There is a common misconception that fans have about their favorite sports franchises. They think that because they are playing for my favorite team, that they love it here and they will take a hometown discount to play in cities that love them when it comes to contract time.
A player, like Elton Brand formerly of the Clippers now of the 76ers, was seen as a good person and a great community person and he loved LA. But then, he gets a little money from Philly, and all of a sudden he is Public Enemy number one in the eyes of all six Clippers fans.
Why do people assume that they love one team so everyone should love their team? Ask Cavalier fans about Carlos Boozer. They'll give an opinion on loyalty in sports.
Fans are the same way. They love the star athlete when he is doing great, but the second he falters, they are calling sports radio, writing blogsand typing on message boards about how they should trade this guy. Fans love to hear loyalty, but are the first ones to jump ship when their favorite player is struggleing.
Another perfect example of fans getting on the loyalty love train is this past NBA Finals with the Boston Celtics winning their 17th championship. Last year Doc Rivers was getting killed by everyone in Boston. People were calling for his job and they wanted a new coach. But now that he is a champion, he is the greatest thing since sliced bread.
Take another example from the same Finals. Phil Jackson was seen by everyone as a great coach for years, now he misses on one title and Laker fan was calling for Jackson to be given the boot.
Too many fans in sports act like this. They annoint someone as the next big thing when their team is excellent, are break out the torches and pitch forks when their team is in a down year.
Fans love loyalty, but are the least loyal when thier team is in Jeopardy.
P.S. As a little aside, I was listening to The Herd with Colin Cowherd on Thursday July 10, and Colin was taking calls from people debateing which conference was better, the Big 10 or the SEC in terms of football. An absolutley rediculous caller actually thought, and I am not making this up, that NFL GM's do research and draft based on what people on talk radio, and what message board guy is saying. He said that GM's draft kids from Notre Dame because media people talk about them. I was in my truck at work and had to pull over into a gas station for my own safety because I was laughing so hard.
I was just sitting down reading a story from a web-site yesterday only to find that there was somone in Ohio who wanted to ban all star games. Normally I don't react to what somone is saying, but this really bugged the hell out of me.
Here is the link to the article if anyone wants to see for themselves. In this article he is talking about kids younger than 10 years old.
If you dont have time to read it, let me give you the coles notes version. Bascially what is being said is that the writer of the letter wants to ban the all-star game because it shatters a person self-confidence and can bruise the kids ego.
Then he compares it to school and says that if a kid is learning numbers and letters quicker, do we call then "special" or "gifted". Then he compared the all-star game to taking a vegetarian to a fancy steakhouse and or a person on a strick diet to a buffet.
Next he says all these games do is reward the kids who have developed quicker, then he got rediculous and said that all-star games with children at a young age can lead to injuries with extra games and practices. I'll use a direct quote and he says "They take a toll on young bodies and lead to an avalanche of overuse injuries."
Then he goes on from there talking about how you should take a stand and help in the fight to ban all-star games in general, or something along those lines.
I don't know what to say after something like this. This was written by the guy who wanted the great institution of the "Participant" trophy installed at every youth sports league in North America. Whenever someone wants their child not to feel upset by belittleing other accomplishment bugs me to no end.
This letter was probably written by a parent who thinks their son or daughter when they are signed up for sports is going on to better things even though they can't tie their own shoes yet. Then when their child got passed over for an all-star team, they are just so upset and they use the old addage of if I can't have it no one can.
Then he proceeds to damage his stance on the issue further saying that it can lead to a bruised ego when a child is passed over for an all-star team. If your kids who is younger than 10 years old knows what an all-star team is unless he is watching the peofessionals, you have missed the point. A 10 year old isn't going to be drafted tomorrow so whether or not he makes an all-star team should be irrelevant.
Next we have the overuse injuries comment. You know what else provides overuse injuries to kids, playing video games for hours on end and eating bag after bag after bag of chips. That also adds to the kids being severely overweight and less interested in sports.
At least when kids are playing sports like baseball, basketball and football, they have a goal to strive for in being a great player, who is better -yes some kids are going to be better and it is not based solely on whether or not they have developed some are more skilled than others- than other players on their team.
Why should somones accomplishments be torn down to make other feel better about themselves?
I say that all-star teams are great because the ones who are passed over will try harder and they will try to become a better player. Being dissappointed builds character in a person and isn't that more important in raising a productive member of society. When kids get dissappointed at a young age, they learn how to persevere and get beyond road blocks.
If you don't teach a kid dissappointment at a young age what is going to happen when s/he hits middle age and goes off sulking when he didn't get a big account at the law firm s/he may work at. It motivates them to become better at what they are doing and gets them working harder to achieve that goal.
Nobody celebrates mediocraty and by banning the all-star game, that is exactly what you are doing. You saying that everyone is equal, which in many cases, like sports and life, they are not. If you say to a kid that everyone gets a trophy for participating, the kid will be conditioned to think that way their entire life.
Listen to a lot of recruiting stories for big college programs. Not everyone can go to USC, so when teams play USC, there is a little extra motivation to try and beat them to show them what the missed. Ian Johnson, runningback at Boise State was passed over at UCLA, and has gone on to become one of the best runningbacks in college football. What may have motivated him to this level, somone telling him he was not good enough. Johnson was passed over on an all-star team and went on to great things in spite of his situation.
If you remove the all-star game you will be a lot more harm than good, by raising a nation of soft people, like the ones on American Idol who think they are excellent even though they are probably the worst on the planet, everyones great accomplishments will be downgraded and belittled to make everyone appear equal. No one is equal or we would all be playing professionally.
I learned this concept when I was playing minor hockey and was passed over for an all-star team. It motivated me to become a better player and then I kept moving up in levels. When I got to my highgest level that gave me an incredible sense of accomplishment and I felt good about my self.
If there was no all-star game, maybe I wouldn't have gotten as high up as I did. An All-Star game made me a better person, and I wasn't even apart of the game. The team I was passed over for gave me motivation to get better, it taught me to peresevere and be a driven person and to work hard for everything I got.
By removing the All-Star game and start giving trophys to everyone, you create a culture of entitlement and then when somone doesn't receive a "good job" or an "atta boy" thats when it hurts the kids development.
When these people realize that they are hurting the kids rather than helping them, we will get a better kids and better professionals, because somone didn't say to them, "Congratulations Participant"
Not enough to do an entire post on one topic, so here is a little bit of everything:
Loved hearing about Fresno State winning the college world series last night upsetting Georgia 6-1. Great story to see them win the National Title, and being 6-0 in elimination games in the entire tournament.
Jermaine O'Neal to the Toronto Raptors for T.J. Ford, Rasho Nesterovic and the 17th pick is a good deal for both teams. The Raptors get a big man to play down in the post and sit there and rebound the entire game long, and it takes a lot of pressure off Chris Bosh and Andrea Bargniani who were playing the inside game. The Pacers get an excellent point guard in Ford and the possibility o####reat player with the draft pick. Nesterovic was just a throw in to make the salaries match up, but he could turn out to be a good player for Indiana.
If the Miami Heat don't take Michael Beasley with the second overall pick in the draft this will be the biggest passover since the Raptors took the stiff Rafael Araujo with a ton of good palyers still on the board.
The whole Javon Walker saga has become a little tired. After his BS excuse that he was mugged at his hotel room and dragged to a car and dumped in the street was completely believeable. Now we have testimony that he willingly got into someones car and then was dropped off in the street. I was on Javon Walker for bad decision making when this stroy broke, then I dismissed that totally implausible story, and now the truth has come out. Okay, time to move on.
I love interleague play, and when I hear people say the schedule is un-balanced and un-fair need to look at baseball as an entire sport. It is the most un-fair sport in the world. Different parks have different dimensions, some parks have different nuances to them (Houston has a hill in centre field and Fenway has the Monster). The schedule has been un-balanced for a long time. The AL EAst plays the Yankees and Red Sox 18 times each, while other AL teams play them about six-nine times a season. The Cubs get to play the Pirates 18 times a season. Baseball on the whole is the most un-fair sport on the planet.
Stop beating me over the head with somone dunking in the WNBA. When Candace Parker throws one down on someones head and doesn't just let it fall over the rim, call me.
With the NBA Finals beginning tonight, most of the talking heads on all the major networks are making thier predictions on who is going to win the series and how many games it is going to take.
But I am having a problem...I have no idea who has the edge in the series. This finals is the biggest pick'em series I have seen in any sport for a long time.
I am going to attempt to break it down, but I may tear my hair out before I am finished. Maybe if I get my thoughts down on paper, my pick will be revealed.
Boston Celtics
Positives: Three simple words, "Boston Three Party". Paul Pierce is Paul Pierce, KG is KG, and Ray Allen has finally joined the party and has reverted to his old self. We have an emerging star in Rajon Rondo who has turned into a decent point guard, and you are getting contributions from the bench with Kendrick Perkins and James Posey and the rest of the Celtics bench will shine at home.
Also Doc Rivers is a good coach who has gotten the most out of his players over the entire season and brought them from basement dwellers to penthouse sellers. Most of that is because of the Big Three, but Rivers had to find a room big enough for the egos that come along with them. They also have homecourt advantage which has been such a big thing in the NBA playoffs this year.
Negatives: Who is going to cover Kobe Bryant? Who is going to make sure that Kobe doesn't go off for 50 in every game in the series? Will the real Ray Allen stick around for an entire series?
Just a few questions, but the same goes for the Lakers
Los Angeles Lakers
Positives: Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol. Since the Memphis Grizzlies "traded" Gasol to the Lakers for a rack of basketballs or Kwame Brown, whichever has more value, the Lakers have been excellent and been largely unstoppable. I started watching more West basketball with the Lakers and all the other good teams out West. Lamar Odom has finally had his coming out party, since he hasn't been forced into a role he could not excell at. He can finally just play his game.
Also the rest of the Laker have been playing excellent basketball with Derek Fisher leading the way. Then they have one fo the greatest coaches in NBA history, the Zen master Phil Jackson, who is arguably a top three coach in NBA history.
Negatives: Who is going to cover Kevin Garnett? Does Gasol have the strength to consistently #### with Garnett for what I believe will be a long series? Finally, in hearing that Radmanovic will be covering Pierce, that made me cringe, Pierce might go off for a ton of points.
Well, as good as I tried, this Finals is still as clear as mud.
But I think that I will say the Lakers in seven, with the home team winning every home game except for the deciding game.
This series looks like it could be a really fun one to watch, and its about time.
Baseball season making headway into May, and the NBA and NHL Playoffs are getting closer and closer to a champion, all we are seeing is great team after great team playing, that I know I sometimes forget about the terrible franchises in professional sports.
There are a lot of teams that are or have been in disarray for a long time in professional sports, so I am going to give you all the teams that are as the french say "Le Garbage"
NFL Washington Redskins Two words, Daniel Snyder. The owner of the Six Flags franchise proves he can run an amusement park, but not when it is the most valuable sports franchise in the world. When you start trading away draft picks for cheese sandwich's, a ride on Superman and player who past their prime ages before they arrive at the Redskins. Mark Burnell was the quarterback even though they had Jason Campbell waiting in the wings, and there are questions around him. That was their first round pick a few years ago. Then this past draft he was willing to part with more picks to acquire Bengal hater Chad Johnson.
I love Ocho Cinco, he makes the league fun, but when he can't produce with a A-list quarterback like Carson Palmer, what chance does he have with Campbell.
Miami Dolphins 1-15, need I say more? Now we have your star player dancing the night away to "DUH-DUH-DUH-DUNNNNNNN" Then he attempts to extend the olive branch to the coahc who shuns him. I know they had a great draft with Michigan south by drafting Jake Long and Chad Henne, but as of right now, not such a good franchise.
NHL Toronto Maple Leafs The Leafs run thier franchise the way they do because no Leaf fan questions what they are going to do. With a packed building every night, regardless of what kind of team they are fielding or icing, but I digress. Now they fired a coach who was put in a no win situation with players who would be hard pressed to make the second line on most other N HL teams. This team is run like a business, which is the way it should be done, but it is an unsuccessful business in terms of W-L, not $ and sense. 41 years since a championship proves it all.
And the Grand Prize winner is.............
The New York Knicks When you hire Larry Brown, one of the best coaches in NBA history, and replace him with a person with limited coaching experience. Then you make that coach the GM or the other waya around who makes questionable deals as general manager and let him run your team, while he sexually harasses employees of your organization. Then the Knicks fire said person as preident and GM, but continue to allow him to coach a losing team rather than letting your next coach come in and attempt to fix the situation so there are no growing pains for next year.
But then you tell that previously employed coach that he still has a job, but he has no title and no responosibility and can not talk to any of his current players. Where do I sign up for that job, being kept on the payroll while doing nothing, sounds like a good deal, does it come with benefits?
That doesn't even cover the players on the team. Starbury selling shoes while babbling about nothing on a certain video, and the other bunch of overpaid stiffs they have playing for the Knicks right now.
What organizations do you think are in complete disarray and why. Post it in the comments
The NCAA tournament is wrapping up tonight after a great run that will actually produce a pure champion. I love seeing the Cinderella stories every year, but when you get the best four teams playing in one city over three days, I do a little ####.
I couldn't believe that Kansas and Memphis screwed my bracket and forced me into second behind my friend who doesn't know how to spell UCLA or UNC. Gotta love college basketball, but is digress.
Every team this past weekend would have run Davidson out of the gym and steamrolled them, just like Geroge Mason a few years ago. Kansas vs Memphis will be awesome to watch and we will get a true champion. Ummm, Hello! BCS are we paying attention?
Baseball season is just getting underway, and I could not be happier for a couple of months. I love baseball, in April and May and in September and October. In June, July (except for the All-Star Game) and August, I find baseball boring.
Nothing against baseball, but those Orioles vs Rays or Pirates vs Giants just don't get me to the TV. I love the great teams, and will make time for Yankees vs Red Sox, but that pretty much it.
The NHL playoffs are begining this Wednesday and this is the most excited I have been for the hockey playoffs since the lockout. With the down to the wire races for a playoff push with the Capitals winning their division, and also having Sid the Kid and Ovechkin finally in the playoffs together, I will make time to watch as much playoff hockey as possible.
Who could forget the Masters is coming up this weekend. I don't watch as much golf as my family does, but when you get great story lines and great scenery, watching four golf events a year, I enjoy this one the most because it means a lot of things are happening. what I mentioned above, a couple of other things.
NFL pro days are complete and now we are just counting down the days until the Dolphins are no longer on the clock. I love listening to draft talk up to and including draft day, it makes me pine for the best time of the year.
Finally, the NBA has drawn me in as a fan. I actually watched NBA games this past season after the Big Diesel becamse the Big Cactus and the West became more stacked than Keeley Hazell. I had fallen out of love with the NBA, but the Celtics this season and the Suns playing the best defense is a good offense. Finally scoring in the NBA brought me back and is getting me interested.
This time of year to me is not the best time, but second ain't terrible.
