower learning.” Here’s betting he couldn’t last a day at Navy. (On the other hand, neither could I). He also accused me of “situational outrage,” because I hadn’t commented yet on Curry. Two things: I’ve been a tad busy and, beyond that, I’m not going to get outraged about a college kid smoking pot. I do have an opinion on the case though and here it is:
Curry tested positive, according to numerous sources, for marijuana recently. Navy, as most people know, has a zero tolerance policy when it comes to drug use. Curry claimed the marijuana got into his system because he had smoked a cigar at a party that was laced with the stuff. I’m guessing most of you are like me: everyone has a story when they test positive for anything.
Apparently the commandant of the brigade, Matthew Klunder, recommended separation (expulsion) for Curry. Admiral Jeffrey Fowler, the superintendent, has—at least thus far—not followed through on Klunder’s recommendation.
Curry’s a very important member of next year’s football team. He is by far Navy’s best slotback, dangerous as a runner and a receiver and he’ll only be a junior next season. I’d hate to see him gone. That said, I don’t think Fowler has a choice: zero tolerance doesn’t mean zero tolerance unless you’re a star football player with an excuse. The ONLY way Fowler can justify such a decision is if there is precedent; if there are other Mids—non-athletes—who have been given a second chance because Fowler or the disciplinary board has found some credibility in their explanation. Marijuana isn’t a steroid or cocaine or heroin but it is against the law and against academy rules. My guess is—and that’s all it is—that one way or the other, it will be difficult for Curry to return next fall. That, sadly, is as it should be based on what I know.
Post number two was from a guy upset because I wrote yesterday that Gilbert Arenas’s lawyer wrote his Washington Post op-ed. He somehow saw the comment as racial—referring to Tony Kornheiser and I as “old white guys,” who didn’t think Arenas’s remorse was completely genuine.
Good God, this has nothing to do with race. In fact, the example I used of famous people in jockworld not ever believing they were truly wrong was Bob Knight. I would expect anyone—including a politician—to have his lawyer or lawyers or lawyers and a speechwriter, put together something like this. My point was that even with a lawyer putting it together Arenas (and the lawyers) STILL tried to point the finger at the media. As for the guy writing in about the initial, overblown New York Post story—yup, that was inaccurate. Gilbert’s response though was to the whole notion of him bringing guns in the locker room: it was no big deal, something to be laughed at. Sadly, he got that wrong.
Finally, someone wrote in claiming I was being unfair to women’s athletics when I made fun of two women’s basketball coaches a week ago. The first was Terri Williams-Flournoy, who tried to defend The Big East’s ridiculous decision to not release the names of three players (two from Georgetown, one from Louisville) suspended for a pre-game fight. Putting aside the fact that anyone with eyes could see who was suspended, she claimed the players were, “children,” and thus entitled to privacy. College students aren’t children. They can vote, they can go into the armed forces and they better be able to act like adults or they won’t get through college. What’s more, the incident took place in a public forum—an arena where tickets had been sold and TV cameras were present.
The poster, in claiming the “double-standard,” pointed out that Georgetown had refused to let any players talk to the media after its men’s team lost at Syracuse. I don’t doubt that for a second. That said, I think if anyone checks my record on the subject of Georgetown basketball, they wouldn’t exactly accuse me of protecting the Hoyas on any level. Remember the phrase, “Hoya Paranoia,” back in the 80s? That was me. One reason I generally avoid Georgetown games is because access to the players is so ridiculously guarded.
John Thompson (the elder) and I had more than a couple of screaming matches about access to players years ago. I remember saying to him one night, “if I could, I’d look you right in the eye and tell you that you’re full of s----.” Thompson’s 6-10. Fortunately he thought the line was pretty funny.
The other comment that upset this poster was me making fun of Maryland Coach Brenda Frese for saying, “this proves we can play with anybody,” after her team had lost at home to a Duke team that had lost by THIRTY-THREE to Connecticut a few days earlier. More double standard said the poster, I’d never make fun of a men’s coach that way. Go back and read what I wrote. I said, “It seems to me that coaches in all sports do this, throwing things like this out on the assumption that no one will challenge them on it.”
Sorry pal, no double standard here, just two coaches—regardless of sport or sex—being called for saying dumb things.
Keep those posts and e-mails coming everybody!
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Gilbert Arenas’s Op-Ed; Quick note on the Mickelson-McCarron controversy
Gilbert Arenas just doesn’t get it—which hardly makes him unusual in jock-world.
This morning, on the op-ed page of The Washington Post, there’s a column with his name on it (I say that because it was so clearly written by a lawyer) in which he expresses his sorrow about all that he’s done wrong in the last couple of months. He knows now—or so he says—that it was wrong to illegally bring guns into The District of Columbia and into The Verizon Center and that his response to the incident was also wrong.
Right there though, in the second paragraph of his “apology,” is this sentence: “I reacted badly to the aftermath and made fun of inaccurate media reports, which looked as though I was making light of a serious situation.”
Inaccurate media reports? This is still the media’s fault? The guy has pleaded guilty to a felony in a desperate attempt to stay out of jail and this is about inaccurate media reports?
Let’s see, the media reported that he brought guns into the locker room because of a gambling dispute with teammate Javaris Crittenton.
Is that true? Yes.
The media reported that he was twittering about the incident after it became public and joking about it.
True? Yes.
Arenas said ON CAMERA that he was going to be “myself,” and continue to joke about what had happened and not taking it seriously. Was that an imposter, ala Tiger Woods at the sex clinic, saying those things?
And then there was the now infamous photo of Arenas making shooting gestures with his fingers during pre-game introductions that forced NBA Commissioner David Stern to finally say, “enough,” and suspend Arenas. Another inaccurate media report?
Arenas can go on and on—as he does in the piece—about how sorry he is for letting people down, especially the kids who have been fans of his in the past. I don’t think anyone questions Arenas’s desire to help kids; he’s gone out of his way to do so in the past. In fact, almost no one who knows Arenas or has been around him even a little bit thinks he’s a bad guy or a mean guy or a malicious guy.
He simply doesn’t get it. Apparently, neither do his lawyers. If they did, that sentence would never have appeared in the piece. If you say, “I’m sorry,” to someone you do NOT say, “I’m sorry BUT…” You just say you’re sorry.
Regardless of what Arenas said today, many people, if not most people, would see the op-ed as an attempt to mollify the judge who will sentence him on March 26th and, perhaps, a last ditch attempt to convince the Wizards that they shouldn’t terminate the remaining $80 million they will owe on his contract once his suspension is over at the end of the season.
But that one sentence is SO revealing about his true feelings. You see, deep down, it’s still not his fault. That’s the way it is with most athletes and coaches in jock-world. They’re never wrong. The media’s wrong or out to get them. Or people don’t really understand them. I’ve said this before: To this day Bob Knight doesn’t think he did a thing wrong the day he threw that chair at Indiana. I’ve heard him go on about how lousy the refereeing was that day and how “no one was hurt,” when he threw the chair. Remember, he threatened to quit when Indiana President John Ryan had the nerve to bring up the idea that the school should suspend him. When Knight said he might quit, Ryan backed down so quickly I think he may still be back-pedaling.
Right now, as we speak, I guarantee you Tiger Woods thinks he’s been hammered unfairly by the media. If you read Jaime Diaz’s recent piece in Golf Digest on Woods, there’s a quote from Woods in which he tells Diaz that he’s really sick and tired of the media hounding him and treating him unfairly.
The conversation took place WEEKS before his post-Thanksgiving dinner car crash. I’ve been around Tiger and the golf media. The way he’s treated is so reverential I once asked a PR guy who was reciting the “rules,” of a Tiger press conference if we were all supposed to stand when he entered the room. And yet, Tiger has always thought most of the media has been unfair to him. When he was talking to Diaz, he must have been referring to those “inaccurate,” reports that he didn’t win a major in 2009.
What’s also remarkable is how much sports fans want to defend their heroes. Right now there are people out there who think Woods has somehow been wronged in all this. This morning on sports-talk radio shows in Washington there are callers saying today’s Op-ed is proof that Arenas is genuinely remorseful, truly sorry for what he did. He’s sorry—that he got caught.
One caller to a radio show opened with this comment: “I don’t think people should be judged by what they say or by what they do. Gilbert’s no different than the rest of us.”
First: What else should we judge people by if not their actions or their words? Second: Gilbert IS different than the rest of us. Putting aside how much money he makes, most of us don’t illegally carry four guns across a state line and then act as if the whole thing was a joke.
That said, the biggest idiot in all of this may have been Crittenton’s lawyer, who claimed after his client’s plea bargain that Crittenton carried his gun into the locker room because he “feared for his life.” Please. Maybe there was an inaccurate media report that made him fear for his life. Some of the things these guys say would be laugh out loud funny if they weren’t so sad.
-------------------------------------
One note on the Phil Mickelson-Scott McCarron square grooves controversy over the weekend. For those not into golf minutia, the U.S. Golf Association banned square grooved clubs this year (because they allow pros to spin the ball too easily from the rough) with the exception of one old wedge—the PingEye2. The reason for that was a lawsuit 20 years ago in which the USGA agreed as part of a settlement to never ban that one club.
Mickelson—and a few other players including John Daly—dug out old PingEye2’s they had and brought them to their first tournament, in Mickelson’s case San Diego. McCarron, a 16-year tour veteran who is a smart guy said that using the PingEye2 “cheated,” the spirit of the new rule—which it does. Technically, it isn’t cheating because the club isn’t banned, but clearly it violates the spirit of the rule.
Mickelson isn’t used to being publicly criticized by another player. He reacted angrily saying that McCarron had “publicly slandered,” him. For the record, you can’t privately slander someone but that’s another story.
The tour needs to make this go away and it appears likely that it will, perhaps as early as today. It was not part of the Ping law suit and can pass a rule banning the club. It isn’t likely that Ping will turn around and take the tour to court over a golf club it doesn’t make anymore. Even if it does, the tour needs to get this one in its rear view mirror so everyone can focus on when Tiger is going to come back to the tour and tell us everything that happened was caused by inaccurate media reports.
This morning, on the op-ed page of The Washington Post, there’s a column with his name on it (I say that because it was so clearly written by a lawyer) in which he expresses his sorrow about all that he’s done wrong in the last couple of months. He knows now—or so he says—that it was wrong to illegally bring guns into The District of Columbia and into The Verizon Center and that his response to the incident was also wrong.
Right there though, in the second paragraph of his “apology,” is this sentence: “I reacted badly to the aftermath and made fun of inaccurate media reports, which looked as though I was making light of a serious situation.”
Inaccurate media reports? This is still the media’s fault? The guy has pleaded guilty to a felony in a desperate attempt to stay out of jail and this is about inaccurate media reports?
Let’s see, the media reported that he brought guns into the locker room because of a gambling dispute with teammate Javaris Crittenton.
Is that true? Yes.
The media reported that he was twittering about the incident after it became public and joking about it.
True? Yes.
Arenas said ON CAMERA that he was going to be “myself,” and continue to joke about what had happened and not taking it seriously. Was that an imposter, ala Tiger Woods at the sex clinic, saying those things?
And then there was the now infamous photo of Arenas making shooting gestures with his fingers during pre-game introductions that forced NBA Commissioner David Stern to finally say, “enough,” and suspend Arenas. Another inaccurate media report?
Arenas can go on and on—as he does in the piece—about how sorry he is for letting people down, especially the kids who have been fans of his in the past. I don’t think anyone questions Arenas’s desire to help kids; he’s gone out of his way to do so in the past. In fact, almost no one who knows Arenas or has been around him even a little bit thinks he’s a bad guy or a mean guy or a malicious guy.
He simply doesn’t get it. Apparently, neither do his lawyers. If they did, that sentence would never have appeared in the piece. If you say, “I’m sorry,” to someone you do NOT say, “I’m sorry BUT…” You just say you’re sorry.
Regardless of what Arenas said today, many people, if not most people, would see the op-ed as an attempt to mollify the judge who will sentence him on March 26th and, perhaps, a last ditch attempt to convince the Wizards that they shouldn’t terminate the remaining $80 million they will owe on his contract once his suspension is over at the end of the season.
But that one sentence is SO revealing about his true feelings. You see, deep down, it’s still not his fault. That’s the way it is with most athletes and coaches in jock-world. They’re never wrong. The media’s wrong or out to get them. Or people don’t really understand them. I’ve said this before: To this day Bob Knight doesn’t think he did a thing wrong the day he threw that chair at Indiana. I’ve heard him go on about how lousy the refereeing was that day and how “no one was hurt,” when he threw the chair. Remember, he threatened to quit when Indiana President John Ryan had the nerve to bring up the idea that the school should suspend him. When Knight said he might quit, Ryan backed down so quickly I think he may still be back-pedaling.
Right now, as we speak, I guarantee you Tiger Woods thinks he’s been hammered unfairly by the media. If you read Jaime Diaz’s recent piece in Golf Digest on Woods, there’s a quote from Woods in which he tells Diaz that he’s really sick and tired of the media hounding him and treating him unfairly.
The conversation took place WEEKS before his post-Thanksgiving dinner car crash. I’ve been around Tiger and the golf media. The way he’s treated is so reverential I once asked a PR guy who was reciting the “rules,” of a Tiger press conference if we were all supposed to stand when he entered the room. And yet, Tiger has always thought most of the media has been unfair to him. When he was talking to Diaz, he must have been referring to those “inaccurate,” reports that he didn’t win a major in 2009.
What’s also remarkable is how much sports fans want to defend their heroes. Right now there are people out there who think Woods has somehow been wronged in all this. This morning on sports-talk radio shows in Washington there are callers saying today’s Op-ed is proof that Arenas is genuinely remorseful, truly sorry for what he did. He’s sorry—that he got caught.
One caller to a radio show opened with this comment: “I don’t think people should be judged by what they say or by what they do. Gilbert’s no different than the rest of us.”
First: What else should we judge people by if not their actions or their words? Second: Gilbert IS different than the rest of us. Putting aside how much money he makes, most of us don’t illegally carry four guns across a state line and then act as if the whole thing was a joke.
That said, the biggest idiot in all of this may have been Crittenton’s lawyer, who claimed after his client’s plea bargain that Crittenton carried his gun into the locker room because he “feared for his life.” Please. Maybe there was an inaccurate media report that made him fear for his life. Some of the things these guys say would be laugh out loud funny if they weren’t so sad.
-------------------------------------
One note on the Phil Mickelson-Scott McCarron square grooves controversy over the weekend. For those not into golf minutia, the U.S. Golf Association banned square grooved clubs this year (because they allow pros to spin the ball too easily from the rough) with the exception of one old wedge—the PingEye2. The reason for that was a lawsuit 20 years ago in which the USGA agreed as part of a settlement to never ban that one club.
Mickelson—and a few other players including John Daly—dug out old PingEye2’s they had and brought them to their first tournament, in Mickelson’s case San Diego. McCarron, a 16-year tour veteran who is a smart guy said that using the PingEye2 “cheated,” the spirit of the new rule—which it does. Technically, it isn’t cheating because the club isn’t banned, but clearly it violates the spirit of the rule.
Mickelson isn’t used to being publicly criticized by another player. He reacted angrily saying that McCarron had “publicly slandered,” him. For the record, you can’t privately slander someone but that’s another story.
The tour needs to make this go away and it appears likely that it will, perhaps as early as today. It was not part of the Ping law suit and can pass a rule banning the club. It isn’t likely that Ping will turn around and take the tour to court over a golf club it doesn’t make anymore. Even if it does, the tour needs to get this one in its rear view mirror so everyone can focus on when Tiger is going to come back to the tour and tell us everything that happened was caused by inaccurate media reports.
Monday, February 1, 2010
Washington Post Column - 'Don't count ACC basketball out yet in 2010'
Here is this week's column, which ran Sunday, for The Washington Post---------
Dan Bonner has been involved in ACC basketball since 1971, the year he enrolled at Virginia as a gawky, 6-foot-7 forward. He became a solid player for the Cavaliers and has gone on to work as an analyst at CBS, ESPN, Raycom and Fox -- always with a number of ACC games on his schedule every season.
Several years ago, Bonner was working a killer schedule for ESPN. "I was like the referees are now," he said recently. "Different city every night. Monday I'd do a Big 12 game, Tuesday [a Southeastern Conference] game, Wednesday an ACC game and Thursday I could be anywhere. What I remember vividly is whenever I walked into an ACC gym -- it didn't matter who was playing or what place the teams were in -- the place was rocking. Other leagues you had that for big games, but for a lot of games it wasn't so. Now, the ACC is more like the other leagues.
"You go to a game at Boston College, if Duke or North Carolina aren't playing, there are empty seats. The same at Miami and Florida State. A couple of weeks ago I did the Duke at N.C. State game and there were empty seats there. For Duke-N.C. State? How can that happen?"
Click here for the rest of the article: Don't count ACC basketball out yet in 2010
Dan Bonner has been involved in ACC basketball since 1971, the year he enrolled at Virginia as a gawky, 6-foot-7 forward. He became a solid player for the Cavaliers and has gone on to work as an analyst at CBS, ESPN, Raycom and Fox -- always with a number of ACC games on his schedule every season.
Several years ago, Bonner was working a killer schedule for ESPN. "I was like the referees are now," he said recently. "Different city every night. Monday I'd do a Big 12 game, Tuesday [a Southeastern Conference] game, Wednesday an ACC game and Thursday I could be anywhere. What I remember vividly is whenever I walked into an ACC gym -- it didn't matter who was playing or what place the teams were in -- the place was rocking. Other leagues you had that for big games, but for a lot of games it wasn't so. Now, the ACC is more like the other leagues.
"You go to a game at Boston College, if Duke or North Carolina aren't playing, there are empty seats. The same at Miami and Florida State. A couple of weeks ago I did the Duke at N.C. State game and there were empty seats there. For Duke-N.C. State? How can that happen?"
Click here for the rest of the article: Don't count ACC basketball out yet in 2010
Review of the sports weekend; Snowy drive to Holy Cross
So here’s some of the news of the weekend:
--Serena Williams and Roger Federer won Australian Open titles in matches that tipped off at 3:30 a.m. on the east coast because the Aussies like to play their finals at night to avoid the searing heat that often hits Melbourne in January.
--They played The Pro Bowl. Somebody won. Driving home from the Holy Cross-Lehigh game (more on that later) I could not find a single sports-oriented radio station that was NOT broadcasting the damn game. My God, someone please help me.
--The ACC is a complete mess. Duke, which everyone in the league alleges is the most talented team the ACC has to offer this season got smushed—to use my daughter’s word—by Georgetown on Saturday. The final was 89-77 only because Duke finished the game on a 16-5 run. North Carolina was embarrassed at home by Virginia on Sunday night. Maryland, a team Virginia Tech’s Seth Greenberg said was, “playing as well as anyone in the country,” turned the ball over 26 times and lost to a Clemson team that shot 32 percent. Hey ACC fans, the league is still REALLY good in soccer.
--Ben Crane won the golf tournament in San Diego. Someone wake me when LA starts on Thursday. Crane is one of those guys the Rules Officials like to say takes a lantern with him as his 15th club. Meanwhile, Phil Mickelson is using a wedge with square grooves that is legal in spite of square grooves being outlawed by the USGA because of a court case settled more than 20 years ago. Scott McCarron says Mickelson is “cheating,” the spirit of the new rule. Mickelson says that McCarron has “publicly slandered,” him and is threatening legal action. One thing worth noting: you can’t PRIVATELY slander someone.
--The Islanders have tanked. Five straight losses with six goals scored in those games. Even their last win was 2-1 in a shootout. That makes seven goals in six games. That’s okay in soccer. Not so much in hockey. Meanwhile, the Capitals have won 10 in a row and I think the average score has been something like 14-2. Prediction: Barring injury, they win The Stanley Cup although I’m still not sure about the goaltending. It may not matter if they continue to score 14 goals a night.
--The NBA is still going on. At least I think it is. ESPN is still running those silly commercials so I guess it’s going on. No reported arrests in the Wizards locker room last week. Great line by a radio guy in New York before the Wiz and the Nets played Friday night: “The Nets are going for one for the thumb tonight.” That would have been their fifth win of the season. They didn’t get it. The announced attendance in the Meadowlands was 11,384 that night. Yeah, right. I believe the 384 part.
--I was listening this morning to a radio show and the subject of Cornell came up. I’m amazed sometimes that people who call themselves college basketball fans think that only the teams from the BCS conference matter or are any good—especially since that’s disproven every March. Someone had the temerity to call in and say Cornell deserved some respect and attention. The hosts started laughing at him, saying Cornell couldn’t possibly compete in the ACC. Guess what? The Big Red might not be able to keep up with the entire league for 16 games but one game on a neutral site? There’s not a soul in the ACC that wants to play them. This is a team that’s won At Alabama, At Massachusetts, At St. John’s and almost beat Kansas at Kansas. Its other two losses are at Syracuse and to Seton Hall—very early in the season. One host said, “yeah, I guess they’ll be a No. 14 seed.” Guess what: If they aren’t at least a single digit seed (assuming they win out which they should) the committee should be investigated.
Now, a few words on my weekend. After getting home late Friday night from the Florida trip for the ‘Caddy For Life,’ documentary, I had to drive Saturday to Worcester to do Lehigh-Holy Cross on Sunday. I enjoy doing The Patriot League games on TV. I like my partner, Bob Socci and we’ve worked together for 13 years on Navy games and eight years on The Patriot League games. I enjoy the coaches and the players and the people I’ve come to know through the years at the eight schools.
I don’t usually mind the drive to Holy Cross. I know it in my sleep, I even know exactly where I want to stop to eat and to get gas. I can usually make it in seven hours or a little less if I’m lucky.
Saturday was a nightmare. We were supposed to get a couple of inches of snow in the Washington area. Not exactly. Closer to 10. There was supposed to be no snow north of Baltimore. Not exactly. It stopped snowing when I got to the George Washington Bridge. There wasn’t a plow in sight on I-95. The road was treacherous. There were people spinning out and pulled over everywhere. It took me two hours and 20 minutes—normally 45 minutes—to get to Baltimore. It took four hours—normally two hours—to get to The New Jersey Turnpike. It took more than two hours to get up the Turnpike—normally 1:45 at most. In all, it was just under 10 hours. I think I’m getting too old for this. Maybe I’ll tell The Patriot League it should hire Pete Gillen to do the games next season.
I enjoyed the game. I always like being inside The Hart Center, which is a classic old GYM—not an arena with some stupid corporate name on it. The atmosphere is relaxed. There’s not a single yellow-jacketed security person to be found. I felt for Sean Kearney, who is in his first year at Holy Cross after 22 years as an assistant and is struggling with a team trying to learn a completely different style of play at both ends of the court. There’s not a nicer person in hoops than Sean. I think—and hope—things will get better for him.
The trip home was easy—seven hours on the dot. The only problem was not being able to escape The Pro Bowl. At least that’s over. Now we have seven days of Super Bowl hype to look forward to. Oh joy.
--Serena Williams and Roger Federer won Australian Open titles in matches that tipped off at 3:30 a.m. on the east coast because the Aussies like to play their finals at night to avoid the searing heat that often hits Melbourne in January.
--They played The Pro Bowl. Somebody won. Driving home from the Holy Cross-Lehigh game (more on that later) I could not find a single sports-oriented radio station that was NOT broadcasting the damn game. My God, someone please help me.
--The ACC is a complete mess. Duke, which everyone in the league alleges is the most talented team the ACC has to offer this season got smushed—to use my daughter’s word—by Georgetown on Saturday. The final was 89-77 only because Duke finished the game on a 16-5 run. North Carolina was embarrassed at home by Virginia on Sunday night. Maryland, a team Virginia Tech’s Seth Greenberg said was, “playing as well as anyone in the country,” turned the ball over 26 times and lost to a Clemson team that shot 32 percent. Hey ACC fans, the league is still REALLY good in soccer.
--Ben Crane won the golf tournament in San Diego. Someone wake me when LA starts on Thursday. Crane is one of those guys the Rules Officials like to say takes a lantern with him as his 15th club. Meanwhile, Phil Mickelson is using a wedge with square grooves that is legal in spite of square grooves being outlawed by the USGA because of a court case settled more than 20 years ago. Scott McCarron says Mickelson is “cheating,” the spirit of the new rule. Mickelson says that McCarron has “publicly slandered,” him and is threatening legal action. One thing worth noting: you can’t PRIVATELY slander someone.
--The Islanders have tanked. Five straight losses with six goals scored in those games. Even their last win was 2-1 in a shootout. That makes seven goals in six games. That’s okay in soccer. Not so much in hockey. Meanwhile, the Capitals have won 10 in a row and I think the average score has been something like 14-2. Prediction: Barring injury, they win The Stanley Cup although I’m still not sure about the goaltending. It may not matter if they continue to score 14 goals a night.
--The NBA is still going on. At least I think it is. ESPN is still running those silly commercials so I guess it’s going on. No reported arrests in the Wizards locker room last week. Great line by a radio guy in New York before the Wiz and the Nets played Friday night: “The Nets are going for one for the thumb tonight.” That would have been their fifth win of the season. They didn’t get it. The announced attendance in the Meadowlands was 11,384 that night. Yeah, right. I believe the 384 part.
--I was listening this morning to a radio show and the subject of Cornell came up. I’m amazed sometimes that people who call themselves college basketball fans think that only the teams from the BCS conference matter or are any good—especially since that’s disproven every March. Someone had the temerity to call in and say Cornell deserved some respect and attention. The hosts started laughing at him, saying Cornell couldn’t possibly compete in the ACC. Guess what? The Big Red might not be able to keep up with the entire league for 16 games but one game on a neutral site? There’s not a soul in the ACC that wants to play them. This is a team that’s won At Alabama, At Massachusetts, At St. John’s and almost beat Kansas at Kansas. Its other two losses are at Syracuse and to Seton Hall—very early in the season. One host said, “yeah, I guess they’ll be a No. 14 seed.” Guess what: If they aren’t at least a single digit seed (assuming they win out which they should) the committee should be investigated.
Now, a few words on my weekend. After getting home late Friday night from the Florida trip for the ‘Caddy For Life,’ documentary, I had to drive Saturday to Worcester to do Lehigh-Holy Cross on Sunday. I enjoy doing The Patriot League games on TV. I like my partner, Bob Socci and we’ve worked together for 13 years on Navy games and eight years on The Patriot League games. I enjoy the coaches and the players and the people I’ve come to know through the years at the eight schools.
I don’t usually mind the drive to Holy Cross. I know it in my sleep, I even know exactly where I want to stop to eat and to get gas. I can usually make it in seven hours or a little less if I’m lucky.
Saturday was a nightmare. We were supposed to get a couple of inches of snow in the Washington area. Not exactly. Closer to 10. There was supposed to be no snow north of Baltimore. Not exactly. It stopped snowing when I got to the George Washington Bridge. There wasn’t a plow in sight on I-95. The road was treacherous. There were people spinning out and pulled over everywhere. It took me two hours and 20 minutes—normally 45 minutes—to get to Baltimore. It took four hours—normally two hours—to get to The New Jersey Turnpike. It took more than two hours to get up the Turnpike—normally 1:45 at most. In all, it was just under 10 hours. I think I’m getting too old for this. Maybe I’ll tell The Patriot League it should hire Pete Gillen to do the games next season.
I enjoyed the game. I always like being inside The Hart Center, which is a classic old GYM—not an arena with some stupid corporate name on it. The atmosphere is relaxed. There’s not a single yellow-jacketed security person to be found. I felt for Sean Kearney, who is in his first year at Holy Cross after 22 years as an assistant and is struggling with a team trying to learn a completely different style of play at both ends of the court. There’s not a nicer person in hoops than Sean. I think—and hope—things will get better for him.
The trip home was easy—seven hours on the dot. The only problem was not being able to escape The Pro Bowl. At least that’s over. Now we have seven days of Super Bowl hype to look forward to. Oh joy.
Friday, January 29, 2010
Still in Florida for interviews....
STILL SOMEWHERE IN FLORIDA – This is another one of those days on the road, and for a technologically challenged writer who leaves his house two days earlier without a power chord, it’s even tougher. After a long day of draining interviews, and prior to a scheduled early start this morning, he phoned lamenting the fact that he has no idea how he could get a typical days writing up on the site as his computer ran out of juice Thursday morning.
Immediately we threatened to write as a ghost writer for John, but decided that if an entire college’s fan base was going to be up in arms about John’s words, it’s probably best that they really are his words. Then we threatened to dock his salary, but remembered there is no salary. Therefore, for those of you who did visit on this Friday, we decided to give you a few links to previews we like for the upcoming sports weekend along with one of our favorite posts John has written.
A few articles previewing the sports weekend:
Australian Open - Andy Murray vs. Roger Federer
PGA Tour Farmers Insurance Open - Piercy resting easy with lead, fewer distractions
SI.com's college basketball - Seth Davis' weekend picks
The post below is John’s first post-surgery on the reminder of why sports is important. His health scare aside, it also shows how very quickly some things change (Tiger) and some stay the same (Federer in another grand-slam final this weekend).
One thing John wanted to relay is that this isn’t him ‘punking out,’ and he’ll find some way to make it up. Enjoy.
FOTB Staff
-----------------------------
From 7/5/09
Well, I’m back.
I don’t know if I’m any wiser but I sure am grateful—grateful the blockages in my heart were discovered during a routine stress test and not after a heart attack; grateful to my friends and family who rallied to my side during the past week and to everyone who posted here or sent good wishes in one form or another. I know when people get sick they talk later about how overwhelmed they were by the kindness of people but it really is true. I am overwhelmed by it all.
I am very lucky to have the family I have and the friends from so many walks of life that I have. I sit here feeling lucky to be alive, to be able to hug my kids and to be able to write a week after septuple bypass surgery. (Friends have kidded me that I’m so competitive I had to have seven, not just three or four).
One thing I was reminded of during my hospital stay was one of the reasons sports IS important. It isn’t that crisis puts sports in perspective it’s that sports gives us a much needed diversion during crisis. On Monday night, while I was still in the ICU I was able to watch some television. Even hearing the stale sportscenter one-liners was a relief. Hearing Tiger Woods claim that his learning center in California has helped TEN MILLION people made me laugh out loud and made me think the drugs must seriously affecting my brain. Did he say ten million? Yes, I learned later, he did say ten million. Even watching the Mets do their Keystone Kops act was better than staring at the clock.
So, Thank God for sports—the good, the bad, the ridiculous.
On Sunday, we saw something that was better than good. I almost never regret my decision 15 years ago to focus on covering golf rather than tennis. Not only have I greatly enjoyed reporting and writing about golf but tennis is by far the most frustrating sport there is to cover because of our lack of access to the athletes and the mind-numbing lack of organization in the sport.
One day a year I miss covering tennis. It’s always the day of the men’s final at Wimbledon. With all due respect to the greatness of The Williams sisters a best-of-three match that often last less than 90 minutes simply can’t have the drama of a five set marathon in which both players are still hitting winners four hours after the match has started.
There is also the uniqueness of Wimbledon. There’s no tennis venue anything like it—even with the new sliding roof—and very few sports venues that are comparably dramatic. Plus, there are no thanks to corporate sponsors during the awards ceremonies. Can you imagine with the score 14-all in the fifth set, Ted Robinson saying, “let’s go courtside to Jimmy Roberts who is with the CEO of AT+T.”
Jimmy: “Mr. CEO, another great Wimbledon, you must be so proud.”
CEO: “Jimmy, on behalf of all of us at AT+T we’re proud to be associated with Tiger and this great event.”
Whoops, wrong sport.
Wimbledon finals produce unique drama. Once a fifth set begins, you never know when it will end. Unlike the U.S. Open, where the fifth set can be decided in a tiebreak, someone has to break serve to win. Tiebreaks can be dramatic but, as difficult as it was for Andy Roddick to lose, he did not lose the match without losing serve. He lost it once—the 38th time he served.
Roger Federer is one of those athletes you just don’t root against. He’s brilliant, he’s a superb competitor, he has class and dignity and he now has 15 major championships—more than any man in history.
But if your heart didn’t go out to Roddick on Sunday, you have no heart. (Mine is working just fine, thank-you). Here’s why it’s truly sad that Roddick may never win Wimbledon: he could easily be mailing it in by now. He won the U.S. Open in 2003, he’s made millions, his wife is a gorgeous model and he could put his career on cruise control at 27, say that Federer and Rafael Nadal are just a little too good and be a top ten player for another five years.
But he hasn’t taken that route. He’s changed coaches and training regimens. He’s lost weight and worked on his ground strokes. He’s gotten tougher mentally as he proved in the semis when he outlasted Scotland’s Andy Murray in front of a crowd that would have made Cameron Indoor Stadium feel like a walk in the park for a road team.
He was SO close against Federer. He had four set points for a two set lead in the second and blew them all. He had two break points in the fifth and couldn’t convert. Federer kept hitting winners; Roddick kept answering. The number of times Roddick HAD to come up with a first serve and did was almost uncountable. It was great, great tennis.
And, in the end, Federer was a little better, a little tougher.
Roddick couldn’t have handled it with more grace. He apologized to Pete Sampras for not preventing Federer from breaking his all-time record for major wins. He thanked the crowd—which had pulled so vehemently against him two days earlier. And, when Federer said something about knowing how Roddick felt after his five set loss to Nadal a year ago he smiled and said, “no you don’t, you already had five (titles).”
It was all special stuff and when you saw the tears in Roddick’s eyes you really couldn’t help but hope there’s somehow a Wimbledon title out there for him in the future. He deserves it.
I was glad to have the chance to see it. REALLY glad.
Immediately we threatened to write as a ghost writer for John, but decided that if an entire college’s fan base was going to be up in arms about John’s words, it’s probably best that they really are his words. Then we threatened to dock his salary, but remembered there is no salary. Therefore, for those of you who did visit on this Friday, we decided to give you a few links to previews we like for the upcoming sports weekend along with one of our favorite posts John has written.
A few articles previewing the sports weekend:
Australian Open - Andy Murray vs. Roger Federer
PGA Tour Farmers Insurance Open - Piercy resting easy with lead, fewer distractions
SI.com's college basketball - Seth Davis' weekend picks
The post below is John’s first post-surgery on the reminder of why sports is important. His health scare aside, it also shows how very quickly some things change (Tiger) and some stay the same (Federer in another grand-slam final this weekend).
One thing John wanted to relay is that this isn’t him ‘punking out,’ and he’ll find some way to make it up. Enjoy.
FOTB Staff
-----------------------------
From 7/5/09
Well, I’m back.
I don’t know if I’m any wiser but I sure am grateful—grateful the blockages in my heart were discovered during a routine stress test and not after a heart attack; grateful to my friends and family who rallied to my side during the past week and to everyone who posted here or sent good wishes in one form or another. I know when people get sick they talk later about how overwhelmed they were by the kindness of people but it really is true. I am overwhelmed by it all.
I am very lucky to have the family I have and the friends from so many walks of life that I have. I sit here feeling lucky to be alive, to be able to hug my kids and to be able to write a week after septuple bypass surgery. (Friends have kidded me that I’m so competitive I had to have seven, not just three or four).
One thing I was reminded of during my hospital stay was one of the reasons sports IS important. It isn’t that crisis puts sports in perspective it’s that sports gives us a much needed diversion during crisis. On Monday night, while I was still in the ICU I was able to watch some television. Even hearing the stale sportscenter one-liners was a relief. Hearing Tiger Woods claim that his learning center in California has helped TEN MILLION people made me laugh out loud and made me think the drugs must seriously affecting my brain. Did he say ten million? Yes, I learned later, he did say ten million. Even watching the Mets do their Keystone Kops act was better than staring at the clock.
So, Thank God for sports—the good, the bad, the ridiculous.
On Sunday, we saw something that was better than good. I almost never regret my decision 15 years ago to focus on covering golf rather than tennis. Not only have I greatly enjoyed reporting and writing about golf but tennis is by far the most frustrating sport there is to cover because of our lack of access to the athletes and the mind-numbing lack of organization in the sport.
One day a year I miss covering tennis. It’s always the day of the men’s final at Wimbledon. With all due respect to the greatness of The Williams sisters a best-of-three match that often last less than 90 minutes simply can’t have the drama of a five set marathon in which both players are still hitting winners four hours after the match has started.
There is also the uniqueness of Wimbledon. There’s no tennis venue anything like it—even with the new sliding roof—and very few sports venues that are comparably dramatic. Plus, there are no thanks to corporate sponsors during the awards ceremonies. Can you imagine with the score 14-all in the fifth set, Ted Robinson saying, “let’s go courtside to Jimmy Roberts who is with the CEO of AT+T.”
Jimmy: “Mr. CEO, another great Wimbledon, you must be so proud.”
CEO: “Jimmy, on behalf of all of us at AT+T we’re proud to be associated with Tiger and this great event.”
Whoops, wrong sport.
Wimbledon finals produce unique drama. Once a fifth set begins, you never know when it will end. Unlike the U.S. Open, where the fifth set can be decided in a tiebreak, someone has to break serve to win. Tiebreaks can be dramatic but, as difficult as it was for Andy Roddick to lose, he did not lose the match without losing serve. He lost it once—the 38th time he served.
Roger Federer is one of those athletes you just don’t root against. He’s brilliant, he’s a superb competitor, he has class and dignity and he now has 15 major championships—more than any man in history.
But if your heart didn’t go out to Roddick on Sunday, you have no heart. (Mine is working just fine, thank-you). Here’s why it’s truly sad that Roddick may never win Wimbledon: he could easily be mailing it in by now. He won the U.S. Open in 2003, he’s made millions, his wife is a gorgeous model and he could put his career on cruise control at 27, say that Federer and Rafael Nadal are just a little too good and be a top ten player for another five years.
But he hasn’t taken that route. He’s changed coaches and training regimens. He’s lost weight and worked on his ground strokes. He’s gotten tougher mentally as he proved in the semis when he outlasted Scotland’s Andy Murray in front of a crowd that would have made Cameron Indoor Stadium feel like a walk in the park for a road team.
He was SO close against Federer. He had four set points for a two set lead in the second and blew them all. He had two break points in the fifth and couldn’t convert. Federer kept hitting winners; Roddick kept answering. The number of times Roddick HAD to come up with a first serve and did was almost uncountable. It was great, great tennis.
And, in the end, Federer was a little better, a little tougher.
Roddick couldn’t have handled it with more grace. He apologized to Pete Sampras for not preventing Federer from breaking his all-time record for major wins. He thanked the crowd—which had pulled so vehemently against him two days earlier. And, when Federer said something about knowing how Roddick felt after his five set loss to Nadal a year ago he smiled and said, “no you don’t, you already had five (titles).”
It was all special stuff and when you saw the tears in Roddick’s eyes you really couldn’t help but hope there’s somehow a Wimbledon title out there for him in the future. He deserves it.
I was glad to have the chance to see it. REALLY glad.
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