Sunday, February 29, 2004
...AND NOW, HERE’S SPORTS.
Politics, CBS Nightly News, War in Iraq, etc...it makes my head hurt. It’s time to take a little break from it all. I’d rather be writing and talking about sports anyway. So, here’s a few items that have been floating around my head lately:
The Bartman Ball
So the Bartman Ball has finally bit the big one. Destroying the ball is supposed to break this alleged “curse” that has plagued the Cub’s for nearly one hundred years. Well, I hope it helps. But the first thing the Cubbies and their fans need to get over is this omnipresent defeatist attitude that permeates everything they do. That’s what is holding them back more than any curse.
There is no curse of the billy goat. Steve Bartman is not your problem. Look, you’ve got a great lineup and a solid pitching staff. When the season starts, go kick some ass. No more excuses. I want to see a Cubs championship now.
Barry Bonds and BALCO
I’m sorry, but I’ve got to say it: Barry Bonds was on steroids. I know that might offend some sports fans, but it’s probably true. I want to be able to accept that at 40 years old, this guy is heads and tails above every hitter in baseball, but I just can’t.
Facts are facts. Bonds’ own trainer is being charged with distributing steroids to ballplayers. Even if he never says he gave them to you, that looks bad, Barry. Really really bad. It looks Scott Peterson type bad. It looks O.J. bad.
Barry, you never hit 50 home runs in your career and then suddenly, out of nowhere, you hit 73. There’s something fishy about that. Home runs are not easy to hit, I know. How did you manage, at your age, to miraculously hit 24 more than you ever did at any point in your career? I want to believe you had a string of good luck, but I just can’t bring myself to do it.
It looks bad, Barry. Really, really bad.
Jamal Lewis, the NFL and ESPN’s Playmakers
So, it seems Baltimore’s star running back, Jamal Lewis, has been indicted on charges of conspiring to distribute cocaine four years ago. It was before he entered the NFL, but it’s a black eye on Lewis’s career and on the league in which he plays. Although he has pled not guilty to these allegations, my guess is that he will eventually plea to a lesser charge in an effort to avoid any prison sentence. I guess we’ll all find out eventually.
Still, I can’t help but wonder what the NFL makes of all this. After all, it was the NFL that coerced ESPN to cancel its highly rated and critically acclaimed drama, Playmakers, because they felt it gave the league and its players a bad reputation. Never mind the fact that it was a fictional account of a fictional professional football team which consisted of fictional athletes; the NFL was offended and ESPN didn’t waste much time buckling to the pressure. So how does the NFL reconcile their position that it was Playmakers, not real-life athletes, that are soiling their reputation? I doubt they’re talking.
So Jamal Lewis may or may not have dealt cocaine. Rae Carruth, formerly of the Carolina Panthers, conspired to kill the pregnant mother of his child. Lyle Alzado wasted his body and life away on steroids. Bill Romanowski rips a fellow Oakland Raiders teammate’s helmet off and punches him in his eye, destroying his orbital bone. This is all somewhat recent. What’s going to happen next? And, without Playmakers on the air, who will the NFL point the finger at?
Trade Talk
Trade rumors are abound that Denver’s RB Clinton Portis will be dealt to the Redskins for cornerback Champ Bailey, with a draft pick or two somewhere in the middle. I think it’s a good deal. Portis is unhappy with his contract in Denver and Bailey is unhappy in Washington. However, it seems like a better deal for Champ. He’d be in Denver with a great shot at the playoffs next year. Portis would be off to a rebuilding franchise with only decent odds of being .500 Still, I wish them all the best. They’re both very talented and deserve a championship ring in their careers.
George Forman’s Comeback
George Foreman, at the ripe old age of 55 is making yet another comeback to the sport he can’t seem to let go of. Boxing. 10 years ago he un-retired only to win the Heavyweight Championship. I know that this is what Foreman wants to do, and while I admit I’m a little scared for the guy, I say more power to him. If he feels he can compete in an admittedly weak heavyweight division, so be it. I look forward to watching his comeback fight. Go get em, George!
Klitschko Brothers
Vitali and Wladimir Klitschko are my favorite boxers. I love these guys.
Vitali, after a great showing against Lennox Lewis before having the fight stopped due to cuts, has a chance to win the WBC championship vacated by a now-retired Lewis in a match with Corrie Sanders in a few months. This fight will be a good one because Vitali is a rising star and Corrie Sanders knocked out his brother Wladimir last year, once thought to be an heir apparent to the heavyweight boxing throne.
The Klitschko’s have a dream to each hold a piece of the heavyweight title at the same time. A win by Vitali brings the dream one step closer to fruition. All that would left is for Wladimir to receive a shot, but he’ll have to prove he can hang with the big boys again. I can’t wait to see what transpires.
Politics, CBS Nightly News, War in Iraq, etc...it makes my head hurt. It’s time to take a little break from it all. I’d rather be writing and talking about sports anyway. So, here’s a few items that have been floating around my head lately:
The Bartman Ball
So the Bartman Ball has finally bit the big one. Destroying the ball is supposed to break this alleged “curse” that has plagued the Cub’s for nearly one hundred years. Well, I hope it helps. But the first thing the Cubbies and their fans need to get over is this omnipresent defeatist attitude that permeates everything they do. That’s what is holding them back more than any curse.
There is no curse of the billy goat. Steve Bartman is not your problem. Look, you’ve got a great lineup and a solid pitching staff. When the season starts, go kick some ass. No more excuses. I want to see a Cubs championship now.
Barry Bonds and BALCO
I’m sorry, but I’ve got to say it: Barry Bonds was on steroids. I know that might offend some sports fans, but it’s probably true. I want to be able to accept that at 40 years old, this guy is heads and tails above every hitter in baseball, but I just can’t.
Facts are facts. Bonds’ own trainer is being charged with distributing steroids to ballplayers. Even if he never says he gave them to you, that looks bad, Barry. Really really bad. It looks Scott Peterson type bad. It looks O.J. bad.
Barry, you never hit 50 home runs in your career and then suddenly, out of nowhere, you hit 73. There’s something fishy about that. Home runs are not easy to hit, I know. How did you manage, at your age, to miraculously hit 24 more than you ever did at any point in your career? I want to believe you had a string of good luck, but I just can’t bring myself to do it.
It looks bad, Barry. Really, really bad.
Jamal Lewis, the NFL and ESPN’s Playmakers
So, it seems Baltimore’s star running back, Jamal Lewis, has been indicted on charges of conspiring to distribute cocaine four years ago. It was before he entered the NFL, but it’s a black eye on Lewis’s career and on the league in which he plays. Although he has pled not guilty to these allegations, my guess is that he will eventually plea to a lesser charge in an effort to avoid any prison sentence. I guess we’ll all find out eventually.
Still, I can’t help but wonder what the NFL makes of all this. After all, it was the NFL that coerced ESPN to cancel its highly rated and critically acclaimed drama, Playmakers, because they felt it gave the league and its players a bad reputation. Never mind the fact that it was a fictional account of a fictional professional football team which consisted of fictional athletes; the NFL was offended and ESPN didn’t waste much time buckling to the pressure. So how does the NFL reconcile their position that it was Playmakers, not real-life athletes, that are soiling their reputation? I doubt they’re talking.
So Jamal Lewis may or may not have dealt cocaine. Rae Carruth, formerly of the Carolina Panthers, conspired to kill the pregnant mother of his child. Lyle Alzado wasted his body and life away on steroids. Bill Romanowski rips a fellow Oakland Raiders teammate’s helmet off and punches him in his eye, destroying his orbital bone. This is all somewhat recent. What’s going to happen next? And, without Playmakers on the air, who will the NFL point the finger at?
Trade Talk
Trade rumors are abound that Denver’s RB Clinton Portis will be dealt to the Redskins for cornerback Champ Bailey, with a draft pick or two somewhere in the middle. I think it’s a good deal. Portis is unhappy with his contract in Denver and Bailey is unhappy in Washington. However, it seems like a better deal for Champ. He’d be in Denver with a great shot at the playoffs next year. Portis would be off to a rebuilding franchise with only decent odds of being .500 Still, I wish them all the best. They’re both very talented and deserve a championship ring in their careers.
George Forman’s Comeback
George Foreman, at the ripe old age of 55 is making yet another comeback to the sport he can’t seem to let go of. Boxing. 10 years ago he un-retired only to win the Heavyweight Championship. I know that this is what Foreman wants to do, and while I admit I’m a little scared for the guy, I say more power to him. If he feels he can compete in an admittedly weak heavyweight division, so be it. I look forward to watching his comeback fight. Go get em, George!
Klitschko Brothers
Vitali and Wladimir Klitschko are my favorite boxers. I love these guys.
Vitali, after a great showing against Lennox Lewis before having the fight stopped due to cuts, has a chance to win the WBC championship vacated by a now-retired Lewis in a match with Corrie Sanders in a few months. This fight will be a good one because Vitali is a rising star and Corrie Sanders knocked out his brother Wladimir last year, once thought to be an heir apparent to the heavyweight boxing throne.
The Klitschko’s have a dream to each hold a piece of the heavyweight title at the same time. A win by Vitali brings the dream one step closer to fruition. All that would left is for Wladimir to receive a shot, but he’ll have to prove he can hang with the big boys again. I can’t wait to see what transpires.
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