Over In The Queen City. . . Cincinnati is leading Number 6 Ohio State, 9-0 at the end of the first quarter. Stay tuned. . .
UPDATE: It's 19-17 Cincy with about 12 minutes left in the fourth quarter.
ANOTHER UPDATE: All over. . . Ohio State picks off pass in their own end zone with 26 seconds left. Buckeyes 23 Bearcats 19.
Here In Washington, D.C. . . There are few things that can kill a career quicker than a lengthy write-up in the Washington Post detailing some sort of personal misbehavior or criminal malfeasance. For the most part, despite the words of former New Orleans Governor Edwin Edwards, there are plenty of things that will kill a career besides being caught in bed with a live boy or a dead girl -- and being caught in the crosshairs of a Post profile is one of them.
Having this profile appear as a page 1 headline can be especially deadly. Unless of course you're the coach of the local WNBA team.
This past Monday, Post staff writers Jessica Hopp and Greg Sandoval reported that Washington Mystics Head Coach Marianne Stanley, while she was women's basketball coach at UC-Berkeley, had forced one of her assistant coaches, Sharonna Alexander, to resign when Stanley had discovered Alexander was pregnant.
Essentially, Stanley said unless Alexander had an abortion, she was out of a job. Later, after Alexander filed suit against Stanley and UC-Berkeley, the University quickly settled her suit out of court, and made sure the decision was sealed. Afterwards, UC-Berkeley continued to reccommend Stanley for other jobs without reservation and without mentioning Alexander's suit.
And to make things worse, Stanley has often used her feminist credentials to promote her own career, even going so far as filing a very public, and ultimately, unsuccessful lawsuit against USC for wage discrimination.
All in all, Stanley has been exposed as a feminist fraud who wants to have it both ways.
Well, it's been six days since the story hit the Post's front page. And the reaction?
How about less than zero?
Today, came the second mention in the Post of the suit, and it's in a Saturday column by Sally Jenkins, one of my favorites and the Sports section's resident gender feminist. But other than that, there has been nothing. No followups to get reaction from the Wizards. No reverberations on talk radio or on the cable chat programs. Do a google search on Stanley, and you need to pile through pages of biographical info before you find any mention of the case.
Why the silence? Where are all the feminist groups who normally rail against employment policies and practices that discriminate against women? Where in fact, is Martha Burk, head of the National Council of Women's Organizations? One would think that this sort of misbehavior, especially when it occurs in her organization's front yard, might actually interest her.
The answer, of course by now, should be pretty clear: if you're able to define you're enemy as an out of touch White guy, go in with guns blazing. Then again, when you're confronted with the fact that a woman might have committed a greater sin (and in this case I think Stanley is guiltier of behavior far more heinous than the membership committee at Augusta National Golf Club), feel free to ignore it. After all, it won't make for headlines, and it won't make for great copy in fundraising letters.
Then there's the other dirty little secret: that no matter how successful the women's movement may have been, and no matter how much men and women alike would never want to go back to the world we came from, the fact remains that the movement has engendered a real disrespect for women who choose to have a family. This, even among some women who have chosen to have children of their own, much like Stanley.
In her column this morning, Jenkins compares Stanley's actions to the static former Houston Oilers offensive lineman David Williams got a few years ago when he missed a game to be with his wife as she gave birth to their first child. I'm sorry, but I'm afraid Stanely's transgression here, and her subsequent attempts to scrub it from her job history, are at least as reprehensible as a number of incidents that have gotten male coaches the boot from college basketball.
Jenkins goes on to say that she hopes Stanley isn't fired from her position as Mystics coach, but that rather the team should simply refuse to renew her contract. I have to ask why. After all, I thought the point of the women's movement was a simple struggle for equal treatment. And if that's the case, the Mystics should have sent Stanley packing within hours of last Monday's paper hitting the street.
CBS To Air Masters Next Year: In a letter responding to an inquiry from National Council of Women's Organizations chairman Martha Burk, CBS Sports President Sean McManus informed her that the network will continue to air the annual tourney from Augusta National:
"I very much appreciate you sharing your position on CBS' broadcasts of the Masters tournaments," McManus said. "However, as a sports television programmer serving millions of men and women who eagerly anticipate and avidly watch the Masters network broadcast each year, CBS will cover the Masters as it has done for the past 46 years. To not do so would be a disservice to fans of this major championship."
I'm wondering what Burk's next move is.
The Splendor Of The Grass: Here, all season long, I thought the New York Mets poor performance on the field was the result of the combination of: uncharacteristically low offensive production from a number of players; pourous infield defense; and uninspired managing. But now I discover there's another culprit: marijuana. At least, that's what David Lennon and John Heyman of Newsday say:
According to one friend of some Mets players, marijuana has allegedy been mailed into Shea Stadium inside a jar of peanut butter and at least one Met regularly smokes marijuana in the players' parking lot. The same source also said that a number of Mets players have been known to share a marijuana-filled limousine ride rather than taking the team bus from one city to another while on the road.
A former prospect and two friends of current Mets confirmed that the team's minor leaguers have been warned in advance of supposedly random drug tests and have learned how to avoid drug detection.
One of the friends said that Mets minor leaguers have been known to bury marijuana and drug paraphernalia near hotels on the road in order to access it on the next trip to town.
A team official and a friend of the players said in addition to marijuana Ecstasy was another drug of choice among Mets minor leaguers.
This is not exactly what new majority owner Fred Wilpon wants to hear -- not after he's liquidated a number of choice assets in order to rid himself of former partner Nelson Doubleday to get exclusive control of the Mets.
Even more embarassing is the fact that Lennon and Heyman got hold of a picture from 1999 of Mets pitcher Grant Roberts smoking from a bong:
When confronted before yesterday's game with a December of 1999 snapshot of Roberts, then a minor-leaguer, dragging on a bong, an apparatus used to smoke marijuana, Roberts was silent for a long time before saying, "I can tell you that wasn't recently."
Asked whether he still uses drugs, Roberts kept his head down and shook it "No" before walking back into the clubhouse.
Roberts is considered one of the Mets top pitching prospects. The confrontation didn't seem to affect Roberts, who came on in the 12th inning and got the win in the Mets 3-2 win over the Cubs.
What a truly bizarre coda to a disappointing season. The story says a number of the players who were involved in the Mets drug scene have already been traded out of town. Something tells me that an embarassing public incident like this might shake Wilpon into making wholesale changes. If this is a problem that reaches into the lowest parts of the Mets organization, then someone in the front office might be held responsible, and that would be General Manager Steve Phillips or someone who works for him. Then again, if drug use is rampant in the club house, then some of the blame has to fall to manager Bobby Valentine.
UPDATE: Earlier in the season, Jeff Cooper and I tripped over one another during a conversation on who was really to blame for the Mets woes this season. I said it was Phillips, who cobbled together a set of overrated spare parts and tried to call it a team. Jeff preferred to blame manager Bobby Valentine, who should have found a way to get more production out of this overpriced crew.
Well, now Jeff is calling for the ouster of both men in the wake of this latest screw-up. I heartily agree. No matter where this problem started, it definitely started on the Valentine/Phillips watch. From what I understand, both Lou Pinella and Dusty Baker are interested in managing the Mets. Best of all, I hear that Oakland A's General Manager Billy Beane's contract is up soon too.
Let the housecleaning begin.
Miles Dabord. . . Brother of the missing Bison Dele, and suspected in the murder of the former NBA player, and two others, was found comatose by police in San Diego. He was transported to a hospital and placed under arrest.
FOR LINKS AND COMENTARY ON LAST NIGHT'S FAN INCIDENT IN CHICAGO. . . Page down, or click here.
Late yesterday evening, I got a note from John Branch, the Tarheel Pundit, asking me what I thought of an article by ESPN's Ralph Wiley. In it, Wiley posited that the NFL was a superior league because virtually all of its players spend four or five years being schooled in the finer points of the game in college.
Meanwhile, the level of play in the NBA is rapidly dropping. Why? Because so many players who would normally be having the fundamentals drilled into their heads by Bob Huggins, John Chaney, Rick Pitino and others, are instead opting to enter the NBA Draft out of high school or as college underclassmen. Instead of learning the game, these players sit on the ends of NBA benches, reduced to a shadow of their true potential.
Of course, the pivot point for this discussion is the recently completed World Basketball Championships that were held in Indianapolis a few weeks ago. And, where, as you already know, a team of American NBA All-Stars finished sixth behind such basketball powers as New Zealand, Puerto Rico and Germany.
Back in June, William C. Rhoden of the New York Times wrote a column that said African-American players were in danger of being replaced in the NBA in much the same manner that Black jockeys were systematically forced out of horse racing in this country about a century ago.
At bottom, Rhoden credited the movement toward recruiting international players to racism, rather than the fact that these international players displayed more skill playing a fundamentally sound game of basketball. At the time, I disagreed with Rhoden, saying the advent of the international player was the best thing that could ever happen to basketball. It's good to see Wiley look at things the way they really are.
Funny enough, but there's a real historical antecedent to this development, and it comes from the world of ice hockey. Exactly 30 years ago this month, Canada and the USSR played an 8 game challenge series that matched a team of Canadian NHL All-Stars (minus some notable names due to injury and the fact that some had signed with the renegade World Hockey Association).
The Canadians came together for training camp not long before the start of the series in Montreal, many of the players still sporting spare tires they had added in the offseason. Practices were lacksadaisical and haphazard, and took on more of a feel of a reunion than a serious exercise in preparation for an international tournament.
This exhibition would be a great way to get in shape for the upcoming NHL season, or so they thought.
The Russians felt otherwise. When it came time for Game 1 in Montreal, the NHL players took a quick 3-1 lead into the locker room after the first period.
Then the wheels came off the bus.
Russian goalie Vlad Tretiak didn't allow a goal for the rest of the game, and the Soviets put on an absolute clinic for the Canadians in the game they had invented. The Russians played a game where puck possession was paramount. Passing and skating circles around the NHL players, and playing together in speedy 5-man units, they thrashed the Canadians, eventually winning 7-3.
To say that Canada went into a state of shock would be an understatement. They had been beaten in the game they had created, the one they dominated. In fact, it was all the more damaging as dominance in ice hockey was the one thing Canada could point to that differentiates it from the rest of the world.
Though the Canadians eventually won the series, 4 games to 3 (with one tie), the game was changed forever. You see, the Soviets hadn't just proven that they were as good as the Canadians. They had also proved that there was another way to play -- one that ignored the tenets of the Canadian game. European "skill" players -- one's who could skate and pass instead of just dumping and chasing the puck and fighting -- began to arrive in NHL cities. If not for the Cold War, it's safe to say that the percentage of European players in the NHL today would be even higher.
Eight years later the Americans won the gold in ice hockey in Lake Placid (with NCAA coach Herb Brooks using European tactics), and soon top athletes from the U.S. who might have played some other sport began to choose ice hockey. In 1996, a team of NHL All-Stars from the U.S. defeated a team of their Canadian counterparts to win the World Cup of Hockey -- a tournament, that cruelly, had once been known as the Canada Cup.
What had once been an exclusive Canadian preserve, was now a true international game. And ice hockey was all the better for it. In fact, I think it's safe to say that the great Edmonton Oilers teams of the mid-1980s would not have looked or played the same way were it not for the significant new European influence on the sport.
Sometimes we Americans forget, but the Gold medal in Men's Ice Hockey that Canada won in Salt Lake City earlier this year was the nation's first in 50 years.
Well, now the karmic wheel has turned, and it's America's turn to be humiliated. Spin it anyway you like, America was slapped in Indianapolis by the nations that gave us: the world's longest surviving facist state; the living embodiment of runaway inflation; and the 20th century's last mass murderer. And though these losses didn't come as quite the thunderclap as the scare Canada got 30 years ago, we're going to see a whole lot of changes as a result anyway.
The flood of talent internationally will only increase. Kids back in Argentina, Serbia and Spain (and elsewhere) watched these games, and soon some of them will be abandoning soccer, jai-lai, and middle distance running to play basketball.
As a result, the number of American players who would have opted for the NBA Draft straight from high school or as college underclassmen will slowly begin to decrease. With more international players taking spots in the draft, there will be fewer slots for these athletically talented kids who are simply unschooled in the finer points of the game. The message will become pretty clear -- learn how the game is played, or the big payday you're shooting for will never come to pass.
Next, as more kids stay in school, college basketball will get better. Now, does this really mean that nobody is going to jump to the pros early anymore? No, not at all. But the cumulative effect of international players with a better grasp of the fundamentals of the game entering the NBA will begin to take a toll.
Now, will American players be pushed out of the NBA in much the way Rhoden predicted? Of course not. If anything, we'll begin to see a slow, but steady increase in the number of international players in the NBA. Today, a little more than 60 percent of the players in the NHL are Canadians -- quite a drop from 30 years ago when the league was exclusively Canadian. Today, countries other than the U.S. supply 15 percent of the NBA's players. In the WNBA, the percentage is even higher, at 25 percent.
But make no mistake, the American athlete will learn, just like they always do. A little competition never hurt anybody. Ask yourself this question: is the NFL a better game today than it was before Doug Williams threw five touchdown passes in the second quarter of Super Bowl XXII, essentially destroying the final roadblock preventing African-Americans from getting an equal shot to play quarterback in the NFL?
So, to answer John's question, yes, I think Wiley is on to something. But don't fret, the reverberations of the U.S. team's dismal performance have already been absorbed, and the reaction is just around the corner. Hang on, the only thing you have to fear is a better game of basketball.
Maybe Pepper Spray Is Too Good For Some Fans? That's the only conclusion I can draw after watching two shirtless men rush onto the field at Comiskey Park in Chicago to attack Kansas City Royals first base coach Tom Gamboa. There's scant explanation for what happened, other than Brian Kenny on ESPN's Baseball Tonight relaying news that Gamboa was unhurt. Once everyone knew what was going on, the entire Royals bench emptied to come to Gamboa's rescue.
More details as they become available.
UPDATE: Turns out that one of the "fans" actually had a knife, though he didn't use it on Gamboa, who left the field with a bump on his head and bleeding, but otherwise unharmed.
ANOTHER UPDATE: The fans were a father and son team, with the son being just 15 years old. Here's a description from the Chicago Tribune (registration required):
Players and coaches come to Gamboa's aid.
Authorities this morning identified the father as William Ligue Jr., 34, of the 3400 block of West 125th Street, Alsip. He was charged with one count of aggravated battery and is expected to appear in bond court later today, police said.
Ligue's son is 15 years old and lives in Blue Island, according to police. He was charged as a juvenile with two counts of aggravated battery and was released to his mother this morning.
"He flipped us off. He got what he deserved," the youth told a WGN-Ch. 9 camera crew Thursday night as police led him away from Comiskey.
The Tribune has an excellent coverage package, including a photo gallery and a rather active message board, but again, it's behind that annoying registration requirement. There's no such requirement at the Chicago Sun-Times, but there coverage is pretty paper thin, with the current edition failing to list the identity of the attackers, as the Tribune did.
Meanwhile, ESPN's Dan Patrick scores the big scoop, getting an on-air interview with Gamboa. To see commentary from ESPN's Baseball Tonight crew, click here. For some fan reaction narrated by Rich Eisen, click here. As you might imagine, ESPN is the place to go for the best coverage with Fox and Sportsline sticking with wire reports to fill the gap.
ANOTHER UPDATE: Fellow sports blogger, Dan Lewis, says we shouldn't be giving these yahoos so much attention:
Fox has a policy for its Saturday Game of the Week that, whenever some boob jumps onto the field an streaks, dances, whatever, they turn the cameras to a player. And not to the boob. It's a good policy, because you shouldn't reward scofflaws and criminals with the fame they so desire. CNN.com (and, by extention, SI) apparently doesn't get this, because they've plastered the CNN front page with the story. And with the picture of the idiots.
Besides the fact that there's more important news out there -- heck, there's more important baseball news out there -- CNN should be ashamed. As should ESPN and anyone else who puts the picture up. It's not like these guys have a political agenda (at least I suspect not); they're in it for the flashbulbs. Don't give it to them.
I have to respectfully disagree. The attack on Gamboa is news, and not using it would be akin to a news operation failing to use photographs or video footage of an attack on a person in the street in broad daylight. (Although in a tip to Dan, I've posted a picture in which the morons who attacked Gamboa are completely obscured by a horde of Royals players and coaches.) As for Fox's policy not to air the antics tha disrupt play during the broadcast of the game, I understand their point and concur.
CNN indeed does have a photo gallery as well as a listing of other incidences of on-field fan violence.
YET ANOTHER UPDATE: Here's another view, this time from the Kansas City Star by Royals beat writer Bob Dutton. No new details here, although it seems clear the knife mentioned on virtually all of the coverage was merely a pocket knife. The Star's Dick Kaegel also has a piece recounting fan misbehavior in the past.
More On FedEx Pepper Spray: For those who are still interested in Monday night's pepper spray debacle at the Eagles-Redskins game, the local police in charge at FedEx are promising to review departmental policies governing it's use. Surprisingly, or perhaps not, neither the Prince George's County chief of police, not the County Executive were available to comment on Monday night's incident. Further, a number of fans who were at the game wrote into the Post with some vivid descriptions of the pictures, and accounts of what they saw and heard that night.
It Isn't Easy Being Number Two. . . Just ask the folks at the Washington Times, D.C.'s perennial second place newspaper for the last twenty years. No matter how hard they might try, they'll never shake the Moonie label, and there's only so much you can do as the house organ for local conservatives. For the most part here in the D.C. area, nobody really cares about what the Times covers, outside of a few notable exceptions like defense correspondent Bill Gertz, and Inside The Beltway columnist John McCaslin.
Now imagine that not only do you work at the Times, you actually work for the Sports section. Talk about no respect! Hardly anyone knows that these guys even exist. (Full disclosure here: back during the early days of the Clinton Administration, I worked as a stringer for the Sports section there for about a year. $50 for 500 words was the going rate.)
Once again, that's a shame, especially since these pages actually contain some talent. David Elfin is a more then credible football writer, and Dave Fay has been covering the Washington Caps longer than anyone the Post has ever had on the beat. But one of the exceptional talents there is Eric Fisher, a reporter that stradles both Business and Sports. Today, he has a longish piece on NFL Films that is well worth your time and effort.
Bush Wanted Other Job First. . . I wanted to post this last night, but an innopportune crash of my iBook wiped it out of my scratch file. Turns out that President Bush wanted to be commissioner of baseball -- or so says ex-commish Fay Vincent in his upcoming book.
Sarah Fisher To Test F1 Car At Indy: Sarah Fisher, currently the only women competing in the top flight of North American open wheeled racing, will get a chance to try her hand at Formula 1 next week at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway:
"We are pleased to provide Sarah with this one-off opportunity," said McLaren International managing director Martin Whitmarsh in a statement. "Through our 39-year history we have never had a female drive one of our Formula One cars so I guess it's about time.
"Hopefully, Sarah's demonstration will assist in promoting Formula One in America further and give her a taste of the category."
Formula One visits Indianapolis next week for the penultimate round of the championship, the U.S. Grand Prix.
With the rise of NASCAR, and the ridiculous fued between Tony George of IRL and CART, open wheeled racing has taken a real beating over the last decade or so. So, whenever I do see an IRL race, I root my guts out for Fisher. When she wins, and she will, it will give open wheeled racing the shot in the arm it needs. Sometimes I wonder why Sarah hasn't been asked to participate in the International Race of Champions competition as of yet.
But perhaps we shouldn't get too excited at Sarah's taste of Formula 1. . .
The chances of Fisher making it to F1 eventually would appear to be remote, however, with McLaren team principal Ron Dennis saying last month that he could not envisage a woman racing in the championship.
"I think that, over-simplifying it, oval racing is a very different type of racing to circuit racing," he said. "(F1) requires different abilities and I think those abilities are more challenging for a woman to fulfill than for a man. I think it is very difficult for a woman to be competitive in Formula One."
Don't get me wrong, I love racing. And from what I understand, F1 racing is the pinnacle of the sport. Those moving from open wheeled in North America to the F1 circuit don't always do so well (the great Mario Andretti being a notable exception). And when it comes to F1 drivers coming to North American ovals, they seem to do a lot better (Nigel Mansell being the best example).
So, I'd like to ask my readers: what sort of different physical demands are involved with F1 racing that would make it more difficult for a woman to be successful on that circuit. Or is Dennis just blowing smoke?
RIP Bullet Bob Hayes: Still the only athlete ever to win an Olympic Gold Medal (two at the 1964 Tokyo Games), and a Super Bowl ring (1972 with the Dallas Cowboys). Kept out of the Football Hall of Fame due to public struggle with drug addiction, despite his incredible big play potential.
I Wish I Could Find. . . Some streaming video of Lou Pinella's meltdown in Seattle last night. Whether it was meant to light a fire under his team, or just a cry for help, it was one for the ages. Catch it on Sportscenter.
How Pennants Are Won
How Pennants Are Lost: The situation: two outs in the top of the ninth, runners on first and second for the Giants in Los Angeles. Giants lead 5-3. Third baseman David Bell at the plate against the rubber-armed Paul Quantril. Bell lines a single to right field. Aging Giants catcher Benito Santiago, no speedster he, leaves second base on contact.
Out in right field, Dodgers outfielder Shawn Green, instead of charging Bell's liner, stays back on the ball. He comes up throwing, but has a tough time getting the ball out of his glove. Despite this, he fires a perfect strike to catcher Paul Lo Duca.
But he's a half beat too late, and Santiago scores sliding head first without having to worry about a tag. The inning continues, the Giants go on to score another run, and take a 7-3 lead into the bottom of the ninth. In the bottom of the inning, the Dodgers manage to scratch out another run, but eventually Rob Nen strikes out Erik Karros to end the game. Giants take a two-game lead in the Wild Card.
Though you can make the argument that Santiago's run was meaningless in the end, who can say what might have happened had the Dodgers gone into the ninth only down one run instead of three. Thanks to Green's moment of indecision, we'll never know.
In The Red. . . To the tune of $2.69 million: the local organizers in Indianapolis of the recently completed World Basketball Championships.
In The Black. . . To the tune of $120 million: the Salt Lake City Olympic Committee -- the second largest profit in the history of the Olympic Games. Plaudits go to Massachusetts gubernatorial candidate Mitt Romney, who rescued the games budget wise in the midst of a massive scandal.
One Reason The Olympics Wants To Can. . .The baseball competition, is the fact that the tournament has failed to attract many of the sports top athletes. I wonder what they're thinking about the proposed Olympic golf tournament now that Tiger Woods doesn't seem particularly excited at the prospect of being an olympian?
For the most part, when it comes to sports like golf and tennis, so much of the charm is tied up in a sense of place. Wimbledon. Augusta. Roland Garros. St. Andrews. Flushing Meadow. Pebble Beach. How anyone can expect players or fans to get excited about a venue without any history that will be quickly forgotten is beyond me. And, as far as the Summer Olympics are concerned, the further and further we get away from the pure athletic competition (in this case Track and Field, Swimming, Diving, Gymnastics), the less the appeal. This idea shouldn't go any further than it already has.
Now, When There's An Accident On Amtrak. . . Everybody gets a drug test. But what happens when the testee is the driver of a multi-million dollar race car?
LPGA Players Speak Out On Augusta: Which is something I've been hoping to read about for some time now. Although the way plenty of news organizations slug this story, you'd hardly know that opinion on the topic isn't exactly united:
''I can't believe we're still fighting this stuff -- racism, gender equality or whatever,'' U.S. Open champion Juli Inkster said Wednesday from the Solheim Cup. ''But that's life, I guess. It's not going to change overnight, but hopefully, in the coming years, it will change.''
Several players at this week's Solheim Cup said they have played as guests at Augusta National -- ''I was 10 over after six holes, do we need to go on?'' Patty Sheehan quipped -- and been treated well. Still, they think the club needs to go a step further and admit a woman member.
''I played earlier this year, I had a great time,'' Kelly Robbins said. ''Obviously, things have progressed quite a bit since then, as far as what's taking place. I think it's a shame. I do.''
But hold on a second, it looks like some people aren't reading from the same playbook:
Meg Mallon says she has no problems with private clubs, like the famous Pine Valley Golf Club in New Jersey, excluding women from membership. But she thinks Augusta National is different because it plays host to such a high-profile event.
''Augusta made itself a public facility,'' Mallon said. ''They are no longer a private facility, although they like to use that as their cover. My question is: Why is it OK for a black man to bully his way into Augusta and it's not OK for a black woman to bully her way into Augusta? That's just the way I feel about it.''
Hmmm. So some private clubs are more equal than others? Don't think that's going to pass legal muster. As for the second part of her statement, I just have to say this: are private institutions that segregate on the basis of sex on the same ground morally as those who segregate based on race or religion? From where I'm sitting, absolutely not. If you disagree, ask yourself this question: which of the two hypothetical institutions is the most offensive?
The Savannah Country Day School and Golf Academy for Girls
The Savannah Country Day School and Golf Academy for Whites
Of course, not all players at the Solheim Cup agreed with that take on Augusta National, and not all think the issue is as serious as it has been made out to be.
Helen Alfredsson said she thought it was ''a ridiculous issue, period.''
''I think men should have had the right to do it, and the women should have the right to have their private club, too,'' Alfredsson said. ''And we are probably going to start one where we are all gong to wear bikinis, and no men allowed. So that's going to be a great club, I think.''
Amen sister, and I hope she gets what she wants. The fact of the matter is, Augusta National will probably admit women, and most likely sometime before the next Masters too. All he's waiting for is for the National Council of Women's Organizations to give him some breathing room, and his membership will follow his lead.
The New Orleans Expos? Over at a fan site for the recently re-located New Orleans Hornets, there's a report detailing advanced plans for moving the Montreal Expos to the city temporarily, as a precursor to the local business community there making arragements to make the move permanent:
Discussions are beyond preliminary areas and are approaching as likely that the Montreal Expos will likely call New Orleans home for next season at least for 1 year during a transition period as the Expos are leaving Montreal after this season. Serious negotiations with the Zephyrs have been going on for awhile now. Tentative plans call for the Expos to be in New Orleans for 1 year until it can find another home. Metro New Orleans leaders say once they "get here" discussions will begin with the state and local business leaders concerning the possibity of the Expos making NO a permanent home after next season. Interesting and something to follow---all of this reported on the Channel 6 10:00 news.
I checked the Web site for Channel 6 News in New Orleans, the local NBC affiliate in the city. While there is no story on the home page or the news section, there is an online poll asking if viewers favored a plan to move the Expos to the city.
As Dan Lewis, the source for the first of these links said, this might all be rumor mongering, but it's fun anyway. Remember, it was only a few days ago that Peter Gammons reported that Bud Selig had rejected what he called "temporary" solutions to the Expos question -- something that would seem to rule out the above possibility.
Why Ewing Never Won A Title. . . Slate's Sports Nut, Hugo Lindgren, makes the case.
UPDATE: Then again, perhaps his career isn't over yet?
As An East Coast Guy. . . I don't trip over too many fans of West Coast teams -- something that I think contributes to the overwhelming East Coast bias we see in much of sports media. Sure, we get plenty of coverage, most of it cribbed from AP wire stories, but for the most part the excitement that's part and parcel of the A's/Angels and Giants/Dodgers dueling to the wire is something that's hard to pick up on from 3,000 miles away (though a special surprise on my cable system has provided me with some great local insight).
That's why over the past few weeks, I've been following Matt Welch's blog quite a bit. A native of LA, Matt is one of those rare fans -- an Angels fan -- whose perspective we don't often get in the mainstream sports media. Sure, we all know about the great Gene Mauch-managed teams of the 1970s and 1980s that always seemed to fall short, but for the most part they don't play quite the same part in baseball mythos that are currently occupied by tales of woe generated by fans of the Cubs, Phillies, White Sox, and the long-ago Dodgers of Brooklyn.
Checking in there everyday, kept the idea rattling around in the back of my mind that the Angels were never out of this race -- despite the fact that the A's were in the midst of a 20-game winning streak. And through reading Matt, I've discovered the exceptional talents of Eric Neel. He's currently in the midst of writing an online diary following the races out West, and you're missing out if you don't give them a read. You can start, here.
UPDATE: I shouldn't forget to add how the Angels blew an 11 game lead in 1995 only to drop a one-game playoff to the Seattle Mariners to decide the AL West Division title.
Now Bison Dele's Brother. . . Is saying that he killed Dele, Dele's girlfriend, and the captain of Dele's boat, in a struggle at sea. This according to a piece off the ESPN News Wire. Apparently, Dele's brother, Miles Dabord, admitted to the killings in a phone call to his girlfriend. Though this end game is no surprise, it isn't any less tragic.
Pepper Spray Fallout: Both the Washington Post and the Philadelphia Daily News have followups on Monday night's pepper spray incident at FedEx Field. Both accounts openly question why the Prince George's County police officer, who remains nameless felt the need to use the spray, when other non-chemical options like a nightstick were available. As the Daily News' Jim Nolan wrote:
Say what you want about fighting at the Vet during Eagles games, but cops here have never used chemical weapons to subdue knuckleheads in the stands.
The occasional nightstick and police radio maybe, but not the hot stuff.
"I don't specifically recall our officers using it at any sporting event or inside Vet Stadium or in the First Union Center," said Inspector William Colarulo, a police spokesman.
Considering the rowdy past of the Philly faithful - flares, batteries, snowballs, out of town beatings in the "700 Club" - that's saying something.
One difference between the two stories -- the Post account clearly lays the blame for the incident at the feet of Eagles fans, a number of whom made the 90 minute trip down I-95 to cheer their team on. Even watching the game on television, it was clear that the stadium was hosting more than it's normal compliment of out-of-town fans:
Sam Strulson, 25, a Redskins season-ticket holder and software programmer from Arlington who was taking his girlfriend to her first pro sporting event, said he was repulsed by the conduct of fans.
"It was absolutely one of the most ridiculous evenings I've ever been a part of," he said. "It was pretty violent, and not a fan-friendly or game-friendly atmosphere."
He said he saw one Eagles fan punch a female Redskins fan and knock her down near the end of the game. He said the Eagles fan had called the woman a name. She pushed him, and he struck her, according to Strulson. "At that point, I was like, 'Okay, we're going home.' "
He said it was probably unwise of the Redskins to open the parking lots at 3 p.m., as the team had for security and traffic reasons. "It just gave the Eagles fans six hours to get rowdy. We showed up at 5:30, and by the time we got there, there was a sea of green taking over a section of the parking, and they were horrible."
Indeed, Eagles fans are rather notorious. However, the editors at the Post couldn't help but tack on this little ditty at the end of the story and try to give it an ominous tone:
Kirk Reynolds, director of public relations for the San Francisco 49ers, said police at the stadium carry pepper spray but are under strict instructions not to use it except in the most dangerous conditions. "They break up fights, but they do it in numbers," he said. "If two people are fighting, eight officers will go in. We've never used the spray to break up fights."
The Redskins' next game is Sunday in San Francisco
Which can only make even the most casual football fans fall on the floor and guffaw. The thought that fans in San Francisco, residents of the most laid back area in the nation, might actually cause a disturbance that necessitated the use of pepper spray is laughable. I can't imagine anything that might trigger a problem like that, other than cutting off latte sales in the middle of the third quarter.
The issue that does need some extra examination, however, is the fact that fan behavior in many NFL stadiums is downright dreadful. For me, the one day I often dread on the calendar is the annual clash between the Steelers and the Ravens in Baltimore.
Back in 1997, the first year I had Ravens season tickets, and the last season the Ravens played in Memorial Stadium, the Steelers game was rather harrowing. That day, literally hordes of Steelers fans descended on Charm City. One little known fact outside this area is that Baltimore-Washington is one of the more popular post-college stops for graduates from the Pittsburgh area who can't find jobs at home. As a result, local sports events are usually overrun by Pittsburgh natives (just ask the Washington Capitals), and let's just say that in the charm department, they're on the same plane as Eagles fans.
Luckily, the game that day was pretty compelling, and disturbances in the stands were kept to a minimum. But don't doubt for a second that my friend and I didn't high-tail it back to my car as fast as humanly possible to avoid getting caught in any fan crossfire. Tensions have abated since then, especially after the Ravens won the Super Bowl -- something which dampened the enthusiasm for some Steelers fans for the trip.
But with the Ravens stinking up the joint this season, I have little doubt the Pittsburgh crowd will be back in force when the Steelers return Sunday October 27th (oh goody, the last Sunday before Halloween). I'll be sure to bring my body armor and gas mask to that game.
UPDATE: Of course, in Europe, soccer teams are famous for setting aside a section of their stadiums for out of town fans. Of course, there, distances are shorter, and having a large contingent of fans of the visiting team in town is a far more common occurence. With season ticket sales the way they are, I wouldn't think this is a viable option here in the states.
ANOTHER UPDATE: Just a few more thoughts. First of all, the local police department responsible at FedEx, the Prince George's County Police Department, fairly or unfairly, has quite a reputation for belligerence here locally. The Post has been keeping a close eye on them for a number of years now. In addition, Prince George's is a county that's in full demographic flux. What was once a White-majority county as recently as the 1970s, has become a haven for the African-American middle class that sought to flee Washington, D.C.
As a result, you have a county where many public institutions are controlled by long-time residents. Meanwhile, African-Americans are only a few years into really flexing their muscles in the area politically. As you can imagine, there are tensions, with the police force (along with the school system) being a predictable flash point.
On Tony Kornheiser's Show This Morning. . . Tony took some time to talk about last night Giants-Dodgers game, and in particular, the talents of one Barry Bonds. During his discussion, Kornheiser mentioned that while he could understand how taking steroids might make it easier to hit a ball further, he didn't see how it could help someone put a bat on the ball any better. In particular, he talked about how Bonds seemed to be able to wait for just exactly the right pitch to hit, and swing at it. Surely, no matter what anyone else might say, this talent couldn't be the result of taking steroids, now could it?
At that point, producer and co-host Andy Pollin came to the rescue -- noting that in Sports Illustrated's cover story on former NL MVP Ken Caminiti, that taking steroids helps encourage the development not only of muscle mass, but also of "fast twitch" muscle mass -- the sort of muscle that not only increases strength, but also improves reflexes and increases bat speed.
As I've said before, I think that there's a real education deficit when it comes to athletes, steroids and sportswriters. Like it or not, I think we're on the verge of exposing a whole lot of behavior that most of the public will find most unsavory. It's going to take someone with a large megaphone, like Kornheiser for instance, for the dam to break.
More On Classroom Laptops: This time courtesy of John Branch, aka Tarheel Pundit. As a second year law student (and one who made law review -- a belated congratulation to John), he's got some interesting insights -- including the dramatic drop in classroom daydreaming between first and second year law students. He also unreservedly reccomends that law students use laptops to take exams -- something I had my doubts about, but am more than willing to yield the floor on.
In the meantime, be on the lookout for another post from Jeff Cooper on this topic.
How Sweet It Is
