a hodgepodge of issues with sports today

Well hello again, I know its been a while since I posted a blog, but when I do, I really go off, and this is going to be one of those times, there's so much wrong with sports today.  Just so you have an idea, here are the key issues of today, Heisman voters refusing to give the award to a defensive player, simply because he plays defense; the NHL lockout and the worst commissioner in the history of sports; and some various other issues that I have with sports and life in general today.  The question is do you still want to read my blog?

Well, if you're still reading, I've obviously got you interested, so here we go with the issue of the Heisman voters not giving the award to a defensive player.  I'm going to say this right away: I AM A NOTRE DAME FAN, therefore some of you might think that I might be biased and pissed off about Manti Te'o losing the Heisman to a freshman simply because he's a quarterback.  Now that I have made myself clear regarding the matter, I am going to make my argument for why they need to change this practice with a perfectly sensible solution that even the NCAA will like.  This year, every preseason Heisman favorite fell to the side with their performances or lack thereof, the only real exception was Lee from USC, who really did perform, but wasn't that much of a contender going into the year. This to some should've opened the door for a defensive player to win an award that has been awarded 77 times, with the latest winner being Johnny Manziell. Now before you go ahead and say that I hate quarterbacks, or I'm only pissed that my boy Te'o didn't win it, I'll tell you this I love football, not just Notre Dame football, or pro football, I love football of all types.  The suggestion I have is simple and even the NCAA will enjoy this one, create the defensive Heisman! Everyone knows that the NCAA is all about making money off of guys that can't get a single penny off of their names, likenesses, and performance. Baylor University reported that they made $250 million off of Robert Griffin III and Texas A&M has at least two years left of making money off of Manziell. The NCAA saying that these athletes aren't worth paying is just a joke, they really have no excuse not to create the defensive Heisman. I'm not saying Manziell didn't deserve the award, or that the NCAA shouldn't make money off of players, but they really need to rethink their priorities here, or at least pay the players some money. The fact that Te'o is a linebacker, should not have been held against him, but the fact is that after his performance this season, and all four years of his college career, that is seriously the only excuse that the voters have.  Think about these stats, 105 tackles, 7 interceptions, 2 TOTAL MISSED TACKLES ALL YEAR, and by the way those 7 interceptions are tied for second most all year. There is a vast majority of NFL linebackers who miss more than 2 tackles in a single game, and this guy missed 2 all season. This is an absolute robbery by the Heisman trophy voters, and everyone that is honest with themselves knows the real reason for it, Manti Te'o is a defensive player, not a quarterback like Manziell. I could keep going, but I would be making the point over and over, so I'm going to go onto another issue that most any sports fan would agree with even if they don't pay attention to hockey.

I'll be honest, up until around 2005 after the lockout in 2004, I didn't pay much attention to hockey, and now I'm a huge Chicago Blackhawks fan, a full 5 years before they won the Stanley Cup. Now the issue today is still another lockout by the owners trying to get the players association to give up so much more of the pot then they did after the last lockout which lasted all year. Anyone who follows sports knows that almost every league in American professional sports has a large television contract, except for the NHL, and it's their OWN FAULT. Yes you did read that right IT'S THEIR OWN FAULT, when the last lockout happened they had ESPN as their primary distributor, which wasn't as big as it is now, but still was better than the NBC Sports Network that they currently have. Just for some reference, the NHL contract with NBC is worth $200 million, but the NFL contract with NBC, FOX, and CBS is worth $1.94 BILLION, and thats not to mention the money they get from ESPN. The Los Angeles Dodgers have a TV contract worth $6 billion alone, not to mention the money for the rest of major league baseball. I put this on one man, and one man only, Gary Bettman, the commissioner of the NHL, who has to be the worst commissioner in the history of sports, 3 lockouts in the 20 years he's been the commissioner. The NHL should've been able to learn from both their mistakes and the mistakes of other leagues, the NFL and NBA had extended lockouts last year, and the NHL was dumb enough to not solve their issues before the lockout began. Now don't get me wrong it's not all on him, it's also the owners, the idiots who give out ridiculous 12-yr contracts, then cry that they need to limit the amount of years on contracts. Craig Leipold the Minnesota Wild owner is the biggest culprit on this part.  Leipold signed both Zach Parise and Ryan Suter to 12-yr contracts in July this year, and then turns around in September and cries the loudest for a cap to the salaries that players make, talk about a major hypocrite. This is all on the owners and the ones that will lose out most are the fans, not the players, not the owners, but us the fans, it'll be interesting to see how empty the arenas are when hockey finally comes back.

Well, I'd go on but I'm just too irritated with things in sports these days.

British Open and Tiger Woods

Wow, I know its been a couple months since I posted, but I never said I would be posting all that often, but I have to write about this.As some of you know, I am an avid golfer, and a former caddy, so this gives me some leeway to comment on this subject in my own mind.  Here We sit, 4 years, and 1 month almost exactly from the last time Tiger Woods won a major championship, the US Open in 2008, and he has come close this year, closer than he has in the last 4 years.  I have faith in Tiger, this course has proven in the first two rounds to be surprisingly playable, just look at Brant Snedeker today with his -6 round to take the lead at -10.  Don't get me wrong, I'm not taking anything away from Snedeker, but if you saw Tiger's reaction to holing in that bunker shot on 18 to make birdie, the classic fist pump, and high-fiving Joe LaCava, and it said one thing to me, HE'S BACK.  His personal troubles are well documented, no questions asked, but to me his biggest road block in the last four years has been his mental state.  Hank Haney, his former swing coach, has said repeatedly that this is his best chance of the year, and honestly, I'd be more afraid playing a few strokes ahead of him with 36 holes to go, then I would be a few strokes behind him with 36 holes to go this year.  Snedeker could become another first time major winner, but if you look at it this way, Tiger has less pressure being in third going into the weekend a few strokes back then he did at the US Open, tied for the lead.  Tiger still is Tiger, he may be older then when he was dominating and only had to show up to win, but the fact is he's healthy this year, healthier than in years past.  Well thats it, that's my prediction, I pick Tiger Woods to finish this tournament, hoisting the Claret Jug on Sunday, not because Snedeker will lose it, but because Tiger will win it.

Raffi Torres on Marion Hossa

The hit on Hossa by Raffi Torres

Well, now its been a half an hour since this ridiculous hit, and I've had a little bit of time to calm down, but its not helping so I'm gonna write what needs to be written.  For Raffi Torres to leave his feet on this hit, a hit to the head, which by definition is worthy of a suspension without Hossa being carted off, and still on the ice is ridiculous.   The refs not only didn't eject him, they acted as though they didn't see it, and penalized the Blackhawks Brandon Bollig for a 2 minute minor and a 10 minute major penalty and Torres stayed on the bench.  This hit was worth at least 10 games for a player without the record that Torres has, with his record this deserves a suspension into next season if the NHL is serious about player safety.

Brendan Shanahan and Player Discipline in Sports

Well, I know, its been a month almost since I last posted, but school has gotten in the way so far.  As most of you know, I'm a huge sports fan, and this is a topic that is hitting home right now, because one of my favorite teams is affected by the topic of this post.  This past Saturday, rookie Andrew Shaw of the Chicago Blackhawks hit Goalie Mike Smith of the Phoenix Coyotes, and today, Brendan Shanahan, the NHL Senior VP of Player Safety, suspended shaw for three games.  The ridiculous part of this is not suspension itself, but the length of suspension, and the fact that it was decided by just one person.  I am not arguing that the hit was not worth a penalty, but to give a man a 3 game suspension, which is really a 4 game suspension, due to the fact that he was ejected from the game, almost halfway through the game is ridiculous.  I personally am all for a recently retired former player being the head of discipline, rather than the commissioner as it is in football, but these should not be decided by just one person.  Brendan Shanahan is a former Detroit Red Wing, easily the biggest rivals of the Chicago Blackhawks, and while I am not saying that played a role in the length of suspensions for both Shaw and Duncan Keith shortly before the end of the regular season, the writing is on the wall.  Both players received longer suspensions for their hits than other players in the league, and some of those players did worse offenses than Shaw and Keith.  For instance, Shea Weber, of the Nashville Predators received a measly $2,500 fine for boarding Henrik Zetterberg repeatedly, not a single game missed, and hardly a dent in his pocket book for a star like Weber.  This is not the only example in this first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs, the Pittsburgh Penguins-Philadelphia Flyers series has been marred by questionable hits and fights, but there have been exactly 0 suspensions so far.  The San Jose Sharks-St Louis Blues series had a fight with 180+ minutes of penalties assessed at the end of the 2nd game, and there was no fines or suspensions, I have to ask where the justice for Andrew Shaw is?  As I mentioned, hockey is out in front of the other major leagues in that they do not have disciplined decided by the commissioner, who in most cases has never played the game at the professional level.  I would suggest strongly that all of the leagues join the NHL in using a recently retired player as their head of discipline, but instead of just one person deciding discipline, I say that they should have a committee, made up of recently retired former players.  With this solution, you would not have the possibility of bias or the impression of the single player having bias based on his former team.  While the commissioner would have final say as to the suspensions or fines, this would provide more than one set of eyes to the question of suspensions or fines.  Quite honestly, I believe that this needs to apply to coaches as well as players, coaches unlike players do not have unions to appeal their suspensions, and just have to accept suspensions, even if they shouldn't be as harsh as they are.  If anyone does not believe that there are former players and coaches who could provide an unbiased opinion and have the time to perform these duties, just look at ESPN, NBC, CBS, and the MLB, NHL, NBA networks, all of their analysts are former coaches and players.  One could also argue that this would take longer to announce fines and suspensions, but at least it would be done more thoroughly, and with today's technology, each member of these committees could easily communicate their opinions, without needing to travel great distances.  I know that the discipline issue will come up in the CBA because of these issues, and it would be proactive of the NHL and the NHLPA to make this change.  A perfect example of this applying to the NFL is the New Orleans Saints situation, with "bountygate" we know that unless something drastic happens Roger Goodell is going to suspend a few players, probably not for the year that he suspended Sean Payton, but they will be substantial.  The problem with this is that Roger Goodell is not just the judge jury and executioner for the suspension in the first place, he is the appeals board too.  At the very least there needs to be another committee for appeals, that sends their opinion to the commissioner.  Well, thanks for reading this post, my Blackhawks are on, so I'm gonna be a little preoccupied, but I believe that I got my points across pretty well.


Shaw Suspension video


Mike Smith and Brendan Shanahan, prior to about 10 minutes ago Public Enemies No 1 and 2, but I'll blog about the new one once I calm down.

Tiger Woods

First of all, let me start this off by saying that I was a golf caddy for 9 years in a row, and know a decent deal about golf, even if I never made it to, or wanted to become a professional caddy.  Tiger Woods as we all know has had a rough couple of years both heath wise and in his personal life, leading to his lack of wins on the PGA Tour since September of 2009.  Now with his former swing coach Hank Haney's book, "The Big Miss" coming out on Tuesday, which Tiger has flat out refused to acknowledge to the press, I think the stage is set for a huge Masters tournament for Tiger.  If Tiger's performance today in one of his idol's tournament, Arnold Palmer, can tell us anything, its this, that Tiger is pissed the hell off about the book, and he will step up just to show that Hank Haney's wrong about him being done.  One has to remember, this isn't the first time that Tiger's looked good this year, he carded a -10 fourth round just a couple of tournaments ago.  I will go on record to say this, I hope that Tiger does make a comeback and break Jack Nicklaus' record, he's the greatest player of his generation without a doubt.