Open

This is a big deal.

This means nothing in terms of actual sport, but culturally, the ramifications are endless. Finally, Jason Collins is able to feel free and open with how he lives his life. Openness is the theme here. Everyone should feel open to how they live their relationships. The sport world requires machismo and toughness. Jason Collins clearly has shown in his years in the NBA that he has both. He breaks the stereotype of a gay man. A stereotype that is quickly dying when men like him and these two beardfaces come out as gay. 

http://www.buzzfeed.com/mjs538/the-awesome-bearded-guys-from-washingtons-wedding

I've seen many people on Facebook and Twitter question why this is a big deal. "It's 2013. Why does it matter what anyone's sexual orientation is now? We're in a society that will support Jason Collins, not bash him." And all of that is true. Most of the comments about Collins have been extremely positive. 

"@BruceBeck4NY: "@darrenrovell: In exactly half a day, @jasoncollins34 twitter followers grew 1873% from 3,700 to 73,000 followers." Class guy!"

But the issue is that there are still tons of people who are afraid to do what Collins did and openly profess how he really feels. Whether they are other athletes in the public eye who could face scrutiny and heckling or they are kids in high school afraid of bullies and judgement from their parents. We need to reach a society where the color of your skin, your gender, your sexual orientation, none of it, matters. Everyone deserves the basic human and American rights. Until that happens, this will continue to be a big deal. The next athlete to openly come out will be as celebrated as Jason Collins, as it should be. This is a bold move for him and he should be praised for finally being open with his feelings and who he really is. Hopefully he can play at least one more year in the NBA to see how the real reaction is from fans and players. 

Power

First of all, let me say that this issue inspired me to the point that I actually called 'The Michael Kay Show' on my commute home last night when they were discussing it. I subsequently was pulled over for using my cell phone and ticketed for cell phone usage and not being able to provide insurance (mine expired March 31st and I hadn't put the new insurance in the glove box yet). Fun times.

Anyway.

I'm writing this under the assumption that Mike Rice will be fired as head coach of the Rutgers basketball team no later than Friday. (Update: At 10 AM EST, it's been reported that Rutgers fired him. Good riddance.) After ESPN aired that video yesterday, there is no other punishment for his actions that will appease his victims, the taxpayers of NJ and the general public. Tim Pernetti should have fired him in December, but he can fix the situation now by finally doing the right thing.

Mike Rice is a bully. The video evidence proves him to be an abuser. He physically and verbally abuses his players. He is able to do that because of his power as head coach. These young adults had to take the abuse and turn the other cheek. If they spoke up or fought back, they'd likely be cut from the team and thus lose their scholarship. The Rutgers basketball team doesn't have a rich history of sending their ballplayers to the NBA. These students need their education and need their scholarship to stay in school. As you can see in the video, they're numb to the abuse. They learned quickly how the coach behaves and what to do in order to stay on the team.

Mike Rice failed at his job. His job as a coach and educator is to mold these young men into respectable adults and win games. He certainly hasn't won games at Rutgers; they haven't had a winning record since he's been head coach. And he obviously failed in educating. He's just an angry, abusive man who should be nowhere near a teaching space. In addition to not wanting him near current students, how could you expect him to recruit?

Tim Pernetti also failed at his job. Once evidence was provided that Rice was a terrible human being, the termination should have been given. The behavior, on the hours of video, proves he does not deserve to coach. Pernetti  basically covered up the situation by keeping Rice as head coach. A three game suspension for a head coach on a team that doesn't win games is nothing. After the Sandusky PSU scandal, our collective sensitivity for abuse is heightened. Because Pernetti didn't fire Rice upon first seeing the videos, he too needs to go.

The NCAA failed at their job (yet again). A head basketball coach in the best basketball conference was suspended. Did they investigate why he was suspended? If not, why not? If so, why were they OK with the self imposed punishment? The NCAA perpetually protects coaches and punishes players.
Mike Rice was free to bounce from school to school. Student athletes must sit a year regardless of why they're transferring. Coach is verbally and physically abusing you? Oh well, sit a year if you want to transfer. Coaches make millions. Players try to trade their jersey for a tattoo and they're punished. The NCAA is a hypocritical joke but they have the power. Until something more powerful than them steps in, (federal government?) the NCAA will continue to not care about the student athletes.

Trouble, Trouble, Trouble

The Knicks finally broke me. After that 18-5 start to their season, my hope for them was at its highest level since Patrick Ewing was on the team. They were beating everyone, including the defending champs, Miami Heat, twice! They really seemed as if they could be the team to dethrone the champs and were doing it all sans Iman Shumpert and Amar'e Stoudemire. Since that red hot start though, they've been exactly average, 14-14 and losing to anyone, including the Washington Wizards. The hope of a championship has vanished and been replaced with hope for simply escaping the first round.

This is my breaking point because of what went down in Indiana and at the close of the trade deadline. That 36 point loss in Indiana was an epic embarrassment. There is no sugar coating that display of ineptitude. Sure, this could be the kick in the arse they needed to jolly them out of mediocrity and there's still plenty of season for Mike Woodson to figure out what's needed to have this team playing like they did to start the season. I hate living and dying with each game as the season is long and 'anything is possible', but this team just doesn't feel like a winner anymore.

The biggest problem with the game against Indiana, and the main reason I don't think this team capable of beating the Heat, (among others) in a seven game series, is that it happened already against the Bulls in December. In that game, Melo, Tyson and Woodson were all ejected. The Bulls established a giant lead, that dwindled, but ended with a victory. In that game, it seemed nothing was going the Knicks' way, especially the refs' calls. Once the game went south for the Knicks, which happened early, they shut down. They lost their fight and lost the game in the 1st quarter. The same happened last night as they were down twelve by the end of the 1st quarter.

Fool me once...

What scares me most about this team is their age. If this season isn't going to result in a championship, (with the way the Heat, Spurs, Pacers, Nets, Clippers, Thunder are all playing, the Knicks don't have a chance), then we are to hope for next year, right? Well the Knicks are the oldest team ever, and that was before they traded away Ronnie Brewer (27) and signed Kenyon Martin (35). That means the hope for next year rests on an even older, oldest team ever or a very different roster. Neither are all that appealing, so this year might actually be a must win year for Carmelo and the Knicks.

Even if Woodson is able to right the ship, the Knicks may end up facing the same fate they encountered in the 90s. Michael Jordan was unstoppable then and left many Hall of Famers ringless (Reggie Miller, Chris Mullin, Karl Malone, John Stockton, Patrick Ewing, and Charles Barkley). LeBron James is playing at a different stratosphere than everyone else right now. He may end up going on a Jordanesque type run of NBA titles, leaving his own trail of ringless Hall of Famers in his wake. Melo could be in that trail. He and Woodson and the Knicks need to fix this mess they're currently in and fight for that title, before the old men crumble.

I'm tired of waiting for next year.

Superheroes

Athletes are role models. As are firefighters, police officers, the military, our parents. But athletes are definitely role models. They may not want to be, but once they put on a uniform, people look up to them and they are expected to be better than the rest of us. In many cases athletes live up to the role model standard, but in many cases they stumble (DUI, PEDs, small misdemeanors) and sometimes they fall on their face as Oscar Pistorius just did.

It's terribly sad when heroes fall from grace, but never more so when that hero inspires to such a degree of Pistorius. The magnitude of what he was able to achieve given the obstacles set before him were inconceivable. He proved you don't need legs to run track. Combining science and willpower, Pistorius competed against able-bodied athletes inspiring the nation of South Africa, every disabled person ever, and the world. People watched in awe as he ran and it didn't even matter that he didn't win. He competed.

How then are we not to look at athletes as role models? Guys like Pistorius, Lance Armstrong, Tedy Bruschi, etc, overcoming impossible obstacles to turn their dreams into reality are truly something to look up to. They should be idolized for the faith they give to people trying to conquer their own obstacles. The problem with idolizing humans though is that we forget that they are human and prone to making the same mistakes we make. Americans drive while intoxicated daily. It's wrong and a terrible choice to make, but we are shocked when athletes choose to make that mistake as Todd Helton most recently did. He should know better, he's a hero to some people. He's got plenty of money for a driver, why would he do this?

It's a tough dilemma we face when idolizing humans. You couldn't help but feel inspired when Lance won the Tour de France multiple times, or when Tedy Bruschi played his first game after suffering a stroke. Athletes accomplishing great success spurs an immense amount of feelings and turns them into heroes. Some athletes even play that persona into superheroes, calling themselves Supermen; Dwight Howard, Cam Newton. Athletes are Supermen. Average men can't dunk a basketball, run a 40 yard dash in less than five seconds, or hit a ball 400 feet.

Superman is not human though, and these athletes are. When realizing Pistorius is human, he is viewed completely different. He is no longer the Blade Runner, now just a guy charged with murder. Whether his story of accidental murder or the investigation's story of premeditated murder is accurate, is irrelevant. OJ Simpson was found not guilty of murder, but according to the public, he was not innocent and was hence done being a public hero. Pistorius never denied shooting his girlfriend, and because of this, he's no longer a superhero. An idol had fallen and it's incredibly depressing. Exceptionally depressing for his girlfriend's family and the people she inspired. Depressing for him and how his life will now play out. And depressing for all of those who idolized and were motivated by a superhero only to find out the real superheroes are only in comics.

What if?

I started writing a similar post before the NFL Divisional playoff games. Back when it seemed certain that the Patriots would be playing the Broncos and the Packers would be playing the Seahawks in the Championship games. Those were the perfect storyline scenarios; Tom Brady vs. Peyton Manning and the Packers trying to enact revenge on the Seahawks 'Fail Mary' victory. Those would have been the NFL's best options for the Championship games, but I neglected to factor in the best narrative for the Super Bowl being the Harbaugh Bowl.

I have one question for you. What if?

This is purely hypothetical and just a thought I had. Just a conspiracy theory with plenty of holes.

If the NFL wants the highest ratings possible, in order to make the most money possible, why wouldn't they do everything in their power to make that happen? Paying the referees to make sure a certain team win a game would be so easy. The zebras would just need to throw a couple drive killing holding penalties to help the defense and a couple illegal contact downfield flags to help the offense. There is almost always holding and illegal contact downfield on every play, so it's not as if we'd notice blatant fixes.

Commentators and fans complain about bad calls all the time. Basically anytime your team loses, there was a couple calls the refs made, (or didn't make) that caused your team to lose. It happens in every sport nearly every time your team loses, even if it's a blowout. 'If the refs didn't kill our momentum in the first minute of the game, the other team wouldn't have scored six touchdowns.' 'Our team never stood a chance with the refs making those terrible calls.'

Of course we want to believe what we're watching is true and pure, but the athletes have already proven that to be false by taking PEDs. Why can't this be plausible also? In basketball, the refs just have to call a couple phantom fouls on a team's best player early in the game. In baseball, the home plate umpire can control everything with how he calls the strike zone. In hockey, the refs can throw a player in the penalty box. The referees can control so much that a sporting outcome being predetermined doesn't really seem all that crazy.

Holes.

Until of course you realize it's just a crazy conspiracy theory, like the US government causing 9/11, or the Sandy Hook 'hoax'. There's entirely too many people involved to keep quiet. All it would take is one person to go to TMZ or Deadspin with evidence of a league controlling the outcome of games and that sport is finished. The refs aren't being told to fix games, they're just making mistakes. It's just easy to see their mistakes with the camera angles provided in slow motion. As fans we just need to come to terms with our team sucking a fat one and hope for better next year.

The NFL didn't need the Harbaugh Bowl for people to watch the Super Bowl. There are 52 players on every team. That's 52 unique and interesting stories that would have us fans fascinated and glued to the game. I was rooting for neither team this year, for the first time in awhile but I was still sitting right in front of the TV the whole time. The NFL, or any other league, doesn't need to predetermine outcomes. There is too much risk involved.

If next year's Super Bowl us a Manning Bowl though, there's obviously a fix.

Because, what if?

Honesty

Ray Lewis has been accused of taking deer antler spray in order to heal from his torn triceps injury quicker. He has denied taking anything, but if it were to be true, not many people would care. The NFL is basically the only sport that performance enhancers aren't an issue because no one cares.
If the accusations were true, how would Ray Lewis be any different than someone like Andy Pettitte. Both allegedly took banned substances in order to recover from injury quicker. Andy Pettitte is guaranteed to hold that stigma for the rest of his life and will never be inducted into the Hall of Fame. If Lewis were to admit to using a natural supplement that he didn't know contained a banned substance in order to more quickly heal his triceps and help his team, he would still be a Hall of Famer.
NFL players, for some reason are held to a different standard than MLB, or cycling, or track, etc. We see how massive footballers' muscles are and marvel, just as we did when Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa were jacking home runs. We aren't blind to performance enhancers anymore as we were then, but for the NFL, we don't seem to care.
Footballers are recovering from injuries quicker than Wolverine and we choose to look the other way. Sure, medicine is constantly improving, but when a player is expected to miss a year due to injury, how is he back on the field in eight months? We just marvel at their superhuman ability and ignore what could be the reason behind it. When a guy like Alex Smith, who misses a game due to a concussion, is benched for the remainder of the season,  it's not all too surprising athletes would take supplements to get back on the field from injury as quick as possible, in order not to lose their job as well.
Lastly, regarding these accusations Ray Lewis and Alex Rodriguez are facing; we all assume they're true, right? We live in a country where every citizen is innocent until proven guilty, unless you're an athlete accused of performance enhancing. Once the accusation is brought against you, you're guilty. Just ask Roger Clemens. He never failed a test and won court cases clearing his name. The baseball writers didn't seem to care. Once the association is connected, you're guilty and in every sport except football, you're chastised for the rest of your life.
As Lance Armstrong said in his interview, he couldn't have won the Tour de France without doping. The same applied for baseball players a decade ago. In order to be the best, you have to push your body to it's limit. Once you reach that limit and it still isn't good enough to beat the best, you performance enhance until you can. Of course, not everyone is doping, but the winners are.
We, as fans are as much to blame as the athletes. We want to see bigger, stronger, faster. Initially, we are disgusted upon hearing of athletes doping, but in reality, wouldn't you do the same? With the promise of fame and fortune within your reach, would you take some supplements in order to attain it? It's not as if the athletes are asked to return their fame and fortune if found to be a performance enhancer. Some even rebound from it once admitting; Pettitte, McGwire, possibly Lance in the future.
Our main problem now is the lying. All performance enhancers are liars. Their initial lie is to themselves that doping is OK to do. It is obviously not OK, because it has to be done in secret. Once caught though, athletes are given a chance to change. Most, keep lying; Lance, every home run champion during the Steroid Era, etc. Once they truly come clean and tell the truth, they are given a chance at respect and forgiveness.
While Pettitte will never be forgiven by baseball writers, he is certainly respected and forgiven by NY. If Ray Lewis came clean and said he took deer antler spray to heal quicker and didn't realize there was a banned ingredient in it because it was a natural substance, he would be forgiven (not that it matters because he's already forgiven since he's in the NFL). Even if we can't be honest with ourselves in how we view athletes, we want them to be honest with us.
Didn't 'Liar Liar' teach us anything?

Death of a Sport

I wake up this morning to the news of the Jets being interested in JaMarcus Russell, and of Alex Rodriguez still taking HGH. Can I go back to bed, please?

The Super Bowl is on Sunday. I know, duh. But instead of hearing analysts discuss the Harbaugh brothers facing off, or Ray Lewis playing his last game, or Joe Flacco still trying to prove he is elite, or Colin Kaepernick fearlessly running rampant through the NFL, I have been hearing something else over the past couple of days.

CTE, concussions, and head trauma.

Head trauma may signal the eventual demise to the NFL. Football is a violent sport with collisions happening on every play. The NFL tries to put rules in place to make the sport safer, but completely removing injuries and head trauma is impossible. With more and more former and current players (and the President!) coming out to say they probably wouldn't let their hypothetical sons play football knowing the dangers of head trauma, who will be the future of the NFL?

The future has to decide whether short term fame and fortune outweigh potential long lasting effects on the brain that can result in suicide. As we learn more about CTE and how it is caused and what it causes, the NFL could look very different

The NFL has a dangerously thin line to navigate in the future. As fans, we watch because these athletes are extraordinary. They run faster, throw farther, jump higher than us. But maybe most importantly, they are infinitely tougher than us. We want to see big hits, and players playing through pain but we are also more aware now the damage they may cause. Rule changes down the line may drastically change how the game is played and people at that point might stop watching. The draw right now though is too big. There is too much money and too much glory to be had. For now, I'll gladly keep watching and sadly keep rooting for the Jets (JaMarcus Russell, really???), but it will be interesting to see how the NFL changes over time.

I know if I'm lucky enough to have a baby boy, he won't be encouraged to play football. I'm now happy my mom discouraged me from playing, even if she was only worried about broken bones. But I also know there well be plenty of people drawn to the fame and fortune that will ignore the warnings. If those people keep playing and the hits are still big, we'll all keep watching. The NFL isn't dead yet, but Roger Goodell can't be happy this is even a topic before the Super Bowl when the game should be celebrated, not given a death sentence.