Random Rumblings

• As I write this, I’m flying Jet Blue to Vegas and if you’re asking “why the hell is he blogging when he has satellite TV?” the answer is simple: My screen is broken. I’m the only guy on the plane not watching Boise State.
  
  Anyways, I’ve come to the conclusion that the guy sitting next to me meets all five of the requirements to becoming a UFC fighter.
  
  !) Shaved head with a goatee. Check
  2) Be over 200 pounds. Check
  3) Drink Budweiser. Check
  4) Be very pale. Check
  5) Have tattoos that cover your arms. Check
  
  The strange thing about this guy is his choice of music. He’s blasting his iPod (apparently UFC guys think college football is for pussies) but the only song I keep hearing is that “To the left, to the left” song. Now everyone has their quirks, but this guy is supposed to be a Bud-drinking badass, the type of guy that refers to everyone as “boss” or “chief” and he’s listening to Beyonce.
  
  You tell me who the pussy is.
  
  Then again, I’m the one with Jonas Brothers tickets tomorrow night at MGM.
  
  
• At this point, the BCS’ approval rating makes George Bush look like JFK, but one guy loving the arguments caused by those faulty computers right now has to be new Big East Commissioner John Marinatto. Because everyone is so caught up arguing who should play for the National Title, no one seems to be paying attention to the fact that Marinatto’s league (Note – he doesn’t actually take over until July) is about to send a very undeserving team to a major bowl.
  
  And believe me, only calling the Big East undeserving is like calling the Knicks only mildly interested in LeBron James. If you asked the staff of Cincinnati’s student newspaper to pick the teams to play in BCS games, they’d opt for Ball State over the Bearcats any day
  
  If you ask me, the biggest disgrace about the BCS is that contract stipulations decide who gets to play and who gets shut out of the major bowls just as much as any computer. No matter how deserving, the Big 12 is restricted from sending a third team to a BCS Bowl game because the barely mediocre Big East is guaranteed a slot.
  
  But you won’t find too many people complaining about this mess; no one has time. And that’s just how Marinatto likes it. For Big East football, no press is the best kind.
  
  
• While I’m at it, Marinatto has another issue on his hands, this time in basketball, the conference’s crown jewel.
  
  The league is expected to place at least eight teams in the NCAA tournament this season and is widely regarded as the best in America, but it also is home to Rutgers, which lost to St. Bonaventure and Lehigh in consecutive games and Providence, which is only the second best team in Rhode Island.
  
  Couple that with the miserable St. John’s program and irrelevant ones like Seton Hall and South Florida, and you start to realize that there almost as many really bad teams are there are good ones.
  
  Thankfully, the Big East won’t be judged by its weakest links.
  
  
• There is a loud drunk girl on the plane (she’s not hot) and she keeps telling her friend she needs to find a black man in Vegas. An “Obama man,” she says. I think UFC guy is going to spear her.
  
  I wonder what his fight music is.
  
  
• Stephon Marbury once said he’d like to play in Italy after his NBA career is over. Now it looks like that statement could become a reality sooner than anyone thought.
  
  That is, until Mike D’Antoni decides to place a call to the old country and get Starbury blackballed.
  
  
• I’ve never hidden the fact that UConn basketball is the one team I truly care about, so by extension, I’m a huge college basketball fan. But I have to admit, I can’t blame fans for not filling the gyms for any of these preseason tournaments. The games have been hard enough to watch on television.
  
  Every team lets the shot clock run down and then throws up a wild, low percentage shot. I think a lot of people downplayed the extended 3-point line, but it looks like it’s going to be an issue for even the best teams (see UConn).
  
  
• Well, as I might have mentioned, I’m in Vegas now and won’t be posting until Tuesday or Wednesdays. Check back then for an updated podcast and all new posts!

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Random Rumblings: Voters get it right with baseball awards

• As sure as we are to bicker about the BCS this time of the year, there is another argument guaranteed to be had every November: Should a player whose team misses the playoffs be able to receive the MVP or Cy Young Award?
  
  In other sports, this would be unimaginable. The NBA’s MVP has never failed to get his team to the playoffs and the same goes for modern professional football, but baseball just watched three of its most significant awards go to guys who spent October playing golf. Only AL MVP Dustin Pedroia led his team to the playoffs, and it could be argued that he had the worst offensive season for an MVP since Barry Larkin in 1995.
  
  The one gripe many had with this year’s awards came in the NL Cy Young race, which Tim Lincecum won despite playing on a team that considered 72 wins an overachievement. But the truth is, the voters were correct in choosing the Giants pitcher because history shows that baseball’s best players rarely lead their teams through the playoffs. In fact, no MVP or Cy Young has appeared in a World Series since Barry Bonds in 2002 and only Randy Johnson and Greg Maddux have picked up a significant award and won a World Title in the last 20 years.
  
  You might win World Series Rings as a team, but baseball is largely a one-on-one sport, so I say that a group’s performance should not hurt an individual player’s resume.
  
  
• Speaking of Lincecum, as nice of a season as he had, it should only make us appreciate what Randy Johnson did from 1999 through 2002 that much more. In the heart of the steroids era, the Big Unit averaged 20 wins and struck out at least 330 hitters for four straight seasons.
  
  
• Quick, name the only team in the preseason top 25 that hasn’t won a post season game since 2006.
  
  The answer? Second ranked Connecticut. It’s nice to see everyone back to considering the Huskies a national powerhouse, but people are jumping the gun by calling them a final four lock. This is a team that still has a lot to prove and we won’t know anything until the second semester of school when the team will look a lot different than it does now.
  
  But boy do you have to love Kemba Walker.
  
  
• I realize that my disdain for Mixed Martial Arts might be getting old. But honestly, how can the biggest star in the sport have a record of 16-9? That’s Randy Couture’s record following his loss to former pro wrestler Brock Lesnar.
  
  Football coaches get fired for performaces like that.
  
  
• Memo to Syracuse football: You know you’ve reached rock bottom when Connecticut’s coach turns you down before an offer is made.
  
  
• You won’t find anyone who thinks the Big 12 and the SEC aren’t the best college football conferences in America, but what’s strange is everyone will be shocked if the two unbeatens from those respective leagues are playing for a National Title.
  
  
• What if Stephon Marbury ends up on the Lakers and wins a title?
  
  
• The Big East Conference is the best basketball league in the country, but it’s got some of the worst teams in major college basketball at the bottom. Providence just lost to Northeastern and Seton Hall and St John’s are going to stink again.
  
  That’s three founding members on the conference and none of them would be completive in the Big Sky Conference, let alone the Big East.

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Athletes' statements need to be more than superficial

It’s sort of refreshing to see an athlete who cares about something other than endorsements and strippers – no matter who it is.

So I’m okay with Carmelo Anthony trying to score 44 points to honor Barack Obama even though he once warned the people of Baltimore to stop snitching to the police. And I’m fine with Brandon Marshall wanting to wear a black and white glove as a symbol of unity, even though he has allegedly used those same hands to assault women on numerous occasions. And if Gilbert Arenas wants to have the President-elect’s slogan tattooed to his hand despite voicing his concern that he would have to pay more in taxes, then so be it.

But instead of just making superficial statements, it’s time Anthony, Marshall and Arenas use their platform to offer a little substance. It takes time and a lot of people to put a President’s words into action, but change doesn’t need to start at the top.

Maybe Anthony can go back to being as generous as he was in 2006, when The Giving Back Fund ranked him the eighth most charitable celebrity in the world. Among sports figures, only Tiger Woods gave more money to philanthropic initiatives that year. But he didn’t appear on the list in 2007 and won’t this year either. And make no mistake about it, while Anthony’s donations have slowed down, crime committed by African-American youth in Baltimore is as high as ever. At this point, his home city needs him to send the right message to young people just as much as it needs Obama.

Considering lawyer fees, Marshall isn’t nearly as wealthy as Anthony or Arenas, so we can’t expect the Denver wideout to give away millions. But if he wants to create change and give himself an image makeover, why not forget his unity glove and pony up the money for each of the 5,000 homeless children in the Mile High City to receive a pair of gloves and a hat this winter? What would it cost, maybe $25,000? Now that’s making a difference.

Arenas is lucky enough to be one of the most popular athletes in the world and he happens to be playing in the nation’s capitol. Want Obama to notice you? Washington DC happens to be at the center of our country’s dropout crisis and has an HIV rate 12 times the national average. Arenas should gather his teammates and make a significant donation to an organization like City Year, a National Service program that tutors and mentors students and also offers an eight-week CDC-approved HIV/AIDS Awareness curriculum to 7th - 12th grade students at middle schools and high schools throughout DC. It wouldn’t take all that much to double City Year’s impact in DC, Gilbert. And don’t worry, you can always write it off in April.

Like it or not, athletes have far more pull with America’s youth than any politician. They know Anthony wears number 15 and went to Syracuse, but couldn’t name the 15th President (Buchanan) for a full scholarship to Syracuse. A school visit from the mayor feels like detention, but get an athlete to deliver the same message and you’ve got a pep rally.

The pros often warn that they aren’t role models, but they’ve got just as many young eyes on them as Obama does. And when they start with public displays of support for the new face of our country, they need to back it up by being the heroes we can believe in.

Get sports tickets from Vivid Seats today!

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Forget the future, Detroit should appreciate greatness now

The Pistons traded for the most influential athlete of my generation on Monday, but all anyone seems to care about is the fact that he has an expiring contract. Imagine that. The most entertaining basketball player this side of Michael Jordan joins a championship contender, yet somehow LeBron James and Dwayne Wade are the focal points.

It’s sad. The summer of 2010 means more than Allen Iverson’s last chance at a title, even in such a proud basketball city. But fans in Detroit and across the country better slow down, because no matter what happens two summers from now, the league will never see another player quite like The Answer.

If you became a sports fan in the mid-late ‘90s, you’ve watched Iverson closer than any other athlete. You’ve criticized him for acting a fool. You’ve been amazed by his ability. You’ve realized that while Shaq might get hacked, AI gets decapitated. Yet he continues to get up. You respect him for that. ESPN’s Rick Reilly once wrote that if there was one player he’d pay twice the ticket price to watch, it would be Iverson, who really makes you think twice about cheering for Manny Ramirez. When he retires, you’ll remember his dismal rap career and his infamous practice rant, but not the way you’ll remember his crossover, a move that staggered more men than Mike Tyson ever did. Even gave MJ jelly legs once.

But for all AI has done on the court, his impact off the court might be what truly defines him. He’s been called a thug for always speaking his mind at a time when you can’t buy a quote from a great athlete – see LeBron, ARod and Tiger. Seemingly cut from the same cliché, those three will never reach people quite the way Iverson did. If you think about it, he and Eminem probably did more to bring two completely different cultures together than any celebrity in history. For awhile, his sneakers, jersey and crossover gave every sports fan something in common.

Iverson will make his Pistons debut tomorrow night in New Jersey, against another franchise already thinking well into the future. The difference is that while the Nets are hopeless, Detroit should be hopeful. They’re a better a team than they were a week ago. Even on his last legs, Iverson can change games.

Now we’ll see if he can win a title.

Must reads on Iverson:
The Impact of Iverson – Need For Sheed
The Iverson Effect: Net gains all around – True Blue Pistons
Allen Iverson, “The Answer”

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