Jason Collins: Trailblazer

Jason Collins. Active NBA player and gay man.

Finally.  An active player from one of the four major American sports leagues has finally “come out” of the closet.  It’s long overdue and frankly I’m surprised it has taken as long as it has.

The intrepid soul who came out is Jason Collins, a Center, most recently for the Washington Wizards.  He bravely announced that he is gay via a Sports Illustrated article last Monday.  Per the article, Collins is quoted as saying the following:

I didn’t set out to be the first openly gay athlete playing in a major American team sport. But since I am, I’m happy to start the conversation.  I wish I wasn’t the kid in the classroom raising his hand and saying, ‘I’m different.’ If I had my way, someone else would have already done this. Nobody has, which is why I’m raising my hand.

Fox Sports Video and Photo Gallery – The most-hated people in sports – FOX Sports List

Fox Sports Video and Photo Gallery – The most-hated people in sports – FOX Sports List.

My three-day weekend is winding down.  I’m getting ready to go to bed.  I’m just catching up on some news when I stumble upon the article linked above and click my way through the 10 most-hated sports figures.

The list contained all of the usual suspects:  Kurt Bush,  A-Rod, T.O., Kobe Bryant (really?  I don’t know why people hate him), LeBron, Kris Humphries (hey, you married a Kardashian, dumbass), Ndamukong Suh, Plaxico Burress (of he who shot himself in the leg fame), Tiger Woods, and Michael Vick.

Donte Stallworth (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I finished the list and realized that at least two people were missing from the list that shouldn’t have been:  Leonard Little and Donte Stallworth.

Both Little and Stallworth have killed another human being.  Not on purpose, though.  They killed another human while driving drunk.  And yet somehow failed to make this list.

I’m a little befuddled by the fact that a guy who cheated on his wife is more reviled than someone who committed involuntary manslaughter.  I’m confused how idiots who talk so much as to inspire hatred are more frowned upon than drunken idiots who have taken a human life.  I fail to understand how superstars on hated teams (who are hated merely because they win) are loathed more than a couple of idiots who couldn’t make a simple decision to NOT drive after having consumed too much alcohol.  I just don’t get it.

I can’t say that the people on that list don’t deserve to be there.  I can’t really stand any of them myself.  They’ve all made idiots of themselves at one time or another.  Some more than others.  But I can say that I don’t  hate (not really hate. that word is reserved only for my ex) any of them more than the two who have robbed two innocent people of their lives by making poor and negligent decisions.

Shame on the people who voted in this survey for not hating the correct people.  You all suck at life.

Related articles

• ‘Tis the Season to be Hateful (in Sports) (theatlantic.com)
• Why Do We Hate LeBron James? (forbes.com)
• Next Post (lelstein3.wordpress.com)

Living in the Basketball State

I’ve lived in Kentucky for most of my life, so I know how obsessed most of the people in this state are with basketball. The other night, however, that obsession hit a new low (in my eyes, anyways). My supervisor called us all together for a meeting. Normally, these meetings are about changes in our processing procedures. This one was not. This meeting was to tell us that next Monday we’d be working earlier than usual. I work 2-11 every day. Monday we’re working from 12-9. The reason we’re working 12-9? We’re working 12-9 so that everybody can go home and watch the NCAA Championship basketball game.

I’m all for getting out of work before 11, but this is just ridiculous. If this is how crazy the people of Kentucky are about basketball, why has no NBA owner brought a team in? You’d think that they’d be able to make some money from these people. Plus, they can market the NBA team to the college fans by calling the team the “Kentucky WildCards”, that way you get both UK and Louisville fans. I  know some U of L fans might be upset that UK seems to go first in the name, but they can get over it, because that’s the only way to combine the names so that it makes sense. I think it would work. Now, I just need to get ahold of an NBA owner so I can get a cut of the action if they ever do this.

MSG uses Jeremy Lin fortune cookie graphic | Yardbarker.com

MSG uses Jeremy Lin fortune cookie graphic | Yardbarker.com.

The above article references MSG, the TV network of the New York Knicks, using a graphic of Jeremy Lin and a fortune cookie featuring a fortune that reads:  The Knicks Good Fortune.

Of course, overly sensitive people are claiming this is racism.

Per dictionary.com, racism is:

1.  a belief or doctrine that inherent differences among the various human races  determine cultural or individual achievement, usually involving the idea that one’s own race  is superior and has the right to rule others.

2.  a policy, system of government, etc., based upon or fostering such a doctrine; discrimination.

3.  hatred or intolerance of another race  or other races.

Hardly racist or funny. Just classless.

The graphic (to the right) hardly meets any of the criteria noted above.  It in no way implies that anyone is better than Jeremy Lin because of racial differences, nor is it a system of government based upon a belief of superiority.  It is also not hatred for Jeremy because of his race.

So how do we classify this picture?  Perhaps as a tasteless, unfunny joke based on an inaccurate assumption?   Lin isn’t Chinese, he was born in Los Angeles.  His father is from Taiwan and his mother is from China.  So he’s technically a descendant of Chinese heritage, but ultimately he’s American.

So let’s take a look at the graphic.  Obviously the people who made it are under the assumption that Jeremy is Chinese.  He’s not, and that should be readily apparent by the fact that his name is Jeremy, which, last time I checked, is not a Chinese name.  Anyhow, misguided assumptions aside (ass+u+me), fortune cookies are traditionally handed out with the check at Chinese restaurants.  In reality, somebody thought it would be clever to put a player they assumed to be Chinese in a graphic with a traditionally Chinese cookie.  Unfortunately for whoever had this idea, it was neither clever nor funny.  It’s also a horrible, pathetic looking Photoshop job.  My children could have made a better graphic with Microsoft Paint.

All of this, however, is beside the point.  I’m getting sick of people crying racism where none exists.  Sure, racism is a problem that this country continues to struggle with today, but it’s not quite the crisis it’s made out to be.  Perhaps it’s the fact that some people aren’t content unless they’re stirring up conflict or drama.  Maybe people really are just extremely over-sensitive.  Maybe there’s some other motive that I’m not even aware of for these idiotic claims.  Regardless, I’m tired of people creating problems where problems don’t exist.  Race relations are tenuous enough as it is without adding phantom claims of racism derived from a poorly constructed JPG file.

People need to understand what racism truly is before they make claims of racism.  Stop creating drama and stop stirring the pot.  We have enough problems as a society without conjuring up problems that exist only in a handful of minds.  Next time you believe you’ve witnessed racism, look at the definition above and compare the situation to the definition.  Perhaps you’ll find that you’re completely off-base and that you should just shut the hell up.

For the record, this graphic is tasteless and stupid, but it is not racist.

Sports on Christmas?

This story caught my eye when MSN came up as my homepage just a second ago.  The author, Jen Engel (who?), seems to have beef with the fact that sports, particularly the NBA and NFL, are playing games on the most holiest of holidays.

She argues that Christmas is a day for spending time with family and friends, and it’s hard to disagree with her.  She has apparently declared war on “the war on Christmas,” a day she claims is coming closer and closer to just any other ordinary day.

The NBA has always played games on Christmas day.  The NFL normally doesn’t, however Christmas falls on a Sunday this year.  The NFL scheduled most of their games on Saturday, but the Sunday night game remains on Sunday night.

Personally, I don’t mind watching sports on Christmas, or Thanksgiving for that matter.  You can still spend time with your family while watching sports.  Hell, some families bond better that way.  If sports wasn’t on I can always find something else to watch, or even turn the TV off.  No big deal.

I do wonder just what the players think about having to play on a holiday.  Do they mind playing on Thanksgiving or Christmas?  If so, then the games shouldn’t be played.  The players are people, too, and if they want to spend time with their families on a holiday that’s important to them then they should have that option.  We could all find other things to do on Thanksgiving than watch football.  We could find other things to do on Christmas than watch basketball.

The article has a poll in it questioning whether sports should be played on Christmas.  At the time I posted this, just over 8000 people had voted with exactly 50% saying no, 21% saying yes, and 29% saying they don’t care.  While hardly conclusive (since only 8000 people voted) it’s still something both leagues should consider in the future.

As I said earlier, I’m indifferent as I’m not an extremely religious person, however, the majority of this country (I would estimate over 50%) is made up of Christians, and Christmas is their holiday.  I would venture to guess that most of them would prefer that no sports were played on their holiday.  One thing worth pointing out, though, is that if people weren’t watching sports on holidays then there wouldn’t be sports on holidays.

Seriously, PETA?

Just after the NBA lockout was underway, Dwayne Wade joked that he was going to go back and work at KFC during the lock out, since he worked there in high school.

The next day, KFC publicly offered Dwayne a drive-through position for a day and offered to donate $250, 000 to charity should he accept.

Here is the letter, full of horrible puns about making buckets and such:

Dear Dwyane Wade,

We couldn’t help but notice your recent tweet about looking for a new line of work in light of the lockout. We’re always looking for folks with precisely your qualifications — initiative, teamwork and the ability to make buckets in a hurry.

We’ve always been proud to call you a former KFC employee and, it goes without saying we’d love to have you back on our team dishing out the World’s Best Chicken, like you dish out assists on the court.

Our offer: Come serve as an honorary captain at a local KFC drive-thru window. And, while we can’t match your most recent salary, we’ll honor your KFC service by making a donation in your name to Colonel’s Scholars, a charity providing young people with much needed college scholarships, if you accept. How’s that for a slam dunk?

So let us know if you’re ready to suit up for our squad (as you’ll remember, we’ve got some pretty cool uniforms). Our original coach, the legendary Colonel Sanders, knew a thing or two about buckets. And who knows, if you make a KFC-team comeback, we might just share some of his secrets with you.

We’ll keep your headset waiting.

Sincerely,

John Cywinski
General Manager, KFC U.S.

Apparently, PETA took umbrage with the offer:

Dear Dwyane,

Greetings from PETA. I hope this message finds you well. You can count all of us here among your many fans!

We’re writing today after reading about KFC’s offer to have you serve as an honorary captain at one of its restaurants during the lockout. We’re glad that you kicked KFC’s buckets years ago in favor of a different career, and although we’re sure you’ll not give KFC’s offer a second thought, we thought you would want to know of another good reason to reject any offers that the cruel franchise throws your way. While defenders know that “broken ankles” are a risk with your crossovers on the court, chickens killed for KFC often have their fragile legs broken when they are slammed into metal shackles, among other horrifying abuses.

Chickens destined for KFC’s buckets live their entire lives mired in their own waste and filth, only to be shackled upside down in shackles and have their throats cut while they are still conscious at the slaughterhouse. Several of KFC’s own animal welfare advisors have resigned in frustration, as the chain still refuses to make even basic improvements, including a less cruel slaughter method that would end the worst abuses of chickens killed for the chain. PETA’s Kentucky Fried Cruelty campaign isn’t just for vegetarians — it’s for anyone concerned with the cruelty that flourishes for corporate greed, which is why Reverend Al Sharpton hosted this video exposé and endorsed the campaign.

After learning about this abuse, will you take a stand for chickens by urging KFC to require its suppliers to use a less cruel slaughter method? Thank you for your consideration. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Sincerely,

Michelle Cho
Senior Manager
PETA

Is PETA seriously complaining about the manner in which the chickens are slaughtered instead of the fact that they’re slaughtered at all?  These chickens are raised to be slaughtered.  They are genetically engineered to be food, not live full lives as pet chickens.  Why on Earth does it matter how  they are slaughtered?  No matter the way they’re killed they still end up breaded, fried, and on a value menu.

How can this organization possibly be taken seriously?  According to their website, their campaigns include ending fur and leather use, meat and dairy consumption, fishing, hunting, trapping, factory farming, circuses, and bull fighting, among others.  So if they had their way, we’d all be naked vegetarians.  Never mind the food chain.  It’s okay for a lion to eat a zebra, but if a human eats a cow its a fucking sin.  All (well, most anyway) animals are food for another animal.  Is PETA sending angry letters to the seal that eats the fish, or the hyena that eats the gazelle?  Don’t they know that they should be vegans?

Look, I’m all for the humane treatment of animals, but enough is enough.  Humans are part of the food chain, too.  We eat meat just like we were created to.  Bitching about the manner in which my dinner is killed is absurd and pointless.  The animal is going to die no matter what.

So fuck off, PETA.  You guys make yourselves look dumber with every “campaign” you embark upon and every protest you make.  You have a place, but you’re overstepping your bounds.

NFL, NBA Lockouts are ridiculous

Reports are emerging that the NFL lockout will most likely be ending within the next week.  Meanwhile, the NBA lockout is just getting under way.

While I respect that each side in both leagues has an opinion on the way things should be, I can’t wrap my head around the fact that it’s so hard for both sides to find a way to divide up millions of dollars.  Even if the owners end up reducing the players’ salaries in both leagues by 50%, those players will still be making more in one year than I will in my entire lifetime.

The circumstances are different in each league.  While the NFL owners were simply just not making as much in profit as they are used to, the NBA owners(22 of the 30 franchises last year reportedly lost money) are actually losing money.  The premise is the same in both situations, however.  The players need to take less money.

I’m not going to pretend that it’s ever easy to take a pay-cut.  I’ve been through it before and it sucks.  If I had to take a pay-cut from $2 million to $1million I might be pissed about it, but I wouldn’t exactly be hurting either.  The players don’t realize how much is involved, monetarily, in running a franchise.  Not only do the players eat up a huge portion of the revenue in both leagues, owners also have to pay staff, stadium lease, and stadium maintenance as well.  Stadiums (or arenas, in the case of the NBA) are not cheap to own or maintain.  I know in the NFL, local governments are becoming increasingly reluctant to publicly fund stadiums.  People don’t want to pay more taxes.  That puts the burden on the owners to fund the stadiums.  Those costs are going up.  Cowboys Stadium, which just opened last year, cost almost $1billion to construct.  Jerry Jones is paying for a good portion of that.

In the most recent CBA’s for both leagues, the NFL players are getting 60% of all football revenue (after $1 billion is taken off of the top for operating expenses, so in reality they average 51% of all revenue) and the NBA players bring home 57% of all basketball revenue.  That is an unheard of business model, where employees (yes, that’s what they are even though they are the product, too) get more than half of revenue.  Basically, what those numbers mean is that for every dollar earned by the NFL and NBA the players get 51 cents and 57 cents respectively.  That means the owners have 49 cents and 43 cents with which to pay coaches, scouts, buy uniforms, advertise, pay the lease, pay for maintenance, and pay other miscellanious employees such as vendors and ushers.

I’m not saying the players shouldn’t get a good chunk of the money made in either league.  They make the leagues what they are.  The fans go to watch the players play, but they are making too much.  I’ve never heard of a business model in which over 50% of all revenue goes to payroll.

For their part, the players in both leagues argue that the owners are greedy (yes, the pot is calling the kettle black).  Both sides are being greedy.  I don’t think it’s unreasonable, though, for owners to expect to make money from the businesses they own.  Wouldn’t you like to make money if you owned a business?  If you busted your ass and saved enough money to buy a business how would you feel if you made no money because your employees get it all?

The worst part for the NBA is that they just had their best season since the last lockout 12 years ago.  The fans were really into the game this year.  Whether you like him or hate him, Lebron James generated interest for the NBA.  The NBA risks losing fans again with this lockout.

The NFL, however, doesn’t have to worry about it.  The NFL is so popular that people will watch whether they miss games or not.

At a time when over 10% percent of the American people are jobless, or having their hours cut, it doesn’t exactly endear the owners or the players to the average fan who has absolutely no idea what it’s like to be rich, let alone argue with other millionaires about who should get more of a huge monetary pie.  No matter who makes the most concessions, no matter who “wins” or “loses” these lockouts, the fans lose either way if games are missed.  Professional sports is our escape from reality.  So, players and owners, quit fucking up a good thing.  For your sakes as well as ours, don’t stop negotiating until you have this thing figured out.

Replica Jerseys – A Complete Waste of Money

One of the “in” things to have nowadays is a replica jersey (or even an authentic one).  Nothing shows our fandom more than wearing the replica jersey of our favorite player/team.

I myself have 8 replica jerseys:  two Michigan Wolverines football jerseys, 5 Cincinnati Bengals jerseys, and one Cincinnati Reds jersey.

On average, replicate jerseys for professional sports teams cost around $85, and NCAA teams about$20 less.  The problem with these jerseys is that they are obsolete so damn fast.

NCAA jerseys don’t really turn obsolete because there’s no player names on the jerseys (heaven forbid a student get some money for contributing to a program that earns millions).  The professional sports ones, however, grow obsolete quickly.  Of my Bengals jerseys, only one is still valid:  my personalized one.  The others are Peter Warrick (retired; knee injury), Chad Johnson (changed his name to Ocho Dinko Stinko Cinco), Carson Palmer (is going to retire like a bitch if he isn’t traded), and TJ Houshmandzadeh (signed with the Seahawks when his contract was up).    That’s roughly $320 worth of clothes that I can’t wear without looking like a retard.  My Red’s jersey is a Barry Larkin jersey and since he only played for the Reds his entire career I don’t feel like a tool wearing it.

Meanwhile, with players changing teams so often and fans so eager to show their team pride, professional sports is making a killing off of people like us buying jerseys every time they sign a free agent or draft a new player.  I would love to see the margin in these jerseys because there’s no way they cost over $15 to make.

Making it worse is how unpredictable these leagues can be.  I thought for sure I would get my money’s worth out of the Palmer jersey as he was locked up in a contract with the Bengals until 2014.  But, wait!  Nope, he’s going to retire.

From now on I think I will be buying only  old school jerseys of players who have retired.  That seems like a safe bet, but those jerseys run about $130.  At least I won’t have to worry about them jumping teams on me.  The one problem with that is with the free agency structure in professional sports, it is now extremely rare to find a player that plays his entire career on one team.  Ask Packers fans.  Who’d have thought that Favre would end his career with a team that wasn’t named Packers?

What do you do with these jerseys once your player has changed teams?  I think the people of Cleveland have finally gotten something right.

Cleveland Cavalier fans burning Lebron James jerseys after "the decision."

It’s about time they got something right.

It’s Been Another While

I haven’t posted in a couple of months.  Mostly for two reasons:  1)Lil Man is taking up a lot of my free time and 2)I’ve been working a lot of overtime.

I have some things to talk about so I’ll divide it up into some other posts, but here are some non sequiturs:

• Congrats to the Mavs.  It was good to see Dirk and Kidd get a ring.  It was even better to see the Heat lose.
• Terrell Pryor and Jim Tressel are both bitches that may have dismantled one of the best collegiate football programs in the country.  I have no doubt that the NCAA will come down harder on them than USC.
• The NFL and NFLPA* need to get their shit together.  If this lockout causes games to be missed they BOTH lose.  $9 billion is enough to share for everybody, but the players need to realize that keeping a franchise running costs a lot of money.
• Check out parentsshouldnttext.com and the rest of the Pop Hangover network.  Funny stuph.
• The city of Vancouver should be ashamed of itself.  Don’t they know that rioting for no reason at all is copyright infringement?  The US will be suing.
• Thank you Anthony Weiner for generating so many hilarious headlines with your extreme stupidity.
• Way to go, Sony.  Your incompetence pissed off millions of gamers.  I’m glad I have a 360.
• Two of my favorite game franchises are apparently incorporating the Kinect into their next releases.  If Mass Effect 3 and Fable 4 (or whatever it will be called) require the Kinect to play I will NOT be buying them.  Hardcore gamers do not really care much for motion technology.  We like to sit on our asses and play.
• This is scary.
• Is Charlie Sheen still winning?

That’s all I can come up with right now, but I have some more things I’d like to write about.  Hopefully I’ll be able to post regularly again.

Another reason to hate LeBron

I really don’t care about the NBA. I’ll watch the highlights on Sportscenter, but that’s usually about it. Sometimes things happen that I’ll like or dislike. For the most part, though, I don’t find myself talking about the NBA or any of it’s players. While watching ESPN earlier, I saw LeBron James say something that I thought was so stupid, I just had to say something about it.

During a postgame interview, James said that he and his teammates call themselves the “Heatles”. That’s right. The “Heatles”. Not only is that a ridiculously lame play on words, I feel like now I have to quote the high school principal from Billy Madison. “We’re all stupider now for having heard that.”

I am not a Beatles fan. In fact, I really don’t like their music, but I give respect where respect is due. The Beatles changed music. Every band/musician out there is influenced either by the Beatles or musicians that were influenced by the Beatles. They are the most recognizable band in the world, and they haven’t been together in 35 years or so. Their music defined their generation. No other group has done what the Beatles have done. The only band that came close is Nirvana, and they might’ve done it if Cobain hadn’t died. When people think of the Beatles, they think one thing: “greatest band of all time”.

If you take what the Beatles have done and compare it to what the Heat has done, it’s not even close. Maybe, sometime in the future, if they win a few championships, we might start putting them on the list for the greatest basketball team of all time, but it still wouldn’t be equal to what the Beatles did. The Beatles not only changed music, they changed the world. The Heat could possibly change the way we view basketball, but they’re not going to change the way we look at the world. So far, the only thing LeBron has changed is how the people of Cleveland, and most of America, sees him. He used to be seen as a great player. Now he’s seen as douchebag who pissed on the people who loved him. All he’s done is shown his true colors. He left Cleveland because he couldn’t handle the pressure of carrying a team, so he went to a place where he didn’t have to. He came out with a commercial trying to tell the people he wasn’t the bad guy. If you have to tell people that you’re not the bad guy….you’re the bad guy.

I’m not from Cleveland, and I don’t pay all that much attention to basketball. If I can see this without paying much attention, imagine what I’d be able to say if I did.