A Little Slice of Bullshit

It's good to see the new glamour sport, MMA, is going the route of boxing. Boxing, of course, is a mega-money business that ruined itself with promoters and organizers colluding to ensure certain marketable names got big fights. We never knew who the grand bad-ass was, as the best fighters never met unless there was a big prize. The potentials never got tested lest an unknown, hand-picked bum put their golden boy on his ass. And so, the glorious days of boxing came to an end and fans watched dejectedly as "judges" handed obvious losses to the supposed contenders on their way to meeting in prime time, pay-per-view matches made in heaven (or in the minds of seedy promoters and greedy television execs).

MMA was the savior of brutal sport fans everywhere. The days of watching tapes of people like Ken Shamrock were over as the variations on ultimate fighting exploded across the television landscape. Fans were overjoyed. This was the real deal.

Enter Kimbo Slice....and right back out again. Fourteen seconds of glorious action. Kimbo, the baddest man alive, felled by a journeyman 30 pounds lighter and 2 inches shorter. By a man, Seth Petruzelli, that was such a nonentity in the sport, he was scheduled to be on the non-televised undercard until 44-year old Ken Shamrock (who hadn't won himself in four years) was scratched after cutting his eye in training Saturday.

Made for TV, but maybe not for MMA. Just don't suggest that to Kimbo or his crew, who got paid an undisclosed bonus for accepting the new "challenge" so late in the game. You can't blame them for taking the money.

Only in America!

Think, Plan, Do

This isn't the way it works for government. They just take.

Chicago would like to host the Olympics in 2016. They think Chicago2016 is a good web address. Chicago2016.org is super duper and they love it.

The problem city officials see is that some joker already controls Chicago2016.com and they don't like that. The joker in question, an NU grad student (Go Cats!), has some designs of his own. He claims to want to foster debate about the Olympic bid (though he also registered Tokyo2016...and a total of 40 combinations of city names and years). Officials are seeking to gain control of Chicago2016.com through an arbitration organization. The student has gone to US District Court in Chicago to stop the arbitration proceedings and protect his claim.

A spokesperson for Chicago 2016, a trademarked name, claims that "the domain name is rightfully" theirs and is the "natural domain" for their site. I think, if that was so, those officials should have done something about it a long time ago. Either way, this should be interesting. Classic little pink house standing in the way of the freeway.

What a Joke

Olympic Boxing.

Javelin

It's some kind of track and field event. I'm not sure of the particulars. What is important to know is that Leryn Franco competes in that event. Keep alert for this momentous competition.

Vibram Five Fingers

Sounds dirty don't it? Well, it's not.

The Vibram Five Fingers shoes are what is passing for my latest running related fun. Vibram calls it barefooting. The shoes are essentially a thin, stretchy fabric with a tough, rubber compound sole. My Flows have a neoprene lining and EVA footbed.

They have individual toe compartments and are akin to running barefoot. The individual toes allow the foot (and toes) to spread at impact, as is natural. Gone is the heel strike promoted by the usual running shoe, as the Five Fingers are meant to encourage mid-foot striking.

The folks at Vibram say it might take a bit to adjust, but I wasn't much of a heel striker anyway. This is the way my feet want to run. I trail run for the most part and the sole is plenty to avoid pain from any random pointy things on the ground. The lightness is a joy and I have significantly reduced my tally of ankle turns - something I am intimately familiar with due to the combination of running terrain and my running partner and which was not helped in the least by my shoes.

I'll admit that putting them on out of the box, my initial reaction was "what the fuck is wrong with my toes" as it didn't seem like they wanted anything to do with the seemingly natural configuration of the Fingers. However, that went away quickly and I find no issue pulling them on since that initial try.

These things are fooking cool. I have no idea to what degree (literally) these will suffice in the Chicago winter, but I'm going to find out (the Injinji toe socks should help a little).

Non Coverage

CBS, you really are a bunch of tools.

Let me tell you something. I don't really care what your analysts have to say. I don't need to be watching them fiddle with each other at a desk while games are actually going on.

Fortunately, I can turn to the DirecTV Mega March Madness Mix Channel to see what is happening. Unfortunately, I couldn't turn to the actual game because it was blacked out in my area. Instead, I had to watch the Mix Channel, which had the end of a game you went away from, presumably due to a lack of competitive basketball being displayed, and the game you didn't switch to (that was blocked on the DirecTV package).

I'm not exactly sure why networks behave in such a way. It makes little sense. I know your TV personalities want to feel needed, but the viewers just want to watch basketball. As much basketball as possible. The fact that there is live game action that isn't being shown is rather upsetting. Instead, we get to watch people rehash what we've already seen and stumble through analysis short on insight but long on buzzwords and hyperbole.

I hoist one to you. It must be nice to live in your world.

Lazy Picks

I didn't watch any amount college basketball this year. It has become less and less interesting. I hope and I pray that somehow the dilution of both the NCAA hoops and the NBA from the massive influx into the NBA of raw talent with no physical presence, no basketball IQ and little desire for hard work. Now the college ranks are packed with 18-year-olds looking to get one year of play and some national exposure before jumping to a big payday in the NBA, regardless of if they ever prove to be worth that money or win any games of significance.

As a result, I have a hard time watching basketball at all and it is no different for this fiasco of a tournament. Despite what pundits say, this is not the most exciting event in sports, it's just one of the most heavily gambled on. Hence the reason I bother to pay attention at all. Normally I would do a bunch of work to think this out, but frankly it doesn't really matter that much anyway. For every upset you nail, some heralded team fizzles and leaves your predictions in shambles. It comes down to getting the last segments of the bracket correct. Just by virtue of waking up in the morning, I've heard more than I care to about the teams the should end up on top of the pile. Odds are heavily in favor of the top seeds....and for good reason.

I filled this sucker out in just a few minutes, with only a cursory thought toward the stats. I present this bracket almost unchanged from my first impression run through. The only adjustments I made were to put Vandy over Wisconsin, feeling my Big 10 bias was showing, and putting Texas in the final vs UCLA, because I just don't like UCLA.

Junkyard Dog

Mike Vick agreed to plead guilty to federal dog fighting charges. Potentially, another sports star on the road to ruin. The list is pretty long. Brings to mind the likes of Lawrence Phillips, Rae Carruth, Rick Tocchet, Keon Clark, Bam Morris and Bill Maas, just to name a few.

Without getting into any particular value judgements, what should not be at issue is the fact that Vick has broken the law. Standing before the court, Vick must now face the penalties for doing so.

This seems clear to me. Nevertheless, his cohorts have a need to see things in shades of grey where there is only a stark line...legal or illegal.

Deion Sanders, back on July 22nd, had quite a bit to say. Granted, this came well before Vick's recent guilty plea. However, Sanders was one of the few to not dismiss the idea that Vick had actually done what he was being accused of and still felt a need to justify Vick's actions.

This is all the result of perspective.What a dog means to Vick might be a lot different than what he means to you or I. Hold on, don’t start shaking your head just yet. Listen to me.

Some people kiss their dogs on the mouth. Some people let their dogs eat from their plate. Some people dress their dogs in suits more expensive than mine, if you can believe that.

And some people enjoy proving they have the biggest, toughest dog on the street. You’re probably not going to believe this, but I bet Vick loves the dogs that were the biggest and the baddest. Maybe, he identified with them in some way.

You can still choose to condemn him, but I’m trying to take you inside his mind so you can understand where he might be coming from.

I’m sure all of the animal activists and Humane Society folks have a dart board with Vick’s picture in the center of it. And if he plays this season, PETA is going to picket every stadium where he plays.

Still, I must ask the question: Where is all of this going?

By now you’ve read all of the accusations about the cruelty involving the dogs — and I’m not just talking about their duels to the death. All of that is enough to make me cringe because I have three highly-trained protection German shepherds, just in case someone wants to rob my family.

Believe me, you don’t want to deal with them. With one German command, our dog Yascho turns into Cujo. And for the record, I live around the corner from the police station, so it won’t take them
long to show up and save you from the dogs.

Now back to Vick.

Why are we indicting him? Was he the ringleader? Is he the big fish? Or is there someone else? The
fights allegedly occurred at a property that he purchased for a family member. They apparently found carcasses on the property, but I must ask you again, is he the ringleader?

This situation reminds me of a scene in the movie “New Jack City,” when drug dealer Nino Brown is on the witness stand and eloquently says, “This thing is bigger than me.”

Are we using Vick to get to the ringleader? Are we using him to bring an end to dogfighting in the United States?

The only thing I can gather from this situation is that we’re using Vick.

Was he wrong? Absolutely. Was he stupid? Can’t argue with that. Was he immature? No doubt. But is he the ringleader? I just can’t see it.

I believe Vick had a passion for dogfighting. I know many athletes who share his passion. The allure is the intensity and the challenge of a dog fighting to the death. It’s like ultimate fighting, but the dog doesn’t tap out when he knows he can’t win.

It reminds me of when I wore a lot of jewelry back in the day because I always wanted to have
the biggest chain or the biggest, baddest car. It gives you status.

NFL RB, Clinton Portis, had his time in front of a microphone on July 18th, before the NFL forced him to retract his statement.

"It's his property. It's his dog. If that's what he wants to do, do it."

"It can't be too bad of a crime. There's lots of stuff that's (a crime). There's killers on the loose...You want to hunt down Michael Vick over fighting some dogs, you know, I think people
should mind their business."

"It's prevalent in life...I know a lot of back roads that got some dog fighting, if you want to go see
it. But they're not bothering (anybody)...I'm sure some police got dogs and fight them, some judges got dogs and everything else."

On August 3rd, Eagles QB, Donovan McNabb, made public statements supporting Vick. There is nothing wrong with McNabb's statements, but he echoes the fraternal instinct to protect. McNabb publicly dismisses the idea that Vick could be guilty, though overwhelming evidence and, if Sanders is to be believed, a prevelant culture among male athletes would indicate the opposite.

"I'm a supporter of Vick," McNabb said. "That's because I'm a good friend of his and also we're guys that obviously compete to win the Super Bowl. We push each other. Now, I don't know exactly what happened in that situation, and I think for all of us that have read over the stuff that was over the Internet, the report, you look at it as kind of like, 'Wow, you've got your so-called friends and family members turning their back on you now to make their situation better.' They're throwing you under the bus so that they can clean their name. That's unfortunate. That goes to show, I always have a saying that I've always lived by: If you can't trust family, who can you trust? It's an unfortunate situation, and I just hope everything works out well for him where he can get back out on the field."

"As a football fraternity member, you just want those guys to have that opportunity to get back out there and maybe put that stuff behind them and change their life," McNabb said. "I think for some of the guys that have made the mistake and now that their season is taken away from them, the question goes out of what happens next? Because when some people get things like that taken away from them, they just continue to go down. You hope nothing but the best, that they've learned from their mistakes to move on where they can get back out on the field and play. Being suspended for a year? That's tough. That's tough.... You just want everything to kind of work out well for everybody, work out well for us as well as work out well for those guys."

Most recently (August 21st), NBA star, Stephon Marbury, made public comments regarding the Vick situation.

"I think it's tough. I think, you know, we don't say anything about people who shoot deer, or shoot other animals. You know, from what I hear, dogfighting is a sport. It's just behind closed doors. I think it's tough that we build Michael Vick up, and then we break him down. I think he's one of the superb athletes, and he's a good human being. I just think that he fell into a bad situation."

There are common threads throughout, whether looking at the most egregious (Portis and Sanders) to the more subtle commentary from Marbury and McNabb.

• Relativity
• Ignorance
• Responsibility

There seems to be a group of people that have determined that if something worse has happened, then the rest of us should lighten up about the particular barbarity in question. Indeed, why carry on with the niceties of life when there are BABY KILLERS ROAMING FREE! This is mob mentality. The sort of lawless thinking that, gone to the extreme, results in riots and looting. Intellectually, I can actually grasp the ideas espoused regarding cultural differences here. Anyone can look about and know that people just don't think the same across the globe...no matter how elemental an issue seems to each of us. Regardless of this intellectual exercise, there is a law in place regarding dog fighting. All justification falls short in the face of that point. Besides, which enclave of cultural mores should be allowed in opposition to US law?

Secondly, there is quite clearly a significant amount of ignorance among US residents, particularly in regards to what is legal and what rights people actually have. In many peoples' minds, the law is akin to a code from the wild west where property ownership overrides. Watch an episode of Animal Cops. You would be surprised what peoples' views are on their legal responsibilities in regards to animal care. However, I find it hard to believe that anyone even casually connected to organized dog fighting is unaware of the illicit nature of the activity.

And what of responsibility? How is it that supporters can make Vick a victim here? Was I really supposed to believe that the property owner and registered dog breeder was unaware of what was occurring at his house and is now a victim of circumstance? Marbury, an often negatively-portrayed NBA player, seems to think people are "breaking" Vick down. I think Marbury fully believes this. There is an overwhelming trend toward ignoring one's own behavior as the source of woe. I love Mike Vick, the NFL player, but that is entirely separate from this behavior. Vick orchestrated this downfall without my help and without the help of the general media.

Having said all that, I don't think Vick need be punished beyond the limit of the law. Analysts seem to think Vick will be out of football until at least 2010 after serving his time and a one year NFL suspension, though many quietly wonder if he will (or should) ever play again. If he does his time, he can make or break himself as far as I'm concerned. Leonard Little and Jamal Lewis made it back into the fold for good or ill. It seems a little disingenuous (though, I'm sure some of Vick's dogs would find it appropriate that the once great gladiator be tossed aside like an old newspaper) for the NFL to cast Vick loose after making billions riding his back and the backs of other players like him (Nike "The Battle" commercial with "dog fight" clip sound good to anyone?).

Unfortunately for Vick, I think recidivism is more the norm than not in these situations. There is something deeper gnawing at the innards of the sporting society. It is reflective of the greater world and it stinks. I'm quite sure the NFL is leery of looking much deeper.

755-ish

Barry Bonds is on the verge of trampling one of sport's most touted records. Juice or no, 756+ is a heap of homers. Hammerin' Hank has a place in the fiber of my sports being, hearkening back to being a youngster learning to play ball back in ATL. I hate to see his record fall, but that is the way of things. Regardless, I will still marvel at what he accomplished and picture the image of Aaron trotting the bases on number 755 and the crush of deeper and more disturbing things than steroids hanging in the air as a black man assumed the Home Run Crown. Nonetheless, I have always considered Barry, with or without the enhancements, to be probably the most talented player out there. I certainly have not seen any better in my days. The one man asshole army, Cobb, was long gone before my arrival on Earth. Arguments to be made for sure, on all sides, and new talent is always rising.

The looming torch passing and all the squabbling gave me pause to consider the greater sporting world.

Let's run down where we stand today:

• Baseball - steroids, racism (talk to Sheffield, he is always good for an uncomfortable take on the world), union headaches, Commissioner refusing to acknowledge Bonds, the death of a minor league coach after being struck by a batted ball
• NFL - new Commissioner trying to take control while criminals run rampant: Vick (dog fighting), Pacman Jones (everything up to and including threatening witnesses), Tank Johnson (guns), Cincy Bungles getting arrested like it's going out of style, League balking at assisting Veteran players
• NBA - amid the usual thug image, general lack of fan interest of late, and USA basketball playing like a second tier team, there is now the issue of a ref getting nailed for influencing games he worked, including mob ties
• Golf - an emerging steroid scandal of their own
• Cycling - dopes doping, most recently another smear to the Tour de France
• College - uncontrolled players, Coaches hopping from gig to gig for millions of dollars while players receive nothing from a billion dollar collegiate sports industry that can't even see fit to make sure they get educated, women's sports inequalities and lack of black coaches still shadow every success for an area holding tight to fan interest
• Boxing - no heavy weight contenders, Don King and a sport that nobody trusts
• Soccer - Belarus player accused of offering cash to players to throw games, Partizan club tossed from UEFA for fighting with Bosnian-Croat fans, Portuguese investigating 20 cases of corruption, 50 Iraqis killed in a celebration of advancing to the Asia Cup final, West Ham and Man U in High Court duster over ownership of a player's rights, Danish fan attacked a ref, former Thai PM (ousted over alleged corruption) is now majority owner of Manchester City soccer club and will delist MC from the London Stock Exchange
• NHL - no fan interest, continuing financial problems and union issues
• Tennis - lack of interest and personalities as nobody pays attention to another great Federer v. Nadal match
• Auto Racing - Dale Junior leaves DEI, July 10th twin engine plane crash kills 5, Hendrick Motorsports cars fail pre-race inspections in June, Formula One's McLaren is not to be punished for possessing confidential info on the design of rival Ferrari's cars, IRL controversies abound as drivers brawl amongst each other (perhaps trying to emulate an image NASCAR is trying to distance itself from)

It's rough out there. At least I can still be amused at the occasional statistical oddity. Yankees slugger, Alex Rodriguez, hit his 499th career home run on Wednesday. However, today (Friday, July 27th) A-Rod will face the Orioles in the resumption of a game that was suspended in the eighth inning on June 28th this year. If A-Rod hits a round tripper in this resumed game, that would be his 493th and the Wednesday shot would become his 500th. A-Rod, coincidentally, turns 32 today and would be the youngest to reach 500 home runs. He would surpass Jimmie Foxx (32 years, 338 days).

MLB rule, 10.23 (d), states: "All performances in the completion of a suspended game shall be considered as occurring on the original date of the game.''

Let's not even get into the permutations of what the Yankee's win streak would be....or not be. It begs the question of what exactly is a streak and what a numerical sequence really represents. I guess it mainly serves to prove that Major League Baseball has power over time itself.

OOPS!

Ok, the Derby didn't go as I expected. Neither did the Bulls game.

That horse ran a nice race, though. I didn't see anything spectacular, but watchers with me seemed to think he had a spark.

I'll be sure to add some equally wrong comments prior to the next big race.

What are the odds?

The Kentucky Derby runs tomorrow. Hope you've done your handicapping already. If you need any serious info, go over to Daily Racing Form. They are cool enough to give you the Past Performances for the main event free of charge in PDF (with Moss Pace Figure Enhanced). It may look complicated but it is chock full of data. Just take a quick look at a definition page to see what it all means. Beyer speed numbers, times, finishes, conditions, jockey, lineage, you name it.

Anyway, let's get down to it. Looks like the weather forecast (according to The Weather Channel) is calling for 60% chance of rain (1/4 inch) and temps ranging from 65 in the morning to 75 in late afternoon. Probably not a major impact, but certainly not helping some of the speed horses.

The field is absent of the type of horse to put a fast pace up front, which may hamper some of the stalking horses. Overall, nothing super about this field. It will be fun to see who emerges.

Lot of attention on Curlin, who I'm discounting right off without a start as a 2-year-old (The last time a horse didn't run as a 2-year-old and won the Derby was 1882) only 3 career starts (The last horse to win the Derby off just three career starts was Regret, a filly, in 1915) and he's never faced a double-digit field size. I also see talk about town regarding Cowtown Cat, Circular Quay and Nobiz Like Shobiz.

I'm keeping an eye on these horses (odds from Bodog, as of this minute):

Scat Daddy (10-1): Negative talk of this being a long race for this colt and the fact that he's never posted a triple digit Beyer. He's also a stalker and if the pace is slow and the field bunched, it could pose issues. However, he has the ability to avoid trouble with situational speed. I happen to like the 5-week layoff (same as Barbaro), the fact that his last run was winning the Florida Derby and Prado astride him.

Tiago (15-1): Santa Anita winner, where he posted a 100 Beyer. Only 4 career starts, but one as a two-year-old. Half-brother of 2004 winner Giacomo, which is enough for me to give him a look. Another stalker. Smith at the reigns brings experience.

Dominican (20-1): Bit of a long shot, lots of things working against him. Been slow late in races and hasn't run well on dirt, having run mostly PolyTrack. No triple-digit Beyers. However, last two races looked good, including a win at Blue Grass over Street Sense and Zanjero, and has posted a good 5-furlong bullet on 4/29. Looks ready to make a push. As long as the odds stay longish, I'll take a shot with this one.

The mighty Bulls tip off against the Pistons Saturday night and I really want to throw a few bucks on Bwana Bull for the hell of it, but I might as well just burn the cash. Bwaba Bull is greatly outclassed here.

As always, I would tell you the winner if I knew. Unfortunately, the universe has not seen fit to give me precognition. As such, I'm reduced to playing spin the bottle with painted horse figurines and making up pompous sounding analysis, complete with horsey lingo, to explain my selections.

Good luck, ladies and gents. The sun shines bright in the old Kentucky home.....