Shots From The Darkside

A Blogger Darkly

The NFL needs to handle this situation correction. I think the NFL conspired to cover for the Patriots. NFL commissioner decided to handle this situation internally and thumbed his nose at the average fan. Assholes like Mike Golic are screaming that it’s not a big deal. Stealing signs happens, says he. So what? I say that the perceived severity or ubiquity of a crime does nothing to lessen one’s culpability for said crime. Shop lifting a 3 Musketeers bar from your local Mini-mart ain’t the same as housing a video game from Wal-Mart, but you’re going to jail either way.

The same logic applies here.

Ignore, for a moment, the grand irony of having the likes of Shawn Merrimen comment for the players on cheating during a segment of Sports Center. Shawn is, in fact, a fucking cheater. (That’s for another post). He stated that teams generally go thru 20 - 30 scripted plays during a walk thru. Think about what that means: 20 to 30 plays that Bill Belicheat knew was coming. I liken him to Coach Beaulieu from The Waterboy. And if Shawn Merrimen is even close with his estimations, Billy knew not only what plays were being run by formation, he knew which plays were coming by situation.

Why should this matter? Why care at all?

Because I pay hard earned money for football. The NFL forces me to watch the NFL network to keep up with my favorite teams. I pay money for football games I may never afford to attend. Fuck it: say I go commando and give up my cable subscriptions - the NFL has many tax exemptions and an anti-trust status. I don’t get my tax dollars back from the Panthers - that money doesn’t get diverted to something that’ll HELP Carolina residents. I not only subsidize the benefits these bastards get, I also allow them to operate as a legal monopoly - which allows them to squash and buy out opposing leagues that might bring about some level of competition. This means that if i want to watch football, I have to watch the football they allow me to watch… and I get to pay for the privilege. The NFL killed the USFL, the XFL, tried to kill the AFL and prevents local stations from carrying the CFL. Then, these bastards black-out local games so that I HAVE to drive to the stadium I PAID FOR and drop $300. Teams can charge whatever-the-fuck-they-want for beer and curly fries, because there ain’t no other football to watch. If I’m lucky, the black out will drop 5 minutes into the second quarter.

Fuck the bullshit.

Normally all the balls are in the NFL’s corner. This is our chance as fans - our only change - to step up and grab these rich bastards by the balls and twist. Either give me Billy’s head or give me my fucking tax money back. Make the NFL have to operate like every other business in the US. Make them play by the same rules I have to play by.

Then - and only then - will I be satisfied.

A Blogger Darkly March 09,2008

How many people out there still think that the Texans’ passing on Reggie was a bust? According to every source, everywhere, Reggie was “the best player in the draft, period.” He was a gamebreaker, and someone no team should pass on. According to every hype enthused, jock-riding news source, Reggie had a chance to “be one of the games greatest talents, ever“. Reggie won the Heisman trophy and was groomed to win be the #1 pick in the draft. In a surprising move, however, the Texans signed Mario Williams, a defensive end from North Carolina State. The New Orleans Saints then selected Bush as the number 2 overall pick in the draft.

The Sports World didn’t know whether to shit or throw up.

To hear the news outlets and sports pundits bitch, this was the equivalent of the Trail Blazers passing on Michael Jordan for Sam Bowie. But to date, Bush has not lived up to the hype. In his first season, Bush was a glorified decoy, coming in 5th rookie of the year voting. Bush finished this last season with 6 touchdowns and 581 yards rushing, averaging 3.6 yards per carry.

Mario Williams, on the other hand, has been a beast for the Texans. Super Mario finished 07 with 59 solo tackles (20th among D-Linemen), 14 sacks (3rd in the league), 16 assists(21st), 1 reception and 1 fumble returned for a TD. Draft Day bust? I think not.
Bush hasn’t lived up to the hype and I doubt he ever will. I don’t think he’ll ever be as productive a RB as his publicist touted predraft. Looking back, though, iI find that Bush was overhyped in college as he wasn’t even the best runner in the PAC-10 (a conference not known for its defensive prowess). I alway doubted Reggie because he was a little, all-purpose guy who made all his yards doing everything other than running between the tackles. I don’t believe that there is any hope of him ever becoming a 25+ carry/game, 1600 yard RB. That’s unfortunate because Lendale White - Reggie’s back-up in college - finished with a decent season. Through 16 weeks White rushed for 1,110 yards and 7 touchdowns with a 3.7 yard average. From the line of scrimmage to the secondary, Reggie’s 4.29 40 speed is useless and speed is his only asset. Take away Reggie’s open field abilities and he’s just another scrawny running back. He can’t even block properly, taking cheap shots at D-Linemen rather than blocking with proper tech

The age of the feature back is over. reggie’s best hope for success is that NFL teams are moving to a Thunder and Lightning approach. Defenses are just too big and fast for a sinlge 200lb RB to shoulder the load for a 16 game season.

3 cheers for Super Mario!

Now, who is gonna be this year’s draft day bust?

I don’t have a favorite for March Madness. It gets harder for me to follow college basketball every season. Call it nostalgia, but thought it was great when college ball was all about playing ball… just some kids, a coach and a lot of Zone Defense. But just like everything else these days, College Hoops has been bastardized by commercialism.

My issue with Reagan and Bush is their unfounded belief that corporations will actually police themselves. It’s nosensacle to believe that deregulating an indistry will produce healthy competition. Were that true, NASCAR would weight cars or measure spoilers after every race. It’s why boxers have weight classes. Granted, overregulation kills competition. But at this junctur, our Foxes are guarding the hen house.
Does this mean I want to trade federal over-regulation for corporate anarchy?

NO.

College basketball is an industry that needs some level of corporate regulation. The NCAA is a nonproft organization - so I’mma need to see their books. I need to see how much money ISN’T influencing my local college. I’ve paid nearly 100,000 dollars to the University of South Carolina in various fees - to include tuition, room and board. I need to know what my money is paying for. There are students currently attending an academic organization I help fund on scholarships who 1) didn’t earn acceptance, and 2) have no hope of graduating. Worry not, this isn’t your same old ‘Pay the Athlete‘ spiel. All I care about is my investment. If I had to chose between some dual threat, stoner WR/Small Forward and an English major with poor - but passing - test scores, the English major would get my money.

I don’t give a damn about National Championships: as long as my money is being diverted to pay for the University of South Carolina, I want it spent like a University rather than like a Ball-club.

No one is fooled, the NCAA tournament is about cash. But I’m fine with that. I am not, however, ok with the tourney being supported by a not-for-profit organization. Should the NCAA continue its tax-exempt status given that it makes billions of dollars a year? The original rationale for it’s tax-exempt was that it the NCAA was an educational institution which supported student athletes. But CBS pays the NCAA $545 million for the rights to televise men’s basketball and, in particular, March Madness. How does this help ’students’? WTF does this this tournament and the enormous commercial revenues it generates contribute to the “student” part of the ’student-athlete’?

• Only 55 percent of football players and 38 percent of basketball players at Division I-A schools graduate.
• The NCAA has increased the number of games that football and men’s basketball teams are allowed to play.
• Tax-exempt status of college sports might be justified by the fact that successful sports teams often trigger increased applications for admission, and donations from alumni and legislatures. But as a federal taxpayers, I have no interest in increasing applicant pools at some Elite Eight school across the country.
• Tax exemption is financing the escalation of coaches’ salaries. Many college coaches are paid more than $1 million annually. Schools also must buy out these contracts when coaches bolt for the NBA or another team.

The real question is: how many schools generate a net profit that goes to something other than athletics? How much of this money from Cingular or Verizon is going to network infrastructural upgrades or better campus security? How many teachers are struggling along with sub par pay while their football coach and his staff make millions?

Who does more for the University of South Carolina: Steve Spurrier - coach of a 6-6 team - or the Dean of the Darla Moore School of Business which consistently ranks #1 in the world in International Business?

Think on that.

As a tax payer, how angry should I be that more of my taxes support a non profit, tax exempted organization sports organization than the institution its a part of?

Meanwhile, Gamecock tickets just went up another $10 a seat and we still suck. The money paid to our coach - Dave Odom - should have been donated to the School of Business. They are successful. They put out winners.

They key here, and this is a minority view, is that we need to regulate this industry and control spending. Many people hold the belief that spending money will make money. Thats a comfortable axiom and it almost makes sense. But basketball can be played anywhere. It doesn’t require a million dollar weight room or a olympic swimming pool. A well coached team could win in a parking lot with a chain-hoop. So where does the money go?

I’ve officially retired from competitive sports.

I always wanted to be the dad that took his teenage son off the dribble and slapped glass. I wanted to be the hyper athletic dad, the dad that looked good in his softball uniform. I realize today that some things may just be outta my reach.

Again, I took my big butt onto the court with some kids. I did ok. Once I waded thru all the arguing and pussy foul calls, I had an ok day. I realized, though, that even at it’s highest form, basketball is only a team game if everyone on the team sucks. When everyone on the team sucks, you do team oriented things like play 2-3 zone defenses. When everyone sucks equally, the scoring is spread evenly around the team. With no genuine big man, our team works together to score.

Together Everyone Accomplishes More
My team consisted of a couple 18 year old hoodrats fresh off the asphalt. It was 3 hours of poor shot choices and ridiculous head fakes. I couldn’t be faked because 1) i’m too fat to bite on the first or second fake, so i stand my ground waiting for the hook; and 2) I’m old enough to know how to deal with herky-jerk ballers. They need to spend less time watching AND-1 videos and more time watching Mike Bibby or Steve Nash. Eventually, I just started reaching in and taking the damn ball.. which nearly caused a fight

But I realized that basketball can be successfully played with a single man doing all of the work. Jordan did it. Kobe does it all the time. Iverson has made a career from it. It may require a team, but basketball ain’t no team sport by any means. TEAM implies that everyone is working equally for the same goal.

Then there was the 18 year old asshole who decided to Muy Thai elbow my homeboy in head. He was all like “Get the fuck off of me“. Which lead me to shove his fat ass to the ground from behind. Then his “crew” got up off the bench. So now 4 old men are staring down like 7 teenagers. It was so tense it was comical. I’m looking at fat kid and he’s looking up at me. Kids these days are full of shit. After listening to this fucker talk shit, I wanted to take his fat ass apart just for kicks.

Run- up, muthafucker.

His older brother would apologize, it ended well enough, though. His buddies didn’t want any part of us prolly because they’d've be banned from the gym.

So its Monday, I’m running out of things to say and my damned knee hurts so bad I wanna scream. Even the aches in my lower back have aches. oh, getting old: how did ya’ll manage it?