A New Twist to an Old Argument

Perhaps the most perplexing part of the ‘should college athletes get paid’ argument is the notion that pundits forget that the word college precedes the word athlete.

The reality of the issue is that colleges make A LOT of money off of the kid’s name because of the amateur status of college players. That is irrefutable; yet the national conversation seems to be missing the practical implications of shifting student focus from academics to what they do on the field.

When a college athlete leaves school early without having the skills in (insert whatever major here) they are setting themselves up for failure; and just paying them for on the field prowess will not alleviate that.

Out of the 9,000 or so college athletes who play college football, roughly 300 of them are invited to the NFL combine and only 215 actually go on to become pro. That is 2.4 percent for those keeping score at home.

The percentage of NBA players who come out of college is even lower; less than one percent to be a bit more accurate.

The NFL Player’s Association website even says in plain English, “As you can see, most people who want to become NFL players will not. Therefore it is very important to come up with alternative plans for the future.”

The place for young adults to establish their alternative future plans is in college.

In today’s national conversation, both the institutions that make money off of them and the champions of college athletes forget that the chief reason they go to the University of wherever is to get a degree.

However, the young athletes are free to forgo their degree and declare for the NFL or NBA draft after one or three years respectively.

Considering that the average NFL career is three years and that the average NBA career is roughly six years, these kids will inevitably be thrown out into the world after making six figures a year with no idea how to do anything else.

To be clear, that doesn’t mean that the University of Notre Dame should continue to make almost 69 million dollars in football revenue alone without having to pay their student athletes a dime of it.

It is just that paying amateur athletes, in all sports, will not solve the greater problem of college athletes who wash out of the NBA or NFL not having any practical skills to acquire a new job.

If for whatever reason college athletes are allowed to get paid by their respective universities, there has to be a contractual agreement stating they cannot turn pro until they get a degree in the major of their choice.

With this prevision, college athletes have to go to class and graduate with the same 128 credits most universities require to get a diploma. Then if they want, they can peruse their dreams of becoming the next Peyton Manning or Michael Jordan.

Making college students graduate before they take the chance on themselves to turn pro is not, and cannot be viewed by society as, a punishment for going to college.

If the young adult wants to be a pro, and get paid for playing at the university of wherever, that badly then they’ll hit the books and get the degree to do it.

The most treacherous thing for student athletes is ending up in the abyss of those who failed to go pro and can’t do anything else.

Paying college athletes alone doesn’t help them escape that vortex, making them graduate before letting them try to go pro does.

Sports is why you Never Leave Early

We are all mortal, yet there is a process that injects life into the zombified husks sitting in their seats.

It happens when a pass falls perfectly into the hands of a rookie wide receiver in the waning seconds.  It occurs when a postseason savior hits a pitch into the bullpen. It may even happen in the last period of a doomed hockey game.

Because the fantastic comeback win can happen at any time, it is truly baffling to think that fans in the stands would willingly rob themselves of this experience by leaving early.

Thom Brennaman duly noted that there were members of the Foxboro faithful departing the stands in the final quarter against the New Orleans Saints. The home team was down by one point. The Patriots would go on to get three more cracks at stealing a game they had no business being in.

And yet a select few thought they could get a beat on the artery clogging traffic that would undoubtedly clog Route 1.

A similar mindset of beating the rush to Kenmore station had to occur to Red Sox fans on Sunday. Max Scherzer pitched seven incredible innings and fanned 13. The team had struck out 25 times through two games and looked overmatched completely to that point.

On May 13 there were most likely those who contemplated shutting off game seven between the Boston Bruins and the Toronto Maple Leafs. It was a three goal deficit with half of the third period gone and the home team appeared to be skating through quick sand on defense.

It seems logical for the fair-weather to avoid the turbulence of their team faltering. They avoid the hardest part about being a fan because they can’t bear the pain of loss.

Yet for those who are willing to risk facing the hardest part of sports, there exists the reward of being faithful.

For example those who elect to stay at Gillette Stadium witnessed the opposition’s play calling head to hell in a hand basket. The Saints inexplicably forgot that they could run the ball against the Patriots; as a result they gave a man with 31 forth quarter comeback wins a shot at his 32^nd one.

The result of this was Tom Brady finding Kenbrell Tomkins in the back corner of the end zone with five seconds to go.  The muskets fired once more and the New England Patriots beat the New Orleans Saints by a score of 30-27.

Those who stayed for the eighth inning at Fenway Park saw Jim Leyland of the Detroit Tigers over manage his team as he called for four different  pitchers in one inning.

None of Leyland’s pitchers recorded an out until after David Ortiz hit a grand slam. All four runs came across the plate and  the homer gave light to a fantastic sports picture.

One inning later Jarrod Saltalamacchia drove in Boston’s bearded basher Jonny Gomes to give the Red Sox a 6-5 victory.

Yet the most improbable was that May 13^th day at TD Bank Garden. The Bruins faithful saw Milan Lucic, Nathan Horton, and Patrice Bergeron netted three goals to keep the Bruins season alive.

And in overtime the Bruins kept calm and Bergeroned as Boston’s favorite Canadian found the back of the net to complete the reversal.

While there are countless other cities where improbable comebacks occur, there will always be those who try to beat the traffic.

If these three improbable turnarounds taught us anything it is this: Never leave the stadium early because remarkable could happen today.

Baseball's Triad of Chaos: Bring it on

While last year’s addition of the second wild card spot revamped the pennant race, this year we could see an improbable three team round robin that should scramble the equilibrium.

With the Tampa Bay Rays, Texas Rangers, and Cleveland Indians all separated in the wild card standings by a game, it makes sense that there are three teams fighting for two spots.

But if they all finish with the same regular season record, one team could opt to be team C as opposed to team A in the tiebreaker.

Confused yet? Don’t worry that’s normal. Here is how the three way tie would be unknotted.

Hypothetically if the Rangers, Indians and Rays all finish with the same record the team with the best record against the other potential wild card opponents will host the team with the second best record out of the three.

In laments terms this means the Cleveland Indians would host the Tampa Bay Rays on Monday. These are teams A and B.

This is because Cleveland went a combined 7-5 against the Rays and Rangers this year. Tampa Bay went a combined 7-6 against the Rangers and Indians this year, so they are team B.

Let’s say for all intents and purposes that the Rays go on the road, get a strong performance from David Price at the Jake and take the win from a jilted Cleveland Indians team.

This means that Tampa Bay gets to fly home to Saint Petersburg and host either the Indians or Rangers on Wednesday.

By (hypothetically) beating Cleveland, the Rays secure their claim to the first of two wild card slots and get to be the home team for the Rangers/ Indians showdown.

But before getting to Wednesday we have to hop back in the Delorean and travel back to Tuesday where the Texas Rangers would host the Cleveland Indians for the right to be the second wild card team.

The Rangers have the advantage of home field, yet Cleveland cancels that out by getting two shots to clinch the final wildcard slot as opposed to Texas’ one.

Regardless of the winner of Texas and Cleveland, the winner of the Tuesday night game will be the second wild card team. The second wild card team will have to fly out to Tampa and play the Rays because they became the first wild card team by winning.

Then everything goes back to the regular one game play in that did so well last year.

In hindsight the process is not especially confusing and this added wrinkle of three-teams-fight-for-two-spots-to-turn-around-and-fight-for-one-spot makes things far more interesting.

Imagine the spectacle of the oft underrated Rays team that could beat Cleveland on Monday and host a play in game that Wednesday.

Imagine being the Texas Rangers stumbling into a home game playoff atmosphere with a chance to end someone’s season in Arlington.

Or you could be the Cleveland Indians. By beating Tampa Bay and sending your good vibes over to help Texas win, you could knock out Tampa Bay and avoid playoff baseball in that dungeon that the Rays call a ballpark.

We could see three teams fighting for two spots to fight for one spot; let the chaos reign. 

Good on the Field, Bad in the Booth.

Whether Al Michaels is welcoming us to this broadcast of the NFL, Marv Albert coming to us live from Madison Square Garden, or Mike Emrick describing the “shoooootttt” of a hockey player, fans of all sports gather around their media outlet of choice to hear or see the action.

Obviously not every game is going to be the Miracle on Ice. And yes Jack Buck is probably going to believe what he just saw on 94 percent of the plays in a baseball game.

Regardless, sporting events have the potential to be positive experiences for everyone watching, or listening, to them. For this reason, it is so disheartening to see color commentators who hinder the viewing experience by butchering its content.

Take former Red Sox pitcher Derrick Lowe for example. Lowe had career moments that dropped about as much as his average sinker. From 1997-1999 Lowe had a 5-15 record as he was bounced back and forth from starter to reliever.

Ultimately Lowe turned around his career and turned out to be a perfectly average pitcher. Yet the clichéd transition from former pro to color guy hasn’t worked well for him.

He seems out of place in the booth and all too eager to belittle himself in an unproductive manor. He takes away from the game that is happening while trying to fixate on a point that lost its validity three batters ago.

While there is nothing wrong with a professional athlete who is willing to poke fun of himself repeatedly (because the Peyton Manning cut that meat commercial was, and still is, the funniest sports commercial of all time) the broadcast booth isn’t always the place to do it.

Still, pro athletes take up the booth in order to bring the game to their eyes. Though this route isn’t for everyone, even the best players stink with a microphone.

John Miller of ESPN spent years throwing his back out on live air to drag Joe Morgan through insufferable Sunday Night Baseball games. And Dennis Eckersley single handedly brought homer-ism from the Red Sox booth to a level most people didn’t know existed.

The booth isn’t meant for everyone, and yet countless athletes try to make it their saving grace after leaving the game they love.

If that is the case, then there is no reason why athletes who take the responsibility of the booth shouldn’t try to be great at it.

There is no shame in a former athlete turned commentator spending time in the film room reviewing their own diction and deliverance. Since watching film has been engrained in most athletes anyway, there is no reason to think they can’t at least improve by watching for their mistakes.

Perfect example of this would be ESPN’s Aaron Boone. When he first joined the Baseball Tonight crew in 2010 Boone was not able to string together thoughts in an intelligent way.

Three years and countless broadcasts later, Boone has gone from a seemingly non talent to quality talent. His thoughts flow from his mouth like a waterfall in a Poland Springs commercial today.

While he may not have attended the Connecticut School of Broadcasting in order to correct his prior errors, there has been a significant improvement in Boone’s booth game.

If an athlete is going to be a color guy or analyst after their playing career is over, they have to know their takes shape the viewing experiences of fans everywhere.

Or else they’ll sound like Derrick Lowe, Joe Morgan, and Dennis Eckersley: good on the field, but morons behind the mike.

Calling it Now

With summer winding down and the public’s interest in baseball vanishing faster than this Hunter Pence’s home run ball leaving the yard, its time to announce the year’s award winners.

American League Most Valuable Player: Miguel Cabrera, Detroit Tigers

This may go down as the easiest MVP choice in the history of baseball; and if it’s not someone’s voting privileges need to be revoked.

                                                  

Cabrera is hitting .357 this season. The next closest person to him in the major leagues, Yadier Molina, trails him by 24 points.

The Tiger’s slugger has 130 runs batted in this year and we aren’t even in September yet. The next closest player is 12 RBI behind him.

Cabrera is also second in the majors in runs scored and leads the American league in hits.

Literally if you go to MLB.com’s “American Leaders” page, Cabrera is first in everything offense except for home runs; where he is just three back of Chris Davis.

Also, as if he needed to further his own argument, Cabrera’s been battling a lower abdomen strain for a month. And he could be the first person ever to win back to back triple crowns.

Even if he doesn’t, AL MVP is a lock for sure.

National League MVP: Allen Craig, Saint Louis Cardinals

While picking Cabrera to win MVP again is very easy, the national league equivalent has been much harder to determine.

The Atlanta Braves have the best record in baseball, yet they been doing it without one guy carrying the offensive load; well, that and great pitching.

Paul Goldschmidt has a good batting average (.300), is second in the NL in home runs (31),leads the NL in RBI’s (104), has the second best OPS in the national league (.952), and is confidently the best player on the Diamondbacks.

Yet the D-backs are going to miss the playoffs. And it goes against every fiber in my being to vote for an MVP guy knowing that his team isn’t going to be playing October baseball.

So we’re left with a guy who is second in the NL in RBI’s (96), sixth in the league in batting average, (.316), is forth in the NL in hits (153), and is hitting .452 with runners in scoring position.

That’s not a misprint; Allen Craig has a .452 average with runners in scoring positing.

Ladies and Gentlemen your 2013 NL MVP, Allen Craig!

NL CY Young: Clayton Kershaw, LA Dodgers

This one is also an easy choice. Kershaw has the lowest ERA in the majors at 1.72, leads the major leagues in strikeouts with 197, and opponents are hitting .186 against him.

While 13 wins doesn’t help Kershaw factor in how atrocious the Dodgers were in the beginning of the year and the fact that pitchers wins don’t seem to matter anymore and Kershaw is the runaway choice.

AL CY Young: Max Scherzer, Detroit Tigers

This race is pretty much between two players: Yu Darvish and Max Scherzer. Here are their splits.

Darvish: 12-5, 2.68 ERA, 25 starts, 116 hits allowed, 20 homers allowed, 225 strikeouts, opponents bat .191 against him.

Scherzer: 19-1, 2.73 ERA, 26 starts, 120 hits allowed, 14 homers allowed, 196 strikeouts, opponents bat .190 against him.

The formula for picking Scherzer is simple. Similar ERA to Darvish + six fewer homers allowed + better batting average against + he doesn’t loose= AL CY Young.

Though if Darvish wins the award, that shouldn’t be an issue.

AL Manager of the Year: John Farrell, Boston Red Sox

Honorable mentions to Bob Melvin (name 10 players on the Oakland Athletics without the internet’s help), Joe Girardi (Injury devastated Yankees are in the race still) and Terry Francona (Cleveland stunk last year now they’re in the race).

Yet none of the honorable mentions had to deal with the disaster that was the Red Sox clubhouse last year. The chicken and beer boys have been replaced by the effort and beard boys. Farrell gets credit for the Sox having the best record in the AL and altering the clubhouse for the better.

NL Manager of the Year: Clint Hurdle, Pittsburgh Pirates

While Mike Matheny and Fredi Gonzalez are good managers of good teams, they were expected to be division leaders.

The only other manager who could dethrone Hurdle is Don Mattingly of the Dodgers. Considering the team was left for dead in 2013 BP, before Puig, Mattingly has greatly helped in having LA go 45-10 in 55 games.

Still, the NL West is the worst division in baseball and the stupidly high number that is the Dodgers payroll hinder Mattingly’s argument a bit.

Meanwhile Hurdle team has one fewer win than the Dodgers in the toughest division in baseball. 

Combine that with the notion that no Pirate offensive player is having a fantastic season and you get a team that relies heavily on pitching and management to win.

Hurdle has been one of the best this season in that department.

No Really, USA Today Covered This Story.

Earlier this week an online company called 800Razors.com offered one million dollars for Brian Wilson of the Los Angeles Dodgers to vanquish the Bigfoot of sports beards.

800Razors.com President Philip Masiello told RadarOnline.com “His (Wilson’s) management feels we need to match his present salary of $1 million at a minimum, the discussions commenced Friday and are continuing.”

Apparently James Harden was not available for this offer, seeing as how Wilson is being paid the arbitration figure this year (that’s one million dollars for one year for those who don’t speak baseball finances) and hasn’t been the impact closer that warranted his own facial hair getting a twitter account.

                               

Still, Wilson has been much better with the hill of hair on his face.

Wilson’s beard began to mount on a few occasions during the 2010 season. In 70 games that year Wilson recorded a career high 48 saves, had a career low 1.81 earned run average, and finished seventh in the CY Young voting.

Oh, and the Giants won their first World Series title since 1954.

Flash forward two years and two injury plagued seasons and Wilson is now finishing games for the Dodgers. He picked up his first action as a Dodger against the Marlins yesterday by striking out two of three batters.

While Wilson could have a positive impact for LA at a low price, the question can be asked if Wilson’s facial hair could make a difference in someone else’s life.

One school of thought is that that Wilson should shave for the betterment of others. Perhaps Wilson could tell 800Razors.com to up their offer to three million dollars and that the money gets donated to the charity of his choice.

Even though he’s making the arbitration figure this year Brian Wilson doesn’t need the gift million dollars. He made 4,440,000 dollars in 2010, 6.5 million in 2011, and 8.5 million last season.

That move would be fantastic public relations on the Dodgers part and could help someone far less fortunate than Wilson and his luscious locks of facial hair. No pressure or anything here.

On the other side of the fence is all of the stigma that Wilson’s beard holds a huge portion of his identity as a player. Wilson shaving off the beard would be like Chris Andersen getting rid of all his tattoos, Prince Fielder getting rid of his fat, or Tim Tebow losing his ability to miss receivers by a country mile.

Though all beard fans don’t have to worry about the big bad razors anymore, the Dodger pitcher will have no part of it.

Wilson’s reps told Yahoo sports.com earlier today that the former all-star will not so much as trim his famous trademark. Apparently Wilson’s beard is “going with him to the grave.”

While one shudders to think of Wilson’s wake with a silky white beard that goes down past his sternum, there is something positive to be said about a unique characteristic defining an athlete.

For Wilson it is his beard, and it appears it’s here to stay.

"Perposterous" Preseason Predictions

As training camp picks up the impending arrival of NFL football becomes like a pickup truck running over a small squirrel. 

So, in the spirit of squashing all other sports stories out in the rest of the sporting world, the time has come to make some “preposterous” predictions for the upcoming season.

“Preposterous” prediction number one: The Baltimore Ravens will miss the playoffs.

When it comes to the postseason Joe Flacco is no fluke. Last season’s great line throughout the playoffs (73-126, 58 percent completion percentage, 1,140 yards, 11 touchdowns, Zero interceptions) speaks for itself.

Flacco is the only quarterback to win a postseason game each of his first five seasons in the NFL. He has 19 postseason touchdowns to eleven interceptions. And Baltimore has won nine of the 13 playoff games Flacco has started; so the Ravens have won 69 percent of games Flacco has started in come playoff time.

Yet this season will undoubtedly be the most challenging for football’s newest 100 million dollar man.

This is because his team’s spiritual leader, (Ray Lewis) their impact pass rusher of last postseason (Paul Krueger), and Flacco’s top two targets (Anquan Boldin and Dennis Pitta) are gone.

Terrell Suggs had just two sacks all of last season. James Ihedigbo, the former Patriots safety who couldn’t defend a chair in pass coverage, is listed as their starting strong safety.

Combine all of this with the overall strength of the AFC, the Cincinnati Bengals not getting worse, and that Baltimore’s offensive coordinators for some reason refuse to give Ray Rice more than 20 carries on a consistent basis for some irrational reason; and you have a recipe for Baltimore to miss the playoffs.

“Preposterous” prediction number two: AJ Green will have a better statistical year than Andre Johnson.

Let’s stack up the numbers of two NFL receivers in a vacuum for a moment.

Receiver A’s numbers: 97 receptions, 1,350 receiving yards, Eleven touchdown catches, 13.9 yards per reception, 84.4 yards per game.

Receiver B’s numbers: 63 catches, 688 yards,  two touchdown catches, 10.9 yards per reception, 52.9 yards per game.

Based off of the vacuum principle, receiver B doesn’t belong in the same stratosphere as receiver A. Yet take these numbers out of the vacuum and you realize that receiver B is actually Andre Johnson’s circa 2005; back when he was 24 (and had David Carr throwing him the ball.)

Green at 24 put up better numbers than Johnson at 24. And Green, who is already a beast, is just entering his prime this year.

But prime isn’t the only reason Green should have a better statistical year, for competition factors in as well.

Johnson will have to face the Seahawks and 49ers defenses on consecutive weeks; as well as an improved Arizona Cardinals defense with a talented corner in Patrick Peterson. Not to mention the Denver Broncos later in the year with the leader of the NFL’s ‘never count him out due to age’ team in Champ Bailey.

The toughest challenge Green will have to face is in week one against the vaunted Bears pass defense.

After that game Green will get to torch the Packers in week three, the Patriots in week five, the Bills in week six, the Lions in week seven, the Jets in week eight, San Diego in week 13 and the Colts in week 14.

Expect both of these receivers to play great this year. It’s just things are lining up for Green to have a better year in 2013 than Johnson does.

Ballpark's Biggest Problem

America’s national pastime is in serious trouble.

Long gone are the summer days of 1949 where the playoff push engulfs a nation as two steroid free hall of fame players race for the Triple Crown and a pennant. In the heyday of baseball this stretch built up legends, birthed contenders, and crushed the dreams of fans across the country.

Nowadays the most intense push in baseball’s season is overshadowed by easygoing NFL players running around in shoulder pads and shorts.

By the end of August the boys of summer will be dwarfed by boys who were off from school for the summer. And by September the masses will have largely forgotten baseball even existed.

Setting aside the exponential growth of football for a moment, baseball has its own issues that are causing it to be drained of interest. While the Biogenesis scandal looms over baseball like the Mr. Stay Puft man loomed over New York, baseball faces other problems that could destroy it in time.

We’ll get to those in a moment, for now we must start with the bane of baseball’s existence.

The Biogenesis Scandal.

Just in case you’ve spent the summer spelunking and have just come back to civilization here is a short rundown of Biogenesis.

• About 20-25 players have been linked to the owner of a Miami clinic named Anthony Bosch.
• This clinic owner provided performance enhancing drugs to these players and agreed to turn everything he had over to MLB.
• MLB agreed to pay for Bosch’s legal bills and provide personal security in exchange for information about the players in question. (For the record MLB is getting a free pass from just about everyone on collusion for the greater good of nailing these guys. No sympathy for the users here, just stating a fact.)
• The biggest names on the list are as follows: Alex Rodriguez, Ryan Braun, Bartolo Colon, Nelson Cruz, and Jhonny Peralta.
• Nobody on this list has tested positive for PED’s this year to date.
• Ryan Braun has taken a deal from MLB and has been suspended for the rest of this season.
• Decisions on at least nine others are expected by next week at the latest.

Even after all of the tough talk in regards to cleaning up the game baseball has to get into bed with a questionable Miami clinic owner to try and stamp out this new steroid group.

Baseball will try to bring down the hammer of Thor on these players to discourage future PED use. The upcoming suspensions will lessen the quality of this pennant race (by getting rid of Oakland’s best pitcher and solid offensive cogs for the Rangers and Tigers) for the sake of improving the game in the long haul.

Ultimately that’s a worthy trade off in principle, yet this purge will not have the desired affect.

Dragging the old steroid guys before congress back in 2006 and watching them lie on national television made everyone who hit more than 30 home runs in a year a potential target of roid speculation.

Chris Davis will forever have to answer questions as to how a guy whose career high in homers (33) was topped before the all-star break.

Baseball can purge whoever they want and it is ultimately a good thing that players want the game to be clean. But their lying predecessors have cast omnipresent speculation over the players of today and tomorrow.

The upcoming Biogenesis purge is a public relations farce and baseball isn’t even close to cleaning up the game. 

Out of Touch Off the Field

On paper there is nothing offensive about what Tom Brady told Sports illustrated writer Peter King. There was no condoning of Hernandez’s actions, no hat bearing the words ‘Free Hernandez’ on his head, and no mention of Hernandez at all.

In the public relations world Brady’s quote was perfect. In reality Tom Brady’s quote was unacceptable.

For this first time since Aaron Hernandez was charged with the murder of Odin Lloyd, the face of the Patriots franchise had something to say on the matter. What he said was nothing offensive, though he feigned ignorance to the issue entirely.

The exact context of Brady’s comments looked like this. SI writer Peter King asked Brady “what’s you reaction to Aaron Hernandez’ being arrested and cut from the team, and how will his absence affect your offense?”

Brady answered: “I've seen a lot of things over 13 years, and what I have learned is that mental toughness and putting aside personal agendas for what's in the best interest of the team matters most. My job is to play quarterback, and I'm going to do that the best way I know how, because I owe that to my teammates regardless of who is out there on the field with me."

Yes Tom, one of your premier targets will not be on the field with you next season, but you barely answered the second half of the question.

It is common knowledge that the former Patriots tight end has been charged with murder, yet Brady didn’t give his take on the issue of a former teammate sitting in jail. This quote embodies the mindset of Brady and Coach Bill Belichick perfectly.

If it’s not about football it doesn’t matter.

Except Odin Lloyd is dead and a former teammate, and a former productive teammate, is the one going to trail for allegedly ending his life; that matters.

More importantly that deserves more than a passive dismissal from the face of the New England Patriots current icon.

Nobody is arguing with the Patriots track record of success. The Belichick Brady tandem has won 136 football games over more than a decade. Brady has the fifth most touchdown passes in NFL history.

We get that you guys are successful, but that doesn’t give either of them a free pass to just ignore problems that exist outside of their jobs.

Brady and Belichick have brought three Superbowl trophies to New England by making football the first, second, and third most important things in their lives.

While this mindset is great for winning games it is putrid when it comes to dealing with the outside world. And the Aaron Hernandez situation is the outside worlds crashing down on the ideal non-existent off the field issues for the Patriots strive for every year.

Even while the Patriots mindset is football first, there has to be a higher demand from the reporters asking him questions. Whether these journalists have to burn some bridges to get the honest answer everyone wants, in this instance it needs to be done.

Otherwise the Patriots will continue to focus on football and shut out the outside world. Much to the chagrin of Odin Lloyd and his family.

The Anti-Athlete Role Model Argument

Some early morning channel surfing lead this writer to the channel in which Skip and Stephen A. were discussing Colin Kaepernick’s recent clothing “controversy.”

The former Daily News sports writer took the stance that because Kaepernick is in an elevated position in society, he has to be far more image cautious than the average citizen because of how impressionable members of the younger generation are.

While the point was well defended, the idea of professional athletes being role models for kids is ludicrous.

To plagiarize the late Mahatma Gandhi, we have to be the change we want to see in the world; and placing all athletes on the increasingly fragile pedestal of high moral values is foolish when many of them are not willing or able to embrace that responsibility.

It is easy to blame media sensationalism for why kids act like the questionable people they see on television. Yet an enormous part of sports on every level is sensationalism. The athletic marvels like Blake Griffin jump over cars and Robert Griffin the Third sprinting at an Olympic hurdler pace are huge reasons for why people watch sports.

Combine that with broken households (by societal standards), the current economic mindset, and the increasing prominence of media as a pacifier and kids are hard pressed not to act like who they see on television.

Yet in the midst of these realities one key fact slips through the cracks: kids who are at the age of being impressionable are looking up at the sensational people that we as a society are putting in front of them.

An uncomfortable reality that needs to be addressed in regards to professional athletes as role models is this: society builds athletes up on the foundation of how good they are at their craft rather than the content of their character.

Therefore, if we actually want the people on television to be serviceable roll models for the youth of a nation, it is up to the fans and media alike to make good character of public figures the foundation of public support.

And that is impossible to do in the world of sports because winning cures everything.

While it’s easy to take Tom Brady and his exploits in comparison to Paulie D and his exploits (and believe me that’s a good choice) we have to look at why Brady is viewed as highly as he is.

Because Tom Brady is arguably the best quarterback of all time is the reason why so many impressionable people place him on a moral pedestal that apparently comes with success. The fact that Brady is a big contributor to the national charity Best Buddies is not nearly as prominent as the fact the Patriots quarterback is fifth all time in touchdown passes.

You can be a complete a-hole and still be forgiven by the sports viewing society so long as you win. Michael Vick can mutilate and murder dogs like he did back in 2007 and will be largely tolerated so long as he has a season like he did in 2010.

Ray Lewis can get charged with obstruction of justice during a murder trial, like he did in 2000 and have public perception remain that he killed two people; so long as he wins two Superbowls, is one of the best linebackers of all time, and a reverend in the locker room.

Ben Roethlisberger can allegedly rape a woman like he did back in 2008 (the charges against Roethlisberger were dropped), yet so long as he continues to put up good numbers and keep the Steelers Superbowl contenders he will be forgiven.

Still, Lewis and Roethlisberger are two time Superbowl champions who have reached the apex of success in their sport. No matter what we say about their character, they will be remembered first and foremost as being successful at their craft.

Obviously not all athletes are these heinous villains Vick, Roethlisberger, and Lewis have made them out to be. However, if we as a society really care about the people our kids look up to we will work on directing their attention to individuals of higher moral character; and more importantly making good character the definition of a good role model rather than how successful they are.

The alternative is defaulting to building up athletes and musical artists as saints and tearing them down as they do something stupid because they believe their fans will forgive them if they are successful in their craft.

Yet the saddest thing is in today’s society the athletes are correct to believe their sins will be forgiven if they catch ten touchdowns or make a great album.

There is nothing wrong with wanting people in higher positions to carry themselves better, like Stephen A does with Colin Kaepernick; especially in the image paranoid country we live in today.

However, that does not exonerate society from choosing whom to elevate if in fact the end goal is to have good role models for kids.

This notion leaves us with only two choices. One option is that both media members and fans have to decide that sportsmanship and good character take precedence over winning. The other option is to acknowledge that athletes are not good role models because winning is the most important value in sports; society can’t have the best of both worlds if they actually want better role models for their kids.

The second option is far more appealing if the goal is to be the change we see in others.

Tanking: Boston's Best Move

The thought of a team tanking is understandably egregious for diehard fans. Yet in the case of the Boston Celtics the complete devastation of their roster today with the end goal of building for a better team tomorrow.

In the sports world there is nothing worse than being mediocre and The Celtics find themselves in this precarious position. By trading Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, and Jason Terry for Kim Kardashian’s husband and his entourage, Danny Ainge has maneuvered his franchise deeper into mediocrity.

An opportunity to tank next season is staring Danny Ainge right in the eyes. All he has to do is get rid of one of the ten best point guards in the NBA and hope the ping pong balls bounce his way next summer.

The pro-tanking argument goes something like this. As presently constructed, the Celtics lack the star power to contend with the Miami Heat, the defensive prowess to slug it out with the Indiana Pacers, and the team unity to best the Chicago Bulls; so just blow it up, trade Rondo and rebuild a foundation on the ashes of your franchise.

Still while the Celtics will be bad next year, the franchises’ most infamous tanking endeavor still has Celtics fans feeling jilted.

Every basketball fan in the 1997 season knew going into the draft that Tim Duncan was the lock to be the number one overall pick; the Celtics ended up with the second worst record in the NBA that year in hopes of getting Duncan.

As we all know the Celtics didn’t get Duncan, or keep their first draft pick Chauncey Billups. Boston finished with a 36-46 record, finished 12^th in the Eastern Conference, and saw the 1997 season get filed under the ‘post Bird struggles’ paragraph on Wikipedia’s description of the C’s in 1993-1998.

Yet the Celtics tanking attempt faired much better in the new millennium, under Ainge.

The 2007 tank attempt gave Ainge his stripes as a general manager because he helped turn that ugly duckling into a gorgeous swan. The attempt to bomb the 2007 season and land either Greg Oden or Kevin Durant failed. However, the flipping of Jeff Green for Ray Allen helped lead Boston to a title the next year.

Yet the decision on whether or not to go into full blown tank mode depends on moving Rajon Rondo.

The last member of the Umbuntu Celtics is still in town and Rondo is the most alluring trade bait Boston will have for the foreseeable future.

Ainge may not pass on the chance to get rid of Rondo’s 24 million dollar contract in order to maneuver the team into a position to rebuild through the draft seems appealing, the Celtics would have to take the chance of trading their best player essentially for ping pong balls.

Keep in mind that Rondo is coming off of Achilles surgery, so if the Celtics are truly playing for the ping pong balls flipping Rondo for 40 cents on the dollar will enable the creative destruction to take full effect as soon as possible.

If the Celtics are in fact shooting for Andrew Wiggins, Jabari Parker, or Marcus Smart trading Rondo would put them in the best position to get the highest draft pick. And trading Rondo will give the Celtics the first tool to begin the rebuilding process.

This Doc is Out

As trade talks with the Clippers collapse under the weight of Donald Sterling’s ignorance, Doc Rivers’ desire to leave has Celtic fans feeling sick to their stomachs.

The Los Angeles Clippers were not willing to part with DeAndre Jordan and two first round draft picks for Kevin Garnett and one of the NBA’s best coaches. While Rivers does have fond memories of  L.A. during  his playing career, he made his intentions clear he no longer wants to call Boston his home during the season.

As one would guess neither the Standells nor the fans approve of Doc’s change of heart.

Callers have flooded sports talk radio with a torrent of bad things to say about Doc and his waning loyalty. Couple Rivers wanting to leave with the team-city unity the Boston Bruins have going on and Doc’s desire to leave becomes harder to swallow.

Even though the cry for a disloyal coach to vacate the franchise can be heard from Summer Street the Celtics can’t afford to lose Doc simply because he has accomplished so much.

Rivers has the sixth highest winning percentage in Celtics history. Only Red Aurbach has more playoff wins than Doc. And most notably Rivers brought Boston a championship in 2008.

The good times felt so long ago didn’t they?

Although coach Rivers is a master of diagnosing defenses even this doc does not have a cure for aging stars. Paul Pierce is 35 years old and needs a stepstool to get off a jump shot. Garnett is 37 and battled ankle issues as recently as this season. Couple two burning out stars with a young point guard who plays for the highlight reels rather than the wins and it makes sense why Doc deems this team incurable.

Yet for Celtics fans that doesn’t make it hurt any less.

While it is clear that the window on this Celtics group has closed fans thought they had Rivers in place as the architect that constructed a new contender. Rivers’ five year 35 million dollar extension back in 2011 had Celtics faithful dreaming of Doc dialing up plays for Rajon Rondo and company for years to come.

Somewhere in the sweltering heat of summer that loyalty evaporated like ice cream on the beach.  

By flirting with the Clippers Doc has created a riff with the Celtics faithful that cannot be cured by going to Rite-Aid and filling out a prescription. Yes the Clippers are in a better position to make a run for a championship today. Yes questions about the C’s ability to build around Rondo are legitimate. And yes, even with Doc being in charge a rebuilding Celtics team would likely suffer a losing season or two.

It just hurt the Celtics faithful being forced to picture Doc departing for greener pastures.

Great(ness), now what?

Last night in south beach with all of the critics watching, the Miami Heat demolished the San Antonio Spurs with a 19 point beating on the NBA’s biggest stage.

This was a beat down of epic proportions. The 103-84 win by the current defending champions suggest that when they are in fact on, there is not a team in the current NBA that is better.

But last night the Miami Heat also proved that when there is one team of men that makes the rest of the league look like little boys (when they wish) is terrible for the league as a whole.

Last night’s game from the middle of the third quarter on was unwatchable, but not because both teams played poorly; rather it is because the Heat were in fact too dominant for the Spurs.

The 33-5 run that spanned from the waning moments of the third quarter into the middle of the fourth quarter was spectacular for Heat fans. Miami made 12 of their 13 shots, did not miss a three pointer, and committed one turnover in that eight minute span.

One run and the game was over, the benches were emptied by both teams with roughly five minutes to go in the NBA Finals. Both teams knew the game was over in what was supposed to be the tensest moments of the game. It was possible to hear David Stern yelling at the television ‘YOU CAN”T WIN BY THIS MUCH!!!! PEOPLE AREN’T GOING TO WATCH THIS!!!’ from Massachusetts.

Yet after seeing the ratings from last night’s game certainly calmed Stern down. The blowout win last night drew a 10.2 overnight rating, which was tied for the fourth highest game two rating since 2004.

This number is baffling for multiple reasons. Ignoring the local market viewings for a moment, it is stunning that THIS many people across the country want to watch the Heat win in lopsided fashion.

Greatness is fantastic in hindsight. It keeps statisticians and sports fans up for hours debating who was better and who was best. Yet in real time, one team ruling the NBA like Joseph Stalin once ruled over the former Soviet Union can’t possibly be entertaining.

Even when Michael Jordan was at the apex of his first prime in the 1993 NBA Finals, his Bulls never won a game by more than ten points. It was still a series, even though many thought that the Bulls were the better team and was eventually going to win; Phoenix still had a fighting chance.

And while the Heat are this good, people still watch, even when they destroy their competition like they did last night.

The de-facto ‘f- you Miami for throwing a dynasty parade before playing a single game’ hate, while still a great reason to hate the Heat, is looking more and more futile by the day.

It is common knowledge that the Heat have the best player in the world, the backing of the NBA officiating crews across the league, a good coach, and an all time great defense; yet there is any kind of hope they will lose.

When Miami plays as well as they did last night on the defensive end there is no team in the NBA that can beat them. The mindset shifts to ‘oh well the Heat are on tonight, guess this game is over.’

The compelling aspect of sports is that you don’t truly know who is going to win. When the Heat are this sharp during a game victory for them is a certainty. Combine the loss of the unpredictability element with the level of dominance and the game becomes unwatchable.

Nobody is punishing the Heat for being this great; they are punishing the rest of the league by being this dominant.

NBA What if's 2013

Circumstantial debate is one of the vital cogs that keeps the sports world going. Conversations starting with 'oh well your team may not have won because blah blah didn't happen or player x was hurt' are almost always the most intense and keep people at sports bars long past last call.

While the Miami Heat and San Antonio Spurs get set to play ball in south beach for the right to be the NBA's new champion, most of the other 14 teams that made the playoffs are left to wonder 'what if.' 

While not every team can make the argument they would have won a conference championship if everything broke their way (Sorry Milwaukee Bucks, New York Knicks, Atlanta Hawks, Brooklyn Nets, Houston Rockets, Boston Celtics, LA Clippers anything short of LeBron being genetically cloned and being transported to your team would not have helped you take the title this year) there are some teams that do come out of these playoffs looking like the tragic heroes in Romeo and Juliet; you know, Romeo and Juliet. 

(Quick disclaimer: I'm not doing any 'what if's' regarding Derrick Rose being healthy and or playing in the playoffs because we can't assume he'd have come back like Adrian Peterson nor can we assume he would have been a scrub that just didn't have it after the injury.

I also have to respectfully punt on the 'what if Kobe didn't get hurt' situation. As great as Kobe is, this Lakers team as constructed in the 2013 season was too bad on the defensive end and too flawed at head coach to blow up the playoff bracket.)

Without further delay, we take a look back on the year to determine which teams can rightly ponder 'what if.'

Hypothetical Situation number 1: What if the Thunder never traded James Harden? Suppose they waited out the rest of this year and dealt with the contract issues of Harden, Ibaka, and Perkins this summer. 

With hindsight having 20-20 vision the Harden trade was deemed a disaster for the Thunder for the obvious reasons.

• Harden took the Rockets to the playoffs.
• Harden finished 5th in the NBA in points per game this season
• Ibaka has effectively hit his ceiling. Surge is a dominant shot blocker for sure, but offensively he will never grow into anything more than a heavily watered down version of Chris Bosh. 

By the same token, Harden committed almost four turnovers a game this season; which is almost twice as much as his two turnovers a game last season. 

Part of this can be blamed on Harden's minutes going up drastically, but Harden's game is largely predicated on him dominating the ball; something that Durant and Westbrook already do. 

When you have three big time players all together somebody has to take a step back from what they used to be. In San Antonio it was Tim Duncan who stepped back in 2007. In Miami it was Chris Bosh who took on less last year. In Boston in 2008 it was Kevin Garnett who reduced his offensive roll. 

In Oklahoma City the guy who would have needed to curb his game and ego for the betterment of the team had no choice but to be Harden because Durant and Westbrook are both better players.

If Harden was going to work out in Oklahoma City, he would have had to reduce his roll to being the cutter/kick out to the open shooter/isolation scorer when Westbrook and Durant are both off the floor. 

Harden wouldn't have gotten a chance to grow as a complete player because he would have been subjugated to this super-third guy role in OKC. As a result Harden would not have been able to flourish like he has in Houston. The Thunder would have lost to the Heat in the Finals again, and this summer would have left Sam Presti once again questioning Harden's worth vs Ibaka's worth; most likely yielding the same result as what happened in real life.

Speaking of what happened to the Thunder in real life...

Hypothetical number 2: What if Russell Westbrook never got hurt?

Russell Westbrook improved greatly after this season. His assists were up (7.4 per game this year compared to 5.5 last year), his rebounding was better (5.2 boards per game this year compared to 4.6 per game last year) and he finally seemed to learn how to play with Kevin Durant after the two butted heads in last year's playoffs.

With the new and improved Russell Westbrook healthy it is perfectly reasonable to believe the Thunder would have had a Finals rematch against the Heat. The Thunder beat Memphis and San Antonio last year with Westbrook (and Harden to be fair) and had a fearsome twosome in a better Westbrook and a better Durant. 

Still the role players around the Thunder would not have been able to push this year's OKC team over the top, even with Westbrook and Durant being dominant. Bosh would have eaten Ibaka's lunch offensively again. And while nobody on Miami can guard Westbrook (Spolestra wouldn't take LeBron off Durant defensively for fear of Durant ripping off 12 straight points) the Thunder as presently constituted don't have enough quality role players to beat the Heat.


From the hypothetical situations of the Oklahoma City Thunder to the team that beat the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Hypothetical number 3: What if the Memphis Grizzlies never traded Rudy Gay?

Around the mid point of the season the Memphis Grizzlies traded Gay's enormous contract (5 years 82 million dollars, Gay is slated to make 19 million next season according to spotrac.com http://www.spotrac.com/nba/toronto-raptors/rudy-gay/) along with Hamed Haddadi to the Toronto Raptors. The involvement of the Detroit Pistons enabled Memphis to snag Tayshaun Prince and bolster their team defense because of it.

Production wise for the Grizzlies Gay was averaging 17 points, six rebounds, and roughly three assists before the deal.

While the move made ample sense for Memphis financially the Grizzlies gave away their best wing player by a mile and the San Antonio Spurs took full advantage of Gay's absence.

When Danny Green and Kawhi Leonard were playing strictly to double Randolph and Gasol in the low post and leaving, and I mean like the pretty girl in high school ditching the creepy kid who asks her to prom, Tony Allen and Prince with 15 feet of shooting space.The Spurs were completely unafraid of the Grizzlies wing players. If Gay were there the Spurs would have had to at least honor his shot.

There is no guarantee that Memphis would have won the series because the spacing between Gay and Randolph still would have remained putrid, which would have lead to issues on the offensive end for Memphis, but the argument that Memphis could have beaten San Antonio with Gay can been made.


Hypothetical number 4 What if the Warriors shocked the world and beat the San Antonio Spurs?

Let's say for a moment that Stephen Curry doesn't tweak his ankle, Thompson doesn't completely vanish in this series, and David Lee doesn't hurt himself.

We'll say that Golden State Warriors shoot so well that San Antonio can't out rebound them. After all the Warriors shot 46 percent as a team in the regular season and scored 102 points per game prior to the playoffs.

Golden State with the series win gains even more league love, goes on to the NBA Finals and becomes the sentimental favorite against the big bad Miami Heat.

Yet in this hypothetical story Goliath probably crushes David in five.

Miami wins the series primarily because of Golden State's lack of defensive prowess. The Warriors rotate poorly, have nobody who can guard LeBron James for even part of the game, and will actually get burned by the open three point shooters of the Heat.

But in the process of this situation Golden State becomes a far bigger market and a bigger player in the future.



We shift over to the Eastern Conference now just to make it clear that Miami was not predetermined to take a third trip to the NBA Finals in four years.


Hypothetical number 5 What if Danny Granger were healthy for the Indiana Pacers?

This may be the only situation, short of LeBron getting hurt, that potentially result in a team other than Miami going to the NBA Finals.

The Pacers pushed the Heat to seven games this time around and gave them everything they could handle. Miami had no answer for the mashing combination of Roy Hibbert and David West for the better part of the series and Paul George made big plays at key points.

Indiana had a notoriously bad bench for the better part of this series. Throughout the seven games Miami's reserves outscored the Pacers backups in every single game of this series. Miami's bench totaled 156 points in the series compared to just 80 points by Indiana's bench in the series.

If, and that is a monumentally large if, Granger is healthy and is accepting of a bench role the Pacers could have beaten the Heat.

Here is essentially all of the possible ways a healthy Granger coming off the bench plays out for Indiana against the Heat.

• A career 18 point per game scorer, Granger provides a lifeless bench some punch off the pine.
• Granger takes too many shots and enables Miami to get out an run in transition; still their favorite and most efficient form of offense.
• Granger provides a mismatch on the wing that doesn't enable Miami to collapse on the paint and smother West and Hibbert
• Granger takes too many shots and takes West and Hibbert out of offensive rhythm
• The Heat bench play defensively is exposed by Granger's ability to create offense.
• Granger doesn't bring the ball up, and either George Hill or Lance Stephenson get hounded anyway making his appearance a mood point.
• Granger fully embraces his off the bench roll, scores somewhere between 16-20 points a game, and the Pacers added dimension factors into the Indiana upset. 

These hypothetical situations should keep the patrons past last call for the better part of a week. 

Triple Twice is Nice

John Samuel Vander Meer once created the platinum standard of pitching by tossing two consecutive no-hitters in 1937. In 2013, Miguel Cabrera is in great position to set the same standard for hitting by winning consecutive triple crowns.

Let’s pause for a second and just consider the ridiculousness of that last statement. Miguel Cabrera can win the Triple Crown for two years in a row, and this idea is not crazy.

In terms of batting average Cabrera is Eminem and other hitters are eight mile road; Cabrera is so far ahead of everyone else they look like a blur in his rear view mirror. Cabrera is hitting .387 and the closest average to him in the AL is .348.

When it comes to runs batted in there is nobody threatening miggy smalls. Cabrera’s 47 runs batted in are six ahead of the next closest player in the American league.

The only category that Cabrera is not dominating in is home runs. His eleven homers on the year have him in fourth in the American League. Yet Cabrera is just two homers off of the lead, and as the best hitter in the bigs could get there easily.

While the season is coming to the quarter poll Cabrera’s dominance at the plate has been one thing that has stayed consistent in a season full of surprises.

As the Yankees maintain their lead in the AL East with a starting lineup held together by productive kids, and duct tape, Cabrera continues to hit .349 in one run games.

Cabrera is proving once again that even with the surprising Cleveland Indians, the Tigers number three hitter is still the scariest thing in the AL Central.

The Tigers franchise player has dwarfed the rest of his fellow hitters in terms of greatness in his pursuit of hitting’s ‘Vander Meer.’

Last season Cabrera did something that no horse has been able to do for 35 years; win the Triple Crown.

Cabrera’s greatness at the plate was considered the rebirth of historically great hitting in a major leagues dominated by young flamethrowers.

Suppose for a moment that Cabrera is able to pull off the hitting equivalent of ‘the Vander Meer’ it would be regarded as the most unbreakable record in major league history.

‘The Cabrera’ would exceed DiMaggio’s 56 game hitting streak in terms of longevity over the course of a season and would surpass the ‘Vander Meer’ in terms of ‘number of things that have to go right for you to pull off this ridiculous accomplishment’.

There have been 279 no hitters in the history of major league baseball and just 16 Triple Crown winners. Cabrera would join Roger Hornsby and Ted Williams as the only players to win the Triple Crown twice .

So the best hitter in the game has to be just that for another three quarters of the season to print his name in baseball’s record books in permanent ink.

It could happen and nobody thinks the idea is crazy.