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Late Blogust Pt 2 “Here we go Falcons?” August 29, 2007

Posted by boydzone in : points, sports , 1 comment so far

I’m not going to spend a lot of time reiterating the reasons why I’m not a fan of Michael Vick. There is already enough negativity surrounding the man.
This doesn’t mean that I think he’s had his fair share of punishment. If he’s truly guilty of the things that he today admitted his guilt to, then I think he should take whatever the judge dishes out to him.
There are all types of people arguing both sides of his case outside of the courtroom. Some folks are furious and disgusted about the idea of dog fighting and the manner in which some of the dogs were supposedly forced to live and executed. Others, perhaps playing devil’s advocate, state that if we’re that upset about the cruelty to these animals, how can we hold a double standard and hunt, and eat/wear animal products? I can see where these people are coming from in a way, but I think the idea is that the normal deer hunter doesn’t go out electricuting a deer to death through its testicles, and the roast beef sandwich that I ate at Kelly’s didn’t come from a cow that was drowned or beaten to death.
At least I hope it wasn’t. Killing is killing. That is true to a degree. I would say 98% of my meals do not contain meat partially for this reason, but I do think there is a line that was crossed in this case. That is, according to what I’ve heard and read about the police report, the same report that Vick agreed he could not win by fighting it in court, thus pleading his guilt.
That being said, today was probably the first time I found myself rooting for Vick and for the Atlanta Falcons. I don’t particularly like what I’ve seen about Vick, but I watched his public apology press conference and I admit I was a little moved. I’m not saying that the guy should be pardoned completely or that he shouldn’t serve his time. What I’m saying is, I hope that I never really want someone’s life to fail and that includes star quarterbacks from teams I don’t like. I think what got me really questioning myself about the subject was a video that I saw on espn.com today where there was some discussion about the reaction of white football fans to the Vick case. It was said that “Take all his money way from him” was the first thing to come out of white spectators mouth’s when the Vick subject (or similar cases) were brought up. It was also said that this reaction stemmed from a barrier of racial jealousy and ignorance, where white fans view black athletes as thugs taking their money.
I thought back to my “Dirty Bird” post and wondered if this is how I came acrossed and if this was what fueled my desire to write that post.
Its part of the game to be a fan and root against the other team. I discussed this in the Barry Bonds Booing post as well. The point isn’t that he’s a rich black athlete. If that was my gripe with Vick, I would have a much bigger problem on my shoulders. Most NFL athletes are rich by my standards. As much as Chad Johnson is annoying to watch, I don’t hate the guy, he just annoys me because he’s good, he knows it, and I have to watch the Steelers play against him. I’m sure he’s pretty rich, but I don’t think he’s a bad dude. He actually seems like a pretty funny guy.
Its not that race doesn’t ever come into play, I could probably relate more to Brady Quinn or Ben Roethlisberger (who are obviously white and seem like middle-class rust-belt bred men) than I could with Michael Vick, who grew up in housing projects in Virginia. I’m sure that these quarterbacks came from different neighborhoods where the racial imbalance in our country is evident. Though I have seen black and white housing projects from trailers parks where I grew up to the ones in the city, I really don’t know what its like to be Vick.
Vick came from a impovershed background. Football took him out of that and into the life of one of the richest athletes in pro-sports. I’m sure it was a lot of pressure.
That doesn’t excuse what he did, but if there ever was a time where he came across as aware of his situation, his burden, his faults, his priviledge and influence, it was today.
He could have had someone script his public apology, but that doesn’t mean that he was going to hit it on the head and be convincing about it. Before this I’d never seen Vick humble. This might be the media’s fault, I don’t know.
He apologized to his teammates, his team’s owners and coaches, and to the commishioner of the NFL.
He also addressed fans of his that are children and was pretty blunt about being irresonsible and having to “grow up”. Hearing him speak to the kids helped me imagine how cool it would be to grow up in Atlanta and have Vick be your team’s quarterback and watch him do all that he’s done, then going out and imitating him in your backyard with your friends… but it also makes it apparent how much messier it gets when it comes time to have a parent explain his actions.
He also addressed his teammates, who unfortunately have to wear the Falcons’ logo, which at this point packs some heavy assocaitions. He stated that he was dishonest and wasn’t forthright with his teammates, and that he was sorry for that. This admition does not excuse or forgive him, but it does give his teammates some of their propers in attempt to take some heat off of them. I still don’t like the guy. I’m not a fan of the guy. In a strange way, he might have made one of his best team plays. With Vick out of the picture the Falcons have a lot to prove. Backup Joey Harrington has to step up and try to be a solid QB. His teammates have to work hard to redeem the Falcons name, even though they weren’t at fault for Vick’s actions. Now the Falcons have even more to prove. They’re not a team of superstars now that their superstar is gone. This makes them an underdog team. With the odds stacked against such a team, this underDOG just might be able to bring the PETA out in every one of us.
(Ps I just saw an article that I haven’t had a chance to read, but with all the negativity in sports these days, it might worth checking out)

Late Blogust PT 1 “Region of Champions”

Posted by boydzone in : points, sports , 1 comment so far

I recently returned back to Pittsburgh from a quick weekend trip to Boston to visit some friends. While breaking my vegetarianism in order to buy a $6 roast beef sandwich at the advice of Rick Sebak at Kelly’s on Revere Beach, I noticed a grandmother wearing a pink “City of Champions” ball cap. In addition to this slogan, the hat also had the Boston Redsox and New England Patriots logos on it. While gnawing on my sandwich, I never doubted if I should have spent the extra $11 to buy the lobster roll, but I did wonder about the validity of this hat’s claim.
One of my favorite articles of clothing is a mustard yellow t shirt that I bought at the Monroville Goodwill in 1999. It features a crude illustration of three logo/sports equipment merged monsters. One is a baseball with a peg leg, one is a football with a hard hat, the other is a hockey puck with a ducks bill and a tossle cap. These three figures are of course supposed to represent the three predominant sports teams in Pittsburgh and are all comfortably situated among the words “Pittsburgh, City of Champions”.
So, which city is the true City of Champions, Pittsburgh or Boston? Is this title something that only one town can claim ownership to, much like the Stanley Cup of the NHL?
In recent years, I suppose the Boston area has had some success in professional sports. The New England Patriots won three Superbowls in the early part of the 2000s and the Boston Red Sox won the World Series in 2004. As impressive as this is, the Patriots actually play in Foxboro, MA and are supposed to represent all of New England. At least Pittsburgh had the smarts to avoid this arguement by annexing the city that their stadiums are now located in.

Organi$ed Crime / NBA, M.D. August 15, 2007

Posted by boydzone in : points, sports , add a comment

Associated Press
NEW YORK (AP) - Former referee Tim Donaghy pleaded guilty to two felony charges Wednesday in an NBA betting scandal that rocked the league and raised questions about the integrity of games.

Tim Donaghy, a long time Beastie Boys fan, strolled into a courthouse this morning and declared to the judge “Kenny Rogers’ Gambler is my gambling theme”. As Mr. Rogers has stated “You have to know when to hold em/know when to fold em/know when to walk away/know when to run”. Donaghy seems to have taken the safest route possible, not just for himself, but for the NBA and for whomever else he was involved with in his gambling. He’s opted to fold em and walk away, potentially sparing the NBA millions of dollars and millions of fans, and possibly saving Donaghy his life.

As far as organized crime goes, there seems to be an age old debate over where crime and business begin and end.
Sure, there are laws in place that are there to set the boundaries of our behavior, but we’ve all also been witness to these laws being bent and penalties softened depending on who the law breakers are [please google- War, the history of Microsoft, baseball rules (base running) for more info] .

NBA franchise owners pay hundreds of millions of dollars to own their teams. According to Forbes Magazine online, Daniel Gilbert paid $375 in 2005 to purchase the Cleveland Cavaliers and teams bring in roughly 1/3rd of this a year in revenue. Multiply that by 30 teams and it doesn’t take long to see how much money is at stake here.
If the legitimacy of the sport was questioned in a wide-spread fashion, it would be a extremely costly problem, more so than you or I could probably imagine. On top of that, if you add that to the number of dollars that were won by Donaghy’s gambling partners, which is most likely not as much as is earned by the NBA each year, but still considerable, and you have quite a monstrous sum of money.
I’m sure this monster would gladly chow down 25 years of one mans life (Donaghy’s max sentence) in order to sustain itself.

Now, I really have no idea how organize crime works, but I have seen some cinematic portrayals.
In these movies, its most frequently based on Sicilian Mafia, and there often is a legitimate business/front for the operation (team/league), that generates taxable income. Next, there is either an attempt to monopolize their field of interest (NBA vs CBA?) or a side business that brings income in under the radar (gambling). There also is a Don (commissioner) who kind of calls the shots, and reaps the most benefits, but also at the council of his underbosses (franchise owners) who also benefit.

Gambling is illegal in most states, and fixing games is considered fraud. So, if Donaghy is guilty of participating in game fixing or gambling that might influence his implied neutral judgment of a game, then the best thing that the NBA can do is to convince the public and the government that a “rogue, isolated criminal” (Commissioner Stern’s words) was at work in this scandal. I’m sure that they have the power to convince Donaghy that it is his responsibility/safest option to take the blame as the business men involved in owning these teams are there to make money. They wouldn’t get involved and wouldn’t spend the money to own these teams if there was any other reason at play. I’m sure they’re also fans of the game, but that does not necessarily mean that they’re fans of, friends with, or the least bit concerned over the fate of one ref, especially if it takes their investment out of jeopardy.
In this case, the least suspicious way of eliminated the accused ref from the public eye would be for him to disappear. Since there is federal attention to this case, the most legally satisfying way would be for him to be locked up for a couple decades.

According to the Associated Press article on the subject, Donaghy “is taking an antidepressant and anxiety medication” , which I can imagine is better tasting than the medicine Dr. Mafia, or Daniel Stern, M.D. would prescribe if he were to take more than a couple other goons down with him. Considering the sway that big time money has on our government and society (see my “Say it Ain’t so Vino” post / second to last paragraph), I would not doubt that they NBA made their case very convincingly to Donaghy. Probably convincingly enough that he felt like he was less likely to wake up next to a severed horse’s head (or worse) in jail.

Boydo’s Sports Bazaar / Yard Sale August 9, 2007

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I recently made a trip to my father’s house during which he asked me to go through some bins that he had kept which were full of relics from my childhood. He’s planning on selling his house, so he wanted me to salvage anything that I wanted to hold on to. Some of the items weren’t of much interest to me. Some others I wanted to keep, and a few I grabbed just to save from getting thrown into the trash. When I got back home to Pittsburgh I had one of those ‘I have too much stuff’ revelations and so I’ve decided to make a list of all of my sports memorabilia items that I want to put up for sale. I have owned some of these things since I was a kid, some I’ve picked up along the way thinking someone would appreciate them.
I’ve been thinking for a while that it would be fun to open a sporting goods store. Here’s the closest thing that I could come up with for now.
Send me an email or leave a comment if you’re interested in anything. Here goes:

MLB Starting Lineup action figures $1 each-
Kirk Gibson (Dodgers) sliding into base
Vince Coleman (Cardinals) sliding into base
Daryl Strawberry (Mets) at bat
Dwight Gooden (Mets) pitching
Carlton Fisk (White Sox, old uniforms) at bat

MLB Starting Lineup action figures $2 each-
Jose Canseco sliding into base while Alan Trammel tries to tag him out

MLB Bobbleheads $5 each-
Adam LaRoche - (Pirates- Red Alternate Jersey) finishing swing w/bat.
Jack Wilson - (Pirates Grey Away Jersey) at bat
[I believe I still have the boxes for these as well]

NHL
Pittsburgh Penguins late 80s black and gold jersey with nice embroidered Pens patch on the front. Size L $10

NFL
Joseph Addai (Colts) Home. Men’s small, sewn stripes on sleeves, silk - screened numbers. Brand new/Never worn -$30

Hines Ward (Steelers) Home. Youth XL (nearly Men’s small) sewn name and numbers, silk screen stripes on sleeves. Barely worn -$20

Nike Air Force - all black, size 10. I wore them 3 times, maybe. They just didn’t fit me right. -$15 pic pic

Misc-
U of Michigan Sweatshirt, Men’s Large. Grey Russell hoodie with “Michigan” in blue. $4

For the Love of the Game August 8, 2007

Posted by boydzone in : points, sports , 1 comment so far

How much abuse would you endure for $500,000?
As New York Mets apparel-clad Matt Murphy arose from a pile of scampering ‘fans’ to be the sole possessor of Barry Bond’s home run record-breaking ball, I wonder if he’s getting less than he bargained for.
A recent article posted on MSN’s Money Central claims that this much anticipated home run ball is most likely worth a lot less than expected. In fact, it would have paid off much more to be ball hunting back in the early days of the recent home-run era, as Mark McGwire’s 70th fetched a much nicer $3 million in its day.
$500,000 is a lot of money for a chance encounter with a flying object. Though, perhaps the New York Mets organization, in an attempt to get some ad time, planted Murphy at the ballpark after consulting a statistician to figure out the probability of the home-run ball landing in each of the outfield stands. They also might have had to train him in hand-to-hand combat to defend his prize from any others scrambling for it.
So, at $500,000 and after his ticket price (lets say $50), his hospital bills, auction fees, a beer and a hot dog, Murphy will be lucky to walk away with maybe $100,000, though my math has never been that good.
While the sum is pretty hefty, I know the feeling of being let down after attaining what is rumored to be a collectors item, only to face the reality of low demand; I have a Mark McGwire Olympic Rookie Card from 1985. Since I wasn’t anywhere near his 70th homerun ball, I remember toting this card to some local memorabilia merchants to see what I could get for it. By the looks on most of their faces you would have thought it was a #1 issue of Mcfarlane’s Spider-Man comic (which my hopes were also let down over).

I’m no Bonds fan, but I have turned the television on a few times hoping to see the record-breaker being hit. It was hard not to notice how many fans booed when he got up to bat. Though I have forgotten what its like to be surrounded by people genuinely excited about baseball (because I live in Pittsburgh) I find it hard to believe that a good amount of these people really cared whether he doped, or broke the home-run record or not. I’m not saying that these people don’t have ideals, but I do believe that a majority of the time, a majority of sporting-event goers are just looking for an excuse to get out on the town and have some fun with their friends. Booing is part of the game, and I wouldn’t doubt that a good amount of these booers are just booing to be a part of something, much like doing ‘the wave’ when it comes their way. “Hey, Bonds is up to bat. Let’s do “the Boo”, that kind of thing.
Despite the boos that are shouted Barry Bonds’ way, I’m sure the majority of those hecklers would gladly get trampled for half a million dollars.
And Bonds gets paid $20,000,000 to go through that abuse. Maybe if these fans are looking to bank on baseballs, should think about getting in touch with Balco and picking up a baseball bat. At least that way, they won’t have to get their teeth knocked out and their clothes torn.