Viva El Guapo | Sports Blogging Football, Baseball, Basketball, Hockey, Racing, And Whatever Else Comes Along

Everyone talks about “giving back” in professional sports - athletes, teams, reporters, commentators, janitors, front office suits, and owners. Of course, you’ll rarely hear such a thing out of an agent, but considering they spend their nights killing cattle and drinking their blood before nipping off to discuss lucrative deals with Daniel Snyder, it’s understandable. Regardless, “giving back” is an accepted part of the sports lexicon and is, in fact, encouraged by all the folks above and the majority of fans.

So why did Elijah Dukes get benched for giving back?

Dukes was participating in a Great Falls Little League event where he talked with the kids and signed autographs. Apparently, the event ran late (or Dukes was trying to cut his time too closely) and he was late getting to the ballpark for the Nationals’ game against Florida, resulting in a $500 fine and being benched for the game. The official party line from the Nats goes a little something like this: (more…)

On the same day that the Red Sox finally go themselves back to .500 and yet another Kenyan won the Boston Marathon, I finally made the connection between the two. Despite the vast differences between the origins of baseball and marathons (one being a game of leisure the other being a test of endurance originating that killed its original participant), one thing remains true for both: the race isn’t won in the opening sprint, it’s who crosses the finish line that counts.

So far this season, the American League East has been stuck in some demented Bizarro world where the Baltimore Orioles and Toronto Blue Jays were the creme de la creme and the Sox and Yankees, perennial contenders and big spenders, were relegated to the cellar. Instead of tagging the opposition with smears about how superior their team was, Boston and New York fans were reduced to claiming their respective favorite team sucked much less than their rival. Strange days indeed. (more…)

With little fanfare and probably fruit basket from Brett Favre, word came down today that John Madden is retiring as a football broadcaster, bringing to a close thirty years behind the microphone. He is survived by his broadcast partner Al Michaels, a video game franchise, and a lavish personalized bus.

There’s a ton of jokes to be made at Madden’s expense, and lord knows I’ve made use of most of them throughout the years. Whether it be his eyebrows, liberal use of the telestrator, completely obvious statement, or non-sequitur tangents that spiralled dangerously out of control - there was always plenty of material to be had.

All that considered, what should be remembered is that he also had incredible insight into the game. Granted, towards the latter part of his career, it came through less and less while he sat back enjoying the gig and gladly cashing checks to play a charicature of himelf - but it was still there. Just when I’d stop paying attention, he’d throw out a bit of analysis that’d make me glad he was there.

My personal favorite Madden moment goes back to a Niners game at Candlestick back when he was working with Pat Summerall on FOX. It was a 4 o’clock game that was completely out of control by halftime, and this was before they’d actually shift games during a blowout. Knowing that there was absolutely nothing interesting about the game, Madden decided to focus on the sea gulls who were roosting on top of the stadium, waiting for the game to get out before swooping down to collect all the garbage. The man spent a quarter and a half talking about birds with only occasional references to the game. Even Summerall, a consummate pro if there ever was one, got sucked in and would stop play-by-play for a series at a time. Here was a grown man using a telestrator - thousands of dollars worth of technology - to show viewers where the sea gulls would probably head first for dinner. It was fascinating.

Farewell John, may you never have to fly again.

In a completely unsurprising, yet still devastating, turn of events today, the Boston Celtics announced that Kevin Garnett is probably done for the year. Officially, the word is he won’t play in the first round series against Chicago, but one look at Doc Rivers tells the tale here - he’s done. I’ll leave it to other more qualified writers to hack together their opinions on how this affects the Celtics gameplan, but my kneejerk reaction is that the probability of the champs successfully defending their title dropped to something south of zero.

You know, slim and none with slim walking out of town.

While Dan Shaughnessy is busy copyrighting “The Curse of Salt Lake City” and rushing to get the first edition out the door by Christmas, a voice of reason is heard through the various sighs and curses floating above Boston tonight. Thankfully, despite our occasional differences, I can gladly hand this over to Bob Ryan for a moment… (more…)

Isiah The Destroyer arrives at FIU

I’m not even talking about his decision to pay his first year’s salary right back to FIU, because that’s purely a PR move. No, this right here is the proof…

“I like rolling up my sleeves. I like taking some from the bottom and building it to the top. There’s a lot of risk in that and there is also a lot of reward in that. But that’s how I grew up. I want to take FIU to the next level and I know it’s going to take a lot of hard work, but I’m willing to pay the price to do that.”

Since when has Isiah done anything that has something to do with basketball that’s “taking some from the bottom and building it to the top”? Perhaps his last season playing ball for Detroit? Because everything he’s done since retiring as a player is more along the lines of taking from the top, throwing it to the ground, stomping on it, spitting on it, and then burying it in the backyard on a moonless night so no one will ever be able to recover it again. The man specializes in furthering the natural process of entropy, which makes him rather interesting on a philosophical and nihilistic level, but a horrible choice in terms building something positive. He’s the coaching and managerial equivalent of sticking tinfoil in the microwave. (more…)

A quick rundown of the sports that I’m following:

Baseball: Baseball has started!  Giants are in sole posession of first place (as of April 8 at 8 am)!  Regardless of how this season plays out, I’m just happy that I can watch baseball again.  It’s been too long.  Nothing against football, basketball, hockey, or the Olympics, but nothing compares to sitting and watching 9 innings (which is a rare thing, when you’ve got an 18 month old and a doctor wife who just spent the night at the hospital) of baseball.  Yes, the Bums got Manny back, and he’ll hit his 30 or so home runs this season, but look for the Giants to make a run at the division based on the strength of their pitching staff and the scrappiness of their young players (I really like Travis Ishikawa.)

Hockey: I actually sat and watched the end of the Sharks/Avs game last night.  Why? Sharks are in pursuit of the President’s Trophy.  No joke, I had to look up what the trophy was awarded for (best record in the league).  Here’s hoping the Sharks don’t implode as in years past.  Sorry, all my New England friends, but I have a feeling that the Sharks could beat the Bruins.

Basketball: Warriors without Baron Davis = suck.  Baron Davis in charge of the Clippers = suck more.  Bring Baron back. Make a run at the 2010 playoffs.

Football: 49ers have 10th pick in the draft.  While I’d love to see Sanchez (I go to the same church as Rocky Seto, BTW) go to the Niners, I don’t think they’ll add ANOTHER QB to their roster.  They’ll probably end up with an offensive lineman or someone that I’ll never hear about again.  As for the whole Jay Cutler thing… he’d better be worth it, because Chicago basically mortgaged their future on this guy.

Rodeo: Luke Braquinho looks like the real deal. But can he hold off upstarts like Zack Brown?  Okay, I don’t know anything about bull riding, but I wanted to see how “expert” I could sound based on a 10 second evaluation of ESPN.com’s bull riding/rodeo page.

Later!

FIU picks its poison, and it is deadly

A rapidly-assembled collection of headlines and other detrius from the morning, ready and waiting for your lunchtime procrastination.

- Oscar De La Hoya retires at 36… and too bad retirements in boxing are about as meaningful as “retirements” in professional wrestling, otherwise this would really mean something. In truth, The Golden Boy didn’t have much choice since he’s been thoroughly pummeled in his last few fights and hasn’t beaten anyone of consequence in years. Look out for the comeback in a year or so when someone throws a bag of money his way in the continuing efforts to save boxing from itself.

- Chad Finn is optimistic about the Sox chances this season… Of course, that puts him in the minority as the Sox stumble through the early part of the season like a blind-drunk hobo on a Sterno binge, but it’s something.

- The NFL supplies yet another reason for the casual fan to dislike the Cowboys… Six national games. Really? I know that Jerry Jones is opening up his new house and the league loves them some new stadium, but six games? For a team that couldn’t find their way out of the first round with a map and a trained guide? Putting that in perspective, Pittsburgh gets 4 national games after winning the Super Bowl.

- Florida International University is doomed… I feel pretty confident saying that since they’ve hired the human equivalent of the plague, Isiah Thomas, to be their new basketball coach. I chuckle in the face of the AP’s contention that this is a move to: “to revive his career and their program.” Exactly when has Thomas done anything except leave smoking wreckage in his wake? He bankrupted a league, blew the Pacers chance at winning, and then completely screwed the pooch in New York. And this is supposed to be different? How does a school not adhere to the maxim “Those who don’t study history are bound to repeat it”?

- George Carlin was wrong, we won’t all be in a band - we’ll all have our own reality shows… The fine folks over at Mister Irrelevant dug up a clip from the supposedly upcoming reality show starring ‘Skins tight end Chris Cooley. Go ahead and roll your eyes all you’d like, but given the right circumstances and lack of anything better to do, your arse will be firmly plunked in front of this thing.

Greetings once again web denziens, and welcome to the weekly exploration of mind, body, and soul that is Peter King’s Monday Morning Quarterback. For you, it’s a wonderful time to read the vague tidbits of news in said column interspersed with my own witty and hilarious commentary. For me, it’s the time of week when I question my own existence and wonder whether or not I should be on some heavy duty medication. This week, Peter is trying in vain to convince us that the Lions will not mangle this year’s draft even more than usual. Let’s get started!

Draft day minus 12 days and counting, and everyone wants to know what the Detroit Lions are going to do with the first pick on April 25. Here’s my read of where they are this morning. All things considered, I think they’re going to handle it as well as any team hamstrung with this millstone of a pick can handle it.

So what “things”, exactly , would convince you that the mid-air collision known as the Detroit Lions are actually going to show any degree of intelligence with this pick? The fact they’ve botched their first rounder every single year since Barry Sanders with the exception of getting Calvin Johnson? The fact that picking a first round franchise quarterback is, despite the amoung of research and investigation, a 50/50 prospect at best? I’m waiting. (more…)

New report from the muckrakers over at SI.com that you’d better sit down for… Apparently, Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt tried smoking weed as a kid.

I know, try to get a grip. Perhaps some deep breaths would help.

Through my intricate web of well-paid and devious moles, I’ve also managed to find five more shocking revelations concerning Mr. Bolt…

1) It’s rumored that he owns at least one Bob Marley CD.

2) Prior to running in the Olympics, he’d also spent a great deal of time running as a child.

3) He’s black.

4) Doesn’t like yogurt.

5) He runs really, really fast.

Wednesday night, Angels pitcher Nick Adenhart had pitched six scoreless innings in an eventual loss to the Oakland A’s. Thursday morning, his teamates were told that he’d been killed hours after the game in a car accident. He was 22 years old.

Our society is fond of throwing the word “tragedy” around almost as much as we are the word “hero” - ultimately diminishing the meaning of either word to the point of every mishap or accident becomes a tragedy. I never met Adenhart or watched him play and, in fact, had never even heard his name mentioned before. For me to sit 3,000 some odd miles away and declare the death of a young man I’d never known or known of a “tragedy” would diminish the pain that his family and friends are experiencing right now. For them, this is a tragedy. The best I can do is to say reading the news yesterday morning saddened me greatly - hearing a man with his entire life ahead of him taken away by the foolish actions of another person.

This morning, I listened while a caller on the local sports talk station tried as delicately as possible to wonder whether or not this could lead to a return to baseball for someone like Pedro Martinez. He was respectful as one can be in bridging the topic, and it’s yet again another example of how distance can affect our perception of “tragedy”.

However, he does have a point. As painful as it is, the baseball season will continue for the Angels and they will have a decision to make about what to do with the fifth spot in their rotation. Last night’s postponement was understandable and compassionate for a team who was still in shock from the loss of one of their own, but it won’t happen for the next 159 games. Tributes will be made, moments of silence observed, a commemorative patch more than likely will be worn by the team, and life will move on. At some point, this issue will be addressed, and someone will be called up or in to fill a roster spot.

But what if they didn’t? What if the Angels made the bold move of not replacing Adenhart’s spot and went with a four man rotation the rest of the season as a tribute to him? Wouldn’t that make more sense and be more meaningful than any patch or moment of silence? It’s not the logical thing to do or quite possibly the smart baseball thing to do - but it would make sense. At this point, it would be the first thing to make sense since Wednesday night for the Angels…