Another American Invasion

Last weekend there was an American invasion during the Fulham-Newcastle match. Four American field players saw time in the match. Today, there was another American invasion in the boardroom of EPL giant Liverpool. Americans George Gillett and Tom Hicks purchased the Reds after a Dubai group backed out. This is the third EPL team to have American owners after Malcolm Glazer and Al Lerner purchased Manchester United and Aston Villa, respectively. Gillett and Hicks both own NHL teams and Hicks also owns the Texas Rangers baseball team.

The Americans say that profit is not their primary motive for purchasing the team. That, I find, is very hard to believe. Who would pay somewhere in the neighborhood of $800 million for a team and not look for a return on the investment.

Gillett and Hicks are looking to compete with Chelsea and Man United to be the biggest and best club in the world. Whether this means they will turn into the American version of Roman Abramovich remains to be seen, but I wonder how the American takeover will be received. When Glazer purchase ManU the supporters went berserk, partially because he plunged the team into debt. Yet, Aston Villa fans welcomed Lerner as a new owner. For their parts, Hicks and Gillett have said there will be no debt foisted upon Liverpool in this purchase. All of this could make for an interesting arms race during the summer transfer period.

Notes From The Underground

On Monday I was driving home from my decidedly un-Underground occupation listening to a local radio station. Lo and behold, the local afternoon drive guy was promoting his “interview” with “Will from Deadspin.com” on tomorrow’s (Tuesday’s) show. I was stunned. Nay, shocked that the Leader of the Underground, Will Leitch, had risen from his spider-hole to see the light of day. I e-mailed the dear leader and he confirmed that he was, indeed, scheduled to make an appearance on “The Marconi Show” on KUFO 101.1. So, I decided to suffer through the banal dronings of said Marconi to hear the voice of Mr. Leitch. I just hoped he wasn’t as bad in stereo as Bill Simmons has proven to be.

After relentless promotion of the interview (truly, I couldn’t believe how much it was promoted), the station finally released the Underground’s message about sports. Here are the highlights (all times P.M. Pacific and brackets are my editorial asides):

4:47 – Intro…In response to a question about how he is, Will says he is magical. [I didn't know Will was the little Lucky Charms Leprachaun. Will sounds a bit distracted, maybe he's at a strip club.]
4:48 – Marconi asks Will what he thinks of the Kobe Bryant suspension. Will denies that he's a Kobe apologist and then a horn blares in the background. [WTF! Where is the leader? Obviously above ground. Maybe in a cab?]
4:49—At this point Will begins to lament the passing of the Deadspin SHOTY Barbaro and says the sportsworld is a bit depressed these days. First real joke of the day, "The horse is no better at reading letters today than he was yesterday."
4:50 – Continuing with the equine theme, Will wishes horses were roaming the streets and he could buy beer from horses.
4:52 – In response to a discussion about the prep wrestling team breaking out with herpes, the DJ asks “What is ‘prep’ wrestling?” [WTF…what a total moron.]
4:54—Deadspin correspondent AJ Daulerio is currently on assignment at the Super Bowl in Miami and has been updating loyal readers about his adventures. Will seems to think that AJ needs to step up his game and stop complaining about the hotel. In fact, AJ should be sleeping on the street and not in the hotel because he is, afterall, in Miami.
4:55 – End of interview. Marconi thanks Will for his 'magical' site.

What can we glean from the Underground Leader's message? I think he might have an unhealthy obsession with the equine family. Also, he expects more debauchery from AJ. I think we can all agree that would be a good thing. Finally, Will sounds much better than Bill Simmons' nasally whining.

Bloggie Jamboree

Just a few links to stories on other blogs that I found funny or interesting.

Tom Brady's Poodle Is A Rapist (The Mighty MJD)

Projectile Soccer (With Leather)

Who Knew Bengals Fans Were So "Cool" (Deadspin)

Marcus Vick-like Stomp (The Big Lead)

Michael Vick Pulls A Stoudamire (I Dislike Your Favorite Team)

Re-Evaluating the 2006 NFL Draft (Complete Sports)

Quasi-Sports Related Stuff On The Wide, Wide World of Web

Here's my cheap post of the week YouTube videos and some news stories.

Here in Oregon there was a snowstorm the state was totally unprepared for. The "blizzard" wreaked havoc on the little pissants in Oregon that can't handle three inches of snow. Some great video was born from "Winter Storm 2007" and some disturbing stories resulted as well.

The only way I can relate the video to sports is that it looks like a pinball game and some people (not-me) consider video-gaming a sport.



Then there was a couple of disturbing stories. First, a 36-year-old male stabbed a 17-year-old boy after the boy and some of his friends hit the older male's car with a snowball. Talk about your road-rage. (This is sports related because I can totally see being a great ESPN2 show to go with paintballing.) Second, a 9-year-old girl died of sledding related injuries. Her dad was pulling her on an inner-tube in the snow behind a truck and she went flying into a brick wall. Sad stuff. (Sports related because this is a sport you create as a kid--I know because I did it.)

Finally, skate-boarding dog!!!

A Soccer Fan's Perspective On The Beckham Deal

You probably already know, unless you have been living in a spider-hole waiting for the U.S. military to find you, that David Beckham will be joining the LA Galaxy of Major League Soccer this summer. Gallons of ink and lots of bandwith have been used to analyze, pontificate, degrade and praise the signing. What I haven't seen is an American soccer fan's perspective on the transaction. Lucky for you I happen to be American and a soccer fan. So, you get to read my thoughts. Stop here if you don't want to read it.

The David Beckham to MLS rumor has been around for a year or two now and, to be honest, every time I heard it I just didn't care for one main reason--MLS is not world class soccer. It doesn't hold my attention due to the lesser quality play. I always figured that one big name signing, such as the Beckham deal, by the MLS wouldn't change my opinion. I worried that such actions would lead the league down the path of the NASL and Pele, yada, yada, yada. I still worry about that.

But, after the announcement last week, I found that my interest had been piqued contrary to my prior beliefs. I still have many of the same worries others have like Beckham's declining skill, the price tag, and general circus feel of the whole thing, but I am actually hopeful now. There is a world class player in the MLS fold now and he has the marketing power to attract new interest to the game in the U.S.

This is all positive for the MLS. It will put asses in the seats, sell jerseys and hopefully legitimize the league for future signings of bigger name players to increase the talent level and, ultimately, increase the popularity. The Beckham deal will definitely have me paying closer attention to MLS and hopefully many others will as well because I want soccer to succeed in the U.S. I know I'm not the only soccer fan in the U.S. who had this change of heart. I just hope it works.

Starting the 2012 Campaign Early

Barry Bonds was quoted as saying:

"I congratulate Cal Ripken Jr. and Tony Gwynn for their induction to the Hall of Fame because they were great ballplayers," Bonds said Wednesday in the Dominican Republic. "But I also think McGwire and Pete Rose should be in Cooperstown."

And, the 2012 Barry Bonds HOF campaign begins in earnest. I, frankly, agree with Bonds and believe that Barry belongs in the hall as well. However, Barry will need to have some other people make this argument on his behalf because it is obvious his statement is made out of self-interest.

Probably An Eagles Fan

Some dude killed another dude at an NFL Playoff party.

Detective Jim Strovink said deputies found beer bottles on the lawn and a broken window when they arrived at the Canby home Saturday. Roughly 10 people were there to watch a game, and Strovink said Stutzman had been drinking: "He became very belligerent, very obnoxious and tried to entice people into fights."

Strovink said Stutzman focused on Lucas, who had a heart condition and tried to avoid fighting. Several other people, including the victim's brother, Troy Lucas, tried to intervene.

"Unfortunately, the victim did receive some significant blows," Strovink said.

That last statement might be the understatement of this young year.

And, yes, I do realize that this happened in Oregon and the odds would favor that he is a Seachickens fan. But, a Seattle fan would just whine until the other guy died, whereas an Eagles fan is more likely to bludgeon another human to death and try to entice others to fight.

Did Alando Tucker's Professor Break The Law?

I was just perusing last week's Sports Illustrated Issue and happened to read the article about University of Wisconsin basketball player Alando Tucker. It is a good story and I recommend it if you have the time. However, that is not why I am wasting your time. It was this revelation by one of Alando's professors regarding a paper Tucker wrote:

I was impressed with the amount of thought he had given to this for someone his age, and I don't mind telling you I gave him an A for the paper.

Most of you may not care but it immediately struck me that there are federal privacy laws regarding a person's academic records and this may have violated those laws. According to this site, schools generally cannot release any information from a student's record without written permission. I don't know if this applies to a professor or just the institution. I assume it is both. Any education lawyers out there care to enlighten us?

Ultimately, it probably doesn't matter because Alando probably doesn't care and getting an A isn't something to be ashamed of.

Wow! That Was a Ryan v. Ventura Beatdown

The BCS "National Championship" game is over and Florida delivered a 1st half TKO to the Ohio State University. After Ted Ginn, Jr. took the opening kickoff back for a TD it was all Florida. The Buckeye defense couldn't stop Urban Meyer's spread attack and the vaunted Buckeye offense led by Heisman-winning QB Troy Smith couldn't mount an attack whatsoever. Anyway, we have national champs from Florida in basketball and football now with a possible basketball repeat.

I haven't posted in a while because of work commitments/holiday schtuff but I plan on getting back on the horse soon. I had a good Christmas break and have some new ideas to put out there along with my same old crap. I hope all two of my readers had a happy holiday and I hope to see you around here more often.

2006: The Year of the Head

It's that time of year when everybody does retrospectives of the year and lists of the year's best/worsts. Well, I am about to go a little further and declare that this was the year of the head in the sports world.

The head affected championships, champions and made some spectacular highlights. No other body part had more of an impact on the sports world...not the hands...not the feet...nothing else. So, without further ado, the top three heads affecting the sports world this year.

3. Aaron Rowand, Philadelphia Phillies: This incredible catch and collision by Rowand may not have had as much effect on the team's season, but it was amazing and showed the bravery of Rowand.

2. Ben Roethlisberger, Pittsburgh Steelers: There isn't actually a picture of Roethlisberger's head after it met the car above this summer. However, his head has greatly affected the NFL champion's season. Big Ben ended up having an emergency appendectomy at the outset of the season and played rather poorly throughout the first half of the season. The Steelers have started to recover but the champions may still miss the playoffs. For that, Big Ben's head gets the number two slot.


1. Zinedine Zidane, France Men's National Soccer Team: Zizou's headbutt of Marco Materazzi in the World Cup Final this year affected his sport more than any other head involved incident this year. Zidane was ejected from the game and ultimately his team lost. There was worldwide outrage and curiousity about his actions. He gave interviews and was called upon to apologize. By the way, he only apologized to the children and not to Materazzi. Zidane's actions even led to numerous parodies of the headbutt. Ultimately, Zidane's head most affected the sports world in the year of the head. Congratulations, Zizou!

Bagwell Retires. That's nice. What Took So Long?

I'm a little late on this story but, I guess, so is Jeff Bagwell. Last week, Houston Astros great, Jeff Bagwell, announced his retirement after 15 years in the big leagues. I can't say I've ever been a fan of Bagwell but I'm no hater. He had a great career. Maybe even Hall of Fame worthy. However, I wonder why it took so long for him to announce it.

Bagwell has barely played in the last two years and he didn't even play this year. So, why the wait? Well, it appears the Astros have reached a settlement with its insurance company on a breach of contract claim. The Astros had a policy that would pay Bagwell's 2006 salary--$17 million--if he could not play that season. The settlement terms aren't public but I'm sure Houston got a good chunk of change and now Bagwell is retiring. Coincidence? I think not. But according to Astros officials it was just dumb luck.

It was a total coincidence that this occurred about the same time that Jeff's announcement of his retirement (did)," Fisher said. "We ... got together and resolved it. It's over and done with.

I imagine if Bagwell retired he wouldn't get that $7 million buyout from Houston and the 'Stros probably couldn't get any money from the insurance company. In the end, it always comes down to money, doesn't it?

Reviewing Jemele Hill's Work on ESPN.com

Back in November ESPN.com hired a new writer, Jemele Hill, ostensibly to replace the departed Jason Whitlock, who went out guns blazing and taking aim at the ‘bojanglers’. TheBigLead.com first reported her hiring and $200K/year salary about two weeks after TheBigLead.com had interviewed her. The first offering of Ms. Hill came out in mid-November and it was not very well received by many (here, here and here), myself included.

Being the impulsive sort, I fired off an email to Ms. Hill criticizing here. Here’s the text:

"Give me two things you believe that logical people think are utterly ridiculous.
1. Oliver Stone's movies are based on the truth, the whole truth and nothing but.
2. "Old School" wasn't that funny. "Anchorman" crushed it."

So, was the above statement meant to say that you are an illogical person? It sure sounds like it, which means everything you said prior to that statement and everything after should be considered illogical. Oh well, at least it's not me writing.

The Fan's Attic

Lo and behold, a few weeks later Ms. Hill, to my great surprise, responded:

The Fan’s Attic

Sorry it took so long for me to respond. Thanks for writing.

Just speaking from the heart.

Jemele

I very much appreciate that she took the time to write back, although she didn’t say much. Since she took the time to write back, I thought it would be good to take the time to go back and review her columns and see how she’s doing. Let’s go into the wayback machine and look at her work. Below are her columns on ESPN.com so far.

Just an ol’ Jock Fight - This is her most recent work and it’s about the Knicks-Nuggets fight. She says it was a just a fight between jocks and not a big deal. Ms. Hill also obliquely refers to what may be subconscious racism caused by the use of the word ‘thug.’ I tend to agree with her on these two points and that may color my view of this article, but I think she makes some very good points.

These Guys Are Teflon - This article is about people/athletes she perceives to never have bad stories stick to them. Chief among them for her is David Stern, who she thinks isn’t getting flak for the whole NBA ball fiasco. She calls this skill having “the hook up.” She has a point about Stern but her argument seems to overlook a significant point, namely, that all the other people she names are athletes and their personal travails are not the most important thing to the public—their ability to play a sport is the most important. Second, the people she lists, save Ray Lewis, haven’t done anything too horrific and the public want to like the athletes so they give one or two free passes to them. Given time and enough screw-ups all of these people will use up their political capital, so to speak.

Look at Rosie O’donnell and her bad Chinese joke, she was in hot water because her role is as a talk show host who gives opinions and pontificates on subjects. Shaq, Clemens and others’ who have made borderline racist comments about Asians only have to play a sport. What they say is ancillary to what they do on the field/court/diamond. Interesting concept but a flawed argument.

NFL Selling Smith Short - This story is about how the NFL is under-appreciating Ohio State QB Troy Smith because he has great stats and just wins games. Well, she has a point but Smith did have a lot of other world-class weapons on his team. Put some of these other quarterbacks in the same situation and I wonder how they would do. Also, it’s a bit early to say he is undervalued since I saw one draftboard that had Smith listed as the #2 QB available. Average marks for this one.

Hnida finds peace in telling story – This article is about the first woman to score in Division I-A football, who was at the center of the Colorado recruiting scandal a few years back because she was raped. This was an attempt at providing an update and a new angle on an old story. It was a good effort and poignant because of the tragedy suffered by Hnida. However, and I don’t want to be harsh here, but Ms. Hill injected her own tragic experience into the story, which really has nothing to do with the Hnida story. Yes, it shows she can relate but doesn’t add anything to the story and seems to be emotional pandering.

Not as simple as black or white - Ms. Hill calls out Larry Johnson for his comment that he plays better for a black coach, Herm Edwards, than a white coach, Dick Vermeil, because they have a common experience of being black. I have to say, this was a very good article and it is nice when athletes get called on their BS and hypocrisy.

Groupie Life An Open Book - Ms. Hill argues that pro-athlete groupies are not living up to their end of the bargain when they publish books about the trysts they have with athletes. I am not sure whether this was tongue-in-cheek or serious but my inability to discover the truth makes this an absolutely awful column. I don’t know how a woman can argue that these men should be allowed to use and abuse groupies and at least tacitly support these women essentially prostituting themselves. Utter trash.

A Whistle is a Whistle – Ms. Hill believes that Tom Izzo taking the reins of the Michigan State football program isn’t such a bad idea because great coaches are great leaders, like Izzo, and that will translate to any sport. Interesting argument but I don’t buy since all great coaches have some intuitive knowledge of X’s and O’s for their respective sports as well as being good leaders/managers. She gets good marks for originality even though I disagree.

I’m hearing voices - Ms. Hill’s first article. Lame gimmick introducing herself but I’ll give her a break for her first column even if her jokes fell flat.

Overall, she has improved with her posts and ideas but, I still find her writing lacking in something and I can’t quite put my finger on it. I think it lacks personality and heart despite her attempts to write in an informal, almost conversational, manner (which, by the way, I can’t stand). Her reasoning often has flaws, in my opinion, but she does make good points. I’m willing to give her some more time to develop her voice but not enough to write another post about it.

What do you think?

Euro Club Roundup #10

Wow. It's been a while since I've done this update. Just to recap: I have selected one soccer team from each of the "major" leagues in Europe to follow and support this season in the hope to better know each of the leagues and the teams. My teams are: Liverpool in the EPL, Hertha Berlin in the Bundesliga, AS Roma in Serie A and Valencia in La Liga. Here's a quick status check for each of the teams:

Liverpool: After a horrendous start to the campaign, the Reds have moved into 4th on goal differential in the EPL. However, it is unlikely the squad will be able to catch ManU who leads Liverpool by 16 points. The team has also advanced to the Round of 16 in the Champions League after winning its group.

Roma: The Italian side sits in second in Serie A, seven points adrift of Inter Milan. Roma also managed to advance to the Round of 16 in the Champions League after place second in its group to Valencia...

Valencia: After a torrid beginning to the season, the Ches sit in ninth in La Liga. The squad has been decimated by injuries and hopefully it can recover.

Hertha: The German squad is in fifth in the Bundesliga and has crashed out of the UEFA Cup already. So, here's hoping the team can make a run and qualify for next year's Champions League.

Not Dead!

I'm not dead, yet. I've just been really busy with work and moving into a new house. The home internet isn't set up yet. Hopefully soon and back to my blogging ways.

This NFL Season Isn't As Bad As I Thought It Was

I was all set to write a post about how disappointing the current NFL season has been about two weeks ago, but upon further reflection I realized that there are a few great storylines and just the general disappointment about the lack of consistent and quality team performances. Let’s start with the poor consistency afflicting the NFL.

As I see it, there are only two teams that really have it together—the Chargers and Colts—and all the rest are either hot and cold or just plain bad. Even these two have their faults. The Colts have a sieve for a defense and the Chargers defense has been poor of late and the team only seems to play well after falling in a hole. Every other team has even worse problems.

The Bears and Rex Grossman, after a great start, have shown themselves to be quite inconsistent on offense. New England is winning but it hasn’t been pretty. Same with Baltimore. Last year’s Super Bowl participants have been anything but championship worthy. Seattle is barely leading a division with San Francisco, Arizona and St. Louis in it and Pittsburgh is 4-7. Although the injury bug as hurt both teams, especially Ben Roethlisberger whose run-in with a car windshield and appendectomy seem to have sapped him of his winning ways. Not to mention the maddeningly inconsistent Panthers, Bengals, Cowboys, Jaguars and woeful Giants. And don’t forget the now forgettable Eagles.

After this superficial examination, I found that there are several great stories this season. At the head of the class is Chargers running back LaDanian Tomlinson. This season the new LT is a man among boys collecting TDs like they were Beanie Babies in the late 90s. He has 25 touchdowns with five games to go; he is the third leading rusher in the NFL; and, he has thrown for a couple scores as well. Bar none, LT is the best player in the NFL right now and by the end of his career will be one of the all-time greatests. Unfortunately, LT’s season is overshadowing a pretty good season for Larry Johnson, the leading NFL rusher, who has led a resurgent Chiefs team to playoff contention.

A former Charger is having a great season as well. Drew Brees signed with the Saints after suffering an injury in his final game of last season and San Diego decided to go with Philip Rivers as the QB of the future. Brees is leading the league in passing yards and is leading the Saints towards the playoffs. Moreover, Brees is throwing to 7th Round Rookie-wonder Marques Colston who is having a ROY-type season. This is certainly proof that Brees wasn’t a fluke for San Diego the past two seasons and is great for the New Orleans franchise which hasn’t had much good luck recently. (And don’t look now but Joey Harrington is starting to redeem himself in Miami right now.)

Finally, after several seasons of two, three and four wins, the San Francisco 49ers appear to be turning the corner. The Niners are only 5-6 but this is far greater than anybody expected and the team is theoretically in contention for a wild card spot. This rebirth has been fueled by RB Frank Gore, who had two knee major injuries at Miami and ended up behind Willis McGahee on the depth chart. Gore is the second leading rusher in the league and hopefully, for this Niner fan, will help turn the team into a playoff team.

It just goes to show how great the NFL is that even with a down season overall in quality, the league can still deliver compelling stories.