When Someone Moves On

The return of Ray Allen to the TD Bank Garden had the Celtics faithful felling a bit like old lovers.

Allen became the king of the land beyond the arc wearing Boston green. He helped the Celtics re-establish themselves as a perennial contender in the Eastern Conference. Most importantly, he helped bring the Celtics fans banner number 17 in 2008.

Before this season began Allen parted ways with the Celtics after bitter in-fighting to join their “rivals” the Miami Heat. The moved was loathed by the fans from Kenmore to South-E and everyone else who occupies Legends Way for Celtics games.

Still the fans were able to applaud Allen before the game as a thank you for bringing the Celtics back to NBA relevance. Once he came into the game the love was lost and the boo birds sang their song of dejection.

The return of Allen to the Garden (pronounced Ga-aaahhh-den) happens to be the most recent case study of when a former player leaves your team and returns for the first time bearing the colors of someone else.

Usually how fans react to the return of a former player depends on a few factors. First and foremost is the circumstance in which a player departs the team. Fans are generally less mad at a player who enjoys the town they are in, but gets traded or released by management for one reason or another.

Players like Chauncey Billups formerly of the New York Knicks fit into this category. Billups was waived by the team two years ago in order to make room to acquire Tyson Chandler. Billups paid his dues, played well, and was respectful to the fans of Madison Square Garden.

So whenever Billups comes back as a member of the Los Angeles Clippers, he will receive a small token of appreciation from the fans before the game.

The next factor is where the player who left goes. Former Red Sox who become Yankees, a la Johnny Damon, was called “Johnny Demon” throughout his tenure in pinstripes because he was a favorite in Boston who left for the arch enemy.

But when Damon moved on to Tampa Bay and eventually Detroit, the Red Sox faithful softened their hatred and remembered how Damon helped the Red Sox win their first World Series in 86 years.

In the case of Ray Allen he was a exemplary player for his five years in Boston. He was the epitome of class and even maintained his composure throughout a torrent of trade rumors a year ago.

So while the Garden faithful don’t care for the fact that Allen took his talents to South Beach, the only ones who truly resent him are the guys who live in their mothers’ basements who call sports talk radio to complain about it.

Moving on is just part of the reality of sports. Even when sometimes moving on may be the hardest thing to do. 

Oh No Te'o

On October 2 Manti Te’o sat in front of a TV camera and proceeded to convince the world that he was distraught by the death of a girl who didn’t exist.

Even if Te’o was duped at the beginning of this tragic hoax, the sit down he did with ESPN’s Gene Wojciechowski immediately stripped him of deniability. That interview was the point of no return for Te’o as the victim, if he was ever the victim.

While Te’o spoke to Wojciechowski he controlled the story. His lies were being interpreted as facts. The made for Hollywood story was so good that everyone believed it for the duration of the college football season.

Te’o called the apparition “the most beautiful girl I’ve ever met, not because of her physical beauty but the beauty of her character.”

It is inconceivable that Te’o didn’t utilize this for his own gain. Te’o overcoming adversity and playing well in Kekua’s memory propelled his Heisman trophy campaign. Everyone could get behind an athlete who lost someone meaningful in their life.

Te’o and Notre Dame were compelling storylines for the entire year in part because of the false personal tragedy.

If Te’o truly was duped he would not have told the LA Times on December 10 that he was going to play a few days after her burial because “She made me promise, when it happened, that I would stay and play.”

That promise was false. The pictures of Kekua were instead of a woman named Diane O'Meara. The persona of Kekua was just a figure of Ronaiah Tuiasosopo’s warped imagination.

Granted these kids are not the only ones at fault here. Wojciechowski even admitted in an ESPN phone interview on January 16 that he couldn’t find Kekua in any obituary and did not speak to Kekua’s “parents” at Te’o’s request.

Still when a subject’s grief appears to be that real in the moment most journalists wouldn’t press in that situation. Especially if it was a college athlete at a prominent program who lost his grandmother earlier that month.

Between the lies of steroid users and Lance Armstrong, Te’o’s narrative was the alternative: an athlete who overcomes personal tragedy through good play.

Now that all important feel good storyline will be forever under fire for college football players. There will be conspiracy theorists who doubt the good stories of others because of Te’o’s selfish lies.

This story won’t impact Te’o’s draft stock because it doesn’t show up on game film. While Te’o did say her memory inspired him, scouts will just see how quickly he can get to a running back on tape.

If Te’o really was grieving, it is plausible to thing that at some point he would have stopped talking about her. A grieving boyfriend would eventually ask the media to leave him alone if they were pressing him, especially a college kid.

That is why it is impossible to believe Te’o was the victim. For how long the hoax lasted, how much he talked about her after learning she didn’t exist, how little the media knew about her, and how successful he was all suggest that Te’o knew of the ruse and used it to gain notoriety.

Te’o was a linebacker at a well known college who was a good player. This ruse was not necessary for him to reach the level of stardom he achieved. Now nobody can believe a word that comes out of his mouth ever again.

If Te'o ever plans to sit down for an exclusive interview again he better plan on getting his story straight. 

The Sports Bar Debate: The Return of the NHL

A man walks into a dimly lit sports bar right across the street from Fenway Park and orders a drink.

He gets halfway through it when Sports Center flashes on the screen that the commissioner of the NHL and the director of the players association have tentatively agreed to end the lockout.

The first man sighs heavily and continues to sip his drink. He has seen the days of Bobby Orr, Gordie Howe, and Brett Hull. He is pessimistic about the future of the NHL and how once again the fans lost a pissing contest between billionaires and millionaires.

Suddenly a fellow patron comes to the bar, orders a drink, guzzles half of it, and then slaps the first man on the shoulder. For too long he has been robbed of his favorite sport and is elated to see it’s return.

The optimist turns to the pessimist, smiles, and raises his glass to propose a toast.

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Glass Half Full Guy: To the triumphant return of Hockey to the national stage!

Glass Half Empty Guy: Yeah great, it only took them the better part of three months for them to reach an agreement….

Glass Half Full Guy: Yeah it’s rough, but hey we have Hockey in spite of Garry Bettman and Donald Fehr. They tried awfully hard to take this game away from us, but they couldn’t do it.

Glass Half Empty Guy: I suppose you plan on watching every game that they have coming up don’t you?

Glass Half Full Guy: You bet. We are talking Bruins, Rangers, Kings, Devils, heck maybe even the Panthers will even make a run at the Cup again. Who do you have coming out of the Atlantic Division?

Glass Half Empty Guy: (sighs) I don’t plan on watching a single game this season. I have no intention of giving a colluded league a single dime of my money. And I don’t plan on associating myself with the NHL ever again.

Glass Half Full Guy: Now why would you go and say a crazy thing like that?

Glass Half Empty Guy: Because those at the top seem to have no interest in fixing their broken business product. This was the third lockout Bettman has overseen in the last 20 years. A year ago the NHL posted record revenues and honestly had a chance to compete with the NBA for fans on a nightly basis.

Instead, Bettman and his goons decided to once again piss away all of the good that they managed to accomplish. And for what, a 64.3 million dollar salary cap next year instead of 70.2 million this year?

Glass Half Full Guy: A couple of things. First off, nobody hates Garry Bettman more than die hard hockey fans.

We are neither blind nor ignorant to the way he treats us. We know that we come out looking like the dogs in the Sarah McLachlan commercials. And every single NHL fan wants Bettman strung up by his nether region, repeatedly beaten with maple hockey sticks, and then fired in the most shameful way possible.

Second, while there is a great amount of stuff dealing with not making contracts back heavy and contract limits the players got something very important: better pensions.

Glass Half Empty Guy: But it’s not like hockey players didn’t have pensions before.

The last time the NHL updated its pension policy was in 1993. Every player who played over 400 games in their career got 1,250 dollars on a yearly basis.

Glass Half Full Guy: Right. And about one forth of the pension plan money came from the NHLPA’s pocket.

At least with a structure for better pensions, the players will be able to get better care after they stop playing.

Glass Half Empty Guy: But do you really feel that bad for these guys after their careers are over? The league minimum last year was 525,000 dollars. The bum at the end of the bench makes six figures a year. Guys like Steven Stamkos probably make more money than the entire province of Alberta.

Glass Half Full Guy: Yes these guys make more money in five years than I’ll ever see in my entire lifetime, but that is beside the point.

First of all there are countless more stadium workers who don’t make six figures a year that can now get back to work as a result of the lockout ending. They lost a good chunk of their salary as a direct result of the lockout and now they get to work more. That is great news.

Glass Half Empty Guy: I’ll give you that for sure.

Glass Half Full Guy: Glad we agree on something. But more to your initial point it’s not about the money. The world of sports is better off with hockey as a part of it.

You remember Mark Messier’s guarantee game and Bobby Orr flying over that guy’s skate scoring the game winning goal don’t you? Hockey can bring people together….

Glass Half Empty Guy: ..And drive them apart after the collective bargaining agreement expires. Who is to say that the second longest work stoppage in league history is not going to happen again in eight years because Jeremy Jacobs doesn’t want to share money with Charles Wang?

It isn’t just hockey. We’ve been seeing recently that the business aspect of professional sports is tarnishing the purity of the games themselves.

Entire sports bar: Hear hear!

Glass Half Full Guy: I’ll drink to that sad but true statement.

Even so every sport has its problems. The NFL doesn’t care about player safety even with  an alarming increase in concussion lawsuits and player suicides. The NBA is dictated entirely by the players and becoming too top heavy as a result. And baseball is on the decline because the game ‘takes too long’ in a faster paced age.

As hockey fans we know what the league’s faults are. I’d argue that most of them aren’t related to the product that is being put on the ice nightly.

Glass Half Empty Guy: By that token though it feels like you guys act stunned when the same things that have been happening to you over the last 20 years continue to ruin your sport. That’s what I don’t get.

Glass Half Full Guy: That is because you hear more disappointment from the diehards than surprise. There are times when we can’t believe that the NHL is run by a bunch of incompetent fools hell-bent on ruining the game we love. But we love hockey in spite of them.

Besides, once the playoffs roll around you are definitely going to watch hockey. Playoff hockey is so much better than normal hockey and everyone loves to watch it.

Glass Half Empty Guy: And what makes you think that I’ll turn on the NHL?

Glass Half Full Guy: For the same reason you get on our cases for being so loyal to the game: hockey compels people to watch it.

For better or worse the NHL will find a way to rope back in the ungodly loyal, the casual, and non cynical viewers to boost their product again to the same heights of last season.

And maybe by that point, Bettman will be forced to resign and the game can actually grow.

Glass Half Empty Guy: (shaking head somberly) Albert Einstein once said that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. That is the case with hockey in my opinion.

Glass Half Full Guy: Well Francis Bacon said ‘there is in human nature generally more of the fool than of the wise.’

Are die hard hockey fans foolish for not seeing these pitfalls? To an extent. But it is way better than the alternative.

Glass Half Empty Guy: Which is?

Glass Half Full Guy: To shut off everything we love about the game just because a few bad apples are trying to ruin the whole batch. 

If we give up on the game, they win. And that is unacceptable.

Glass Half Empty Guy: (sighs) I guess. By the way, who the hell is Francis Bacon?

Glass Half Full Guy: Kevin Bacon’s smarter brother maybe, I don’t know. I found the quote on the internet. 

Glass Half Empty Guy: Oh well, to the NHL (raises glass). Fire Bettman!

Entire Sports bar:  Fire Bettman!!!!

Remembering Ray Lewis

A brush of the ground on his right side was followed by a man beating his chest in likeness of King Kong.

Next he would slide a distance of about shoulder width to his left and do the same thing to his right.

Finally, Ray Lewis took those three short steps in place before bringing his knee to his chest and throwing his arms and legs outward; yelling at the sky all the while.

Every game that same routine let the opponent know that one of the NFL’s most dominant linebackers in history stepped onto the field. After 17 years of lighting up running backs and plenty of pre-game dances Lewis, the sultan of smack, has announced that he is retiring from football.

Even though the Ravens will square off against the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday, Lewis hasn’t had anything to prove for half a decade. He won a Superbowl MVP award in 2000. He has been a 13 time pro-bowler and seven time all pro selection.

Lewis was impossible to miss on the field. For a decade teams could not run on the Baltimore Ravens, and Lewis was a huge reason why. Any highlight film you see of the former Miami Hurricane displays countless hits on running backs of all shapes and sizes. For a decade, offensive coordinators sent their running backs at Lewis to try and keep the defense honest, those running backs usually went backwards two or three yards because of Lewis.

In terms of where Lewis ranks in terms of the greatest linebacker ever he is certainly in the top five and has a good case for best all time. Here are his numbers stacked up against some of the best linebackers ever to play the game.

Dick Butkus: Tackles-1,020. Interceptions-22. Fumble Recoveries-27. 8x Pro Bowler. 6x All Pro. 2x Defensive Player of the Year.

Mike Singletary: Tackles-1,488. Interceptions-7. 10x Pro Bowler. 8x All Pro. 2x Defensive Player of the Year. 1 Superbowl

Derrick Brooks: Tackles-1,715. Interceptions-25. 11x Pro Bowler. 9x All Pro. 1x Defensive Player of the Year. 1 Superbowl.

Junior Seau: Tackles-1,849. Interceptions-18. 12x Pro Bowler. 8x All Pro. 1x Defensive Player of the Year.

Ray Lewis: Tackles-1,573. Interceptions-31. 13x Pro Bowler. 7x All Pro. 2x Defensive Player of the Year. 1x Superbowl. 41.5 Sacks. Member of NFL 20 sack/20 interceptions club. Quickest to 30 sacks /30 interceptions. Only player with 40 sacks 30 interceptions.

Now to be fair to guys like Ray Nitschke and Lawrence Taylor the NFL did not start keeping track of tackles as an official stat until 2001. Even with those numbers inherently flawed, Lewis’ name is at the top of the all-time rankings of enforcers in NFL history.  

Even though his performance has never been in doubt there are some questions about Lewis’ character.

Everybody knows about the general events on January 31, 2000 in Atlanta. Richard Lollar and Jacinth Baker were stabbed to death at a night club that Lewis and his entourage went. A plea deal was struck and Lewis was convicted of obstruction of justice and fined 250,000 dollars by the NFL.

Eventually the two men in Lewis’ entourage were acquitted.

Even though he was guilty of a “misdemeanor” the court of public opinion thinks that Lewis got away with murder. The specter of the blood stained white suit still haunts the Ravens star and double jeopardy protects Lewis from being charged with killing Lollar and Baker again.

Yet Lewis survived the charges. His charity, The Ray Lewis 52 foundation, has helped the disadvantaged youth in inner city Baltimore. Lewis was named to the cover of Madden 05 videogame. He was the face of Old Spice and Visa and respected universally by his peers.

Character questions will not stop Lewis from heading to Canton Ohio, nor should they. The Hall of Fame is a place where men become bronzed and their character concerns are killed when the bust is built.

If fans and writers really were so worried about an athlete’s character, then convicted rapist Mike Tyson would not be in Boxing’s Hall of Fame. If character was more important than play more people would care about Tom Brady leaving Bridget Monahan while she was pregnant with his child in 2006. Instead he will head to Canton potentially as the best quarterback of all time.

Even with his character in doubt, Lewis will do his pre-game dance and be thanked by the fans in Baltimore this Sunday.