Some individual athlete talk...

First thing is first:
PGA Tour Player of the Year, Tiger Woods vs. Padraig Harrington:
Is it really that close of a discussion? I'm very... satire when it comes to Tiger Woods. Possibly because he is my favorite athlete in all of the world. And by far the most impressive (Okay, I can't say by far anymore because of Mr. Phelps). However, lets break down the stats (statistical help provided by PGATOUR.com).

Padraig: 12 events played, 11 cuts made, 2 victories (The Open Championship, PGA Championship). He has a 70.64 scoring average and is 4th in the FedEx Cup standings. Half of the major championships aren't too bad. However, he has no runner up performances. Padraig has definitely taken a stand in the absence of Tiger... not saying that Tiger was a lock to win these tournaments, though. But I mean, come on, Paddy had to take charge of who to win the PGA? Sergio. 'Nuff said.

Tiger: 6 events played, 6 cuts made, 4 victories (U. S. Open Championship, Arnold Palmer Invitational, WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship, Buick Invitational). In the 6 events he's been healthy enough to play, he's not come in any worse than 5th. He hasn't played since the beiginning of June and is still in first in the FedEx Cup standings, with a scoring average of 68.90. Almost 2 full strokes lower than Paddy's. I know what you're saying, "He hasn't played enough this season.." Because he's been hurt, right? So if he was healthy all year, he would've played... 10 events? The Open Championship, the PGA, TPC, and the Memorial. And, not taking away from Padraig's amazing achievement of winning 2 majors in one year... but what Tiger did at the U. S. Open was absolutely amazing. One of the greatest sport-injury moments ever. Think Kurt Gibson and Willis Reed.

Padraig has had an amazing year, and if he carries this into next season, then maybe he will lock up the POY next year. However, I think the choice is pretty simple. Not only is Tiger the good sentimental selection, he is the right smart selection.

Olympic news:
Phelps going for gold medal 6 tonight. Dude is absolutely amazing. He's usually in the water, done with the race, dried off, sitting on the side of the pool with his feet dangling in the water, shining his medal and chomping a Powerbar before his opponents finish. Possibly the greatest Olympian of all time, and if he actually runs the table and wins all 8 of these medals, I will take the possibly away from that statement. He will be the greatest athelte of all time.

American James Blake upsets Swiss (and world number 1) Roger Federer (from USA Today-Sports). So, after being on top of the world since the beginning of 2004, R. Fed cannot buy a big win. Just when it looked as if Federer and soon-to-be new world number 1 Rafael Nadal, Federer falls on his face. Which, might be all the better because if he would've lost to Nadal, again, it may have just ended his career.

But, James Blake is not exactly the most proven. So, now what? Is Federer done? Just like that? I'm not so sure that he is, but it sure is beginning to appear that way. If it is so (and after a run like this, it always feels wierd) then I say, a job well done. Drift off into the sunset as one of the best tennis players to have ever played the game and take your seat next to Borg, McEnroe, and Connors.

That's all I've got to drone about today. Besides, I think my coworkers are tired of hearing me burn up this keyboard. I get into it. Until next time...

Spanish national basketball team, "offensive"?

No, not the good type of offensive. God knows that is all Pau Gasol is anyway, the dude is softer than a baby blanket. However, a picture has been running in a newspaper in Spain with the Spanish national basketball team making a gesture toward their eyes, an attempt to make them more "chinese," some may say "chinky?" Whatever the racial slur, they did it.

Fox Sports reports Gasol, forward for the NBA's Los Angeles Lakers, says the picture was meant to be a joke and was not meant to offend anyone. Yeah, just like you wouldn't be offended if everytime the Chinese referred to you they said something like "Eurotrash" or the such. How completely insensitive can you be? I try not to get my news from the Fox network... I actually avoid it like the plauge, but I couldn't pass this up.

Gasol said that it was supposed to be a joke, something funny. Well, don't get me wrong, this picture would have got a few chuckles from your buddies sitting in a pub, however when this picture represents... not just an organization, but an entire country... it gets a little deeper than being funny.

It gets more ridiculous. Fox reports team point guard Jose Calderon wrote on his blog, "We felt it was something appropriate, and that it would be interpreted as an affectionate gesture." Are you kidding me? That gesture toward Asian's is just as "affectionate" as someone calling you a Mexican just because you speak Spanish.

Earth to Spaniards, there is nothing affectionate about racial slurs. This may come off as crazy, but most find racial slurs... offensive. I understand that Spain isn't the most racist country in the world, and that is great, but that is no excuse for ignorance.

I find it surprising that only 35% of people on Fox Sports thought that the gesture was offensive... I'm guessing the billion-some chinese didn't vote. I think that also says something about the Fox News audience...

But that's another rant for another day.

(8/14/08) UPDATE: USA and Spain is next, a game that could quite possibly be a preview of the gold medal game. Good deal, if there is a team in this tournament that knows about racism first hand, its the Americans. The Greeks weren't that good anyway. We are Sparta....

(off topic) Tiger Woods

With the delayed end of the WGC-CA Championship at Doral, Tiger Woods ends his streak of five straight PGA Tour wins and seven world wide golf events. Woods absolutely tanked, finishing a season worst fifth.

So, Tiger's lost it. We can stop talking about Tiger being the best golfer ever. He finished the weekend with an embarrassing 5-under par round in a rain delayed final round. What's the problem? He only made a dismal $258,000 in four days.

He's not Nicklaus. He's not even Woods anymore. A loss? Unforgivable.

Sure, he is still the number one golfer in the world. Okay, he's held that rank for 488 weeks and he is over 12 points ahead of the World Number Two. So what? There wasn't even an official ranking when Nicklaus, Palmer, and Hogan were playing.

Woods only has 64 career PGA Tour wins, which is only good for a tie for third all time. He did it five years faster than the Golden Bear, but what are the odds that "The Cat" will be winning majors well into his forties?

Even considering he has over 30 more wins than the next active player on Tour, with this weekends loss, how could it possibly be a race for second anymore?

The Masters is fast approaching and this loss for Tiger couldn't have come at a better time for the rest of the field. Anyone that has watched the Tour over the last decade knows that Tiger can't regroup after a big loss. He doesn't stand up well to criticism.

Let's face it world, his intensity is shot.

So there is good news for Phil Mickelson. Phil himself, again, is probably the only one that can beat him in the majors this year.

some kind of year in review

I, along with seemingly every other American, love football. And, why not? The field has been great this season.

Are the Patriots the greatest team to ever play?
Will the banged up Colts survive?
The "Duel in Dallas," "Superbowl XLI 1/2," and most recently, "NFC Champion, part I."
And two words; Adrian Peterson.
The "Fountain of Youth" Brett Favre has his Green Bay Packers on one of the greatest turnarounds... ever.

There are sub-plots among sub-plots and it has made the season one for the ages. And, if it keeps shaping up like it has, one for the record books.

You've heard of "Tom & Jerry"? Well, how about Tom & Randy? And in this case, yes Jerry (as in Rice) is going to be mighty jealous. Randy Moss is on pace to break (if not shatter) Jerry Rice's single season receiving touchdown record. Tom's not bad himself, as Tom Brady is looking to break Peyton Manning's single season passing touchdown record.

Records are meant to be broken. Did I mention the Patriots are 11-0? Without a what would seem to be a suiting opponent to stop them from being the second team ever to go undefeated.

The season has been great. And, all that said, there is still a lot of work to do.

Last weekend, Washington Redskins defensive back Sean Taylor was gunned down in his home, dying after hours of surgery and what looked to be signs of recovery.
As an issue in every sport, the steriods abuse.
Spygate.
Michael Vick.
Adam "Pacman" Jones.

Among others. And the depressing fact of it all, this will all overshadow the good.

Today, 2 of the men in the Michael Vick case were sentenced to 18 and 21 months. Both harsher than expected, considering their plea deals. So what does this mean for the suspended Falcons quarterback who's already serving his time, waiting on this December sentencing date? Only time will tell...

I've touched some of the "older" issues all season long, but the Sean Taylor story is still rather fresh with a lot of pending investigation. I will not make a lot of comment on this, because I think that it's touchy. Most know the questionable and troubled past of Sean Taylor, but I think that point is void. His friends, family, and teammates have said he was a changed man and I'll take it. The sad fact is for that reason, someone broke into this 24 year old man's home and shot him.

It's a sad time.

I will try to post Taylor's offical obit when I can find it.

Coach Carter Movie Review

Movie Review
Coach Carter
2005
Director: Thomas Carter
Cast: Samuel L. Jackson (Coach Carter), Rob Brown (Kenyon), Ashanti (Kyra), Channing Tatum (Jason)
Movie Review by Derek Grimes

When it happened in 1999, I’m sure Coach Ken Carter had no idea that one day he would be featured in a movie. Back then, he was just looking out for his students and his athletes. Ken Carter returned to his alma mater to take over a sorry basketball program that lacked discipline, fundamentals, and class. The team had only won four games the year before, and Carter showed his toughness and his determination by letting some of the leading scorers leave if they were not willing to follow his instructions.

And when his basketball team failed to get the job done in the classroom, he locked them out of the gymnasium. And for a period of time, he cancelled practice. He cancelled the games. He made his student-athletes sit in the library and study and work to get their grades up before they would return to the court.

This was unheard of for anywhere in American, not to mention a mostly minority inner-city school. The story was amazing and the public was in uproar.

Five years later, Ken Carter’s semi-heroic and honorable methods were featured in a movie. Thomas Carter, no relation to the real coach, along with MTV Productions decided to make a movie entitled Coach Carter as a Hollywood done piece of the story of Ken Carter’s efforts with the Richmond High School basketball team. The question of who to play Coach Ken Carter was answered by none other than Samuel L. Jackson.

Jackson is strong in the film, selling his hard and tough speeches with conviction. His passion looks unparalleled. His presence and voice take this movie to the next level of sports movies.

As the team, few players stick out at individuals. They are vivid enough to show the diversity of the team. Channing Tatum plays the white boy on the team. Robert Ri’chard plays the freshman coach’s son, who’s only way to get a spot on the team is to drop out of his high class private school and pledge to work twice as hard as everyone else. Rick Gonzalez is the gun-toting youth, involved in drugs and mixed up in a vast assortment of different troubles.

However, one character that does stand out is played by Rob Brown. He and his girlfriend, played by R&B star Ashanti, have to deal with the decisions of a high school pregnancy. Brown has to figure out either to give up his dreams and stay with his girlfriend to raise the baby, or to go to college and play basketball and eventually get an education and a degree in order to provide for his family. The issue is controversial from every angle, as Ashanti’s character has to flip flop between the decision of having the baby or not having the baby. This subplot is dealt with differently, with little emphasis being put on the outcome. However, with the strong acting by both involved, audience feels into their struggle even without the intense focus.

This is a sports film that takes a different action on how to be portrayed. A lot of clichéd sports movies of modern times focus less on the game and more on the school story. The drama on the athletes lives. This movie focuses almost squarely on the issue of the student athlete and how that term is getting misused. Instead of focusing on the drama of an athlete’s life, Coach Carter puts the drama on how the game is coached and it puts the drama in the student’s life. It is nice to see that someone is finally documenting in an entertainment film what the students go to school for.

Ken Carter was one of a kind when he knew it in 1999. Hopefully this film opened more eyes.

a few updates

As reported by ESPN yesterday, an arbitrator ruled that Michael Vick will have to pay back about 20 million dollars to the Atlanta Falcons organization. This is bonus money that the team paid to Vick and feel they are owed back due to Vick violating his contract with the team. The Falcons believe that they are owed because Vick knew he was in violation of the contract when he signed the 10 year deal in 2004.

The breakdown of what Vick owes back is http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/wire?section=nfl&id=3056591

Also, the current leading rusher of the NFL, Travis Henry, is to be suspended for a year for violating the leagues substance abuse policy.

I guess with the apparent return of former Dolphins RB and Heisman Trophy winner Ricky Williams, so is marijuana.

Michael Vick tests positive for marijuana

From the "oh wow you have to be freakin' kidding me" department, a urine sample submitted by Michael Vick during pretrial services last month has come back positive for marijuana. All of the sudden, the guy that many thought was wrongly labeled a scapegoat in this felony case, Michael Vick is getting hard to root for. If there was one person that was trying to pull behind this guy (and there was many more than one) and try to make people believe that Vick was a decent person with deep rooted mistakes it was me. Now, I'm wondering just how long has Vick been pulling the wool over the public's eyes?

It is like Jim Rome said on his daily ESPN television show, Jim Rome is Burning, "This man should not be jaywalking, let alone burning the hippie lettuce."

And why is Vick NOT in jail now. Due to this positive drug test, Vick is now on home confinement that is regulated by electronic devices? Is it because he is "more than likely" selling out other dog fighters to the feds? Whatever the reason, if you didn't feel like it before, you definitely should now. Vick should be locked up. Let's face it, I would be.

So everyone that is clutching on to your 7s, sitting and waiting for Michael Vick's triumphant return to football... fold it up and put it away. Far away, so you won't have to think of this guy anymore. Find another hero, Atlanta, because Vick is done. He will spend at very least 1 year in jail on federal charges, and now he is facing charges from the state of Virgina that could tack on more prison time. Now, what does he have to present to Mr. Goodell? Not good behavior, a drug charge.

I was ready to welcome Michael Vick back in a Raiders' jersey in a few years, doesn't look like that will happen now. Goodbye Michael Vick, and good luck because you need it.