No Might in Dwight

This superman is his own kryptonite.

When Dwight Howard was ejected from the last game of this Lakers season, a 103-82 loss to the San Antonio Spurs, he submerged into the darkness of the team’s tunnel alone.

As the league’s new goliath trudged to his team’s locker room the Lakers mainstay arrived in a blazer and crutches to save the day.

Kobe Bryant showed us again that it takes a strong will in the face of adversity to earn the fans respect and become a champion.

In contrast Howard melted under the bright lights of Los Angeles. A champion does not pick up a dumb foul against a guy who doesn’t even have a picture on his CBSsports.com player profile when his team needed him the most.

After the game Howard spoke to the media and said “I think I handled some situations good and somesituations bad, but it’s a growing process.”

While the star stocked Lakers never got the chance to grow as a cohesive unit this season the way the 2008 Boston Celtics did, Howard proved once again that any team that was primarily focused around him will not win an NBA title.

Contrary to popular belief the stats back up the claim.

While Howard’s teams have made the playoffs six times during his nine year career, Howard’s teams have only made it out of the first round three times.

Howard’s best statistical performance in the postseason came in the 2010-2011 season when he averaged 27 points and 15.5 rebounds against an Atlanta Hawks team still plagued by Joe Johnson’s disgustingly large contract.

And the Magic lost the series in six games.

Even when Dwight’s Magic made it to the NBA Finals they were felled by Kobe Bryant and the Lakers team whose colors are now on Howard’s back.

In that Finals series Howard only broke the 20 point barrier once and had 20 turnovers in six games.

One of the league’s most physically dominant players has neither the pedigree of a champion, nor apparently, the mental acuity to win a title.

No team whether it is the Lakers, the Mavericks, or the Hawks should not pay Dwight Howard the max contract he will for these reasons.

While any move the Lakers make financially will most likely put them over the luxury tax, Howard’s discourteous actions in defeat do not warrant a team making him the centerpiece of a title contender.

Two years down the line, Howard will not have a teammate like Kobe Bryant to show him what it takes to win.

Howard will be alone bitterly tasting the agony of defeat once again. 

One and Done.

Welcome to the internet’s newest game show: one and done.

Today we tackle the most innovative sports issues in two paragraphs or less. Contrary to popular belief not every sports topic requires the debate reserved for the United Nations forum.

Anyway here comes the fun.

Topic One: David Ortiz’schoice of language during his pre-game speech at Fenway Park.

One and Done: The FCC said it was okay, youtube comments actually all agree that it was fine, and the Fenway faithful cheered like they just heard the opening riffs of Aerosmith’s dream on.

Good move Ortiz.

Topic Two: Who is going to win the NBA Finals?

One and Done: (Hysterically laughing) Oh wait this is an actual question. The Miami Heat will be your 2012-2013 NBA champions.

They are far and away the best team in the league. Their offense is impetuous, their defense is impregnable, and LeBron James will eat Kevin Durant’s children.

Topic Three: Should Derrick Rose come back in the playoffs.

One and Done: No. The Bulls don’t want a guy who hasn’t played all season long to be thrust into the playoffs only to unbalance a team overly dependent on defensive chemistry.

Topic Four: Should an NBA team take a chance on Brittney Griner.

One and Done: If any woman is going to try this jump Griner has the best chance become a successful role player.

However, everyone and their grandmother would say it was a publicity stunt rather than a tribute to Griner’s skill. Sadly they would all be right.

Topic Five: The Darrelle Revis Trade.

One and Done: It’s going to happen and the Jets are going to lose this trade.

Contract disputes or not Revis is leaving anyway after next season. New York will try to get something for him and it will not be for the value they want.

Topic Six: Mike Rice, the Rutgers coach that got fired for beating up his players, is now coaching an AAU team of 12 year old girls: in New Jersey.

One and Done: The stupidity of the human species never ceases to amaze.

Topic Seven: Transgender boxer Fallon Fox will take on Allana Jones on May 24.

One and Done: And anyone who has a problem with it can step into the ring with Fox themselves instead of taking pot shots at her behind a computer screen.

42

For the first time in a long time I’m scared to go see a movie.

Considering that the film 42 is supposed to be the uplifting tale of Jackie Robinson breaking down the color barrier in sports my fear appears to be irrational. Since Robinson was one of sports iconic pioneers there is no way I should be nervous about how Hollywood retells his tale.

However, the gravity of Robinson’s life off the field and his accomplishments on it cannot be fully measured in a two hour time frame. My fear is that 42 will not adequately capture everything that was Jackie Robinson, thereby belittling his accomplishments.

I’ve never hoped to be wrong this much before.

If someone really wants to make a feature film about Robinson, they would be better served doing one on his whole life rather than just his major league debut.

There was so much more to the life of Jackie Robinson than just that day on April 15, 1947. Robinson was a four sport athlete in college, and his best sport was track not baseball.Robinson was also the first black baseball analyst for ABC after his hall of fame career drew to a close. Yet 42 could pass these factoids up altogether even though they were part of his life.

This film’s potential shortcoming will likely not be due to a lack of preparation by the cast.

Harrison Ford has spent a lot of time researching the role of Branch Rickey, the Dodgers general manager who signed Robinson, and supposedly he’s worried about exposing the horrid racism Robinson dealt with during the early phases of his career.

Ford told wickedlocal.com “This movie is about Racial Equality in the United States…people that will go forward in their lives and their experiences and recognize that this is something to be worked against, this is something they don’t want their children exposed to. They recognize both the truth in it and the undeniable evil of it.”

If Ford and the film’s makers really wanted to show racism in Robinson’s life they would also be forced to include a few episodes during his military service.

Robinson was drafted in 1942 and became a second lieutenant in 1943 after completing officer candidate school. Robinson was assigned to the 761^st “Black Panthers” Tank Battalion. The Black Panthers unit went on to become the first black tank unit to see action in World War II; yet Robinson was not among them.

On July 6, 1944 Robinson boarded an Army bus with an injured ankle and the bus driver ordered him to go to the back of the bus; even though the bus line was not segregated.

When the bus reached the end of the line, the driver summoned the military police and they took Robinson into custody. When Robinson confronted the investigating officer about a racist line of questioning, the investigating officer ordered Robinson to be court marshaled.

Robinson’s commander, Paul B. Yates, refused to acknowledge the court marshal, bur Robinson was transferred. Upon relocation Robinson’s new battalion commander charged him with public drunkenness, even though Robinson did not drink.

 If 42 actually were the “Jackie Robinson Story” it would include that tidbit because it would give a more complete picture of both Robinson’s life and racism at that time.

Racism was there long before Robinson was a Dodger and it didn’t end when his career was over.

Yet because the film will be roughly two hours long, it could make an audience feel that Robinson single handedly killed racism with a baseball bat; which is historically inaccurate.

Also racism was still very much alive in the world of sports after Robinson’s debut. The last team to sign a black player in baseball was the Boston Red Sox in 1959; 12 years after Robinson shattered the color barrier in sports. (Ironically the Boston Celtics drafted Chuck Cooper in 1950, the NBA’s first black player. Go figure.)

Still Robinson breaking the color barrier in sports was a significant step in establishing social equality. Without Robinson we have no Wilt Chamberlain, Jerry Rice, or Michael Jordan; without Robinson we may not even have Barrack Obama.

Robinson’s life was intertwined with racism, the same was the United States was and the same way the world of sports was for a long time. While Robinson was a pioneer for racial equality in a different way, his setting foot on the diamond didn’t end racism.

I’m just petrified that 42 will make it seem that way. Although I really hope that I’m wrong.

Kevin Ware’s Injury and the Emotions of Sports

When the sophomore’s leg buckled and snapped in half the tough cringed, the weak hearted averted their eyes, and the Cardinals of Louisville cried for their fallen teammate.

Chane Behanan, Russ Smith, and Peyton Siva collapsed to the court in despair at the sight of Kevin Ware’s obliterated leg. They saw what happened, where Ware’s leg was, and the pain was evident on the sophomore’s face.

Ware’s injury itself happened on one of basketball’s most common defensive plays. With six minutes and 41 seconds to go in the first half Ware rotated to the wing too late and made the effort to block the wing three from Duke.

The subsequent awkward landing and leg separation turned the stomach of every fan in the stadium and millions more watching TV.

Even the normally stoic Rick Pitino shed a few tears for his fallen player. And the coach knew that his team would either rally around the injury or be ripped apart by sadness.

Yet before Ware was carted off the court, he made sure to channel the emotions in a certain direction. Behanan told the New York Times that Ware told his teammates “Win it for me, y’all. I’m good. I’m going to get surgery and be back at it like I never left.”

From that moment on the Blue Devils had no chance of going down to Georgia.

A debilitating injury to a player, regardless of the sport, becomes a test of team chemistry. The teams that care for each other, like Ware’s teammates care for him, find an inner strength reserved for the most turbulent times.

Teams that fail their chemistry test are ripped apart by the emotions of the moment. They try to rally together, but their love falls flat of expectations because it was not strong enough to begin with.

In the case of the Cardinals, they channeled their emotions into adrenaline and ran all over Duke. Smith and Siva, two players who were already quick, ran even faster. Gorgui Dieng swatted away shots with the fervor of Bill Russell.

And Pitino, the same coach who ended up on the wrong end of the Christian Laettner game, made every correct decision throughout the second half.

An early 22-6 in the entire second half felt as if it spanned the entire game. Louisville won 85-63 and secured their second trip to the Final Four in two years; but that was not the chief concern of those who banished the Blue Devils.

After a brief post game interview on CBS Siva came over and gave his coach a hug. The point guard was smiling at the camera and letting everyone watching know who his coach was.

That kind of honest affection between human beings is the reason Louisville is heading to Atlanta to take on Wichita State. While the Cardinals may be without Kevin Ware on the court he is undoubtedly in the hearts of everyone on the roster.

That love is how Louisville passed their team chemistry test with a perfect score.