Last night, to many of your dismay, Javon Walker was beaten and injured in what appears to be a robbery. He was left beaten in an alley. But wait, what's this? Where was the alley. Hmmm, none other than the favorite place of Pacman Jones. Viva Las Vegas baby! The city that never sleeps. The city that "makes it rain!" But wait again. What was Walker wearing and carrying when he was attacked? Oh yes, that's right. He had 3,000 dollars and 7,500 worth of bling! 10 grand worth of goods! That just might temp a man in Sin City to maybe, just maybe, attack him. Now I may be naive here, so bear with me. I don't think it is the smartest thing to do to walk around a city full of creeps with a bunch of money flauting around your chains. That is just me and my old white boy values.  

But this is nothing new! We see this all the time. Atheletes that get themselves in trouble because they can't possibly sit home and watch the latest episode of Desperate Housewives like the rest of us. They just have to go be a pimp in Las Vegas to prove their cool to their bros and hoes. Go big or go home they say. And we all remember what happened to former Redskins safety Sean Taylor(R.I.P) He made some bad friends because he had flaunted his newfound wealth around and then he went and got killed. And Javon Walker was close to the same fate.

Now why is this common in the NFL. I have several thoughts.

1. The black mentality. Oh man, did I just say that? I said black, and I generalized! Holy ####! Kill me now. I am a suppremist. Actully no. But as many can see, it seems to be common for many black atheletes to go around and try to be cooler than Jay-Z or 50 Cent. They got the chains, they got the cash. Let's see who can be the bigger man. Now get in the car and we'll get a guy in a drive-by. Many black stars in the NFL are overwelmed at the fame and fortune because many had grown up in poor conditions and now can't get used to this.
2. The No Fun League. Man, what is up with the league. No drugs, no fights, no nothing! This isn't fair. I wanna pop my booze at whoever I want and I want to make it rain like Katrina! That is the mindset of many of the players today, (cough) Ocho Cinco (cough). I think that these players are just so put off by the thought of behaving like adults that they have to release that energy somewhere. For elementary schoolkids, its recess. For these "adults", I guess it is strippers. To each his own I guess. But you can't go around picking fights because you thought that the stipper knew it was YOUR money, if after you put it in her garter belt. Morons.

We need to stop this epidemic of crime in the NFL before it becomes an worse. I like what Goodell is doing but just ban these guys for life. Not just year after year. Adam Jones, gone. Oddell Thurman, gone. Tank Johnson, gone! All gone! We need a league of role models.

 

What is going on in our world today? Money is worth more than dignity? Here is a story that just boggled my mind, found on FoxSports.

Updated: June 10, 2008, 4:08 PM EST CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) - As an aspiring racing official, Mauricia Grant had grown used to working in a man's world.

 

When she finally made it into NASCAR, Grant was appalled at the way she says she was treated beginning from her first day on the job until her firing last October.

Now she's suing NASCAR for $225 million, alleging racial and sexual discrimination, sexual harassment and wrongful termination.

"I loved it. It was a great, exciting, adrenaline-filled job where I worked with fast cars and the best drivers in the world," Grant told The Associated Press. "But there was an ongoing daily pattern (of harassment). It was the nature of the people I worked with, the people who ran it, it trickled down from the top.

Mauricia Grant alleges that she was both racially and sexually discriminated against by NASCAR officials. (Courtesy of Morelli Ratner / Special to FOXSports.com)

"It's just the way things are in the garage."

The 32-year-old Grant, who is black, worked as a technical inspector responsible for certifying cars in NASCAR's second-tier Nationwide Series from January 2005 until her termination. In the lawsuit, she alleged she was referred to as "Nappy Headed Mo" and "Queen Sheba," by co-workers, was often told she worked on "#### people time," and was frightened by one official who routinely made references to the Ku Klux Klan.

In addition, Grant said she was subjected to sexual advances from male co-workers, two of whom allegedly exposed themselves to her, and graphic and lewd jokes.

The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, lists 23 specific incidents of alleged sexual harassment and 34 specific incidents of alleged racial and gender discrimination beginning when she was hired in January 2005 thru her October 2007 firing.

NASCAR spokesman Ramsey Poston said the organization had not yet reviewed the suit.

"As an equal opportunity employer, NASCAR is fully committed to the spirit and letter of affirmative action law," Poston said, adding NASCAR has a zero tolerance policy for harassment.

In the lawsuit, Grant said she complained numerous times to her supervisors about how she was treated, to no avail. On one occasion, Grant said Nationwide Series director Joe Balash, her immediate supervisor, was dismissive of her complaints, explaining her co-workers were "former military guys" with a rough sense of humor. "You just have to deal with it," she says Balash told her.

On another occasion, she alleged Balash participated in the harassment.

"Does your workout include an urban obstacle course with a flat-screen TV on your back?" she claimed Balash asked her during the week of July 28, 2007 while working in Indianapolis.

Grant told the AP her two younger sisters witnessed racial discrimination against the official while visiting her at Daytona International Speedway in 2006 and encouraged her to document every incident going forward.

 

The lawsuit details a series of those alleged incidents:

- Grant was forced to work outside more often than the white male officials because her supervisors believed she couldn't sunburn because she was black.

- While riding in the backseat of her car pool at Talladega Superspeedway, co-workers told her to duck as they passed race fans. "I don't want to start a riot when these fans see a black woman in my car," she claims one official said.

- When packing up a dark garage at Texas Motor Speedway an official told Grant: "Keep smiling and pop your eyes out 'cause we can't see you."

- When she ignored advances from co-workers, Grant was accused of being ####. She also claimed co-workers questioned the sexual orientation of two other female officials.

After her termination, Grant said she went over her notes and recognized "a pattern of retaliation and discrimination."

"It didn't diminish my love for the sport of auto racing, but the job wasn't always the easiest thing to go to every day," she said.

Grant said she routinely complained to her supervisors. Two weeks after her final complaint, Grant said she was warned during the week of August 18, 2007 at Michigan International Speedway that she had engaged in "conduct unbecoming of a NASCAR representative" and would be fired unless she changed her behavior. She said the warning stemmed from a confrontation with a track official who stopped her as she passed through a gate to use the restroom.

Roughly two months later, Grant was fired, and NASCAR cited a poor work performance in ending her employment. The lawsuit claims other than a previous warning for using "street" language, Grant had never been disciplined for job performance and routinely received positive reviews.

In addition, the suit claims official Heather Gambino was fired in 2006 for complaining about a sexually hostile work environment. The suit also claims former official Dean Duckett, who is black, was reprimanded and ultimately fired last November for using "aggressive language toward a white co-worker."

Among those identified in Grant's suit are Balash, assistant series director Mike Dolan, supervisors Alan Shephard and Dennis Dillon, NASCAR's senior manager for business relations, the human resources director and 17 of Grant's fellow officials. All of the defendants are white.

"And I knew that once I was terminated, there wasn't going to be an opportunity for me to find another industry like NASCAR to practice my craft" she said.

Ok well in no way do I condone the behavior of the male officials, if it is true, but I do not understand this one thing about these types of cases. Well 2 things actully. One, why the hell does she need 225 million dollars! For being called racial and sexual names? Hell no! Women in the inner cities are beaten and treated worse then her but when they complain the response is, "Get out." This women in no way is justified to basically win the lottery for being called names. I would go through hell and back in a handbasket, naked, if I could get a chunk of her payday. But the thing is, she isnt even the only one! Anucha Browne Sanders, remember her? The knicks official who sued Isiah Thomas for 10 million because he "allegedly" called her a #### and said the f-bomb. Wow, big nothing! Someone drops the F-Bomb and calls you a name, you walk away! You don't automaticly make more money than one family might make, all sibling combined, in 3 generations! Not in my world you dont!

And my second point, why is it that the women demand reinstatement of their jobs? They don't need the money obviously. They do it to be arrogant, to say that, "I have money AND I can still work here with you knowing I won. Those ####es! Excuse my french, but, those ####es!!! If what they said was soooo bad, then why would they want to work with the same people who according to the women, tried to grope them and made sexual and racial advances on them? They just want to wave their snotty little faces in the air shouting that they won.

Last but not least, I'm bringing up the race issue. Oh man! Here it is! I'm now a racist! Bring it on naive haters! The lawsuit says she was warned by NASCAR officials that she was on warning for provacative "street" language, which to many, is black language. Also, the lawsuit claims a fellow co-worker was fired for making aggresive advances on a white official. Though the prosecution may try to make this informaton work to their advantage, I see a disadvantage. I see a trend here. Maybe it was her, Mauricia Grant, who was the problem. Oh, what a novel idea, "victim" who turned out to be the problem. But in todays world that doesn't happen. Allegations become convictions. And see if you can follow this picture with me. Brown and fellow black co-workers hanging, not doing their work, and a white supervisior comes over and tells them to get to work. They, in turn, repsond in some #### language and it unfolds from there.

All I'm saying is, think about this.

God the year in baseball has been a wacky one. And oh yeah, It's just June! I still got more than 4 months of this stuff, predicting who will win, who will lose. I need Asprin. But many teams and players alike, not all of the stars, have risen beyond expectations and are looking at career years. Some will continue into stardom while the rest will crash and burn like my buddies on my coach the day after the Super Bowl and 10 bowls of nachos. But let's see if I can predict who and what teams will stay above the curve, shall we.

1) Chipper Jones, 3B, Atlanta Braves:  Jones has been on a tear. A tear like one on your underpants after an atomic wedgie. Oh yeah. He's batting .416, highest in the majors and is 6th in the National league in homers and 8th in RBI. Now many of you may think this is going to go away because he's never done thing. Uhh, big wrong! Remember last year? The dude hit a porcelain clean .337 and had 29 big shots. Every year since 2004 his average has gone up at least .18 points. He could easily hit above .350 this year no sweat. But hear is what I give him.  A line of .342, 32 homers, 109 RBIs and 201 hits. Boom.

2) Tampa Bay Rays: God, one of the most suprising and good-story teams, but I can't help but wait for the day the start to burn. But it won't happen suddenly. A game here or there, a small injury, but soon it will seem like they are 2 games, 5 games, then 10 games back and not in first, but in 3rd or maybe 4th, depending on the Jays. So far they are 35-25, a good 10 games over .500 and a game and a half behind the Sox. But remember, they are on a 3 game losing streak and the fire seems to be going out. Unless Joe Maddon can get these guys going, I see a almost predictable season of 85 wins and 77 losses.

3) Brandon Webb. So far, the best pitcher in baseball and almost a lock for the Cy Young. So far, the best record in baseball at 11-2. But many of those wins came from the early part of the season when the D-Backs were on a roll. Now, on a 3 game skid, they are slowing down. Webb is 2-2 in his last 4 starts when he was 9-0 in his previous starts. Yes, I do think he will still get the Cy Young because the NL is still a shallow pool even with Zambrano and Santana. I really think he'll have a 22-9 season with a 2.98 ERA and 207 K's.

4) Chase Utley: Why didn't any of us see this coming? Anyone? The signs have been there for years. His average has raised steadily in the past 4 years and now is his breakout year. The Phillies are in first, they look to go deep into October and he is Moses, taking them to the promised land. He already has 21 homeruns, 2nd in the NL and he has knocked in 53 guys. A season of .329, 42 homers, and 104 RBI's seems to be in order.

Now why are many of these guys in the NL? I think the NL is on the verge of becoming the sronger league, if not already so. The DH's in the AL have become old, (Ortiz, Hafner) and the NL has been biding there time in the draft. Teams like the Cubs and Phillies could easily beat aging teams like the Yankees and the Tigers, though I do think the Red Sox still own the league, either AL or NL. But players start hot every year and every team looks like they could make it to October. BUT TOO BAD! ONLY 2 TEAMS DO! The rest will be sitting home. Like me. Goodnight folks.

As we come to a close in our NFL regular season games ,we look at the teams that jumped in and were popped out of the playoff bubble. There are teams that should have made it and in many opinions teams that shouldn't have. The latter happens alot in all sports, including baseball and basketball.I think we need to make some urgent changes to out playoff systems, to reasonablalize the format for getting in and how we should determine the winner. I will cover baseball today, and college football and basketball tomorow,along with pro football. Here we go.

Baseball- This past season in baseball we had many close races in all divisions. 4 out of the 6 divisons were decided by less than 5 games and all of them were decided by less than 10 games. In the NL West, what some call the best division, there had to be a playoff to determine who would get a spot in October ball, and they werent even fighting for the division title. There could have easily been three teams from the NL West that could have been championship contenders, while in the NL East or NL Central, there might as well been no team that made it, seeing as none of the teams won 90 games, what I consider to be a benchmark for success. So here is what we should do.

1) Abolish the division system in determining playoff rankings. Why should the Cubs make it even when the Padres, who had a better record by 5 games, didn't? Sure, you can keep the divisions to preserve rivalries, such as Red Sox-Yankees, but this would take out the problems we have every year of complaints that their division was to hard and someone elses was to easy. The Top 5 teams from each league would make the playoffs. The format would be, 1 has a bye, 2 plays 5, and 3 plays 4. Then the winners would play each other in a semi-final game to determine who would play the first seed, with that game finding the league champion.

OR

2) Another option would be keep the divisions and instead set a benchmark on wins-losses to determine playoff teams. With a 90 win benchmark, this would allow in the teams that deserved it and again, end the controversy of weaker divisions being easier. Luckily with this year, no team that had 90 wins was shut out of the playoffs. But teams like the Cubs and Phillies had less than 90 wins and still got in. With a benchmark win total, it would allow only the best clubs in.

 

This season, if college football and the pros alike, we have lost to starting QB's, Sam Bradford and Trent Green to injury, both concussions. And both because both players went out of their specified job tasks and got hurt. Trent Green laid a dirty and unnececary  block and Bradford went out of his way to tackle a man that would have been tackled a yard later anyway. This, to me, is unneceptible.

The rough and tough game of football has taken it's toll on many a man, and I accept that. We all know that you pay a price to be in the prestigous NFL. But there must be precautions taken, and as there are a lot of measures to ensure players health, we need more. Specificly, we need more about quarterbacks. The QB is the only position where it doesn't change during the game, barring injury. They can make or break a game. Think what would happen if the Patriots or Colts lost Tom Brady or Peyton Manning, respectively. Those teams would be in very sad shape. Also, if you want to think in an owner's mind, look at how much renevue is lost when the star player is out. Kobe isn't playing tonight? Let's not go. So with all of this, owners and coaches alike, with the commisioners office, need to step up and lay down restrictions of QB play.

Why do we let these game-changers to endanger their health in avoidible situations.  Shouldn't the commisioner and others in high offices who are so concerned with concussions be concerned with why they get them? They were avoidible! The dolphins might have won a game or two had not Mr. Incredible gone and tried to be a tough guy. By the way, why  did Green make the block? It wasn't like the guy was going to make the play. I think they should implement rules to limit the quarterback's involvment in plays that normally shouldn't involve themselves.

• Get the quarterback off the field after an interception/fumble that is being ran back. Have an official tell him to leave the field. Also, if he interferes with the play, make it a 10 yard penalty. Show these guys that they don't have to do everything.

All in all, we could save these men from missing seasons, and most importantly, missing part of their lives due to post-concussion illnesses.

Well as we rumble into the final month of the MLB regular season with many a team fighting for a spot in the playoffs, there are alot of busts and alot of suprise helpers. We have over 10 teams that still have October in their sights. But what did it take to get there, and how much did they spend to get it. So today, I'll examine some big-name stars, some that can be called overpaid.

Now let's take Roger Clemens. He was one of the biggest stories this offseason and during the Yankees usual 2 month slump to start the season. There were questions surrounding him, mainly, how much did he deserve to make. The Yankees, who usually spend money blindly, decided he needed 18 million dollars to fit his talent level. Well, now the Rocket it 6-6 and is looking like what he is, a heavy, 45 year old man trying to play a younger man's sport. So if we can determine how good he really is, then we can see the real value of other players by Yankee Standards. Now, if we use a system devised by my boys down at the office, thanks guys, I'll tell you how much Jake Peavy would be worth if he went to the Evil Empire.

Now wins and losses don't hold much, if any weight in this formula. It focuses on K-BB ratio, WHIP, and homeruns per- innings pitced. One of the simplest versions of this formula is the points system, so I'll be using that. For K-BB ratio, pitchers within the 1-2 K range get 10 points, 2-3 get 20, and 3-4 get 30. Clemens has a 2.2 K-BB ratio so he gets 20 points. Peavy, on the other hand, has a 3.7 K-BB ratio so he gets 30 points. For WHIP, pitchers start at 50 points and for every tenth of a point after the starting whole number of 1 lose 10 points. Peavy has a 1.03 WHIP so he comes out with 46 points there while Clemense, who has a 1.34 WHIP comes out with 27 points. As of now Peavy leads Clemens 70 points to 47 points. For homeruns-innings pitches, for every inning pitched without a homerun, the pitcher gets a point. Clemens has a 10.7 innings pitched ratio for 11 points and Peavy has a 26 innings pitched ratio for 26 points. So at the end of it all, Peavy wins 96 to 58.  

Now we divide Clemens salary by his number of points, 58, and we get 310,334 dollars per every points, compared to just 49, 479 for Peavy. Then we multiply the per-point amount for Clemens by Peavy's point total, 96, and we get 29,793,024, the amount of money Peavy would be mathematicly values at if he were signed by the Yankees.

Now this would never happen, but who knows? It's the Yankees.

 

Here are my 2007 NFL season predictions. These will include awards and how well some players will do.

AFC East: Patriots(13-3) Jets(11-5) Bills(8-8) Dolphins(6-10)

AFC North: Ravens(11-5) Bengals(10-6) Steelers(9-7) (Browns4-12)

AFC South: Colts(13-3) Jaguars(9-7) Titans (7-9) Texans (5-11)

AFC West: Chargers(14-2) Broncos (10-6) Chiefs (9-7) Raiders (4-12)

NFC East: Cowboys( 11-5) Eagles (10-6) Giants( 9-7) Redskins (6-10)

NFC North: Bears (11-5, 8-8 if Grossman plays a whole year) Vikings(8-8) Packers (8-8) Lions (7-9)

NFC South: Saints(11-5) Falcons(9-7) Bucs (8-8) Panthers(7-9)

NFC West: Rams (12-4) Seahawks (10-6) 49ers (9-7) Cardinals (6-10)

Super Bowl Winner: Patriots.

I have to go, but I will write a continuation of this tomorow.

 

In light of the Michael Vick debacle, I have heard numerous opinions on the values of a dogs life over a humans, how killing a dear is different than killing a dog, and many more. I have come up with some questions for you all to see where your sould lies.

• Is a dogs life worth less than a humans? What if the human is blind, deaf, and a quadrapaligic who is also mentally retarded?
• Is hunting a deer the same as killing a dog? What if you also eat the dog and use the parts, Native American style?
• Like in the first question, if you murder the disabled person should you get 20 more years in prison than you would get for killing dogs?
• Since so many of you say people hunt deer to control the population, if there was a spike in the dog population, is it humane to let them run wild and hunt them with guns or bows?

Here are some that don't have to do with sports.

• Which is worse? Driving while talking on a cell phone or smoking crack? They're both illegal.
• Which should get the longer sentence? Child abuse or abuse on an adult?

Now I for one am not an any side int his argument except that what Vick did was inhumane and cruel. I would just like your insight on these scenarious. Thanks.

I just wanted to give some props to my fellow great bloggers out there. Here is the ten best bloggers writing today, in no particular order....

-Strait Talk from the Left Coast

-SoCalSportsFan's Blog

-MoneyBlog

-Kenrick Thomas's Blog

-Josh g. Public

-Ramblings of a Sports Nerd

-UltraMega

-FatMaw

-The Dark Knight Speaks

-ShortySporty's Sports Saying Sayings

In today's sports world, we hear teams, mostly in major league baseball, pout and cry about how they can't win with a market as small as they have it. They don't have enough money to compete with the big guns, like the New Yorks, or the Bostons. But if you look at it, having a larger market doesn't translate into a winning team. Sure, having your team in a big market helps a lot but it in no way gives you an edge automaticly.

I'll use the biggest example, the New York Yankees. They, with the Mets, have the biggest market in all of baseball yet they are 8 games behind the Red Sox for the division crown and not moving up any faster. That's because years and years of buying the players they wanted got them alot of arrogance, so they depleted the farm system. I hate when people say they dislike the Yankees because they just win because they have the biggest market revenue and can buy all their players. That doesn't work out. The teams have to scout and develope to be good. Let's look at the Milwaukee Brewers. They have the second to last market size! Yet they're tied for the National League Central lead. They win by develepment. They brought up J.J.Hardy, Prince Fielder, Bill Hall, and Corey Hart. Those are all contributing players on the team. The Brew Crew didn't go out and cry about their market size, they made the best of a hard situation and took to the scouts to win. In the bottom 10 markets, 5 of those teams have winning record and lead the division, or are back by less than 5 games. That should be a point for all the teams, "cough, Pittsburg, "cough, that they can win just as easily as a larger market team with a little work and ingenutity. Here is the list of teams by market size.

1) New York, 2) Los Angeles, 3) Boston, 4) Aneheim, 5) Philedelphia, 6) Baltimore, 7) Seattle, 8)Chicago, 9) Atlanta, 10) Toronto,  11) Dallas(Rangers), 12) Miami(Marlins), 13)Detroit, 14) Houston, 15) Tampa, 16) Cleveland, 17)San Franciso, 18)Minnesota, 19)Cinncinatti, 20)Phoenix, 21)Oakland, 22)Denver, 23) St. Louis, 24) Pittsburg, 25) San Diego, 26) Milwaukee, 27)Kansas City.