NBA And NHL Playoffs Vie For Public Disinterest

I heard a very disturbing stat today. The rain delay for the Indy 500 drew more fans to TV than the Cavs/Pistons Conference final. Let me say that again……raindrops, shots of pit crews and replays of the already finished laps had more viewers. What’s wrong with this picture you say? It was a freaking rain delay that’s what. I don’t even sit through one of my favorite baseball team’s games during a rain delay. So that’s what has become of the NBA playoffs on television this season. Thank your friendly Commissioner and player’s union management for bouncing Amare Stoudemire and Boris Diaw from the Suns/Spurs series for part of it. The other part you can yell at them about was their failure to re-scramble the draw for the playoffs so that we’d be watching that series as the REAL Conference final. Would the Eastern finals be any different? No, but I can at least make believe there is a star to watch and a rivalry in the making with LeBron vs. Rasheed. Notice I said “make believe”. It’s a stretch for me to care but I do based on LeBron’s bad press for not taking the shot at the end of game 2 and the potential spectacle of him falling apart again. He didn’t and the Cavs won game 3. Whew…another reason to tune into Game 4 right?

But even worse than that is the plight of the NHL championships: the Stanley Cup finals between Ottawa and Anaheim. Quick, can you tell me where Ottawa is? Thanks for trying anyway but frankly, the only reason to watch this series is if you are a died-in-the-wool hockey fan (shout out to the DC Sports Chick) or if you have a blood relative on either of the teams. I heard from a sports pal of mine who lives within 15 minutes of Anaheim and is an occasional fan both in person and on TV and he couldn’t get the game on his cable provider. Is there a worse Commissioner in any major sport in the US? Oh yeah, there is and as long as he sits in his office rather than make plans to celebrate Barry Bonds there will ALWAYS be a worse Commissioner than Gary Bettman.

Does anyone really think Michael Vick didn’t know about the dog fighting? At this point, with the informant getting on TV to talk about Vick betting heavily on the spectacle prior to his time in the NFL it seems only to be a matter of time before someone credible comes forward to make an accusation. There is a prosecutor afraid to act without more, a Commissioner of the NFL afraid to act without more and a Congressman in California ready to set up hearings on steroid use in football to get someone to bloody act. Do you see this becoming a social/racial argument? I smell some of that after the statements made on ESPN that dog fighting was legitimate during slavery days and therefore it is part of a culture. What culture would that be, huh? To be continued.

Joe Pattern goes old school. Lost in the hullabaloo about Vick, Kobe, Clemens and Barry was Joe Pa going old school on his whole team. He’s pulled that old trick out of the wood work that says that you are responsible as a team for your teammates. If one guy on the team goes off the deep end and gets in trouble that’s one thing but up to 15 guys, 14 of which were urged to please come and fight, got into trouble with the law. 6 were arrested and one charged with assault when a Penn State player and his girlfriend were out and insulted by a passer by. The player started a chain of phone and text messages to come and get in on the action. What’s the punishment from Joe: the team cleans the 100,000+ person stadium after home football games this season. Unlike the NFL and Mike Vick’s prosecutor, Joe Pa is the law for his team. What are they gonna do: appeal to the university president? Joe is old enough to be his/her Dad and Joe isn’t going anywhere.

Want more? Read my Daily Dose of Duffy column at www.incidentalcontact.com and listen to me on the Sports Journey radio show on Wednesday and Friday.

© 2007 Incidental Contact, LLC

What’s Happening In Sports?

What’s happening in baseball?

The Red Sox are for real. As much as it pains me to say it, and you know as a Yankees fan it really hurts, that team is stacked top to bottom with hitters, many with power, base stealers and pitching, pitching and more pitching. So what if Beckett is on the DL with blisters for a couple of weeks. They drag out someone else and he makes it happen. If not, then the set up guy that came out of nowhere, shuts down the opponent only to give way to Papelbon. Jeez, it’s just not fair. The set up guy, Okajima, is the Sox best Japanese pitcher. Better than Dice K. After appearing in 19 games he hasn’t reached even a .50 ERA. It’s scary good.

No good deed goes unpunished. Earlier in the week, Jason Giambi, in what was hailed by the sports press as a breath of fresh air, came the closest he ever has to admitting he took performance enhancing substances. He used a noun, “stuff”, in place of words like HGH, steroids, The Cream or The Clear. He said he was wrong and so were others in the game who knew about players’ use. In what has to be a first, he gave a damn about the fans and said that the sport should come clean, in the only way it can: admit it and move on. Well, guess what? The others in baseball he asked to add their voices to his admission have gotten pissed off. Giambi, 2+ seasons into his rehabilitation with the Yankees after the leaking of the grand jury testimony in which he made admissions in supposed secret, is now being investigated by the game. It didn’t happen after his tearful, non-apology apology prior to the 2005 season, immediately after the leaked info. It’s happening now. I think it is despicable that even his own GM, Brian Cashman is taking exception to his accusations that others are in the know and culpable. As I write this the news crossed the wire that the Yankees are looking into voiding his contract. Think it has something to do with the team’s poor start as well as Giambi’s? Hey, what a great way to deflect from the lousy performance of their superstars on the field and the rash of injuries that just keeps happening; keeps the press off Torre and A Rod for a couple of minutes. And then you wonder why folks just don’t tell the truth?

 

What’s happening in football?

Blackmail anyone? A Congressman from CA has written to Roger Goodell, threatening, in only the way a public official can, to keep investigating the use of steroids in sports, particularly the NFL, if Goodell doesn’t punish Mike Vick, if evidence being gathered now shows that Vick Ok’d and/or paid for, the dog fighting activity that took place at his Virginia home. How’s that for trying to put the Commish on the hot seat? Personally, I think Vick should be run out of Atlanta if he was behind it all. Not only is it a felony in 48 out of 50 states but like other reprehensible crimes that involve the helpless, like children or the homeless, it makes your skin crawl. The case is starting to take shape with another Yahoo investigation and maybe, unlike the famous water bottle at the airport, Vick will have to answer in public for what happened in his house. If he had no knowledge of it and was taken advantage of I’m sure that will be made public. I hope that is the case.

Brett Favre mini-series is repeated. Here we are again at the time of year, every freaking year for a while now, that Brett Favre has a hissy fit and then uses passive/aggressive behavior to cover up what’s truly in his heart; all for the good of the team. Yeah, right. This year’s drama did not involve his consideration of retiring. This year it was about him not getting Randy Moss on the Packers and his reported request for a trade as a result of it all. He even threatened not to show up at this weekend’s mini camp. Now, granted, Green Bay’s draft was piss-poor. But hey, these are the guys that Favre said in training camp last year were the best bunch of players he had ever had on the Packers. Does anyone care anymore? Not me.

 

What’s happening in basketball?

The Suns lose by a nose. Did anyone really think they could win after the suspensions of Stoudemire and Diaw for game 5? Yeah, I did and they came up one basket short. The guys were gassed who had to fill in and then Game 6 was just inevitable. The Spurs did quite a lot of damage to Phoenix and not just to Nash’s nose, Stoudemire’s knees and other body parts I choose not to name here. With what they decided they had to do to win that series, they better make mince meat out of the Jazz who got the enviable match up with the wild and wooly Warriors. Utah will have to play defense and be physical against a team that doesn’t hoist up 30-40 three pointers a game. Anyone rooting for the Spurs out there? I didn’t think so. Think the Detroit-Cleveland series with LeBron vs. C Webb and Rasheed will be any better. Was that a big yawn I heard?

Want more? Read my Daily Dose of Duffy column at www.incidentalcontact.com and listen to me on the Sports Journey radio show on Wednesday and Friday.

© 2007 Incidental Contact, LLC

To Hell, and Back

The Year was 2004. The University of Colorado Football team was in the midst of its downward spiral of recruiting violations and rape allegations. Underage recruits were being taken out to strip clubs and binge drinking. The University knew of these accounts and turned a blind eye. Even worse, so did the press. Things were bound to fall apart, and they did…more so for some than others.

On the night of January 28, a red shirt walk on quarterback on by the name of Colt Brennan made inarguably the biggest mistake of his life, whether he remembers it or not. Brennan pleaded guilty of burglary and trespassing after stumbling into a fellow female student’s room and refused to leave. Now, one might think this not to be such a great deal in the media if you were anywhere else in the country. But after the Buffaloes recruiting scandal and Kobe Bryant’s rape case already stirring, Colorado already had the coals hot and ready. All Brennan had to do was light the fire. And that he did. He was immediately dismissed from the team, only to enroll in Saddleback Community College, near his hometown of Laguna Beach, California — but not before being sentenced to seven days in jail and four years probation.

After leading SCC to a conference championship and All-State offensive player of the year honors in 2004, Colt was now back on the market. He received scholarships from multiple D-1A schools, but chose the University of Hawaii for obvious reasons…but as a walk on. Coach June Jones wanted Brennan to prove himself and make sure it was a fit for all parties before offering a scholarship. “If you’re not smart enough to know that you’ll be maybe the first quarterback in the draft if you walk on here, then you’re not the guy I thought you were” said Jones.

Well, who can argue with the guy now?

After two prolific seasons in the middle of the sea, Brennan has already put his stamp on college football history. If there are any single season passing records that the kid hasn’t broken, well, kiss them goodbye this upcoming season. After posting 58 touchdown passes, 384 points and 186.0 passing efficiency rating, you know what the kid says: “I chose not to enter the NFL draft because I feel like I am not ready yet.”

Maybe it is the Pacific wind 3,000 miles out from the mainland that propels winners like Brennan and Tim Chang from the Rainbow Warrior shores. Maybe it’s NFL coach Jones who has the antics of a genius by mustering up the courage to take a chance on a young man who was down and out. Or maybe, just maybe, the tide is about to change for kid who played behind Matt Leinart at Mater Dei high school. “Those days are long gone,” Brennan says. “Any time I can help out or make a difference, I’m going to put myself out there to do it.” And make a difference he has.

On any given Sunday you can find Brennan at Hale Ho’omalu, the main juvenile detention center in Honolulu, talking to other kids in need of guidance. “There talking to a convicted felon who also is a kid that’s kinds of idolized around the island right now. I’ve got these kids thinking, wow, I can make my life a lot better.” A lot better.

Those words can be described about a life that was swirling into nothingness, but now cannot be ignored. The Heisman hopeful comes into this season knowing that even if he puts up halfway decent numbers that he has a multi-million dollar contract awaiting him next April at the 2008 NFL draft. So what does he do? He goes on record and criticizes the Universities facilities. Says he can’t even lather up in the shower because there is no soap. Go Colt! He wants to see a change, the school better off then what he left. “It’s part of why I came back. I’m not just talking about football he says. I want to see the entire sports program become better.”

These are the words of a man who was embarrassed and wanted to get away, a man who wanted to be someone new. Who at one point was harshly criticized by almost 300 million people on the mainland, paid his sentence, and is now adored by the one million on Honolulu, Hawaii. Next April, Colt Brennan comes back to the states. Maybe it’s San Francisco, Buffalo, or Green Bay who will take him in the Draft. Regardless who does, he comes back to the states a new man, just like he wished. A chance for redemption. A chance to be the person he always wanted to be.

Rocket Wants To Pitch For NY

As a former season seat holder at Yankee Stadium there was nothing better than a beautiful day at the park on a Sunday. Today I wish I could have been there when the presumed savior himself, one Roger Clemens, took the microphone during the 7th inning stretch, not to sing mind you, but to offer hope to all in attendance that he’s back and better than the cavalry. Well that remains to be seen. I’d love to know if anyone has seen Roger pitch in practice other than his agent. Has GM Brian Cashman been secretly flying to TX or has the Rocket been meeting him at a Dick Cheney undisclosed location? For $4.5 M per month he better be the second coming of….well, of himself. But with the way the Yankees’ luck has gone this year, Roger might pull up lame or lose his mojo. I say this with all due respect, as they say, and hope to all that is holy that his return will make a difference to the Yankees team and pitching staff. They are only one game under .500 as of this writing and it’s odd to say that in the first week of May. But then again, with the equivalent of Larry, Moe and Curly pitching for them in the last month the fact that they’ve gotten to that level is due to their hitting and a couple of good games from Andy Pettite, one good turn from Mussina and a Carl Pavano outing that made it look like redemption was his prior to him going back into the bunker he came out of for all of 3 weeks. Thank God Chien-Ming Wang has gotten back in the groove. But what is so cheesy and nasty is the reaction of the BoSox. They claim they don’t need him. You know what? This might be the turning of the luck toward the Yanks and away from the Sox. Watch as pitching injuries and woes befall the Red Sox in the shade of the Green Monster and this day marks the upturn for the Yankees. Hope can do that for you. Hey Roger: thanks for loving our money more than anyone else’s.

Tiger turns to hot pink: Only a manly man can carry off that color and not be called sweet. Since others have used red for their shirt color and his Sunday red isn’t unique anymore I guess he’s taking the fashion risk. I say bravo. Can’t imagine that Elin didn’t have something to do with it and Nike now has a fuschia/hot pink golf shirt for men. Gotta tell ya’, there won’t be many men that I’ll look twice at who wear it unless they’ve got the swagger and game. Today’s win for Tiger at the Wachovia was sweet since Vijay and Lefty were left in the dust again on the weekend. With Phil using Tiger’s old swing coach, let’s see if the US Open ends in the same fashion this year.

The Boodless Coup: See the Mayweather/De La Hoya fight? Other than a little pink around the nose and cheeks on Oscar, there was no sign a big time fight had taken place other than the camera shots of the front rows and the celebs. The fact that one judge actually thought that Oscar won just goes to show you that there will be a rematch. Other than for money there shouldn’t be any reason for the Golden Boy to take that ego busting a second time. You don’t really think it will be different as he gets even older and obviously tentative in approaching the flying Mayweather? At least for me it was a trip down memory lane for friends who gathered in my home and remembered when we used to pay money to go to bars and see Leonard, Hearns, Hagler and Tyson prior to him becoming the animal-like creature he turned into.

Anyone seen Dirk recently? What a debacle for Dallas. After their season and those winning streaks they went out to the equivalent of the flying Walendas who worked the high wire without a net. Without regard to conventional basketball systems or even substitution patterns, Don Nelson and his band of merry men in the #8 seed slot took it to Mark Cuban’s supposedly unbeatable team. Casual and non-fans alike came up to me and told me how much they enjoyed watching Baron Davis and Jason Richardson. You’ve got to admit, it was a whole hell of a lot fun, except for the city of Dallas and the guys on the Mavs. Do you think Dirk has retreated to Germany?

Want more? Read my Daily Dose of Duffy column at www.incidentalcontact.com and listen to me on the Sports Journey radio show on Wednesday and Friday.

© 2007 Incidental Contact, LLC