I must say former Tennessee football coach and new USC football coach Lane Kiffin is a jerk. I am all about chasing your dream job, but running out on Tennessee after one year as head coach is pathetic. This is a man who after getting the Tennessee job, after being fired by the NFL Oakland Raiders, stirred controversy by calling out rival Florida coach Urban Meyer in a press conference.
I'm sorry, you ruffle the feathers of one of the most storied programs in sports you don't leave after a year, especially after only going 7-6. About five incoming freshmen who committed to play football at Tennessee withdrew after Kiffin bolted.
If he came to my house to recruit my son I would treat him like a snake oil salesman. How can you believe he is going to stick around? He is 35, the USC job would come around again in his lifetime. What are we teaching kids here??? I'm confused.
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Disaster in Haiti
It is crazy what is happening in Haiti right now. I never thought an earthquake would hit a Caribbean island. For those who are saying these people had this coming because they "do voodoo" and it was God's way of wiping out the evil people, I say look at the images of dead children covered in sheets, bruised and battered. They do not practice voodoo, they are innocent victims of a natural disaster.
Think of if it was any other island where you had family (the Dominican Republic, Barbados, or, in my case, Jamaica), how would you feel if someone said the loss of at least 100,000 lives was an act of God wiping out evil. I woul be pretty upset at a person that spoke such ignorance.
The Bible has prophesized natural disasters yes, but the majority of people in Port au Prince are dirt poor. Most are well below the poverty line and now this happens. How can some so coldly rationalize the demise of an impoverished people?
All we can do, if you can't make it to the front lines is pray the death toll is not as high as feared and more survivors are found.
Talk about shameless and cowardly, the earthquake relief scams that are popping up is a good example. Do we need money that badly?
Think of if it was any other island where you had family (the Dominican Republic, Barbados, or, in my case, Jamaica), how would you feel if someone said the loss of at least 100,000 lives was an act of God wiping out evil. I woul be pretty upset at a person that spoke such ignorance.
The Bible has prophesized natural disasters yes, but the majority of people in Port au Prince are dirt poor. Most are well below the poverty line and now this happens. How can some so coldly rationalize the demise of an impoverished people?
All we can do, if you can't make it to the front lines is pray the death toll is not as high as feared and more survivors are found.
Talk about shameless and cowardly, the earthquake relief scams that are popping up is a good example. Do we need money that badly?
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Steroid "King" Comes Clean
One of the early sports shockers (or not) of 2010 is the admission by former Major League Baseball slugger Mark McGwire that he used performance enhancing drugs during the height of his career (including the 1998 season). For avid sports fans this has been the worst kept secret in all of sports (the best kept secret being Andre Agassi using crystal meth before his tennis matches, but I digress).
Many remember the infamous "I am not here to talk about the past" comment (or lack thereof) he repeatedly threw at Congress in 2005. Many more remember the fantastic, aforementioned, summer of 1998 when McGwire and Chicago Cubs "slugger" (and fellow steroid suspect) Sammy Sosa singlehandedly took baseball off of life support after the crippling strike of 1994 with a mythic display of homerun power that ultimately led to both men crushing the previous single season homerun record held by Roger Maris.
That year McGwire hit 70 (!) homeruns and Sosa 66 (!!). I admit I, like the rest of the nation, got caught up in the magic not giving a second thought that I was watching chemically enhanced power. It had been a few years since the league became dominated by the long ball, replete with the "chicks dig the long ball" commercials from Nike including Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine two of the greatest pitchers of all time.
In hindsight I am kicking myself for not sensing something was amiss when Brady Anderson of the Baltimore Orioles suddenly hits 50 homeruns from the leadoff spot in 1996, Todd Hundley, while playing catcher for the New York Mets crushes over 40 homeruns in the same year (while former Met Darryl Strawberry - the definitive slugger of his generation - barely hit 40 homeruns at the height of his powers in the 80's).
McGwire was the story of that 1998 season and he soared in popularity playing the reluctant superstar/savior. What a fraud. McGwire, ready to return to baseball as a (*stifling laughter*) hitting coach for the St. Louis Cardinals, finally decides to confirm what was confirmed five years ago in front of Congress. He says he called the widow of Roger Maris to apologize. I mean the gall of this guy is amazing.
There is McGwire, after breaking a homerun record that Maris went through hell to set (breaking the record of the almighty Babe Ruth), hugging Maris' wife and sons in the front row of Busch Stadium after hitting number 62. There are Maris' boys (a spitting image of their father) crying on McGwire's massive steroid injected shoulders overcome with emotion. I'd be crying to, with anger. How could McGwire in good conscience put on such a farce?
I can with great conviction say McGwire ruined baseball that season. Not only did he break a longstanding homerun record illegally, he made homeruns the only thing that mattered in baseball validating use by players who might have been on the fence (not only will you be the star of your team, but you will get a bunch of money as well), he arguably provoked the current all-time homerun "leader" Barry Bonds to get on the sauce (reportedly jealous at all the attention McGwire was getting Bonds started juicing to steal the spotlight away from McGwire) when he already had a Hall of Fame career locked up, and caused Jose Canseco to blow the whistle on the culture he allegedly made famous in a book that exposed players, coaches, media and the Commissioner's ineptitude in preventing widespread steroid use.
Well done, Mark.
Now we have to hear how sorry you are. We have to see tears of a real clown, crying because he got caught. The real travesty, if there could be one greater, is the response of McGwire's coach Tony LaRussa. LaRussa, McGwire's coach in Oakland and St. Louis repeatedly insulted the media's and fans intelligence by defending McGwire's "workout regimen" and character. When McGwire admitted his use, LaRussa claimed he found out the same time the rest of the world did. Two days ago. Please.
LaRussa continues to be a McGwire apologist, applauding him for coming clean and not "blatingly" using the drugs to cheat, but to heal his body. And I got the Brooklyn and Manhattan bridges in my house for sale. Any other coach would be appalled at the revelation, if they were truly shocked by it, and given McGwire the heave-ho from any staff position. Not LaRussa. Makes me wanna throw up.
LaRussa defending McGwire sends just as bad a message to kids as McGwire using and setting records artificially. That McGwire can just retire, fade into obscurity for most of the 2000's and just come out of the woodwork and land a high profile position on one of the more high profile teams in Major League Baseball teaches kids nothing, but if you cheat you can lay low come back and still succeed in life.
Well done, Tony.
I mean really, what kind of credibility does McGwire have as a hitting coach anyway? I wouldn't take him seriously? This guy had tons of media surrounding the batting cage filming his batting practice like it was a post game press conference. We know now officially that those "majestic" shots were artificially enhanced. What a letdown. It hurt me enough that I had to hear A-Rod, who was the last hope to break the homerun record legally, admit to steroid use, Manny Ramirez is now linked to steroid use, who is left? Albert Pujols? Ken Griffey Jr.? Instead of embracing Pujols you are left waiting for when that story will come that exposes Pujols as another cheat. How can you enjoy baseball when you're thinking like that?
I mean, the Mets of the 80's did drugs, but their homeruns were clean even if their urine wasn't. That's the baseball I remember growing up. I thought it came back in 1998, but I was dead wrong.
Can we give Jose Canseco his props already? And why would McGwire continue to deny anything Canseco says now? As we have found out Canseco told the truth when he had nothing to lose. Now Canseco is challenging McGwire to a public lie detector test. Canseco is not going to go away. He is a publicity whore who is giving the finger to baseball each time his name is mentioned in connection with these idiot ballplayers who continue to cheat the system and cry about trying to heal their body when they get caught. Canseco is like a bully. McGwire chose to return to the public eye and he needs to tell the whole truth.
Take the power away from Canseco. No one has been able to do that to this point.
Just my thoughts ladies and gentlemen...
Many remember the infamous "I am not here to talk about the past" comment (or lack thereof) he repeatedly threw at Congress in 2005. Many more remember the fantastic, aforementioned, summer of 1998 when McGwire and Chicago Cubs "slugger" (and fellow steroid suspect) Sammy Sosa singlehandedly took baseball off of life support after the crippling strike of 1994 with a mythic display of homerun power that ultimately led to both men crushing the previous single season homerun record held by Roger Maris.
That year McGwire hit 70 (!) homeruns and Sosa 66 (!!). I admit I, like the rest of the nation, got caught up in the magic not giving a second thought that I was watching chemically enhanced power. It had been a few years since the league became dominated by the long ball, replete with the "chicks dig the long ball" commercials from Nike including Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine two of the greatest pitchers of all time.
In hindsight I am kicking myself for not sensing something was amiss when Brady Anderson of the Baltimore Orioles suddenly hits 50 homeruns from the leadoff spot in 1996, Todd Hundley, while playing catcher for the New York Mets crushes over 40 homeruns in the same year (while former Met Darryl Strawberry - the definitive slugger of his generation - barely hit 40 homeruns at the height of his powers in the 80's).
McGwire was the story of that 1998 season and he soared in popularity playing the reluctant superstar/savior. What a fraud. McGwire, ready to return to baseball as a (*stifling laughter*) hitting coach for the St. Louis Cardinals, finally decides to confirm what was confirmed five years ago in front of Congress. He says he called the widow of Roger Maris to apologize. I mean the gall of this guy is amazing.
There is McGwire, after breaking a homerun record that Maris went through hell to set (breaking the record of the almighty Babe Ruth), hugging Maris' wife and sons in the front row of Busch Stadium after hitting number 62. There are Maris' boys (a spitting image of their father) crying on McGwire's massive steroid injected shoulders overcome with emotion. I'd be crying to, with anger. How could McGwire in good conscience put on such a farce?
I can with great conviction say McGwire ruined baseball that season. Not only did he break a longstanding homerun record illegally, he made homeruns the only thing that mattered in baseball validating use by players who might have been on the fence (not only will you be the star of your team, but you will get a bunch of money as well), he arguably provoked the current all-time homerun "leader" Barry Bonds to get on the sauce (reportedly jealous at all the attention McGwire was getting Bonds started juicing to steal the spotlight away from McGwire) when he already had a Hall of Fame career locked up, and caused Jose Canseco to blow the whistle on the culture he allegedly made famous in a book that exposed players, coaches, media and the Commissioner's ineptitude in preventing widespread steroid use.
Well done, Mark.
Now we have to hear how sorry you are. We have to see tears of a real clown, crying because he got caught. The real travesty, if there could be one greater, is the response of McGwire's coach Tony LaRussa. LaRussa, McGwire's coach in Oakland and St. Louis repeatedly insulted the media's and fans intelligence by defending McGwire's "workout regimen" and character. When McGwire admitted his use, LaRussa claimed he found out the same time the rest of the world did. Two days ago. Please.
LaRussa continues to be a McGwire apologist, applauding him for coming clean and not "blatingly" using the drugs to cheat, but to heal his body. And I got the Brooklyn and Manhattan bridges in my house for sale. Any other coach would be appalled at the revelation, if they were truly shocked by it, and given McGwire the heave-ho from any staff position. Not LaRussa. Makes me wanna throw up.
LaRussa defending McGwire sends just as bad a message to kids as McGwire using and setting records artificially. That McGwire can just retire, fade into obscurity for most of the 2000's and just come out of the woodwork and land a high profile position on one of the more high profile teams in Major League Baseball teaches kids nothing, but if you cheat you can lay low come back and still succeed in life.
Well done, Tony.
I mean really, what kind of credibility does McGwire have as a hitting coach anyway? I wouldn't take him seriously? This guy had tons of media surrounding the batting cage filming his batting practice like it was a post game press conference. We know now officially that those "majestic" shots were artificially enhanced. What a letdown. It hurt me enough that I had to hear A-Rod, who was the last hope to break the homerun record legally, admit to steroid use, Manny Ramirez is now linked to steroid use, who is left? Albert Pujols? Ken Griffey Jr.? Instead of embracing Pujols you are left waiting for when that story will come that exposes Pujols as another cheat. How can you enjoy baseball when you're thinking like that?
I mean, the Mets of the 80's did drugs, but their homeruns were clean even if their urine wasn't. That's the baseball I remember growing up. I thought it came back in 1998, but I was dead wrong.
Can we give Jose Canseco his props already? And why would McGwire continue to deny anything Canseco says now? As we have found out Canseco told the truth when he had nothing to lose. Now Canseco is challenging McGwire to a public lie detector test. Canseco is not going to go away. He is a publicity whore who is giving the finger to baseball each time his name is mentioned in connection with these idiot ballplayers who continue to cheat the system and cry about trying to heal their body when they get caught. Canseco is like a bully. McGwire chose to return to the public eye and he needs to tell the whole truth.
Take the power away from Canseco. No one has been able to do that to this point.
Just my thoughts ladies and gentlemen...
Happy 2010
Happy Thanksgiving, Merry Christmas, and Happy New Decade to all!
I am officially back from my self-imposed six-and-a-half month moment of silence for the late, great, incomparable Michael Joseph Jackson.
It feels very weird saying "late" (more on that in a later post)...
I am officially back from my self-imposed six-and-a-half month moment of silence for the late, great, incomparable Michael Joseph Jackson.
It feels very weird saying "late" (more on that in a later post)...
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