Fuzzy Zoeller is past his prime, but he can still get the ball near the green. As this clip shows, that’s all you need.
Author: John Paulsen (Page 703 of 937)
Man, I love The Onion…
BROOKLYN, NY—Mark Mendicus, 26-year-old Staples employee and principal owner of the fantasy baseball team Beat With Uggla Stick, blasted his underperforming team in the media Monday, going so far as to single out individual players, criticize their recent play, and question their commitment to winning.
“They all suck,” a visibly frustrated Mendicus told reporters following Beat With Uggla Stick’s head-to-head 8-2 loss to division rivals The Mark Currys. “[Alex] Rios sucks, Delmon [Young] sucks, Pedro [Martinez] fucking sucks. Everybody on my team sucks.”
“The Beat With Uggla Sticks have a proud tradition of winning,” continued Mendicus, whose team has made the playoffs the past two years, including a league championship win in 2006. “But apparently that means nothing to this group of players. Apparently they’d rather just lose every single 5×5 category. Apparently my players don’t care about winning the 12-team Yahoo! Plus ‘Mmm…Fantasy Baseball’ league pennant as much as I do.”
As long as there have been barstools, there have been men on those barstools arguing about sports, from the big questions all the way down to the minutiae. This week, in light of Tiger Woods’ recent win at the U.S. Open, Anthony Stalter and John Paulsen debate whether or not golf is really a sport.
John: I don’t consider golf a sport. This is not to say that it doesn’t take a lot of skill to master (or to even become good), but the most strenuous thing about it is walking. Walking. A sport is defined as “an activity involving physical exertion and skill in which an individual or team competes against another or others for entertainment.” There is no physical exertion, so therefore golf is not a sport. Any competition where a 60 year-old can dominate a 25 year-old is a game. Golf is more similar to pool, darts and bowling than it is to basketball, football or tennis.
Anthony: A sport is defined as “an activity involving physical exertion and skill in which an individual or team competes against another or others for entertainment.” Golf has everything but physical exertion, so why wouldn’t it be deemed a sport? You’re still competing against other individuals and there’s arguably more skill involved in golf than pool, darts and bowling. While I agree that golf isn’t on the same level as basketball, football or baseball, it’s still a competition that requires people to have a lot of skill in order to master.
John: Right, but a competition requires skill and physical exertion to be a sport, not just one or the other. Due to all the different types of shots, golf definitely requires more skill than those other games, but it’s still a game.
Anthony: Why can’t it be both? I tend to lean towards calling something a sport if it can be played at a professional level. Of course I say that not truly believing bowling is a sport and that can be played on a professional level. Tiger Woods is a great athlete (as was Jack Nicklaus), so I hate to downplay golf and call it a game instead of a sport.
John: You bring up an interesting point. An athlete is defined as “a person who is proficient in sports and other forms of exercise.” Since golf really isn’t sport, one could argue that Tiger Woods is not an athlete at all. I’m not willing to go that far, as I do think all the walking in golf should be considered a form of exercise. But back to your point about a sport being something that can be played on a professional level. Competitive eating is “played” on a professional level, and I doubt you consider that a sport. I will say this – of all the different games out there, golf probably requires the most skill to master.
Anthony: You’re right about competitive eating; that’s why I mentioned that bowling isn’t really a sport even though it can be played on a professional level. Obviously there’s a fine line between calling something a sport, game or activity. I understand the point that golf doesn’t require physical exertion, but after watching Tiger play the U.S. Open recently, it’s hard not to call him an athlete and therefore, one of the best at his sport. This might be putting too much thought into it, but I almost think calling golf a game takes away how good Tiger is. But maybe that’s just me.
John: I’m not trying to diminish how good Tiger is at golf. He is a master of what he does, but I believe he’s a master of a game, not a sport.
The Finals are barely over, but the LA Times is already discussing the possibility of the Lakers moving Lamar Odom to avoid a substantial luxury tax over the next three or four years. He is due to make $14.6 million next season, which is the final year of his contract.
Odom was in their package for Gasol until Memphis owner Michael Heisley took him out, asking for lesser players who afforded more cap relief. Odom then surprised everyone, meshing smoothly with Gasol to give the Lakers twin towers who were wizards with the ball and, according to San Antonio Coach Gregg Popovich, the NBA’s best passing team.
If the Lakers had gone on to win a title, with all the good feeling that went with it, they might have given Odom the extension that he’s now seeking.
Since they didn’t win a title, with the Finals highlighting Odom’s limitations in what could be seen as a preview of next season, they’ll surely shop him this off-season.
Unless Andrew Bynum’s knee injury is more serious than reported, there isn’t going to be much room for Odom when the young center returns. With Pau Gasol playing power forward (which is a stretch in itself), Odom would have to play small forward. He’s capable, but he’s not a good enough shooter to space the court in L.A.’s triangle offense. With a frontline of Bynum, Gasol and Odom, the Lakers would have three guys that can’t consistently hit a jumper from 12-15 feet, and that’s not good.
However, I’m not sure moving Odom is the answer. The Lakers would need to take on enough salary to make the trade work under NBA rules, so they would have to find a trade partner that is willing to give up something (like a first round pick or a good young player) and has enough expiring salary to match Odom’s big contract. Regardless, they are on the hook for his salary this season, so why not keep him? He’d do well in a role of the bench (though there’s not telling if his ego could handle it) and he would provide nice insurance if either Bynum or Gasol went down. They would always have the option of completing a sign-and-trade next summer if an interested team didn’t have the salary cap space to sign him directly.
Whatever the Lakers do with Odom, the franchise needs to address the small forward position. Vladimir Radmanovic is a horrible defender and Luke Walton can’t shoot, so the team’s only real option in the playoffs was to move Kobe to small forward and play Sasha Vujacic at off guard. Once Vujacic’s jumper stopped falling, the Lakers were in a pickle.
If the Lakers do move Odom, they need to find a sweet shooting small forward that can play defense. If Trevor Ariza can continue to improve his range, he might be that guy, but he only shot 28% from long range last season, so he has a ways to go.
Columnist Jemele Hill is an avid Pistons fan, and that’s fine, but in a recent anti-Boston column, she went way too far.
Rooting for the Celtics is like saying Hitler was a victim. It’s like hoping Gorbachev would get to the blinking red button before Reagan.
So she’s saying that being a Celtics fan is akin to being pro-Hitler.
Nice.
Since she started at ESPN, Hill has been under fire from the blogosphere in part due to her defense of Barry Bonds as well as her inability to put a logical thought together.
For its part, ESPN said that an editor didn’t see her column before it went up and it has since been modified. (If so, how is what she does any different than blogging?)
She has been suspended pending further action.
Note to writers everywhere – using Hitler for comparison purposes is lazy, but if you’re going to do it, be very, very careful.
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