Random Thoughts

I read where an American Indian tribe wants to build a 70 foot walkway that will jut out over the Grand Canyon. It will also have a glass bottom. I want throw up just thinking about it.

Apparently, Gretchen Wilson was asked not to pull out a can of Skoal while singing a song called Skoal Ring. The attorney general of Tennessee apparently thinks it would be a tobacco ad forbidden by the tobacco settlement. Singing the song isn't considered a tobacco ad, but showing a can of Skoal is? I think either would be stupid, so therefore I think AG Paul Summers is stupid.

I heard on one of the local radio stations that the Rolling Stones were "better than ever" at their first show of the new tour in Boston. Frankly, I don't believe. While I'm certainly aware that playing concerts at their age is impressive, I can't believe the show was better than when they were in their prime.

It's been reported that John Allen Muhammad, one of the DC area snipers from a couple of years ago, is on a hunger strike. Where's the drawback to that?

The UN has offered Zimbabwe $30 million in assistance to help all the poor people that he kicked out of shantytowns. Zimbabwe's "President", Robert Mugabe, is refusing because he doesn't want to look "needy". Do you think Bono still believes African poverty is the result of rich nations not giving enough?

I was flipping through the channels the other day, and the movie that was on ABC Family in the late afternoon was Cruel Intentions. I guess that's a family film if by family film you mean a movie about a guy who wants to bugger his step-sister.

Bearcat basketball

For the life of me, I cannot understand why the University of Cincinnati fired Bob Huggins. I certainly don't understand the way they did it. Huggins had some problems. Most cite his DUI arrest or player arrests or academic problems with players. Well, not only can I find those problems at other universities, I don't have to leave the state of Kentucky. A couple of years ago University of Louisville assistant coach Ralph Willard got a DUI, and a week after pleading guilty, he was the acting head coach while Rick Pitino was in Cleveland seeing a specialist. Academic problems and off court misbehavior have been an epidemic at the University of Kentucky under coach Tubby Smith. When the team is nicknamed Team Turmoil one season, you know you got problems. I would need a lot of fingers to count the number of UK players that have been in trouble with the law of late. And last year, UK was the NCAA tournament team with the worst graduation rate. Yet Pitino and Smith are not seen as running a renegade program. And Huggins certainly hasn't been as bad as John Chaney. He tried to choke an opposing coach in the 80s, broke into John Calipari's post-game press conference screaming he was going to kill him in the 90s and bragged about sending a goon onto the court to hurt someone leading to a player breaking his arm this year.

The real problem I have with it is the fact how it happened. UC was nothing from the 60s until Bob Huggins got there. UC would not have been invited to the Big East if not for him. He would routinely stay at UC even when other schools or the NBA came calling. Unfortunately for him, that loyalty was not a two way street. After 16 years of building that program, and they fire him in August while he's out of town because the school president thinks that he's the reason they aren't a top flight academic institution. Nick Lachey of all people gave the best response to that. How does Bob Huggins keep the academic departments from succeeding? If everyone else at the university does their job as well as Huggins did his, they might move up. Frankly, I think UC's president is a vindictive little bitch who fired him out of a little hissy fit. She talks about "character", and some call her courageous. For what? Waiting until he's out of town, and then firing him? After all he has done for that school's athletic department (only part that makes money), what a low-rent classless way to end his tenure.

If the DUI was the reason, why not fire him last year? Besides, I'm willing to bet they won't take tenure from a professor who gets a DUI. There have been fewer player problems and higher graduation in recent years, so if that's the reason, he's being penalized for crap that is years old. And it's not just Huggins being punished. That bitch stabbed a bunch of players in the back. The timing of it means the players have very little opportunity to transfer over it. That alone makes me suspicious of her waiting until now. Forcing the veterans to stay means a chance the team can stay successful. Because if the basketball program drops, she may have won the battle, but will lose the war.

Thoughts on the Pro Football HOF

It was nice to see Dan Marino and Steve Young get inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Unfortunately, some buttmunches in the press decided it wasn't good enough to write about their great careers. No, some felt the need to write that neither was as good as Joe Montana. I say crap to that. Joe Montana is the second most overrated quarterback in NFL history after Joe Namath. He won four Super Bowls, but so did Terry Bradshaw. If playoff success is the key, than Otto Graham is the greatest QB of all time. He led his team to ten pro football championship games winning seven. That was in 10 seasons. I think the 49er offense was well designed for Montana, but I'm not real impressed with a quarterback whose leading receivers his first five years were tight ends and running backs. Sounds like he dumped it off a lot. I would personally rather have Marino than Montana. Did he win four Super Bowls? No. He didn' t win any, but I think the personnel around him was a lot worse. The only time San Francisco's defense finished outside the top ten in scoring defense was the strike shortened 1982 when they were 20th. Ironically, the 49'ers went 3-6. The Dolphins were 7th in 1984 when they made the Super Bowl in Marino's second year. In the next 15 seasons, they finished in the top ten twice. They finished 17th or worse ten times. Montana had Wendall Tyler early in his career. Not that well known, but he had been a two time 1000 yard rusher with the Rams (including leading them to the 1980 Super Bowl) before joining the 49ers. Then one of the best all around running backs, Roger Craig, joined the team. In fact, Montana had both Tyler and Craig for four years. Who did Marino have? I would say that Mark Higgs was the best running back to play with Marino, and his best season was 915 yards. In fact, Karim Abdul-Jabbar was the only running back to have a 1000 yard season with Marino, and he only averaged 3.6 yards per carry. At receiver, Montana had Jerry Rice, John Taylor, Freddie Solomon and tight end Dwight Clark. The best receiver Marino had was probably Irving Fryar who he only had for a couple of years. Otherwise it was Mark Clayton and Mark Duper. How many HOF votes do you think they'll get?

As for Young, I think if the roles had been reversed, Young would have four Super Bowls. The biggest reason was the opposition. Young had to face the Dallas Cowboys dynasty of the 90s. This was the last great group of players before the salary cap kicked in. Jimmy Johnson built a great team, and Jerry Jones' money kept it together. Who did Montana's 49'ers have to climb over? The Giants and Redskins won some Super Bowls, but they kept switching their quarterbacks and running backs. Not much continuity there. The Bears had one of the greatest seasons ever when they won the 86 Super Bowl, but then Walter Payton's retirement and injuries to Jim McMahon derailed them. Supposedly, Montana was really clutch in the playoffs. Well, in back to back first round losses to the Giants in 85-86, the Montana's 49ers scored 3 points in each. Plus, the 49'ers of the 90s were not able to keep players together like they had in the 80s. Where Montana had Tyler and Craig, Young had to rely on head-case Ricky Watters (poor man's Roger Craig) for three years. Other than him, Young's 49ers were led in rushing by great players like Derek Loville, Keith Henderson and Terry Kirby. However, the biggest reason that I think Young doesn't take a backseat to Montana is what happened when Montana left. In his first real season as a replacement for Montana in 1992, Young led them to a 15-3 record. He lost one first round playoff game through 1998 (his last real season). In fact, from 1992-98, the 49ers won at least 10 games every year. If Montana was so important, why wasn't there a drop-off in performance, especially when the 49ers started losing their best players due to salary cap problems in the mid to late 90s? Oh, and Montana went to Kansas City in 1993 and led them to 11 wins which was one better than what Dave Krieg and Steve DeBerg took them to the previous two years. Real impressive.

What reality spawned these shows?

I had never planned to write about reality shows. I don't watch them but I don't find them somehow offensive. The only ones I like are the parodies of other reality shows (i.e. My Big Fat Obnoxious Fiance). I just think television has shown itself completely incapable of producing good shows. There are so many crap ideas for television shows that good shows like Law & Order and C.S.I. both have two spinoffs, and all the spinoffs suck. Actually, I can't really say that about C.S.I.: New York. C.S.I.: Miami was so bad that I refused to watch the New York version. Since most non-reality television shows pretty much suck anyway, I understand why networks want to put reality shows on. They're cheap to produce even if you do give out a big prize, because you don't have to pay actors. Why shell out more money for a bad sitcom when you don't have to? Still, I feel compelled to comment on a couple of them that I haven't watched (saw ads), but the premises seem really bad. The first is the show to find a new lead singer for INXS. Now, I liked INXS back in the 80s. I liked them going back to their first hit, "The One Thing", but they haven't been relevant since about 1988. Plus, the main source of the bands popularity was lead singer Michael Hutchence who either killed himself or died in a bizarre sex act. What a great friggin' idea. Let's wait 16 years after anyone would care and then have a contest to replace the only irreplaceable part of a band. Why didn't they just hire Gary Cherone? I'm sure he's available. Yet, somehow this isn't the worst idea for a reality show. I saw an ad for a show called Fat Chance which is apparently a beauty contest for heavy-set women. And I use heavy-set politely. It's going to crown one of them "Ms. F.A.T." which stand for fabulous and thick. Who the Hell is the target audience for that? Is this some kind of self-esteem thing? Beauty contests portray an ideal. I'm a fat guy, but I certainly don't think it's an ideal that anyone should aspire to. It's certainly not healthy. In fact, I think it's a bad idea to try to convince people that it's OK to be that big. And these girls aren't just overweight. They are really big.

I do not like Terrell Owens

What a crock. Terrell Owens and his agent Drew Rosenhaus are a match made in heaven. I've never seen two guys so completely in love with themselves. These dumbasses were giving an interview to Chris Berman (who embarrassed himself by referring to Owens' playing in the Super Bowl as "heroic") after Owens managed to get himself thrown out of camp for cursing head coach Andy Reid. Yet, most of it consisted of talking about how great Owens is. And Rosenhaus is wearing shirt with a Superman logo on it. Might want to give that ego a little rest there Drew. Oh, and they said the Eagles didn't have to worry about Owens not coming back next week, because "he is a professional". Sure. Asswipe announced that he was going to camp but would be unhappy. He basically admitted that he might be disruptive in camp. Then he gets "hurt" and can't practice. But he can get into a fight with the offensive coordinator and tell him not to talk to him unless he says something first. That should make the offense run smoothly. Then he gets into a fight with Reid because Reid and gets sent home.

How professional is Owens? Am I the only one who thinks that Owens maybe faked his injury? A pulled groin is often one of those "how does it feel?" injuries. He gets to camp so he isn't fined, but he doesn't have to practice. He's made a real ass of himself since he got there. Bet he thinks they may cut him or trade him. I also bet if he's let back into camp on Wednesday that he becomes disruptive again. He may get the chance to hold out without being fined if they keep sending him home. Rosenasshole thinks Owens should be one of the ten highest paid players in the league. Really? I can probably name ten running backs that I would pay more than him. Ole Drew also said that executives (unnamed of course) around the league told him that Owens was underpaid. Assuming that Drew wasn't lying (big assumption), so what? I read a lot of insider reports on the NFL, and I don't read about all these teams trying to trade for Owens. In fact, most say they don't have much interest. Maybe it's the fact that since Steve Young's last full season in 1998, a team with Terrell Owens playing (not on the bench Salisbury) has won exactly one playoff game. And that one had to gall Owens since his arch enemy Jeff Garcia threw for 331 yards and three touchdowns.

I really hope the Eagles stick with what their president, Joe Banner, said. Owens plays for the Eagles or nobody. Actually, I hope it's nobody. I just don't see what the attraction is. As I said, he's played in one winning playoff game since 1998, and that one was followed by him being shut down by the Bucs in the next game. He's a good receiver, but I don't think the distractions are near worth it. Will the Eagles struggle without him, especially with Todd Pinkston getting hurt? Maybe. However, remember this. In 2003, they went to the NFC championship game with their two leading receivers being Pinkston and James Thrash. Neither had more than 575 yards receiving. The year before they made the NFC Championship game with Thrash leading the team with 635 yards. Not to mention that they were in the Super Bowl before Owens came back. The Eagles win with defense, and an offense that makes good use of tight ends and running backs. That is why getting Brian Westbrook into camp was much more important than Owens. The more I think about it, the more I hope he never comes back.

Braindead NCAA

I'm glad the NCAA finally decided to take time off from figuring out how to not investigate the University of Tennessee football program and concentrate on something really important. Politically correct mascots. Oh, they weren't brave enough to enforce an outright ban on Indian mascots. They just won't let schools that have them bring their mascots to NCAA tournament gamesor where uniforms with an Indian logo on them. Nor will they allow those schools to act as hosts of tournament games. Of course, in true NCAA fashion, the rule is being selectively enforced as the Florida State Seminoles are on the list even though the Seminole tribe of Florida is fine with it, but the North Carolina-Pembroke Braves won't be because 20% of the students are American Indians. The NCAA is also pretty gutless. As Ray Ratto pointed out, if Indian mascots aren't offensive enough to ban them completely, then the NCAA shouldn't be going half-steps.

However, the real problem is this idea that they are "offensive". With the possible exception of the UC-Santa Cruz Banana Slugs whose mascot selection I'm convinced was the result of booze and pot, mascots are picked for a variety of reasons. They could have to do with what the school is known for (MIT Engineers) or something local to the University (Nebraska Cornhuskers) or to the schools history (Washington & Lee Generals). Or it's for the image it projects. Since they are in competition, most schools want a rather fierce mascot. My team, the Louisville Cardinals, picked their mascot because it was the state bird, but on the logos and mascot, they gave it teeth to make it tougher. Look at most of the mascots from the animal kingdom. Most are of the predator variety, and the non-predators are still big and dangerous like Bison, Mustangs and Rams. That's the same reason that Indian names came to be used. Warrior image. The same reason as old European fighters like Vandals, Spartans and Trojans are used. I'm just curious why only one group of people find mascots named after them insulting. Cowboys sure don't, but even religious and other ethnic groups don't. As a non-Catholic Christian descended mainly from English and Scots, I don't have a problem with Emory and Henry College having the nickname Wasps. Greeks don't complain about the Spartans. Scandinavians don't bitch about the Vikings. Irish don't complain about Notre Dame or the Boston Celtics. They embrace them. They didn't even get mad when Notre Dame's leprechaun was a black guy. Quakers are fine with the Penn Quakers. Actually, teams with religious oriented mascots are usually religious affiliated schools - Ohio Wesleyan Battling Bishops (Methodist), Wake Forest Demon Deacons (Baptist), and Yeshiva University Maccabees (Jewish). That's not to mention all the Crusaders, Friars, and Saints that are nicknames for Catholic Schools.

Is it because some are deemed a slur? I know plenty of people who think the term Yankee as a slur. Is it because Indian mascots look silly? Take a look at the San Diego Padre. Or the goofy ass farm boy who is the Nebraska Cornhusker. Or even worse, the hillbilly in the coonskin cap that runs around as the UT Volunteer. If naming a team the "Indians" is so offensive than why is Jim Thorpe, the greatest athlete of the early 20th Century (and an American Indian), still revered by other American Indians. He founded and played for a team called the Oorang Indians back in the 1920s. This is all just more PC crap that got old a long time ago. Teams with the name Warrior (think Marquette) dumped their nicknames even though Warrior is a generic term that doesn't have to specify an ethnic group. But God forbid someone thinks it can only mean Indian warriors, so change it. I realize many American Indians are unhappy with their lot in life and think this issue is of some importance. Funny. I would have thought American Indian leadership would be more concerned about the high rates of poverty, unemployment and alcoholism in their community. But I guess all that will clear itself up once the Florida State Seminoles become the Florida State Retirees.

More Baseball & Steroids

Holy crap! Rafael Palmeiro just got suspended for taking steroids. How is that possible? Didn't he stand up to Congress and tell them he "never" used steroids? Could he have been lying? Could the others have been lying? Hey, maybe he didn't use steroids then, but got the name of a a good dealer from the other palyers at the hearing. The only thing that surprises me is how surprised members of the media are. Not that he got caught (he makes enough money, he should be able to get better masking stuff), but that he was using. Please. The NFL has had much stricter testing for steroids, but you know a lot of them are using. The Olympic testers are supposed to be the best in the world, but a bunch of people get around them. For every scientist trying to keep up with steroids, there's probably five coming up with new ones or figuring out ways to hide old ones. Besides, cheating in baseball is more common than cheating in football recruiting in the SEC. When a guy gets caught using a corked bat, it's laughed off. Baseball fans waxed nostalgic about the 1951 pennant race when the Giants made up 13 games in six weeks to tie the Dodgers before winning on Bobby Thompson's homer, but they don't want to meniton the fact that the Giants set up a telescope/buzzer relay system in their clubhouse to steal signs. Oh, and these sportswriters who abhor cheating elected Gaylord Perry into the Hall of Fame even though his signature pitch, the spitball, was illegal. Actually, I shouldn't be surprised that sportwriters were. They are notoriously stupid.

Commentators are even stupider. Sean Salisbury was asked who was more important to the Eagles, Terrell Owens or Brian Westbrook. He said Owens. Why? They didn't make it past the NFC Championship game without Owens in 2003, but they made it to the Super Bowl in 2004 with Owens "on the roster". Must have been one Hell of a cheerleader to lead the Eagles to the Super Bowl from the sidelines in street clothes. And Salisbury seemed to forget that an injured Westbrook didn't play in the NFC championship game the year before either. But he did play in the last one. Since both missed the playoffs in 2003, who was more valuable in last year's NFC Championship game - the guy who played or the guy who didn't?