Jeez Goodell, give it a break

Broncos’ LB Miller fined $15K for Palmer hit. NFL fines Ray Lewis, Ryan Clark for hits. NFL fines Justin Smith $15,000 for hit on Colt McCoy. NFL fines Giants S Rolle $15,000 for horse collar, DT Joseph gets $7,500 for late hit. NFL fines player $10K for calling wife during game to say he was OK.

This is NOT OK Goodell. Stop throwing these thousand dollar fines out like penalty flags. Of course, nobody wants to see a severe injury, but by handing out these fines, in the amount that they are in, are just obsessive and counter productive.

The reason why I think it is counter productive is because the only players who are consciously worried about a high hit or an astronomical fine afterwards, are not the established big money-making defenders, but the players who need to make that big time play in order to hold on to a roster spot and paycheck.

Baltimore Ravens LB Ray Lewis said of the fine, “I think the thing is, you definitely respect them trying to protect players’ safety, but at the same time, it won’t change the way I play in this league, no matter what the fine is. You just can’t stop playing defense the way this defense has always played.”

And jeez, why are the fines so expensive? What is the minimum salary, maybe $300,000? Get a $15,000 fine. That’s 5% of your salary! I just don’t understand this. Players for the most part are not going to change the way they play, so why do you continue to fine so much money?

Better question, where is all this money going? The ONLY place it should be going is to the former players who need the money for medical treatments. That is the only logical place for the money to go and if we find out that it is going somewhere else, I’m going to be really upset.

Oh and please Mr. Goodell, please tell the referees to stop throwing so many flags and please change the penalty of a pass interference call to a 10-yard penalty not from the spot of the play but from the line of scrimmage. It’s really ruining the game.

Oh crap he’ll probably fine me for writing this. Well, (I’ll just pArry this) Oops.

Harry Potter and the debt-ridden terrapin

I used to be upset at the athletes for getting to register for classes before other students, or getting free merchandise, or (probably what got me the most) getting more dining dollars. But looking back, I was just jealous. Ah… I wish I were 6’8 and could dunk.

… After starring into the Mirror of Erised, I’m back. My frustration, and definitely not jealously this time, is on the athletic department and especially Kevin Anderson. OK, fine. You are probably not responsible for most of the current debt, but you are a part of the solution.

Today I read an article about the athletic department possibly giving the swimming and diving team the axe. First of all, I am sad to say that I’ve never been to a University of Maryland swim meet, but I frequently use the pool to swim laps (and by frequently I mean once every two months). It’s really an incredible pool, and it’s great to see the board of pool records. I think I also saw that if the Olympics ever came to Washington, DC the swimming and diving events would take place there.

It would be a little bit strange to share our pool with Olympians and not even a varsity team. I also would feel bad for the swimmers. There happens to be a swimmer in one of my classes and she said they had 10 or 11 swimmers qualify for the Olympic time trials this year. That’s pretty cool. She also said that it’s rare for them to go to other universities because our pool is so nice!

Please Mr. Anderson this is not the Matrix, please do not cut the swimming and diving team. I would recommend punishing the sport that kind of got us into this mess. I just got a couple questions Kevin. Knowing the financial struggles, why would you spend a lot of money to buy out Friedgen’s contract and then spend millions of guaranteed money on a coach who is 1-6 against a rival nonconference team that you’ve played 46 times since 1919!!

How about we cut football for a couple years? Sounds crazy, but if you haven’t checked lately, we’re not very good. I know people will argue that football and basketball generate the money that allow for other sports like swimming and diving, but football is not going to make anything until it is actually relevant.

I also have a lot of other problems with the athletic department, the ACC, and the NCAA, but maybe I’ll write about that for the final project.

And on a completely different subject. Someone tweeted "@notthefakeSVP chews his ice #boss" at the Povich Symposium... What a loser. I was a little bit upset by that.

Response to NBA lockout ‘signifying nothing’

When the NBA announced the cancellation of the first two weeks of the regular season nobody seemed to care. The headline lasted maybe only a few hours on ESPN’s website, the topic probably didn’t trend on Twitter, and most newspapers probably didn’t even find it newsworthy.

I cared. And I still care very much about this NBA season.

I have no interest in the Lord of the Light or the old gods. Basketball is my religion and I worship the new gods, the seven: the Black Mamba, the Big Nickname (my nickname for Shaq), Jesus (“Jesus Shuttlesworth,” not to be confused with the scary looking guy doing aerobics), the Admiral and his first mate, Timmy, the Answer (I don’t think he ever found it), and C-Webb. – Game of Thrones reference, please read the books.

(Most of my NBA idols are from the late 1990s and early 2000s simply because I was not alive or too young for the former greats such as, Russell, Chamberlain, Bird, Magic, and Jordan. I always find it skeptical when someone my age says his or her favorite player is someone from an earlier decade; sure you can like what the older player stood for or how they carried themselves, but unless you actually watch them day in and day out, I don’t think you can really know them). Sorry for going on a tangent.

…I really just love the game of basketball.

To the lockout! The NBA is coming off one of its most exciting seasons. I just had an apostrophe, I mean epiphany! (Hook reference, Dustin Hoffman and Robin Williams at their finest). The Cerberus! In Greek mythology, the Cerberus, a three-headed dog, guarded the gates to the Underworld. The Miami Heat, heat/fire normally symbolizing ‘Hell,’ with their big three, James, Wade, and Bosh. Has anyone else made this connection? I mean, someone probably has, but cool! (Just to make clear, I’m not comparing Miami to hell, I’m not Hank Williams Jr. or anything)

Then, the Maverick is Pegasus and Dirk is Odyesseus. He wouldn’t really be Perseus because I don’t think Perseus ever had to go through the underworld. You could even argue that the woman Dirk had the scandal with was a siren. Sorry I’m getting way off topic.

The NBA has this great last season, with such great players. And instead of rolling in the new season on a golden chariot (I promise it’s my last Greek reference), the league faces its worst possible outcome, the loss of an entire season.

If the season were cancelled, the team most affected by it would be my Washington Wizards (a complete bias), A talented young team, who needs this year to learn and grow. Kind of a funny story, I studied abroad last semester in Oslo, Norway, and my roommate was a student from the Czech Republic, named Jan. After we parted ways, I told him to visit me in Washington, and sure enough a month later, the Wizards selected Jan from the Czech Republic.

Sure I like watching the Washington Capitals and the Washington football club (We have to be more conscious about the name. I absolutely love the idea of as a class writing a letter to Dan Snyder.) But I need my professional basketball.

College basketball is great. It’s exciting; the players play so hard and you can see their passion for the game. However, there is a reason why it’s called professional. There is a reason why Bryant, James, Garnett, McGrady, and Kwame Brown (just kidding) didn’t go to college.

I’m pretty goofy, probably a little ADD, and a huge basketball fan. And I would care if the NBA season were canceled. So, come on Mr. Stern make it happen (great lockout beard by the way).

Assessing fault in the Hank Williams Jr. controversy

Dave Zirin said it best in last week’s episode of Outside the Lines, “If you play with a scorpion, don’t be shocked if you get stung.” Well, ESPN just got stung, and instead of continuing to play with the scorpion, they grabbed the nearest newspaper and squashed it.

I’m not supporting Williams’ comments. The guy is a dope, a bigot, and pretty much a personification of everything wrong with this country. But that’s beside the point. What really got me upset about this situation was why was this guy hired in the first place and why did ESPN not take all of the blame for his actions.

ESPN knew what they were getting in Williams before hiring the one-sided politically vocal Republican, but yet, they went forward with him. Why? Was it his celebrity status? (I had no idea who this guy was before Oct. 3, which explains my lack of preparedness before each Monday Night Football game – thank you Colbert).

Was it to expand diversity among the audience, by hiring an ignorant country star whose hit song is, “If the South Woulda Won?” Where in the song Williams says, “We’d put Florida on the right track ‘cause, we’d take Miami back?” (Seriously?!)

OK, so what’s done is done. ESPN hires Williams for the NFL pregame. Fast-forward to FOX & Friends (the #1 news source on television), Williams publically compares Obama to Hitler and calls Obama and Biden “the enemy.” At this point ESPN has to be thankful that the scorpion took so long to sting.

Here is when events start to get confusing. I understand ESPN’s decision to pull the song from that Monday night’s game, but I don’t understand why in just a couple days later to completely remove Williams, and especially with a comment such as “We are extremely disappointed.”

ESPN should have taken full responsibility for his actions because of the widely known character of Williams. ESPN brings him in, and then after one hiccup (probably from the Jack Daniels), immediately drops him?

Williams is not exactly an employee of ESPN, but represents the organization. With that said, I thought ESPN completely threw him under the bus, which really hurts ESPN’s image of how they treat employees. If ESPN really wanted to get rid of Williams, they should have suspended him for a couple of games, and then part ways at the end of the season.

(I hope this doesn’t effect my Assistant Producer application for Around the Horn)

Wouldn’t it be nice

Please no Phillies or pinstripes in this year’s World Series. Instead of seeing the Miami Heat of pitching staffs or the Miami Heat of batting orders, wouldn’t it be nice to see the Tampa Bay Rays verse the Milwaukee Brewers?

This is the year of the Moneyball, the uplifting story about the economically challenged Oakland Athletics who relied on smart decision-making and innovative scouting to build a competitive and exciting team. In this year’s playoffs, the Rays and the Brewers are just that.

The Rays and Brewers payrolls combined don’t even reach the New York Yankees’ $196,854,630 or Philadelphia Phillies’ $172,976,381. The Rays, who have the 2^nd smallest payroll in baseball, especially deserve to win.

Year after year, the Rays and Brewers see their rising, homegrown stars leave for contracts almost as large as their former team’s payroll. Former Ray’s outfielder Carl Crawford left for divisional rival Boston Red Sox, while closer Rafael Soriano left for other divisional rival New York Yankees. The Brewer’s face a similar challenge this off-season with infielder Prince Fielder.

I understand the money aspect is apart of the game and I’m not challenging the system, but it certainly makes me to put on my underdog rally cap more so than any sport. It truly creates a David verse Goliath atmosphere.

Aside from the money, the Rays are again a fascinating story. Just a month ago, the Rays looked out of the playoff picture with the Yankees and Red Sox atop. But then, they win their last 9 of 15 games to jump the struggling Red Sox. Not to mention, come back from down 7 in their final game to win it in the 12^th inning.

I am completely on this bandwagon, just as I was in 2009 when the Rays lost in the championships to the Phillies. GO RAYS!

A mediated media mistake

Sunday: the day of rest. And by rest, I mean sitting in front of my TV watching hours of football. On a normal NFL-seasoned Sunday, the only two thoughts that run through my comatose brain are fantasy stats and food options. However yesterday as I sat on my couch with a finished plate of spaghetti resting on my chest, I couldn’t help but to think, “Jeez, enough with the patriotism. Save it for Monday! (I’m a Jets fan).”

(KB: get ready for a lot of bad jokes this semester)

But in all seriousness, in about eight hours of mesmerized TV watching three to four of those hours were images of American flags, commercials that contained buzz words, “The American Spirit,” or “The American Dream,” and that damn trumpet!

Now please don’t think that I’m a “comunista,” as my friend would say, or worse that I don’t care about the tragic events of 9/11. I simply just want to take a step back and recognize the power of the political media and especially its influence on sports.

Today in the Washington Post, Paul Farhi wrote an interesting article titled, “On Sept. 11, media won’t let us forget.” The article looked at the media coverage of the memorial and its dominating presence over media outlets: “Eight networks carried live coverage of the official memorial ceremonies at the Pentagon, Ground Zero and Shanksville, Pa.,” says Farhi.

The question I ask myself is, “What are the motives behind broadcasting a 24-hour news cycle of the anniversary?” Is it to remember those we’ve lost? Or is it to inflict patriotism? Probably some of both, but when does it become too much?

Now add sports into the mix, especially American football. Let’s dissect the game. It’s played almost only in the United States; racially it’s arguably the most diverse sport; finally it embraces aggression, strategy, teamwork, and toughness.

Football has become almost intertwined with American culture because it captures those American values. Therefore it is expected and should partake in American mediated events, such as a 9/11 tribute, but, in my opinion, the way in which it was displayed felt like an Uncle Sam overload.

The American flag that stretched across the entire football field, the American flag gloves that players wore, and the American jets that flew over the stadium. It was all a spectacle. I felt that it was almost the media’s way to enforce political agenda. And what better venue than a professional football game? With a massive audience who most likely share those American values and characteristics.

As a concluding note, I understand that this is a sensitive subject and no way want to offend anyone, but as a people, we need to recognize the media structure and the roles it plays in our everyday lives.