Today I heard that Roger Clemens denied using steroids while under oath (in front of the Congress no less) and is now potentially guilty of perjury on top of everything else. That's old news compared to what I read tonight on the Huffington Post. Apparently Arlen Specter (R-PA) wants the NFL to come down harder on Bill Bellicheck for the Spygate incident. Maybe he's right.
When the Mitchell Report first came out I thought the whole thing was a waste of time. I figured the United States Congress should have bigger fish to fry than steroid use in baseball, especially with a disastrous war going on. And on some level I still feel that way.
But after thinking a bit more about it, I'm not so sure additional government oversight in pro sports would be a bad thing. Sports is big business, and the professional leagues effectively have a monopoly on the product they sell. Tom Brady won't be playing in the Arena League anytime soon. LeBron ain't going to the CBA to earn his paycheck. And the Rocket - he'll be in the Majors till his 'roids run out. Just kidding.
In sports, stars sell. Create more stars, sell more product. Simple. In other words, what is the incentive for any of these leagues to police themselves rigorously? If steroids fueled Mark McGuire's 70 home run year, so be it. The fans ate it up. And even Barry's controversial & cantankerous chase to break Aaron's record was great drama that brought all eyes to MLB for a year.
So maybe it's good Mitchell stepped in. If he hadn't launched his investigation, Roger Clemens would still be completely under the radar. And given the hell that Barry had to put up with to get his record, it seems like the Rocket should have to squirm in his seat a little also.
But I digress. This isn't about Barry & Roger. It's about preserving the integrity of sports. Mind you, I don't personally object to the use of performance enhancing drugs among professional athletes. It's their body and their choice. But either way, it should be discussed and ruled on in a neutral setting and then the enforced rigorously. If it's illegal, crack down hard on those who break the rules. If it's legalized, drop the whole debate and move on.
And I'm thinking that Specter, not my favorite senator, is right to have concerns about Spygate. Again, at first I dismissed the whole thing as harmless shenanigans. But upon further consideration (18-1), I'm thinking it probably gave the Pats an unfair advantage. An advantage they used to capture the best single season performance in league history - except for that last game of course. The drama of an undefeated team entering the Super Bowl was unprecedented - it was the most widely viewed Super Bowl ever. Why would the NFL want to step up and punish Bellicheck and the Pats for their transgressions? It would be bad for business.
And I haven't even commented on the absurd revelation last year that an NBA referee - in the Finals! - was guilty of having ties to the mafia and appears to have altered the outcome of some playoff games.
I'm not a huge conspiracy theorist by nature but there is ample reason for concern at this point. In the last year all three pro sports leagues have endured major scandals that cut right to the integrity of the games. That's pretty bad.
Perhaps it's time for some bona fide regulation to get things under control.
Cheers,
Chris
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Monday, February 11, 2008
But Seriously, Folks...
Welcome to the new & improved version of Blueshirt. Notice the fancy header, the subtitle, and the new content on the side. I figured it was time to add a little pizazz to the site. Consider this the first step in an ongoing evolution....
Anyway, now that I've dispensed with the pleasantries, allow me to get to the point. It occurred to me this weekend that following sports really is a big waste of time. (I don't mean to oversimplify - I obviously had my suspicions already or I wouldn't have undertaken this project in the first place.) The problem is that suddenly it troubles me greatly.
The realization really hit home yesterday. If this were an ordinary year in my life, I would have spent the afternoon at Haas Pavilion watching the Bears play (and lose to) the Oregon Ducks. And normally it would have been fun - those two teams always put on a good show in Berkeley and the Bears usually win.
But because I wasn't attending the game, I was able to take advantage of our unseasonably warm winter day and play 9-holes of golf at Tilden Park in the morning. Time is so scarce on the weekend that doing both would have been impossible.
So it really was that simple. I traded two hours of sitting on my duff, indoors, for two hours of walking around beautiful Tilden Park while working on my flawed golf game. No doubt, it was an upgrade all around. (I should add that even if the Bears had won it still would have been an upgrade).
Good for me - I did the right thing. But what about all the fans who actually went to Haas yesterday? And what about the millions of fans all across the country who watched their favorite college basketball game yesterday? Or the hundreds of thousands who watched their favorite NBA games yesterday? And let's not forget the die-hard NHL fans who watched their hockey heroes check each other into the boards last night.
I know that sports are hugely important to our society, and I understand better than most people why that is. But for the first time in my whole life I'm questioning if perhaps it's too important. The amount of time and money that people pour into sports (myself included) suddenly seems somewhat misplaced.
I'm sure I'm not the first person to make this argument, but I don't think it gets much play in the popular press. And how could it? Every major newspaper and television station in the country has a sports department. Who is going to get on their soapbox and tell Americans to stop wasting so much time watching the very content they're selling?
Indeed, sports have become big, big business. And big businesses want to get bigger, not smaller. For years, David Stern was lauded as the best commissioner in professional sports because he successfully marketed the NBA overseas. Everyone knows the fastest way to grow a business is to assimilate new markets, and Stern is the master.
Anyway, I'm not sure what to do with my newfound concerns. Writing about it is a good first step, and quite possibly the last. But is there something more that can or should be done? Do people need to be challenged on this issue? Or do most people just follow sports casually enough that a few hours here & there each week wouldn't really make a difference anyway? And if they didn't follow sports, would they just use the time to do something equally as frivolous? Perhaps even destructive? I certainly don't know.
What I do know is that people like me who love sports don't really think anything else is quite as entertaining so they don't worry about all the implications. They just want to root for their teams and talk about the games. Ah, the good old days....
Cheers,
Chris
Anyway, now that I've dispensed with the pleasantries, allow me to get to the point. It occurred to me this weekend that following sports really is a big waste of time. (I don't mean to oversimplify - I obviously had my suspicions already or I wouldn't have undertaken this project in the first place.) The problem is that suddenly it troubles me greatly.
The realization really hit home yesterday. If this were an ordinary year in my life, I would have spent the afternoon at Haas Pavilion watching the Bears play (and lose to) the Oregon Ducks. And normally it would have been fun - those two teams always put on a good show in Berkeley and the Bears usually win.
But because I wasn't attending the game, I was able to take advantage of our unseasonably warm winter day and play 9-holes of golf at Tilden Park in the morning. Time is so scarce on the weekend that doing both would have been impossible.
So it really was that simple. I traded two hours of sitting on my duff, indoors, for two hours of walking around beautiful Tilden Park while working on my flawed golf game. No doubt, it was an upgrade all around. (I should add that even if the Bears had won it still would have been an upgrade).
Good for me - I did the right thing. But what about all the fans who actually went to Haas yesterday? And what about the millions of fans all across the country who watched their favorite college basketball game yesterday? Or the hundreds of thousands who watched their favorite NBA games yesterday? And let's not forget the die-hard NHL fans who watched their hockey heroes check each other into the boards last night.
I know that sports are hugely important to our society, and I understand better than most people why that is. But for the first time in my whole life I'm questioning if perhaps it's too important. The amount of time and money that people pour into sports (myself included) suddenly seems somewhat misplaced.
I'm sure I'm not the first person to make this argument, but I don't think it gets much play in the popular press. And how could it? Every major newspaper and television station in the country has a sports department. Who is going to get on their soapbox and tell Americans to stop wasting so much time watching the very content they're selling?
Indeed, sports have become big, big business. And big businesses want to get bigger, not smaller. For years, David Stern was lauded as the best commissioner in professional sports because he successfully marketed the NBA overseas. Everyone knows the fastest way to grow a business is to assimilate new markets, and Stern is the master.
Anyway, I'm not sure what to do with my newfound concerns. Writing about it is a good first step, and quite possibly the last. But is there something more that can or should be done? Do people need to be challenged on this issue? Or do most people just follow sports casually enough that a few hours here & there each week wouldn't really make a difference anyway? And if they didn't follow sports, would they just use the time to do something equally as frivolous? Perhaps even destructive? I certainly don't know.
What I do know is that people like me who love sports don't really think anything else is quite as entertaining so they don't worry about all the implications. They just want to root for their teams and talk about the games. Ah, the good old days....
Cheers,
Chris
Monday, February 4, 2008
18-1? Doh!
Maybe sports is more than a habit. If it was just a habit, I don't think I'd be depressed today.
Yesterday the NFL staged one of the best Super Bowls ever and I missed it completely. I didn't listen on the radio, watch the highlights, or read about it afterward. All I did was talk about it at the office all day. Or more accurately, I listened to my many sports-knowledgeable colleagues give me a detailed recap of the game while I answered with my lame excuse for why I missed it.
It's true that during the game I was driving home from Tahoe in a snowstorm, averaging about 13 miles/hour between Tahoe City and Auburn. But it's not true that I forgot to TiVo the game or that I couldn't find it on the radio.
I haven't told anyone at work that I've given up sports for the year. I've told a couple of guys I'm trying to watch less sports in 2008, but that's it. It's easier than explaining the whole project.
(As an aside, with March Madness rapidly approaching I may have to come clean. There will be no other way to explain my decision to skip the office pool and miss all the games, especially since my passion is already well-known amongst my colleagues.)
Anyway, back to the Super Bowl. It was not only the biggest upset since I stopped watching/reading about sports (big deal, a whole month), but it's one of the biggest ever. Upsets are what makes being a fan so fun. If the favorite always won sports would be a totally boring experience. And teams like the Bears would have absolutely no fans at all.
So today was the first day that this whole project seemed like a genuinely questionable idea. I suppose I can take some solace in the fact that it took a full month to feel that way. And certainly it's not surprising. When I was deciding whether to give up sports for the year I made a list of the things I would miss most. #1 was Cal vs. U$C (football, of course). #2 was March Madness. And #3 was the Super Bowl.
So here I am. One down, two to go. But the gap between the Tournament and the Super Bowl is light years - if this hurt I can only imagine how I'll feel in March. And for good measure, the Bears swept their road series this weekend and are actually back in the Tournament hunt again. If they rally with a late season Tourney run, I'm going to implode.
With that, let me introduce the first recurring features of the Blueshirt blog:
- The Temptation Index. It measures how tempted to tune into sports I am for the coming week (on a scale from 1-10).
- The Regret Index. It measures how depressed I am that I missed the previous week's events (also on a scale from 1-10).
This week's Temptation Index is 2. I'm not convinced the Bears' road sweep will turn into a bona fide win streak (it never, ever does), plus I don't even know who they are playing this week.
This week's Regret Index is 7. I suppose it's kind of low considering it was the best Super Bowl ever, but even the best SB is still a lot worse than the first weekend of March Madness. I'm leaving room in the scale for the expected pain to come. Maybe I'll get lucky and it won't be that bad.
Signing off for now.....
Cheers,
Chris
Yesterday the NFL staged one of the best Super Bowls ever and I missed it completely. I didn't listen on the radio, watch the highlights, or read about it afterward. All I did was talk about it at the office all day. Or more accurately, I listened to my many sports-knowledgeable colleagues give me a detailed recap of the game while I answered with my lame excuse for why I missed it.
It's true that during the game I was driving home from Tahoe in a snowstorm, averaging about 13 miles/hour between Tahoe City and Auburn. But it's not true that I forgot to TiVo the game or that I couldn't find it on the radio.
I haven't told anyone at work that I've given up sports for the year. I've told a couple of guys I'm trying to watch less sports in 2008, but that's it. It's easier than explaining the whole project.
(As an aside, with March Madness rapidly approaching I may have to come clean. There will be no other way to explain my decision to skip the office pool and miss all the games, especially since my passion is already well-known amongst my colleagues.)
Anyway, back to the Super Bowl. It was not only the biggest upset since I stopped watching/reading about sports (big deal, a whole month), but it's one of the biggest ever. Upsets are what makes being a fan so fun. If the favorite always won sports would be a totally boring experience. And teams like the Bears would have absolutely no fans at all.
So today was the first day that this whole project seemed like a genuinely questionable idea. I suppose I can take some solace in the fact that it took a full month to feel that way. And certainly it's not surprising. When I was deciding whether to give up sports for the year I made a list of the things I would miss most. #1 was Cal vs. U$C (football, of course). #2 was March Madness. And #3 was the Super Bowl.
So here I am. One down, two to go. But the gap between the Tournament and the Super Bowl is light years - if this hurt I can only imagine how I'll feel in March. And for good measure, the Bears swept their road series this weekend and are actually back in the Tournament hunt again. If they rally with a late season Tourney run, I'm going to implode.
With that, let me introduce the first recurring features of the Blueshirt blog:
- The Temptation Index. It measures how tempted to tune into sports I am for the coming week (on a scale from 1-10).
- The Regret Index. It measures how depressed I am that I missed the previous week's events (also on a scale from 1-10).
This week's Temptation Index is 2. I'm not convinced the Bears' road sweep will turn into a bona fide win streak (it never, ever does), plus I don't even know who they are playing this week.
This week's Regret Index is 7. I suppose it's kind of low considering it was the best Super Bowl ever, but even the best SB is still a lot worse than the first weekend of March Madness. I'm leaving room in the scale for the expected pain to come. Maybe I'll get lucky and it won't be that bad.
Signing off for now.....
Cheers,
Chris
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)