After weeks of compiling the list, along with academic duties and other higher prioritized tasks that delayed its release, I give you 50 Observations, Rants, Complaints, Proposals, Blatantly Obvious Notions and Various Notes and Ideas About Sports
2. The NBA needs to reform their officiating. Players get away with way too much. If they're good enough to get into the league, that means they're good enough to win playing by the rules. This was a no-call. Unacceptable. Caron Butler, your thoughts?
3. I hate when NBA players flail like they just got electrocuted. It's embarrassing to the people and organizations that pay your salary when you look like that.
4. Soccer players flop too much also. But at the same they can do great things on the pitch, and I wish it was more relevant in America.
5. Race car drivers, swimmers, bowlers, fisherman (and women, in order to be Title IX compliant), anyone on the X-Games, cheerleaders, and poker players are NOT athletes. And their competitions should not be called sports, but rather competitive recreation activities.
6. More high profile athletes should be role models. (For the kids people...for the kids)
7. The NCAA needs to return to being fan-friendly: have March Madness in actual arenas and not Ford Field or the new Cowboys Stadium, get the BCS back on ABC instead of those clowns at FOX, and cut the number of bowls in half. (Ok, that last one is fan-friendly as much as it is necessary. 7-5 vs. 7-5 in a bowl game?? I call that the middle of the conference standings)
8. Open wheel racing is better than NASCAR: it has faster racing, the cars are more visually-appealing, its fan base is higher class, nobody cheats on a weekly basis like NASCAR, the competition is better and the schedule mixture of road courses and oval tracks is better.
9. Bud Selig ruined baseball.
10. Ken Griffey, Jr. is the only player worth remembering from 1989-now, because his numbers are 100% natural.
11. Fighting in hockey is necessary.
12. Fighting is not necessary in baseball, neither is head-hunting or chin music. If pitchers are gonna throw at a guy, then throw somewhere below the shoulders.
13. Gambling on sports makes it WAY more interesting. Without gambling, horse racing would be dead.
14. ESPN needs to realize that there is more to college sports on the west coast than USC football, UCLA and Gonzaga basketball (who isn't America's sweetheart anymore either. And it's gon-ZAG-a Digger Phelps, not gun-ZAAG-uh, you Big East loving waste of an analyst's spot).
15. The period of time from the last college football bowl game and the Saturday before the NFL Draft should have ZERO, 0 (for those who prefer the numerical presentation compared to the typed-out one) "mock drafts" take place. They are pointless. How does Michael Crabtree become a Seahawk one week, then a Raider the next, and how does Mark Sanchez suddenly drop from Kansas City to out of the top 10 without even picking up a football??
16. Todd McShay is pointless too. Mel Kiper, Jr. got to the Everest of NFL draft analysis before you did, so beat it and find some other job. It's like trying to be better than Michael Buffer by doing...announcing the same way as Michael Buffer!! You stink, McShay. Quit. The end.
17. Some people were meant to be shot in HD. Maria Sharapova is one of them. Sadly, John Clayton wasn't. I love you John, but HD wasn't invented with you in mind. (P.S. tune into John Clayton's Sports Saturday, every Saturday from 9-noon on Seattle's ONLY live and local sports station, 950 KJR-AM)
18. There's more to college basketball than the Big East and the ACC. And while this year isn't a great one to prove that point, it's true. There's a reason why everyone always talks about the Big East...because they have 16 teams in the conference!!
19. A-roid continues to dig his grave deeper, and the only thing to make it more shallow is to throw himself in and just retire. He's not going to be in the HOF, so why play? If he wins a title, everyone knows it's going to be tainted anyway.
20. Dwayne Wade, lose the Wade-aid. It looks like Talladega Nights when Ricky Bobby sells ad space on his windshield to Fig Newtons.
21. Tyler Hansbrough doesn't have very good basketball skills, but tries really hard, like that kid you couldn't stand when you played JV, and has Dick Vitale slobbering over him and wears UNC on his chest, so America must be obligated to believe he's good. He also robbed Michael Beasley of the Wooden Award. Beasley led the nation in double-doubles, 40-point games, 30-point 10-rebound games, 20-point 10-rebound games, and was 3rd in the country in scoring, and yet Hansbrough still won the award??
22. My dream TV broadcast lineups:
NBA on TNT - Marv Albert, Reggie Miller, Mike Fratello, Craig Sager (sidelines)
NBA on ESPN/ABC - Kevin Calabro, Jeff Van Gundy, Jon Barry, Rich Bucher (sidelines)
NCAA BB on CBS - Gus Johnson, Bill Raftery, Bonnie Bernstein (sidelines)
NCAA BB on ABC - Brent Musberger, Steve Lavin, Erin Andrews (sidelines), who deserve multiple YouTube classic clips. #1 and #2
NFL, on any channel - Al Michaels, Troy Aikman, Wendy Nix (sidelines)
MLB - Bob Costas, Harold Reynolds, Jon Kruk, Peter Gammons (sidelines)
NCAA Football - Keith Jackson (in his prime), Kirk Herbstreit, Craig James, Erin Andrews (sidelines)
Olympics - Tom Hammond, Michael Johnson, Carl Lewis, Bob Newmeyer (sidelines)
23. David Stern and Bud Selig need to go. Immediately. They both ruined their sports, despite their accomplishments while at the commish's desk.
24. John McCain is not a maverick...Mark Cuban is. But having more than one Mark Cuban is not necessarily a good thing for sports.
25. Greg Oden IS A BUST. And with the trades Pritchard alleged turned down, is his reign as the NBA GM genius hitting its downturn?
26. Donald Sterling needs to fire himself, and hand ownership of the Los Angeles Clippers to me. My first two big decisions as owner:
a - Move out of Staples Center. The Lakers own that arena.
b - Free cap space and make a run at Lebron. The idea of Lebron v. Kobe for the title of King of Los Angeles: pure genius.
27. My NBA franchise cornerstones (guys I'd build my team around):
PG - Chris Paul. No point guard even comes close to competing with him.
SG - Kobe Bryant, Dwayne Wade, Brandon Roy. All three are superstars, and are their team's first option in crunch time.
SF - Lebron James, Kevin Durant. Once Durant muscles up to complement his NBA skills, watch out.
PF - Kevin Garnett. Beast. Most intense player in the league.
C - Dwight Howard. He can dunk easily on a 12-foot hoop. I start and end my argument there.
28. If T.O. makes the Hall of Fame, which team will he go in with?
29. I want to have dinner with John Wooden just once. His wisdom and knowledge make him the greatest living sports figure today.
30. It's a shame MLS is so far off the soccer radar that American soccer fans are forced to root for a European club.
31. Tony Reali might have the best job in sports journalism. Jim Rome and Bill Simmons make superb cases as having the best job as well.
32. College football is too afraid to have a playoff system to determine the champion because of money, which is a pathetic reason. Get your act together and show that you're the big boys. Computers shouldn't decide who has earned the right to play for the championship.
33. The NFL should rotate the Super Bowl site in this order: San Diego, Tampa Bay, Phoenix, Miami, New Orleans, Jacksonville.
34. Having that order, San Diego both greatly deserves, through their recent success, and needs a new football stadium. How can the Padres get a new stadium with the way they've played the past decade and the Chargers can't?
35. The way seating in professional sports starts is so far away from the court or field is an injustice to the millions of fans who pay for the tickets. Rows should go up from field level, not out. And starting the upper sections closer to the field or court would create such a greater home crowd advantage that would financially be better for everybody. Fans get closer seats, become happy and continue to buy tickets, and owners make money on everything from concessions to ticket sales to advertising fees.
36. Tim Tebow will be the next Chris Weinke. Bummer dude. ESPN anointed as the greatest thing since the forward pass and the instant replay combined, but you're reign of dominance will come to an end once you take that Florida helmet for the last time.
37. Paul Maguire give no insight to a game he "commentates." He is pointless to a broadcast. No wonder ABC put him on the sideline field camera for the Oregon/Michigan beatdown.
38. Barry Bonds has the biggest ego in sports. But, for those who do not consider him an active member of the sports community, then the torch is passed to Scott Boras. Congrats on getting A-Rod his latest deal and taking months for Manny to get a contract that he should have signed months ago!
39. Justin Timberlake is the best non-athlete at a sport.
40. Sam Cassell should have seen his trade to the Sacramento Kings as the nail in the coffin of his NBA career. You freeloaded your way to an NBA ring, now beat it.
41. LA sports fans are too arrogant. NYC sports fans are too obnoxious. ATL fans are too blinded by their love for Michael Vick to realize how disgusting his crimes were. European and Latin American soccer fans...it's just soccer. No need to bring the flares and hurl things at each other.
42. America should have a trial run with cricket. It looks like fun.
43. The NBA needs to get off its high horse and let Portland host an All-Star weekend. It's about time, Mr. Stern.
44. Pete Rose needs to be in the Baseball Hall of Fame.
45. Jerry West has the best nickname ever. The Logo.
46. Tony Romo hasn't done anything (productive) beyond Week 17, so ESPN, don't do a commercial with him in it until he reaches the Super Bowl. How many Tom Brady commercials do you have? He plays right in your backyard, get him on the campus for at least 5 30-second spot sometime before the end of the year, because he's one athlete who actually deserves a commercial.
47. Adriana Lima, Eva Longoria Parker, Marko Jaric, Tony Parker: Name the one that does not belong.
48. How many celebrities that go to Lakers games actually care about the game? (Maybe it's time to update the jersey, Mike. Shaq plays for Phoenix now)
49. Sean Taylor was going to be a first ballot Hall of Famer. I hope the criminals involved in his death never set foot as free people again.
50. O.J., you're guilty. You know how it goes: Fool me once, joke's on me. Fool me twice, joke's on you.
3 comments:
not bad not not bad, i could argue with you on everyone point you make pretty much, but def entertaining none the less. Point 33 was a direct Sport Guys rip, but still a valid point. I did enjoy the post though, good post, have a take dont suck.
-B Web
hey shooter good stuff. I agree with about 87% of your stuff. 1st of all bowlers are athletes. Give it a try and let me know how athletic you have to be to bowl. I know first hand. 2nd, I know as much as you love david west and the hornets, Jerry west is the logo. Overall good stuff and agree 100% with the Erin Andrews post!
change david to jerry west. david west is just a cheap player.
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