Tag Archives: sucks

November 15, 2011

Stern’s Tarnished Legacy

By chappy81

I’ve never been a big fan of David Stern, and the recent lockout just gave me more reasons to dislike the man who fixes games, covers up referee scandals, and fines/suspends players for dumb reasons. Did he expand the game globally? Yes, in a ton of ways he did, but if there’s a good prospect somewhere, teams will find said player one way or another in the ever shrinking youtube filled world. Why should I care if a bunch of people in Europe or Asia are watching NBA games? Truth is, I don’t give a rats ass! What has Stern done for me as an American NBA fan? Looking back, not a whole lot. Did he give us Jordan, Bird, or Magic? Nope, those guys would’ve been around whether he held his position or not. Did he ever fix the referee problem? No, he still has the same 90-year-old dudes out there calling a game that is faster than a video game. Did he over-expand the league? Yes. Did he allow crappy human beings to buy the teams when other possible owners would have been better for the league? Yes. Has he had two work stoppages during the past 15 years? Yes, and for the record even baseball hasn’t seen that happen. I guess we’ll see if the NBA has a finals or not, but this could be more damaging than the MLB’s 94-95 missed WS…

Over 10 years in the league and Kahn still looks confused.

Stern became the commish in 1984, then four short years later expanded the league by adding the Charlotte Hornets and Miami Heat. A year later he added the Minnesota Timberwolves and Orlando Magic. Then in a stroke of genius, six years later (95′) he added the Vancouver Grizzlies and Toronto Raptors in a meager attempt to get Canadians to like hoops like they love hockey. That’s like getting Europeans to watch the NFL over soccer, just won’t ever happen. Then last but not least, he added the Bobcats in 2004. Two teams in Charlotte sin’t a typo, it’s a reality that he doesn’t know where a worthy place to start a franchise is. What do all these teams have in common? Two distinct things. One, they nearly all are run by the “hardline” owners we keep hearing about in our current stalemate of a CBA negotiation. Two, all these teams were put in cities that have little means of supporting a team when that said team sucks. Lets be real, if any of these teams are run like the Clippers or Knicks were over the last decade there’s noway they would turn a profit in the cities they’re currently in. Which is the point, don’t we want owners to be motivated to make their teams better? I suffered through years of Chris Cohan leading the Warriors to losing seasons, and because we were in a big market that still filled the building, nothing dramatically changed within the organization, because Cohan was still making money. Wouldn’t it be better for the league if owners like Kahn and Jordan actually had to try and build a good team to get fans in their arena? They talk about competitive balance all the time, but why don’t they ever talk about teams that don’t even attempt to be competitive? I feel like there should be some kind of push for contraction of teams that have a losing record for more than a decade. How much more excitement would that season bring having a team on the brink of contraction? Remember the save our Sonics season? That sure got a lot of fans in the building, for different reasons, but still. Bringing in these teams has done nothing to help the league “grow”. Miami isn’t even a “true” big market, yet they are one of the only teams that has done well financially. Maybe it was having two of the best players in the league playing half their games there. Even with that, they can’t even fill the building regularly, and sell out more of their road games than their home games.

Which brings us to the lockouts on Sterns’ watch.  The good ol’ asterisk season of 98-99. We got 50 games due to a lockout shortened season, and saw a lot of fat out of shape players. Maybe if they got a deal done before January, those guys wouldn’t have been so out of shape after getting their holiday grub on. Either way, I see it as a major failure that Stern couldn’t find a way to get the owners and players on the same page. They saw the popularity of the NBA dramatically decline in ticket sales, and viewers, how is that a good thing for owners? Sure, this last season was stronger than any season in recent memory with a plethora of young stars on the rise, but that all means nothing if they lose a season. Even my grandpa was into it last year, and he hated basketball for the longest time! I have a hard time seeing him coming back to basketball if the lockout makes for a missed full season.

What are you the commissioner of if you don’t actually have a league? Now, were in our second lockout under Sterns watch as a commissioner, and I’ve yet to see how he’s helped out with getting the games going again in any fashion. Instead Stern is passing the time by throwing out threats, and trying to pull one over on the players while he treats them like kids. Am I on the players side? Not so much, but I’m not into what Stern did with his ultimatums and consistently undercutting the players, which may have pushed them to not accept a deal when they were really close to agreeing to it. It’s no secret the players don’t like Stern, but he isn’t helping the players desire to accept a deal. I get it, he’s there for the owners, but at some point you have to try to show the owners that the players have some rights too, and instead of giving ultimatums and threats give them a sense of what is in the deal, and why it’s good for them. In any negotiation, nobody wants to get told what to do. Maybe we need Rodger Goodell to be the NFL and NBA commissioner. At least he can make it so both sides feel like they get a win. All along Stern knew they were going to miss games, all along he never really tried to get a decent deal for the players. All along I’ve despised every move Stern he’s made, and yesterday was just another sad example of a guy who doesn’t seem to have the agenda of the best interests of the league. Stern isn’t the only one to blame in all of this, but I feel if they (Stern and owners) showed the urgency they had over the last month by sending numerous proposals to the players during the summer we wouldn’t be in the “nuclear winter” state. Stern and the owners played the waiting game, and now he is paying for it with another HUGE black mark on his record as commissioner. When we got to see how swift and competent the NFL was in their lockout this summer, you can’t help but wonder, what the hell was the commish thinking!?!

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November 8, 2011

Putting the Ug in Ugly

By chappy81

The Marlins leaked what their new jerseys will look like when they open next season in their new glorious stadium in Miami. All I can say is the guy who made them must be color blind. Yes I understand that the actual marlin fish has the three colors on it, but do they need all three on the M, on the caps? Those three awkward colors to put into any color scheme let alone a professional team. AAA team, yes, but not a pro team. Maybe it was the double rainbow guy helping them out, because they must’ve been on some kind of drugs to come up with these. Who would want to buy this cap and sport it around town? There’s noway you’d ever catch me in an orange cap with a yellow bill. Seems like they should’ve made the whole thing orange or the bill black at the very least. Why would you copy the Giants colors, when you’re nowhere near the Castro District where the rainbow colors will actually be a big hit!?! If they fill up the stadium, lets hope the fans kept their old gear instead of buying this new crap.

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September 27, 2010

Raiders Were Screwed Either Way…

By chappy81

I found myself saddened by the Bills decision to cut Trent Edwards today. It’s strangely the second pro athlete my mom has met since I left NorCal, and I was more excited to hear about her encounter with Ricky Williams, but Trent Edwards wasn’t a terrible silver medal. Edwards happens to be my mom’s neighbor’s wife’s cousin, so she has seen him a few times here and there. Anyways, the reason for this post wasn’t to be sad about Edwards getting the axe in Buffalo, but more to be happy that the Raiders couldn’t have selected a solid quarterback out of that 2007 draft when they gave their fate to arguably the biggest draft bust in the history of busts selecting Jamarcus. It might have been one of the ugliest classes in decades, unless Kolb somehow grabs the job from Vick (don’t hold your breathe for that one) it was a horrible draft for QB’s. It’s always fun to see where the top QB’s for the first 100 picks of that magical 2007 draft are today.

#1 Overall – Jamarcus Russell

I’ve said all I can say about this guy, but right now he’s probably pounding some sizznurup hoping the UFL will give him a call.

#22 Overall – Brady Quinn

He’s now hanging out in Denver behind Tim Tebow(another over drafted QB) of all people. I guess if Orton got hurt, he might see the field, but if his resume isn’t bust material I don’t know your definition of a bust is.

#32 Overall – Kevin Kolb

Can’t call him a bust yet, but can’t call him much of a success when Vick has already supplanted him as the starter in Philly after 6 quarters against bad teams. I’m not a beliver yet, but I guess there’s a chance he could be good…

#40 Overall – John Beck

Who? Took me a minute to remember who he was too. Miami didn’t like him all that much, now he’s a third stringer in Washington, not exactly a successful 2nd round pick.

#43 Overall – Drew Stanton

Another who? Is there an owl nearby or something?!? He is holding down the backup spot on Detroit right now, but when Stafford gets back on the field he’ll move down the depth chart.

#92 Overall – Trent Edwards

Just got cut, so the way I see it, if Kolb sucks the Raiders didn’t make a terrible choice in drafting Jamarcus, there was simply nothing to work with out of this QB class, so we were doomed no matter who ended up coming to Oakland.

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August 8, 2010

Baseball Needs Some Juice

By chappy81

It seems as though everyone thinks baseball is on the decline, and that’s pretty tough to the latter with very few intriguing story lines for the casual fan this season. A couple weeks ago we saw the TV ratings come out that were very low, but the A’s were surprisingly up +48% as MCeezy quickly pointed out to me. We’ve seen attendance head south with half the teams drawing under 30,000 per game. The proclaimed best player in baseball just hit his 600th homer, but being a cheater and liar, so nobody seemed to care. The umpires are blowing calls left and right, and replay is still out of the question for some inconceivable reason. The worst part is even the umpires have said they wouldn’t mind it. In the YouTwitFace Era, we need instant gratification. We want everything now, and sitting through long baseball games everyday isn’t always that appealing. There are so many other options out there, it’s hard to keep anyone’s attention for very long anymore. How does baseball win back its viewers? Speed up games, and move into the YouTwitFace Era. Maybe even think about realignment to get people fired up about beating teams within their state/region. Maybe throwing out the whole AL and NL thing wouldn’t even be a terrible idea. I’d love to see a division filled with the California teams (A’s, Angels, Dodgers, Giants, Padres), I can already hear the smack talk between me and my friends. There’s no question that the DH causes games to be longer adding another hitter to the lineup. The AL games take close to a fifteen minutes longer to complete than NL games, so axe the DH. Maybe limiting the time a batter can step out of the box or putting a pitching clock up when runners aren’t on base (they already do that in college). There are tons of solutions, but baseball is so old school that they just don’t conform to the times. I will always love the game regardless of whether it conforms to the times or not, but if they don’t do something, they are going to be battling the NHL for the third most popular sport. One thing I’ve always liked about the NBA and NFL is that they do make an effort to make the game better for us, the fans. Hell, the NFL is looking into putting a mirco chip into the football to see if the ball crosses the goal line or first down marker, and why not use technology to their advantage! Have you ever heard someone regret starting to use the latest technology? Yeah, that’s what I thought… Continue reading

7 Comments   |  tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | posted in Sports

July 29, 2010

A-Rod’s Chase For… Who Give’s a Crap!

By chappy81

On Sportsnation they put up a poll on Monday asking something to the tune of, Which is more likely to be a smash hit first? A-Rod hitting his 600th homer or Dinner for Schmucks (which is opening tomorrow). At the time I was thinking there’s no way A-Rod goes six games before he hits his 600th, but low and behold it still hasn’t happened, and I’m much more excited about Dinner for Schmucks coming out tomorrow than seeing him get to his milestone. I’m not a big “go to the movies” kind of guy, but this one seems like a can’t miss comedy. It will probably be one of the four I’ll see in a theater all year. Anyways, I’m usually pretty into milestones like this, but A-Rod’s 600th homer doesn’t really pique my interest.

I’m sure it has to do with the numerous guys breaking into the 500 and 600 HR clubs over the last decade, which has it’s diminished the worth a little in the PED era. Seven years ago, I wouldn’t have thought the 600 club would be achieved so easily/often. I never liked A-Rod, maybe because he’s an ass, maybe because we found out that he was a cheater in marriage and during his Mariners and Rangers days, and yes, there was that whole Dallas Braden thing. I can’t find one person that really even likes him, well, some Yankee fans probably do, but who cares about them. I think the real reason I can’t root for him is, he symbolizes the era. Lie, cheat, succeed, and get over paid for doing everything wrong. While he was HGH’d up (assuming he started in HS as some think), that’s about 350 HR’s to put in question. I’m not saying to take away 350 from his total, I’m more debating that he wouldn’t be on 599 yet. I have no idea what you’d shave off the total, 20, 50, 100? Who knows? I don’t really even care though, when it’s all said and done, I still want all the cheaters in the HOF as backwards as that sounds. The reason I come to this conclusion is that, it’s not completely the players fault baseball turned their heads on a more than obvious problem. I was never faced with these kinds of tough ethical decisions, so I can’t say I wouldn’t have tried PED’s of some sort if I was a really good player in that era. I’d like to say I wouldn’t, but the temptation of 70% of players around you using sounds tough.

I remember when Bonds was chasing his home run records, and maybe because I was a little younger, I thought it was more special, but I was rooting for the guy to break those records. No matter what people say about him, you have to admit, every time he came to the plate you wanted to see what he did, and he crushed some balls into the bay like nobody else ever will! Hell, Manny and Ortiz gave me that same kind of feeling, even if I wasn’t rooting for them. I always wanted to see their atbats. A-Rod just doesn’t do it for me, and it’s too bad because I want to care about greatness unfolding. He’s going to hit that 600th homer, and we’ll be talking about the 700th before you know it. I will be rooting against him the whole time, but that does nothing. I just don’t want him to be the face of this era. I’ve dedicated tomorrow to making sure I don’t watch A-Rod in Tampa, and help Dinner for Schmucks be a bigger opening day hit.

8 Comments   |  tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , | posted in Sports

July 23, 2010

Tiger is Being Tamed by his Age

By chappy81

Awhile back I wrote that I was hoping Tiger Woods wouldn’t break Jack’s record of 18 total majors won. I’m feeling a little more confident of that semi-prediction after seeing Tiger go 0 for 3 in majors so far this year with some of his favorite courses (Augusta, Pebble, and St. Andrews) lined up for him to win, err, lose. We thought he might be holding all four championship trophies by the end of the year, but now we will probably be surprised if he is even holding one. Will he ever win another major again? Ok, that’s probably a bad question, since I’m sure he’ll win at least a couple more over the next decade, but at St. Andrews we saw him do something he’s never done throughout his entire career; question his abilities. For the first time in over a decade of dominance he changed his putter just before the tournament and opted for a Nike putter over his trusty Scotty Cameron, and then on Sunday, he inexplicably changed back to his old trusty Scotty Cameron. It was like Lebron’s choice to make his decision on national TV. Well thought out, but ultimately a bad idea. Does this mean Tiger is starting to blame his equipment for his deficiencies on the course? Is this a sign that he isn’t confident in his abilities, and is looking for new equipment to make up for it? Nearly every guy on the tour changes their swings and equipment to get better, but we never have heard about Tiger changing his trusty putter that sunk everything within ten feet at every critical moment throughout his career, so I’m thinking he’s starting to doubt himself at least a little for more reasons than just the putter switch. Continue reading

9 Comments   |  tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , | posted in Sports

May 6, 2010

Raiders Cut a 300 Pound Paper Only Costing Them $40M

By chappy81

Well it’s finally been announced that the Raiders will give in and cut JaMarcus Russell. As Cali4Dre said, “they paid him $5 1/2M per win.” He was paid in excess of $39M, and will likely go down as one of the biggest draft busts of all time. It’s awesome that Al decided to do this, it took him a long time, but he is old, so I forgive him for moving slow. I was actually kind of scared that when Jamarcus was told he was being cut, he might have eaten Mr. Davis, and that was why it took so long. Anyways, the writing was on the wall for awhile, and it was surprising that it took Al this long to realize it. I guess that’s what happens when you don’t listen to anyone. Maybe he is starting to listen, because he had a sane draft, and seems to be making some quality moves. I just hope this isn’t a Jack Cust with the A’s, and they end up signing  JaMarcus back on for a discount. He’s wasted too much of our time to ever have him wear the silver and black again. Maybe he’d be a good fit as a lineman in the CFL or maybe, just maybe, there is some team stupid enough to sign him. Whatever his future, I wanted to revisit his top moments in the silver and black.

The 2007 Holdout – Russell held out until week 2 of the 2007 regular season to sign his monstrous $68M ($31.5M guaranteed) six year contract. It was well worth the wait, for him that is. I remember wondering why it was taking so long to get a deal done, and Len Pasqurelli at the time said “the long holdout seems to have garnered Russell a very advantageous payout structure. Of course, it also cost him any opportunity to win the starting job in training camp.” What?!? He wanted to start!?! I had no idea! Continue reading

5 Comments   |  tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , | posted in Sports