Well, it happened again. Admist a baseball playoff that should be remembered for what the players do on the field, today the focus is instead reared to the mistakes the umpires made in the game. The out call on Chase Utley and the scoop out of Ryan Howard, just to name two. Baseball umpires have been so bad, I heard they want to make Stevie Wonder an honorary ump! And what is the response of Crud, er, Bud Selig to expanding replay? Um, no thanks, let's let our umpires gift-wrap a World Series to someone because it's "human error".

Is there any more lame excuse to make than "human error"? Does he logically think that championships should be (possibly) decided by "human error"? Can I use the phrase "human error" enough? I guess so! That's why I think Crud should be the head of the BCS system. Because both MLB and the BCS have such similarities:

1. They both will crown a champion that will, at best, leave something to be desired.
2. Both have their refs/umps work to ensure the top money makers stay at the top. 3. Both are stubborn to change and would rather say "lalalalalala, I can't see you!" than do the right thing.

And last, but most important:
4. Both live by the old axium; "Any publicity is good publicity".

It's shameful to hear Crud say he's opposed to replay, then go into an excuse-making session that would make the BCS head smile proudly. From "human error" to "it'll make the game too long" to "what should we replay?", it goes on and on. Here's my take on each excuse:

1. You should not have your showcase series decided on the eyes of a 50+ year old who thinks "internet" is some sort of espionage group intent on taking over the world! It's your fricking championship! Treat it with dignity!
2. Seriously; adding (at best) 10-15 mintues to a game whose players go through more gestures than Sergio Garcia to slow the game down is bad? Why don't you tell these glove-fiddlers and these rasin-grabbing pitchers to stop with the gestures! Make every pitcher pitch like Mark Buehrle, and the time difference is negligible. Don't give me that crap!
3. I wouldn't replay balls and strikes (these 50-year olds need SOMETHING to do), but fair/foul and catch/no catch should be reviewable. It only takes a couple looks to determine that.

So, I've ranted about Crud's stunning lack of foresight. But this is nothing new; Crud allowed the game to be tainted by steroids and the Bondses of the world, and didn't lift a finger until Congress got involved. And can someone tell me why he's the highest paid commish in the four major American sports (MLB, NBA, NFL & NHL)? He certainly hasn't earned it? And he's about to watch his supposed dream series blow up in a wash of bad calls and poor jugdement.

Oh well, this Crud's for you!

Well, Michael Vick is once again in the NFL. In a sorta surprise move, he landed in Philadelphia, signing a 2 year deal worth nearly $7 million in base salary form the Eagles. Indeed. I was surprised because some thought he might sign with a lesser profile, less pressure-filled environment. Going to Philly is akin to Barry Bonds signing with the Yankees or Donte Stallworth signing with the Lions (oops, forget that one!). But I won't begrudge him; if TO could (briefly) be loved in Philly, Vick has a chance to win fan support.

But, for those of you who can't stand the fact that Vick is back, have no fear! Here's a list of things you probably would have preferred happen to Vick:

10. The "Wildcat" formation eats him alive!: Wouldn't that be the ultimate irony?

9. Jose Canseco says in his next book he injected Vick with steroids!: It just seems like a natural step for Jose, doesn't it?

8. Have Vick sit in a room, and listen to Skip Bayless talk nonstop for ten minutes: There's nobody in the world who can stand up to that pressure!

7. Have him on the new "Shaq Vs" playing football...and have him try to tackle Shaq!: Wouldn't that be like what Kobe said one time; a Ferrari running into a brick wall?

6. He signs a multi-year deal to play for and coach the Clippers: He'd rather be in jail than endure that!

5. Have him watch a soccer match: Sorry, I just plain hate soccer!

4. Have him hire Trevor Ariza's agent: If he ran negotiations, Vick would've landed in the UFL!

3. Have him work at a Home Depot: That would be so ironic; to work at Arthur Blank's old stomping ground! I just wish Blank still owned it.

2. Have him star in a reality-show version of "The Fugitive": Can you just see him looking at Tommy Lee Jones saying "I don't care." when he says "I didn't mean to kill my pets!"?

And finally...

1. Have him play for the Detroit Lions: Technically, they aren't an NFL team!

What say you about Vick's return? Will he be eaten alive, or will he give Philly fans a reason to cheer? Leave me a comment. And it's great to be back after a month in dry dock! See ya later!

If you've followed my blog closely enough through my 2 and a half years here, you'll have noticed that I take a sarcastic look at sports. I feel humor about something wrong is better than anger, because you don't gurt anybody with humor. Today's post is not about something wrong, but rather about something right that surprised even me. A surprise that I didn't even see coming. And it involves a classic NBA game, at least for Boston Celtics fans.

The game in question? That would be game one of the 1985 NBA Finals between the then-defending champion Celtics and the Los Angeles Lakers, a rematch many NBA fans waited for with bated breath for a year. The Lakers were the favorites to break their 0-8 record in the Finals against Beantown, but they hardly looked like the favorites in game one; Boston crushed them 148-114, with Scott Wedman and Danny Ainge having huge games. The Lakers did recover, however, and won the series in six games, achieving their breakthrough. So why does a game with such a lopsided score mean much here?

Well, I posted this game a few months ago on my Youtube channel. I thought nothing of it except that people would get to see the whole game. Then, a day ago, I was inquired at my channel by a guy who works (legitimately) at HBO Sports. He told me that the network is planning a Larry Bird documentary, and wanted to use some footage from the beginning of that game, but the NBA didn't have it, for some reason (Note: If you're planning to leave a comment saying "It's a Laker conspiracy!", don't.), and he wanted me to help provide it. I checked to make sure it was legit (it was), and then I thought "Wow; I could help in a small way in a sports doc!". It was kinda humbling, to say the least (even though it's only a small part).

I planned to show a clip from that game here to let you see what I'm talking about, but alas, the new Fox is taking 16,295 days to process it. So, to make a long story short, it's very exciting for me, and I thought I'd share it with whoever's left from the older era here. If you want to see the clip without waiting, go to my Youtube channel and see "Game 1, 1985 NBA Finals; Lakers/Celtics (The COMPLETE Game)" to view it. Take care, my blogging friends!

There's a paradigm to life that I always follow; avoid things that cause significant pain. Because if you avoid pain, you avoid a worse fate; kicking the bucket. It's something that happens to all of us eventually, but we can avoid it for awhile if we do smart things. With that in mind, let me be the first to officially break the worst-kept "secret" in sports TV; ESPN's supposed classic sports channel has officially kicked that bucket today.

For years, we've seen the big four-letter monopoly trash a once-proud Classic channel with loads of trash that either aren't sports or aren't classic. Some programs that come to mind include (but are not limited to) car auctions, bull riding, pool, bowling, Kiana's exercise show, classic boxing that isn't classic, boxing that has been replayed 51,739 times, and "games" smashed into one-hour Cliff's Notes versions. And, of course, there's the king of all wastes of time; poker. The network's fixation on poker is well documented, but this time, even ESPN has gone too far.

***Warning: The following message may contain things you may not want your child to hear; readers are strongly advised to move them away.***

Today, on ESPN "supposed" Classic, they're going to show poker starting at 4pm. When does it end? 12 midnight...on Sunday! That's right; unless my cable guide went haywire, THAT'S THIRTY-TWO CONSEQUTIVE HOURS OF POKER! Who the **** scheduled this ****!?!? What, the history of erosion wasn't available? Even people who can sit through an entire golf tournament on TV are going "Who is bankrupt enough to watch that?"! I can't believe they've gotten lazy enough to say "32 hours of poker is a classic if ever there was one.".

Here is a list of things I'd rather do than watch 32 straight hours of poker:

-Listen to Stephen A. Smith for six straight days talk about Slava Medvedenko.
-Have Bernie Madoff run my finance department and give him 100% of the profit.
-Let John Daly advise me on what to wear that's stylish.
-Have Stuart Scott say "Booyah!" and his other catch phrases for six straight hours.
-Get Detroit Lions season tickets...for life!
-Create a new team in a sport, and hire Donald Sterling, Elgin Baylor, Matt Millen AND Isiah Thomas to run it!
-Listen to all of Brett Favre's retirement announcements...in a loop.
-Have Roseanne and Carl Lewis sing a duet.
-Extole the virtues of Allen Iverson the teammate.
-Step into a room full of angry, stinging bees for two days.
-Watch a WNBA game (sorry, gals; I don't watch that much).
-Watch games at the Black Hole in Oakland, and tell their fans they stink, and dare them to hit me.
-Watch a continous loop of soccer games for three days, with all clips featuring that annoying "GOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLL!".
-Travel to the South Pole naked and stay for a day.
-Have Chris Berman invent 50,000 more dumb nicknames for players.
-Watch nothing but the View for 60 hours.
-Agree with Skip Bayless that LeBron's supporting cast carries him.
-Bathe in boiling oil for 3 hours.
-Get Lions season tickets for life...and agree not to drink a single beer.
-Have a police car detail for a stuffed animal funeral (that actually happened in my hometown of Detroit to "honor" Michael Jackson; glad to see that those pesky crimes are down here to do that!).
-Watch the BCS title game and say without hesistation that the legit champs were crowned.
-Have Ray Lewis hit me without pads for 2 hours.
-Watch a Memphis Grizzlies game.
-Watch any stage of the Tour De Bore, er, France.

And finally...
-Have Manny Ramirez teach me the basics of child birth!

But, in lieu of all of that, I'll just avoid it or take a nap. Because this network has been dying for a long time. It's time for somebody else to buy this channel from the four-letter idiot and return it to actually showing sports and games, not 32 straight hours of poker (btw, I hope the World Series of Poker is not only cancelled, but goes bankrupt; let's see how easy it is for BSPN to program their lineup without that!). Thanks for letting me vent, and leave your opinions here. Take care, friends!

Well, it's been awhile since I posted. July is easily one of (if not the most) boring sports months of the year; there's no NBA or NFL, baseball is boring, and pseudo-sports like cycling, soccer and others clog up sports airwaves. With that in mind, let's ramble off some Random Sports Thoughts!

Lamar Odom reportedly got a $35 million offer from Miami to return to play for them. Knowing Odom's history, he'll sign with...the Grizzlies to further show inconsistency!

The Heat are also rumored to be wanting to trade for Carlos Boozer. This is great...for me, because we'll have two of the most inconsistent players in NBA history together! Blog-topia!

Yao Ming will have season-ending foot surgery in hopes of returning for the 2010-11 season. Where he will promtply suffer another season-ending injury.

Tiger Woods missed the cut at the British Open. How will he be able to pay those bills now!?

Meanwhile, old-timer Tom Watson is still among the leaders at the Open. Further proof that golf isn't a legit sport; when 59-year olds not only can compete, but contend. Who is he, Satchel Paige?

And while we're on it; isn't it sad that I can devote two one-liners to golf? Can't the NFL season start in July!?

Onto another pseudo-sport; Lance Armstrong is still third in the Tour De Bore, er, France. Someone wake me when there's actually a story here.

David Beckham returned to the L.A. Galaxy yesterday. Yeah, I don't care either.

I'm just hoping they put him and Landon Donovan into a cage and let Donovan use any kind of weapon on him...and every ESPN commentator who still thinks Becks is hot "stuff"!

On a serious note, it's been revealed that a convicted murderer sold the gun that killed Steve McNair. This makes an already sad story even sadder, and it chills me.

Army announced that it will play Notre Dame at the new Yankee Stadium in 2010. Just what the stadium needs; a medoicre and bad team playing a meaningless college football game...no, that's the BCS title game!

I can't believe I'm saying this, but I almost miss the Brett Favre stories.

And finally...

Detroit Pistons season ticket sales declined 54% from last year due to the bad Michigan economy. And because the team threatened to hire Matt Millen to replace Joe Dumars as GM!

That's all I have today. Until next time, just say no to Beckham!