The Sports Doldrums

It's official. We are in the most boring time to be a sports fan. We are still a few weeks away from NFL camp (but even that isn't exciting). We are two months away from the start of college football. The NBA just had a month plus of play-offs that started awesome and ended horribly. We saw that Lebron can't do it on his own (which no one could, not even Jordan). We saw that Dwight Howard is not in any way close to being a dominant force in a game; sure he can grab 15-20 rebounds and maybe swat a few balls into the stands, but when it comes to offense it is really ugly. How can a guy picked that high have so little basketball IQ? I knew the Finals were over after game 2 when Orlando showed the Lakers were a tougher team mentally. That's like saying someone is less funny than Ben Stiller.

Another problem with sports right now is MLB. It's not really their fault. But right now is just that time in the season where a few teams are out of it (the Nationals), but for the most part teams are just grinding out the games and waiting out till the All-Star break to see if they have a shot or not.

Sadly, Wimbledon and the U.S. Open have been busts too. Nadal withdrew before the tournament so I think most people are expecting Federer to make it to the final easily and break American icon Pete Sampras's record. And I don't know about you but the I have never disliked an American athlete as much as I despise the Williams sisters. I imagine most people will tune in to the final and the occasional 5 set match, but for the most part it seems to be lacking excitement. The U.S. Open was good to watch, but not captivating. It was cool to see Lucas Glover and Ricky Barnes battling it out and Tiger, Phil and David Duval battle back. But with all the rain, and the overall toughness of the course it wasn't electrifying golf, like last year.

I would say really the only thing that has caught my attention has been the Confederations Cup. It was nice to see the U.S. make a run into their first finals. What wasn't so nice was losing a 2-0 lead. Don't get me wrong, I'm proud and there are valuable lessons the team should have learned about competing with the best. But I think too much was made of just getting there. Landon Donovan said it best when he told reporters it hurts losing because we getting back is never guaranteed. I hope that this made the U.S. players hungrier and less willing to "just get there."

Hopefully this sports dry spell will pass quickly. Maybe if we take a cue from the Ancient Mariner and realize the beauty of even the ugliest (or in this case, least exciting) we can get out of the doldrums.

A Quick Turn of Emotion

So a little more than 24 hours ago I was going to write a very scathing and angry entry about how the Big 4 of the English Premiere League (EPL) were destroying soccer.  I was so incensed with how their game plan for the Champions League matches has for years been to score a goal then put 10 hulking brutes behind the ball and win 1-0.  With some exceptions these teams rely on players to use bullying tactics to win matches.  And it seemed like UEFA (the governing body of soccer in Europe) was supporting it after the poor officiating in the Barcelona-Chelsea first leg (and the phantom red card on Barca left back Eric Abidal).  I was going to rant about how UEFA only wanted the cash cows like Manchester United, Liverpool, and Chelsea to succeed because of the revenue it would bring in (although this would have been a completely unfounded claim since I have no idea which clubs sell the most tickets, but I do think the English clubs are more appealing to U.S. viewers).

Then at about 4:45 p.m. EST Andres Iniesta put Barcelona's first shot on goal in 93 minutes in the back of the net  (I refuse to refer to any type of vegetable or sack here).  I was listening to the game on FC Barcelona's website because I was doing work.  The sheer elation, joy, whatever it was, was maniacal.  The announcer, Nick Simons, was simply screaming utter nonsense.  As a Barcelona fan I wanted to rip my shirt off and run around the office screaming at the top of my lungs; I literally had to hold myself in my seat with one hand and my mouth shut with the other.  And it made me realize: why have more Americans not embraced this sport?  People say its because there is no scoring. That makes it more exciting!  Every time a play looks as though it may threaten goal you can feel the stadium, and yourself holding your breath in anticipation.  Sure, watching Barcelona or the Spanish, Argentine, or Brazilian national teams is exciting for everyone since they are regularly threats to put 3 or 4 in, in beautifully quick and precise movements.  But I think when teams are grinding out 1-0 wins it is just as tense, as yesterday showed.  Every time there was a cross or a corner or a nifty one-two the tension briefly ratcheted up.  I find that when watching soccer there are just as many if not more plays that raise the heart rate than a football game.  Another great thing is, soccer is more or less a year round sport in Europe. Barca opened their season on August 13th, their last game will be May 31st.  With major clubs in 3 to 4 competitions, group stages, point systems, knock-out rounds, two-legged affairs, every thing matters, even that boring 0-0 tie.  Pardon the mixing of sports metaphors, but the season is a heavy weight fight that's going all 12 rounds. I think if Americans took a little more time to really look at the European soccer model they would be impressed.  In the meantime Go Barca!

Fare Thee Well John Madden

So everyone is grateful that John Madden has thrown in the towel.  Don't count me as one of them.  Madden provided three amazing contributions to the NFL every year.

The first is obvious; I'll give you a hint: "E A SPORTS IT'S IN THE GAME."  If you are a male aged 12 to I would venture as high as 30 and have any interest in video games and sports you can probably do a spot on impression of that.  John Madden has been to football video games what Jason Statham has been to cheesy action flicks.  He may not have been the first one, but right now if you asked someone to name the top name in movies involving ridiculous stunts, fast cars, and creepy women, Handsome Rob would be the first they say.  Same goes to Madden.  Techmo Football was first, but (partially thanks to a monopoly on football games purchased by EA in 2004) Madden is the first name in sports video games.

The second contribution is also obvious.  Madden is good for the greatest unintentional humor in sports.  Sadly when ABC paired him with Al Michaels they paired him with someone who took great pains to make John sound less ridiculous.  Remember the good old days when Pat Summerall was drinking in the booth to try to handle Madden's comments?  I can still remember when Madden said of Troy Aikman "here's a guy who when he puts his contacts in sees better."  Madden said the most painfully obvious things.  Plus his love of Turduken and six legged turkeys was quite humorous.

The third, seems contradictory after the last contribution.  Madden was one of the best announcers in the game.  There are very few color guys these days who actually teach you something when you watch the game.  The same hilarious telestrator doodles actually taught you something if you listened.  As far as I can tell only Chris Collinsworth and Ron Jaworski do this anywhere near the same level (and Merrill Hodge, but he does it the next day on Sportscenter).  Aikman can do it at times, but isn't consistent.  Dayrl Johnston and Tony Siragusa, or "Moose and Goose" are terrible; they just seem like they are competing for saying what I'm sure people in the know understand but they can't say it layman's terms.  That is why Madden was so great.  He said things as simply as he could. Sure sometimes it came out as completely unnecessary to say, but he was seldom wrong and often insightful on matters of strategy, technique, and play calling.  He could explain exactly how the routes ran during a play were so critical at placing the defense to allow the guy who does get the ball the best chance of success better than anyone.  So say what you will about Madden, his ability to literally coach the audience is going to be sorely missed.

Thank God for the Bears

All the talk on Thursday morning was that my beloved Redskins were trying to trade for Jay Cutler.  Obviously, they would give up Jason Campbell for Cutler.  I was horrified to hear this because anyone who is a Skins fan knows that when Dan Snyder gets an idea in his head it usually happens.  Forget the fact that they gave a defensive tackle who has played a full season once in his career (his rookie year when he only started 4 games) a $100m contract, paid a guy who got cut by the RAIDERS over $50m, and brought back a guy who they let go two years ago and was cut by the Bills on a big time contract too.  I would have been really upset if they had thrown away the 3 plus years they had invested in Campbell for the quick fix.

I thought Snyder had learned that the quick fix doesn't work.  After Deion Sanders, Steve Spurrier, and one play-off appearance I thought Dan had finally figured out that consistency and building a team and a system was the way to go.  Let's look at the facts of what would have happened in this deal.

Rewind to 2006.  With 5 games left the Broncos were leading the AFC Wild Card.  Inexplicably they benched Jake Plummer and brought in rookie Jay Cutler.  They lost 3 of the next five and missed the play-offs.  They have not made the play-offs under Cutler, who is 17-20 as a starter.  Not to mention he let trade talks get into his head.  This is not the kind of guy I want leading my team on a fourth quarter drive.

The Redskins have no reason to give up on Campbell.  Sure he hasn't taken them to the play-offs (Todd Collins did in the 2007-2008 season).  However, he has been in a new offensive system every year since his junior year at Auburn, save one year with Al Saunders.  If this were next year and his performance was still "sub-par" I wouldn't be as upset.  But the thing is, I don't think his performance has been bad.  Last year he lead a few game winning drives and showed that he was a leader and was growing as an NFL player.  Maybe he hasn't thrown as many TDs as Cutler, and has a slightly lower career passer rating.  But they have an almost identical win-loss record and Campbell has one thing Cutler doesn't: a position in the Redskins locker room.  I was not about to see the Skins give up a first rounder the next two years for pretty much the same player.  

Luckily the Bears swooped in and took Cutler before Snyder could.  I don't think he has learned that consistency wins in the NFL, but the Monsters of the Midway forced him to stick with their guy.  The best thing about all of this is that Campbell has repeatedly said he is not taking it personally; it shows he isn't going to be easily rattled.  So for now I can look forward to a Redskins season that should be pretty good.  Hopefully Zorn won't coach himself out of a job and Campbell can continue to grow.  Remember he was the last quarterback to complete an undefeated season in the SEC.  

Stop Comparing My Sports!

Note: The idea for this came from listening to The B.S. Report and watching Sportscenter.

I was watching ESPN at the gym today and caught a glimpse of a graphic listing Stanford women's basketball player Jane Appel scoring 46 points again Iowa State, the third most of all time for the women's tournament.  That's pretty cool you say, but I say wait right there.  This graphic had her point total compared to those in both tournaments, men and women.

Why do I find a problem with that?  Do I hate women's sports?  No and no.  I just don't see how you can compare men and women's basketball.  One is not better than the other; they are simply two different sports.  Sure Candace Parker would destroy me in a game of basketball.  But how would she do against Blake Griffin?  Both are incredible athletes who play different sports.

This got me thinking even further.  Why do people try to argue who the best football/ baseball/ basketball/ or golf star of all time is?  These arguments go round and round, mainly because those we're talking about can't compete against each other in their primes.  However there is one factor that is often over looked: sports change.  The most obvious case is football.  Players are bigger, faster, stronger than ever before.  This a great testament to the emphasis on strength, speed and quickness training.  But it also has to do with advances in nutrition and sports medicine.  This carries over into all sports.  In 1965, when Jack Nicklaus won his first Masters I'm pretty sure he wasn't hitting the weights like Tiger does.

However these are not the only changes.  Let's continue with golf.  Today players have advances like metal drivers and hybrid clubs.  Golf has adjusted accordingly; they moved the tees back at Augusta a few times.  In basketball there have been numerous rule changes to protect the players.  When MJ was driving to the basket in his prime he was getting beat up a lot more than Lebron is today.  Even looking at the sports I am most familiar with, swimming and lacrosse, you can see how much things have changed.  In swimming coaches spend hours figuring out the best way to perform a stroke, a start, a turn.  Not to mention that these new suits that add buoyancy, stability, and whisk water away add an advantage that is out of this world.  In lacrosse new materials and designs have made sticks, pads, helmets lighter, and increased movement and visibility.

But the biggest complaint comes in baseball.  People complain that steroids have tainted the numbers so they can't be compared to the days of yore.  Well how about the fact that MLB keeps balls in climate controlled rooms as long as possible and they change balls practically every at bat?  What about the fact that African-American players didn't play until 1947?  What about the proliferation of the maple bat?  What about the simple fact that pretty much everyone was juicing from the late 90s through 2003?  Don't the changes in the game mean it's a different game than the one Babe played?

My only point here is that while these comparisons may be a fun argument with your friends or an entertaining piece on Sportscenter, they don't really hold water.  I think we should just appreciate more of what these guys and gals are doing on a nightly basis compared to those around them, not the ghosts of the past.