Come on.
Filed under: sports | Tagged: Bruins | Leave a comment »
Brian Sabean is an ignorant dick
Posted on June 4, 2011 by Michael
Marlins outfielder Scott Cousins has been receiving death threats from Giants fans ever since this:
That is Giants catcher Buster Posey you see getting rolled over and then writhing in pain. The collision caused a broken leg and strained ankle ligaments. Posey will be out for the rest of the season, dealing a significant blow to the Giants.
Notice what Cousins does after the play. He immediately goes to Posey, putting his arm around him in clear dismay over the result. Cousins made a clean and legal baseball play (much like Pete Rose in that one All-Star game – except this game matters), but he obviously didn’t want to cause harm to another player. Unfortunately, Giants General Manager Brian Sabean is too much of an ignorant dick to recognize all that:
He told KNBR:
“If I never hear from Cousins again, or he doesn’t play another day in the big leagues, I think we’ll all be happy.”
“He chose to be a hero, in my mind. If that’s his flash of fame, that’s as good as it’s going to get, pal.”
And, “We’ll have a long memory.”
The play was clean. Cousins was immediately regretful. He has been hugely regretful in the days since. There is zero reason for there to be bad blood between anyone on the Giants and anyone on the Marlins over this. What’s more, the man has been receiving death threats. Sabean was moronic to make the comments he did. Cousins’ teammates recognize that:
Marlins outfielder Logan Morrison came to Cousins’ defense during an interview Friday on Sirius/XM radio, calling Sabean “wildly unprofessional” for calling out his teammate.
“When has he played in the big leagues? When has he played in the minor leagues?” Morrison said. “Correct me if I’m wrong, but he’s never been in a situation like that. It’s terrible.
“Why would you wish anything like that on anybody?” Morrison continued. “He’s getting death threats from people. This is his hometown, San Francisco. He’s worried about his family and his friends that are there. And now (Sabean) is going to make comments like that? It’s ignorant, it’s inappropriate and he has no idea what the hell he’s talking about.”
Sabean has attempted to contact Cousins, but has done nothing to issue a public apology. He needs to do that if he ever wants any player anywhere in the league to ever respect him again.
Filed under: sports | Tagged: baseball, Brian Sabean, Buster Posey, Collision, Logan Morrison, Scott Cousins | 5 Comments »
Dear Lightning “fans”
Posted on May 20, 2011 by Michael
I am thoroughly convinced that Florida deserves no major sports team. I mean, hell, if the point is just to make money and no have any real fans, then Las Vegas needs a few teams. At least there won’t be any pretense that anyone pays attention out of love for any game there.
Filed under: sports | Tagged: Bandwagon fans, Tampa Bay Lightning | 2 Comments »
I had okay seats
Posted on May 17, 2011 by Michael
At least for a walk-off win.
Filed under: sports | Tagged: Awesome seats, Fenway, Red Sox | 1 Comment »
Thanks, Horton
Posted on April 27, 2011 by Michael
Horton scored his second overtime goal of the postseason on Wednesday night, waiting until 5:43 of the extra period in Game 7 to give Boston a 4-3 victory over the Montreal Canadiens and help the Bruins advance to the Eastern Conference semifinals.
“Just getting to the playoffs is all I was really thinking about. This has been a dream come true,” said Horton, who never reached the postseason while spending the first six years of his career with Florida Panthers. “I’m really enjoying it. I’m enjoying it more every day.”
And this was despite the refs donning Canadien sweaters for most of the night.
Filed under: sports | Tagged: 4-3, Bruins, Carey Price, Habs, Nathan Horton | 1 Comment »
Fighting in hockey is appropriate
Posted on March 25, 2011 by Michael
For some parents of the thousands of children at the Portland Pirates’ annual School Day game Tuesday, a fight that ended with the ejection of four players was too much.
“We were horrified by what we witnessed,” said Catherine Anderson, who attended the game with her 6-year-old son’s kindergarten class from Reiche School in Portland. “(My son) said, ‘Mommy, what’s happening?’ and I said, ‘These men are acting out of control and they’re making bad choices.’ And he said, ‘Why isn’t it stopped?’ “
It isn’t stopped, Child Who I Presume Must Be Named Quaint Little Timmy, because fighting is one of the ways in which hockey players police themselves. The refs can’t see everything; if a player is playing like an ass, he’s going to get punched. In 99% of the cases, a few scratches will be the biggest result. But without fighting, people like Matt Cooke would get away with stuff like this more often:
And that isn’t the first time.
Those sort of plays are extreme – Cooke should be suspended for no less than a year – but dirty hits are kept in check with clean fighting. That doesn’t mean fighting goes unpunished – it always results in a penalty. And that’s fair. These teachers just need some perspective: a self-policing action which usually results in a scratch or two at best is a good tool for keeping the actual gameplay as clean as it is.
Filed under: sports | Tagged: Catherine Anderson, Fighting, Hockey, Matt Cooke is an asshole, Portland Pirates, Reiche School | 1 Comment »
Belichick wins Coach of the Year
Posted on February 3, 2011 by Michael
I’ve always wondered what it felt like to be a Yankees fan. I think this is as close as I’ll get. Minus being surrounded by all the bandwagon fans.
Bill Belichick is closing in on Don Shula.
The New England coach Bill Belichick won The Associated Press 2010 NFL Coach of the Year award on Wednesday, the third time Belichick has earned the honor. Belichick, who also won in 2003 and 2007, now trails only Don Shula, a four-time winner of the award.
For leading the Patriots to a 14-2 record, the best in the league, Belichick received 30 votes from a nationwide panel of 50 media members who regularly cover the NFL. That easily beat Raheem Morris, who led a turnaround in Tampa Bay and got 11 1/2 votes.
It is what it is.
Filed under: sports | Tagged: Bill Belichick, Coach of the Year, NFL, Patriots | 1 Comment »
How to be a sports fan
Posted on January 20, 2011 by Michael
Every time the New England Patriots or the Boston Red Sox are in the limelight, I always see negative Facebook status updates blasting my feed. Sometimes people even blast the Celtics, but I like to think I don’t tend to notice when that happens because people realize basketball is an awful sport run by an even more awful organization at the pro level. (As for the Boston Bruins, well, come on. Most people think hockey is either boring or just fighting. No one really cares about seeing constant action, what with how the hugely successful NFL and NBA are horribly run today – flag, flag, time-out, time-out, flag, gun fight, flag, time-out, dog fight, flag, time-out, time-out, TV time-out!)
Anyway. The reason this all stands out to me is that I’m from Maine. I’m a New Englander. And so are most of my friends. So I expect to see a heavy bias towards New England teams. But instead I have a Dallas fan, apparently Jets fans, Yankees fans, and sometimes just anti-New England teams fans. But are most of these people really good sports fans?
I’ve got to say no. And I think a recent comment in my feed from one real sports fan (who was at Disney World at the time) to another sums it all up:
I saw a guy here with a Lakers shirt, Yankees hat, and a Penguins pin. I wanted to ask if he liked the bandwagon ride at Disney.
That’s what most of these “fans” are: riders on the bandwagon. Very rarely do I see somebody making a spring training status update about how the Oakland A’s or Seattle Mariners are looking in the upcoming season. No, instead I just see people talking about all the teams that have either historically been great or that have recently been great. Hell, of the few hockey fans on my friends list, I wouldn’t be surprised if there was a Red Wings base out there – despite no one on my list being from Detroit.
Now, if there was a Red Wings base on my friends list and it was composed of people from near Detroit, it would be a little annoying, but it would also be so refreshing. Finally, some people who give a damn about their location. Because, really, that is the most appropriate basis for becoming a fan. That doesn’t mean everyone from Maine needs to be a Bruins fan or a Red Sox fan. I grew up with a die-hard Yankees lover. But his whole family was from New York. And then he went to NYU. And he loves New York City. I can accept that he likes an organization of assholes. But what does everyone else have to say? I can tell you what: nothing. They aren’t really fans of an organization; they’re just riding the bandwagon. (The worst are the people who like New York teams with no connection to the area. Come on, you jackholes. Of course those are going to historically be the best teams. They have the biggest audience from which to draw, and therefore the most money to spend on the best players. Don’t act like the Yankees are some sort of geniuses when they sign a Teixeira or a Sabathia.)
And yes, some questions spring from the location criteria. What about places with a couple of teams or people who live roughly equal distance from areas with teams? Is it okay to jump on the bandwagon then? Really? You’re asking that? NO. You never jump on the bandwagon. You pick a team based on some rational criteria. For instance, the Mets or the Yankees? Go with which league you like better. Since I don’t like boring baseball that gives an unfair advantage to the pitcher, thereby making every single pitching record just a little hollow, I tend to go with the American League and its designated hitter. But to each his own.
When it comes down to it, I find it impossible to respect a sports fan who praises some team half way across the country simply because that team has done or is doing well.
Filed under: sports | Tagged: Fans, How to be a sports fan, sports | 2 Comments »
Women and sports
Posted on December 28, 2010 by Michael
I read a short opinion piece today that listed a number reasons why women’s sports are not as successful as men’s sports. I am unable to find that article, but this very similar article lists the points:
- Men form the core of sports fans and they are not watching women’s sports.
- Women also do not watch.
- When young, women do not receive enough support and encouragement from friends and family.
- There is little media coverage.
- Culture discourages women from entering sports.
The one point that is severely missed here is the most obvious: On the whole, men are better at sports. And people want to watch the best of the best.
I raised this point in an all-female environment and the most prominent counter-argument was that men and women cannot be fairly compared. But of course they can. I can compare any group to any other group if my point is to see which performs better at sports. Ten year olds versus twelve year olds at baseball? The older kids are going to be better on average – they’re bigger, stronger, and faster.
If a woman is able to perform at the level required to play at the professional level of the NHL, MLB, NFL, or NBA, then of course she is going to be signed in a minute. Those leagues are about the sports for the fan, but for the owners, it’s all just a business. If a woman can hit .300, run, throw, and catch, she is going to be playing for an MLB team sooner than later. That’s going to bring in a whole lot of cash.
We’ve seen women break or attempt to break into big time male-dominated sports. Danica Patrick has had a successful career as a driver (though, for the record, neither she nor any of her male colleagues are athletes). Michelle Wie certainly wasn’t stopped from attempting to move from women’s golf to men’s. She got into one men’s tournament and failed to qualify for the PGA tour, but our culture, her past encouragement, a lack of viewers, media coverage, etc, had nothing to do with her inability to compete. The fact is, she is at a competitive disadvantage to men. This is all the more true for sports like football and hockey.
The barrier here is in physical ability, on the whole. We see individual women sometimes succeed because some women can be better than most men at sports – but most men are still better than most women. And more importantly, the top male athletes are better than the top female athletes. Even if we could get rid of all the things that make women less likely to go into sports than men, men are still going to be the top performers because speed, agility, strength, and size are all greatly increased by higher testosterone levels.
I just wish we could all be a little honest. Men, on the whole, are better at sports than women, on the whole. We have these systems that rely on the ability to perform to a certain level – most runs, most points, most goals. And the best male athletes are going to be able to reach these levels better than the best female athletes. This is a big reason why women’s sports flounder. Is this so wrong? I really have no desire to watch a basketball league where it is big news that one of its players managed to actually dunk. (This really was big news for the WNBA a year or two ago.) So we can’t just give a blanket blame to society and culture and biases and discrimination, even if all those things might play a role. Sports are about top performance. If a woman can compete with the best men, great. But she’s the exception, not the rule.
Filed under: sports | Tagged: Danica Patrick, Men's sports, Michelle Wie, MLB, NBA, NFL, NHL, sports, WNBA, Women's sports | 5 Comments »
Joe Morgan and Jon Miller are out
Posted on November 9, 2010 by Michael
Baseball announcers Joe Morgan and Jon Miller aren’t getting their contracts renewed.
“We’ve decided to make a change and introduce new voices and new perspective,” said Norby Williamson, an executive vice president of ESPN. He added: “Twenty one years is an eternity in this business. And today is about acknowledging the contributions they made to the franchise.”
Good. I never liked either one. But then I get spoiled with Jerry Remy and Don Orsillo.
Now if FOX could get rid of Joe Buck and Tim McCarver, all would be right in the sports announcing world.
Filed under: sports | Tagged: Don Orsillo, Jerry Remy, Joe Buck, Joe Morgan, Jon Miller, Tim McCarver | 1 Comment »
For the Sake of Science 