Off Season Rants
It's been a while since I teased your senses with yet another enlightening take on the sports world so I thought I needed to get you your fix. There's actually been quite a lot going on since we last spoke so let's jump right into it.
Quick Hits Around the Sports World:
- A fond and heartfelt farewell to Mr. Kevin Durant - we hardly knew you, hate to see you go, but who among us can blame you? Unfortunately we'll probably be watching you try and take the Celtics to "next level" - good luck with all of that.
- How about that move Billy Gillespie pulled: using Arkansas offer to get his A&M deal, which never signed, to help him get the Kentucky deal. Good luck Billy boy - hope you know what you're getting yourself into.
- On the flip side, hope you enjoyed the ride aggies - may be tough to maintain this momentum with a new coach coming in and 3 starters departing.
- And speaking of the Big 12 taking one on the chin in basketball, pretty Busch league move by Huggins. He was in the f'ing gutter until Kstate pulled him out. Hope you enjoy W. Virginia. You had better pray you don't get fired because you will not get another coaching opportunity better than that unless you take them all the way.
- Well my Lakers have dropped to the 7th spot in the playoffs and lost AGAIN to the Clippers last night - even with Kobe scoring 50 points. Here's a memo to Mitch Kupcheck (GM), you will NEVER get any better than this with this team - I think it's time to start rebuilding around KB with veterans. I'd like to see a big run for Garnett. They suck and will get dominated by the Suns in the first round - damn that team makes me mad, get on Kobe all you want, but he's the best player in the league and if he doesn't score at least 40 they have zero chance to win any games.
- I'm going with Spurs and Bulls in finals. I picked Spurs at beginning of the year and will stick with them here. East is a crap shoot.
- Did anyone notice that NHL playoffs have stared? I can't tell you 3 teams in the playoffs right now.
- Don't you just love NON-football season in America? Did you see the hype around...the release of next year's NFL schedule? Are you kidding me? Hey, here are a bunch of games that won't even start for another 5 months - let's get pumped!!
- Smart move by the Florida 4 to go ahead and make that jump to the NBA - literally nothing more to prove.
- Million dollar question for NFL Draft (one of them) - can you blame the Detroit Lions for taking Calvin Johnson at number 2? I mean, they've picked a receiver what seems like the past decade with their perinneal top 5 pick. They have all sorts of needs - I say you either have to trade that pick or take Johnson with the hopes of either trading him, or packaging Roy Williams and someone else to get a QB/O-line help. They need veterans in a bad kind of way.
- Happy trails to Drew Bledsoe who retired yesterday. Some facts about Bledsoe you may have forgotten: he was the number 1 pick in '93, he went to 4 pro bowls (I think), he took 2 teams to the super bowl (people forget that first year they won it, Brady got hurt in the playoffs and Bledsoe led them through the AFC title game). Can't say one of the best, but a good career.
- Will the Tennessee Titans actually make any GOOD off season moves this year? I'd be willing to bet that unless they make a big run at a couple of top-notch players they'll regress quite a bit next year.
Duke Lacrosse Debacle:
How can I NOT talk about this? I mean, have you seen a larger, more idiotic cluster you-know-what in your entire life??? This was one of those rare instances where there were no winners. Let me preface this next statement with I'm not ignorant - these kids clearly made some horrible judgment decisions and are probably idiots (we were all in college once). BUT, the fact that they will forever have the words "alleged rapist" attached to their names is simply criminal. Again, I don't doubt how much of an asshole many of these kids were and maybe still are. BUT, the chasm that exists between living the rest of your life with the label "asshole" versus living your life with the label "rapist" is beyond comprehension. 20 years from now, if you google one of these kids' names I guarantee you that this incident will be one of the top 3 items that pops up. That's just wrong.
Here's what I think: The DA should never again be able to run for a similar office, nor should he ever again be able to practice law. He abused that right and the power of his office when there was never a point when any evidence existed against these kids. Shameful performance and he should again have to pay a similar price.
As for the accuser - I can't help but to feel sorry for her in a sense, she clearly has and has had some issues in her life. But, for her to perpetuate these charges, charges she knew were untrue the entire time, is inexcusable and unacceptable. She should call a national press conference where she apologizes for her actions and "clears those kids' names". By this I mean, take responsibility for her actions and accusations. Her actions have been nothing short of pathetic which is unfortunate because again, you know she's had to deal with some issues that most of us will never have to deal with. Nonetheless, it doesn't give her the right to smear these kids' names.
As for the kids here, I pray that they have learned something out of this. Number one being you should probably treat women and other people in general with a tad more respect - you never know when something like this may happen. That's all I have to say about that.
Don Imus:
This only kind of constitutes a sports story, but have to touch on it anyway. First off Donny, I know you're a radio host, and even considered a "shock radio" guy. BUT, you have to know you can't say that shit. I know I cringed when I heard it. It was like Simon telling Haley the other night that her strategy was a good one, come on stage wearing as little as possible. OUCH! But enough American Idol talk.
First off, I will say this, after the incident, Imus went out and "took his lumps" which is something that most people would not and have not done - going on Al Sharpeton's show for example. With that said, you still can't do that and have things go back to normal, those were some pretty bad comments. Is Imus a racist? I don't know. Should he have been fired? Probably, but let's be honest, he didn't get fired for the comments. He got fired because the sponsors on his show backed out - that is the ONLY reason. Let's remember, Imus has been doing this for upwards of 20 years now and do you think this is the first time he has crossed a line like this? Don't talk show hosts all over the country make stupid comments? Have we not heard of Howard Stern? I'm not suggesting that these people are racists, but let's not pretend that these are the worst words ever uttered by a radio talk show host.
Andrew Siciliano said it best: don't we lose our right to yell "FIRE" when we've been sitting by and watching the fire for 2 decades? What I really love is when American Politicians, who I believe are losing credibility by the truck load on a daily basis, chime in and condemn Imus' actions. What? Where did you come from and why do we care about your skin-deep opinion?
And finally on this issue, here's a question for Mr. Sharpeton and Mr. Jackson who did quite a bit to push Imus to get fired - where's your apology for standing by the accuser and family of the accuser in the Duke Lacrosse scandal and condemning those kids who we now know are 100% innocent? Will they ever address that?
24:
Last week was by and far the best episode of the season. Gotta love it when the terrorists are all dead and the nukes "secured" with like 5 episodes left. That means there's still time for Jack to go and kick the shit out of the Chinese.
Best part of last week (and the whole season): after Jack has done his thing and killed all the bad guys single handedly, Doyle walks in and looks around at all the carnage and whispers, "damn Jack". Yea, that dude is awesome.
For all you Westlake alums - I think Jack Bauer may be one of the only people on this planet that can take Jester.
Enjoy your weekend folks. NBA playoffs start in a week...so we got that going for us.
Quick Hits Around the Sports World:
- A fond and heartfelt farewell to Mr. Kevin Durant - we hardly knew you, hate to see you go, but who among us can blame you? Unfortunately we'll probably be watching you try and take the Celtics to "next level" - good luck with all of that.
- How about that move Billy Gillespie pulled: using Arkansas offer to get his A&M deal, which never signed, to help him get the Kentucky deal. Good luck Billy boy - hope you know what you're getting yourself into.
- On the flip side, hope you enjoyed the ride aggies - may be tough to maintain this momentum with a new coach coming in and 3 starters departing.
- And speaking of the Big 12 taking one on the chin in basketball, pretty Busch league move by Huggins. He was in the f'ing gutter until Kstate pulled him out. Hope you enjoy W. Virginia. You had better pray you don't get fired because you will not get another coaching opportunity better than that unless you take them all the way.
- Well my Lakers have dropped to the 7th spot in the playoffs and lost AGAIN to the Clippers last night - even with Kobe scoring 50 points. Here's a memo to Mitch Kupcheck (GM), you will NEVER get any better than this with this team - I think it's time to start rebuilding around KB with veterans. I'd like to see a big run for Garnett. They suck and will get dominated by the Suns in the first round - damn that team makes me mad, get on Kobe all you want, but he's the best player in the league and if he doesn't score at least 40 they have zero chance to win any games.
- I'm going with Spurs and Bulls in finals. I picked Spurs at beginning of the year and will stick with them here. East is a crap shoot.
- Did anyone notice that NHL playoffs have stared? I can't tell you 3 teams in the playoffs right now.
- Don't you just love NON-football season in America? Did you see the hype around...the release of next year's NFL schedule? Are you kidding me? Hey, here are a bunch of games that won't even start for another 5 months - let's get pumped!!
- Smart move by the Florida 4 to go ahead and make that jump to the NBA - literally nothing more to prove.
- Million dollar question for NFL Draft (one of them) - can you blame the Detroit Lions for taking Calvin Johnson at number 2? I mean, they've picked a receiver what seems like the past decade with their perinneal top 5 pick. They have all sorts of needs - I say you either have to trade that pick or take Johnson with the hopes of either trading him, or packaging Roy Williams and someone else to get a QB/O-line help. They need veterans in a bad kind of way.
- Happy trails to Drew Bledsoe who retired yesterday. Some facts about Bledsoe you may have forgotten: he was the number 1 pick in '93, he went to 4 pro bowls (I think), he took 2 teams to the super bowl (people forget that first year they won it, Brady got hurt in the playoffs and Bledsoe led them through the AFC title game). Can't say one of the best, but a good career.
- Will the Tennessee Titans actually make any GOOD off season moves this year? I'd be willing to bet that unless they make a big run at a couple of top-notch players they'll regress quite a bit next year.
Duke Lacrosse Debacle:
How can I NOT talk about this? I mean, have you seen a larger, more idiotic cluster you-know-what in your entire life??? This was one of those rare instances where there were no winners. Let me preface this next statement with I'm not ignorant - these kids clearly made some horrible judgment decisions and are probably idiots (we were all in college once). BUT, the fact that they will forever have the words "alleged rapist" attached to their names is simply criminal. Again, I don't doubt how much of an asshole many of these kids were and maybe still are. BUT, the chasm that exists between living the rest of your life with the label "asshole" versus living your life with the label "rapist" is beyond comprehension. 20 years from now, if you google one of these kids' names I guarantee you that this incident will be one of the top 3 items that pops up. That's just wrong.
Here's what I think: The DA should never again be able to run for a similar office, nor should he ever again be able to practice law. He abused that right and the power of his office when there was never a point when any evidence existed against these kids. Shameful performance and he should again have to pay a similar price.
As for the accuser - I can't help but to feel sorry for her in a sense, she clearly has and has had some issues in her life. But, for her to perpetuate these charges, charges she knew were untrue the entire time, is inexcusable and unacceptable. She should call a national press conference where she apologizes for her actions and "clears those kids' names". By this I mean, take responsibility for her actions and accusations. Her actions have been nothing short of pathetic which is unfortunate because again, you know she's had to deal with some issues that most of us will never have to deal with. Nonetheless, it doesn't give her the right to smear these kids' names.
As for the kids here, I pray that they have learned something out of this. Number one being you should probably treat women and other people in general with a tad more respect - you never know when something like this may happen. That's all I have to say about that.
Don Imus:
This only kind of constitutes a sports story, but have to touch on it anyway. First off Donny, I know you're a radio host, and even considered a "shock radio" guy. BUT, you have to know you can't say that shit. I know I cringed when I heard it. It was like Simon telling Haley the other night that her strategy was a good one, come on stage wearing as little as possible. OUCH! But enough American Idol talk.
First off, I will say this, after the incident, Imus went out and "took his lumps" which is something that most people would not and have not done - going on Al Sharpeton's show for example. With that said, you still can't do that and have things go back to normal, those were some pretty bad comments. Is Imus a racist? I don't know. Should he have been fired? Probably, but let's be honest, he didn't get fired for the comments. He got fired because the sponsors on his show backed out - that is the ONLY reason. Let's remember, Imus has been doing this for upwards of 20 years now and do you think this is the first time he has crossed a line like this? Don't talk show hosts all over the country make stupid comments? Have we not heard of Howard Stern? I'm not suggesting that these people are racists, but let's not pretend that these are the worst words ever uttered by a radio talk show host.
Andrew Siciliano said it best: don't we lose our right to yell "FIRE" when we've been sitting by and watching the fire for 2 decades? What I really love is when American Politicians, who I believe are losing credibility by the truck load on a daily basis, chime in and condemn Imus' actions. What? Where did you come from and why do we care about your skin-deep opinion?
And finally on this issue, here's a question for Mr. Sharpeton and Mr. Jackson who did quite a bit to push Imus to get fired - where's your apology for standing by the accuser and family of the accuser in the Duke Lacrosse scandal and condemning those kids who we now know are 100% innocent? Will they ever address that?
24:
Last week was by and far the best episode of the season. Gotta love it when the terrorists are all dead and the nukes "secured" with like 5 episodes left. That means there's still time for Jack to go and kick the shit out of the Chinese.
Best part of last week (and the whole season): after Jack has done his thing and killed all the bad guys single handedly, Doyle walks in and looks around at all the carnage and whispers, "damn Jack". Yea, that dude is awesome.
For all you Westlake alums - I think Jack Bauer may be one of the only people on this planet that can take Jester.
Enjoy your weekend folks. NBA playoffs start in a week...so we got that going for us.
posted by The Bearden Wonder at 7:24 AM
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