Archive for August 22nd, 2006

August22

YAY!Sports Is Buying Me A Disease-Free Whore

By: the mighty mjd

I posted the other day that I didn’t think Team USA was going to win the gold medal. The Cavalier over at YAY!Sports disagreed; so vehemently did he disagree, in fact, that he offered a $100 bet that Team USA would win the gold medal. And I took him up on it.

Why did I do this? Because I like money. And whores. Which is what I’ll spend the money on. $100 should be enough to ensure no diseases and female genitalia, which is really all I’m seeking in female companionship.

Of course, the morning after I make the bet, Team USA plays probably their best game yet. The game started out looking like Slovenia would be able to at least hang. They were getting the shots they wanted, their offense was precise and beautiful, and they were carving up the Team USA defense.

But Coach K said yesterday that whichever team established their own tempo would win, and… the tempo battle swung easily in favor of the USA. Why Slovenia thought it would be a good idea to run with us, I have absolutely no idea. If they calmed themselves down, and ran some sets with a little bit of patience, it probably wouldn’t have been such a blowout.

But Slovenia had their own defensive deficiencies… they were reluctant to play zone, and when they did, it wasn’t very good. Nor was their man defense, for that matter. They have some quality players, though, and their overall level of athleticism surprised me, though it’s still nowhere near what Team USA brings.

Anyway… I’m still thinking we’re going to lose one somewhere along the way, probably in the single elimination medal round. Now, I’m certainly not rooting for this to happen, despite what’s at stake. I want us to win. But hey, when The Cavalier supports LeBron James-led teams when they play other good teams, his record just isn’t that great, and I’m taking advantage of it.

I really hope my whore is clean.

Posted in: Team USA13 comments

August22

The Severely Wounded Also Make Terrific Motivational Tools

By: the mighty mjd

This is kind of a sticky little issue. You’ve got Etan Thomas on one side, and Jerry Colangelo on the other… how attractive could it possibly be?

Here’s the short version of what happened. Coach K (former West Point coach) and Jerry Colangelo (right-wing religious holy roller, evidently) wanted to strengthen the ties between Team USA and the country as a whole. So they wanted to establish a strong tie with the military, and as a part of that, they brought in some soldiers who were wounded in battle, including a guy who’s now blind, and a guy who lost part of his hand, to talk to and motivate the team.

Iiieeegh. That’s the sound I make. There’s just something extremely off-putting about that. Here are some quotes from the article, an excellent one, by the way, from Dave Zirin at The Nation:

There are other quotes in the article that make reference to the fact that they wanted guys to know that this is more than just another basketball game, and that it means a lot to wear the “USA” on your jersey… and to be honest with you, I don’t know why either of those things would be true.

It is just a basketball game, and it has no parallels, none whatsoever, to what’s happening in Iraq. I’m with Etan Thomas, who said he just wouldn’t have been motivated by that. I could see being moved to tears, I could see feeling terrible for the guy… but it motivating me to dunk on a French guy, I don’t think so. Whatever I’d be doing on the basketball court would not help America, it would not help humanity, it would not help anyone except those who care about this basketball tournament.

Which, it should be pointed out, isn’t a whole hell of a lot of people. These games are on at 6:30 a.m. I’m not even sensing any passionate following of this thing among basketball bloggers, and if it was going to exist anywhere, it would exist there. I just don’t see it. The number of people in America who care passionately about this basketball tournament is probably not even in the triple digits.

Not that that is relevant at all, but I just don’t see what any of this has to do with the war. I don’t think it’s relevant if you support the war, or if you don’t (and in the interests of full discloser, I reeeeally don’t) and I also don’t think it’s relevant that Etan Thomas is a “left-wing” guy, and Jerry Colangelo is a “right-wing” guy… to me, the only relevant thing is that it’s sleazy as hell to use a guy’s disability to motivate a basketball team. That’s it. That’s the end of it.

The “hey, this guy gave his eyesight, so you can certainly work to get through a screen” line of thinking is simplistic, juvenile, and, I don’t like using this word, but stupid. That guy gave up his eyesight fighting something that he presumably, for better or worse, believed in. Our motivation in this basketball tournament is to reclaim American’s position at the top of the international basketball world. One has nothing to do with the other, and again, bringing those guys in feels exploitative and sleazy.

And, while we’re here, let’s talk about Jerry Colangelo for a second. I knew some of this, but not all of it… the guy, evidently, is absolutely fucking crazy. And again, I don’t think this is particularly relevant to the issue, other than to say, “Well, yeah, he sounds like the kind of guy who would do that sort of thing.” In summary, Jerry Colangelo hates, with a burning passion, the seperation of church and state. Here are some Colangelo facts from the article…

Colangelo has been pouring his money into efforts to strengthen ties between Republican politics and the religious right. He was a deputy chair of the Bush/Cheney 2004 campaign in Arizona, and Colangelo’s deep pockets contributed to what is called the Presidential Prayer Team, a private evangelical group that claims to have signed up more than 1 million people to drop to their knees and pray daily for Bush. During the election summer of 2004, as Max Blumenthal has reported, Colangelo bought ads on 1,200 radio stations urging listeners to pray for the President.

Colangelo has never been shy about using sports to project his politics. On April 5, 2003, he designated the Phoenix Suns’ contest against Minnesota Arizona Right-to-Life Day.

The former Diamondbacks CEO also helped launched a group along with other baseball executives and ex-players called Battin’ 1,000, a national campaign that uses baseball memorabilia to raise funds for Campus for Life, the largest antichoice student network in the country. Battin’ 1,000 stands against all abortions, even in the case of incest or rape. Its motto: “Pro-life–without exception, without compromise, without apology.”

Fucking YIKES. Pray for President Bush… my goodness. You know what… here’s David Cross on that very issue.


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Posted in: Team USA, Things That Aren't Sports21 comments

August22

Billy Donovan… Fuckin’ A.

By: the mighty mjd

Now this is a gesture. Florida Gators head basketball coach Billy Donovan is putting off signing a new contract, because he thinks it might send the wrong message to his team. Now, before I start my Donovan in ’08 campaign, it should probably be pointed out that this move might not cost him any money (in fact, it might even make him more), but at the very least, it’s the right thing to do for his team. It sends a good message.

He deserves more money by market standards, and the school was willing and ready to renegotiate, but he told them no. Florida’s got a few guys coming back this year who could have made the jump to the NBA, but turned down the money. And Donovan says he feels like it wouldn’t be right if he took a bunch of money while the kids had to wait for theirs.

“There’s a part of me that doesn’t feel right when I see some of our players make sacrifices like they did financially to come back and to play here … they don’t need to see me signing a big, long-term contract and benefiting off our team success.”

Hey… that’s nice. That’s the adjective that comes to mind. That’s… it’s just nice. I’m not sure that it’s particularly altruistic, because there’s a good chance that if Florida is awesome again (and they should be), that he’ll cash in for an even bigger deal next summer, but I still like the gesture.

And I’m not trying to harp on the negative here, because I think it’s a very cool thing. As a coaching move alone, it’s excellent, and it’s probably not something that a lot of coaches would have even thought of, let alone considered. His players will definitely dig something like this, and they’re young enough and, since they’re Gators, dim enough that they won’t think anything except, “Wow, coach is an awesome guy, and he really loves us.”

Posted in: College Hoops, Nice People4 comments

August22

John Gibbons, Master Of Conflict Resolution

By: the mighty mjd

Some managers are fire-and-brimstone types, yelling and screaming, breaking down before building up kind of guys. Some guys are nurturers, building a cooperative atmosphere through keeping self-esteem levels high and promoting cameraderie. And then there’s Blue Jays manager John Gibbons, who just wants to beat your ass.

Back in July, Gibbons challenged Shea Hillenbrand to a fight, and last night, apparently got into an actual fight with pitcher Ted Lilly. Gibbons went out to the mound to pull Lilly from the game, an argument ensued, Lilly screamed at Gibbons, and Gibbons screamed at Lilly, and Lilly refused to give him the ball. Lilly eventually went to the locker room, and Gibbons followed him. Gibbons was seen pushing Lilly first, and Gibbons later had a bloody nose. What happened in between there, I couldn’t tell you.

I think there have probably been a few situations where a manager would be justified in punching a player. I don’t think it’s impossible for a situation like that to occur, but it’s probably rare. Lilly was probably out of line, but still, when it happens to the same manager twice in one season… well, that’s not a good sign. At some point, you have to show some restraint. If Jack Johnson and Tom O’Leary are your most effective way of managing your team, you’re in trouble.

I hope it happens once more this season before he’s fired, and I hope someone just beats him unmercifully. Not because I dislike him or anything… I probably wouldn’t know who he was if he walked in my door right now (though the Blue Jays uniform and bloody nose might tip it off). But if your managerial style can be best described as first-option violence, you deserve to get your ass kicked in public, at least once.

Posted in: Baseball, Dickheads3 comments

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