CommenTerry

The Silver Lining of Having No Local Sports Teams

I often complain about the fact that there are no major professional sports teams in close proximity of where I live. And that is likely not to change – the fact that we don’t have any teams, and the complaining as well. However, like they say, every cloud has a silver lining, and this situation is no exception.

The lack of any local teams means that there is no social pressure on me to automatically be a fan of all the teams from a single geographic location. Therefore, I am free to have favorite teams from all over the map. To use a political analogy, I am free to “split the ticket”, rather than having to make a down-the-line party vote. This is unlike someone from, say Detroit, who must be a fan of the Tigers, Lions, Red Wings, and Pistons – or have a lot of explaining to do.

This freedom allows me to be a fan of the Washington Redskins in football, the Philadelphia Phillies in baseball, the Memphis Grizzlies in basketball, and the Winnipeg Jets in hockey. It also allows me to occasionally switch team allegiances. For example, I bounced around (no pun intended) from being a fan of the Milwaukee Bucks, then the Boston Celtics, then the San Antonio Spurs, then the Cleveland Cavaliers, and then the Celtics again, before settling on the Grizzlies. I also had several different favorite hockey teams before becoming a fan of the Jets.

How Pat Summitt Is Overhyped

There’s been a lot of hoopla (pun intended) in the media lately over the recent retirement of legendary women’s basketball coach Pat Summitt. Much of this hype has been justified. Summitt had an illustrious career at the University of Tennessee, winning more games than any other coach in women’s college basketball history. And I’m sure Summitt is as great of a person as she was a basketball coach.

However, when the media compares her to the great all-time men’s basketball coaches, such as John Wooden, Adolph Rupp, and Bobby Knight, they are going way overboard. To harp on the fact that she had more wins than Wooden is greatly misleading. That’s like saying I hit more home runs on the playground than Hank Aaron hit as a major leaguer. There is absolutely no comparison between women’s college basketball and men’s college basketball. The best Division I women’s team could not beat the worst Division III mean’s team.

Of course Pat Summitt was a great coach. No one disputes that. But let’s keep her achievements in perspective … please.

Caught up in the “Linsanity”

I have found myself getting caught up in the “Linsanity” along with a lot of other sports fans over New York Nicks’ surprise star, Jeremy Lin. I can’t help it. His story is just too delicious to ignore. I have always been one who roots for the underdog. I love to see the athlete, team, or politician that is not supposed to win – win. That comes natural to me, since I have always considered myself to be an underdog.

Jeremy Lin was certainly not supposed to be doing what he is doing now. Harvard is not supposed to turn out NBA stars. Although he was one of the top players in the Ivy League, it was … well … just the Ivy League, which has never been close to a great basketball power. When Lin graduated from Harvard in 2010, he was not drafted by any NBA team.

He was eventually signed as a free agent last season by the Golden State Warriors, but was ultimately cut from the team without getting much chance to play. He was picked up by New York this season and seemed headed for the same fate there, before the team started incurring a lot a injuries.

That’s when he finally got his chance to play, and oh how he has made the most of it! The Nicks, who seemed headed for another losing season, have been winning ever since. Lin even out-dueled Lakers’ star Kobe Bryant in a recent game. It is almost unheard of for an undrafted free agent to be able to do what Lin has done so far.

Most future NBA superstars are identified early in life, sometimes by the time they reach junior high school. The majority of them go on to college stardom, culminating in a first-round selection in the NBA draft. Many of them exit college after their freshman or sophomore years to get an early start on their NBA careers, with teams at the bottom of the league eagerly awaiting their arrival. Some, such as the aforementioned Bryant, enter the NBA straight out of high school.

But no one sneaks up on the NBA like Jeremy Lin did – at least not until now. And he is such a breath of fresh air, compared to many of today’s egotistical, self-centered sports stars, which the NBA seems to have more than its share of. Most of those guys have been pampered and catered to from the time they became NBA prospects while in their teens.

Since the arrival of Jeremy Lin, professional basketball has become interesting again. This is reminiscent of the time when Larry Bird and Magic Johnson were still around. I hope Lin has a long and prosperous career. Let the “Linsanity” continue! Have you become “Linsane” yet?

Joe Paterno: A Great Coach and a Great Man

The legendary college football coach Joe Paterno passed away last week, after a brief battle with lung cancer. The world has now lost one of the greatest football coaches in the history of the game. He coached Penn State for four and a half decades, with a winning season in almost every one of those years. He also won two national championships along the way. More importantly, his real legacy will be the fact that he was a great human being. He will be greatly missed by the football community and world community alike.

Was It Right to Send Virginia Tech to Sugar Bowl?

A lot of college football fans and sports analysts alike are crying foul over the fact that Virginia Tech is going to the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans to take on Michigan. They argue that a one-loss team that is ranked higher in the BCS, such as Kansas State or Boise State, should be going instead. Virginia Tech has lost two games this season, both of which were blowout losses to Clemson, which is headed to the Orange Bowl to play West Virginia.

However, Virginia Tech is still ranked 11th in the BCS. According to BCS rules, any team that is ranked in the top 14 is eligible to be selected by one of the BCS bowls as an at-large entry. These bowls also reserve the right to pass to over other teams that might be ranked higher. Therefore, they were well within their rights to do what they did.

But was it fair? Well, let’s talk about fairness in regard to Virginia Tech. The last two times the Virginia Tech basketball team had a winning record in the ACC, it was passed up for a berth in the NCAA tournament, despite the fact that a winning record in the ACC has almost always been an automatic qualifier for the tournament over the past quarter century. And both times when they were passed up, Virginia Tech had a better RPI than some of the teams that were selected instead of them.

So, like they say, turnabout is fair play. Life is not fair. You win some and you lose some in the game of life and in sports. Sometimes you’re the hammer, sometimes you’re the nail. Sometimes you’re with windshield, sometimes you’re the bug. Sometimes unfair disadvantages are compensated for with unfair advantages, or vice versa. It all pretty much evens out in the end. So learn live with it.

How to Remedy Four Weeks of College Football Withdrawal

This is a tough time of the year for college football fans. The regular season has abruptly ended and there will still be weeks before any of the major bowls are played. The fact that the NFL’s regular season goes on for four weeks after the college reason ends just makes things even worse. The college football regular season is 14 weeks long (counting the conference championship week but not counting the Army-Navy game). The NFL regular season lasts for 17 weeks. But college football begins its season a week before the NFL does, accounting for the four-week gap at the end. For me, that creates four weeks of college football withdrawal every December.

So, how could this be remedied? First, college football should delay the start of its season for one week to coincide with the start of the NFL season. Then, during the final three weeks of the NFL season, college football should begin rolling out some of its major bowls. They could still wait until New Year’s Day to play the Rose Bowl, but why not consider playing the Orange, Sugar, and Fiesta Bowls, one weekend at a time, to coincide with the last three weeks of the NFL regular season? They could throw in a couple of the minor bowls during each of those weekends as well, just as appetizers. That would certainly go a long way toward eradicating college football withdrawal.

Why Do Virginians Care So Much About Verlander?

Justin Verlander has been named the American League’s Cy Young award winner and MVP. Very few pitchers will ever achieve such a distinction. Newspapers in his home state of Virginia are excited about it, to say the least. Article after article has been written about him over last week or two. But why do Virginians really care? Yes, I know he graduated from Goochland High School and Old Dominion University. However, as far as I know, he currently plays for the Detroit Tigers – not the Virginia Tigers.

BCS Championship Analysis for the Top Six Teams

With just two weeks left in the college football regular season (week 13 and the conference championship week), there are six teams that appear to still have realistic hopes for a berth in the BCS Championship Game, based on the latest BCS rankings. Some of them are still alive thanks only to the fact that Oklahoma State, Oregon, Oklahoma, and Clemson were all upset last weekend. Listed below are the teams still in contention, along with what needs to happen for them to make it to the big game.

1) LSU – Obviously, if the Tigers remain undefeated, they will go to the title game as the top-ranked team. But what if they lose? First, keep in mind that there is almost no way the Tigers could incur a second loss. If they lose to Arkansas and Auburn beats Alabama, Arkansas would go to the SEC Championship Game against Georgia as a result of the head-to-head tiebreaker. If they lose to Arkansas and Alabama beats Auburn, that would likely send Alabama to the SEC Championship Game due to the SEC's strange three-way division tiebreaker. That's because both Alabama and Arkansas, under this scenario, would probably end up ranked ahead of LSU after week 13, and Alabama would win the tiebreaker based on the fact that they won their head-to-head contest with Arkansas earlier this season. If the Tigers beat Arkansas, then their only possible loss can be to Georgia. With only one loss, they would still have a decent chance of going to the BCS Championship Game. The only one-loss scenario that would doom them would be if they lost to Arkansas and then Alabama defeated both Auburn and Georgia. Now if their only loss is to Georgia, the only the team that could pass them would be Alabama, but the Tigers would still play for the national title as the #2 team against the top-ranked Crimson Tide.

2) Alabama – It’s very simple for the Tide. If they lose to Auburn, they are out. If they beat Auburn, and LSU beats Arkansas, they are in. However, if they beat Auburn and Arkansas beats LSU, they will likely win the West division and head to the SEC Championship Game to take on Georgia, due to the SEC division tiebreaker described above. If that’s the case, they will also have to beat Georgia to get in.

3) Arkansas – The Razorbacks must beat LSU to have any hope of getting in. Then if Auburn beats Alabama, the Razorbacks will get a trip to the SEC Championship Game, where they must finish the job by defeating Georgia. But if Alabama defeats Auburn, the Razorbacks should be in, regardless of whether or not Alabama defeats Georgia in the SEC Championship Game.

4) Oklahoma State – The Cowboys will need to beat Oklahoma in the “Bedlam” game and then hope that either LSU or Georgia beats Arkansas and that Auburn beats Alabama.

5) Virginia Tech – First, the Hokies need to beat Virginia in their ACC finale and then defeat Clemson in the ACC Championship Game. Then they need to have LSU or Georgia beat Arkansas, Auburn beat Alabama, and Oklahoma beat Oklahoma State. They could also use a loss by Stanford to Notre Dame just to make sure the Cardinal do not jump over them.

6) Stanford – The Cardinal need to beat Notre Dame and have LSU or Georgia beat Arkansas, Auburn beat Alabama, Oklahoma beat Oklahoma State, and Virginia Tech lose either to Virginia or Clemson. If Oregon were to lose to Oregon State and the Cardinal won the Pac 12 Championship Game, they may not need the Virginia Tech loss, but I wouldn’t count on that.

Why I’m Losing Interest in the NFL

Supposedly, Over the past several years, I have gradually become less and less interested in the NFL. At one time in my life, I would make sure I never missed an NFL game on TV for anything other than an emergency. Now I feel as if I could take them or leave them. The thrill is gone. The magic is not there anymore. Here are some of the reasons why my interest in the NFL has slowly eroded:

1) Too much expansion

2) Too much relocation of franchises

3) The NFL’s tendency (like the federal government) to jump on the bandwagon of politically correct issues and causes

4) The league’s shameless and incessant self-promotion

5) Narcissistic, trash-talking players

6) The increase in the total number of commercials as well as the number those promoting beer and E.D. products

7) A post-season that drags into February

8) Ignorant, opinionated announcers and commentators who have difficulty speaking clearly

9) Pre-game and post-game shows that go on forever, resulting in over-analysis of the game; outlets such as NFL Network, NFL Red Zone, and NFL Sunday Ticket, which result in overexposure of the game

10) The removal of late-season Thursday and Saturday games from free TV

11) The lack of tie games, which is especially due to all the overtime games that end with a quick field goal

12) Rules changes that have resulted in more penalties and fewer

A Call for Laissez Faire Baseball

There are no baseball managers anymore. They have all been replaced by baseball micromanagers. Baseball has been taken over by statistics-driven nerds who religiously monitor stuff like pitch counts. The enjoyment of watching a game has been ruined by constant pitching moves, often resulting in a team using six or more pitchers during a single game. Complete games by a pitcher are almost a thing of the past.

I would like to see baseball adopt a more laissez faire posture – one in which the players are allowed to play the game without a whole lot of interference. I believe this could be accomplished with one simply rule change. That rule would limit any team to two pitching changes per game, barring an injury to any pitcher that would force him out of the game. A manager would be allowed one extra pitching change per pitcher that had to leave due to an injury. Otherwise, a maximum of only three pitchers (the starter and up to two relievers) could be used per team, per game.

This would help maintain the flow and continuity of the game. It would also shorten the length of most games to under three hours. Today’s three-and-a-half-hour games are much too tiresome. In addition, it would make the game more about the players and less about the managers, and more of a delight for the fans. Isn’t that the way baseball was supposed to be?