It was quite coincidental, the timing of two men’s comments, a mere 10 days apart. Two American sports icons, one a beloved Caucasian ex-basketball player from the cornfields of French Lick, Indiana, and the other an oft-reviled, much-spoiled, ever-privileged African-American son of a big league ballplayer. Both were foolish to say what they did. Both touched on an extremely sensitive, delicate issue that is still very much in the forefront of the collective American consciousness. The difference, though, is that one was right and deserves serious discussion, while the other was blatantly ignorant and easily dismissive.
Barry went bonkers when asked about sprinter Tim Montgomery’s alleged testimony that the person who supplied Montgomery with performance enhancing drugs also supplied Bonds with similar drugs. According to the AP, Bonds unleashed a “flurry of expletives” against Tim Montgomery. Remember when Turk Wendell basically said, “look at him! he’s obviously on steroids!” and Bonds went nuts? At that time, the Associated Press said that Bonds “chastised” Turk. I saw that clip folks and chastised isn’t quite the word I’d use. Bonds called him a little bitch and said he was chickenshit. If that’s chastising, I wonder what “flurry of expletives” means.
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Ashamed Americans
The year was 1992 in Barcelona, Spain. Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Charles Barkley, Patrick Ewing, Clyde Drexler, John Stockton, David Robinson, Karl Malone, and Christian Laettner headed a star-studded cast that easily won gold in the Olympics, finishing without a loss. Too bad players don’t care anymore.
“We’re going to the Super Bowl! We’re going to the Super Bowl! The Carolina Panthers are going to the Super Bowl!” With those famous words, the Cardiac Cats made their first Super Bowl appearance in the history of the franchise. This was the best thing that happened to the Carolinas since October 26, 1993 when the Panthers were unanimously selected as the 29th NFL franchise. Owner and founder of the Panthers, Jerry Richardson, who is a god in the Carolinas, promised a Super Bowl birth within a decade of the opening of the Panthers. Nine years later, he also looks like a prophet. Coach John Fox has led the Panthers from a 1-15 season just two years ago to an appearance in the most important event in sports. “2003 NFC Champs, it has a nice ring to it.” Right ya are coach, right ya are. Fox and the die-hard Panthers have restored pride to everyone from the Carolinas that had lost or never had it. More importantly though, the 2004 Carolina Panthers have taught everyone in South Carolina what winning in a professional sport feels like. They taught us to be fans. They taught us how to cheer, how to celebrate, how to lose with dignity, and how good it feels to have an incurable sickness, referred to by many as Cat Scratch Fever.
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Bobcats’ Bull
After the downfall of the Hornets in Charlotte, the city takes on a new NBA franchise, the Bobcats. They have gotten off to a terrible start in the eyes of fans, and will have to make up a lot of ground at the draft.
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Why I Miss the NBA Drafts of the Past
I consider myself a pretty knowledgeable NBA fan. Then a friend asked me to name at least ten players who might go in the first round of the NBA draft. Simple stuff I thought and began to throw some names at him.
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Pokeymania
Bill Simmons, the self-proclaimed Boston Sports Guy, writes about The Leap: those moments when good or even great players transcend their previous limitations and solidify their immortality as one of the truly elite.
While not quite the same idea, Red Sox fans witnessed The Leap of a different variety on Sunday night against the Los Angeles Dodgers at a brisk Fenway Park.
There’s an episode of Family Guy where the first leaf turns color and the residents of Quahog start scrambling to prepare for the ambush of New York “Leafers”. It was just like this in San Francisco over the weekend except the Red Sox were in town and the “massholes” were doing the ambushing. Just like in Family Guy, SF residents were happy as hell when they finally left.
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Bobcats Quickly Out of the Gate
As I type this column, Charlotte Bobcats GM Bernie Bickerstaff has a big smile plastered to his face. The Bobcats have pounced onto the NBA scene, and by Thursday night, we will see how the Bobcats strategy worked out for them.
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Fantasy Sports Weekly (Vol. 4)
I had one of those fantasy weeks. Kevin Brown went on the Disabled List. All my starting pitchers had pitched on the final Sunday of the previous week so I had very little points on the SP side of things. The Philadelphia BURRELL’s 8 game lead in my league is now down to 1 game over the 2nd place team.
Here are the standings… (If you care)