Clemens and Congress

I think the congressional hearings on steroid abuse is utterly frivolous and nothing more than a bunch of attention whores indulging themselves. However, I do, if ever so slightly, take issue with the notion that Congress has no place in the steroid investigations. Congress has granted monopoly rights to several of the professional sports leagues, including the MLB. I don't think this business of the congressional hearings is a particularly compelling use of our congressional representative's time, but arguably, when somebody abuses their monopoly privileges, those very anticompetitive privileges that Congress has bestowed, Congress has some reason (shamefully thin in this instance) to address the issue. It appears to be pretty clear that Clemens has used performance enhancing drugs and that his principle accuser is a complete lowlife. In fact it looks like MacNamee is a rapist to boot.

Stupid Trade

The Suns apparently are set to trade Shawn Marion for Shaquille O'Neal. This seems like a stupid trade to me. Shaq is 35 and is in the midst of his worst season and it is he only going further downhill from hereon out. I think the Suns are hoping that they can rest him for the season and get one last hurrah from the big man in the post season and win the title. Entirely plausible, however, they probably could have swung a similar trade for KG earlier in the year and been set to make a run of several years instead of just this season.

There IS Justice, for a moment

The Patriots lost and Redskins Art Monk and Darrell Green were elected into the Football Hall of Fame.

Dan Snyder...

Is the worst NFL owner ever. He has made my beloved Redskins into a circus.

Sports Blurb

Fins are pushing hard for a perfect record.

The Vote is In

I blogged a bit back about Marc Ecko, I labeled him a PeP Hero, and his winning bid for Barry Bond's 756th home run ball. Ecko set up a website allowing visitors to vote on what to do with the ball 1. Bestow it (give it to the hall of fame untouched); 2. Brand it (put an asterisk on the ball and send it to the hall of fame); 3. Banish it (send off to space). Well the vote is in:
A) BESTOW IT - 34% B) BRAND IT - 47% C) BANISH IT - 19%.

Pack is Back

Packers beat the Chargers. I am sure the Chargers are satisfied with their big offseason decisions, though let's recap: pussyfooted on the notion of whether to can Schottenheimer or not, watched Cam Cameron and Wade Phillips pick up head coaching gigs, then canned Marty Schottenheimer, and then hiring Norv Turner who has lost everywhere he has coached (including an abysmal tenure with the Redskins).

PeP Hero of the Month

Marc Ecko, the fashion designer, placed the winning bid for Barry Bonds 756th home run ball, the home run that broke Hank Aaron's record. He has created a website where you can go and vote on what he should do with the ball: 1. Give it to the hall of fame, 2. Brand it with an asterisk and give it to the hall of fame, 3. Banish it to outerspace. I say vote 2.

Breaking Nascar News

Dale Earnhardt, Jr. will be driving the Mountain Dew car, way cooler than the Budweiser car, almost as cool as Kyle Petty's Mello Yello car from back in the day. Ricky Bobby's WonderBread car still reigns supreme.

Redskins Won

Beat the Iggles. 14 to more to go.

Travis Henry

has nine illegitamate children by nine different women. He makes Shawn Kemp look like an amateur.

Bill Belichick is Fallible

Why are the Patriots trying to steal signals? Totally blows my mind. Is it not enough that they have Tom Brady AND Randy Moss? Very puzzling.

Tuesday Morning Quarterback

Now that the football season is underway, do go over to ESPN.com's Tuesday Morning Quarterback by Gregg Easterbrook. Easterbrook is a scholar over at the superlative Brookings Institute but his weekly NFL column easily trumps his more scholarly contributions. I am serious, it is that good. The only other sports column that comes close is Bill Simmons "The Sports Guy".

Gibbs Racing Switches to Toyota

For those of you who don't know who Joe Gibbs is (shame on you, you are a miserable person), he is the best football coach to ever walk the face of the earth (It's not his fault that Dan Snyder owns the Redskins)? Now some might say that is a preposterous statement as surely Vince Lombardi or Belichick or Tom Landry deserve some props as well here. Well, that is wrong. Not only has Joe Gibbs led the most important Sports Franchise in the history of mankind to three Super Bowl victories (with three different QBs mind you) he is also a Nascar heavyweight. I don't recall Vince Lombardi having a winning team anywhere outside of the Football (not to mention that he stunk it up during his stint with the Skins). Anyhow, Gibbs in all of his Nascar genius is switching from Chevrolet to Toyota. I have no idea if this a sound decision because I don't follow Nascar or care for it but I will blindly champion anything Gibbs does.

Chairman Yi..

is on board. Yi Jianlian has officially signed with the Milwaukee Bucks. Crisis averted. No word on Laverne and Shirley Miller commercials (I expect a finders fee at least).

Chairman Yi

Sportsguy Bill Simmons has a great nickname for Milwaukee Bucks(?) rookie Yi Jianlian: The Chairman. Though, I think Chairman Yi would be better. His signature move could be called the Great Leap Forward.

In other news, Yi still to this day refuses to sign with the Bucks, thumbing his nose at Milwaukee and all of Wisconsin. As I have stated previously, I think this is stupid for a number of reasons but I will focus on the marketing of Yi which his agents have offered as a primary objection to playing in Milwaukee.

I don't think that he will be disadvantaged from a marketing perspective because the fish out of water narrative will be so compelling that he will reach a broader audience. Picture if you will Yi and Penny Marshall taping a commercial a la Laverne and Shirley for Miller Lite. It would be an instant classic. Anyhow, I do think congress should address this ASAP.

Michael Vick and Race

Michael Vick is about to plead guilty to dogfighting charges and will actually do time, somewhere between 12 months to 18 months. I think that's only appropriate. One of the things that has been interesting to observe is the media's coverage of the Vick controversy.

The media has covered this story extensively and all of the gruesome details (the electrocutions, rape stands, etc.), however, there is one element that it has sorely missed- race. And I don't think that reporters are necessarily brushing this under the carpet but are simply unaware of this dynamic.

The Michael Vick dogfighting case is quite similar to the OJ Simpson trial in that how it is perceived divides significantly on race. Admittedly, I am drawing this conclusion from a small sample: colleagues' reactions at work, a couple of radio channels, statements from other players. But I do think there is a substantial difference in the White and African-American communities in terms of their perception of dogfighting in general and the Michael Vick case in particular. I didn't anticipate this. With the OJ Simpson case, even though there was a complete irrationality in the perception of OJ's innocence or some grand conspiracy, at the root of this irrationality as it applied to OJ was a deepseated mistrust in the law enforcement community and the justice system that was well founded. I am sure to some extent this is a contributing factor in the Vick case but not one that fully explains this phenomenon. I would speculate that the difference probably comes from differing norms on pet ownership more than anything but I don't really have a clue.

Milwaukee and China

For those of you that follow the NBA you may be aware that the Milwaukee Bucks drafted Chinese phenom Yi Jianlian. Some have dubbed him the Chinese Dirk Nowitski. All I know is that he is 7 feet tall and in his workouts he played against a chair. That would be a foreboding sign that he is a stiff. Anyhow, prior to the draft, Mr. Jianlian's agents, wary of the possibility that the Bucks would draft him, refused to work out for the Bucks and went so far as to forbid the Bucks from attending one of Mr. Jianlian's workouts. Nevertheless the Bucks drafted him.

Yi Jianlian apparently wanted to go to a larger city for marketing reasons and to one with a large asian population for personal reasons. Both preferences are understandable but he had to have understood that he was guaranteed neither preference in entering the draft which is something of a random process. But what I don't understand is why one would turn his nose up at Milwaukee. Wisconsin is a lovely state. It is the state of beer, cheese, brats and the Packers. They have tremendous fans and people are friendly to the point that it can be a little scary for somebody like me from the East Coast. Frankly, I think Milwaukee would make Yi more marketable. It is the ultimate fish out of water story. But the other thing is though a small market team has less immediate media exposure, success can overcome that hurdle. Look at Lebron James, Brett Favre, Peyton Manning. I don't think Cleveland, Green Bay, or Indianapolis are regarded as major markets but the aforementioned players are icons.

Washington Redskins

The Redskins, while my favorite sports team (and of course Joe Gibbs is the best coach ever and should be President), the name itself is unfortunate... to say the least. It is a racial slur. I am not a terribly PC guy but it offends most sensible people. So I was thinking of some possible substitutions:

1. In honor of our beloved former Mayor Marion Barry (also prime presidential candidate)- The Washington Bitch Set Me Ups.

2. The Washington Flatulence

3. Something that has at least some chance of being realized- The Washington Lobbyists

4. To confuse people- The Washington Post

5. To reflect a dominant if receding fad- The Washington Neoconservatives

6. To reflect the state of D.C. Public Schools-The Washintin Edumacashun

I am at a loss but please feel free to add some suggestions.

Kevin McHale: Worst GM Ever

I thought for you long-suffering Wolves fan (I like KG, not the Wolves) you might find this piece by Bill Simmons of ESPN funny: "The First Annual Atrocious GM Summit".