Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Adenhart is Still With Them


Photo courtesy of NJ.com.

The Angels celebrated another AL West division title last night, but after the traditional beer and champagne pouring in the clubhouse, the team walked out to the centerfield wall where a mural of Nick Adenhart, the rookie pitcher killed by a drunk driver in April, sits.

No matter what team you root for normally, you can't help but root for the Angels a little this year in light of the Adenhart tragedy. There are moments when the reality that the game of baseball being a low priority is reinforced. This was one of those moments. I went to Angels Stadium for the Angels-Red Sox series in April, a day or two after the crash. A huge memorial of flowers and photos was out front of the home plate gate and an eerie silence fell over passers by.

The drunk driver, 22-year-old Andrew Thomas Gallo, was charged in April for three counts of second-degree murder and could face life in prison. He had multiple DUI arrests and did had a suspended license at the time of the crash. He plead not guilty to the murder charges. If convicted, he could face anywhere from 55 years to life in prison.

The Angels have a tough road ahead of them (they play Boston in the first round of playoffs), but this team is gelling and as cohesive as ever. To see the tribute from last night (and a great column by Eric Neel to boot), go here. For a SoCal perspective, try this LA Times column.

Friday, September 25, 2009

Friday Video: Basketball in Aggieland

These videos have been making the rounds online this week. Real or fake? You decide...



Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Book Review: The Blind Side


Photo courtesy of DailyRadar.com.

I finished Michael Lewis' book The Blind Side a few weeks ago. What a great story with a lot of heart. The book alternates between the history of the left tackle position, the player that protects the quarterback's blind side, in the NFL and the story of Michael Oher, a kid growing up in the impoverished slums of west Memphis, taken in by the wealthy Tuohy family and given a chance to succeed in football as a left tackle.

The left tackle position was undervalued in the early days of the NFL until Lawrence Taylor, linebacker of the New York Giants, wrecked havoc on quarterbacks by attacking their blind side. The book begins with Washington Redskins quarterback Joe Theismann suffering a severe injury at the hands of Taylor. Later on, San Francisco 49ers coach Bill Walsh, the genius behind the "West Coast Offense", devised a plan to stop Taylor by putting his biggest blocker on the left side. Now that the passing game is even more crucial to teams than ever, the left tackle is often times the second highest-paid player on the team.

But it was the story of Michael Oher that was the highlight of the book. Michael was an African-American kid who had hardly ever slept on a bed, or known what having his own room was like. His mom was a drug addict, they lived in housing projects (appropriately named Hurt Village), he had to repeat first and second grade, and was what some would consider "damaged goods". After a family friend sent his son and Michael to a private, mostly white Christian school on the other side of town, the Tuohy family effectively adopts him and sets him on a path to success in both academics (his GPA went from a 0.9 to a 2.65) and sports. He was the school's starting left tackle and went on to earn a scholarship from Ole Miss, the same school that Mr. and Mrs. Tuohy attended. Michael currently plays in the NFL for the Baltimore Ravens as the rookie starting right tackle, though he may move back to left tackle after gaining experience at the pro level. The Ravens' offensive line, the group of players that Oher is a part of, is receiving early rave reviews for protecting quarterback Joe Flacco.

The book's main flaw was there were times reading the book where I wanted to get back to Michael Oher's story, rather than hear the nuances of the evolution of the left tackle. Oher's story is so gripping, you want to see more of it and the left tackle history can get a bit technical at times, losing casual readers.

To hear author Michael Lewis in an NPR interview for the book, go here. And, as with most books, a movie adaptation is on the way this November (video courtesy of A3FilmTrailers/Warner Bros.):

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Newspaper Bailouts?


Photo of The Boston Globe headquarters courtesy of The Atlantic.

This isn't necessarily a sports related post, but rather a topic that affects sports media. Political website TheHill.com posted an article Sunday afternoon saying President Obama is "open" and "happy to look at" a bill that would effectively bailout the newspaper industry. The bill, S. 673 "Newspaper Revitalization Act", was introduced by Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD) and co-sponsored by Sen. Barbara Mikulski, also a Maryland Democrat. The bill would give tax breaks to news organizations that restructure as nonprofits.

It's no surprise newspapers are struggling. Denver's Rocky Mountain News folded in February, Seattle's Post-Intelligencer moved exclusively to online format in March, and the Philadelphia Daily News merged with the Philadelphia Inquirer earlier this year. The Boston Globe nearly folded in May, but was saved by union worker concessions. In addition to declining ad revenue, some would say newspapers in most major cities are too politically slanted one way or another to be a reliable news source.

So what would being a nonprofit do to newspapers, and more specifically, sportswriters at the newspapers? First, I think it would make travel hard for reporters. For example, the lead political reporter for the Miami Herald has to go to Denver for a political party's convention while the Marlins beat writer has to go to Milwaukee for a three-game baseball series. The political reporter would win, leaving sports fans in Miami out in the cold. In other words, where would the now-nonprofit companies get the money to pay for expenses like reporter travel, maintenance for the printing machines, and the like? Foundation grants? Taxpayers?

But the person that would most be affected by this proposed bill is the sports fan. City politics can be covered by the local broadcast news in a way sports cannot. By the time the sports segment of the late local news comes on, the majority of the audience has been lost, whereas political news would be at the top of the newscast. The newspaper beat writers that follow the local sports teams are te best place to go for in-depth analysis for the team, not the broadcast news. For example, the Boston Globe employs three writers to exclusively follow the Red Sox. Likewise, the Los Angeles Times employs Andrew and Brian Kamenetzky to exclusively write on the Lakers. Would these organizations be able to have this setup for fans? Would these writers even have a job?

All these questions plus the thought of yet another bailout lead to more questions than answers for an industry that is built on getting answers. To read the original article at TheHill.com, go here.

Monday, September 21, 2009

Fall of the Trojans?


Photo courtesy of the National Post.

On Saturday, the USC Trojans were upended by the underdog Washington Huskies 16-13. As a result, they fell from #3 to #12 in the polls, erasing their national title hopes. There has been much speculation on the net since that this may be the year the Trojan "dynasty" ends. While that seems premature, they sure haven't looked as dominant on defense as in years past and their quarterback situation is tenuous at best. Does Pete Carroll really want to start a freshman against Cal? The backup hasn't been very good either.

The October 3 game at Cal will effectively decide the Pac-10 title. Cal has a Heisman Trophy contender in Jahvid Best and the Golden Bears are ranked #6 in the country as of today. If USC wins, they'll probably end up going to the Rose Bowl for the 5th straight time. If Cal wins, USC would be out of the BCS for the first time since 2001. I'm not ready to say this is the end of the Trojan dominance on the West Coast, but if Cal wins and SC goes to a minor bowl, then one can say the balance of power is shifting.

Friday, September 11, 2009

Friday Funnies - Vader Dances

Since I'm at Disney World today (celebrating E.H.'s first birthday and R.H.'s RnR from Afghanistan), I figured I'd post these videos from Star Wars Weekends, an annual event held at Walt Disney World every June. This Vader knows how to get his groove on.



Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Here Come the Western Teams!


Photo courtesy of Howtowatchsports.com

As I previously discussed in this post, there is a perceived sense of East Coast bias in the sports media, specifically at ESPN. College sports, particularly football, can be susceptible to this claim. So it comes as a nice surprise that when the new AP top 25 college football poll was released, 5 of the top 20 teams are from states west of the Rockies. They are (rankings in parentheses):

USC (3), BYU (9), Cal (10), Boise State (12), Utah (17)

While USC is a traditional powerhouse, others like Boise State and BYU aren't. These schools are at a fundamental disadvantage compared even to the likes of USC or Cal because they are in a non-BCS conference.

The BCS is the Bowl Championship Series. It's the Rose, Sugar, Fiesta, Orange and National Title bowl games that help determine a national championship. Certain conferences have guaranteed slots in these bowls, while others don't. For example, the Pac-10 champ is guaranteed to at least go to the Rose Bowl, if not the national title game. Boise State's conference, the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) does not have that guarantee. The BCS has relaxed the rules a bit to allow for non-BCS teams to play in a BCS bowl, but in order for that to happen, the team pretty much has to go undefeated.

Arguably the most memorable BCS bowl has been the 2007 Fiesta Bowl between Boise State and Oklahoma. It symbolized everything about the modern college football scene. Boise State, the outsider finally allowed to join the dance was the utter underdog against a potent Oklahoma team that was used to playing in the big bowl games. But one famous play left a mark on the status quo of the football bowl system...



Now, almost two years later, Boise State is back in the top 15, but this time, fellow Western teams have joined the fray. BYU has been good the last couple of years, but after their upset win against Oklahoma, they're in the top 10. Cal is in the top 10, though they won't stay there if they don't beat USC later this season. Cal's Rose Bowl and/or title hopes rest on that game. Utah may make a run as well, but with BYU and Boise State ahead of them, it's going to take a lot of surprises to bump them up. Either way, the Mountain West conference will be a slugfest between BYU, Utah, and TCU and the stakes can be very high this year.

As for movers and shakers for this year, I think Oklahoma State, in addition to Boise and BYU will be the darkhorses for the national title. If we can't have a playoff system like March Madness, than this will have to do. The unfortunate reality in college football is that the powerhouses seem to always win, because of the vast financial resources available to them via boosters. Florida, Texas, USC, Ohio State, and LSU are consistently in the hunt for a title, sometimes just based on the history of the program (in the case of Michigan the last few years.)

Friday, September 4, 2009

Friday Humor - Soxycontin

Here's a little humorous video to start your Labor Day weekend. When needing a pain reliever to cure your team's blues, this might do the trick...



To watch on YouTube, click here.

Video courtesy of TownieNews.com

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Social Lockdown in the NFL?

The NFL has recently announced that players will not be able to post Facebook or Twitter updates 90 minutes before kickoff and 90 minutes after the game, after the postgame interviews with the press. While this policy is well-intentioned, it may get a bit excessive, as was the case with the San Diego Chargers' Antonio Cromartie. He was fined $2500 by the Chargers for criticizing the food service at training camp on Twitter. The Miami Dolphins even went as far as to impose restrictions on spectators during training camp. Several other teams, including the New Orleans Saints, Indianapolis Colts, and the New England Patriots, have restrictions in place on the practice field.

Twitter is a great chat tool that can easily get misused. I think the Chargers' fining Cromartie was an over-step, while I understand the moves by the Colts and other teams banning Twitter and Facebook from the practice field. The NFL 90 minute policy, while seemingly a little excessive, is well intentioned. The players' focus should be on the game, not posting their latest status update.