Most offensive post ever!

Time to get racist!

So I read this today from our president, and it got me thinking.  Is this something that needs to be changed?  Is this really a problem?  Or, am I so desensitized to this particular question that it doesn't phase me anymore?  I didn't know how to answer, so without further ado...

Ladies and gentlemen, it's that time of year to play America's favorite game show, Which is more offensive!  To start things up, we have a doozy aimed at our Native American friends - Which is more offensive, the team name "Redskins," or the Cleveland Indians logo?

Before you answer, lets take a look at these.

Ok, that's not a great name

The term redskin was first used in the 17th century, specifically for the Algonquin people of the northeast.  The term was mostly in reference to the reddish face paint they used, and not in direct relation to their skin tone.  It wasn't until the late 19th century that redskin began to become a derogatory term, evolving in much the same way the term gypsy did, with the phrase being associated with lying, stealing, and general deceitfulness, leading to it's eventual use as a racial epitaph for Native Americans, and in some circles it is considered a racial slur.

That looks pretty bad

The current Cleveland Indians logo was adopted in 1950, replacing their previous logo.  The logo plays off of the redskin racial epitaph, with bright red screen and a comically enlarged nose.  This particular depiction of an Indian was commonplace in America in the 1950's in political cartoons and children's animated features, with Disney's Peter Pan being a prime example of this particular depiction.

Are both of these offensive?  Totally!  But which one is more offensive?  Since many people don't initially identify either the Indian's logo or the Redskins name as offensive, lets look at this in a way that will offend everyone.

Oh man, I'm so going to hell

Here we have the replacement for the Redskins team name, a term largely considered to be offensive no matter how often it is used in music.  It is considered derogatory to a large group of people, and conveys a negative stereotype for those people along with it.

And on the Hell express, no less!

And here we have the replacement for the Indians logo (I know, the previous image makes this a little confusing, but bear with me here).  Exaggerated features based around the color of the skin, but in a way that everyone deems offensive.

This is an interesting debate that springs up every couple of years.  The Redskins debate has been vehemently fought for decades now, and a documentary was even made about one woman's quest to change the name (I can't find it, sorry, but I was forced to watch it in college, so I know it's real).  The Indians?  Two protests in the late '90's that resulted in some arrests but no charges.  Both of these clubs are using very racist imagery/names, yet only one is attacked for it.  Why?  If you're going to make a stink about one, you should make a stink about both.

So which one is worse people?   A racial slur for a team nickname, or racist imagery for a mascot?  Cast your votes!

What a doozy of a week

The week 3 in the NFL blog.

Wow.

Simply, wow.

The week begins with the unprecedented trade of Trent Richardson from Cleveland to Indy for Indy's 2014 1st round pick.

Wow!

Liking the new digs

Trades NEVER  happen in the NFL, particularly never like this.  Middle of the week, a potential superstar, a 3rd overall pick LAST YEAR, I mean, this is nuts.  Cleveland's front office either knows something we don't, or thought "Hey, let's get another first rounder!  Who cares if we trade off our best player!"

And don't get me started on the yards per carry thing.  All week I've been hearing about how his 3.5 YPC average sucks.  I have heard multiple sources say "Adrian Peterson averages over 5."

No shit!  He's Adrian Peterson.  The greatest running back of his generation.  That's like saying Russell Wilson isn't good because he's not putting up Peyton Manning's numbers.  You give me 3.5 yards a carry, and I'll give you a first down on 3 carries.  As far as I'm concerned, you give me over 3 yards a carry, that's a win.  On Monday Night, Darren McFadden gave Oakland an astounding .7 YPC.  .7!  I can't make that up!  And people think Run DMC is better then Richardson. 

He rushes to the right for... no gain!

So while we're still digesting all of that, we get to the hypocrisy that is Thursday Night Football, the sloppy game of the week where nobody is ready and usually results in severe injuries for somebody.  This week it was the Chiefs versus the Oregon Eagles, and shocker!  It turns out when the talent on the field is even, the Oregon offense doesn't work.  Maybe the Chiefs are for real too, they're playing solid defense, not turning the ball over, and running it well.  That's a recipe for success if I ever heard one.  While the Eagles are... not running the ball well, losing the time of posession battle by about 20 minutes a game, and not playing defense.  That sounds like, well, not good.

Sad face

But my real problem with Thursday Night Football is more complicated then who played and the (usually) crappy level of football being played.  It's simply the fact of the hypocrisy of it all.  The NFL claims to want a safer league, that all the rule changes are in the best interest of player safety.  Yet they still trot out two teams who played 4 days ago, have had little time to prepare, and no time to recover, and pits them in a game against each other.  This is just terrible.  These guys are banged up, tired, and haven't gotten a day off between games.  Then there is the travel time they have to do, the pregame preperation, they simply cannot do it all.  But these games will continue to happen as long as the NFL continues to make money on them.  That's all these games are, is a money grab.  And the ONLY reason to watch the NFL Network.  Everything else on there is garbage.  Oh wait, these games are too.  Remember when the only Thursday games were on Thanksgiving?  Yeah, me neither.

Boooo!  Go away!  No one wants to watch NFL Network anyways!

Then on Friday, we have something serious occur.  49ers LB Aldon Smith is involved in a one car crash, where here is arrested for DUI and possession of marijuana.  The weed part doesn't bother me, the DUI part does.  Sunday rolls around, and he's suited up playing for San Fran, which I personally don't agree with, but after hearing what both Cris Carter and Mike Ditka had to say about that, I'm more okay with it then I was at first, but still think he shouldn't of played.

Get help young man

However, after the game Smith owned up that he was wrong, and is now seeking help at an inpatient facility.  While I disagree with him playing and am very upset about the DUI part, I do applaud him for seeking help.  Too many times in this league players do things like this, shrug it off, and continue with their lives.  Smith believes he has a problem, and is seeking help for it.  While I am a major San Fran hater, I hope for Smith's own personal well being that he does indeed get the help he needs, and he is able to live a good life for himself, whether or not that involves football.

Ok, now for the shockers.

Carolina 38, NYG 0

Owww...

Wait, ZERO?  Wow!  I knew Carolina had a solid front 7, but to hold the Giants to 0, despite how bad they are, is still extremely impressive.  I remember watching the Houston/Baltimore game and seeing this score keep popping up on the ticker, going up, and up, and up, and just being absolutely boggled by how bad this Giants team is.  They can't do anything right, and they may be done with Coughlin now.

Cleveland 31, Minnesota 27

We won a game!  We won a game!

Let the Brian Hoyer era begin!  I expected absolutely nothing from Cleveland this week, and they went out and beat an admittedly bad Minnesota team, and held the reigning MVP to 88 yards.  That is no small feat for any team, let along the lowly Browns.  While I still don't know what their plan is on trading Richardson, they rallies around Brian Hoyer (I know, I don't know who he is either) and played a pretty solid game behind a mediocre QB performance.  I thought for sure when they went with Hoyer over Jason Campbell they were tanking this season, but maybe Cleveland knows something we don't.

Or, maybe God truly does hate Cleveland and decided to throw an unlikely win in there to throw us off the scent.

And this gets me to another point.  Jason Campbell.

So close.  Yet so far.

After being drafted by Washington in the first round in 2005, Campbell never got a real chance to prove himself.  I liked him at Auburn, I thought he was a great pick for the Redskins, but shortly after his arrival, there was a regime change that led to the Mike Shannahan era, and Campbell was quickly shown the door.  A quick stint on the Raiders, followed by (apparently) a year on the Bears sees Campbell now as the back up in Cleveland... who got passed over for Hoyer.  I've always liked Jason Campbell, but he keeps getting put in bad situations on bad teams.  I truly think if he was given a real chance somewhere he could succeed.  But now, at 31, the odds of that happening are near zero.

Titans 20, Chargers 17

Go Jake!  Whoooo!

San Diego is a bad team.  So is Tennessee.  But I thought San Diego's offense would score quite a bit more then 17, so I was surprised to see the Titans pull this one off.  But after I learned how they did, I couldn't help but smile, because being from Washington, it's hard not to root for Jake Locker, and seeing that he was the reason they won this game was nice.  I'm curious to see how the seasons play out for both of these teams, I'm not expecting much from either, but so far they have both proven that you can't roll over them.

Dolphins 27, Falcons 23

WOW!  I did not see this coming, even after watching how the Falcons have played this year.  Miami has had a good defense for a number of years, and they are still playing good, solid, defensive football.  I didn't think Tannehill was the answer, but it's looking like maybe he is.  Miami playing New Orleans this coming Monday night is going to be interesting, but based on how Miami is playing and how they are winning, nothing will shock me anymore with the fins.  Oh, and Tannehill's wife is HOT.  So any excuse to post photos of her is always worth finding.

Say hello to Mrs. Tannehill. 

 What is more interesting here is Atlanta.  They fall to 1-2, and have lost 2 close games so far this year.  I'm curious if they are lacking that closing mentalitity you need at the end of games, or if it's just some bad luck on their part. 

Colts 27, 49ers 7
 

This was Kaepernick's day

I did not see this coming.  Like, at all.  With all the excitement of the Trent Richardson trade, I wasn't expecting a huge game from him simply because he doesn't know the offense yet.  But he wasn't needed.  Indy absolutely dominated this game on all fronts, and looked like, well, like the 49ers looked last year.  Great defensive play coupled with a smashmouth running offense.  They came in and out San Franned San Francisco.  I still don't think Indy is a playoff team, but after these last 2 games, I'm starting to wonder if the Niners are one anymore.

So after these first 3 weeks, I look back on my playoff predictions and see I'm at about 50% on those, but as far as my yearly awards, I may have hit those on the head.  Peyton is well on his way to an easy MVP win, EJ Manuel is clearly the offensive rookie of the year, and Richard Sherman, I feel, is the front runner for defensive player.  Still a lot of football left, let's see how the rest of the season goes.

The 2013 NFL season prediction blog

So I've been meaning to do this for a while, and yeah, I'm writing this after one game was played, but that one game doesn't change what I think about those two teams (well, maybe a little) so without further ado...

THE 2013 NFL SEASON AS EXPLAINED BY NOSTRA-JAKE-US

THIS ISN'T ME!

 Or something.

Let's start in the AFC

East
This is clearly New England's division to lose, like it is every year.  The Jets are just an absolute train wreck, and while Miami and Buffalo are improving, they still have a ways to go to knock off the kings of this division.
1.  New England
2.  Miami
3.  Buffalo
4.  New York

This is your coach New York.  Remember that.

North
When you have the defending champs, you have to give them respect, even if they just firesold their entire team.  This division is slowly getting weaker as Pittsburgh is in a tail spin, Cleveland is... well, Cleveland, and Cincinatti is proving that they are good, but mediocre good.  This all points to a fairly easy Baltimore division crown.
1.  Baltimore
2.  Cincinatti
3.  Pittsburgh
4.  Cleveland

He's slow, old, prone to injury, and a douche.  Have fun with that Pittsburgh

South
This division has one of the more interesting bad teams in Jacksonville, the cream of the AFC in Houston, and the intriguing and young Indianapolis.  Oh, and Tennessee is in the division too.  Houston should win this, Indy will be decent, but watch out for Jacksonville.  They're slowly turning that team around, and while this may not be their year, they are getting better.
1.  Houston
2.  Indianapolis
3.  Jacksonville
4.  Tennessee

This man will destroy you.

West
The AFC West is the NFC West of 5 years ago.  If Denver wasn't in this division, the winner here would go 6-10.  They're that bad.  I know Kansas City is a hot dark horse pick, but I don't like it.  Alex Smith is not the answer.
1.  Denver
2.  Oakland
3.  Kansas City
4.  San Diego

Just think - he's going to be your QB for, what, another 10 years?

AFC Playoffs
Byes - Denver and New England
1st round - Houston over Miami, Baltimore over Cincinatti
2nd round - Houston over Denver, New England over Baltimore
Championship round - Houston over New England

So back in the day I loved Warren Moon on the Oilers, so I've always had a soft spot for Houston.  I think they're doing everything right, and EVERYBODY is coming back for them.  Barring a crazy rash of injuries, I think they are the team to beat in the AFC.

Get this man a ring!

NFC
East
The NFC East was hyped for years as one of the best divisions in football.  Oh how the mighty have fallen.  Washington will explode the moment RG3's knee does.  Philadelphia has atrocious talent, plus Chip Kelly coaching today Michael Vick, which is not a good idea.  Kelly coaching Vick 10 years ago?  Match made in heaven.  Dallas is just... ugh.  And I've never been a fan of Eli Manning, so I don't like New York - especially with how they blew up their running game.  I think at best you're looking at a team going 9-7 and winning this division.
1.  New York
2.  Washington
3.  Dallas
4.  Philadelphia

He's the best of this division.  Kinda sad.

North
Green Bay is falling.  Not many people see it because Green Bay fans permeate everything much the way Notre Dame fans do.  Their defense has a bend don't break philosphy with the nasty habit of breaking, and a constantly changing receiving corp coupled with ABSOLUTELY NO RUNNING GAME  makes them a scary pick.  Except they play in the North.  The division where the other QB's are Jay Cutler, Matt Stafford, and Christian Ponder.  Game set and match.
1.  Green Bay
2.  Detroit
3.  Chicago
4.  Minnesota

When your best player keeps stomping on guys junk, you got a problem.  Hey, at least he's not Jay Cutler.

South
Sean Payton is back!  Sean Payton is back!  Sean Payton is back!  That, coupled with a horrendous Tampa Bay team, a Carolina team led by a stat padding RB as their QB, and Atlanta, who... wait, Atlanta's good too.  I have more faith in Atlanta's D then I do New Orleans, but I would also take Brees over Ryan any day of the week.  I think there is going to be some rust that needs to be shaken off of Payton at the beginning of the year, and a slow New Orleans start will be the only reason Atlanta wins this division.
1.  Atlanta
2.  New Orleans
3.  Carolina
4.  Tampa Bay

He's baaaaaaack...

West
Arguably the two best teams in football play in this division - and they play each other twice!  Awesome.  Seattle and San Francisco are not only great, they return many starters and both have exciting young quarterbacks, even if I think Kaepernick has the decision making ability of... Tony Romo.  Combined with the nasty injury bug that has already bitten the Niners and their absolute dick bag of a coach has me seeing Seattle with this division crown.  Oh, and St. Louis and Arizona will play sometimes too.
1.  Seattle
2.  San Francisco
3.  St. Louis
4.  Arizona

Seriously San Fran?  You have faith in this guy?

NFC Playoffs
Byes - Seattle and Atlanta
Round 1 - New Orleans over New York, Green Bay over San Francisco
Round 2 - New Orleans over Atlanta, Seattle over Green Bay
Championship - Seattle over New Orleans

SUPER BOWL
Seattle over Houston.  Honestly, not a 100% homer pick, but that is a factor.  Couple that in with the best secondary in football and the best running game in the league, I think this will *finally* be Seattle's year.

Number 1 bitches!

And the Super Bowl is in New York.  A cold weather Super Bowl.  Totally Seattle's win.

Yearly awards
MVP - A big part of me wants to write Russel Wilson here, but I can't quite get there.  Before the season I was in a toss up over Aaron Rodgers or Peyton Manning, and I think Denver has a better team, so I'll go with Manning.
Defensive player - Richard Sherman.  Homer pick here, but I know he's the best player in the league at his position, and now that everybody knows about him, he will be picked on, and he will thrive.
Comeback player - Alex Smith.  I don't think he'll take Kansas City to the playoffs, but he got jobbed bad in San Fran, and I think he'll do fantastic under Andy Reid.
Coach of the year - Sean Payton.  There's no way in hell the NFL will let this happen, but he will prove that he deserves this award, whether or not he gets it.
Offensive Rookie - EJ Manuel.  He'll get the most playtime of any rookie, and if he spends the entire year just heaving it to Stevie Johnson, he'll lock this up by week 4.
Defensive Rookie - Desmond Trufant.  He'll see a lot of play time opposite Asante Samuel (I believe) and he'll show why he was a first rounder early and often.

Dark Horse
The Jacksonville Jaguars. 

They still need to find an answer at Quarterback, but they're slowly rebuilding the right way, and while it may not pay off this year, I won't be surprised if they shock the world and beat some teams they have no business beating.

Tune in at the end of the season where we go over every single wrong pick I made - except for the Seattle pick, of course...

An entertaining end to a Friday night

Last night I covered the Gatesville high school football game in Gatesville, which is about 40 minutes away.  The night ended kinda crazy, and here is the story of that. 

Game ends around 10:30, my deadline to get my story into my editor is 11:15.  I asked the press box hostess (yes, that was her actual title) about the wifi situation in the press box.  Apparently they don't have any because they just finished renovating and they haven't gotten it set up yet.  This means I had to find wifi somewhere after writing my story so I could send it in on time, as I was about 45 minutes away from home.

Gatesville, home of the Hornets.

So when the game ends, I head down to the field to talk to the head coach, and after a few minutes, I thank him for his time, congratulate him on the win, and then run to my car.  I sit in the drivers seat with the AC on (It was 10:30 at night, but still 90+) and write the story.

Once I finish up writing, I start to put together the box score to send in as well, when I notice the time.

11:05.

Crap.

I throw all the stats in the passenger seat of my car, and peel out of the parking lot.  Previously, my editor had told me that the local McDonald's there has wifi if the press box didn't for whatever reason.  I head that way, and pull into the McDonald's parking lot, where the tablet is not picking up any McDonald's wifi network. 

Double crap.

I did notice some other secure networks it picked up though.  Like the one from the sketchy hotel across the street.  I zoom across the street and park, and head to the front desk to ask for the password, when I notice the lobby is locked.  There are two doorbells there, so I push both and stand there jumping up and down like I have to pee.  Nobody responds.

The time is 11:10

I am running out of time, so I scan again for wifi networks, and see one for the drug store by the McDonalds.  I head over there, and see that the drug store is closed.

Triple crap.

I'm still in my car, when off in the distance, I notice something that may be my salvation...

Oh sweet, sweet Taco Bell!

I drive across the parking lot and straight across the 5 lane road seperating me from the Taco Bell, and connect to their free wifi.  This prompted a terms and conditions screen to pop up, and I figured this would mean I would need a password as well.  So I head to the front door of the Taco Bell, which is locked.

But I didn't need a password!

So I set the tablet on top of the garbage can that was by the door and send in my story to my editor.

It was 11:13.

I got it in on time.

And I only lost 4 pounds in sweat while doing it.

Bad music and news

I've been meaning to say something about this for a little while now, but there is a song that is everywhere that I simply cannot stand.

"Radioactive" by Imagine Dragons is playing practically everywhere, and on everything.  I've seen it attached to way too many commercials, it played after the season finale of True Blood (the wife watches it, I just heckle), and it is currently in constant loop on the local rock station here.

Wait, on a rock station?

This song does many things, but rock is not one of them.  Look, you can like the song, if you do, more power to you, but don't claim that it's rock.  This is art disguised as music at best, and that by no means is rock.  You know what else is art disguised as music?

That's right, the bitch that broke up the Beatles.   There's a lot of stuff getting play today that I do not consider music, but rather art.  While all music is art, all art is not music, and somewhere along the way the line gets blurred and instead of painting abstract imagery, people make what they call "music."

The above video is not music.  It is an attempt at vocal art.

Yoko Ono is an extreme example of this, but it helps make my point.  I consider "Radioactive" to be vocal art, and not music.  Yet I can't escape it no matter where I am, and thanks to the rediculously simple nature of the entire song, I now know most of the words.  The good news is I also recognize the "melody" instanteously and can easily minimize the amount of time I spend hearing it now.

Over the years the alternative rock music genre has become dominated by what I consider vocal art, and that has really bummed me out.  That was the genre that Pearl Jam and Soundgarden emerged from (Yeah, I know Nirvana is in there too, and while I love Nirvana, they too definitely fall in the category of vocal art).  Now we are getting Imagine Dragons and The Postal Service.  While I don't consider either of those bands to be alt rock bands, those are the channels and venues you will find them at, and that bothers me. 

I'm not yelling at the bands here, it's not their fault they get lumped together with Volbeat and Halestorm, but someone needs to know that "Hey, this isn't rock.  Let's not play it on a rock station."

Or that a very simple and bad song should be everywhere.


Finally, I leave on a piece of news I received earlier this evening.  I got a phone call from the sports editor of the Killeen Daily Herald, and he wants me to cover high school football starting this Friday!  It's by no means my ultimate sports writing goal, but it's a huge step towards it.

In case you don't realize it, high school football is HUGE in Texas, and them trusting me with covering games is a very big deal.  Remember that show Friday Night Lights?  That wasn't an exaggeration, people are crazy here when it comes to high school football.

Don't believe me?  This week the Copperas Cove Herald had an entire pull out section dedicated to the upcoming season for the Copperas Cove High School football team, complete with posed glamor shots of the players standing on tanks.  Can't make this up.  This shit is serious down here.

And I'm covering it.

A-Rod and HOLY HELL WHAT JUST HAPPENED

So I was going to take the time and write up my A-Rod post that I've been meaning to even though the whole catastrophe isn't resolved yet, and I get up this morning to see the universe buzzing about something that happened last night.

This.

Ahhhhh!

 What the hell is going on here?

And yes, this is real.  Not made up.

The mind simply boggles at this whole "performance."  Between the "costumes" and "songs" and "dancing" someone should have just been "Alright, this is rediculous."  The whole thing would have made sense if Allen Funt came out to the crowd and said "Smile, you're on candid camera!"  Then everyone would have been "Oh, it makes sense now."

Nowhere to be seen.

There were two things that made sense throughout that whole debacle - This is the VMA's, this is what they do, and the crowd reactions, oh the crowd reactions!  First, Will Smith and family:

I love the look on the son's face.  I'm also pretty sure Will Smith is about to utter something that isn't exactly family friendly.

Then, Taylor Swift:

Pure confusion.

Then finally, New Direction sitting behind Rhianna.  They look confused, she looks bored.

"Bitch please, that is NOT how you get attention.  Stick with a wife beater, then we'll talk"

Glorious!

I mean, if the goal here was shock value, mission accomplished.  But if the aim was anything else, anything else at all, horrible failure.

But I shouldn't be surprised by this.  The VMA's do something like this every single year.  There's always something weird(Madonna in 1984), crazy(Britney Spears in 2000), or douchey(Kanye in 2009) happening, it's just what they do.  They made a shitty award that has a shitty award show, so they need to do something to get people to watch.

And I suppose now it makes sense.  For a network that was originally called "Music Television," they haven't stuck to that idea for decades now.  I don't know what the M stands for now, but music clearly isn't it.  They churn out sensationalist garbage instead of their original goal of being a home for music videos.  Hell, when I was a kid I remember thinking "why don't they play more music?"  Ah well.

If nothing else, they got people talking about them - again, and when next year's VMA's roll around, something else will happen, and we'll go through this spiel again.

Yippie.

And actually, I want to add one last thing.  It's always mind blowing to me when things like this happen because what they are at their core is the young celebrity saying to the world "I'm all grown up now, don't look at me like a kid."

Yeah... no.

Grown ups don't think having a plushy orgy and grinding on Bettlejuice on national television is a good idea.  You want to break the mold of the child star?  Do something an adult would do.  Not something a teenage looking to piss off daddy would do.  You want to break out of the mold correctly, there's a great and super successful example of how to do it.

Fucking N Fucking P Fucking H

Neil Patrick Harris.  NPH.  I want to be him.  I could live with the whole sex with guys thing if I was NPH.  This guy will ALWAYS be known as "the Doog" to his peers, but there is an entire generation that know him as Barney, or Dr. Horrible, or as NEIL PATRICK HARRIS.  He didn't act like a stripper.  He didn't degrade himself on television.  He just... grew up.  And acted like it.

I'm SO glad I could end this on a picture of NPH.  That makes me happy.

The subtle art of racism

I've been wanting to do a piece on this absolutely insane A-Rod situation for a little while now, and I kept saying "Oh, it will be resolved soon, I'll comment on it then."

That was 3 weeks ago.

So in light of the fact that it doesn't seem to be going anywhere right now, I want to talk about something else that happened that bugged me a great deal.

This.

This is Riley Cooper, a wide receiver for the Eagles.  He is at a Kenny Chesney concert, and drunk as hell. 

This should not have become as big of a story as it did.

Seriously, check out this, this, and this.  That took me 3 seconds to find all these talking points on what he said.

As far as I'm concerned, this is not news.

I don't agree with anything Riley Cooper said, but it also shouldn't of resulted in the massive media lambasting he received, or in the fine he received from the Eagles (exact amount currently undisclosed, but the Eagles has said it is "substantial")

"My bad."

 I'm a very firm believer of freedom of speech, and that exists solely to protect that which we DON'T want to hear.  This clearly falls into that category.  Hell, the dude is hammered.  If I got held over the fire for every insensitive thing I said while drunk... hoo boy.  Now I'll give props to Riley Cooper here, he came out and said that yes he was drunk, but that "it was no excuse for what I said."

I would agree with that statement if he said "it was no excuse for what I did."  He didn't DO anything wrong, he said something stupid.  Move along with your lives.

There is someone else who disagrees with that sentiment.  Herm Edwards.

Yes, he is black.

Herm Edwards came out and said "He was drunk.  Everybody says stupid things when they're drunk."  Herm Edwards didn't care, because he saw this as what it is, a guy saying something stupid.  That's it.  I honestly think this became as big of a story as it did because it happened during the summer sports/news doldrums that always seem to happen.  Something had to be news worthy, it might as well be this.

 Because of this story though, I believe it led to this being a story as well.

A Missouri rodeo clown wore an Obama mask, and the announcers poked fun at Obama while he was in the ring.  As a result, the rodeo clown was banned for life from the Missouri rodeo circuit, and the announcers resigned in disgrace.

WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE?

Jesus tap dancing christ people, take a god damn joke.  You don't have to like it, but then again, NOBODY FORCED YOU TO SEE IT.  Hell, I voted for Obama and I think this is funny.  They're simply playing to their audience.  That's it.  Seriously, is anyone shocked that a rodeo crowd in Missouri is predominatly Republican?  Hell, I live in Texas and am pretty left wing on most issues, and I see and hear stuff like this all the time.  But - shocker - I remember that we live in a country that allows people to have differeing viewpoints, and even one that allows us to say really stupid things, and I go on my merry way.

Is racism bad?  You bet.  But for the love of God, stop making everything a damn crusade.

Holy hell

So I've only been meaning to write something for about 3 weeks now, but so much stuff has happened that I've gotten a bit... overwhelmed.  For those of you who don't know me, my wife and I celebrated the birth of our first child on June 30th, and my time has been pretty devoted to taking care of him ever since.

Ain't he cute?

Anyways, that's been the main factor in my life so far, and fortunately for me, the doldrums of summer sports are upon us, so in that vein I feel like I haven't been missing out on much.

Except for all the bat ass crazy shit that has been happening in the NBA.

Nearing the end of Game 6 of the finals, I was getting ready to write on how the age and wisdom of the spurs prevailed over the youth and flash of the heat... until the oldest player on Miami decided to get all Jesus Shuttlesworth on the Spurs and make a game 7 happen.  Then the 2nd oldest player on the heat, Shane Battier, went completely apeshit for the first time all season and helped the Heat get their second title in as many years.

A much, much younger Ray Allen

A lot of people focused on the Lebron James angle, but for me Lebron did what he always does, what we expect him to do.  Hell, he was the guy that forced Ray Allen's hand in game 6 with an absolutely atrocious turnover in the final minute of that game.  Did Lebron play great in game 6 and 7?  Absolutely.  Did he do anything we didn't expect him to do?  In game 6, no, in game 7, yes.  Did anyone see Shane Battier coming?  Hell no!

The Lebron show in game 7 was a brilliant piece of adaption by James.  Kawhi Leonard had been guarding him loose all series, begging him to take those mid and long range jumpers.  Except in game 7, James finally started making them.  And making them.  Once he found his groove at that distance, a spectacular game was needed from someone in the Parker/Duncan/Ginobli trifecta, and the old man Tim Duncan delivered.  This would have worked in San Antonio's favor except for one thing.

Shane Battier.

Battier decided to remember how to play basketball for the first time all season, and it won the Heat the title.  Lebron's the MVP, and rightly so, but Battier's performance in game 7 is what put Miami over the top and earned them their second title.

I can rant more about this, but it's very old news by now, so I'll jump into the next thing that is mind blowing to me.

Dwight Howard.

"What, I gotta try?"

Did anyone pay attention to all the crap he's pulled before?  He was a complete and utter dick in Orlando, but he tried to hide it by smiling all the time.  Countless times he would say something and do the opposite, and when he landed in LA, I wept with joy.  I hate the Lakers, and them taking on this troubled superstar I thought would doom them.  Then I had a scary thought.

While Howard has his personality issues, he does have one major flaw on the court - his lack of effort.  Howard should dominate every.single.game he plays down low, but he only does that when he feels like it.  A guy like that should be terrifying in the low post, and Howard doesn't do it.  But then I realized who else is on the Lakers.

Kobe Bryant.

"FUCKING WIN DAMMIT!"

I'm not a Kobe fan either, but nobody works harder then him.  Lebron had a mild case of Howard-itis before, but in 2008 when he played with Kobe in the Olympics, he saw how hard the then best player in the game was working.  And working.  And working.  Lebron had an epiphany there.  If this guy, who was on top of the basketball world, was working this hard, why wasn't he?  Lebron's career, and his game, changed from then, and he became the monster we see on the court today.

Howard was lazy, unmotivated.  And he was going to play with Kobe.  For a whole year.

Crap.

But wait!  Dwight Howard exhibited the same crap we've seen from him his entire career even with the influence of Kobe.  If Kobe couldn't influence Howard for the better, then nobody can.  His move to Houston is a little odd, but I kinda see some non-Howard logic in that move, but the real reason Howard went to the Rockets is to be top banana.  He doesn't give two shits about winning, about playing his heart out, about leaving everything on the court.  He wants to be the best guy on his team.

And when he can't earn it by actually playing better, he leaves for somewhere else.

And in other sports, I still get angry watching soccer, the Mariners are really, really, bad (but are scoring now, who'd a thunk?) the Coyotes didn't move to Seattle, and there was something else happening, what was that...

Bum bum BUUUM

Oh right.  An overpriveleged NFL player killed a guy.  How'd I forget about that?  I know, I know, innocent until proven guilty, but damn, the timetable the cops and prosecution have laid out looks bad, his priors are attrocious, and the fact that he's still a person of interest in another shooting investigation is just icing on the cake.

For me, this feels like an epicly bad case of "Do you know who I am?" syndrome, but with the caveat of "I can get away with anything."  Apparently he roomed with the second coming of Christ himself, Tim Tebow, down in Florida, and that did nothing to temper his mentality or derail his massively destructive path.  The Hernandez arrest did make me think of something else though.

How pissed off is Tom Brady right now?

This mad?  Probably more.

Brady is going to be without his top five receiving targets from last year.  Five!  That's nuts!  Welker is on the Broncos, Brandon Lloyd was cut, Danny Woodhead is on the Chargers, Aaron Hernandez was cut, and Rob Gronkowski is broken.  The only guy he might have any familiarity with is Gronk, and he's expected to be out at the beginning of the season.  I know, I know, they signed Danny Amendola after letting Welker go, but a similar skill set doesn't mean he's the same player.  Welker was Brady's go-to guy, when shit hit the fan and the blitz was in his face, the ball got heaved towards Welker.  Hot reads?  Welker.  Need a first down?  Welker.  Amendola is a very similar player to Welker, but he doesn't have that repoire with Brady that Welker did.  And Welker was fearless.  Amendola is not.  Amendola has an injury history that has got to make him resistant to run a crossing pattern at linebacker depth.  Welker didn't care.  Throw him the ball, punch him in the teeth, he'll pop back up, run back to the huddle and ask Brady to do it again.

But hey, the Pats have at least one thing going for them this year. 

They're not the Jets.

Whomp whomp.

Baseball's refusal to learn from the past

On Saturday, this happened.

 Alex Cobb was lucky, he never lost consciousness and suffered a concussion.  This is not the first time this has happened in baseball.  In fact, it's not the first time it's happened this year.  In fact, it's not the first time it's happened at Sun Life Stadium this year.  Earlier this year, J.A. Happ was the victim of a come backer that fractured his skull.

Happ was hit on May 8 and hasn't played since.  There's no way to know the time table on Cobb's return, as Happ's injury was more serious.

These injuries make me mad at baseball.  Not because they happened, these hits happen in baseball.  They're scary, unexpected, and for years there was nothing you could do about it.  Sadly, there is something that can be done, but baseball refuses to change, and until they do, we will continue to see injuries like this occur.  Last year, a company called Unequal Technologies designed and created padded baseball caps for pitchers to wear to help lessen the extent of these injuries.

The armor-like padding on the inside of Unequal technologies safer hat

The hat was presented to baseball in December of 2012, and they let pitchers try them out, to see how they felt.  No one complained.

Then in February of this year, Major League Baseball announced that no padding was going to be approved for the 2013 season, and that more testing was required.  Baseball says that the padding does not stop the velocity of a 100 MPH fastball.

Really?  A liner can't stop a 100 MPH fastball?  I know absolutely zero technical data on any of the paddings tested, but I could already tell you that.  I'll wager my first born that every single hat tested at least lessened the impact, and I really don't think either Cobb or Happ would complain of a lessened impact from their injuries.  I'm not saying that their injuries would have been completely prevented, but in watching the videos it does appear that both players were hit in the hat, and if they had been wearing a padded hat, their injuries would be less severe.

This isn't the first time baseball has refused to make changes for safety.  While mostly pitchers are the ones hit by these line drives, it took the death of a minor league first base coach for baseball to mandate that the base coaches wear helmets.

Mike Coolbaugh was struck and killed by a line drive in July of 2007.

Oh, did I mention he wasn't struck in the head?  Michael Coolbaugh (who had an amazing name) was struck in the throat by a line drive in a minor league game that severed his left vertebral artery, and essentially killed him on impact.  Baseball responded by making base coaches wear helmets, a safety measure that would have done absolutely nothing to save Coolbaugh's life.

And while safety is always a major concern in sports (look at what Goodel is doing to the NFL) it isn't just the safety issues where baseball is dropping the ball.  Replay, which is now used in baseball, was debated for over 20 years before being implemented, and it still is only used on home run calls.  The replay issue I feel is a little more tricky to expand beyond home run calls, as baseball is slow enough.  Maybe on bang-bang plays at first, really close double plays, I don't know.  But I do know if it was implemented back when it was first discussed things like this would never have happened.

In 1996, 11 year old Jeffrey Maier won the game for the Yankees with this home run assist in game 1 of the ALCS

Now, several things would happen on that play.  The umps would review the home run call, and rule it fan interference.  Maier would have been removed from the stadium by security.  And maybe the Orioles would have won the series.  The latter, I dunno, but hey, a guy can dream.

So what I'm trying to say here is that baseball, you need to learn from your past.  It took you close to 20 years to realize that replay on home runs is a good idea, is it going to take a pitcher dying for you to give them - at the very least - padded hats?  I'm not even suggesting helmets!  Just thicker hats!

What makes the hat thing even worse, is baseball actually reached out in 2012 and commisoioned companies to start work and design on a padded hat.  They've had all this time to implement them, because - shocker! - it didn't take a technological breakthrough to design a hat with padding in it.  In fact, baseball's hat padding search predated this horrendous injury.

 

Brandon McCarthy - who walks off of the field on his own - suffered an epidural hemorrhage,  a brain contusion, and a skull fracture.  He missed the rest of the season, and is attempting a come back with the Diamondbacks now.  A week ago he suffered a seizure in a restaurant in Phoenix that doctors have said is directly related to his initial injury last year.  When baseball denied the various padded hats from being used this season, McCarthy had this to say

"The stuff that's already out there is no good at all.  It seems like it's still a long way away.  I don't even care if it's MLB-approved.  I just want something that's functionally approved by me."

These comments were made in February 2013, prior to McCarthy's complications last week.

Moral of the story here is, baseball, shut the hell up about not wanting to change.  This isn't a rules change.  This doesn't change the pace of the game.  It simply makes players safer.  So nut up and do it already, and hopefully the frequency of these injuries will become as close to zero as possible.

And then maybe you can address your drug situation.  I dunno, maybe test players instead of waiting for distribution centers to get closed by the Feds.

A phenomenon I've been meaing to mention

Today I'm going to talk about something I've noticed for years.  A simple phenomenon that I first remember noticing in the spring of 2007.  I looked around when I realized what was happening, and after some quick discussion among my friends, I realized I was not alone in what I was experiencing.

I am, of course, talking about the phenomenon of white people clapping.

What I remember as the original date of noticing this phenomenon was May or June of 2007.  Myself and a group of friends were at another friends college graduation when a small band of professors went onstage as some sort of folksy bluegrass band, I don't really remember what.  Shortly after they began performing, the crowd began clapping in time with the music, and it all kinda went to hell from there.

It became clear - very, very clear - after about 15 seconds that no one present was able to clap on beat.  I don't know why everyone was on a different beat, but it was... pretty bad.  I began laughing hysterically, and it was then and there that I determined that there is such a phenomenon known as white people clapping.

This is a problem that has been around for a very long time, and I know I'm not the first to notice it.  A quick bit of internet research claims that the reason for this is simply when white people clap.  Claims are that white people clap on the 1 & 3, or the "off" beats, while everyone else claps on the 2 & 4. 

I really, really, really wish it was that simple.

Truth of the matter is, if you are clapping on any beat consistently, you will still clap in rhythm.  It may sound off, but the rhythmic nature of the clap should remain consistent.  This simply doesn't happen when a group of white people begin clapping.  At best, it turns into an odd form of applause.

The most recent observation of this phenomenon for me happened about 2 weeks ago, when I was covering a music festival for the paper.  As part of the festival, they had an American Idol-esque competition, and most of the singers attempted to get the crowd to clap along.

It was really, really, really bad.

Until the black people showed up.

Once the black people began clapping, it was great!  But left to their own devices, the white people were just... oh man.  Oddly enough, I did notice that there still was an issue when the audience was predominantly black, but it was minor at best, and nothing compared to the lack of rhythm that white people have demonstrated over the years.

Why this theory has proven itself to me over and over again, I will never know, but it is something that white people need to address.  Maybe we need required music education to teach white people basic rhythms, maybe everybody should have a metronome in their house, I don't know.  But dammit, I hate being the only white guy at events who can clap on beat.

Oddly enough though, there is a large group of white people who don't have this issue, and in fact, they rarely have issue maintaining any beat.  This group of people are only ever sighted in arenas and stadiums.

That's right, sports fans.

Take any white guy with no rhythm and stick him in a sports stadium, and suddenly he's a human metronome. 

Don't believe me?

Watch this.

 

 Fast forward to 3:30

This is in London, people.  It doesn't get much whiter then that.  Throw a bunch of sports fans together, and they have rhythm.  Don't know why, they just do.   If you still don't believe me, go to a hockey game.  Just sit back, and listen.

Or, better yet, go to a country music concert and hope people begin to clap.  If nothing else, that will also help prove my point.

So I invite you all, go out and observe this phenomena, and whatever side of the discussion you fall onto, please, help others find their rhythm, and learn how to successfully clap.