We sit in eager anticipation of the impending madness of March, of tales of Cinderella, of the highest of highs and the lowest of lows, of Seth Davis spouting knowledge and Dickie V. just...well...spouting. We brace ourselves to hear the terms "Mid-major," "bracket-buster," and "upset special" more than we care to. And we, the true fans of sport prepare ourselves for the casual fans we know, at work and at school, to learn the names "Durant," and "Oden" just as they learned the names "Joakim" and "Big Baby" last year. While we sit on the eve of this most glorious time of the year, one thought runs through my head.
March Madness could not have come soon enough this year.
It has been a really crazy week in the world of sports. Whether on the court, field or track or off of it, the past week has really been a true dark, odd and unexpected week for sports. Consider the following:
1) Pacman gets a knife pulled on him at a bowling alley. In the ultimate "man bites dog" story, Pacman seems to be on the receiving end of the same type of stuff he has been dishing out since coming into the league. Pacman is to humans what the house in the Amityville Horror is to homes. Trouble just follows this guy wherever he goes. I don't know how much longer it will be before this guy winds up as a tragedy. His tenure with the Titans seems to be coming to a close. I smell a Pacman to the Raiders deal coming. At least he'll fit in there. Of course the Titans could always send him to the bengals. We KNOW he'd fit in there.
2) Ron Artest is allowed to return to the Kings after a brief vacation. The only reason Artest doesn't get more press is because he exists in the same bizarro sports universe with guys like Pacman Jones. This could be the end of the line for the Kings and their relationship with Artest. Somehow, I believe Mike Bibby probably isn't all that upset. Now you can debate whether or not it's right for Artest to play or whether or not the kings have a "moral obligation" to trade, sit, or waive this guy but regardless, he is a headache that the Maloof brothers will have to deal with.
3) Chris Simon nearly decapitates Ryan Hollweg. I know it's hockey and I know these players get away with things that you and I would get arrested for if we did them anywhere in public. I also know that there's only about 150 people in the U.S. that care about/watch hockey but after seeing the replay a billion times in the past week it still sickens me to watch. No matter what Chris Simon does for the rest of his career, this is what he will be remembered for.
4) Pokey Chapman resigns. Had this been a male coach accused of doing the same thing, this story would have had some real legs. There are certain lines you just can't cross as a coach. You can lie on a resume (George O'Leary), you can have a wild night with #### and strippers (Mike Riley), you can get tanked and party with another teams coeds (Larry Eustachy), and you can even try and cover up the murder of one of your players (Dave Bliss). You can do all of these things and hope to work again but the line is drawn at sleeping with your players or betting on your team. I'm not saying it's right or wrong, it just is what it is. Now there is a chance that Pokey will get another job someday but she will be on a really short leash if she does (of course, it could be the same "short leash" that got her in trouble in the first place). I will say this. I do believe there is a "homosexual double standard" in sports. Had this been a male coach who slept with one of his male players he would have to leave the country and he would never work again. Not saying it's right or wrong, just that the double standard exists.
5) Kobe Bryant throws another elbow at another white player. I think Kobe hates white people. It's just too much of a coincidence that the three "victims" of the Kobe elbow this season have been white players (Manu Ginobli, Marco Jaric, Kyle Korver). Now I do recognize one of the dirty little secrets of the NBA is the dislike of white and primarily foreign players by the majority black NBA. I guess Kobe just didn't get the memo that he needs to be a bit more clandestine in the way his dislike manifests itself in games.
6) Gary Matthews and others busted in steroids ring. The new American success story. Guy is a marginal player. Guy juices. Guy gets much better. Guy signs big contract. Except in this case I think the Angels are going to try and create precedence by voiding the contract and taking legal action. Note to GM's; when a lifetime .260 hitter with no power suddenly puts up big numbers, don't hide your head in the sand! This story has some legs to it and could take some interesting turns.
7) Charles Sharon (Jaguars WR) busted with a gun stolen from a cop. Now in Sharon's defense, he was in the midst of being busted on a possession of narcotics charge at the time and cops smelled marijuana in the car. Now I don't know what kind of defense "but I was stoned at the time" will be but hey, it's a start. Note to Charles Sharon; you need to make a name for yourself before you start with the drugs and the guns, you know, like Chris Henry and Tank Johnson. You need to be a bit more famous on the field before becoming infamous off of it.
8) Study released that Ohio State only graduates 10 percent of its Basketball players. I'm kind of surprised the number was that high. That's like a Harvard graduation rate compared to how many Bob Huggins players have graduated during his career.
9) NASCAR has a wild week. Montoya slams Pruett last week. Pruett slams Montoya after the race. Harvick and Stewart slam the track at Vegas and a lot of cars slam each other during the Nextel race this past weekend. NASCAR hasn't been this exciting since the drivers ran moonshine in their cars.
10) Roger Federer loses his consecutive matches win streak. He's still the best of all time, whether he gets his French Open title or not.
Well, that's it folks. Now it's time to go back to debating the field of 65, filling out our brackets and waiting for Cinderella to appear. And one note on the NCAA Tournament. Syracuse was robbed!
Standing "O" on this great post Frank. I laughed like crazy. Great pics and the comments were perfect. Favorites are: Pokey, Artest, amd Jones. Too good to be made up. You nailed the Simon thing and I didn't think of it before; no matter what, he'll always be remembered for that. Awesome stuff.
Thank you. I enjoyed writing it. I really did think it was a wacky week in sports. I do like the Artest, Pacman and Pokey sagas. Add Chris Simon and I think you could put the four of them in a house for a reality TV show and it would definitely bring in the ratings!
Frank, can we get a memo to Noah to not ever dance again. I love when he plays with energy, but not during an interview. Kobe also had an incident with Mike Miller too.
Great post.
I think they don't hit back because they are usually left lying on the floor after Kobe's assaults. Talk about a player who has dramatically changed his image. Remember that Kobe was ostracized by many black players when he came into the league because he came from an upper-middle class suburban family and he had lived overseas in Italy. Well, just add a few tattoos, some marital infidelity, a feud with one of the most popular players in the league and a few well placed elbows to the cranium's of white basketball players and...presto-chango, you have the "rebirth" of Kobe Bryant.
Last edited by FrankIrizarry on March 13th at 8:10 AM.
I completely agree about Noah and his dancing. The funny thing is I see him on campus all the time and he seems so quiet and reserved and he's usually walking around by himself.
I totally forgot about the Kobe and Mike Miller incident. I don't think that had anything to do with Miller being white. Kobe just hates people from South Dakota :)
as a swiss, i always wonder why it is that federer loses against relative scrubs and creams the elite? can't be over-confidence, could it? 41 straight was close.
manu is not white. he might be of fair complexion, but by no means is he (be definition) white.
couldnt it be suggested to be made a federal law to include behavioral clauses in players contracs? i mean, c'mon. we do anything even half as stupid as some of these guys do, we're fired. terminated. no severance pay. up the creek. call it whatever. and idiots (of course i dont know the circumstances involving artests' arrest) like artest walk away with a guaranteed contract. ridiculous.
Frank, how are you doing. I was reading your post with great anticipation. For me it soured when you reported that Ohio State only graduates ten % of it's players. It that a fully prepared study with all the figures of how many left early, were, sad to say players whose actions had them released from the team, or are Ohio State so bad that this possibility auctually exists.
You know as well as I do most players come to play long enough to make it too the NBA, only to be booted out of there.
I also wanted to know why it seems you don't like the school very much. Besides sports, I love the school for all that it represents to all 60,000 plus students who go there. It's your opinion, but I think all schools offer that special something that offers students a great plus to the school they go to.
Last edited by Marty Walker on March 13th at 9:35 AM.
I do agree that something is wrong with Kobe and that he really needs a hug (by anyone other than teenage resort workers in Colorado).
Players should have clauses in their contracts and I think players associations will agree to them if the wording is done right and can't be used as a back door way for a team to get out of a contract.
I agree Manu is not white but in the polarized view of the NBA where black players are threatened by european/foreign/white players, he just gets lumped into the category, although probably unfairly so.
I'm doing alright. Took a bit of a break after football season ended but now I feel a bit recharged. I assure you I did not mean to single out Ohio State. The headline on Foxsports.com mentioned Ohio State and the link I provided did discuss the study and other schools involved. As someone who does social science research, I do agree there are flaws and limitations to the study but all I know is the numbers for most college basketball teams are still lower than where they should be.
Marty, I totally see how you could get the impression that I disliked Ohio State based on this post and some of my posts made around the time of the BCS selection through the BCS championship and I truly apologize for giving that impression. I really have nothing against Ohio State and actually, they are my favorite Big 10 team. I think it's a great school with a tremendous athletic program. When I was in H.S. I was a Triple Jumper and Mike Conley was my idol so I enjoy watching his son play. I think Oden is a phenom and there was nobody I enjoyed watching in college football as much as Ted Ginn Jr. As a matter of fact, my oldest son owns two college football jerseys; a Gators jersey and an Ohio State #7 jersey. I think it was more my passion for Florida than any dislike for Ohio State that pushed me over the proverbial edge in my comments. Now I will not back down on how much I dislike Kirk Herbstreit but as for Ohio State, I root for them when they play anyone but Florida and if Florida gets knocked out - Go Buckeyes! Thanks Marty.
Last edited by FrankIrizarry on March 13th at 10:40 AM.
Frank, thats nice of ou to say but it wasn't necessary. I don't hold the shield of protection for them. I asked Lisa too since she wrote roughly the same thing too, is where can I read this. They always write here in the papers they have 75 to 80 % grad rates. Boy, you talk about liveing on te home front. You take care there and keep sending that 75 degree weather our way ha ha.
My name is Frank Irizarry and I am an Assistant Professor of Communication at Suffolk University in beautiful Beantown. I teach courses in public relations. I am an avid sports fan with football being my true passion. I played two seasons of College Football for Marist College in Poughkeepsie, New York (1989-1991). My most rewarding football experience though has come in the past four years as the Head Coach for my oldest son's Pop Warner football team, the Deland Knights. This past season we were 8-1, 6-0 in our Division and we finished in third place in the Mid-Florida Conference (The SEC of youth football!) . I used to be a college debate coach so I like to make and hear what I think are good arguments.
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