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Last Monday, I went on over to Sherlock’s in Arlington to take in my favorite radio show, Galloway and Company, in person. See, they have shows every now and then on location, and this was one that allowed fans to hang out all day long. Sherlock’s had Mike and Mike up there, Ben and Skin, Cowherd, and ended with Randy Galloway, Ian Fitzsimmons, and Matt Mosley.
Anyway, after about 15-20 minutes or so, I looked over my left shoulder and saw an absolutely amazing woman standing not too far at all. I mean, she was bad. Nice hair, bright eyes, and an amazing smile. To see her as a sports event was a plus, because it just made it that much more of a lay-up to holla at her. However, as my eyes continued to look down to check the rest of her out, they shrieked with disgust at the name, colors, and logo on her shirt. The woman in a predominantly-dominated Dallas Cowboys crowd had on a New York Giants t-shirt. Just like that, my infatuation with this fine woman was gone.
I feel like I need to explain this, because over the last 18 months or so, I have been on a tireless crusade to strengthen the support of a particular segment of people that have been oppressed, downtrodden, and looked over for the past nineteen years. Yep, 19 years. Why 19 years? Because that's when New Jack City came out, and the diabolical Nino Brown had the audacity, the nerve, and the temerity to say one of the most egregious statements in the history of quality cinematic viewing to our good friend Kareem Akbar, aka Christopher Williams, the crowned prince of the Light Skinned Coalition back in 1991:
*stabs Christopher Williams in the hand, then starts choking dude out for no reason...after screams from the peanut gallery to stop, he finally lets up. To then fire off one parting shot*
"I never liked you anyway, pretty motherf....."
You know the rest.
As the self-proclaimed "Conquistador of the Light Skinned Coalition," it is time that I take this message to the streets to let people know that this oppression cannot continue and to put our flag in the ground, so that everyone is aware of what our message is and who truly represents "The Coalition."
Disclaimer: This is intended to be funny, please don't be lame and take this serious. Even though at times...I am 100% serious about the LSC. LSC 4 Life.
With the season starting up again, a majority of the folks I know cannot be more excited to see what’s in store. Some are waiting to see the new-look Heat, while others are eagerly anticipating the Lakers’ quest for a fourth consecutive NBA Finals appearance and a three-peat. There are some people who want to see if the grumpy old men in Boston can get back to the Finals, and others want to see if Orlando has something to say about them getting there. There are others who are excited to see how the Thunder will do, how the Mavs will look, if the Clippers can make a run for the post-season, if John Wall can bring some excitement to Chocolate City, and even more.
While all those things are cool, my hope is fans keep all of this in perspective. If we take the NBA for what it is, then it won't be a shock when things hit the fan and the unsurprising happens. You know why it won’t be a shock? Because the NBA is no longer to be trusted, and today, in a continuance of the initial Seat’s Taken post written earlier in the year, I explain why.
What happened in Jerry's World last night on Monday Night Football was nothing short of a travesty, a calamity, a monstrosity, and an overall gut-punch to anyone who associates their fandom with the Dallas Cowboys. Your quarterback is presumably out for the season (and gets obliterated to the point that multiple folks start text messaging, tweeting, phone calling, and carrier pigeoning me asking if I'm going to write an obituary article on Tony Romo. This I now find hilarious.) Your coach is in a malaise, your owner only really cares about his marketing scheme and how he's going to fill the seats in Jerry's World, and the fan base are dealing with the five stages of grief laid out by Kenny just last week.
However, ever since the season started for the Cowboys, there has been one man who has sparkled when the light seemed dim. There's only one man on this team that looks like he actually gives a damn, and there is one man that is exuding the leadership and performance on the football field that should give hope to the Cowboy faithful...his name is Dez Bryant.
Friday night was one of the most memorable nights in my life not only as a sports fan, but as a sports fan who’s been raised in Dallas my entire life. The Texas Rangers destroyed the New York Yankees to advance to the World Series. The only thing that could be done after the final out was to hop in my car, take off from Denton, and head straight to the ballpark, which is about 35 miles or so away from where I stay. The goal was to be around the people, soak in the atmosphere, take pictures, celebrate, act a fool, and engage in endless tomfoolery, shenanigans, and joyous banter with anyone who was within an earshot. Needless to say, that’s exactly what happened.
I don’t remember much of Friday night at all, because the majority of it was spent in a euphoric state that I’ve never been in before. To the outside observer, the Rangers are going to the World Series, but it’s so much more than that for people who are from here. For people who live here and have followed the Rangers for years on in, this is a culmination of loyalty, missteps, enthusiasm, dread, and any other positive, negative, and unsure emotion you have as a fan of your team.
I really couldn't say what I wanted to say in the title, so let me restate it now, so everyone can clearly understand how I feel.
Please, for the love of God, stop doing the Dougie in the endzone, as you make me feel like I'm watching 106 and Park and your lack of creativity is killing my brain cells slowly. Give respect to the great Dougie Fresh, then give the proper respect to the folks in Texas. This did not start in California, and this dance is running rampant, even in the NFL.
Whew. Now I feel so much better.
Look, we've seen countless hours of football games and we've been rewarded to some of the greatest impromptu celebrations in the endzone ever. However, I understand that not all of our football brethren are as original as a Chad Ochocinco. So here are a few suggestions that I believe would be considered legal, even for the Dallas Cowboys.
When things don’t go according to script, reflection follows not too far behind. Whether the reflection is honest, genuine, or a farce can be questioned, but you’re usually inclined to figure out exactly where things went wrong. Thanks to one of my boys, I was introduced to The Five Stages of Grief.
What started out as a joke resulted in taking a look at how the five stages are outlined, the symptoms, ingredients, and everything else that is associated with them. I imagine this was made with individuals in mind, in regards to the daily struggles of life, but don’t get it twisted; this can apply to sports as well, and if there’s a better illustration of how it applies, we can see how it fits in regards to the 2010 Dallas Cowboys.
Watching the introduction of the Browns vs. Steelers game this past Sunday, I saw a man receive a standing ovation like he had just slayed gladiators in The Coliseum and emerged victorious. No, the man who received that standing ovation was the man who recently came off of his four game suspension by the NFL for the allegations against him in what transpired in Milledgeville, Georgia. Many simply refer to this man as "Big Ben," aka Ben Roethlisberger.
Somehow, in the course of about three months, this man who wrecked in his motorcycle while not only having a legal license, but also while not wearing a helmet. This is the man who had been accused of "taking it" from another woman in 2009 at Lake Tahoe. This is a man who says that it wasn't actually HIM doing these things, but it was "Big Ben" who was acting out of control. Right...
Some athletes gratefully receive second and third chances and they come out victorious and glorious. Then you have athletes that feel they "deserve" that same chance. What works for one doesn't always work out for the other.
It seems like anytime us as sports fan see something new, innovative, and exciting, we clamor to it, which is totally understandable. If it’s something that we feel is a part of us (for instance, a hometown player), or something that just goes about its business with limited fanfare, we want to be the ones who take pride in it, tell the world about it, and let the world know it’s on the verge of being the next best thing. It’s something that every fan of sports can say they’ve been guilty of doing at least once. However, there comes a time when we have to pull back and realize the severity of what we’re doing, how egregious it is to use emotion over logic, and how dangerous it is to be so excited about someone that we totally disregard other players that have been at it before them, or do what they do better than them.
Ed and I go at it quite a bit about this topic. There have been times when he feels I crown players and coaches prematurely and vice-versa. One of the funnier things about it is we have these debates and it’s not like one of us is telling lies when we make a case for someone we cut for. It’s simply that we see the same thing in a multitude of ways. Like Ed has said for years, that’s what makes sports so great. Fans can see the same thing, but see it differently. Once again though, there are some things that have to be universal truth, because no matter how much you love a player, there are some times when they still have to go earn the title, and not just have it handed to them.
There are some football teams that are built for the high life, seems like they have all the pieces you need to be a team with the bulls-eye on the chest. The head coach usually has a focus that the players follow. The team plays with an attitude that is unquestionable, and they have teams with the mental focus to overcome adversity during the tough times in a football game.
So when the BCS standings were announced on Sunday evening, there had already been talk about who the top teams would be, however much to my surprise (although the signs were clearly there) there was a team I was very familiar with sitting at #1 atop the standings. The Oklahoma Sooners. This is probably the worst thing that could ever happen to my favorite college football team.
I'm pretty sure there are a fair amount of you people that would be interested to know my thoughts about the phallic photos of one Mr. Brett Lorenzo Favre. I know there were people that wondered why I didn't write an article about the Tiger Woods debacle. As a matter of fact, my mother even said when am I going to wring Ben Roethlisberger's neck here on Ed the Sports Fan.
Well mama, there are some things your son can't do, not even for their maternal hero.
Why? Because I truly, from the bottom of my heart, don't give a damn about these ultimate reality show stars, in the form of professional athletes, in regards to their personal life and what they outside the field of battle. It's not that I don't care about their lives, but I love sports SO MUCH that I refuse to let one person's hang-ups ruin my appreciation for this here game.
For me, the answer to this question is a resounding no. We’ve seen many a player have Hall of Fame careers and never even reach the big game, let alone win a championship. Winning a ring is something that requires skill, luck, and a host of other things that are out of a player’s control. Some teams have the uncanny ability to build, sustain, and re-build teams into champions, dynasties and legends so much that it has to be taken into account. You look at the Yankees, the Lakers, Steelers, and the Patriots in recent years. They’ve all won multiple titles since 2000. Does it mean that any team or players that stood in their way are losers, or should more credit be given to the teams and players who made them up?
Allen Iverson is my favorite basketball player of all-time, yet the one time he’s on a team that makes the Finals, he runs up against one of the most dominant playoff basketball teams in modern history, in the 2000-01 Los Angeles Lakers. If you think this is fiction, then go look at their postseason run. It’s one of the most outrageous, scary, and soul-crushing playoff runs I have ever seen.
With the aftershocks still being felt around the NFL with the trade of Randy Moss from the New England Patriots to the Minnesota Vikings, there are a few other teams that need to act with a sense of urgency as we move towards the midway point of the 2010 NFL season. We’ve only made it five weeks into the NFL season and there are no undefeated teams remaining. That means that there aren’t any dominant teams and that the 12 playoff spots are totally up for grabs.
I'm painfully aware of the fact that trades like the Moss deal just don't happen that often, but you know what? They should. Shame on your team for not addressing a need, here are the five trades that need to happen in the NFL.
There are fewer things more sad as seeing a man lose his soul, his joy, and his coherent mind. Think about it, y’all. We all have either had a brother, or had a homeboy, who lost their job, their livelihood, or their woman. You watch them play it off like everything is cool, when you know good and damn well they’re doing everything they can to keep from self-destructing and losing their mind. We’ve all been there. Hell, at one time, maybe you have even been there.
Now it may not be totally accurate to say this qualifies when the subject is a multi-millionaire. However, he is still a man, made a mistake, suffered through public humiliation, and now looks as if he’d rather crawl in a cave, live the rest of his days in solitude, and play with a lil' volleyball named Wilson. The person I’m speaking of today is Gilbert Arenas.
Oh how there were some painful games to watch yesterday in the NFL...
Its become painfully apparent that within the first five weeks of the NFL season that there are certain teams that are built for the long haul and there are some teams that have a ways to go in figuring out who they are as a football team. Therefore, I have created the "Is My Team Really Worth A Damn" manifesto. It has been created to basically tell us...whether your team is really worth a damn or not. If you're team can check all 5 points, then you're probably a championship contender. If you're team is missing one or two key points, you still have a chance of being really good, just manage your expectations. If you're failing on three or more...just cash in your chips and make plans for the 2011 draft.
With that being said, here is the official ETSF "Is My Team Really Worth a Damn" manifesto.
Okay, maybe there are a couple of folks taking the juice, the cream and the clear, HGH, distance learning, Arnolds, gym candy, etc. However, over the course of just 48 hours we've seen these masterful performances put together by baseball's finest pitchers:
Tim Lincecum, Giants - 9 IP, 14 K's, 2 hits, 0 earned runs
Andy Pettitte, Yankees - 7 IP, 4 K's, 5 hits, 2 earned runs
C.J. Wilson, Rangers - 6.1 IP, 7 K's, 2 hits, 0 earned runs
Cliff Lee, Rangers - 7 IP, 10 K's, 5 hits, 1 earned run
Roy Halladay, Phillies - 9 IP, 8 K's, 0 hits, 0 earned runs
There's an art to pitching a flawless game that is unlike truly anything else you'll see in sport. In football, it's kind of like playing Peyton Manning, and all he did was continually drive up and down the field, passing the ball on your defense. Trust me; as a Jags fan, I've seen it. Its truly demoralizing, and watching Lincecum slice and dice my Braves with 14 K's was just ridiculous.
However, its the best thing in the world for baseball. Trust me when I say this.
Early yesterday afternoon, I tuned in to watch the Texas Rangers square off against the Tampa Rays in Game One of the ALDS. Part of the reason this was possible is due to my current predicament of having plenty of free time, and I like to think MLB had me, and other folks of my demographic, in mind, when they decided to have the Rangers play the first game.
The other reason is because there’s no way they were gonna have the Yankees play early. They’re still the Yanks and they command prime-time attention. No big deal for the Rangers; the team will find a way to get respect, even if it means going and snatching it away from the Rays. Besides, Cliff Lee pitched a gem, and in the second game, Reds-Phillies, Roy Halladay pitched a no-hitter, so baseball fans who were stuck with the early games still won. My bad; I didn’t mean to go off on a tangent. Anyway...
The two pitchers on the mound yesterday, Cliff Lee, aka The Greatest Man who ever Lived as titled by The Rev, and David Price, are two of the best that today’s league has to offer. Even with this matchup of dominance on the mound, my mind began to stray a bit and it led me to one of my favorite baseball players of all-time, if not my favorite pitcher ever: The Amazing, Colorful, Dominant, Entertaining, Confrontational, and Combustible Pedro Martinez.
You're going to read countless articles about the impact of Randall Gene Moss having the opportunity to play pitch and catch with the immortal Brett Lorenzo Favre. As of 6:15 a.m. (the time of me waking up this morning) I've already seen the twitter machine going nuts, facebook statuses going insane, and websites quickly plastering their domain space with the news of Moss being traded from the New England Patriots to the Minnesota Vikings for a 3rd-round pick.
However, let's be perfectly clear about this situations as it pertains to Moss and Favre, as this move assures us of being able to witness something truly unimaginable in this day and age.
Two of the most rural-born, drawl-having, not owning a well-fitting suit, fishing is more than a hobby, the only vehicle I own is a pickup truck, country boys will come together to form a duo that was seemingly made for each other 10 years ago.
Anyone who is familiar with ETSF has seen me rail, rant, and rage against the machine that is baseball season many a time. It’s too long and too boring, but through all of my anguish, dismay, and disenchantment with baseball season, there was always my enthusiasm for going to the actual games, and my love for postseason baseball. Now that October is here, baseball is fun, and not only is it fun, there’s a vested interest for me, as well as plenty of people who are affiliated with our site.
The Texas Rangers are in the postseason for the first time since 1999, or another way of looking at it is they’re in the playoffs for the first time since my senior year of high school. At the time, I took them being there for granted. Since then, the team has been mired in mediocrity, bad contracts, lousy managing, piss-poor pitching, and hot-ass weather.
Sometimes the stars align and you don't even realize its happening.
Over the course of this past weekend, the stars aligned for me as a sports fan. I've never seen my teams consistently roll seven after seven after seven after seven. Let me tell you something, this type of thing just doesn't happen that often. There some of you that have experienced this, other have not but you will one of these days, I promise. However, when the stars align like they did for me this weekend, let me tell you something...
Its a beautiful thing.
You know why its a beautiful thing for the stars to align for you in your favor? Because most of our favorite teams and players aren't always primed for success at the same time. Some of you, and I won't call you out by name, love the frontrunners. You know those folks, favorite teams are the Lakers, Cowboys Steelers, and Yankees. I can't stand y'all. I love y'all, but I can't stand y'all. You know why? Because success happens quite frequently for you, and living the high life is an ongoing thing.
This started all the way back in 1995.
Back in '95, then high school junior quarterback Michael Vick was hosted by redshirt freshman quarterback Donovan McNabb at Syracuse University. The coaches looked at Vick as a young McNabb. Fitted with a cannon arm, a phenomenal athlete, and instincts that only great quarterbacks have, they seemed like a match made in heaven.
Who knew it would take 14 years for them to truly be re-united.
If you're like me, you've read every article about how epic this battle between the now Donovan McNabb Redskins' vs. the used-to-be Donovan McNabb, then was Kevin Kolb's, and finally now Michael Vick led Eagles. You've listened to every interview, sports talk radio host, and even heard the fellas here chop it up on the greatness of McNabb and Vick.
Let's reflect and go back to '95, on the hallowed grounds of Jim Brown, Ernie Davis, Floyd Little, and other legends of Syracuse University. To a conversation I imagine McNabb and Vick had.
Last Monday, I went on over to Sherlock’s in Arlington to take in my favorite radio show, Galloway and Company, in person. See, they have shows every now and then on location, and this was one that allowed fans to hang out all day long. Sherlock’s had Mike and Mike up there, Ben and Skin, Cowherd, and ended with Randy Galloway, Ian Fitzsimmons, and Matt Mosley.
