Author: Anthony Stalter (Page 1124 of 1503)

      Curran: Cowboys are exploiting Pacman Jones

      October 10, 2008 /

      Tom Curran of NBC Sports makes an excellent point about the relationship between the Dallas Cowboys and Adam Jones, and how the team is essentially just using “Pacman” as their circus “freak show.”

      Pacman JonesGiven the pain Jones has caused himself and others and the limb the Cowboys made the rest of the league climb out on for a guy who’s a lock to offend again, the honorable thing would have been for the Cowboys to somehow shield Jones’ re-entry into the NFL from the cameras.
      Would HBO have like it? No. Did it make for great TV to see Jones dumping trash cans filled with water from his balcony on unsuspecting teammates, catching six footballs at once, saying about T.O., “That boy crazy!” and sending correspondence to the league to ask for reinstatement? Yeah.

      But the whole operation served to give Jones — someone not mentally equipped to deal with the severity of his situation and the reality of the expectations set upon him — the perception that he wasn’t a person or an employee of an NFL franchise but a reality TV star.

      And what do reality TV stars inevitably do? They melt down. And then they land on the scrap heap with the rest of pop culture’s discards to go and do whatever it is they do until they make their next and final headline (before their obit) with an arrest in a Target parking lot.

      But that’s OK with Jerry Jones, the NFL’s P.T. Barnum. Think P.T. cared if The Bearded Lady had esteem issues and a drinking problem that raged? Not if she showed up lookin’ freaky.

      So today, now that Pac is back in the news for public stupidity, we’re supposed to cluck-cluck at how stupid he is. Sorry, I’m not with that program. To me, that fact was already clear. Instead, I shake my head at the team that’s exploited him.

      Outstanding points. I’m guilty of using Pacman in my, “He’s just an idiot posts,” but Curran makes the first spot-on assessment of this whole situation. When the Cowboys first signed Pacman everyone said, “Now see – they want to help him. They’re keeping tabs on him and trying to clean up his image.” But as Curran points out, Jerry Jones and the team has just been exploiting him for exactly who he is – a guy who, in Curran’s own words is, “intellectually overmatched by the simple workings and expectations of society.”

      NFL

      No joke – Evander Holyfield to defend heavyweight title

      October 10, 2008 /

      Evander HolyfieldAs boxing continues to fall further behind the more exciting and popular world of MMA, at least the sport has kept its dignity. Wait, what dignity?

      On December 20th, a decomposing Holyfield (42-9-2) will challenge seven-foot monster Nicolay Valuev (49-1) for his WBA heavyweight title, in a fight that will either take place in Germany or Switzerland either because Valuev is popular in Europe or because when Holyfield’s name is brought up at New York, New Jersey and Las Vegas commission hearings they think someone is making a funny. It will be the first fight for Holyfield since being dismantled by former WBO champion Sultan Ibragimov last October, a fight many thought would close the curtain on his career.
      It probably should have.

      But in their infinite wisdom Valuev’s promoter, Sauerland Event, and the WBA have decided Holyfield, who is ranked just a notch above Tyson these days, warrants a shot at the heavyweight crown. They have decided that a 45-year old man who hasn’t beaten a legitimate opponent in six years (and I’m generously referring to Hasim Rahman, who Holyfield knocked out in 2002, as legitimate) is worthy of competing for a piece of what was once the most coveted title in the world.

      And just like that, boxing — and the heavyweight division in particular — has once again become a laughingstock.

      If boxing truly wants to save itself, it needs young, up-and-coming athletes to emerge. It can’t keep going back to retreads like Holyfield because the sport will never attract the attention of younger generations. One of the reasons MMA is more popular right now is because they have a nice blend of fighters that people want to back. A 20-year old in college doesn’t want to back Holyfield right now. They need new blood and fresh talent. Then maybe, maybe, the sport can start to grow again.

      Boxing

      Phillies rely on star Utley, finally figure out Lowe

      October 10, 2008 /

      The Philadelphia Phillies took Game 1 of the NLCS, relying on a struggling bat to get them past a Los Angeles Dodgers team that was cruising behind a masterful performance by starter Derek Lowe. That struggling bat was Chase Utley, who hit a two-run home run in the sixth inning to give the Fighting Phils a 1-0 lead in the series.

      Chase UtleyLowe had been great to that point. He had gotten all but one of the outs either on ground balls or strikeouts as he employed a sinking fastball and a very sharp slider. But when Los Angeles shortstop Rafael Furcal began the bottom of the sixth with a two-base error on a grounder by Shane Victorino, Lowe left a sinker out over the plate and Utley turned on it and sent it into the right-field stands.
      “He was able to pull the ball. He got out in front of it,” manager Charlie Manuel said.

      Just that quickly, a game the Phillies couldn’t seem to grasp was falling into their hands. When Burrell also got a fastball he could drive and put the Phils ahead, Dodgers manager Joe Torre was out of the dugout and Lowe was out of the game. Just that fast, just minutes after Lowe had seemed indomitable.

      Maybe it wasn’t exactly like Gibson in 1988, maybe Utley didn’t limp haltingly toward the plate, but there was a concern about his physical status coming into this series.

      Bothered by a sore left hip for much of the second half of the season, Utley was just 2 for 15 in the division series against Milwaukee. His regular-season numbers presaged the trouble he has experienced recently. He had 23 home runs and 65 runs batted in before July 1 and 10 homers and 39 RBIs after it.
      “I think when Chase Utley’s hip is bothering him enough where he can’t play, he’s going to walk in and tell me,” Manuel said earlier this week. “He ain’t nowhere near there yet.”
      Apparently not. At least not last night.

      “It’s all about trying to put some hits together,” Utley said last night. “We had a runner in scoring position and I was just trying to get him over. No matter what, I was trying to get him to third base. I squared up a sinker and it went over the fence. For Derek Lowe, it was up, but it wasn’t a bad pitch.”

      The Phillies need their stars to shine in this series, unlike last year when they were bounced in the first round. Utley had been fantastic earlier in the season and had really struggled as of late. But great players rise to the challenge in these games and Utley did just that Thursday night.

      MLB

      Phillies’ ace Cole Hamels continues to mature

      October 9, 2008 /

      Philadelphia Phillies’ ace Cole Hamels will start in Game 1 of the NLCS against the Los Angeles Dodgers Thursday night. And as the Philadelphia Inquirer points out, the 24-year old pitcher learned in his one postseason start last year that the playoffs are a different animal than the regular season.

      Cole HamelsBut talent isn’t enough in the playoffs, which Hamels realized last season when he walked an uncharacteristic four batters and allowed three runs in his postseason debut against the Rockies. In front of a packed house, with a nip in the air, and the realization that every pitch can hasten the end of a season, the psychology of the game can change.

      The X-factor is to harness that change. And, ultimately, to ignore it.

      Hamels admitted that in the past he has allowed the emotions of pitching in a big game to affect him. But in Game 1 of the NLDS last Wednesday at Citizens Bank Park, he pitched one of the finest games of his career. He threw eight scoreless innings, allowing just two hits and one walk. He struck out nine.

      Hamels attributes the success to a peace of mind he achieved through his workout routine.

      “I think when [I’m] so focused on making myself feel healthy and feel strong, then you don’t really think about the game as much,” he said. “You just think about trying to be in the best possible shape I can be in…I think that’s taken a lot of my thought processes away from all the games I had during the season…And I think it’s helped me right now, because I want to be that guy that can go out there into the postseason and have success. And I think the success for me is not necessarily what’s on the scoreboard, but feeling healthy, because I know if I do feel healthy I can help this team out.”

      I hope this kid succeeds. He’s got a great head on his shoulders and you can tell in his comments that he respects himself and respects the game. It’s incredibly hard for young players to perform on the postseason stage when they’ve never been there before, but succeeding in the playoffs is what great players do.

      Can’t wait to check out Hamels vs. Manny Ramirez.

      MLB

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