Uhh, can you tell that baseball is back? Yes, 1-2-3 Sports is excited. Photo c/o Dottie Blue
The Science Behind the Sweetest Sound in Sports
Every baseball fan knows and loves the crack of the bat. Even when an opponent does it to your team, when you hear that pure sound of a ball crushed by the sweet spot of the bat, you know you’ve witnessed something pretty amazing.
So, why, exactly, does the sweet spot create that crack, while a ball off the end or the handle creates completely different noises? SCIENCE is here to help. -TOB
PAL: “Watching baseball is an exercise in craving that sound as a sort of near-Pavlovian stimuli. Our brain is constantly receiving hundreds of messages from our sensory system, and our sense of sound is a big part of filling in the gaps of what we see.” What a great article. Applying science, psychology, and even neurology to a feeling so absolutely perfect only adds to my appreciation for one of my favorite sounds. That and my buddy Matt Scanlan just made me a wooden fungo bat – he friggin’ made it. I mean, look at that beauty in the photo up top. Hot damn! I’ve been looking forward to hitting fungos this Saturday morning for the last 24 hours.
Fun With MLB Photo Day
This made me legitimately LOL a number of times. This week MLB had “Photo” day, where they take headshots (and more) of every player and coach at Spring Training. Grant Brisbee went through over 5,000 of this year’s photos and noticed that most of the photos fall into one of eleven categories. In this article, Grant lays out the eleven categories, including “Let Me Show You a Baseball”, “Fake Hitting a Home Run”, and my favorite – “Coach Swallowing a Bug:
Yep, he definitely just swallowed a bug. Please enjoy. -TOB
PAL: TOB, you overlooked the best category: The Class Photo. Who knows? Perhaps someone from 1-2-3 Sports! has a series of senior class pictures with a lot of hair gel, wearing a suit from Jos. A Bank, and pointing a baseball bat at the camera. Baseball players are such doofuses.
Do They Panic? Do They Flinch? NOPE.
I wanted to share these two stories on Steph Curry and the Warriors last week, but life got in the way and I didn’t have time to write them up. Lucky me. Because on Saturday night Steph and the Warriors went bananas – trailing the Thunder the entire game, only to force overtime after a crazy turnover, and then winning in OT on a 32-ish foot bomb by Curry. If you didn’t see it, crawl out from that rock you’re under because here it is:
That, by the way, tied the NBA record for 3-pointers in a game, at 12 (including 3 in OT). During the game, Curry also broke his own record for 3-pointers in a season, set last year. And there are two months left in the season! He’s incredible.
Anyhow, the first story is an ode to Curry by Bethlehem Shoals, one of the best basketball writers around, and how Steph’s supreme confidence allows him to do the previously inconceivable things that he routinely does. The second is a look at whether the Warriors should sacrifice their depth for a chance to sign Kevin Durant this summer, which to me is a tough call. The Warriors bench is so good that when the bench comes in during the 2nd quarter, they always extend the lead. Does Kevin Durant give enough to the starting unit to make up for what they’d lose in trying to get him? The Warriors would likely need to lose Barnes, Bogut, and Livingston, if not a little more. That’s a hefty price to pay. On the other hand…Curry and Durant together would be terrifying. It’s one of those nice problems to have, but also a problem I am glad I would not have to make the call on. -TOB
PAL: It is absolutely nuts that a story about a team coming off of a championship, in the home stretch of a 70+ win season considering breaking up that team is…well, not necessarily ludicrous. That said, under no circumstances would I bring in KD and get rid of Barnes, Bogut, and Livingston to free up space for KD for 3 reasons:
Ah…they are going to win 70+ games, and this team already holds the title.
Name 1 team you enjoyed after they added a top 10 player to a team that already has/had a top 10 player (TOB loved Miami with LeBron and Wade…gross).
Steph – you have your nucleus with Draymond and Klay. This Warriors team can win multiple championships without KD. The league is better when the alphas are leading their own crew. Also, that would be a weak move on KD’s part.
Video of the Week
Clippers owner, and former Microsoft CEO, Steve Ballmer with an absolutely ridiculous, emasculating trampoline dunk. My favorite part, other than his hilarious face, is how he very nearly misses the trampoline.
The job of a college basketball student manager is pretty, well, menial. Get coach the whiteboard. Set up the folding chairs for the starters during timeouts. Curfew check. Laundry. I know – stop me before I list too many fun things. As Dana O’Neil put it in her way, way inside college basketball story:
“The demands of the job are high, the pay nonexistent and the tasks menial. Essentially, these are college students who willingly spend their entire days catering to the whims of other college students, while simultaneously trying not to interrupt the rhythms of a maniacal head coach.
So what’s the payoff? Obviously, a great seat to the game, and the chance to play the opposing team’s managers in some of the greatest basketball venues in the world: Rupp Arena, The Dean Dome, or…sometimes, you know, on the practice court. While the quality of the game doesn’t hold up to scholarship athletes they serve, the tradition does lend itself to some funny stories and ringers abound. Greg Oden played for Ohio State’s manager’s team before OSU played Maryland. Juan Dixon suited up for Maryland. The latest improvement to the manager’s game: national rankings. I miss college, dammit. – PAL
TOB: “I miss college, dammit.” Sumbitch stole my line.
A Long Shot Second Chance
Jordan Murphy was a special teams guy at the University of Colorado. Walk-on. Back-up fullback. Saw action, but was by no means a standout player. Murphy was also in the Aurora theater on June 20, 2012 when James Holmes walked into the theater in tactical gear and a gas mask, threw canisters of tear gas, and fired a tactical shot gun, a semi-automatic, and then a Glock, killing 12 and injuring 70. Murphy and his friends narrowly escaped. Here’s a story about his path since that night, and where he hopes his path will take him as he prepares for the NFL Draft.
It’s unlikely Murphy will have the movie ending and make a team in the NFL, and he’s okay with that: “So, you know, I’m chasing a dream and if it doesn’t work out, I’ll have a backup. It will be tough not to play football, but if you give it everything you have, give it everything I can, I think I would be able to leave it behind. But I refuse to say I didn’t at least try.”
Stories like this remind us tragedies are more than “trending”, more than fodder for political debate, and certainly more than an opportunity to express what’s wrong with the world today. Admit it – when tragedy doesn’t hit close to home – these are the ways in which most of us respond to shooting sprees in a country where an estimated 40% of the population doesn’t vote. Jordan Murphy’s long shot at making an NFL team serves as a reminder that tragedy lives on, and it can inspire greatness in those with the guts to try. – PAL
Jayson Heyward has made two good moves this off-season: He decided to not resign with the Cardinals, in favor of the Chicago Cubs, and he put some of his new money to good use. When Heyward broke into the majors as a 20 year-old phenom in 2010, he met journeyman backup catcher, David Ross. Apparently Ross made quite an impression on Heyward. The two are reunited in Chicago this season. Heyward is entering his prime, while Ross is ending his career. Ross announced this, his 14th season, will be his last year. Heyward’s response: He upgraded Ross to a suite for every road trip throughout the season. What a cool thing for a super rich dude to show his appreciation. – PAL
There are times in life when the mood strikes us, and we throw someone a bone that most days we might not have. Sometimes that gesture means little, other than making someone feel good for a few moments. But other times the ripple effect is greater than we could have ever imagined. This is the situation that Denver Nuggets executive Richard Smith finds himself in. In 2009, Smith went to China to help run the Junior NBA program. Smith’s job was to pick a team of players to travel to other cities in China for a tournament. The winning team of that tournament would get a trip to the U.S. for the NBA All Star game. When selecting the team, amidst a sea of boys, a young girl stood out. She was not the best player – not close. But she was tall – 6’1 – and more importantly to Smith, she hustled and competed. On almost a whim, Smith chose Yue for the team. Her team won the tournament and the trip to the U.S.
After the trip, Yue e-mailed Smith and asked him how she could get to the U.S. to play college basketball. He put her in touch with someone, and as far as he knew, that was that. Until this fall. Seven years later, Yue is a 6’7 freshman at Cal, she’s a 4.0 student, and on the basketball team. Smith found her, almost by accident, when scouting the Cal men’s basketball team.
This is a great story, and a reminder that simple acts of kindness can go a long way. -TOB
“Everybody is praying for me and my family, and that is right, but let us not forget that there were two people in this situation, and that family needs prayer as well. And we have no ill will toward that family. In my house, we have a sign that says ‘As for me and my house, we will serve the lord.’ We cannot serve the lord if we don’t have a heart of forgiveness. That family didn’t wake up wanting to hurt my wife. Life is hard. Life is very hard. And that was tough. But we hold no ill will towards the Donaldson family. And we, as a group, brothers united in unity, should be praying for that family, because they grieve as well.”
An incredibly selfless and compassionate sentiment. -TOB
PAL: This is one of those situations I’m grateful to have not experienced. When I think about moments of awesome compassion, bravery, or selflessness I just hope that I would be able to respond in the same way, but I seriously wonder. The grief would be so all-encompassing that there would simply be no room for compassion so soon after the tragedy. Also, if you haven’t read that Ryan Anderson story TOB linked to, you should. It will tell you all you need to know about Williams and his wife.
Capitalists for Relegation!
Relegation (and promotion) in the English Premiere league has long fascinated me. In the EPL, the three worst teams each year get demoted (relegated) to a lower division. Meanwhile, the top three teams from that lower division are promoted to the Premiere League. Relegation is supremely capitalistic. It’s hard to fathom as an American sports fan, where fortunes swing wildly from year to year, in large part due to the communist plot that is the draft. Unlike American sports, the EPL does not have a draft to help out its worst teams.
This year, storied English club Aston Villa faces nigh-sure relegation. As this article explores, the relegation/promotion system’s impacts are severe and tough to overcome for a relegated team. The financial hit is huge (at least $100M in TV money, not to mention ticket sales, etc.), and that is just the beginning. On the other hand, getting promoted is great! Leicester City is currently in first place in the EPL, just two years after being promoted (and nearly being relegated just last year). I don’t know how American sports could implement a Relegation system – but it sure would be exciting (and would end tanking once and for all). -TOB
PAL: I can’t figure out a way where this would work in any of the 4 major sports in the U.S., but on the surface I sure do love the notion of relegation. There are consequences to your team sucking, and – Tommy’s right – this would end tanking. That said, I’m passing on relegation for the following reasons:
I don’t need more “minor leagues” teams, because I don’t care about any minor league teams
Hope – or delusion – springs eternal. No matter how bad last year was, we can wipe the slate clean and start over the next season. The reset button is fundamental to being a fan. Hope. I don’t like having that being threatened.
One of the great pleasures of following a team is seeing the other great teams and players come through. I want to see the White Sox, the Dodgers, the Cardinals (the worst). I don’t want to see some Triple-A affiliate of said teams.
The Beginning: Baseball in the DR
I’m always a sucker for the stories about the reality side of a dream. In the Dominican Republic, the dream is ubiquitous – Baseball. Clearly, not all the prospects become the next Robinson Cano or Pedro, even the underachievers can change the trajectory of their families. The photos in this story really capture how far those dreams start from the Majors. It’s about time for baseball again, and this is the perfect first story of the year. – PAL
Last week, just before the polls closed in the New Hampshire primary, news stations aired footage of Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders shooting hoops.
As you can see, Bernie is pretty automatic. Surprising! It’s only about ten feet, but still. Impressive. This footage piqued a reporter’s interest and Les Carpenter sought out and interviewed some guys Bernie used to play with in a weekly game at a church gym back in the 1970s. The big take: Bernie was good, not great. He had a nice jumper (actually, a set shot). He was bossy and a little argumentative, but friendly, and he had sharp elbows. Sounds about right. It’s a fun read, and there’s a little nugget on how that weekly basketball game may be responsible for Sanders’ entire political career. -TOB
PAL: “[T]here is something about the game that reveals the truth about the person. The facades built in daily life don’t always withstand the heat of competition. As they tire, a player’s real personality always takes over.” Couldn’t agree more with this notion. But that shot is ugly, Bernie. I’m sure it was ugly when you were 30, and it’s ugly now. Just calling it like I see it.
Nothing Says Mediocre Quite Like PowerPoint
This is fantastic. University of Idaho sucks at football, so much so that its conference – The Sun Belt Conference (yes, a real conference) – is not guaranteeing anything after 2017. So what did the Vandals do? Made a PowerPoint to show that they are…not the worst. No seriously, that’s what the PowerPoint lays out. Some of Idaho’s highlights include leading the Sun Belt Conference in the following statistical categories:
Completion Percentage (ok, not a terrible stat)
Fewest penalties (really, that’s your second bullet?)
Fewest penalties per game (haha)
Fewest penalty yards (this is the third penalty-related stat…in a PowerPoint making the case to keep the team in the conference)
Tackles for loss allowed
I for one am convinced. Let them remain in the conference! The Sun Belt Conference is made up of teams the teams you’ve heard of play for an easy non-conference win. The teams kind of suck, and so does this PowerPoint. In other words, Idaho is a perfect fit for the Sun Belt. – PAL
Current star NHL rookie Dylan Larkin of the Detroit Red Wings aka D-Boss, just a few years ago, as a fresh-faced sixteen year old. Just wearin the American flag, “snippin” wrist shots in his basement.
PAL Song of the Week: Linda Lyndell – “What A Man”
Check out all of the weekly picks here. It’s super duper.
“Well ya see, Norm, it’s like this. A herd of buffalo can only move as fast as the slowest buffalo. And when the herd is hunted, it is the slowest and weakest ones at the back that are killed first. This natural selection is good for the herd as a whole, because the general speed and health of the whole group keeps improving by the regular killing of the weakest members. In much the same way, the human brain can only operate as fast as the slowest brain cells. Excessive intake of alcohol, as we know, kills brain cells. But naturally, it attacks the slowest and weakest brain cells first. In this way, regular consumption of beer eliminates the weaker brain cells, making the brain a faster and more efficient machine. That’s why you always feel smarter after a few beers.”
This is a pretty amusing story told by Eli Manning, about the way that his brother Peyton used to pick on him as a kid. That is them up there as kids. If you had an older brother, and especially if you grew up in a house with only brothers like I did, you know this story very well:
“[Peyton] would pin me down, you know, put his knees on my arms. He’d just start knocking on my chest until I named at the the time the 28 teams in the NFL. So I got smart eventually I could rip those off pretty quickly. We went college divisions, different things and then if he just wanted to make me cry he’d say, ‘Name ten brands of cigarettes.’ I’m like, ‘I’m seven years old I haven’t started smoking cigarettes quite yet,’ but that’s when I’d just start yelling for mom.”
Been there, Eli. My older brother would do the same, but he’d sing the ABCs and knock me on the chest one time for each letter. And then he’d get to X and pretend to lose his place and start over. Thanks, Sean. Justice came one summer day when my dad came home at lunch time for some reason and caught Sean in the act. -TOB
PAL: Shenanigans like this never happened in the Lang house. My older brothers supported me, mentored me on my spiritual journey…except that time Matt locked my in the hope chest in the family room. I had a bit of the ol’ claustrophobia as a child, you see. He and Libby laughed and laughed while I freaked out in a freaking hope chest. I could have died, Matt.
World Class Athletes & Working Stiffs: The Mavericks Lineup
It’s official: the Mavericks surf competition is going off today! I was lucky enough to work with some of the surfers competing this year to put together their surfing playlists a few months ago (check out their playlists here). In meeting them, I had to remind myself these are serious badasses. They aren’t big, they aren’t rich, and their ages range from teens to late forties. You wouldn’t be able to pick them out of lineup. Yet, in some folks eyes these unknowns are every bit the world class athlete as LeBron James. Is what they do any less impressive? Nope. And, you know, the chances of them being busted in half every time they drop into a wave is a bit more daunting than an Andrew Bogut foul. Here’s a nice summary of these extraordinary average joes and what they do for their day job. – PAL
NBA players have really weird eating habits. If you’ve ever read ESPN’s True Hoop blog, you may have noticed that Henry Abbott like to point out all the times NBA players mention that the Cheesecake factory is their favorite place to eat. The Cheesecake Factory kinda sucks – the menu is way too huge – a jack of all trades, master of none situation. But for NBA players, on the road much of the year – it makes sense. If you want to eat dinner with six of your teammates, it’s a good place to ensure there is something for everyone. Plus, the portions are huge. And it is in every major or mid-major city in the country, and the food is consistent.
I thought of the NBA player/Cheesecake Factory thing when I read this bizarre story about the Warriors this week. After winning the title in June, the Warriors overhauled their diet/exercise program for the players. Gone were cookies, candy, and sodas from the training table and charter flights. Also gone were peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. This would be very inoffensive to me. PB&J is alright. I liked them as a kid. As an adult? Man, that’s a boring meal!
“Contrary to popular belief, peanut butter and jelly have no visible feelings for each other.”
But the Warriors players, amidst their all-time best 48-4 start to the season, were in near-revolt, led loudly by assistant coach Luke Walton and quietly by MVP Steph Curry. Did they get their PB&J back? Click the link to find out. This article is really funny. -TOB
Last football story of the year for me. We’ve all watched enough football, and after the last couple of years, I think we can all admit that we really don’t know what constitutes a catch in the NFL. Even TOB, who I hate to admit knows most of the rules in the major sports, was proven wrong while watching the Pittsburgh – Cincinnati playoff game.
Time to test your skills, folks. Watch these catches, vote catch or no catch, and see if you know as much as NFL officials. Just kidding – they have no idea what a catch is either. – PAL
TOB: True, when we were watching live, I said no catch on that front flip/butt catch by Martavis Bryant. It was ruled a catch. However, from the article:
“In a telling example of the confusion that this issue has caused, the N.F.L.’s vice president for officiating, Dean Blandino, said the next day, “I don’t think this is a catch.” The ball appeared to be out of his control as Bryant took his steps before flying out of bounds, Blandino said, but there was not enough evidence to overturn the touchdown call by officials on the field.”
I got a 5 out of 7 on the quiz – but it was really a 6 out of 7, because I remembered the Larry Fitzgerald catch and selected “no catch” on purpose, out of protest, because that was not a god damn catch.
PAL: It wasn’t 6 out of 7. You scored 5 out of 7. There is no grey. If you want to protest, then do it on your own time. We’re trying to run a goddamn sports blog here.
Video of the Week
Eli’s reaction to Peyton winning his second Super Bowl, bringing them even:
Eddie DeBartolo, Jr. is known as one of the greatest owners ever. Under his supervision, the San Francisco 49ers quickly went from a perennial also-ran to the greatest franchise in the NFL, quickly. Eddie D’s teams won five Super Bowls in 22 seasons, from 1977 to 1998. DeBartolo had to give up the team in 1998, suspended for one year after pleading guilty to a felony. DeBartolo’s crime? Failing to report that he had been extorted, which is just the most unfair crime I can think of. 49ers fans might tell you that Eddie’s real crime was electing not to return to the team after his suspension, ceding control of the team to his sister, Denise, her husband, John, and eventually their son, Jed. *shudder*
But what many probably don’t know is that DeBartolo treated his employees, not just the players, like family. And this isn’t lip service. This is jumping on a cross-country flight at a moment’s notice to say goodbye to a former player, dying in a hospital room. This is jumping on another plane, in the middle of the night, and again flying cross-country – this time to personally tell a longtime employee and friend that her son, a San Jose Police Department officer, had been shot and killed in the line of duty. This is caring for a former player who had cancer. And I’m not talking paying the guy’s medical bills. Oh, Eddie did that. But Eddie actually drove 40 minutes to take the guy to his chemotherapy appointments, waiting with him, and then driving him home. This is paying a former player, who was injured and partially paralyzed during a game in 1989, a lifetime contract. The team still pays the player $100,000 per year.
I could go on, and the article does. A lot of people donate lots of money to just causes. And that is necessary and great. But there is something special reading about how Eddie DeBartolo, Jr. truly cared about people – his employees really were treated like family. I certainly did not know this side of DeBartolo. I’m glad I now do. -TOB
PAL: I knew DeBartolo was adored here, and now I have a better idea of why that is. I also didn’t know that he voluntarily gave up control of the 49ers after serving that suspension. Great article.
Is Hosting the Super Bowl Good for SF?
You know what’s great about getting older? You realize what a waste of time it is to be a cynic. At some point, you just stop caring about what’s cool, and not in an ironic way. When someone asks if you mind meeting up in the Marina you respond, “Man, I just want to have a beer and hang out.”
I want you in that frame of mind as we step out onto the thin ice that is Super Bowl 50. Is it a shitshow in our city while happening 45-miles from San Francisco, or is it just the next thing we love to crap on? Is a temporary inconvenience acceptable for an opportunity to highlight this beautiful city, or is the fact that San Francisco ultimately a wonderful place already accepted the world over and needs no further showcase? Berkeley resident and SI writer Chris Ballard puts forth a pretty measured argument here. Ultimately, I don’t really care, but I don’t mind either. It’s the response that ought to terrify 49ers once Super Bowl City circus leaves town. Moving them to Santa Clara just might elicit the same response from the locals in a few short years. -PAL
TOB: This article touches on a lot of feelings that I have about Super Bowl week. The first is resentment over the 49ers move to Santa Clara. If the 49ers want to play there, then good riddance. But don’t come groveling back to San Francisco now that you need us.
The second is the wasted tax dollars. The SF politicians who ok’d this – at least $5M in unreimbursed expenditures, not to mention all the lost productivity downtown due to road closures, etc., really get me going, too. As I noted, those expenses are not going to be reimbursed by the NFL (unlike those for Santa Clara, which will be). I read earlier in the week that a county supervisor said that promising not to seek reimbursements from the NFL was part of the bid – that the Bay Area would have lost the bid if San Francisco didn’t promise this.
First, so what? Second, it shows complete ignorance of the NFL’s Super Bowl bidding system. The NFL has made a habit of awarding the game to cities that build new stadiums (recently: Indianapolis and New Jersey). Santa Clara was getting its game. So why did San Francisco care so much if Santa Clara got the bid?
Today I read an article in the New York Times wherein the President of the SF Chamber of Commerce said the city would easily make back the money it put in, and then adds that there is further benefit because the Super Bowl is a “worldwide event that will sell San Francisco.” Dude. It’s SAN FRANCISCO. It doesn’t need to be sold. This is not Jacksonville (offense intended). We don’t need the exposure. Frankly, while the hotels may be slightly more full, San Francisco is popular enough that this isn’t a huge boon to tourism. There are always tourists here. Besides, if they held all the events in Santa Clara, most people would still have stayed in San Francisco. So, we gain very little and give up a lot. Seems like a bad deal. Also, Phil and I went to Super Bowl City on Saturday. It was so awful, crowded, boring and dumb and there was nothing to do but stand in long lines for corporate branded events, that we quickly left to drink some beers and play some pool at a nearby dive bar. We had a great time, and I was reminded why I love San Francisco.
If You Didn’t Win Powerball, At Least You’re Not John Elway
Like many people, my family’s (relatively meager) investments took a hit in the early part of 2016. Reading this story made me feel a little better. In 1999, just before his retirement from the NFL, John Elway was offered by team owner Pat Bowlen a 10% stake in the Denver Broncos for just $15M. He was offered a further stake of 10% more in exchange for giving up $21M in deferred compensation. He was also offered right of first refusal if the Bowler Family ever decided to sell its stakes in the team. Elway declined. It wasn’t because he didn’t have the money – Elway had recently sold his auto dealership empire for $82M. Elway instead invested $15M in a Ponzi scheme. Elway lost almost half that investment, the first in a series of failed investments that Elway made in the late-90s and early 00s.
Cry for Elway: “the 20 percent stake he passed on, based on a Forbes 2015 valuation of the team at $1.94 billion, is now worth $388 million, which would have been a 646 percent return on the 1998 investment, adjusted for inflation, had he made it.” Today, Elway is a team executive with no ownership stake. Whoops. Like I said – now I don’t feel so bad. -TOB
PAL: I spoke to Elway on the phone tonight and asked him to comment. His response: “Why you gotta do that, man? You don’t think it’s the first thing to cross my mind in the morning and the last thing I think about at night before I fall asleep? You really think I worry about Peyton Manning? Nah, bro. But, you know…One love, brother. I mean, I’ve accepted it, you know? Seriously, I have. I HAVE, OK.
TOB: Interestingly, I HAVE talked to John Elway on the phone. I was 16. He was in Tahoe for the annual celebrity golf tournament. A friend worked at Caesar’s and told us that he was one of the few celebrities that did not use a pseudonym. So, a friend and I simply called the hotel and asked for John Elway. I was transferred to his room and he actually answered. We chatted a few minutes. I told him he is awesome, he said “thanks” and “dude” a lot. And that was that.
Send It In…Cristiano?
In a week dominated by the Super Bowl, a simple article about the other football had me texting TOB:
TOB: Yeah, I think so. If those photos aren’t doctored.
Who are we talking about? Cristiano Ronaldo. Deadspin ran a very simple story: Can Ronaldo dunk? This was based off of a photo that – I agree with TOB – seems to pretty clearly show Ronaldo dunking on a kids hoop that looks as if it were purchased from the sporting goods aisle at Target.
However, further footage* shows how much of an athletic freak this dude is. This is by no means a great story, but definitely a captivating half-assed investigation. I’ve concluded there is no friggin’ doubt Cristiano Ronaldo can flush it on a 10-foot hoop. -PAL
*Yes, TOB, Esq. – assuming these are not doctored photos. I choose to be an optimist. I choose to believe.
TOB: Upon further consideration, he’s 6’1, which isn’t tall but isn’t short. But he’s an unbelievable world-class athlete. The photos are not doctored. Of course he can dunk. He still sucks. #Messi4Life.
Breaking: NFL Continues to Be the Worst
Quick background: For many years, even once sports became regularly televised, the leagues and the networks lacked the foresight to retain the footage. You may remember our story about how the only footage of Game 7 of the 1960 World Series was discovered in Bing Crosby’s wine cellar after his death. Well, somehow, both the NFL and CBS failed to retain a copy of Super Bowl I, played in 1967 between the Green Bay Packers and Kansas City Chiefs. The game was believed to be lost to the ether, Green Bay’s dominance only visualized in an ever-dwindling number of memories.
Or using images like this, from halftime of that game. Times sure have changed.
Until 2005. That year, a childhood friend of a then-36 year old man by the name of Troy Haupt read a story about how the NFL did not have a recording of the first Super Bowl, and remembered an old box in Troy’s mom’s attic that said “Super Bowl I”. Troy and his mom found the tapes and had them restored. Haupt, through a lawyer, has been trying to sell the tapes to the NFL for $1,000,000. Some might find this greedy – but consider what it’s likely worth to the NFL in advertising once they decide to air it alone. Really, he might be offering them a bargain. But the NFL, of course, sees things otherwise. They believe that, because they own the content, that Haupt cannot sell it to anyone but them, or be faced with a lawsuit. The NFL originally offered Haupt just $30,000, and now claim they are not interested in the tapes at all. The NFL recently even stepped in and killed a deal between Haupt and CBS.
For his part, Haupt says he wants to sell the tapes jointly with the NFL and donate some of the proceeds to charity. The NFL has no interest. As things stand, the tapes remain in Haupt’s possession, awaiting someone to knock some sense into Roger Goodell.
“Here’s what it is, it’s a doodle. Some people doodle at work when they let their mind run. They draw houses, penises. Funny how the houses are always colonials and the penises are always circumcised, don’t you think? Well, I doodle too, but I’m not an artist so I draw words and lists.”
Dog Enters Half-Marathon; Finishes 7th, Proves Owner Wrong
In Alabama earlier this month, a dog escaped from its home and ran over to the starting area of a half-marathon about to begin. When the racers started, so did Ludivine, a 2 ½ year old hound dog. That cute doggie up there is Ludivine. Undoubtedly trying to prove wrong his owner, who called Ludivine “actually really lazy”, Ludivine ran the whole damn race!
Ludivine was able to overcome distractions like dead rabbits on the side of the road, and the need to romp through streams and sniff yards the course passed by during his race. Ludivine finished in 1:32:56, good for 7th place. Good boy, Ludivine. Good doggie. -TOB
Russell Wilson and Ciara (a very hot pop star) are a couple. Russell Wilson thinks he’s a brand – a squeaky clean, god-lovin’, no-humpin’-till-we’re-married, cliche-spewin’, Super-Bowl-winning brand. In fact, no one really likes him. You know what else he is? Lazy with the compliments for his lady. I can deal with the cliches, Russ. As a romantic, I’m offended you googled “how to compliment women”, copied and pasted, posted it on twitter, and no doubt thought, “I’m such a good boyfriend.” Incorrect, fraud! – PAL
TOB: As Phil notes, Russell Wilson sucks. He’s so disingenuous that it raises an interesting question for me: Wilson famously spends many hours each week at Children’s Hospital of Seattle, cheering up kids who are enduring untold suffering. That is without question a great thing to do. But the fact that Russell Wilson is so public about it, and with everything else we know about him – he’s a #Brandbot – it makes me fairly confident in positing that Wilson only goes to the Children’s Hospital so that he can pat himself on the back, and have others pat him on the back, for doing so. In a way, is Wilson expending only his time and then using sick children to further his #Brand? Ugh.
I Was Born For The Theatre!
If All-Star games are truly about the spectacle, which they are, then someone had a very great idea. The McDonald’s All-American dunk and 3-Point competitions, featuring the best high school basketball players in the US and Canada, will be held at a theater!
How cool is this? Very cool. Makes you think of other options for dunk competitions. Have it on an aircraft carrier, have it on on Alcatraz…have it in Rockefeller Center. Time to think even more out of the box for these exhibitions, especially ones as stale as the dunk competition. – PAL
TOB: Great find, Phil. That will be appointment television.
Young, Dumb, and In Love
Manny. Manny, Manny, Manny. Manny. You are 23 years old. You’re an amazing baseball player. You’re rich. (Though the five-million dollars you will make this year is pittance compared to most players of your ability, it’s still a lot of money). And I get it – your wife is very good looking. But…man, a HUGE tattoo of her face on your arm?
Manny, Manny, Manny. I don’t want to suggest you WILL regret this one day – but if you ever do, you are going to wonder what in world you were thinking. You can’t cover that up, man! I wish you the best, though. -TOB
This story of former Washington State Quarterback Connor Halliday should be required reading for all football players entering college. Halliday was a prolific college QB, as many QBs have been in Mike Leach’s offensive system. But Halliday was hurt late in 2014, his senior year, and went undrafted. There’s a lot to unpack here, because frankly, Halliday comes off as a spoiled brat.
He will not miss 2015. During last spring’s NFL draft, Halliday, who was recovering from a major injury, did not hear his name called. Then, after the Washington Redskins signed him to a free agent deal, he ditched rookie camp. Vanished. Played golf “until the money ran out.” Got married. Was signed by a Canadian Football League team and then cut a day later. Got dumped by his wife.
“I had a second interview with an advertising agency the other day,” the handsome, auburn-haired Halliday says. “The interviewer made a big deal about being a leader in the classroom. I told him that my major was leading an offense. That every decision I made in college was designed to get me to the NFL.”
Halliday looks out the window and contemplates why he walked out on the Redskins. “I was so down, and I felt so little,” he says. “I felt so helpless. I have battled through so much, and I have never gotten a reward for this.”
To recap: Halliday spends his entire 5-years in college worried about the NFL, not his education. Then, when he gets hurt, he still gets a shot at the NFL. Instead, he quits, runs home to play golf, and then whines that he has “never gotten rewarded.” Wow. And the article has so much more to make you dislike this guy. Kids, don’t be like Connor Halliday. -TOB
Over the last couple years, a few teams have become quite brazen in their practice of the so-called “Hack-a-Shaq” – fouling horrendous foul shooters like DeAndre Jordan and Andre Drummond away from the ball to force them to shoot free throws. This works as a form of defense. The Rockets, always at the forefront of strategic analytics, took this practice to the extreme this week – fouling Andre Drummond repeatedly at the start of the third quarter. But it worked – Drummond went 5 for 18 from the free throw line in three minutes before the Pistons finally gave in and removed Drummond, a dominant defensive player, from the game. Just look at this god awful play by play:
As Kevin Draper points out – the NBA deserves this. This problem has been growing the last few years, but the NBA declined to tweak the rules to fix this problem last summer. I was watching ESPN’s studio show on Wednesday night, when this occurred, and Jalen Rose and Chauncey Billups said that there doesn’t need to be a rule change because this is only happening to a few players across the league. Well, millionaires, tell that to the fans to pay their hard-earned money to come watch a game and are treated to eighteen rim-breaking free throws in 3 minutes of play (which probably took closer to 30 minutes in real time). I get the argument that the players should just improve their shooting. But the NBA must remember that its main goal is to entertain. That is not entertaining. Mr. Silver, change the rule. -TOB
PAL: Philosophically, I don’t want this rule to change. I would like to see this play out. Do players like Drummond (and his team) become neutralized because of one major flaw in his game overshadows the advantages is gives his team? Do the teams applying the Hack method have the wherewithal to actually continue to do this, or would individual opinions on this method cause a rift between coaches, management, and players? I’d like to see this play out, but I don’t want to watch it, and that’s the larger point. If this problem persists, I would like to see a rule change after this season.
NFL Coaches Don’t Need Analytics; Just Grade School Math
Last week, the Packers completed quite possibly the greatest drive in NFL history. The Packers started the drive at their own 14, with 1:50 to go and no timeouts, and needing to go 86 yards for the touchdown. Look at this photo, and marvel at the fact that the Packers ended up scoring a touchdown on this drive:
4th and 20. From their own 4. Every receiver is blanketed. Rodgers is scrambling for his season, in his own endzone. That’s about as low a possibility for conversion as you will see. And yet, Rodgers threw up what amounted to a Hail Mary, and completed it, for 60 yards. The Packers were in business, but there wasn’t much time. With 4 seconds left, Rodgers dropped back again, and completed another Hail Mary (his second of the drive, his third of the season), this time as he was falling to the ground, about to be hit by a defender.
The Packers found themselves down 1 and decided to kick the extra point. In the emotion of the moment, I was pleading with them to go for 2. But is that the right call? Well, FiveThirtyEight’s Benjamin Morris uses some simple math to argue that they absolutely should have gone for two. Even more convincingly, he argues that the Chiefs, after scoring a TD to cut the lead from 14 to 8, should have also gone for 2, which coaches have almost never done. Interesting stuff. -TOB
And by just short, I mean to say that the team never existed. Here’s an entertaining read about how a guy went from poring over football scores in the sports page to creating an undefeated team with a Chinese-Hawaiian Heisman hopeful.
In the spirit of other great sports hoaxes like Sidd Finch, I bring you the story of The Plainfield Teachers College football team of 1941. – PAL
In The Philadelphia Record, Red Smith was still writing about Plainfield in 1956. It was the era of Norman Kwong, a Chinese-Canadian who was a star in the Canadian Football League:
“The China Clipper, as they call him, is reputed to be almost as good as John Chung, the Celestial Comet, whose triple-threat genius put the Plainfield Teachers in the headlines 15 years ago. A minor point of difference between the two: John Chung didn’t exist, and neither did the Plainfield Teachers, except in the imagination of Morris Newburger, who created the college, team and star as a sports page hoax. Chung was the prototype of all the galloping ghosts and flying phantoms that clutter the autumn editions. Kwong is as corporeal as meat loaf.”
Cop Shoots Hoops
This is pretty cool. Some jerk called in a complaint to the Gainesville, FL police about kids playing basketball too loudly. At 5pm. In what looks like a rural area. So an officer responded. Approached the kids…and then shot some hoops with them for a few minutes. He even got them to lower the rim so he could dunk! -TOB
Actual caption A-Rod wrote for this pic: “Just another day at ARod Corp – signing baseballs for fans and managing my inbox #OfficeLife“. SMDH.
A Man, A Citibike, and a Dream
This story is kind of amazing. 35-year old Jeffrey Tanenhaus was working an office job he hated. Living in NYC, his one daily joy was riding Citibike – New York’s bike sharing program – to and from work. Tanenhaus loved the concept and the execution. So one day, he quit his job, terminated his lease, got a Citibike, and took off across the country. If you’ve ever used a Citibike (I’ve used the equivalent in SF and D.C.) you understand how amazing this is. Those bikes are like little tanks. They are heavy, not that fast, and they are brutal on hills. On his trip, Tanenhaus made one potential love connection in Tulsa, Oklahoma that he is still in contact with (but he was not using Tinder on his travels. Bro, you gotta get on Tinder. So I hear…) and also was nearly murdered by a crazed-man (not kidding – a man stopped his truck and attacked Tanenhaus, saying that he hates bicyclists. Later that evening the man broke a baseball bat on his roommate’s head and tried to kill his neighbor with a battle axe). It’s not clear yet what Tanenhaus plans to do next. He left NYC in August, and expects to finish his trip next weekend. But at least he’s no longer métro, boulot, dodo, as the French say. Good for him. -TOB
The Flip Side of Kentucky Basketball: Gopher Hockey
We are all familiar with where John Calipari has driven Kentucky basketball. He’s taken advantage of insane NBA rules prohibiting high school players from going directly to the NBA and created a feeder system. Many of the top prospects go to UK with no intention of staying on campus beyond 1+ semesters. Kentucky isn’t the only feeder in college sports. For all of my life, University of Minnesota Hockey was the dream of every kid in Minnesota. A tradition I imagine is similar to that of a storied college football team. They built an NHL stadium – for a college hockey team – and sold the joint out every game. Hell, Herb Brooks – a Bear Bryant figure in hockey – coached there. You want tradition? It wasn’t that long ago that the U of M exclusively recruited Minnesota players while consistently remaining a national powerhouse. Over the past 10 years, the hallowed – and I don’t use that term lightly – program has become a stepping stone. The team is filled with 1st round NHL draft picks. The only problem is the team now sucks. Unlike basketball, two 5-star recruits doesn’t translate to success in hockey. People are pissed, and not just fans. One NHL scout had this to say about players at Minnesota: ‘“If a kid is going to Minnesota,’ says one NHL scout, ‘concerns are openly discussed in our rooms about how it might affect his development.’”
To be fair, the role of college hockey has changed. In this story, Cory Zurowski points out that “A decade ago, roughly 20 percent of NHL rosters consisted of college players. Today, the number is closer to one in three, making the collegiate ranks the fastest-growing path to million-dollar contracts.” That is to say, the Gophers are a mess, but I shouldn’t be surprised. Thanks, Lisa Lang for passing this one along…I still live vicariously through if my niece and nephew if they donned the M sweater. – PAL
TOB: I have no dog in this Coach vs. Alumni fight. And while some of the excuses make sense (e.g., Minnesota fans are spoiled rotten and need to get used to the fact that there are now 60+ programs competing hard in college hockey, and thus there will be parity; the age difference between the Gopher squads filled with young stars vs. the aged veterans at smaller schools who washed out of semi-pro leagues), Coach Lucia also seems full of it. For example, when defending his offer of scholarships to younger and younger players, some as young as 15, Lucia says this:
“The hard part becomes, at some of these ages, you don’t know when you have to do it,” Lucia says. “Somebody else could come behind the scenes, bring in a kid and offer him and tell him he’s got a week to decide…. All of a sudden he’s gone. He’s off the board. And so that’s sometimes the hard part. Do we have to recruit this kid in 11th grade? Do we have to recruit him in 10th grade? Or do we have to recruit him in ninth grade?”
His excuse is that he’s simply keeping up with the Joneses. But this writer gets something very wrong, and it seems to be coming from Coach Lucia: Minnesota is not “signing” these kids at 15. Players cannot sign until their senior year (and even then, in specific periods of time during the year). Scholarship offers are not binding until that time. But Coach Lucia is acting as though, by being forced to offer young players, he is then tied to them for good. That’s simply not true.
How College Athletes Can Quickly Retake Power
As we’ve chronicled here before, college sports is an absolute mess. This is a great and well-researched op-ed published last weekend, ahead of this past Monday’s college football National Championship Game, by sports agent Donald Yee. Yee argues persuasively that college football players have much more power than they currently wield, and that it would not take much for them to take that power back. Yee argues that a mass protest, such as the players for Clemson and Alabama to refuse to play Monday’s game, would have quickly and convincingly tipped the balance of power in college football back to the players. As someone who does love a little chaos, I would have thoroughly enjoyed this. -TOB
Jimmer Fredette is just one of those guys: A great college player because of a great, singular talent: He can shoot the rock. But where Jimmer was able to excel in college, he failed in the pros. He was not quick enough, and didn’t have the dribbling ability, to consistently get a clean look at the basket. And he could not defend. At all. So, despite being one of the greatest college scorers of all time, in the NBA, he sucked. Jimmer is back, though. Sorta. He’s now tearing up the D-League, playing for the Westchester Knicks, in front of crowds far smaller than he did at BYU.
Jimmer professes in this article that his goal it to get back to the NBA – to prove he can cut it. But my question is: Why? My other question: Is the stated goal sincere? He kind of seems to be enjoying the heck out of once again being the big man on campus, so to speak. Sometimes in life, we need to accept our fate. Jimmer, you’re never going to make it in the NBA. Go to Europe, shoot twenty-five times a game, and make some good money. Stop riding the bus in Westchester, chasing the impossible. Also, I still can’t believe the Kings took Jimmer over guys like Kawhi Leonard, Klay Thompson, Brandon Knight, Jimmy Butler, Chandler Parsons and Kemba Walker. Holy hell, the Kings suck. -TOB
PAL: In baseball, Jimmer would be what you call a “quadruple A player”. Too good for the minors, not good enough for the majors. And – holy shit – I can’t believe he was taken before that list of dudes in the draft…then looked up who was taken before Steph Curry, including:
Hasheem Thabeet
Tyreke Evans
Ricky Rubio
Jonny Flynn
Draw Bored
Not so long ago we featured a story about a cool tradition of the Minnesota Vikings (Donut Club). I like stories about weird traditions amongst teams. Thanks to 123 Sports reader, Alex Denny, I had the pleasure to learn a bit more about Hawks’ youthful tradition. The notion of a bunch of millionaires playing Uno on a chartered flight is nothing but great. Al Horford: “…you can only watch so many movies.” – PAL
TOB: This is pretty hilarious. My favorite part is how they pillaged other Uno decks for the Draw-2 and Draw-4 cards, added them to the deck they play with to make their game tougher, and call that “Laying the Heat.” That phrase will now be added to my everyday vernacular.
Ken Griffey Jr. was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame this week. Few athletes in my lifetime have captured the collective imagination and adoration of the nation’s sports-loving youth like Ken Griffey, Jr. did in the 1990s. It’s not hard to understand why: Griffey was cool as hell.
It was that swing.
It was the defense. Look at this GD catch.
It was the backwards hat at the Home Run Derby (and did I mention that swing?).
It was the awesome commercials:
Like I said, he was cool as hell. Griffey had perhaps the best first 10 years of any MLB player of all time – as good as Willie Mays. And then…he started to get older. He started to get hurt. There was no late-career surge like many of his contemporaries enjoyed. But he still ended up with 630 home runs, and by all accounts was able to do so naturally. For this, Griffey was rewarded with admission to the Hall of Fame, in his first year on the ballot, with the highest vote percentage of all-time – Griffey appeared on 437 of 440 ballots – 99.3%. Griffey making the Hall of Fame makes me feel old, but also happy. In honor of The Kid, here are the two best Griffey-related articles I read this week. The first is a very personal story by a sportswriter about how Griffey helped the writer, and his family, when they needed it most. The second is a statistical look at Griffey’s amazing career. Enjoy. -TOB
Jay Caspian Kang, formerly of Grantland, does a great deep dive into Daily Fantasy Sports, from its origins, arising out of the ashes of the now-illegal online poker industry, to its current predicament, facing legal death. Kang outlines the biggest problem with the industry – DFS are completely unfair to small-time players, who serve as virtual ATMs for the sharks. Kang expertly breaks down the key conflict for the DFS sites: The DFS sites are competing for users. To attract users, they must set big jackpots with small entry fees. If you, as a user, can pay $20 to enter a game for $1,000,000 – that sounds great. If a competing DFS site has a similar game for $20 but the jackpot is $2,000,000 – that sounds even better. To be able to pay these jackpots off low entry fees, the DFS sites need users – lots of them. But instead of needing 100,000 users to pay a $2,000,000 jackpot (not to mention prizes for runners-up), the DFS site can accomplish this much easier by not limiting how many entries each player can submit. One player submitting 100 entries gets the DFS company into the black much quicker. So the DFS sites come to rely on these sharks who enter lots of games – so dependent that they have begun changing rules to appease them (as casinos do for whales). Do the sharks want to be able to use third-party software to play hundreds or thousands of entries a night? Sure. Do the whales want to use scripts to allow them to make roster changes to all those hundreds and thousands of entries quickly, just before the deadline to set rosters? Have at it. Because if you don’t let them, they’ll take their money to a competitor who surely will. As Daily Fantasy commentator Gabe Harber says in the article:
“I believe the major sites are fully aware of these competitive issues, yet they continue to do nothing about them because of the high amount of rake the power users are bringing in for them. As long as they can spend advertising money to bring fresh meat to the table, the power users will eat up the new players extremely fast by using their competitive advantages. No one is saying that better players should not win money off worse players, but it should not be at this rate and it should not be with misleading advertisements that prey on consumer confidence. Everyone does not have an equal chance, and everyone is not playing on the same field.”
There were a few moments back in September, during the deluge of DFS advertising at the start of the NFL season, where I kicked around the idea of trying it out. I’m quite glad I did not. -TOB
Solid feel good story leading into the college football national title game. Clemson Head Coach, Dabo Swinney was a redshirt freshman receiver at Alabama in 1989 (Clemson’s opponent next week). He was late on rent and on tuition, and he was out of options until he went sifting through pizza coupons in the mail. He found a small miracle, with interest of course, that might have changed the course of his life forever. – PAL
TOB: Dabo Swinney has been on the national scene for nearly a decade now, and his name still makes me laugh. This story finally gave me the motivation to find answers to questions I have: Is Dabo his real name? If so, what the hell? If not, what is his name? And what the hell does Dabo mean? So I checked. Wikipedia shows that his real name is William Christopher Swinney and does give the story behind “Dabo”: “He was nicknamed Dabo as an infant by his parents when his then-18-month-old brother would try to enunciate “that boy” when referring to Swinney.” Da bo! Well, if that’s just not the cutest damn thing ever. Also, watch the man dance.
Dan Haren: Straight Talk
One of the funnier things to read is when former athletes reveal secrets about what went on behind the scenes – something fans never get to see. Recently-retired Dan Haren provided just such an inside view this week, with a series of tweets about what life is sometimes like as an MLB pitcher. The highlights:
I went into almost every start the last few years thinking… How the hell am I gonna get these guys out
Back in November, we brought you a story about LeBron James’ transition to shorter shorts than have been worn in the NBA in about 20 years. I wondered how long it would take short-shorts to take hold. Well, it didn’t take long. This week, this photo popped up in my Twitter timeline:
On the left is Ira Lee, a Top-50 ranked high school basketball player for the Class of 2017. And look at those shorts! Those are a few inches above the knee, and that’s with a downward-looking camera angle. The trend has been set. And as I said in November, 1-2-3’s own Phil Lang was ahead of the curve:
.
-TOB
PAL: Let’s be clear – I’m wearing a climbing harness in the picture above, which causes the shorts to ride higher. I’m not walking around in shorts 12 inches above the knee, folks.
If you’ve never read the book Friday Night Lights, Buzz Bissinger’s 1990 book on the Permian High School (Odessa, TX) football team’s 1989 season, you really should. The book, of course, spawned a movie and a television show. But the book is fascinating in the way Bissinger was able to embed himself into the high school football crazed small town of Odessa, TX and chronicle the town, the players and the coaches and how the performance of a high school football team so affects an entire community. If you have read it, you probably remember Brian Chavez. Chavez was one of the stars of the team and the book – an extremely bright, very talented kid who wanted nothing more than to get out of Odessa. Chavez worked hard on the field – he was the first Mexican-American team captain in Permian History – and in the classroom – he earned himself admission from Harvard. Interestingly, the kid who worked so hard to get out of Odessa found himself back there. After graduating cum laude from Harvard and earning a law degree from Texas Tech University, Chavez returned to Odessa to practice law. He led an upstanding life – until one night five years ago when he didn’t. This story chronicles Chavez’ rise, fall, and rehabilitation. If you’re a fan of the book, you will want to read this. But the most interesting passage comes when discussing the high school football worship in Odessa. Chavez makes a point that I had never considered:
No matter what the rest of the world thinks about misplaced priorities or lack of perspective, Chavez, at 45, still believes in the Permian way. It turns out the guy so admired a quarter century ago for not putting all his eggs in football’s basket sees nothing tragic in those who do.
“What made the Permian program, what’s so great about it, is that in Odessa, as a third grader you idolized the Permian middle linebacker or safety or receiver. That’s who you wanted to be,” he says. “And that’s a goal you can actually attain! How great is that? A goal you have in life is actually attainable! All you have to do is you just keep playing with your buddies and your friends and you actually attain your goals! In Odessa, you can do that! But, you grow up somewhere else, wanting to be Troy Aikman? You’re never going to be Troy Aikman.”
In our weeks of January 26, 2015 and September 7, 2015 digests, we brought you stories of Tom Brady and how those stories made us think Tom is a total bimbo. Well, here’s another. Sorry, I can’t get enough of this stuff. -TOB
Bryant Gumbel Making Bryant Gumbel Look Like Wayne Brady on Chappelle’s Show
This wide-ranging interview with Bryant Gumbel is what happens when a really smart guy, with some years on this planet, and a ton of job security, just decides he does not give one crap about speaking his mind. It’s fantastic. Gumbel speaks on the NFL’s lies and hypocrisy, calls Donald Trump a “shithead”, and non-payment of college athletes. It’s well worth your time. -TOB
Christmas is awesome. First of all, you get to spend time with people you love. Secondly, you can get drunk and no one can say anything. Third, you give presents. What’s better than giving presents? And fourth, getting presents. So, four things. Not bad for one day. It’s really the greatest day off all time.
1-2-3 SPORTS! 