InGameNow

Who says Blue Devils make bad Pros?

November 30th, 2008 | By Jack Newhouse Posted in NBA, NCAA BB

The New York Knicks beat the Golden State Warriors 138-125 at MSG.

Chris Duhon set a Knicks team record with 22 assists. Duhon broke Richie Guerin’s team record of 21 assists previously set on December 12th, 1958. His line for the night, 12 pts, 22 ast, 4 reb.

Corey Maggette put up huge numbers for the Warriors. He shot 12-20 from the field and ended up with 32 pts, 12 reb, 2 ast.

Coach Mike Krzyzewski and the Duke Blue Devils take a lot of heat for not performing well in the NBA. Last night, former Blue Devils Chris Duhon and Corey Maggette proved otherwise.

Obama and McCain Affect Monday Night Football?

November 5th, 2008 | By Steuart Martens Posted in InGameNow, MLB, MMA, NFL

As I watched Chris Berman interview presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain last night during halftime of Monday Night Football, it struck me that sports and politics have seem more intertwined than ever during this election. We’ve had actual sports heroes in presidential elections before (Jack Kemp in ‘96 and Bill Bradley in ‘00 come to mind), but when’s the last time we saw so many references to “Hockey Moms” or so much attention given to sports bloggers
(see fivethirtyeight.com or this one!) for their politcal know-how? Which leads me to the question, which candidate will take the all important sports fan electoral college vote?

This is certainly a tired old sports storyline: the tired old veteran and the up and coming stud battle it out for the starting job. Not too far off from the plot of Any Given Sunday actually. Pretty close to the QB controversy in John McCain’s home state of Arizona, which should give him some hope as wiley vertern Kurt Warner continues to light up the scoreboard while the youngster, Matt Leinhert sits on the sidelines, waiting for old man Warner to keel over. Meanwhile, on Barack Obama’s turf, in Soldiers Field, the Bears had also learned to embrace change, going with Kyle Orton over the incumbent Rex Grossman, although to Obama’s dismay, after Grossman’s heroics last week they may be changing back to the old guard again. Obama’s path to the whitehouse also seems to be reminicent of the “come from nowhere” storyline. Much like the Tampa Bay Rays’, Obama was unheard of just a short time ago and his rise to prominence has been a historic one (until the big day, woops another bad omen for Barack). McCain, on the other hand, has been the comeback kid. Not too long ago, he was down and out, not unlike Phillies’ closer Brad Lidge. McCain, too, was ripped of his role as Presidential nominee in 2000, and had to wait his turn until this year and fought off adversity and made his way back to the top of his profession (that one bodes well for the Arizona Senator).

But not everything is rosy for the Republicans. The Washington Redskins, who have predicted the fate of the incumbent party at a 16-1 (the only misstep being last year) rate for presidential elections fell to the Pittsburgh Steelers. Pittsburgh, significant not only for its placement in the all-important swing state, but also the site where VP candidate Sarah Palin unfortunately confused as the “home of the World Champion Philadelphia Phillies” to a chorus of boos. Not to be outdone, Philadelphia, Boo-town,USA, also rained boos down on Palin before Pittsburgh when she dropped the ceremonial puck at a Philadelphia Flyers Game In addition to that John McCain is largely seen as an enemy to the US’s best chance of becoming an Olympic host in 2016, where Barack Obama’s home city of Chicago stands the best chance.

The players themselves, are not immune from election fever either. In fact, the locker room debates have gotten so intense that Cleveland Browns coach Romeo Crennel has ordered his players to leave politics for the offseason and out of the locker room. Professional athletes are a tricky bunch to predict, however, as they constitute two stereotypically constant blocks for both parties: black and rich. Redskins cornerback Fred Smoot spoke to this point saying, “We’re coming from Democratic backgrounds, but we got Republican money right now.” But according to his teammate, Philip Daniels, “I think this year more guys are not even thinking about the income part of it. They’re just really thinking about the economy and the country. A lot of people want change.” I know at least one former Red Sox pitcher that would disagree.

Whatever your politics, or sports affliation for that matter, all sports fans can agree that speculation and predictions are only good to pass the time until the main event. Well on November 4th, we have a chance to be more than just the 12th man cheering section, we get to be apart of the big game. And no matter what the pundits or athletes says, in the end it’s up to us. As they say, that’s why the play the game.

Does One Game Really Make A Difference?

November 2nd, 2008 | By Steuart Martens Posted in MLB, MMA, NBA, NCAA BB, NCAA FB, NFL, NHL, Uncategorized

What do the numbers 12, 16, 82, and 162 mean? Well, simply put, they are the number of games played in college football, professional football, basketball, and baseball.  While the numbers are all different, the end result that each team wants from those numbers is the same. Of the number of games they play, they want more of those games to end up as wins instead of losses, so they can continue on into the playoffs and hopefully walk away as a champion.

The other night while on the InGameNow site, someone mentioned how big it was the Knicks beat the Heat, in the first game of the season, and that it will completely define the Knicks season.  I find that hard to believe with 81 more games still on the schedule. But it got me thinking, how important is every game for our major sports, and so we’re going to break this one down.

College Football

College Football is the most unique of the major sports, in that your ranking, based on polls, determines your success in the postseason.  Now, in order to actually qualify for a bowl, only six wins are needed, so as long as a team can get themselves there, they are in good shape.  For the more prestigious programs with bigger trophies on the mind, six is a gimme number to them. Their success is defined by ten or more wins, and for some of the top tier programs, it has to be a perfect season. One loss can easily lower them from the polls and remove all semblance of hope of a national championship.

While it may be a flawed system most (myself included), no other sport highlights the fact that no matchup is guaranteed, and taking a day off to rest is just not part of the picture. Each game matters, and the teams perform up to those standards day in and day out.

Professional Football

Next up is the NFL, with 16 games in 17 weeks, and with only four playoff spots between the 16 teams in the conference, competition is tight. However, there are those teams that end up head and shoulders above the rest, and as the playoffs creep closer, upon clinching themselves a spot in the playoffs (usually, if its early enough, they’re also adding in home field advantage and maybe a bye week as well), choose to rest their weary starters and save their legs and strength for the post-season run.  For those good teams, they usually begin to do this around week 15, become extremely more prevalent during week 17.  However, I think this trend is going to start being bucked pretty soon.  Teams like the Indianapolis Colts, who since 2002 have been a playoff fixture, have had the habit of resting their starters around week 16 and 17, as well as the bye week, and what did they get for it? From 2002-2005, the Colts could not make the Super Bowl, and on three occasions from 2000-2007, they have been knocked out in their first appearance.

Now, during this past season the New York Giants had the opportunity to rest in the last week, but, due to the nature of the game (vs. Patriots in regular season finale, who were undefeated at this point), they chose to play their starters not just for a half, but for the entire football game. Sure, some got hurt, but what came of it? They kept their motivation and camrederie up through three straight road wins on their way to defeating the Patriots in the Super Bowl. It is that hope that we begin to see 17 straight weeks of challenging football, and not the current 15 and a month’s worth of rest for our better teams.

Basketball

Now, for some teams, winning every game matters (see Chicago Bulls 72-10 record), but for others, it’s not bad to sit a starter or two after a long road trip swing. Then you have the playoff factor.  Teams like the Spurs are extremely conservative during the regular season, banking on the fact that they will do enough in their division to earn a top four seed, while teams that have already been eliminated decide to use that opportunity to showcase players no one has ever heard of, and rest weary starters to save them in the hopes of making a playoff run next year.  For example, the Miami Heat, clearly eliminated last year, decided to place Dwyane Wade on the injured list, to let him heal up for a shot this year, and give the team a greater chance at a good draft pick.

Remember, in basketball, the team with the worst record gets the greatest number of chances at the top draft pick.  So, the top teams can take a day or two off during the season, and the bottom of the rankings give up as soon as they can. Doesn’t leave too many games the fans will see actual action, unless you’re a middle of the road team. Those are your daily grinders in the NBA.

Baseball

We save the longest for last (much like this blog), and let’s be perfectly honest, there is no way each team is going to put 100% effort for all 162 games. It is extremely common to see a team take some days off throughout the year because some personnel have to rest. The number of games combined with some west coast road swings can make a huge difference, and unless you’re closer to the playoff run at the end of the season, when you have your September call ups around anyways, how much are you going to care about losing a random game in June and in August. Sure, it has the potential to bite you in the butt at the end, but the teams are going to concern themselves with the present, especially if they know they will need the freshest bodies for a playoff run.  Finally, add into the fact that once again, your guaranteed teams are going to use September to rest the weary and give new faces a shot at making their case for next year, and its painfully obvious baseball is not a sport where every game matters every day.

So there you have it, four sports, and the importance of each game every day in their respective league.  Makes it a little more obvious why some sports are bigger during the regular season than the playoffs, and others fans don’t really pay attention to until it’s postseason time.

Athletes are underpaid and I DO feel sorry for Paul Peirce

November 1st, 2008 | By Steuart Martens Posted in InGameNow, MLB, MMA, NASCAR, NBA, NCAA BB, NCAA FB, NFL, NHL

If there’s one thing I cannot stand, it’s the winy sports fan. And the biggest wine of them all is the ridiculous beef that 90% of sports radio callers have and that’s the professional athletes are overpaid.

Well get ready to wine I think they should be paid more!

This nerve got struck again most recently after I read Bob Ryan’s Wednesday morning column where he called Paul Peirce’s Championship acceptance speech rambling, embarrassing, [and] self-indulgent. Not incredibly out of line, especially for this town, but when a few Boston radio hosts came to the defense of Peirce, saying that it was in no way embarrassing, especially after all that Pierce has had to go through with this team, both personally and professionally, all hell broke loose.

There is obviously going to be a lot of hate thrown at any athlete who cries on national television. It’s just sports for Pete’s sake! Grown men should only cry in bars watching sports or at home by themselves watching Rudy or Field of Dreams. Peirce was obviously going to get it for that, but after the Ryan comment along with the subsequent defense, out came the crazies. The common thread of the the argument came: Why am I supposed to feel bad for a guy making MILLIONS of dollars to play a SPORT??

Well you had no problem throwing every other emotion their way throughout their playing careers. You love them, you DESPISE them. You call them a superstar, a bum, a god, a cancer on the locker room, but you never call them human. To you, the salary makes them immune to pain, suffering, or any sympathy for hardships big (being stabbed within an inch of your life) or small (countless mediocre seasons). You don’t owe them anything because they have EVERYTHING.

This is often the battle cry of the very people that spend all day listening to sports radio at work, then come home to watch ESPN, go to the computer to check their fantasy lineup, before heading off to the arena to spend 5 times what they spend at the grocery store to watch sports. Apparently there are no mirrors in crazy sports fan town because you are your own worst enemy. I continually appalled by the lack of self-awareness it takes to call up a SPORTS radio station and complain that it’s just a game. If it were just a game to you, then you wouldn’t be listening to people talk about games. It’s okay to admit that you think sports are important. You’re not the only one.

Which brings me to my next point: the money. I guess I can understand why a guy who’s making pennies on the dollar to do hard labor can get pissed off seeing a guy complain about not feeding his family on multi-million dollar deals, but it’s not like they are asking for anything out of the means of the owners. Sports are a multi-billion dollar industry and the players are not the only people who feed their families off of its profits. Although they are the most crucial aspect of the cash cow that is professional sports. For example, Major League Baseball took in $6.075 billion in 2007 while only paying out just over $2 billion to the players. That leaves 2/3 of the profits to go to non players, who make up a considerably smaller portion of the overall MLB payroll. Is there any great injustice over how much money Jerry Jones or Al Davis or George Steinbrenner make? I mean is what they do any less of a game than the players?

For those of you who didn’t catch Peirce’s speech (as most of the sports radio callers admitted they hadn’t before they called to complain), you can listen to it here. And yes, it is self indulgent and he does ramble a little bit longer than he probably should, but that’s why I loved it and why I thought it was the furthest thing from embarrassing. Because I have been a Celtics fan from Peirce’s drafting up until now and I did feel bad for this guy. He was and is a superstar, one of the best in the league and he could have gone elsewhere and probably made more money, but he didn’t. He stuck through it even after a local rap group tried to kill him. He stuck through it as the organization continued to make horrible moves and trade away top commodities for mediocre talent. He stuck through terrible stretches of bad play with young, unproven teammates. The bad play did not, however, hurt the Celtics organization as fans, like myself, stuck by the team even through a 22 year championship drought for the League’s most storied franchise.

I felt bad for Paul, not out of sympathy, but because I went through it with him and it is sweeter because of the hard times. I know that if I had been up there, I would have rambled just as much and talked about how my father taught me to be a Celtics fan and how I idolized Larry Bird even though I don’t remember him ever winning a championship or how Red Auerbach is an honorary member of my family although he’s never met any of us. I got a little choked up watching him because I think he does understand that we went through it all with him. That’s why the fans continued to cheer throughout the rambling because we got it.

I hate to say it, but I felt a tinge of this same feeling last week as I watched my beloved Red Sox fall to the Tampa Bay [Devil] Rays. I have little to no respect for the Tampa fan base with their ridiculous cowbells and F-List celebrities and horrendous stadium, but as I watched in horror as they piled ontop of David Price, the TBS broadcast cut to Carl Crawford running in from left field. He did not make a straight B-Line to the mound, but rather sort of galloped in sideways, jumping up and down like a freakshow towards the fans. If he had not been Carl Crawford, a player I greatly admire and have often wondered why he remained with such a terrible organization, I would have rolled my eyes and turned off the television, but I know that that stupid, self-indulgent slapping of his chest was genuine and it wasn’t embarrassing as Mr. Ryan would probably suggest. It was what sports is all about. The player and the fans living in the moment. And they both got it.

What’s next?, Joe The Plumber vs. Obama/McCain?

October 27th, 2008 | By InGameNow Posted in InGameNow, NFL, Uncategorized

Italy's Gabibbo and WKU's BIG RED

by Chinedu Ernesto

It is an unusually chilly October morning in Tampa, but all is good in the sports world.  The previous night the home team, the Tampa Bay Rays won the American League Championship and are heading to the World Series.  As would be expected, the entire Bay Area is swept up in “RAYMANIA”, including of course, the local radio stations.   Enter MJ of “The MJ Morning Show”, playing locally on 93.3 FLZ.  MJ, Fester and Froggy a team that has mastered the art of skits, bits, promotions and giveaways concocted the best giveaway available for The Bay Area, tickets to The World Series.

Alright, so radio station, home team in THE SERIES, tickets, FREE!!!…….NO STORY HERE!!! But wait, not only IS there a story but THE STORY opened an entire can of worms full of similar stories.   After the first day of the radio competition, and of course after I e-mailed MY entry, the entire contest had to be changed.  Apparently, as reported by MJ, lawyers from MLB swooped in on 93.3FLZ and threatened legal actions due to the promotion.  The Morning Show’s use of the words “WORLD SERIES” both on air and in the email address created for the promotion was a COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT.   After what I would imagine were some very persuasive words, The 93.3 Morning Show was forced to comply.  While MLB was able to stop the offensive terms, the promotion continued as “THE BIG EARTH BASEBALL EVENT”.  All of the tickets had been attained legally and were rightfully owned by MJ and Company. So now we know that the MLB doesn’t play (no pun intended), but what about other sports leagues?

In 2007 the NFL descended on Indiana to seek out Fall Creek Baptist Church for its reckless use of the Super Bowl as a party theme.  The NFL told Pastor John D. Newland that they could not promote their “Super Bowl Party” on flyers, the church’s website or anywhere for that matter.  In addition, the church’s plans to play the Super Bowl on a large projection TV were also considered a copyright infringement.  The NFL stated that it was illegal to invite people to view “THE GAME” on a screen larger than 55 inches. NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said the league’s long-standing policy is to ban “mass out-of-home viewing” of the Super Bowl.  While the church was forced to cease and desist the NFL DOES have a few exceptions to the rule, such as sports bars and other businesses that show televised sports as a part of their everyday operations.

I must quote a blog I ran across in my research, written by MITCHELL BLATT:

“Here’s what sports writing might look like if the NFL’s, MLB’s, and Mike Brown’s lawyers had their way:
The football team from Cleveland is playing the football team from Cincinnati in what some view as a significantly important matchup. Cleveland QB #14 is having a relatively good season with a lot of touchdown passes. We can’t say exactly how many, but sources within the organization say the anonymous QB is in the double digits.

This isn’t NCAA 2K5 here, folks.

Cleveland TE [Number censored] cause a stir this week, bashing the Cincy squad, saying, “This game **** **** **** is ***************, yeah!”

Now before we part, I leave you with one last chuckle, as I touch upon the story of “Gabibbo” and “Big Red.”   For those who are unaware or otherwise have REAL problems in their life, Gabibbo is the fun loving mascot of the Italian show “Striscia la Notizia” and “Big Red” is the mascot of Western Kentucky University since 1979.  Both of these creatures are big red blah blah blahs.   My best description would be Elmo on steroids.  Seems WKU felt that Gabibbo was an infringement on their copyright of the character Big Red. Go figure!! The suit in this case sought $250 million in damages. Now while there were many similarities, WKU lost to the TV Company owned by Italy’s former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi on one simple technicality.  Gabibbo talked and Big Red didn’t, case closed.

As I found out, we could go on for days with the lawsuits and actions filed in America’s court system over sports.   We could talk about the suit claiming the Baltimore Ravens’ logo of actually being plagiarized art.  Would you believe the suit of World Adult Kickball Association (”WAKA”) Vs. DCKickball for ones’ use of the others’ RULE BOOK?  Ever heard of Rasheed Wallace’s tattoo artist vs. Nike?  This case was over use of Wallace’s tattoo in an ad campaign.  Then there’s the Chicago Cubs vs. the owners of 11 buildings which have rooftop seats overlooking Wrigley Field. The two reached a twenty-year agreement calling for the building owners to give the team 17 percent of their revenues, which was estimated as high as $2 million per year. As if nothing is sacred, in CF InFlight Ltd. v. Cablecam the two fought over who owned the rights to what we know as the pro sports “Skycam.” How about the case of Robert “BOB THE BEERMAN” Donchez vs. the Colorado Rockies lawsuit?  After the team ran a series of advertisements without Donchez, but using the terms “beerman” and “beerstud” in reference to beer vendors, he sued for trademark infringement. Yoooou’re OUT!!! BEERMAN lost!

In this Wide World of Sports (Disney please don’t sue me, I’m broke!) it’s obvious that there’s plenty of room for extracurricular, judicial shenanigans.  I’m tired already!!!! What’s next, Joe the Plumber vs. McCain/Obama?

Delonte West: Just Mood On With It

October 20th, 2008 | By Steuart Martens Posted in Uncategorized

Those who know me know that I’m not the type to make fun of anyone, especially not when they’re trying to better themselves . . . which brings me to Cleveland Cavaliers guard Delonte West. He’s been MIA for a while (for those of you who’ve even noticed) because he’s suffering from a mood disorder. Yes, I said mood disorder, you don’t need to go back and re-read that. All right, go ahead, I’ll wait . . .

I told you that’s what I said. Anyway, in the first impression one gets from the reports, West seemed to be tottering on the verge of a psychotic breakdown. It seemed as if everything was carefully written, too carefully, in fact, to squeeze every ounce of pity from the reader. It was a pity I shared for him in the beginning; that is, until I read this sentence:

“I felt a feeling of anger, and I just wanted to throw it all away and quit the team.”

And that was West’s reasoning that he warbled to ESPN. Now tell me, is there anyone in the entire history of the world who has not felt this way at some point or another? The whole thing is now starting to reek of this:

While I’m now wondering what in the world could be so bad that it warrants giving up and quitting, there seems to be no explanation given, merely that he was angry at a high school referee on October 3rd. Again, I say, who hasn’t lashed out at someone in anger over something? Why, just last week I – um . . . you know what, this isn’t about me . . .

But, West would like us all to know, he feels at the top of his game and is back “100 percent”, even though his shooting sucks and he only played twenty-eight minutes out of the whole game. Still, he says, “It was the funnest game i’ve played in years. Being on the court felt like being on the playground as a child again.” Please see previous video for my thoughts on that if you have not already done so . . .

But now that he’s on medication and in therapy to get help for his “ailment”, does that mean we’re supposed to be okay with his now shoddy gameplay? Are his teammates all right with it? The coach? “Oh, it’s all right, just as long as you have fun okay if you miss the basket 95% of the time.”

But still, there’s hope. Apparently his anger only gets out of control when things are at their best for him . . . oh . . . wait . . .

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=3649328 (West quote source)