Cheating from a different perspective

We've heard the names -

Cheatriots.

Belicheat.

Hate-triots.

The list goes on. And it will.

As I have noted numerous times, there's a certain sanctimony that comes from the fans - a righteous indignation that pretty much can be summed up by, "our team is better than yours 'cause ours doesn't cheat." Unfortunately, that's just not true.

Every team cheats in some way, on some level. Was I surprised by Spygate? No. Disappointed? Yes.

When Arlen Specter came forward with his press conference he revealed that his crusade had little to do with a concern for NFL fans or the integrity of the game. It had to do with the teams of his own home state. Pure and simple.

Consider -

"I have a different perspective," Specter said. "I'm elected by 12 million people., and a lot of them are Steeler fans. ... Frankly I'm incensed about what happened with the Steelers, and I'm incensed about the notes being destroyed. I really am."

So this is about the Steelers?

Not about the fans in Tampa, San Fran, Seattle, or Chicago. It's about his voters.

For all his bluster, he doesn't appear to listen to his constituents. The most important person in relation to the Steelers, Dan Rooney, doesn't think the issue deserves to go any further -

"We consider the tapes of our coaching staff during our games against the New England Patriots to be a non-issue," Rooney said in a statement. "In our opinion, they had no impact on the results of those games."

If the tapes had serious impact, why wouldn't Rooney want a deeper investigation?

Is he concerned what might be turned up that his coaching staff was involved in? Or is he concerned that the Cheatriot nicknames would stop in favor of "Steroid" City instead of Steel City.

For anyone that thinks I'm unjustifiably attacking the Steelers, mind you, it's not because I have a dislike of the team, or that I believe they're engaging in any tactics that other teams aren't already engaged in.

I do think Specter, however, should take a look at the fact that their sideline doctor from their recent Super Bowl was dismissed after linked to the federal HGH investigation in Albany, or that Steve Courson, an offensive lineman from the Steelers last two Super Bowl titles of the 1970's admitted steroid use before his death at the age of 50 giving a lot of credence to the rumors that there was rampant steroid use on the 1970's championship teams.

And let's face it, the mid-1980's Pirates cocaine drug scandal (one of the funnier ones I've read about), just more deeply embroils the city's teams in the rumors of a massive drug culture surrounding the franchises.

As I noted before - I don't think it's anymore rampant than on other teams and in other cities. But the investigation Specter wants, if its for the "fans of the NFL," rather than just for his purposes, needs to look into all cheating in the NFL if the investigation is to be unbiased (the Red Sox did not get left off the hook in Mitchell's investigation with 14 individuals who played for the team at some point and 37 mentions of the team in the report) it needs to be all-inclusive of the NFL. Not just the team Specter wants looked at.

What I think most people don't want to face with professional sports is that cheating is a part of the culture - endemic to the individuals that compete at the highest levels. Doping has historically been a part of cycling. When was the last Olympics anyone remembers that athletes weren't expelled from the games for cheating of some sort? Baseball was ripped apart by the Mitchell Report, and I'm guessing that was the tip of the ice-berg. And football? Performance enhancing drugs, signal stealing (both with and against the rules), and god only knows what else.

Yet, despite all the evidence to the contrary, people believe that these people competing over millions of dollars aren't willing to risk a slap on the wrist and a $30,000 fine. Let's face it...that's just naive.

The Righteous and the Wicked...and other thoughts

"They are enormous role models for everybody," Arlen Specter (R. - Pennsylvania) said. "If you can cheat in the NFL, you can cheat in college, you can cheat in high school, you can cheat on your grade school math test. There's no limit as to what you can do. I think they owe the public a lot more candor and a lot more credibility."

Not like, say politics, where an entire administration and its party falls in lockstep in lying to the American people about reasons we should send citizens to die in a foreign country, a party owned by Big Oil, a party that has tried to distract the American people from real problems like the economy, war, human rights violations, and has disregarded the Bill of Rights.

No, politicians cheating the American people aren't going to send the message that, "you can cheat in college, you can cheat in high school, you can cheat on your grade school math test. There's no limit as to what you can do. I think they owe the public a lot more candor and a lot more credibility." Although if you do all of that, you might be qualified to be a Republican legislator.

No way what the NFL has done is worse than what Specter has done - ignored our President's illegal and un-Constitutional actions, ignored the questionable actions of the former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, and then has hoped that the citizenry would buy the fact that he has never met with Comcast and assured them that he would look out for their interests, despite being his biggest campaign contributors. It's less believable than Bill Belichick's "misinterpretation" excuse.

The would-be stopper

The Red Sox entered the final game against Baltimore on a three game skid and lost five of the last seven. The reasons ranged from a lack of clutch hitting, to struggling starters - including ace Josh Beckett and wunderkind Clay Buchholz - to bullpen meltdowns (generally from closer Jonathan Paplebon).

Jon Lester did in the last game against Baltimore what everyone expected Beckett to do. He stopped the bleeding. He left the game after six innings, five hits, two runs, and only 86 pitches. He left with the lead - 3-2.

The bullpen, Javy Lopez, Craig Hansen, and Hideki Okajima, conspired to give up twice as many runs in two innings as Lester did in six.

As responsible as the starting pitching has been for some of these losses, the bullpen was just as culpable yesterday (just as side note - this in no way absolves the Sox line-up which hit into four double-plays, left five men on base, three of which were left in scoring position with two outs. However, the offense had produced enough to have the lead when it was turned over to the pen).

Lester did his job. Unfortunately, the bullpen didn't - for the third time in the seven games.

Two-face...

Comic book fans know the Batman character of Harvey Dent as Two-face - the one-time Gotham City district attorney turned villain due to an attack that resulted in a split personality. The character is, in essence, Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde.

And it is evidently the playoff Celtics.

The most dominant team in the league during the regular season, and road warriors who dominated teams in the west in their own stadiums is winless on the road in five games this post-season and unbeaten at home.

Watching this team play on the road against Atlanta and Cleveland, it's obvious this is a different team than the one that shows up at the Gahden.

They appear flat and sometimes lost when they're in an opponent's arena. At home they dominate, and force the other teams into errors. But how long can a team survive playing all seven games in best-of-seven series after series?

The Specter of intelligence

Phantom.

Ghost.

Illusion.

Call it what you will, but Arlen Specter appears to be rattling a blunt saber and armed with minimal wits. According to the Associated Press, Specter...well, read it for yourself -

Specter, from Pennsylvania, cited the fact a Patriots attorney sat in on Walsh’s meeting with Goodell as proof the investigation has not been impartial.

I can't wait to hear how he'll be changing the judicial system because it's lack of impartiality due to the fact that attorneys for the accused parties are in the room when the accusers are testifying.

Dave over at the Coffin Corner has a great take on this.

Specter seems to think that a Mitchell-type investigation of the NFL over a rules violation is in order. Mind you, not something illegal like buying and taking banned substances, but over something that merely broke the NFL's rules.

He appears to imply that the investigation should be of the Patriots and how deep Spygate really went.

What I want is transparency on his part. We know what Goodell learned from Walsh. I want to know if Specter actually asked Walsh about his part in Spygate, or just how the NFL questioned Walsh. If it's the latter, then I have to conclude that Specter doesn't actually care about Spygate, but does care about doing everything in his power to make the NFL look bad and his biggest financial backer, Comcast, happy.

Here's the funny thing about Specter's request - he wants transparency? He wants fairness? Then a Mitchell-like investigation is going to blow the lid open.

No sweeping the accusations of "sound issues" in the RCA Dome under the rug with a cursory investigation.

No dismissal by the Steelers of a sideline doctor implicated in the Albany HGH investigation being the end of that issue.

No absolving and forgetting about the Jets and Broncos filming opponents - no matter how many years (Shanahan) the filming violation might be - or the Dolphins use of film, for which they were patted on their back.

Teams would need to get ready for every dirty little secret to be dragged screaming in the daylight - to see what rumors are correct, and which are just rumors. To see every little accusation of doping, sound enhancement, electronic espionage, and god only know what else, exposed to the public.

Specter's beloved Eagles wouldn't be spared. Nor would the league's "infallible" team, the Colts.

It will need to be all encompassing, and it will be brutal to the sanctimonious fans out there that believe they're rooting for teams full of saints.

No team, no team's fans are going to want this.

And from what I can tell, no senators have Specter's back regarding this issue.

Ultimately, all Specter is engaging in here is a distraction technique in an election year - a placebo to pull the minds of voters off an unpopular war entered into under false premises sold to the American people by his party, gas prices spiraling out of control, a housing market that's gone to hell in a hand-basket, and increasing unemployment numbers. It's what Bush did during the last election with the Swift Boats, it's what Specter is doing now.

It's despicable and he needs to be held accountable the way that he is saying the NFL needs to.

The Pundits' Double Standards

After the Goodell-Walsh meeting on Tuesday regarding Spy-Gate, ESPN went on the offensive...full bunker mentality.

Their NFL Today program went off full-bore talking to Chris Carter and Mark Schlereth about whether or not the punishment of the Patriots was severe enough. Both went on a tirade about how the punishment wasn't enough given what the film showed.

What the film showed was nothing more than standard coach footage inter-spliced with the coaches signals and time on the clock.

I could put that together based on television broadcasts.

Not quite the same angles, but I could still get formations, personnel packages, clock time, and coaching signals from the various networks. If I wanted end-zone angles, I could easily create a computer generated model for that would show me the same play from other angles.

Carter and Schlereth both condescended to the fans, saying that the untrained eye wouldn't understand the advantage a team could gain from this.

I watched.

What I saw, like I said, was film that would give me pretty much what i would get from a standard coach's film combined with the notes that are typically garnered from the non-electronic spying that the teams engage in all the time.

As for Schlereth's rhetoric - Noted at profootballtalk.com:

Indeed, let’s consider this quote from Schlereth, which he offered up on ESPN Radio on Tuesday afternoon: “This besmirches to the organization to the point where regardless of how you look at these three championships that they’ve won over the last seven, eight years you will still always look at them and say ‘Yeah, but . . . they had this Spygate thing, how much of it was inappropriate, how much cheating went on, and how much did it help them during the course of some of those games?”

I thought him talking about how the Patriots' dynasty would always be tainted was a bit disingenuous considering he earned two of his Super Bowl rings for a Broncos squad that was not only caught filming opponents, but was in violation of the salary cap by close to $30 million in both of the Super Bowl seasons. If he thinks the Pats' punishment wasn't severe enough for filming, I'd love to hear what he thinks the penalty should be for his Broncos that were guilty of the same violation and an additional one that was meant to give the team a competitive edge.

Considering the cap in 1998 was $52.4 million in 1998, that means that the Broncos were over the cap by almost 60 percent. SIXTY PERCENT! What buys you a bigger advantage? A coaching tape with hand signals, or the fact that you don't have to cut players that know the system inside and out and replace them with younger players unfamiliar with the system because your team is paying 157 percent of what every other team is paying their players? The Broncos claimed that there was no competitive advantage in the $29 million "accounting gaffe" that largely involved John Elway and Terrell Davis' contracts. But the league fined them $950 thousand and a third round draft pick back in 2004 for the violations in the late 1990's.

As I rant here, I think it's important to note that ESPN has worked hard to destroy its own journalistic credibility with things like the Barry Bonds love-in last season. Right now the ESPN pundits are putting forth the "if it didn't give the team that much of an advantage then why did they do it" line in their attacks on the Patriots. Why then did the Broncos put forth contracts with hidden deferred monies to their stars in the years in question if it didn't help them?

On ESPN's second face, last year the likes of Buster Olney and Jayson Stark repeatedly fawned over Bonds, argued that they would vote for him first ballot because, "it was just the era, and everyone else was doing it." Supporters like to point out that he hasn't failed a test, the cheating is alleged. They don't like to be countered with the fact that Bonds hasn't disputed a single fact in Game of Shadows. The man's a cheater, admitted to a grand jury. Get over it now.

Today, the station that was ramming Barry Bonds down our throats all last year, calling Roger Clemens the best pitcher ever, and pretty much exonerated Andy Pettitte because he came clean after getting caught, is expressing moral outrage at the actions of the Patriots. Actions that, anyone that can do a little Internet research can find, were perpetrated by Eric Mangini's Jets, the aforementioned Broncos, and even the Miami Dolphins (does it not count if they purchased the tape? It ends up as the same result).

Are the reporters being told by the producers not to dig?

It would make sense, given the moral outrage at the Patriots 52-7 pasting of the Redskins last season. Everybody was talking about winning games like that demanded payback, and that losing teams, losing coaches don't forget about losses like that. It was funny how none of the network or newspaper research departments turned up the one previous meeting between teams coached by Bill Belichick and Joe Gibbs. The Redskins put a 42-17 thrashing on Belichick's Browns in 1991. Yeah, the loser of a blowout remembered. And yeah, payback was a bitch.

I could be wrong, but it certainly seems like the the national outlets are going out of their way to demonize the Patriots. They did something wrong. They got caught. They were punished. Get over it people.

Was it worse than the salary cap violations of the Broncos? No, but there was nowhere near this much outrage. Maybe because by the time it hit for the Broncos, they were six years removed from being any good.

Was it worse than Zach Thomas admitting the 'Phins got the Pats' O-line calls and audibles from a tape the team "bought"? No. But the Dolphins were patted on their back for their ingenuity...maybe because it was one of only six wins Miami had all season.

Was it worse than the Jets taping from the Gillette end zone? No, but the Jets were off to one of the worst starts in football, which developed into a grim season, when they copped to their actions.

Only the Patriots were winning when it happened.

Only the Patriots continue to get vitriol.

But they're not alone in their actions.

For a good read on the subject, check out the commentary at PFT.

Brutal Youth

When I was in college at Emerson in Boston, I played baseball for my college team.

We weren't good.

We played only fall baseball and in the two seasons I played we won two games. We were 2-18. To really put it into perspective, we lost to teams like the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy. Yes. That's right. We lost to would-be pharmacists.

Like I said...we weren't good.

Through the years I have been on dominant teams and doormats.

In high school I ran on a track team that won the league championship in seven of eight possible seasons. As a youth I played on a soccer team that won one game.

But I've never been on a team like the Rosemont College's softball team. I have to tip my hat to these women. Game after game was brutal on their way to an 0-25 record. This is how bad the season was -

Thanks to the so-called mercy rule, none of the Ramblers' games were allowed to go past the fifth inning.

Many of the games were lost by scores of 33-0, 19-0, and so on.

Like my experience at Emerson, these young ladies play for a Division III school with no scholarships to attract the high end athletes, they suffered through some rough seasons. In the last two the team is a combined 1-48.

The bottom line - they might not be the most talented team, but they approach the game right, as does the coach:

"Quit? No, I never felt like quitting at all," said Tammy Do, 21, a junior from Philadelphia who was 0-11 as one of two pitchers on the squad. "I couldn't be more proud."

Karen Boyle, 19, a freshman infielder from Swarthmore, feels the same way. "It's hard to explain," Boyle said. "It has definitely made me stronger, and it helped make me realize that winning isn't everything."

None of the players, however, is more proud of the team than Long, in his third year as head coach.

"This was by far the best group of girls I've ever coached," Long said. "They stuck up for each other, and they never once got down on each other. I have never had a team bond like this. These kids have character."

I feel for this team.

When I was still teaching, I was the head coach of a middle school football team. We had a total of 21 players on the team (at any given time) during my two year tenure (ended because I moved out of the area). We went 2-13 those two years. We were undersized, we couldn't run an 11 on 11 scrimmage, we had a lot of players who had never played before.

In spite of all that, the kids gave up less than five points per game. I believe the average was 4.7.

Unfortunately we had trouble on the offensive side of the ball.

But the kids were like the women at Rosemont. Not a single kid quit. I was proud of them, still am.

Sometimes sports can be brutal when a youth. That doesn't mean that we can't learn from being on a bad team.

Everybody Loves a Winner

Is a crock.

The fans of a winner? Yeah. Bandwagon jumpers? Yeah. Fans of other teams? Not so much.

The more a team wins, the more others hate the team. Dominant teams get singled out for their faults, often in spite of the fact that there are things they do, or did, that are little different than the actions of the other teams.

Red Sox fans don't have a monopoly on loathing the Yankees. When the Mitchell Report hit there were a number of fans that were quick to point out that the Yankees Dynasty of the late Nineties was peppered from top to bottom with individuals named in the report. In the mid-1990's people reveled in the legal troubles of the various Dallas Cowboys.

That is precisely the reason why the Patriots are being singled out - and make no mistake about it - they are being singled out. Try to find out from Arlen Specter why he's making a big deal out of Spygate? Why he's continuing to do so, when everyone else seems to feel that it's a dead issue? Why the Patriots (who beat his Eagles in a Super Bowl) when no one has heard word one from him over -

• Allegations in recent years that both the Colts and the Redskins artificially enhance the crowd noise at their stadiums - a violation of NFL rules, if they are indeed doing so?
• An admission by the Dolphins' then middle linebacker Zack Thomas, after a 2006 21-0 victory over the Patriots, that the 'Phins stole the Patriots' offensive signals from tape?
• Why a team (the Broncos) that won the Super Bowl twice while in violation of the salary cap by almost $30 million over the two seasons, wasn't more severely sanctioned?
• Why that same team, caught taping an opponent's practice mid-week, once again, wasn't more severely sanctioned?
• Why the Jets admitted to taping the Patriots, but received no punishment for doing so?
• The 49ers weren't sanctioned more severely for their salary cap violations of the late 1990's?
• Why more teams aren't sanctioned for tampering when signing players from other teams mere minutes after free-agency begins? Who manages to negotiate and agree to terms in mere minutes with contracts that often exceed 100 pages?

And all of this is just the recent history stuff. An article in the San Diego newspaper from when Spygate hit, outlines some of the things that went on in the 1960's and 70's with the Raiders and somethings even more recently with the Bucs in regards to stealing plays and signals.

All told, the Patriots, Jets, Dolphins, and Broncos have been caught or copped to taping, or having tape of opponent's signals. The Raiders, and Buccaneers have either stolen signals, been suspected of it. And all teams must suspect other teams of doing so, or coaches wouldn't cover their mouths when relaying in signals. That's almost 20 percent of the league. Yet the Patriots are singled out by Specter..why? Because he wants to clean up the game? No.

Because of two things and two things only. It makes him feel better about the fact his team lost to be able to call the other team cheaters, and his biggest campaign contributor is Comcast, currently locked in a legal battle with the NFL in regards to the NFL network.

The Patriots cheated. But they did no more than any one of a number of teams.

And anyone that believes otherwise is being willfully ignorant of what goes on in the NFL.

Quick thoughts

Meant to mention this the other day. A big shout-out to Joe Andruzzi who recently got the news that he is now cancer-free. Less than a year ago the former Patriots offensive lineman was diagnosed with a particularly aggressive form of lymphoma.

With everything else that has happened in New England sports this last year - World Series Championship, undefeated regular season, best record in the NBA, an Ivy League football championship, a college bowl bid after flirting with being the number one team in the nation - this might be the best news. It's not going to cause the euphoria with the fans that, say a Celtics Championship will. But Andruzzi healthy again...that's great news.

Starting rotation

Sixteen of the Red Sox 23 wins have come from the starting rotation (well, the regular starting five of Matsuzaka, Beckett, Wakefield, Lester, and Buchholz).

The Dice-man is leading the way with five wins and a 2.43 ERA.

Wake is second in ERA with a 3.33, and third in wins with three.

Beckett is at four wins and 3.70, Lester two and 3.94, and Clay at two and the only ERA over four at 4.50.

By comparison, Baltimore has had seven pitchers with at least two starts. Of the five with a minimum of four starts, there are eight wins between them and only two with ERA's below four, with another two with ERA's over seven. The Rays have 13 wins from their starting five, but only one starter with a sub-four ERA. Like the Sox, the Blue Jays have 16 wins from their starting five, but have two pitchers with ERA's over four, including AJ Burnett's 5.19 ERA. The Yankees have been slightly better than the Rays with their starting five, getting 14 wins from them, but they've had three guys with ERA's over four, and none below three. Two of their starters (one now back in the minors, and the other on the disabled list) have ERA's over eight.

If these ERA numbers stay fairly consistent, it's only a matter of time before the Sox starters separate from the pack.

"I know the writer and I think very highly of him"

-Bob Ryan on John Tomase, Friday morning appearing on Mike & Mike in the Morning

Ryan wasn't excusing the whole Spygate thing. He was explaining how writers roll the dice whenever relying on unnamed sources.

The Herald is already feeling enough negative feedback that they have deactivated the comments sections following Tomase's articles due to the shots being taken by Herald readers in those forums. Without the direct route to Tomase, readers displeased with the Herald and Tomase have begun voicing their displeasure in the comments attached to other writers.

Regardless of how good Tomase may or may not have been in the past, if he cannot produce something tangible to back his story, his career as a Patriots beat writer might as well be over. I would be shocked if his access to Patriots events weren't extremely limited.

Backs to the wall...

Down two games to none with one of the worst two-game shooting stretches in playoff history coming from their star, the Cleveland Cavaliers have their backs to the wall. The question out there is - what did the Celtics learn from their struggles in Atlanta in the first round?

I would be surprised if LeBron James had a third stinker in a row.

That said, it's interesting to note that the C's strategy in this playoff series has been - we're gonna stop LeBron. If the rest of the Cavs can beat us, then so be it, but we don't think they can.

Anti-climax

The Sox spit the bit against the Tigers...well, Julio Lugo did, and to some extent, so too did Papelbon. While the lion's share of the blame rests with Lugo's error, Pap's cannot be held blameless. Lugo's error was not responsible for the men on base who crossed the plate. Pap's was.

By the same token, maybe the Sox get out of Detroit with a 9-8 win instead of a 10-9 loss if Lugo doesn't screw up at a crucial moment.

White-Walshed...

Former Patriots video assistant Matt Walsh is turning over eight tapes. None, reportedly, are a taping of the Rams practice before the 2001 Super Bowl.

The most interesting item that came up was the denial issued by Walsh's lawyer -

"Mr. Walsh has never claimed to have a tape of the walkthrough," Levy told The New York Times. "Mr. Walsh has never been the source of any of the media speculation about such a tape. Mr. Walsh was not the source for the Feb. 2 Boston Herald article."

From the Herald -

“Mr. Walsh has never been the source of any of the media speculation about such a tape,” Levy added. “Mr. Walsh was not the source for the Feb. 2 Boston Herald article.”

He might not have been the original source, but he didn't, until now, deny having a tape of the walk through. And he certainly fueled the story with intimations that he knew more than what was previously disclosed and that he had evidence in his possession that was damning to the Patriots.

This raises any one of a number of potential questions -

• Does said tape really exist?
• If so, who has it?
• Why did Walsh wait until now to issue the denial?
• Did Walsh really tape a Rams practice (the lawyer didn't actually deny that)?
• If he did and claims in his meeting with Roger Goodell, without the evidence of said taping, what is Goodell's recourse? What's Walsh's credibility?
• Where do the Patriots go from here (in regards to the Herald story)?
• What is the Herald's recourse in regards to their "unnamed source"?

Let's face it, here are some of the scenarios that could still play themselves out -

• The Patriots, fearing the report was indeed accurate, rattles their sabers and then let's the story die out.
• The Kraft Family sues the pants off the Boston Herald. The Herald saves face, and redirects the Pats' ire by doing the only thing available to them - naming the source.
• The Herald issues an apology to the Patriots, and performs its own investigation into John Tomase's story and the source.

Now, the really interesting thing to note, Chris Mortensen of ESPN mentioned that a number of media outlets, including ESPN, pursued these allegations for months before the Boston Herald reported on it,"and it just didn't meet the standard in terms of" reporting the story.

For many this was expected to resolve the whole Spygate thing. For some, they will lock onto the lawyer-speak and believe, no matter what evidence to the contrary comes out, that the Pats taped the Rams' walkthrough. For others, this won't be done until the situation with the Boston Herald resolves itself.

Still a long way from a climax.

Appearances

Whether directly involved in the shooting in Philadelphia or not, Marvin Harrison is a baaaaad man. And I don't mean that in the slangy good way.

While Harrison has not been named a suspect in the shooting of three men in North Philly in the proximity of a business he owns, appearances aren't good. To wit -

• Harrison recently had a heated fight with one of the men.
• Harrison's custom handgun was used in the shooting.
• Harrison released a statement saying that neither he nor his gun were involved in the shooting. Ballistics says otherwise in regards to the gun registered in his name.
  
• The handgun was recovered from under rags in a bucket at a car wash owned by Harrison.
• What was the wealthy Harrison doing back in North Philadelphia, one of the poorest, highest violent crime neighborhoods in the United States? I know it's where he grew up, but isn't returning to neighborhoods like this part of what got Pacman Jones in trouble?
  
• And Harrison's handgun raises all sorts of questions about Harrison's character...
  why does anyone (not a criminal) need to own this - from an Associated Press report, "In November (2005) the Homeland Security Department issued an 'Officer Safety Alert' regarding the (BFN 5.7) with the headline 'body armor defeating handgun. The alert said the Trumbull, Conn., police department had seized such a pistol and noted that its bullets were 'advertised as being able to penetrate 48 layers of Kevlar at 50 meters.'"

Unless you plan on firing a gun at someone wearing Kevlar...like, oh, a cop or a soldier, why does anyone need this firearm?

Not ringing true...

I have questions, from both sides, regarding the Cedric Benson arrest for drunken boating. If what Benson says about being on the boat with his family is accurate, it puts some of the Austin police's actions in question.

However, it must also be noted that the following summary from NBC smells of cow manure -

Benson said he was carried and dragged to a squad car once reaching land, but not because he was resisting officers. He said it was because his ankles and feet were kicked out from under him, and so he couldn't walk. Benson said he pleaded with police. "Please sir, let me just walk off the boat like a man," Benson said he told the officer.

Somehow I don't buy that a man who was hot-headed enough to end up in jail for eight-days for breaking into somebody's house over an allegedly stolen television is level-headed enough to remain polite while dealing with police brutality.

I'm not absolving the police here. They very well may have done things that they shouldn't have. But I do know that there are things about Benson's story that don't add up either.

Don't want to go there anymore...

But Mike Lupica has it covered in spades.

T'ain't broke, don't fix it...

The BCS has voted down a proposed playoff format.

This is going to upset a lot of people who feel that the BCS' national championship is purely arbitrary. The fact that in the NFL we have seen a six seed (Pittsburgh) win the Super Bowl has had no influence on those who can change the way the BCS operates. But why should they?

What people don't understand is, by the thinking of the BCS, the system isn't broken.

The system isn't about choosing a national champion, much like in television, the product isn't about the television show. The bowl series is a delivery mechanism as are television shows.

In television, shows are designed to deliver audience to advertisers - which is what television stations sell - advertising time. They need to appeal to companies that want audience for their product.

The BCS is about making money and they do that hand over fist in the current format. The proposed change was to have a four-team playoff system. Assuming for corporate naming rights/sponsorships to the playoffs, that would set the BCS up for a total of three post-season games. Right now the organization has five games, so in theory, instituting the four-team system would cut into approximately 40 percent of the organization's profits.

Make no mistake, the National Championship isn't what the BCS is about. Money is. And as a money maker, the BCS isn't broken.

Crushing

It was a good weekend to be a Boston fan. Some quick thoughts on the weekend...

He sends one of yours to the hospital, you send one of his to the morgue...

The Celtics played a series against Atlanta that saw both teams hold serve at home. The C's just lacked the intensity on the road that they had at home. They gave a sub-.500 team hope.

Then they crushed them.

The closest the game ever got was when the Hawks went up 3-0 in the first quarter. It was over by the half.

With more than a quarter to go, the Celtics went up 70-34.

Early in the third the Hawks Marvin Williams put Rajon Rondo on the floor with a flagrant foul and was kicked out of the game. Kevin Garnett went old-school. Larry Bird would have been proud. Garnett put a vicious screen on the Hawks' Zaza Pachulia, putting Pachulia on his ass.

The bottom line, the game was never in doubt and maybe, just maybe the Celtics have figured out what they need to do going forward to put another banner in the Garden's rafters.

One last note - big time players come up big in big games. Atlanta's Mike Bibby, a one time all-star, was a virtual no-show in the games in Boston. His line in game one - 5 points, 1 assist; game two - 12 points, 1 assist; game five - 6 points, 1 assist; game seven - 2 points, 2 assists. Atlanta lost those games by an average of 25.25 points.

Now, I will admit to not being the biggest basketball fan, but I seem to recall that point-guards like Bibby are the guys that set the offense and rack up the assists. He averaged 1.25 per game in the Garden to go with his 6.25 points per game average in Boston.

To put that in perspective, Bibby, on his home court, averaged 5.67 assists per game and 15.67 points per game. Way to be clutch.

Rays rocked by Sox...

In the weekend's three game series Tampa scored ten runs - an average of 3.3 runs per game. Not great, not terrible. Certainly good enough, if their pitching is solid, to come up with two wins in three games.

Didn't happen.

After a brutal stretch in which the Sox had trouble scoring runs, they absolutely exploded against the Rays. Through the three games Boston put up 26 total runs - just under nine per game.

Jon Lester had possibly the best outing of the Sox' starters, going six innings while giving up one earned run on four hits. It was his second straight quality start. A day earlier, Josh Beckett went eight innings, but gave up four runs, and in the first game rookie starter Clay Buchholz was good in giving up only one run, but was lifted with one out in the sixth inning.

All told, however, Sox starters gave up six of Tampa's ten runs, with four coming from Beckett. Lester and Buchholz combined for a 1.46 ERA in their two starts. It can be dismissed that it was done against the Rays until the following is considered - the second place (yeah, you read that right) Rays are 6th in the AL in RBI's, home runs, and 9th in batting average. Overall, 14th in RBI's, 13th in home runs, and 15th in average. They are, indeed, a solid, middle of the road sort of team with pitching (through this weekend) comparable to the Sox (4.12 staff ERA to the Sox 4.13)

Different directions...

This is the Jets-Patriots relationship in microcosm...

Since Victor Hobson (signed this off-season by the Patriots) was drafted by the Jets in 2003, the linebacker has been solid, racking up fewer than 50 tackles only once (45 in 2004). He has averaged 68.6 tackles per season, racked up 11 sacks, and 3 interceptions. He has appeared all 16 games all but once in his five seasons.

The Jets let him go to free agency without a fight. Then they went out and signed Calvin Pace away from the Arizona Cardinals. Pace, drafted in the same year as Hobson, has appeared in all sixteen games in in three of his five seasons, racked up an average of 37.2 tackles per season, 14 total sacks and 1 interception. If you discount the 98 tackles he had in his contract year, Pace averaged 22 tackles per season, had a total of 7.5 sacks and no interceptions.

I can't help but think that it's going to be another long season for Jets fans with signings like that.

One liners and other brief questions

I guess that the following terms and names have new meaning...

• Getting Rogered.
• Jolly Roger.
  
• Taking Clemens deep.
• King Missile.

Anyone else hear Barry Bonds breathing a sigh of relief over the fact that the press isn't paying him any attention because of Clemens?

In Red Sox terms, Feet of Clay are not necessarily a bad thing any longer.

The turf at Fenway might be Bluegrass, but the future of right field definitely appears to be Moss.

If JD Drew is eventually cut (probably no time soon), what's the over/under on the time from the announcement to the first "D(r)ew dropped" headline?

I know it's early yet, but what does it say about major league baseball that the Sox could have a brutal five game slide, and still put together more wins than all but four teams?

Fall-out and other thoughts...

Some of the fall-out from the disintegration of Roger Clemens' reputation before our very eyes in the form of an instant message conversation with my wife this morning...

me: evidently a stripper from Detroit went on the radio yesterday claiming an affair with Clemens

Kelly: egad

8:17 AM me: yeah

so

8:18 AM with Clemens

how is it he isn't a syphilis ridden space case at this point?

Kelly: steroids kills stds?

I guess now we know why he didn't want to travel with the team between starts. Maybe no actual skeletons in his closet, but that's an awful lot of T&A in there.

Rolling stones gather no Moss...

But, evidently, really fast cars do.

Moss has announced plans to get into NASCAR as an owner.

I can't say that I have ever understood the attraction of car racing. The idea of watching people drive in circles for hours at a time just strikes me as the pinnacle of absurdity - only slightly higher on the mountain than golf about which Mark Twain famously said, "golf is a good walk spoiled."

However, if this is what Moss wants to do with his bonus money, then more power to him. If he moves forward with this, he joins the likes of Joe Gibbs (car), and Bill Parcells (horse), who are already involved in racing as a side vocation.

One final C-Note...

A happy birthday/anniversary shout out to our seventh inning stretch traditions...

It's not just the 100th anniversary of the Cubs last time winning the World Series, it is also the 100th anniversary of the writing of "Take Me Out to the Ballgame." At the time of the song's writing, neither the lyricist, nor the composer had been to a baseball game. It would be two decades before one of them finally made it to a game.

I won't spend a lot of words writing about this, as the link to the Wikipedia link above is quite thorough, but I will note that we seem to sing only the chorus during the seventh inning stretch. There are two versions I have included below.

1908 Version Katie Casey was baseball mad, Had the fever and had it bad. Just to root for the home town crew, Ev'ry sou1 Katie blew. On a Saturday her young beau Called to see if she'd like to go To see a show, but Miss Kate said "No, I'll tell you what you can do:"	1927 Version Nelly Kelly loved baseball games, Knew the players, knew all their names. You could see her there ev'ry day, Shout "Hurray" When they'd play. Her boyfriend by the name of Joe Said, "To Coney Isle, dear, let's go", Then Nelly started to fret and pout, And to him, I heard her shout:
[Chorus] Take me out to the ball game, Take me out with the crowds; Buy me some peanuts and Cracker Jack, I don't care if I never get back. Let me root, root, root for the home team, If they don't win, it's a shame. For it's one, two, three strikes, you're out, At the old ball game.
Katie Casey saw all the games, Knew the players by their first names. Told the umpire he was wrong, All along, Good and strong. When the score was just two to two, Katie Casey knew what to do, Just to cheer up the boys she knew, She made the gang sing this song:	Nelly Kelly was sure some fan, She would root just like any man, Told the umpire he was wrong, All along, Good and strong. When the score was just two to two, Nelly Kelly knew what to do, Just to cheer up the boys she knew, She made the gang sing this song:
[repeat Chorus]

If I should fall from grace with God where no doctor can relieve me...

Professional athletics comes with many perks - fame...fortune...toadies to stroke the inflated ego. There are, however, other things that some with it - sycophants that do one no favors, increased scrutiny from being in the public eye, and a very high perch from which to fall.

With the increased media scrutiny and leagues becoming more and more image conscious, it has felt like a lot of people have fallen from grace lately. Some from greater heights than others.

Let's take a look at eleven of the biggest falls...

Roger Clemens -

Accused of...
Baseball cheat
Perjury
Witness tampering
Multiple counts of philandering

Creating a new synonym for the term clemency - It started with the Mitchell Report tainting who some were calling the greatest pitcher of all-time (I won't even address the inaccuracy of the hyperbole involved there), which has snowballed. Due to the accusations of Celmens being a steroid cheat for approximately a decade of his career, The Rocket filed a defamation suit against his accuser. This was one of the first of many legal missteps which include a crash-and-burn-act in front of a Congressional committee (including potential witness tampering), and has culminated in the unearthing of a series of affairs with a country singer, a former bartender, the ex-wife of golfer John Daly (were they married at the time?) and possibly the (ex?)wife of a pro wrestler. As Mike Lupica noted, Rusty Hardin must be the Isiah Thomas of lawyers. A smart lawyer would advise his client to cut his losses and settle the defamation suit at this point, a suit based on the premise that his client is a good family man.

With a federal perjury investigation hanging over his head and a new mistress revealed daily, Clemens has gone from one of the most revered pitchers in the history of baseball - often talked about in the same breath as the likes of Nolan Ryan, Bob Gibson, and Sandy Koufax - to being little more than a punchline.

Jose Canseco -

Copped to/nailed for...
Steroid use
Assault
Probation violation

Accused of...
Slander and libel
Blackmail
Extortion

At one time one of the most feared power hitters in the sport (we'll be kind and not talk about his defense), Canseco crashed and burned due to steroid use some time ago. He was a punchline, until his book Juiced turned out to be a fairly accurate catalyst for the Mitchell Report. Unfortunately, his second book came out to allegations of a blackmail operation that was intended to raise money for a film project of his - you give me money, I say you didn't use.

As a key character witness, and the one of the few character witnesses Clemens has been able to produce, Canseco has once again managed to paint himself into the corner of sleazy opportunist with a series of claims that seem to be contradicted by other witnesses and, in some cases, hard evidence.

Michael Vick -

Copped to/nailed for...
Dog fighting
Cruelty to animals
Illegal gambling
Trafficking
Drug use
Transmitting an STD

Once the anointed savior of the Atlanta Falcons and highest paid player in the NFL, is now a jail-bird in a federal prison. After getting nailed to the wall for being the money behind a dog-fighting operation, Vick violated the terms of his house arrest when he was caught toking up a Bob Marley special. Since the criminal issues came to a resolution, Vick has continued to be plagued with legal issues as everyone from the Hawks to companies with which he had sponsorship deals have been trying to recoup their investment in him.

OJ Simpson -

Copped to/nailed for...
Wrongful death (civil)
Battery
Domestic violence
Unpaid income tax
Broadcast piracy
Contacting a co-defendant

Accused of...
Murder (criminal)
Robbery
Kidnapping
Gun charges
Conspiracy to commit crimes

Once one of the best running backs in the NFL, Simpson was able to parlay his fame on the football field into a respectable film career, appearing in close to 30 films over a 20-year span from 1974 to 1994. His post-football career included rolls in Roots and box-office hits like The Towering Inferno and the Naked Gun series.

The film career stopped abruptly when Simpson was put on trial for the murder of his ex-wife and her boyfriend Ron Goldman. Acquitted despite overwhelming evidence of his guilt, Simpson vowed he wouldn't rest until he brought his ex's real killer to justice. Despite the acquittal, Simpson was found responsible of the murder in civil court and ordered to pay damages to the families of the victims.

To date, his "search" has revealed no leads and he is now in court for violent criminal violations for the second time in little more than a decade.

Pete Rose -

Copped to/nailed for...
Gambling on baseball
Tax evasion

Charlie Hustle was the hardest working man in professional sports. A player with limited tools and talent, Rose put up Hall-of-Fame-worthy numbers during his career - retiring the all-time hits leader. He was used, for a period, as an example of how to play the game by every little league coach as to how kids should play the game.

Rose was bounced from baseball for violating the game's cardinal rule. Nailed for gambling, and on charges of tax evasion, Rose has become a polarizing figure among sports writers debating his place in the canton of ball-players.

Maurice Clarrett -

Copped to/nailed for...
Gun charges
Armed robbery
Assault
Intimidating a witness
General stupidity

Sure, Clarrett never made it to the pinnacle of professional sports, but he was expected to be a high draft pick. Clarrett screwed the pooch in college, violating any number of NCAA rules in accepting money, and cars from Ohio State boosters, not to mention academic violations.

In danger of being kicked out of school, and already suspended by the NCAA from play, Clarrett unsuccessfully sued the NFL for entry into the draft. It went downhill from there for him.

Barry Bonds -

Accused of...
Steroid/HGH use
Philandering
Tax evasion
Perjury

Once a five-tool player with Hall-of-Fame written all over him, Bonds wanted more, and apparently turned to steroid and HGH use to get it. He went from a svelte, fast player who could play defense to a lumbering muscle-bound freak who could hit the ball a ton, but was a defensive liability prone to injury.

Now Bonds appears to be baseball kryptonite and facing a potential trial on federal charges of perjury. On the plus side, no one ever has accused Bonds of being a nice guy or sterling family man. His fall from grace appears to be almost totally tied into the professional.

Marion Jones -

Copped to/nailed for...
HGH use
Check fraud
Cheating
Perjury

The one-time Olympic competitor, and occasional magazine cover-girl saw everything come crashing down with the BALCO investigation as well as a separate investigation into a check fraud scheme. Now serving time on federal perjury charges, Jones' issues brought not only herself down, but her relay teammates who were stripped of their Olympic gold due to her cheating.

Mike Tyson -

Copped to/nailed for...
Rape
Cannibalism

Iron Mike was the most dominant force in boxing from the '80's into the '90's. Granted, it's not like there was a whole lot of competition in the heavy weight division during that stretch, but really, no one else came close.

Tyson ended up in jail in the early 1990's for raping a beauty queen, and has since squandered his fortune, and been mocked for using Evander Hollyfield as a chew toy during a late-career boxing match.

Isiah Thomas -

Copped to/nailed for...
Sexual harassment
Destruction of a storied franchise

Accused of...
Racism

Thomas' tenure as the general manager and coach of the New York Knicks was an unmitigated disaster. During his time running the show at Madison Square Garden, Thomas has pretty effectively wiped his Hall-of-Fame playing career from the public's minds with his ineptitude, his failure to defend himself against allegations of sexual harassment, and the allegations of racism that surfaced as a result of the case against him.

Along the way Thomas undermined the authority of a Hall-of-Fame coach, destroyed his own credibility, the credibility of the Knicks owner, and put together one of the most overpaid and underachieving teams in the history of professional sports. He has, since, been effectively neutered by the team's new president. His nickname should be changed from Zeke to Gelding.

Mark McGwire -

Accused of...
Steroid use

Big Mac is the only guy on the list whose fall had virtually no impact on his private life. McGwire was a likely lock for the Hall-of-Fame, despite borderline numbers, when the steroid hearings on Capitol Hill started.

His Hall candidacy was mostly predicated on his power numbers. His hall votes dried up when he would not address accusations of using in order to pad his power numbers. To date, McGwire will not address questions regarding his use of supplements during his playing days, and does his best to stay out of the spotlight.

****

Dishonorable mention: Dwight Gooden, Darryl Strawberry, Steve Howe, Rafael Palmeiro, Ryan Leaf, Adam "Pacman" Jones, Chris Henry, and a bevy of other idiots.

Almost all of those mentioned above in some way or another, brought the fall on themselves - whether through questionable choices, stupid associations, or what have you - the only place these people can realistically lay blame is at their own front door.

Catching up with a busy weekend

But first, more pics of Isiah Thomas in his new roll as Milton Waddams for the Knicks...


Stupid is as stupid does...

So, the Rocket is back in the news, this time for an alleged 10-year extramarital affair that started when he was 28 and the other woman was 15. Roger Clemens' attorney released a statement, not denying a relationship with the now washed up 32-year old country singer, but denying that the relationship was of a sexual nature.

Clemens might be telling the truth here, however, there are a number of things that just don't pass the smell test here.

I want to address some of those things.

First - I spent five years as a teacher at the high school level, and in the 22 years I have spent as a martial arts instructor, I have been friendly with a number of teenagers. I have mentored several of them, but have spent no time with any of them outside of a classroom setting (except in the very rare case in which I am friends with the child's parents - which has always been the case before I had the child as a student). I would not call any of them a sustained relationship over a ten year period, no matter what my age.

Second - What ended the "platonic" relationship after ten years? Sure, I have friends, going back to elementary school, whom I don't talk to or see as often as I once did. But I would not describe those relationships as ended at the time we stopped talking as often.

Some of those friends I talk to once a year, sometimes less, and see those people even less frequently, but they're still people I consider to have a relationship with. The relationship hasn't ended. Just changed.

As for women with which I had physical or romantic relationships - yeah, most of those had definitive endings complete with hostilities and cessation of interaction. Some I can pinpoint the dates on, if I really went back to think about it. None of those were platonic.

What I have to ask at this point, would any of this have hit had it not been for The Mitchell Report?

Two by Two

The Celtics stomped on the Atlanta Hawks in the first two games of the playoffs, winning by an average of 21 points in those two games. The Hawks have been slightly better than the Celtics for the last two in Atlanta, averaging a seven point margin in their wins.

I mention this for the following - the series returns to Boston for game five.

A basic fact about the two teams -

Through the season and including the playoffs, the Celtics are 37-6 at home and 31-12 away. Atlanta, is a respectable 27-16 at home. In 43 road games the Hawks have only won 12 - or to put it another way; Atlanta has won a little better than one in every four road games while the Celtics have lost a little less than once in every six games at the Garden.

Unless the Hawks can rise to the occasion and steal one in Boston, the best Atlanta will do is make a respectable showing by forcing the series to seven games. I just have a hard time seeing the Hawks taking one on the road.

Panic attack

The Sox have lost five in a row to slip into second place, mere percentage points behind the Rays and Orioles. The skid coincides with a flu that has run through the Sox clubhouse, forcing the team to start Jon Lester on three days rest (for everyone knocking him - yes it wasn't a great start, but he still gave the team an opportunity to win, giving up four earned in five innings - the same number of runs the team put up over the same number of innings). The bullpen screwed the pooch, and the offense went away.

A pretty good description of what has happened with the team during the skid.

In the next game, rookie Justin Masterson spun a six inning gem, giving up one run. The offense was decent, scoring five runs over the course of the game, but the bullpen gave up six over the final three innings.

Even Tim Wakefield qualified for a quality start, making it through six innings and giving up only three earned runs against the Rays, Clay Buchholz gave up two runs in eight, and Beckett only one earned in seven. Even when the Sox put runs on the board, the hitting failed in the clutch.

All that noted, it's way too early to panic. Sure, JD Drew has reverted to 2007 Drew, but he's not the only one to have disappeared at the plate. For the most part, David Ortiz hasn't shown up yet, and only Julio Lugo and Dustin Pedroia got hits in the Sunday night game that made the Rays' James Shields look like the second coming of Nolan Ryan. The night before only Drew, Coco Crisp, Jed Lowrie, and Jacoby Ellsbury hit the ball. This won't last.

It's the end of April. It is way too early to panic.

Draft gurus

Tomorrow is the NFL draft.

The pundits have been out in force, analyzing, dissecting, breaking down the top players - trying to find the sleepers, identify the busts, and anoint the next superstars without a single player having seen a single down in the NFL except on their television sets on Sunday.

It passed the stage of interesting a long time ago and now just resides in the land of tedium. Analysis for analysis' sake. Everyone has a different opinion, everyone identifies a different place where a team has needs, and everyone seems to feel they have the right remedy for what ails a given team.

Are there draft picks that are gimmes? Yeah, and there are those that are so glaringly wrong (Ted Ginn, Jr., anyone?) that one wonders how the GM and the scouts of those teams still have jobs going into the second day of the draft, and there are reaches. But let's face it, if these so-called draft experts were so good at what they do, they would be drawing their paychecks from the NFL and not some media outlet.

Mel Kiper, I'm looking at you.

I'm not saying what he does is easy. He compiles an immense amount of information and seems to be able to recall it without referencing notes. What I am saying is that he does not seem capable of doing the most difficult part of his job - which is to bring a certain gut instinct to his analysis...to separate certain facts and make accurate projections based on scheme and mental make-up.

For those of you who think otherwise, here is a list of some of Kiper's most memorable moments ganked from his bio on Wikipedia...

• Kiper also criticized the Colts selection of Marshall Faulk at #2 in 1994, saying that the team should have taken either Shuler or Trent Dilfer.^[5] Kiper attacked the selection of Faulk, stating, "That's why the Colts keep picking No. 2 every year." ^[6] Faulk became the 1994 Offensive Rookie of the Year.^[7] After a long career as one of the elite running backs NFL history, the general consensus is that Faulk will someday be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

• Kiper projected quarterback Jeff George of the University of Illinois as a mid-round pick, George selected as number 1 overall by the Indianapolis Colts. George's career was inconsistent and riddled with behavior-related problems. ^[8]

• Kiper projected Notre Dame quarterback Rick Mirer as the 30th pick; he was selected second overall by the Seattle Seahawks.^[9] Though he showed some early promise, Mirer failed to develop and was finally benched during his fourth season. He spent the remaining eight years of his career with six different teams as a journeyman backup. ^[10]

• Among his failures, Kiper thought that Heisman Trophy winner and University of Houston quarterback Andre Ware would be an excellent NFL quarterback and a great match for the Detroit Lions-- Ware's tenure in the NFL was brief and inconspicuous. Ware is considered among the biggest busts in draft history.^[11]

• In 1999, Kiper said that Oregon quarterback Akili Smith would be a great NFL player and would finally provide the Cincinnati Bengals with the passer they'd lacked since Boomer Esiason. Smith was selected ahead of Daunte Culpepper, Torry Holt, Edgerrin James, Champ Bailey, and Jevon Kearse, but he spent less than four abysmal seasons in Cincinnati, starting only 17 games. He has since struggled in several brief stops in the NFL, NFL Europe, and the CFL. It's notable that Kiper rated Smith higher than Donovan McNabb and Culpepper, despite the facts that Smith only had 11 starts at the college level and had performed poorly on the Wonderlic aptitude tests administered at the NFL Combine, both of which are traditionally seen as important indicators of a quarterback's readiness for the NFL. Smith's career was marred by inconsistency and failure to grasp the complexities of the Bengals' playbook, issues which appear to have been foreshadowed by his lack of experience and low scores.

• One of Kiper's most well known mistakes was when he stated that USC wide receiver Mike Williams would be the best player in his 2005 draft class, despite not having played football in over a year after being ruled ineligible by the NCAA. When ESPN analyst Merril Hoge disagreed, Kiper uttered the now infamous line, "I'll see you at his Hall of Fame induction." Williams has been a remarkable disappointment, playing very little and showing no signs of improvement with either of the two teams he's played for. As of October 31, 2007 he is already out of football after being waived by the Oakland Raiders. Further adding to the embarrassment for Kiper (and the Detroit Lions, who selected him 10th overall) is the fact that the next three players selected after Williams all became Pro-Bowlers within 2 years - the Cowboys' DeMarcus Ware, the Chargers' Shawn Merriman, and Saints offensive tackle Jamaal Brown.
  

• In the 1995 Draft, Kiper proclaimed UCLA wide receiver JJ Stokes a "sure-thing" who was destined to be a future All-Pro. On draft day, Kiper lambasted several teams, including the New York Jets, for passing on Stokes until he was selected 10th overall by the San Francisco 49ers. Stokes spent an undistinguished 8 years in San Francisco in the shadows of Jerry Rice and Terrell Owens, never making a single Pro Bowl or even surpassing 770 yards receiving. After the draft, the Jets signed Hofstra wide receiver Wayne Chrebet as an undrafted free agent. Chrebet became one of the Jets most popular players and surpassed Stokes in every major statistical category.

• In the same 1995 Draft, Kiper had rated BYU Quarterback John Walsh as a first round pick. Walsh declared for the draft after his Junior season and had an abysmal NFL combine where he ran a 5.3 forty yard dash and displayed a weak arm in workouts. Nonetheless, Kiper still rated Walsh as a late 1st/early 2nd round pick on the day of the draft and said he would be a perfect fit for a "West Coast Offense" team like the San Francisco 49ers because of his accuracy on short passes. Walsh slid all the way to the 7th round where he was finally taken by the Cincinnati Bengals. He never appeared in a single game for the quarterback needy Bengals and was out of football less than a year later.

• One example of Kiper getting a player correct in the 1995 draft was when he asserted that Notre Dame defensive back Bobby Taylor, a college free safety, would make an excellent cornerback in the NFL because of his ability to match up with larger wide receivers. Kiper had Taylor rated as one of his top 10 prospects in the draft, and though Taylor wasn't drafted until the 2nd round by the Philadelphia Eagles, he went on to have a long and distinguished career just as Kiper said he would.

• In 1998 Kiper said that Washington State Quarterback Ryan Leaf's "attitude" (which had rubbed teammates and coaches the wrong way in college) would be an asset in the NFL and give him a mental advantage over Peyton Manning. Kiper also said that Leaf had the better natural physical tools and would be a great quarterback, though he still rated Manning as the more polished and better overall prospect. Leaf was chosen second overall by the San Diego Chargers immediately after Manning. Leaf's career soon imploded, largely because of a confrontational attitude and poor practice habits that alienated teammates, coaches, and fans. He is now regarded as not only the worst bust in NFL draft history, but also possibly the biggest bust in all of professional sports.^[12] His story is viewed as a cautionary tale of what can happen when a team attempts to build around a player with raw talent but questionable attitude.

• Before the 2001 NFL season, Kiper predicted the New England Patriots to go 0-16 and have the 1st pick in the 2002 NFL Draft. Instead, the Patriots went 11-5 and went on to win Super Bowl XXXVI against the St. Louis Rams.^{[citation needed]}

By no means is Kiper alone in this, however, when so glaringly wrong on picks like Leaf, Akili Smith, and Ware...all of whom had serious detractors at the time of their respective drafts, one has to wonder how he retains his draft guru title with ESPN.

Political personal foul

There's always a lot of controversy regarding sports and politics. It's coming up a lot right now in relation to the Olympics.

There is a certain faction that feels that the Games should just be about the athletes, and that the Olympics is not the venue for politics and political protest.

Unfortunately, that should be the case in sports as a whole, but let's face it...politics and sport have always been intertwined, and not just in as much as the Kennedy family's joy in playing touch football on the East Lawn.

Whether meant to be or not, Jackie Robinson's rookie year in Major League Baseball was as much political statement as it was an opportunity for a talented ball-player.

In 1965 the American Football League pulled their All-Star Game out of New Orleans when the black players were treated poorly by local businesses, including the hotels in the Crescent City.

The NFL had to make decisions on whether to play their scheduled slate on Sundays based on national tragedies - the assassination of John F. Kennedy, and the 9/11 terrorist attacks. They have made security decisions based on the invasion of Iraq in 1990. They have combined teams (The Eagles and Steelers in the 1940's) to keep the league playing games at a time of war.

All of these decisions were influenced by the politics of the times.

There was even, in the NFL, a controversy in hair in the late 1960's when Joe Namath came into the league. He represented young, rebellious America during a time of civil unrest in America, while Baltimore's Johnny Unitas represented the old guard.

But the Olympics are different.

The Olympics have always been political because governments have always been involved. Governments sponsor teams, they compete to host the event, and even when watched, it is about us against them. It's about which country can win the most. It is not about, what the Olympic Committee wants you to believe, some higher ideal of competition or cooperation.

The so-called Olympic ideal is a myth. It's not about a level playing field and the best athletes in the world. Were it about a higher ideal, no country would be awarded the games. We all engage in human rights violations - China (Tibet), the United States (Guantanamo Bay, and, historically, civil rights issues with just about every minority in this country...the most glaring in the last century being the last time we engaged in internment camps for the Japanese, not unlike Gitmo for the Muslims, during World War II), England (over the last 40 years in Northern Ireland), and the list goes on.

It has always been about politics, whether world, national, or individual.

Just a sampling of what the history of the Olympic games has indeed been in the regards to politics...

In 1916 the Olympics, to be held in Berlin, Germany, were canceled due to World War I. Twenty years later Berlin hosted the Olympics again, Adolf Hitler seeing the event as an opportunity to demonstrate the superiority of the Aryan race...to further his political agenda in the world arena.

At Mexico City in 1968 two American sprinters were expelled from the games for, as the IOC stated, "The basic principle of the Olympic Games is that politics plays no part whatsoever in them. U.S. athletes violated this universally accepted principle . . . to advertise domestic political views." The two runners, Tommie Smith and John Carlos, were expelled for demonstrating their support for the Civil Rights movement in the United States by giving the Black Power salute during the playing of the Star Spangled Banner at the time of the awards ceremony.

In 1972 there were the terrorist attacks in Munich, killing members of the Israeli team.

In 1980 the US boycotted the Moscow Olympics in reaction to the Soviet Union's invasion of Afghanistan. More than 60 other countries followed suit.

In 1984 the Soviets boycotted the Los Angeles games, claiming that the US was politicizing the games, stirring up anti-Soviet propaganda and sentiment, and that the US was being cavalier in their attitudes towards providing adequate security for the Soviet athletes. In the US response to the Soviet accusations, the US spokesman took another opportunity to attack the Soviets for the invasion of Afghanistan. Practically all the Eastern Bloc countries followed suit.

There were other years that the Olympics were marred by some form of political statement, boycott, or other political issue affecting attendance or scheduling. This is just a sample, a notation that the idea that the two are separate or should be expected to be separate is ridiculous.

Should it be? Yes. The athletes who train their whole lives for these games should not have their opportunity destroyed by political issues, but don't expect it to ever be that way.

On a side note...

This is from New York Newsday about Isiah Thomas' new roll with the Kickerbockers...

Isiah no longer full-time. Walsh didn't say the reassigned Isiah Thomas was forbidden to have contact with the players next season, but it certainly sounded as if Thomas' new role involves being completely invisible. "He's not coming in every day like he used to," Walsh said, "but he is there as a resource for me."

Is it just me, or has Donnie Walsh turned Isiah Thomas into Milton Waddams from Office Space? It's just a matter of time before he's sitting at a desk in some broom closet in Madison Square Garden with a can of bug spray and his paychecks cut off.

Patriot Day reflections

I just want to acknowledge the Bruins who made a series out of what looked to be a brief post-season cameo. You guys have something to build on for next year. Good job guys. Next year get a little deeper into the playoffs. You have a lot to live up to in Boston with the way things have gone for everybody else.

Yo, Sox...way to smack the Rangers around. Always nice to see a big win on the annual morning game.

Finally, the marathon...

I ran in one in Maryland a couple of years ago. It is the only marathon I have participated, in spite of living for years on the Boston Marathon course (on the Fenway for two or three years, right off of Kenmore square, and in Cleveland Circle for another three).

My goal was to finish in four hours (I was a sprinter in high school, and distance running is still something of a foreign beast to me). I was on pace to meet my goal through 18 miles. The last eight miles took me an hour and fifty minutes. I hit the wall.

From what I understand, mile 18 is the typical place to hit the wall.

It is part of what makes Boston so difficult.

Heartbreak Hill starts in the course's 18th mile. It's a series of brutal and unforgiving hills, and what most who don't run in these things fail to understand, is that the downhills are just as hard on the body as the uphills. They take a toll on the knees, the uphills on the muscles, and by the end the body is...shall we say, unhappy.

It's why watching Uta Pippig smile and blow kisses through Kenmore Square blew my mind. More so once I ran in one of these events.

I always look up the results of the race. I don't know why, as I often don't know the names of the runners...at least anymore. I can only speculate that it's because the race is a war of attrition, and I want to acknowledge the accomplishments of those who fight to the end of Boston. It's an impressive feat.

Monday observations

After what has felt like a decade of futility at Madison Square Garden, Isiah Thomas got the heave-ho...sort of.

Thomas is a man of no authority now in the NBA.

After managing the Knicks past the point of irrelevance with horrendous coaching and personnel decisions, so far past the point of irrelevance that the team was so bad they were relevant only as a cautionary tale to the rest of the NBA, Thomas was finally axed as the coach of the Knicks. For some reason the team kept Thomas on the payroll.

I have a theory about that.

Thomas has (to call it single-handedly would absolve James Dolan of his culpability, and let's face it, Dolan has just been as culpable as Thomas) pretty well annihilated the New York basketball franchise, making it the laughingstock of professional sports. He is to the NBA what the Ragnarok is to Norse Mythology. He is the Destroyer, and he has done it to them both on and off the court.

As such, I think David Stern asked the Knicks to keep him on the payroll to keep him from doing this to any other franchise.

He currently has a position with no title, no one reports to him, and he apparently has no responsibilities in this position (as yet). Sounds like someone the NBA wants kept out of the way.

Like I said, just a theory. But I know if I'm Stern, I'm trying to keep him from doing this to any other franchise.

Props...

To Danica Patrick for putting to rest the comparisons to Anna Kournikova with an outright win in the 50th open-wheel race of her career. After taking the flag at the Japan 300, Patrick has become the first woman to win one of the major races in the sport's circuit. While not a fan of racing, I thought this deserved a mention.

To Vikings' defensive end Kenechi Udeze for the fact that his leukemia is in remission and that he has found a bone marrow donor in his fight against this form of cancer. Now let's hear some good news on Joe Andruzzi who is engaged in his own battle with cancer, having been diagnosed (according to a January update from Sports Illustrated) with Burkitt's Lymphoma. That particular form of lymphoma is rare, but aggressive wherein a cancerous mass can double in size in just 24 hours.

To Big Papi who seems to be working his way out of his slump. It's nothing short of amazing that the Red Sox have led the American League in run production (and are third overall) in spite of Ortiz's struggles at the plate. Currently, with Ortiz only barely within spitting distance of the Mendoza Line (.160, up from a low in the double digits), the team leads the AL in run production with 104 (as of Monday morning), RBI's with 99, slugging percentage at .446, and the majors in batting average at .295, and on base percentage at .367. What does this mean for the rest of the league when Ortiz really begins hitting?

The Magnificent Seven

I have to admit.

I thought they were done.

I thought the Bruins were cooked down three games to one to the Montreal Canadiens. I thought it was all over...that the Bruins would be the first pro team from Boston to fail to advance to its post-season championship game in a season that started in 2007.

The Sox won the World Series, the Pats lost the Super Bowl, the Celtics are the number one seed in the NBA, and the Bruins...well...the Bruins have managed to stay alive for one more night.

The playoff series with Montreal is all tied up, with the Bruins winning two in a row now...including a dramatic come from behind victory on Saturday.

The odds are against them. It is unlikely that the Bruins will win on Monday night to make it three in a row. Of course, Saturday's victory is exactly the sort of victory that can be a back-breaker. Like the Yankees against the Sox in 2004, New York had Boston's back's to the wall late in the game - they had the opportunity to put the series away. The Yanks just weren't the same team after coughing up that ninth inning lead in the game that would have sealed their trip to the 2004 Series against the Cardinals.

Monday we find out if the Canadiens can recover from coughing up a 3-1 series lead, or if the Bruins can rise to the occasion and seal the deal against the team that has been the albatross around their neck for as long as I can remember.

RIP Mr. Marzano

I have a strange connection to former Sox catcher John Marzano.

As I'm sure most of my readers heard about Marzano's passing on Saturday - the former Sox back-up catcher found in his home, dead of an apparent heart attack at age 45.

Marzano was a South Philly guy in every sense of the word. He was born there, grew up there, and died there. Even when he was with the Sox he maintained a home in the old neighborhood.

How and why do I know this?

Because the neighborhood is deeply embedded in my family history.

My mother's family came here from Italy. More accurately, my grandfather, as a child, arrived in America from the province of Abruzzi with his family and settled in Philadelphia. His father opened a grocery that was passed to him and his brothers, at which time it came to be known as Ricci Bros (pronounced Ritchie). The small neighborhood store was in the family until it was sold by my mothers cousin just a few years ago.

Ricci Bros. became quite well known across the city, and was for some time the place to get a hoagie before going to the Vet for a game. Marzano was a regular.

When home on off days from the Sox he used to stop in the store and talk to my great Uncle Sal. This happened, according to Sal with a certain amount of regularity.

At the time, I lived in Boston.

Whenever we would have big family gatherings Sal, by that time the family elder, would always engage me in the following conversation, "you like the Red Sox, right? Their back-up catcher...um Johnny, you know Johnny?"

"Marzano?"

"Yeah. You know, he's from South Philly. He grew up near the store. He still comes in whenever he's in town. Gives me his tickets to the game. I keep telling him I can't use 'em. You live up there, right? Next time he comes in, I'll make sure to mail them to you."

Sal never remembered to mail the tickets, but I always thought it was cool that there was this weird family connection to the Sox.

Sal passed away not too long ago. I know this would have saddened him. He always described "Johnny" as a "good kid from the neighborhood," and was always happy that he made it to the bigs.

Sleep well big guy, enjoy that eternal pick-up game with Ted Williams.

Ephemera...

My wife is having a slow day at work, so she's come up with a couple of the following...well, sports oddities and/or random bits of trivia...

The following was ganked from Wikipedia...

Kurt Russell is an FAA licensed private pilot holding single/multi-engine and instrument ratings. He is a New England Patriots football fan, attending Super Bowl XLII and sitting in a skybox with Robert Kraft, owner of the Patriots team.

I suppose this means we can forgive him Tango & Cash for this.

Coach abuse

The official scoring was a 9-0 loss for Kawamoto Technical High School in Japan, but reality was far different. According to this Reuters report, the Kawamoto coach threw in the towel with one out in the bottom of the second inning with only one out while trailing 66-0.

You read that right. 66-0.

He was worried about the health of his pitcher who had already thrown roughly 250 pitches. His statement - "At that pace the pitcher would have thrown around 500 pitches in four innings. ..There was a danger he could get injured."

Nice to see he was so concerned.

Two things to consider here...

One - why didn't the coach bring in a reliever...particularly if he was so concerned.

Two - the kid gave up 26 runs in the first. In the second he gave up 40, and got only one out. He thinks if he left this kid in that he would only have thrown 500 pitches? Was he relying on the opponents tiring out? Assuming for 250 in only an inning and a third, the kid was actually on a pace to throw 940 pitches over five innings.

And for anyone wondering - that's an ERA of 446.62.

The return of my obscure statistic...

Through the first one-tenth of the Red Sox 2008 season, David "Big Papi" Ortiz has been a virtual black hole in the line-up. He has barely hit, and when he has there has been little to no power.

Last year as Julio Lugo had a season that was a complete statistical anomaly, scoring and driving in a fair number of runs in spite of struggling at the plate through most of the season, I chose to look at batter production from a different angle. My thought, presented in a blog post at the end of last June, went as follows...

In light of Baseball's predilection towards the mathematic, production is gaged often in arcane ways - Walks and Hits per Inning Pitched (WHIP), On Base Percentage combined with Slugging Percentage (OPS).

I present another way. Something a little less arcane, and maybe a little more accurate in regards to a player's production - Runs Scored and Runs Batted In Per Game, or as I call it; RSBIG. Yes, it does cause for a "production overlap," but it also gives a sense of how much of the scoring the player has been involved in.

While I don't think it's going to reflect well on Big Papi through the end of the Yankees series like it did for Lugo last year, I find it a curious stat and it tells me who manages to cross the plate, or help others cross the plate the most.

All players below have played a minimum of ten games...

1. JD Drew - 1.85
2. M. Ramirez - 1.82
3. K. Youkilis - 1.56
4. S. Casey - 1.00
5. J. Ellsbury - 0.93
6. D. Pedroia - 0.76
7. D. Ortiz - 0.75
8. J. Varitek - 0.63
9. C. Crisp - 0.54
10. J. Lugo - 0.44

Take what you will from this. I just feel it's an interesting way to look at offensive production.