A Punch Is A Punch

What am I missing?

Everyone loves a good hockey fight. It doesn't matter if your a hockey aficionado or a puck and stick virgin, when people start beating on each other, America stops and watches. MMA fights, middle school recess scuffles, Jerry Springer love triangles, you name it, if it's got faces gets kicked in we eat it up dig it and we dig it hard.

I mean say what you want about hockey, this is just fun to watch.

Announcers love it, fans love it, toothless Canadian players love it.

And who doesn't love a good baseball beat down? Hard slide, hit by a pitch, boredom, baseball fights have a lot of causes and go a long way to spicing up rivalry games and a brutally long season.

ESPN even celebrates them

Yes, fights are seemingly all good in sports. That is, unless it's the NBA.

Remeber the Nuggets-Knicks fight? Suspensions for everyone and condemnation by all.

And it wasn't even a fight so much as it was a slap and tickle

The announcers didn't seem to dig it very much.

Then there was the WNBA brawl from last season.

Now, maybe the NBA is trying to keep a clean image after the Artest situation

You never want your players fighting your fans. Any league would suspend their players until the cows come home right? No league would let player-fan fights slide...

Oh wait...

Do any of you even remeber this happening? I sure don't. Tie Domi wasn't publicly crucified that's for sure. Why is that?

Here's another fun one

Fan abuse is, I guess, cool in the almost all white NHL, but demonized in the primarily black NBA.

What I'm driving at is brawling is celebrated in most baseball and especially hockey. Prolific fighters are given names like "enforcer". In the NBA, if one punch is thrown, the player becomes a "thug" in the eyes of the sporting world. Carmelo? A thug? Did you see the fight? Go with your guy instinct on this next question. Do you think Artest is a thug? If so, why? Because he punched a fan who dumped beer on him? Wouldn't you do the same if someone did that to you?

Sports brawls are fun, but they stop being fun when you demonize players because of their race. The NBA wouldn't suspend players like 'Melo for 15 games (the sixth longest in NBA history) over a slap if they didn't think they had to for PR reasons. Why would the NBA have a bad image that needed protecting? Could it be that it's considered a league full of gang bangers by the weak minded and dim witted that make up a scarily heavy portion of the American population?

Maybe it's just me, but the double standard in public perception of sports brawls reaks of racism.

Discuss.

Cities That Make Me Feel Good About My Many Failures

The Worst Sports Cities Of The Moment

As of Monday, December 8th, 2008, the saddest sports cities, in my opinion...

Bad: Kansas City

Two teams, two worthless masses of wasted athlete. The Chiefs were once good, believe it or not. Now they exist only to make Tony Gonzalez cry into his pillow at night as he feverishly texts his agent to try and find a way out of Arrowhead for good.

And the Royals? God they're almost adorable. They try so hard and yet accomplish so very little. But hey, they just signed Coco Crisp so maybe they will see a spike in jersey sales. Maybe then they will have some extra dough to spend on someone who will actually make a difference.

Ugly Bad: The Entire Bay Area

I'm going to combine San Francisco and Oakland here because they are so close and suck so very, very much. The City by the Bay boasts the Giants and the 49ers. The Giants have one good player, Aaron Rowand, who likes to take himself out every other season by ramming his skull through the outfield wall. The 49ers have gone from a sexy sleeper pick a few years ago to a team that struggles to grab victory in the pathetic NFC West. As a side note, what were the football Gods thinking when they blessed the people of San Francisco with all those Superbowl victories? Those are the fans that get the hardware? Wouldn't those titles be better appreciated in a more blue collar city like Cleveland or Detroit or, I don't know, CHICAGO!

Then there is Oakland. Not only would I not want to live there, but I wouldn't want to attend any games. The A's aren't terrible, but they like to annoy they're fans by growing players and then selling them off at a rate only matched by the Minnesota Twins. And of course they're are the Raiders. Al Davis is Hell bent on killing the Raiders before nature kills him. Opposing teams are more scared of Oakland fans then they are of Oakland players.

I also have to include the team that represents both cities, the Golden State Warriors. They are pretty good but they just lost they're best player to a division rival now that Baron Davis is a Los Angeles Clipper.

Nickelback Bad: Detroit

I don't know what is being evacuated at a faster clip, Detroit's sports stadiums or the city itself. I know, the Pistons are almost always contenders but they are below .500 since trading Finals MVP Chauncey Billups to the Nuggets for Allen "We talkin' bout practice!" Iverson. The Red Wings really keep Detroit from being higher, or should I say lower, on the list. Any good the Pistons and the Red Wings have done has been off set by two of the most garbage feeding teams in their respective sports. I'm of course talking about the Tigers of the MLB and the Lions of the NFL.

The Tigers blew Yankee money on Dontrelle Willis and Miguel Cabrera from the Marlins, mix them with guys like Justin Verlander, Magglio Ordonez, and Curtis Granderson, and have them coached by Sam Elliot twin Jim Leyland, and what to they get? 74-88, 14.5 games out of first place. They actually finished behind the Royals!

But compare them to the Lions and they seem like the Durham Bulls after Tim Robbins started banging Susan Sarandon. I mean they are seriously going to go 0-16! How is this even possible? The 1976 Tampa Bay Buccaneers went 0-13, and alums of that ill-fated squad have to be psyched. For so long they have been the worst team in NFL history, but I really think that's going to change. No one remembers the second crappiest team ever. What's odd to me is how possibly the worst team in NFL history may have the best reciever in the league in Calvin Johnson. But they are truly that bad. Want to hear a funny joke?

The Detroit Lions.

That's the punchline.

Jonas Brothers mixed with Nikelback bad: Lincolshire, specifically Stevenson High School.

Yeah David Jaffe, I said it. Stevenson sucks the hard one. Why? Here are a couple reasons.

1) Whenever we played them in football, we had to play on Thursday nights because Stevenson wouldn't play on Rosh Hashanah or Boxing Day or whatever. They got the Friday off, we didn't. You have no idea how bad that Friday sucked.

2) Their entire offensive line had such brutal acne that I almost vomited into my mouth guard every time they tried to double team me.

3) Stevenson head ball coach Bill Mitz was so sick of getting curb stomped by Libertyville in football that he joined his sons high schools coaching staff in a cute attempt to beat us. He failed though, and I ruined his day double style when I sprained his son's knee with a TOTAL cheap shot after he kicked a punt. My coaches were happy and my parents were ashamed.

AND...

Truly THE WORST SPORTS CITY IN AMERICA...

Seattle

The Mariners are a terrible collection of weakness. They need to ship out Ichiro and rebuild for the 2019 season.

The Seahawks are turning in one of their worst seasons in recent memory, in coach Mike Holmgren's final season. Once again, if you struggle to compete in the NFC West, I think you should be suspended, as a team, for a full year.

The worst thing though, is the brutal injustice that is the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Is there a more soul crushing turn of events for a fan then to have your team taken from you and repackaged into another team all together? As a Bulls fan, I remember the Bulls fighting tooth and nail against a Gary Payton and Shawn Kemp led Supersonics.

It's just sad, I don't even want to be a smart ass about it. I couldn't imagine what I would be feeling right now if one of my teams moved to Tulsa or something like that.

Look at the Thunder. Their name sounds like an AFL team and their uniforms scream NBA Europe.

Sonics fans were seriously sports raped.

My heart goes out to Seattle fans. You truly live in the worst sports town in America.

You Don't Mess With Jack Bauer's Daughter

Things in sports that have pissed me off as of late...

1. Weis, Charlie. WHY? He basically has the same record as Ty Willingham, who they drop kicked out of South Bend. He gets these amazing recruiting classes each year (correct me if I'm wrong but this past one was 8th overall?). He tells people that Notre Dame has a "strategic advantage" over every team in the country because of his big bad Patriots brain.

Remember when you hated Notre Dame because they were arrogant and GOOD?

It's not even fun to watch them fail anymore, because that's all they seem to do. He only won when he had Quinn and the rest of Ty Willingham's last recruiting class. He hasn't recruited winners and he hasn't coached with any sort of sucess. He got a 10 year extension because he almost beat USC.

As a proud member of the Irish American persuasion, I'm insulted that a team named after my people has turned into such a joke. Irish people stab you with a broken pool cue, they don't get slapped by Syracuse. Period. Fire his ass or change your name to the Fighting Welsh.

2. Sean Avery isn't allowed to speak. If you don't watch the NHL, allow me to bring you up to speed. The NHL's Dennis Rodman Sean Avery was suspended by the league for naughty things he said about his ex-girlfriend indefinitely.

What did he say about Elisha Cuthbert of 24 that got him benched with no end in site?

He said that Dion Phaneuf of Calgary was getting his "sloppy seconds" and that it was becoming a common thing for guys in the league to fall in love with his "sloppy seconds".

Oh Lord everyone grab your bibles and start saying the "Our Father" backwards.

Was it that bad? The Dallas Stars didn't suspend him, the frickin' league did. Hockey, where you can kick the crap out of eachother and get two minutes on the bench is telling a guy to stay home because he wasn't nice to his ex?

Why does everyone have to be Captain America these days? Whats wrong with having some bad guys floating around in our sports leagues? So an adult said somethig bad about another adult, who cares. And don't give me that crap about being a bad role model. You let your 7 year old watch hockey for christ sake. What is the NHL saying? Fighting? Good. Not being a gentleman? SUSPENSION!!!

Sean Avery isn't even that scary. The dude is an intern for Vogue Magazine in the off season. You want to suspend him over a comment he made? Suspend him for this one...

"You do suits and pants and that's about that. Women's clothes tell a story. That's what's interesting to me."

And on Elisha Cuthbert, to quote Tony Kornheiser of PTI and Mondy Night Football.

On Elisha Cuthbert...

"Everyone who was watching season one of 24 was rooting for the mountain lion to eat her."

3. Plaxi.....never mind I won't even touch that...

New 3. I can't stand Lebron James for a number of reasons. I think he's overrated, I think he's soft, and he's so full of himself that he actually thinks he's the second coming of Michael Jordan, something the someone as hated as Kobe Bryant won't even do.

But this New York crap is getting out of hand even for him. He told New York fans to wait because in two years it's "Gonna be a big day". What the Hell? Your on the Cavs you jackass! Your winning! Who cares where you play the goal should be winning a championship. You know, that big trophy thing they hand out at the end of the year for the best team in the NBA? You know, the thing Jordan held up 6 times.

The man, the round-mound-of-rebound himself Sir Charles Barkley said it best when Dan Patrick asked him about the New York-Lebron James relationship...

""If I was LeBron James, I would shut the hell up (...) I'm getting so annoyed he's talking about what he's going to do in two years. I think it's disrespectful to the game. I think it's disrespectful to the Cavaliers."

Amen brother.

Lebron then had the balls to call the Hall of Famer "stupid".

And in the words of Sir Charles, that's just "trrrrrrrrrrble"

Lovable? Maybe. Losers? Oh Yes.

Hey Chicago Whaddya Say, The Cubs Are Gonna W...Yeah, Doubt It.

The Cubs suck. Period. Here are a few reasons why...

1) They haven't won a World Series in a century. Wrap your dome around that. Not in a 100 years. How is that even possible? I mean how any team's fans can actually argue that their team is one of the great baseball franchises when their team hasn't won in 100 years just blows my mind. In 10 years the Tampa Rays got closer to winning the big one then the Cubs have post WWII. I should be able to end the blog right here and still have proven my point, but I won't.

2) No one is afraid of a baby bear. It's a freakin' infant animal. When confronted in the wilderness, it would roll over on it's back and look cute. Why would you pick an animal that needs protection from it's mother to survive?

That's not to say that all mascots must be a scary animal, but they should at the very least be cool. I'm a White Sox fan, and yeah, no one is afraid of a sock either. But we haven't been the White Stockings in a long, long time. What is a "Sox"? Nothing really. It represents their old uniforms from back in the day, so it means something to the franchise. a cub? I mean for a team that old, they pretty much had an open field to choose from. They could have been anything. Yet, they chose a cub to represent the spirit of their organization, which apparently is laying on your back and crying when confronted by danger, which now that I think of it, actually makes sense.

3) Wrigley Field is an overrated toilet. You heard me, Wrigley sucks. Everyone in sports is always waxing poetic about the place, and I just don't see it. The place is falling apart, literally. They need nets to protect fans from falling debris.

Not to mention, you have to piss in a trough. If I wanted to piss in a trough, I would drive ten minutes north, sneak onto a farmers property, and let one go in the trough where he feeds his pigs. I know Soldier Field used to have a trough, but they upgraded, you know, to human bathrooms. You know what sounds fun to me? standing sandwiched between to strangers, hips touching, and whipping my wang out. I have a little rule of thumb; I don't touch my penis when other men are touching me. Call me old fashioned, but it's just a little something I live by.

"But Sean, what about the Ivy?" What about it? Weeds. Cool. My neighbor has ivy on their house. Maybe I should save a ton of money next time a friend wants to go to a Cubs game by just getting hammered drunk and standing on my neighbor's lawn and scream half retarded nonsense at his ivy covered siding.

What about the history? What history? See point 1).

Heres a thought...Take all that mad money that the Cubs organization has, and instead of throwing it at an overrated player from Japan, invest in some better facilities, you know, before the place gets condemed.

And enough about the purity of Wrigley field. As far as i'm concerned, the Cubs where the first team to ever sell out to a corporation. Wrigley is named for Wrigly gum people.

Ozzie is right. Wrigley blows.

4) They think they are cursed. Nope. No curse. Your team just chokes on it every chance they get. http://uisjmcmorgan.blogspot.com/2008/10/theres-no-cursing-in-baseball.html

5) They blame a playoff melt-down on a fan. Steve Bartman didn't do anything wrong. He did exactly what every other fan in the world would have done. If a ball is flying towards you, your going to grab it. Don't lie. We all would have done the same thing. Moises Alou recently admited that he wouldn't have caught the ball anyway.

The Cubs went on to get beat down in that game. And the next game? Same result. The Cubs lost to the Marlins, Bartman didn't beat anyone. Typical Cubs though, there always has to be some cute excuse for everything, something you can market. So they blow up the Bartman ball and yada yada yada. Grow up people.

Same garbage with the whole "Lovable Loser" crap. There is nothing lovable about sucking. And lets be honest, the Cubs aren't some sort of sweet underdog. They have tons of money that they have no problem throwing around Yankee/Red Sox style. They have a lot and do very little with it. For crying out loud they have a newspaper (Chicago Tribune) that owns them and is more bias in support of their Cubbies than FOX news is for Republicans.

6) Please stop showing Jim Belushi all the time. He sucks at everything. His brother John is funnier, and he's dead.

While your at it, stop showing old people and children crying whenever the Cubs blow it in the playoffs. It's getting real old. We get it. People are going to die without ever seeing the Cubbies win. Guess what, that's happened to many fans of many teams. Get over it.

7) The uniforms are way too girly for their own good. Really? Red, white, and blue? God that's corny.

8) Lou Piniella needs to be put down like his name is Old Yeller. He goes into post game interviews not knowing how his team won or lost the game. Is he taking a nappy nap in the dugout? And then you have his adorable freak outs. They are a lot less scary/angry and a lot more cute/sad.

For real, if I have to watch him trot around in his tight uniform, gut hanging past his junk, I'm going to seriously consider getting my retinas removed.

9) That song makes angels rape themselves. "Go Cubs Go" is the least catchy song that has ever been written. If it had been written during WWII, I have no doubt Hitler would have used it against the Polish.

10) Revisionist History. Cubs fans rag on Sosa and act like they didn't worship him a couple of years ago. I built and drove the Sammy Sosa Hate Wagon. It pisses me off that there are now so many people in the back seat.

And don't even get me started on Michael Barrett. Yeah he sucks and needed to go and tried to fight Zambrano and all that good stuff, but I remember a time when Cubs fans used to worship him like some sort of Rocky/Bruce Lee/Jack Bauer Jesus child all because he got sad that A.J. Pierzynski ran him over and he got cranky and limp wrist slapped him. Not to mention, he then got himself tackled and choked out by tiny Scott Podsednik. Now that I think about it, the Cubs in general are pretty weak at throwing down. Did anyone see when Derrek Lee tried to throw down last season? He wiffed on every punch, and it was against a scrawny pitcher. Soft.

I could go on all night, but I've got a feeling that most of the class is offended enough with 10 reasons.

Maybe Next Year? I wouldn't hold my breath.

Discuss.

Oh Sweet Youth...

Coach J Laying Down the Law

My senior year in football was very memorable for me for a number of reasons. I was a defensive captain, we won state (after losing in double overtime in the state game the previous year), we were the last team to play on the old field, and other on the surface reasons. I don't want to talk about winning games though or getting tackles, because really, no one cares. So instead, I talked to one of my best friends and a former teamate, Nick Krietman. We basically broke down some of funnier moments that happened off the field (or at least off the game field), and that are kosher enough to print in a school ran blog.

So in no particular order...

• It was about half way through the season. We were doing the standard kick off-kick return run through that I'm sure every team in the country drones through without giving anything much thought. Towards the end, our head coach, Randy Kuceyeski, freaked out. He threw his clip board, tossed his hat off, and charged onto the field, getting in the face of our starting middle linebacker Matt Norcia. They were forehead to forehead. "You want to keep up that bullshit effort? Keep it up then you shit" or something to that extent. Norcia wasn't having it. He threw off his helmet and basically told the coaching staff to f**k off and that he quit. Everyone let out a collective "oh shit" as he marched off the field towards the lockerrooms. Who was going to play middle? I sure as hell didn't want to move from defensive tackle to linebacker, I didn't know the playbook well enough to call audibles. No one really did. The back ups were no good, and you can't have an underclassmen trying to run a very complicated defense. All anyone could talk about for the rest of practice was how screwed we were. A little while later, Norcia came running back on the field with a retarded grin on his face. Kuceyeski was laughing his ass off as well. They had planned the whole thing. Why? I don't know. They rehearsed the whole thing before practice. Funny, but not cool at all.
• My buddy Nick was not your typical offensive guard. He was a vegan, which means he not only doesn't eat meat, but any product that comes from animals, like milk or cheese. Also, he is an anarchist. So yeah, not exactly Rudy. The head offensive line coach and offensive coordinator, Karl Jenrich, was about as "movie" style coach as you could hope for. Crew Cut? Check. Mid-shin socks? Check. Hardass? Check. Thinking Nick is possibly retarded? Double Check. Coach J, as we called him, was a fan of telling players in his dog house that he was going to go "get a stick" and then beat them with it. He never actually did this, until he met Nick. Neither one of us remember what caused it all, maybe he forgot the snap count one to many times or maybe Nick just wouldn't shut up, who knows, probrably both. Long story short, Coach J stomped off to a little patch of forest on the edge of our practice field, and moments later, game back with a solid looking stick. It was more of a baby log really. Nick just sort of looked at him and laughed like it was, I don't know, a joke. It wasn't. Lucky for Nick, he was wearing a helmet, as Coach J proceeded to crack him upside the head three, maybe four times, with an actual freakin' stick. The one and only time, to our knowledge, that Coach J actually followed through with the stick threat.
• Our QB Brett Lancaster had a thing for running around naked in the locker room. Now I realise that the locker room was created for that very purpose. It wasn't, however, made for dancing around by people's lockers and doing puppetry of the penis. On game days, we would go straight to the lockerroom after class and put on some workout clothes so we could warm up, go to meetings, get taped up, etc. Well, young Brett felt that this would be a wonderful time to try out a new, and very uncomfortable looking trick without his clothes on. Our nose guard, Greg Larsen, finally lost it. He grabbed Brett around the neck, dragged him a couple feet, and threw him out the locker room front door. Now keep in mind, our football locker room is right off the field. So it's outside. And class had just ended, so people were walking through the parking lot to get to their cars. Yeah, have a nice mental picture? Brett had to hide, naked, behind a bush outside the locker room doors for ten minutes as people passed by unaware of the naked gentleman in their midst because Greg had locked the door after he forced Brett out. Finally, a coach came by and let him in.
• When our season ended, we were undefeated and state champs, so technically, we were the greatest team in school history. Naturally, we all felt like we deserved a little somethin' somethin'. Yet, the school AD didn't have any magical number retirement ceremony planned for us. We had to take matters into our own hands. So we did, through either purchases, gifts, or theft, every number of every starter was basically retired by force, as the jerseys were no longer in possession of the school. We pretty much just jacked our jerseys into forced retirement. So, for the following years, the team had to make due. You can now see running backs with the number 76 (like the dude in the picture) or a lineman with the number 34. It's like 1920's football style. Sadly, this past season, they ordered all new jerseys. Those sons of bitches.

And finally, a little something extra. This didn't happen when me or Nick played for Libertyville. In fact, we were both around 11 or 12 when it happened. The old head coach, Coach Christensen, found himself down by a few touchdowns at half time in during the second round of the playoffs. In order to inspire his teamates, he took out a very real looking starter pistol and shot it in the locker room. Now here's the fun part. He had this idea already worked out with his starting quarterback before hand, so when he fired it, it was aimed at the QB. The quarterback fell down and didn't move, pretending he was dead. The Coach Christensen yelled something to the extent of "This is what happens when you don't play Wildcat football." Inspired? No. Instead, a couple players and coaches slammed him into the locker and took the gun from his hands. The QB got up and the whole thing was explained. The Cats then proceeded to get crushed in the second half and Coach Christensen was fired immediatly.

Monday Night No Pants Dance

Monday Night Football Game Blog

San Francisco 49ers v. Arizona Cardinals

aka

Will Kurt Warner Make Mike Singletary Get Naked?

Random Countdown notes: Ditka looks lost. Boomer asked the table what the Eagles did wrong in their loss to the Giants on Sunday. Everyone gives their thoughts, then it comes to Ditka. He freaks out because no one mentioned what the Giants did. Keyshawn fails to make Mike understand that they were talking about the Eagles team problems...

Silence ensues.

Later, Keyshawn mumbles something about Ditka not understanding a players perspective, seemingly unaware that Ditka is a Hall of Fame tight end. Ditka and Keyshawn seem to be trying to out dumb each other. I giggle.

ESPN shows the result of the last MNF game in Arizona, the Bears insane comeback capped off by a Devin Hester punt return. No points where scored by the Bears offense in the comeback. The best part? well...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDAq5tyfk9E

Some one needs to put an end to that stupid little segment they do now where they do a quizz between a players wife and one of their teamates over who knows them better. You know the player is just going to give his wife all the answers beforehand so she doesn't look retarded on TV.

Commerical Alert---

A commerical for the Country Music Awards was aired, and the voice over claimed that the CMA Awards was "the one event that brings the whole country together". What the hell? Are you kidding me? half the country hates country music. I'm sure not going to watch it. No one would claim the Source Awards bring the entire country to their feet. I'm pretty sure that the people over 50 demographic will be doing something else. Same goes for the CMA Awards, only in this case, the much sought after "People with teeth" demographic will probably not be tuning in.

Anyone else creeped out by the MNF Countdown entrance video? You know, the one where the Countdown crew is walking all slow-badass like through a burning factory? Oooh, scary, A bunch of chubby old guys in ties trotting in a group like some geriatric Reservoir Dogs. It just looks sad.

Keyshawn Johnson compared Anquan Boldin to a young, well, him. I don't see it. I don't remember Keyshawn being that physical.

Every member of the Countdown squad picked the Cards, so basically none of them have any balls.

Hank Williams looks like someones drunk grandpa when he does/says "raise the roof" during the opening song. Also, I just can't look at him the same way after watching him campaign for Sarah Palin for the past few weeks. Ugh. See my comments on the CMA awards above.

And it begins...

Quarter 1

7:41- Allen Rossum just took back to opening kickoff for the 49ers. After all the crap being talked in the pregame about how amazing Arizona is, I kind of want to see them fall on their faces.

7:44- What ever happened to the sweet/retarded player led starter announcements? Now they just mumble them. Where is the MNF spice? They also stopped doing the celeb openings. Lame.

7:49- Rackers kicks one through and it's 7-3, and Sean is officially already bored.

7:56- Michael Robinson takes a snap out of the Wildcat Formation to get a 49ers first down. I love how everyone is now doing the Wildcat formation this season after the Dophins beat the Patriots using it. So much posing going on.

8:00-Commerical Alert---

I really don't get the new Bud Light commericals. The whole "there is a difference between us and other light beers" thing doesnt make sense to me. Who will just drink any beer? Doesn't everyone have a preference? Do you really need to spend money convincing people that Bud Light and Miller Light don't taste the same? Wouldn't it be money better spent to just come out and say "Miller Light taste like urine"?

8:02- The Cards just did their own Wildcat offense, a direct snap from Anquan Boldin. Speaking of Boldin, I was screwed by ESPN. Anquan Boldin was the best player on my fantasy team. When he got taken out against the Jets, everyone said his face was broken and he was done-zo. So I drop him, and suprise, he's back in pads a couple weeks later. What happened to the facial reconstruction surgery he was supposed to have? You can really bounce back that fast from a broken face? Jesus.

8:10-Challenge: Ruling on the field says Jason Hill's catch was incomplete as he landed out of bounds without possession. I think they're right but the 49ers, especially Mike Martz, don't. I also don't care. NFC West...End the madness.

8:12-Ruling on the field stands, so I'm right and, yet, I still don't care.

8:14- I'm owning in fantasy right now, and my opponent only has Edgerrin James left, who is playing second fiddle tonight to rookie Tim Hightower.

I'm above the law.

8:17- San Fran pulls off a reverse on the punt return and gets pretty solid yardage. As of right now, they are playing like they have nothing to lose, mostly because they don't.

End of Quarter note: Right now, Samurai Mike is showing Martz who wears the pants. They are running way more then passing.

Quarter 2

8:23-Josh Morgan pulls in a 30+ yard Shaun Hill pass and takes it in to put the 49ers up 14 to 3. I thought San Fran was supposed to crumble into a heap and piss themselves tonight? They must not have gotten the memo.

8:28- Michigan alum Steve Breaston caught a 44 yard pass from old man Warner, putting the Cards in the red zone.

8:29- Two plays after the Breaston bomb, Boldin snags a catch five yards or so out and runs it in to pull the cards within 4 (14-10).

8:34- Tony K just said he takes pain killers everyday and suddenly everything makes sense

8:36- The ad for the Thursday night Patriots-Jets game is really pissing me off. "Brett Favre has superpowers and is a hero and blah blah blah" give me a break. Can the nation please remove their collective lips from Brett Favre's Wranglers? Please? Also, can Tony K please stop giggling about Boldin's doctor vacationing in France. What is so funny? Again, the pain killer comment is making even more sense.

8:42 Commercial Alert---

Why does Gary Dolphin do commercials for IWireless? Everyone knows he can't use a computer.

8:44-Hightower "fumbles" but it looks like he was down. Arizona challenges...please make this quick. I'm going to channel flip aimlessly because I don't want to hear them ramble.

8:47-Challenge works and Arizona gets the ball back. I'm racked with joy.

8:48-Boldin just made a badass play. He made the catch, ran over the corner, cut, and ran another ten yards. Anquan Boldin and Hines Ward are the only two wide receivers that I would actually describe as mean.

8:50- Warner does NOT want to run. He had ten yards ahead of him and he instead chose to just hop around and throw it into the dirt as he was going down.

8:52- Rackers pops in a 30+ yarder and it's a 14-13 game.

8:55- Singletary said he wants the team to be a family. So...he takes his pants off in front of his family? Child Services, meet the Singletary kids.

8:57- Shaun Hill just ran for a first down, and it wasn't by sliding. He took on a Cardinal defender head on, lost his helmet a few yards shy of the first down marker, and kept running and then freaked out. Singletary just got a funny feeling in his pants. I instantly love Shaun Hill.

9:08- Vernon Davis made an awesome grab in the endzone, jumping over a good Adrian Wilson, for a 15 yard touchdown catch. He got out of Singletary's dog house for like 5 seconds, until Davis tossed off his helmet and got an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. Singletary gave him a hug though so I think it's all good. 21-13.

9:11-The Cards just screw up the kick off and get the ball on what looks like the 8 with 26 seconds left. They got in shotgun for some retarded reason. Nothing happens though and they get a boo train running to the endzone.

End of Half note: The Cards are getting out hustled, out worked, and basically punked out by an inferior team. Singletary's methods are looking pretty genius right now.

Quarter 3

9:30-I missed a little of the Cards drive because I was watching South Park. What are you going to do, it's the NFC West.

9:33- The Cards go for it on 4th down and Warner hits Fitzgerald on a quick slant for a touchdown and are trailing the 49ers by 1. I love the call. You have to go for it on 4th and 1 in the redzone when you trailing an upset minded team.

9:39-Martz just called a run play on 3rd and 4 and it worked. Could you imagine the Detroit Martz calling a run on 3rd and 4?

9:40- Vernon Davis totally could have dove for a touchdown catch but didn't because he's soft. Period.

9:43- Singeltary and Martz are now screaming at eachother over whether or not to kick a field goal or go for it. They kick it and it's good, making it 24-20. Not sure who wanted to do what.

9:46-Singletary and Martz are hugging it out. Boy am I relieved.

9:53- Jaws "I thought this was a contact sport" amen brother. Anquan Boldin brushed the corner on the arm as he was cutting and apparently that was offensive pass interference. Weak.

9:56- Tony K is making fun of Cards fans for booing because they haven't been good in a while. That makes sense.

9:59- Antrel Rolle just picked off a Hill pass and took it back for 6. He did a sweet back flip and everything but it didn't matter. Defensive offsides. That's just ugly.

10:00-No worries, the very next play Hill lost the ball when he crashed into an offensive lineman and the Cards fell on it. Arizona ball in the redzone.

end of quarter note-Tony K hasn't mentioned Brett Favre even once. Do I dare jinx it?

10:06-Daily Show update---

"Sarah Palin is so dumb she thinks Soy Milk is spanish for 'I am Milk'".

10:08-Kurt Warner pretty much just intentionally grounded the ball but managed to cry to the ref enough to make the ref very audibly say "Relax Kurt" and called off the penalty. Field goal, 23-24 San Fran.

10:22- Anquan Boldin gets more yards after the first hit then I think i've ever seen for a reciever. The dude is way too much man for the NFC West.

10:29- Once again, a Cardinals pick six gets taken back from someone jumping offsided. They just don't deserve to win this game.

10:32-Karlos Dansby just picked off Shaun Hill and took it down to what looks like the 6. They have played like garbage but it looks like in spite of themselves the Cards might pull this one out.

10:34-Quick pass to Boldin results in a touchdown, his 10th of the season. Now for the two-point...

10:37-False start...the Cards are killing themselves with penalties tonight. Second attempt at 2 points...

10:37-Mark Roman breaks up a pass intended for Larry Fitzgerald to keep the game at 24-29 in favor of Arizona.

10:41-A possible pass interference call gets erased because the ball was tipped at the line. I've never heard of that rule.

10:42- The 49ers are challenging the deflection.

10:43- Now they aren't I guess because the flag they threw for pass interference was an accident. Why must they torture me.

10:44- The 49ers drive continues with a stupid late hit by Dansby. Super blatant and is just one of many penalties that could cost the Cards the game.

10:45-The Cards just jumped offsided. If they win this game it will be because the football gods have intervened. The Cards are playing a very stupid game.

10:47- The ref got in the way of Frank Gore making a catch. How do these refs seem to always get in the way?

10:47- Jason Hill made a sick catch to keep the drive alive, diving out of bounds and dragging his feet.

10:48- San Fran just got a holding call and this is turning into a badly coached high school game with the 354369954876 penalty of the game between the two teams.

10:50- Another penalty. I don't know what it is. I don't care. I flipped the channel for a few so I wouldn't find out. Call it a protest flip.

10:50- Big pass to practice squad guy Zeigler.

10:51- Shaun Hill attempts a shuttle pass and it gets picked off by Adrian Wilson. That should be all she wrote. More importantly, Mike Tirico called the shuttle pass a "Brett Favre" shuttle pass. Why? Of course, Tony K jumps in and happily giggles "BRETT FAVRE PASS" and I reach for the revolver under my pillow.

10:55-Stuart Scott hyped up the post game that I'm without a doubt not going to watch.

10:56-I've been watching a game that I'm not interested in for hours now, knowing full well I have to write a paper still about the Mahdi Army in Iraq. I know nothing of these people.

10:59-Jason Hill grabs a 10 yard reception and the 49ers actually have a chance here. Problem is, Frank Gore is out with an injury.

11:00-Jason Hill grabs another one and now San Fran is on the 15.

11:01-Jason Hill makes the catch and jukes a defender, taking it down to what looks like the 1.

11:01- Timeout Arizona. Somewhere I can hear Dennis Green screaming "We let 'em off the HOOK!!!!"

11:03-Gore is back in teh game and runs wide, going down at the 1. Hill barely gets the offense lined up to spike the ball with 2 seconds left.

11:05- Spot is reset at the 2 with 4 seconds left. The 49ers sprint to get the play off, run up the middle and are stuffed. Damn. That's a kick to the step kids. For some reason they give the ball to Michael Robinson instead of Frank Gore and they pay for it. Big goal line stand.

End of the game note-The Cardinals didn't deserve to win this game. Yeah, Kurt played great, so did Boldin, but they made so many retarded mistakes that it was really pretty embarrassing. That, and Kurt Warner is one of those dudes that has to do a lot of Jesus name dropping in postgame interviews, and that just annoys the Hell out of me. In protest, I'm never going to watch another NFC West game again all season.

Rex Was A Test Tube Baby

The Truth

ESPN guru John Clayton said today that Kyle Orton will most likely sit against the Titans this weekend, despite his claims that he's ready to go.

This means that the Mayor of Munchkin Land aka Rex Grossman will be taking the reigns again (Here he is trying to look like a badass. Adorable).

Why is Rex in the league? I've asked myself this painful question many times, and I think I may have figured out the answer...

Rex Grossman was a failed experiment. Some scientist in some lab miles and miles under a KFC, along with his hunchback/sexy assistant/sexy hunchback assistant, created Rex. What was their goal? To clone Brett Favre....

And they failed.

Keep in mind I hate Brett Favre more than Sarah Palin hated science class. But this is serious. Something sinister is going on here.

Think about it, they're about the same size, they both throw well on the run, they both belong to the "when in doubt, close eyes and throw far" school of quarterback play. Draft freaks even said he was "Favre Like" when he was drafted. But something went terribly, terribly wrong.

To put it in nerd speak, Brett Favre is Superman to Rex Grossman's Bizzaro Superman.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjgVilIKkqY

Bizzaro Superman had all the powers of Superman, he was just mentally retarded.

Like Rex.

The Chiefs May Suck But Rex Blows...

Thigpen Doesn't Seem That Retarded...

I went to the Chiefs-Bucs game this past weekend. I'm a Bears fan, but my friend offered me a free ticket and I've never been to Arrow Head, which was pretty sweet.

First thing, uh the Chiefs are bad. I knew they sucked but they were the painful type of bad, the kind that looks like it's all going to work out and then pisses happiness away.

Be it the random fumbles after leg tackles, letting a kick get returned right before half, or having your back up running back go down with a bad injury after the league has decided to suspend your franchise running back, it really made me happy to not be a Chiefs fan.

That being said, I was shocked how well Tyler Thigpen looked. For a dude from Coastal Carolina he looked fairly impressive. For one thing, you can't teach that kind of athleticism...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jcmgqK0Utkc

I was freaking out when that happened, and I don't even care about the Chiefs. Now, I had been drinking for the past six hours, but still, it was still pretty mind blowing.

While on the subject of quarterbacks...

Kyle Orton went down on Sunday with an ankle injury which puts the Bears offensive hopes and dreams in the hands of everyone's favorite smurf-esq Gator.

Good Lord he's back...

We just can't shake Rex can we?

I mean Jesus... Rex Grossman is like herpes, just when you think you're in the clear, boom, breakout.

Not that I know what it's like to have herpes or anything...

Cool Glasses Joe Maddon...

Everyone seemed to cry for the Rays. I didn't.

Why I Love That The Phillies Stomped The Rays...

1) The Phillies fans have suffered more. I know right? How could I say that? Every commentator and his grandma have told me how much it sucks to be a Rays fan but here is the reality of it all...

They have only been around for a decade. The Rays organization started in 1998. So they haven't won a World Series in a whole decade. What a tragedy. The White Sox won in 2005, not having won the series since 1917.

The Phillies won it in 1980, so have waited 28 years to bring the trophy home. What I'm saying is, take some lumps as a franchise before you cry about not winning the series. Rays fans don't deserve it yet.

2) Charlie Manuel was born in 1944. He's an old mother.

The Phillies manager is also a huge badass. Manuel has survived a heart attack, quadruple bypass surgery, and cancer During his time with the Indians, he coached in the dugout with a colostomy bag beneath his jacket.

He can't be killed by conventional methods.

Joe Maddon is a dork. All that zen crap was cool when Phil Jackson started it with the Bulls back in the day. I like my coaches crazy and heart attack prone.

3) They actually changed their name from the Devil Rays to just the Rays. Are you kidding me? Has our society become so bible thumpy that teams are making their team names more God friendly? Who made this move? Sarah Palin?

4) Philidelphia is a way better sports city. Tampa fans watch "Murder She Wrote". Philly fans boo Santa. End of story.

5) CowBells

6) The Rays took out the White Sox...that troubles me.

7) The Phillies won me over when they played a song about fish made for toddlers when the Rays players were being introduced at Citizens Bank Park. Classic.

8) Uh...this

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xYBwzY-eEPI&feature=related

9) The RayHawk

10) Philidelphia gave us this...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NHIA1LGuMhQ&feature=related

When it comes down to it, I just hate cute media stories. As sick as it sounds, I was pretty happy when my Bears owned the Saints in the playoffs a couple years back, ending their feel good story about how by winning games, some how New Orleans was being saved.

Now that I think about it, I think there is something really wrong with my moral compass.

I'm going to the barber to get a RayHawk and make this right...

The Oz-Man's Greatest Hits

Ozzie Guillen. You either love him or hate him. I love him. One, I'm a White Sox fan, one of about 15 i'm pretty sure. Secondly, say what you want about him, he isn't boring. So...

My Top Ten Favorite Ozzie Guillen Freakouts

1) Ozzie v. Mariotti- After call up pitcher Sean Tracey refused to plunk a batter in retaliation during a White Sox-Ranger game, Ozzie threw a tantrum, causing former Chicago Sun-Times columnist Jay Mariotti to call Ozzie childish. Ozzie's response was the most Ozzie-esq he has ever dealt out, and had without a doubt the craziest aftermath.

"What a peice of s**t he is a f**king f*g"

Ozzie later claimed he did not know the slur he threw out was a slur for a homosexual, that in his home country of Venezuela that the word means "dumb guy". He was fined and forced to attend "sensitivity training". The circus that followed was even greater then the quote, culminating in Ozzie Guillen's homosexual hair dresser defending him in the news.

2) Ozzie v. Magglio- Following former White Sox star Magglio Ordonez's departure for the Detroit Tigers, Ozzie was asked his opinion of his former outfielder. His response?

"He's a piece of s**t. He's another Venezuelan mother f**ker. F**k him. He thinks he's got an enemy? No, he's got a big one. He knows I can f**k him over in a lot of different ways. He better shut the f**k up and just play for the Detroit Tigers. Why do I have to go over and even apologize to him? Who the f**k is Magglio Ordonez? What did he ever do for me? He didn't do s**t for me."

Followed by...

He f**ked with the wrong guy, and he knows that, too. He knows for a fact that he f**ked with the wrong people."

A close second to the Mariotti blowup. A very close second.

3) Ozzie v. Rich Hill- After the infamous Barett-Pierzynski punch that led to a Cubs-Sox brawl, Cubs pitcher Rich Hill told the media that he thought Peirzynski's hard slide was "Gutless" and "Pathetic". Ozzie?

"Tell that Triple-A b**ch to shut the f**k up," Guillen said. "Tell him to start throwing some strikes or he's going to get Dusty (Baker) fired."

Funny considering how Baker's career turned out in Chicago.

4) Ozzie v. Showalter- A minor disagreement over a Ranger's reliever coaching first base leads to Ozzie ripping on Buck Showalter's playing career.

"He never even smelled a jock in the big leagues," Said Ozzie,"Mr. Baseball never even got a hit in Triple-A. I was a better player than him, I have more money than him and I'm better looking than him."

For me it's tough to top baseball managers arguing over who is hotter.

5) Ozzie v. Wendelstedt- Ozzie wasn't happy when Carlos Lee was called out on a stolen base. His opponent? Second generation MLB umpire Harry Wendelstedt. Ozzie allegedly spit tobacco juice on Wendelstedt's face and informed him that...

"You're not even a pimple on your daddy's ass."

Great because he seemingly spit tobacco juice, which I didn't know was still allowed in baseball dugouts, in an umps face. Also sweet because he threw out a cross-generational diss.

6) Ozzie v. North- After A.J. Pierzynski complained about not starting in place of backup Toby Hall on Mike North's radio show 670 The Score, Ozzie actually called into the show to, er, explain his position. What ensued was a soliloquy chalk full of fun words. The highlight for me was the opening remarks...

Mike North: "How you doing, Ozzie?"

Ozzie Guillen: "Oh, shut the f**k up!"

7) Ozzie v. Duncan- Dodgers third base coach Mariano Duncan called Ozzie an embarassment to Latinos in baseball. Ozzie disagreed a little...

"Mariano Duncan never will be a big league manager and not because I ruined it for him. If Mariano Duncan thinks being a manager is making out the lineup and changing pitchers, he is real wrong."

Ouch...

8) Ozzie v. McCarthy- Former White Sox pitcher Brandon McCarthy said he is more comfortable on the Rangers because he was the only single player in Chicago save for his friend, White Sox outfielder Brian Anderson. Ozzie started throwing blind haymakers...

"You played with us 162 games and all of a sudden you leave and say you don't have a friend in the clubhouse, only Brian Anderson?" Guillen said. "Well, he picked the wrong guy to be friends with."

Not only does he take a swing at McCarthy, but for whatever reason, he went after CURRENT White Sox outfielder Brian Anderson. Why? Only Oz knows.

9) Ozzie v. Van Slyke- Following a game where Ozzie freaked out at former White Sox pitcher Jon Garland for not throwing at Tiger's players, Detroit first base coach Andy Van Slyke said that Garland should had pucned Guillen in the face. Ozzie no-likey.

"That's why he's coaching first base and I'm managing in the big leagues," Guillen said. "I'm going to manage in the big leagues longer than he's going to coach first base."

Nothing like making fun of less important coaching positions. Wasn't Ozzie once a third base coach for the Marlins?

10) Ozzie v. Cuzzi- After a White Sox-Twins game where umpire Phil Cuzzi tossed Ozzie, Guillen opted to enlighten the fans about his relationship with Mr. Cuzzi.

"I just let him know I don't like him the first day I see him, and I think he feels the same way about me. And we have to move on."

No swears but still pretty funny mainly because he claims he hated Cuzzi the first moment he laid eyes on the him.

I can't wait until Ozzie starts his political career...I'd pay good money to watch an Ozzie v. Palin debate.
Actually, Guillen would probrably just hit on her.

Or perhaps just hit her.

Samurai In San Fran

I Love The Samurai

Due to his inability to develop Alex Smith into a star quarterback, Mike Nolan has been ousted from San Francisco. In all honesty, I liked Nolan.

Mainly because he often rocked suits on the sideline instead of the usual team apparel. You have to respect the classy throwback to coaches of yesteryear.

That being said, I'm pretty pumped that I get to watch Mike Singletary patroll the sideline now as the 49ers interim, and hopefully permanent, head coach.

You want someone who can scare the talent back into players like Vernon Davis?

How's a 10 time pro bowl, 2 time defensive mvp, leader of the 85 Bears D, all around psycho former middle linebacker?

He's the guy that Brian Urlacher will always be compared to and likely never match.

He's the freakin' Samurai!!! Is there a better nickname ever in anything?

But in all honesty, the hands down number one reason why Mike will make an awesome head coach and will probrably lead the 49ers to 7 or 8 superbowl wins in a row...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJNC3dgreaU

He's number 50 in case you aren't familiar...and nobody messes in his neighborhood.

Staph Infection? I'm A F@#KING Soldier!!!

Staph Infection Sidelines Winslow Again...For A Different Reason

or

Why I Hate Phil Savage

Clevelend Browns General Manager Phil Savage has suspended Kellen Winslow for comments he made regarding his recent staph infection and the teams handling of the situation.

Following Clevelands loss to the Redskins, Winslow told reporters that the "undisclosed" illness that sidelined him the previous week was staph infection, his second case since being drafted by the Browns five years ago. Winslow is the sixth Browns player to have a staph infection since 2005, well above the norm.

Winslow claims that the team claimed it was his choice to keep the illness secret when in reality it was the organizations choice.

Considering the Browns facilities seem to be a hot bed for staph infection, I'm inclined to agree with Winslow.

"Nobody knew that I had staph on the team because the Browns didn't want it to get out,'' Winslow said. "But it's my teammates' right to know what's going on at the facility to protect them. Their safety is at risk, too, and I didn't agree with the Cleveland Browns, because they are protecting the organization and not the players."

This insane verbal rampage was so destructive to the Browns organization that it apparently deserved a one game suspension without pay.

"The Browns are bigger than one person, bigger than [owner] Randy Lerner, bigger than [coach] Romeo Crennel, bigger than me and bigger than any player on this team," Savage said during his weekly appearance on WTAM radio. "We couldn't and won't allow one person to tear down the organization, so we had to do something."

I'm sorry. "Tear down the organization?" That sounds like the Sarah Palin school of thought that if you criticize anything America does you somehow are trying to destroy the union.

Phil, there is, without a doubt, something totally messed up about your facilities that it's infected six players, including another star in Braylon Edwards, with staph infection. Do you know how many times a player on my high school team contracted a staph infection in our diry facilities? Somewhere around zero.

By protecting his teamates Winslow is actually helping the organization, because the most important part of the organization is the team. Period. And Phil, the team is way, way, waaaay bigger then you.

When you make a big secret hush hush about an athletes illness, it makes it sound like he has AIDS or something.

You know what wrecks organizations more than telling the truth to the press? Massive cover-ups that endanger the team.

I don't know if it's a personality flaw or because he went to Miami or both, but Kellen Winslow has a tendancy to say extra stupid things at a pretty steady clip. This, however, is not one of those times. And if the Browns lose a tight one this week, your going to look like a grade A dumbass.

Because going 2-5, well, that REALLY tears down an organization.

But...

On the flip side...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I82BPA5QAaQ

Fine...Bench him... "I Don't give a HELL"...

Skirts For Everyone!!!

Why I Love Polamalu And Hate Goodell

What's Next? No More Scary Tatoos?

Back in the day, Hall of Fame linebacker Jack Lambert suggested that the NFL put skirts on quarterbacks so they know not to hit them like they are actual football players.

Roger Goodell seems to want to make the skirt uniforms manditory for all players.

A little while back, the usually hard to crack Steelers safety Troy Polamalu opened up about his take on the direction the NFL was headed.

"It's becoming more and more flag football, two-hand touch," said Polamalu.

He would go on to say that league officials are turning football into a "pansy game" and that greats like Dick Butkus and Ronnie Lott wouldn't be able to play in todays game because they would be fined way to much and woulnd't be able to make rent.

I couldn't agree more.

I've already expressed my anger towards the babying of qbs, but thats done by referees. What Troy is talking about is perfectly legal, non-penalized hits that are resulting in fines well after the game has ended. What Troy is talking about are the two legal hits Hines Ward layed on corners this year that resulted in fines of 15,000 each.

Yeah, the NFL is protecting DEFENSIVE players from getting HIT!

Cardinals safety Adrian Wilson was fined 25,000 bucks because a legal hit he layed on Buffalo quarterback Trent Edwards resulted in a concussion.

Just because someone gets injured doesn't mean the hit was dirty. It is very possible to give someone a concussion from a totally legal form tackle.

It's football. People are supposed to get messed up. The players know that. It's been a reality since they played in high school. If you take away the brutality of football then you take away a key element that has made football the most popular sport in America.

If a player was afraid of injury, then they would switch to baseball.

If we have a bunch of players running around playing tentative, then they are going to get hurt. That's something players are taught very early on.

Fine happy Roger Goodell claims that this new wave of non-penalized hits being fined is due to a desire to protect the players from injury. This is true and false. True, the NFL wants to keep players from getting injured, but it has less to do with player safety and more to do with protection of assets. It's about money. If they really wanted to protect players from being injured, they wouldn't be currently debating the possibility of adding a couple more games to the regular season.

Oh really? That's more chances for players to get injured, more wear and tear, all of which could lead to shorter careers and less money for the players. It would, however, bring more money in for the league.

Safety of the players huh?

How about we stop fining players for hits, because that's what they are paid to do.

Let's also stop fining players for touchdown dances, trust me, no one is getting offended by them accept for everyone's racist grandpa who doesn't see why there aren't as many white fellas playing these days.

And lets kill this new "Defensive Delay Of Game" call that's being tossed around this season. Oh, a defensive player didn't immediatly pick up the ball and hand it to the nearest ref? He instead angrily hits the ground because he missed an easy pick. Well, we can't have emotion in football can we? Toss the yellow flag.

The fun police are already stepping all over College Football (Washington-BYU game anyone?), let's keep them out of the NFL.

Do it for Deion, do it for Butkus, and do it for my sanity.

"Anything Is Possible!!!" ...'Cept For Playing Defense

With the NBA season upon us...

What I Love And Hate About The NBA

What I Hate...

The death of defense

Many NBA haters will point to selfish players that won't hustle as to why the NBA is an offense oriented league.

The blame doesn't lie with the players.

In the 1994-95 season NBA officials made a number of defensive moves collectivly called hand checking illegal. Hand checking occurs when a player uses a part of their body to impede the foreword and lateral movement of an offensive player. This contact includes...

• when a defender "leaves" his hand(s) on an opponent
• when a defender repeatedly touches an opponent
• when a defender places two hands on an opponent
• when a defender continually "jabs" an opponent
• when an illegal armbar is used on an opponent

According to NBA officials, this was done to increase scoring.

According to NBA referees, this was done to limit injuries as each generation of players got bigger, faster, and stronger.

What this did was make it near impossible to play defense in a game that already favored offensive players.

How many times is it really blocking? How many times a game to they call charges?

What this did was make defense a lost art, and that isn't even the worst result of killing hand checking.

It turned basketball players into pansies.

In the pre-hand check foul basketball world, players would get mugged if they came driving down the lane.

Remember how teams used to play Jordan? Remember how the Pistons used to play, well, everybody?

Todays stars would wilt under that kind of beat down. Remember Lebron against the Wizards? They hacked him a few times and you would have thought they punched his mother.

Have you seen this guy? He's jacked! He's 10 times more ripped then Jordan and seems to think he can only take a fraction of the punishment or his career will be cut short.

Steve Nash gets rammed into the announce table and people start acting like something dirty just happened. It's a good thing Rodman doesn't play anymore.

Good defense has been reduced to the art of the believable flop. I'm sorry, if I wanted to watch players run down the court and score over and over again with little to no resistance, I'd dust off the old Super Nintendo and pop in NBA Jam.

What I Love...

The Quick Turnaround

Everyone always drools over the parity of the NFL, and while the NBA doesn't necessarily posses that equality of teams, it does have one thing going for it that you just can't say about football or baseball...

Every team is seemingly a couple players from contention.

Look at the Boston Celtics.

They went from being an insult to one of the greatest franchises in sports to NBA champions in a year. How? They added two players. This just doesn't work in football or baseball because of the number of starters and the specialization of each position. If tomorrow the Detroit Lions got Brian Urlacher and Adrian Peterson, they would probrably still suck. In basketball, it's a whole different story.

This makes off season moves all the more important. One trade here, a big free agent signing there and all of a sudden you jump from joke to championship contender. Every franchise has hope. Catch phrases like "Wait 'till next year" actually mean something.

It's the biggest positive to come out of the insane grab game that is sports free agency.

What I Don't Undestand...

Why does every next big stud have to be "the next Michael Jordan"? Why can't Kobe just be Kobe and Lebron just be Lebron?

For one, there will never be another Jordan. Why? Because aside from his talent and drive, there's never going to be anyone that insane.

People forget that he punched out Steve Kerr at practice for not hustling.

They also forget that he threw Horace Grant into a locker during half time because Grant wanted to sit out due to a migraine.

He used to take out other stars to dinner as a means of softening them up for when he played them.

It's a rumor that his friendship with Charles Barkley stemmed from Jordan's desire to learn Barkley's flaws and weaknesses so that he could destroy him.

I can stomach Kobe comparisons because they share a similar killer instinct, but Lebron? Really?

He seems... human.