n.c.a.a. fails to end lawsuit

i am for almost ANYTHING that could potentially decrease the indiscriminate power, secrecy, and hypocrisy of the ncaa, esp with regards to its 2 cash cows: college football and basketball. therefore, this lawsuit brings me joy.

more doubt cast on shoeless joe jackson's alleged sin

Maybe it ain’t so, Joe. For 90 years the reputation of Chicago White Sox outfielder "Shoe­less" Joe Jackson has been tarnished by the be­lief that he and seven of his teammates threw the 1919 World Series to the Cincinnati Reds. The Black Sox scandal was seemingly validated by Eliot Asinof’s historical account, Eight Men Out.

This short article casts doubt on the allegedly definitive book on the subject by Asinof and is worth your time: American Bar Association


it is difficult for me to ignore these 2 facts:
(1)

In 1921, a Chicago jury acquitted [Joe] and his seven White Sox teammates of any wrongdoing. Nevertheless, Kenesaw Mountain Landis, the newly-appointed Commissioner of Baseball, banned all eight accused players, claiming baseball's need to clean up its image took precedence over legal judgments. As a result, Jackson never played major league baseball after the 1920 season.

(2)

During the series, Jackson had 12 hits and a .375 batting average — in both cases leading both teams. The 12 hits were a World Series record. He committed no errors and even threw out a runner at the plate. Jackson did bat worse in the five games that the White Sox lost, hitting .286, with no RBIs until the final contest, Game 8, when he hit a home run in the 3rd inning and added two more RBIs on a double in the 8th, when the White Sox were way behind. This does not appear to be a valid argument, since Jackson only hit .066 in the four games of the 1917 World Series in which the White Sox either lost to or did not tromp the New York Giants. It is often said that the Cincinnati Reds hit an unusually high number of triples to left field where Jackson played during the series. This is not supported by the contempory newspaper accounts. According to first hand accounts, none of the triples were hit to left field

Source: Wikipedia

the intersection of law and sports

the supreme court will be hearing oral arguments tomorrow on a very important case as to whether the nfl is one business or an ensemble of 32 teams operating in concert. if it is 32 businesses operating in concert, then the entire league could be subjected to anti-trust laws. the nfl is seeking complete anti-trust exemption, a la major league baseball (to date the only american sport with such an exemption).

for a great synopsis of the case, read this associated press article.
money quote:

American Needle sued the league and Reebok in 2004, claiming the deal violated antitrust law. Lower courts threw out the suit, holding that nothing in antitrust law prohibits NFL teams from cooperating on apparel licensing so the league can compete against other forms of entertainment.

But in what sports fans would call "running up the score," the NFL is asking the Supreme Court to review the case in hopes of getting a blanket antitrust exemption that could eliminate most, if not all, the antitrust suits against the league.

"It was an odd request - similar to my asking an official to review an 80-yard pass of mine that the official had already ruled a touchdown," New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees wrote in The Washington Post. Brees serves on the executive committee of the NFL Players Association.

UPDATE (1/13/10):
supreme court justices seem skeptical of nfl's arguments

an injustice of epic proportions

i exaggerate, of course, with the title of this post, but i really am still in shock with an event i personally witnessed this past friday night.

for the video, go to:

http://videos.thestate.com/vmix_hosted_ ... id=1746217

then click on the summerville vs. spartanburg 4A highlights for a 3mn video of my high school team (spartanburg high) in the 4A state championship basketball game against summerville (with a.j. green, a very highly recruited wide receiver who's going to georgia - by the way, georgia fans, if green is better in football than he is in basketball, the SEC better watch out. he's an unbelievable athlete. dam$it, why didn't you stay in state and come play for Spurrier?!?!?!).

back to the injustice at hand - i was at the game. 5th row seats at midcourt at the colonial center in columbia, sc. it was a great game which my team should have won. and we did win it had the refs not screwed us over. on the very last shot (65 foot shot buzzer beater when we were down by 2 pts) i heard the horn go off as the ball was in the air. granted, the judgment call was much closer on this video than i remembered it, but it still looks to me as if it was out of his hands before the red light went off. regardless, wouldn't you think that when the refs had to spend about 2 or 3 minutes making a decision as to whether the shot was on time or not, that the tie would go to the shooter????? i think it should.

there were at least 6 or 7 video monitors at the game that i saw. i can understand not mandating video review at the high school level (probably too expensive to justify), but when it's for the state championship, and you're playing at the colonial center, video replay should have been used. it wasn't. and there were 4 senior starters on the spartanburg vikings who will never forget the injustice that was done to them b/c of a moronic devotion to the letter of the law (not allowing video review), when the spirit of the law (finding out if the shot was released on time) should have prevailed.

i realize it was just a high school game, but man, i think my team was robbed. . .

for whom does urban meyer work?

last i checked, urban meyer was the head football coach of the university of florida gators? why, then, was he also a commentator for fox at the b.c.s. national championship game last night? he didn't just do an interview or two during the lsu-ohio state non-game in which the s.e.c. once again showed its preeminent status in college football. rather, he was a part of the pre-game, halftime, and post-game shows. i would not want my college coach focused on such a job, but maybe that's just me. . .

Lou Holtz's Newspaper Magic Trick

you gotta love lou holtz. sure, he can be pretty senile at times, and he certainly did not live up to expectations as head coach of my usc gamecocks. however, he certainly had a key role in bringing our current head coach, mr. spurrier, to town, and for that, i will be forever grateful. and apparently, he's pretty good at magic, as this video demonstrates. i'm pretty impressed. with the magic.

sports excitement

i'm pretty pumped about the near-future prospects of my three favorite sports teams: the kentucky wildcats, south carolina gamecocks, and atlanta braves.

kentucky hired a terrific head coach who seems to work harder than any coach around. i'm not sure he has enough horses this coming year to win it all, but i definitely think the 'cats could be a top 10 team most of the year.

usc has one of the best coaches of all time who is notorious for accurately and honestly assessing his program (and other programs as well) without sugar-coating with coachspeak. his proclamation that usc can compete for a SEC crown this year. means. a. lot.

john schuerholz's moves in the past week have legitimately made the braves a contender for this year's world series. if john smoltz and tim hudson can continue their very solid years, it looks like the team now has enough of an offense and an improved bullpen to be able to win it all. i just wish they didn't have to cut julio franco in the process...

julio

one of my favorite sports figures of all time (is he really 48 years old? or older? he genuinely does not know his age) is returning to where he belongs.

rugby players are tough

i had a friend when i was in 7th or 8th grade whose dad was a professional rugby player. he told me his dad would break a finger, on average, about every other week. of course, breaking his finger would not prevent him from playing or practicing. that's not how rugby players think. another case in point:

BRISBANE, Australia — Rugby player Ben Czislowski kept competing for more than three months despite the headaches that started after a clash with an opponent.Czislowski was playing for Brisbane team Wynnum during the April 1 incident involving Tweed Heads forward Matt Austin. He had a head wound stitched up afterward, the Australian Associated Press reported Tuesday.Czislowski later suffered an eye infection and complained of lethargy and shooting pains in his head.Then last week, his doctor found a tooth imbedded in Czislowski's head."I can laugh about it now, but the doctor told me it could have been serious, with teeth carrying germs," Czislowski said."I've got the tooth at home, sitting on the bedside table," he said. "If he (Austin) wants it back he can have it. I'm keeping it at the moment as proof that it actually happened."

spoiled and spilt: a sunday to remember

so i hosted my first annual breakfast at wimbledon party today (more about the party in a second). any tennis fan who watched this match must have felt as spoiled as i did. what a great, great match we witnessed. roger federer is the best tennis player of all time. the case in point: rafael nadal outplayed him today for four sets (on roger's best surface) and played the best match i've ever seen him play. and still could not beat roger.

congrats to roger for tying bjorn borg's record of 5 straight titles at wimbledon. both players played unbelievable tennis today. for those who don't follow tennis too closely or know tennis statistics, it's usually a sign of very good play for a player to have a one-to-one ratio of winners to unforced errors. in over 3 hours of tennis and 5 long, tight sets, federer had 65 winners to only 34 unforced errors and nadal had 50 winners and 24 unforced errors. that is amazing tennis, just in case you didn't watch the match and blatantly see just how good these two were playing. the only difference between the 2 players was federer's serve. roger had 24 aces, and nadal only had 1. that was too many easy service games for roger, and it ended up biting nadal in the final set.

overall, though, i think this match may have been the turning point in nadal's career when he realized that he can beat roger, even on grass, even when roger is at the top of his game. sure, nadal lost the match, but the next 5 years should be awesome to watch. this rivalry is already up there with some of the great duels of all time. i think it's already more intriguing than sampras-agassi (even though agassi is my favorite player of all time), and is getting close to the borg-mcenroe-connors era in terms of talent, consistency, and skill. if nadal can slightly improve his serve and go for more aces, especially on grass, i think nadal is going to win some of these matches in the near future. sure, nadal has proven he owns roger on clay. but i think he can translate that success on the other surfaces as well. he's mastered grass-court tennis and is already one of the best of all time on clay. let's see if he can take his solid play at the french and wimbledon into the hard court season in north america the rest of the summer. the past couple of years, it seems as if nadal's play has dipped going into the u.s. open, and he's also suffered a few injuries that have held him back. roger is close to being the best of all time on grass. and nadal is close to being the best of all time on clay. the scary thing is that they both are the second best on the surface that the other one dominates. it's great to see them play in their primes at the same time!

as for the party itself, it was a complete success (with traditional strawberries and cream, of course, as well as some bacon, a potato-based frittata dish that georgie's girlfriend made that was delicious, and some banana nut bread a guest brought that must have been really good b/c i didn't even get to try it before it was gone).

but most importantly, i discovered a new drink. in addition to the bloody marys and mimosas that were served, the same guest who made the banana nut bread brought an english drink i had never encountered before called pimm's. we mixed it with sprite, mint, lemons, limes, and ice. you can also mix it with just tonic water, but i think the sprite did very well. the concoction tastes a little bit like sweet tea and is delicious. i highly recommend it!

after an afternoon nap, i went to see a very good band, built to spill, at the 930 club. they are a very talented band whose albums i recommend anyone to buy. go see them live if you have a chance b/c they certainly take their craft very seriously. a little too seriously, in fact, if you ask me. in stark contrast to the polyphonic spree show i went to last weekend, this band is not very energetic at all. they are highly talented musicians, but da%n it, guys, show a little emotion! your music is too good not to get the crowd into it a little. although the lead singer did have one funny comment, delivered in a dead serious tone of voice:

"i want to thank the stay-lows for opening up tonight. we've been fortunate enough to play with them three times so far. [pause]. although, they really are dicks. [pause]. but their music is so good it doesn't really matter."

i'm assuming he was joking, but it was close to sounding as if he meant what he was saying literally....

the setlist, for those BTS groupies out there, was:

Liar
Nowhere Nothing Fuc%up
In The Morning
Velvet Waltz
Time Trap
Mess With Time
Car
Third Uncle (Eno)
The Source
Wherever You Go
Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss
Else
You Were Right
Carry The Zero

Encore: Randy Described Eternity

college sports

so i like college sports, especially univ. of kentucky basketball and univ. of south carolina football. it's the time of the year when the only thing to pay attention to in sports is major league baseball, and that's fine. for a while. i am also a big fan of the atlanta braves, but when it boils down to it, i'm realistically only going to be watching the majority of about one braves games every couple of weeks, so i guess i'm not as big of a baseball fan as some people are...

so back to kentucky basketball and south carolina football. i could not be more excited about either one.

uk's new coach, billy gillispie, has been better than advertised. how is that possible, considering he has yet to coach a single game at rupp arena as our new coach? one word: recruiting. gillispie has been on fire in the one area that tubby smith proved to be so inadequate at during his otherwise great tenure in lexington. the biggest accomplishment was the signing of 5-star recruit patrick patterson within weeks of landing the job. add that to the written or oral commitments of 5 other highly-recruited players for this coming year or the next two or three years in his first 3 months on the job, and i give billy a 12 out of 10 in terms of fitting into his new role as king of kentucky basketball.

prediction: the wildcats finish 2nd in the s.e.c. east behind tennessee, get a #3 ranking in the ncaa tourney and lose in the elite 8. billy's got some serious talent to coach with this year, but not quite enough to challenge the north carolina's, georgetown's, and kansas' of the world this season.

usc obviously has the most brilliant offensive mind in college football in sir steven orr spurrier (or "sos," as the message board's refer to him). if you need any proof of the previous sentence, ponder these statistics: the florida gators prior to s.o.s NEVER won more than 10 games in a season. he AVERAGED that many wins in 12 seasons. prior to his arrival, the gators NEVER won a s.e.c. championship. under him, they won 6. yes, his defenses were pretty darn good as well, but anybody who knows college football knows that sos revolutionized not only SEC offenses but those in all of college football.

although last year ended on a high note for the gamecocks, with wins at rival clemson and in the bowl game against univ. of houston, the whole season must be considered only slightly above average b/c of a 3-5 record in the mighty s-e-c. the gamecocks beat EVERY team they were supposed to beat and lost to EVERY team they were supposed to lose to. yes, 4 of those 5 losses were by a touchdown or less, and yes, we did outplay and really should have beaten the national champion florida gators in gainesville (3 blocked kicks will do that to you), and yes, all 5 losses were to teams with GREAT talent (florida, arkansas, georgia, tennessee, and auburn). but you have to win some of those games to have a good year in the eastern division of the s.e.c. b/c the schedule only gets harder this year. with games at lsu, at georgia, at tennessee, and at arkansas, and with florida and clemson coming to columbia this year, and add in a "tricky" game in chapel hill against new coach butch davis and the unc tarheels, many experts are (accurately) ranking our schedule as the toughest or second toughest in college football for 2007.

the good news: there is a lot. we have the #1 rated recruiting class of wide receivers coming in, and a well-rounded class in general, with position needs filled across the board. there are so many good wide receivers, in fact, that a few good ones will have to redshirt, but look for jason barnes, chris culliver, mark barnes, and joseph hills to contribute this year. we have 2 very good-to-great running backs in mike davis and cory boyd (boyd being the possibly "great" back) behind a young but very talented offensive line. the defense should be improved, especially along the defensive line and with linebacker twins "the brinkley boys." teams will not often be scoring more than 4 touchdowns against us this year. when you combine that with a 5th year starting quarterback in blake mitchell, and the ball coach calling the plays, history would predict a very good season for the 'cocks.

if i were a betting man, i would say that the gamecocks will go 9-3, with losses to lsu, tennessee, and arkansas. that would mean that the gamecocks would beat georgia, florida, clemson, and unc. that would be a fine, fine season by gamecock standards, and if that happens as i predict, that will be the best 9-3 team in the country. here's to you, steve spurrier, for bringing hope to the gamecock nation that this program can finally consistently win. i'm not guaranteeing continual success, but it certainly seems within the realm of possibility, especially if steve stays for another five years and keeps on recruiting like he did this past season.

the end of an era

so we all love july 4th. what's not to love? the day off work. the cookouts. the fireworks. the national anthem. the friends and family. for me, i was fortunate enough today to have great tickets to see the game starting at noon between the nationals and cubs at r.f.k. stadium. the nats won, all-star dmitri young hit a grand slam, there were over 40,000 fans in attendance, and the weather was great.

but most of all, on this patriotic of patriotic holidays, the most important event of the day was the nathan's hot dog eating contest at coney island.

i'd like to take a moment to appreciate the historic run that ended yesterday when the great kobayashi lost for the first time in 6 years at this event. i was unable to see the event on t.v., and i'm kinda glad i did not witness the vomiting that took place.

if you've never seen the episode of m.t.v.'s 'true life' profiling kobayashi, (i promise it's the only true life i've ever watched), you really haven't lived. it's great, great stuff and probably merits its own post on this blog. the man is a true professional who i try to think about at least once a day:

as an american on july 4th, i guess i also have to be happy for joey chesnut.

(i must also add a quick i-told-you-so to all those people i told before the event that kobayashi would go down this year. when you know as much about competitive eating as i do, it's pretty easy to make such bold predictions.... here's another prediction: kobayashi will come back next year and not only beat chestnut but once again break the record that was set today.)