A Series of Down Endings

If a star appears and no one is around to see it...

2009-01-24T21:26:00.001-05:00

Thanks to freedarko and Bethlehem Shoals for the inspiration.

Sorry for the awful mspaint job.

The Ballad of the Political-Minded Athlete

2008-11-05T12:53:00.000-05:00

With the election finally over and America on the verge of waking up from it's 8-year-long national nightmare, I can finally regain focus on what this blog is supposed to be about: the passionate love-making sessions between sports and politics. I can't think of a better example of this than the politically-vocal professional athlete and why this is good for America. These particular athletes, however, are far and few between.

In the eyes of the fans, professional athletes seem like nothing more than robots built with the sole purpose of playing the sport (though this is true for Tim Duncan). It's difficult to believe those people catching the football or putting the basketball in the hoop are real people with real emotions and real opinions. People like Terrell Owens and Chad Johnson are crucified whenever they say anything other than the jock-standard response, "both teams played hard." God forbid someone actually say they're upset with how the game was coached or express grief at the offensive line. Voice any dissent and you're an arrogant, egomaniacal prick who's throwing his teammates under the bus. Thanks to the NFL's Mussolini-esque policy on saying anything about anything, players can get suspended for saying you're "being treated like a piece of meat" while recovering from a staph infection. Kellen Winslow's suspension was ultimately up to Browns, but doesn't it seem a little extreme? Let's hope it's not a sign of things to come.

At least Kellen Winslow didn't complain about the war in Iraq (he is a "f**king soldier," after all), or else he really would have caused an uproar. Case in point: Steve Nash, 2003. The man-ada from Canada attended activities during the NBA's All-Star weekend wearing a shirt saying, "No War. Shoot for Peace." Given the political climate at the time, this drew outrage from the likes of fellow player David Robinson (who served in the Navy) and "journalist" Woody Paige (who ate dog food on live television). Paige, being very tolerant of others opinions, said Nash needs to "shut up and play basketball," while David Robinson expressed dissent towards dissent saying that "this is America and we're supposed to proud of the guys we elected and put in office." I'm pretty sure that's what you are supposed to do for kings so they don't cut your head off, not presidents. Thankfully evil genius Greg Popovich (Air Force Academy Alumnus) had Nash's back:

"My reaction to that is that it's further proof how great our country is, because you can't have opinions of any sort in some places. No matter how unpopular someone's opinion might be, he or she is allowed to have it in this country, and that's what makes it great."

It almost makes me forgive him for the hack-a-Shaq in the playoffs last year!

Josh Howard is another victim of having the ability to form and express one's own opinions. He was recently lambasted for letting out the well kept secret that some NBA players smoke pot, celebrating his birthday the night before an elimination game in last year's playoffs, and topping it all of by saying he doesn't celebrate the national anthem because he's black. Before he became such a wild child, he was a pretty good college player. At Wake Forest, Howard was named ACC Player of the Year, selected for the All-ACC First Team, ACC All-Defensive Team, and AP First Team All-America. All that adds up to a pretty high draft pick. That is, until, you say the Iraq war is for oil. Then you have serious maturity issues (despite being the first person in your family to graduate from college) and are considered a liability. Then you are picked 29th overall, last in the first round. While Howard did turn out to be a liability of some sorts, the question remains: should opening your mouth cause your stock to plummet?

Michael Jordan played it smart. Republicans do buy sneakers, and, when there's money involved, he knew it's best to keep your mouth shut. Thankfully, more and more high-profile athletes know that it's no fun going through life without an opinion. Plus, Michael Jordan was kind of an asshole seeing as he punched Steve Kerr in the face once and called Kwame Brown (who he drafted) a "faggot." Today's super-athletes aren't afraid to express their political beliefs, even if it does cost them money. LeBron James, Greg Oden, and Tiger Woods had all endorsed Obama, with LeBron going so far as to donate $20,000 to the Obama campaign and hosting a free Obama rally with Jay-Z. Even everyone's favorite dinosaur, Chris Bosh, and had a nice message for the President-elect on his YouTube page after the election results were in:

Tracy McGrady and Kevin Garnett voiced their political views, too, with their shoes! This approach being a lot more tame than David West's method of showing his support for Obama.

Last, but certainly not least, we have Ira Newble. Definitely not a household name, the former Cavs/current Lakers forward approached several of his fellow ballers asking them to sign a petition expressing outrage at the genocide in Darfur. His plan was to present the petition to the Chinese government during the Beijing Olympics in order to get more support in the efforts to stop the genocide in Darfur. Tracy McGrady is another athlete taking a hands-on approach to getting the message about Darfur out. During the off-season, T-Mac started the "Stand Up for Darfur" project and traveled to the Sudan with filmmakers to create a documentary (titled "Not a Game") about the plight of those trying to live in this devastated part of Africa.

It's impossible to deny the kind of influence professional athletes have on the minds of their fans, and the more athletes that choose to use this to express their feelings toward a political figure or a cause, the better. This opens discussion; it gets people thinking. When people start thinking, they start researching the issues. Professional athletes can be the perfect catalyst for enacting change in the world and it's great to see more and more using their sway for good. I know it. You know it. Ralph Nader knows it. This isn't about being an arrogant prick, it's about getting people to take action.

It can't be said enough...

2008-11-05T02:38:00.002-05:00

I can't believe it.

It's the end of an era of fear.

Sometimes the good guys do win.

Obama wins Ohio, Game Over

2008-11-04T22:03:00.002-05:00

http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/2008/11/barack-obama-wins-ohio.html

Bury My Heart in Strongsville, Ohio

2008-11-03T11:29:00.003-05:00

Saw this on Kevin Pereira's blog and I just had to put it up here.

Prepare to lose what little faith you had left in humanity.

Letters from Ground Zero

2008-10-28T16:05:00.024-04:00

On Saturday the 25, I journeyed back to my hometown not just to visit my family, also to head straight into the lion's den. That lion would be former Miss Alaska and current vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, and the den would be the Fort Wayne Memorial Coliseum.

I talked to my dad a few days before I went home, being the high-ranking Republican official that he is in Allen County, told me he could get me VIP tickets to a Sarah Palin rally on Saturday night. I'm not sure what he was thinking, he knows that I have nothing but complete disdain for John McCain and that I can't describe Sarah Palin without using a-not-very-nice word two or three times. I also wasn't sure if the rally was for this presidential race or just an early start on the 2012 race. Regardless, I said I'd go, mostly because it was free and I felt bad for my dad for so adamantly supporting such a lost cause.

With the exposition out of the way, let's begin our photographic journey!

We ("we" being Alex, my traveling companion, and I) arrived at the coliseum about an hour before showtime, and I couldn't help but be amazed by the line stretching from the entrance to the venue, snaking through the parking lot, and ending almost at the entrance to the baseball park a quarter of a mile away. It was the whitest gathering of people I've ever seen. We managed to find my dad in the line and jumped in right behind him, cutting upwards of 100 people, but he told us we'd still be waiting in the line for a very long time before we could get in.

Shortly after being told this, my father used his clout as the chairman of the Republican Party in Allen County to cut the rest of the line and get us into the rally. It might not have been fair, but when has the Republican Party ever stood for fairness? It's every man for himself!

The crowd inside of Fort Wayne's Memorial Coliseum (home of the Mad Ants!) had about the amount of diversity you would find at a KKK rally (and without a doubt an equal amount of ignorance). It wasn't very long after we had just gotten out on the floor of the coliseum that a girl came up to Alex and I telling us that she was looking for young people to stand behind Governor Palin, and wondered if we would comply. Had she known what kinds of shirts Alex and I were wearing under our sweaters, I doubt she would have asked us. I couldn't turn down an opportunity like this, though!

We were taken to our seats, five rows behind the stage where Palin would be making her speech, and the first thing I thought was, "The hotties are out tonight!"

Chairman of the Indiana Republican Party Murray Clark was the first speaker, and, boy, did he have some profound words!

The great chairman began his speech by expressing his outrage at the amount of attack ads directed towards John McCain by the Obama campaign. "Enough is enough!" he growled in a rather unsettling manner. Maybe he would approve of the ads more if they implied McCain was a child molester, but I've got to admit that it is nice that the McCain campaign has taken the high road when it comes to airing attack ads.

My other favorite part of his speech was his recanting of a meeting between the leader of a radical Muslim terrorist cell and John McCain in order show how respected McCain is by terrorists around the world. The story was basically about how the soldiers in the cell feared John McCain because they knew of the military history throughout the McCain family tree, and that they were willing to negotiate with them because of it. Not only does this not really make any sense, but to insinuate that, somehow, the man who sings about bombing Iran to Beach Boys songs has more foreign policy prowess than the man who speaks of peaceful negotiations with countries "that don't like us very much" is ridiculous. Let's just say it's unfortunate for John McCain that his warrior blood, and imposing 5'6'' stature and waxy face, aren't enough to command fear and respect with most of the world. I also yelled "terrorist!" when Joe Biden was mentioned, which people laughed at, but for all the wrong reasons.

After the lovely chairman, we were treated to the wonderful musical stylings of Hank Williams, Jr.!
It was so awesome when he changed the words to that football song so it was about Sarah Palin! When he said he only had one more song in him, few responded favorably to my "Freebird!" cheer.

After the Hankmeister, we were treated to a short introduction of Sarah Palin by Lt. Governor Becky Skillman (unfortunately she did not touch on the blatant sexism in John McCain's choosing Palin as his VP in order to coax more women to vote for him, or how damaging the craze for Palin is for real female politicians like Hillary Clinton [you know, the ones who actually know what they're talking about]). Nevertheless, bring on Sarah the Barracuda!

Yes, I know, I am an amazing photographer. And, yes, she is still parading her little girls around as if anybody cares. Wow, Sarah, you had kids? That's amazing! Wait, one of them has Down's Syndrome? You're spectacular! The oldest daughter is contributing to our nation's teenage pregnancy problem? Get the lady governor a medal!

The first thing Governor Palin did was thank everyone for showing up, then asked for one more song from Junior. Thank goodness all the music was cued up perfectly for this spontaneous request or else the whole thing might have fallen apart!

This time America's Great Songwriter serenaded the crowd with a little ditty about Bill Clinton being responsible for the current economic crisis. Profound stuff.

Herr Palin resumed her speech by explaining her hilarious interview with Katie Couric, saying she was irritated by the questions because they weren't regarding the economy and other issues. Palin should consider herself lucky, considering she knew even less about those issues when the interview was conducted than she does now. The one question she did approve of, though, was when Katie Couric asked her what her favorite movie was (why she would like this question and not the other questions that weren't about the economy is beyond me), to which she replied, "Hoosiers!" If that's not pandering to the locals, I don't know what is (one of my friends who was watching the rally on TV sent me a text at this point saying: "Hoosiers! You know, that one movie about those guys that did that stuff!"). At least she was successful in her pandering this time.

After getting that out of the way, Palin started talking about how her and that other guy she's running with are the underdogs, and how they're ready to surprise everybody. When you're this far into the presidential race and you're an underdog, it's not a good thing. This isn't sports, where you can almost will yourself to victory. You guys are the underdogs not because people are saying Obama is going to win, you're underdogs because almost every poll out there says Obama IS winning. You're an underdog for a reason, because NOBODY LIKES YOU. Stop talking about how you love being the underdog, there is no benefit to being an underdog in politics. What, you want to be happy when you don't lose as miserably as everyone thought? Are you going to start moving into the White House if you win 200 electoral votes instead of the 190 you're supposed to win right now?

Once Palin moved onto taxes, saying Obama was going to raise everyone's taxes (judging by the boos, I'm guessing the crowd didn't realize that almost all of them would be a lot better off under Obama's tax plan than McCain's [or they just really like to see huge businesses make money]), and that she and McCain will be lowering all our taxes (and for everyone who says Obama never backs up his talk of change with an actual plan, repeatedly saying "lower taxes" is not an actual plan), I had had enough. Alex and I stood up and walked out, which is probably not what that McCain supporter wanted when she asked us to sit there, but, you know what, she can go f--k herself.

Obama '08!

MUSIC TO WHICH YOU SHOULD BE LISTENING (now available in SAP):
Un grupo de music es de Mexico, Cafe Tacuba con "Volver a Comenzar"

My Life Finally Has Meaning Again, Tonight at 8

2008-10-28T13:16:00.002-04:00

Right where they want him...

2008-10-22T10:25:00.006-04:00

The supporters behind him look a lot like how I look when I'm listening to my grandmother speak. Smiling politely, wondering if I'll ever get that bad.

I'm starting to wonder if John McCain is so senile, he'll continue campaigning after he loses the election in two weeks.

For some reason the only thing that comes to mind when reading about his campaign is this video:

They try and try to make up some sort of outrageous "issue" in order to defame Barack Obama, only to fail miserably. Just like "The Birdman."

MUSIC TO WHICH YOU SHOULD BE LISTENING:
Justice - "Stress"

538 or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Nate Silver

2008-10-21T14:54:00.006-04:00

I know you can see it on the list of blogs to the right, but I think FiveThirtyEight.com is such an interesting, and important, read that it deserves its own post. Developed by Nate Silver, the same guy who created the PECOTA system used by Baseball Prospectus, this blog offers an interesting look at the current election and how the polls are nowhere near as close as most of the media want you to think (those bastards!).

Looking at the numbers right now, it looks like Barack Obama (a.k.a. Our Savior) will squeak this one out with just 345 electoral votes. I mean, he only has a 93.4% chance of winning the election!

It's not like this is just some guy asking people down the block who they're voting for, either. The website simulates the election 10,000 times a day, and uses probably the most accurate method to determine the outcome of the election. For instance, when almost all media outlets were reporting that, during the primaries, Hillary Clinton would easily win Indiana and was quickly erasing Our Savior's lead in North Carolina, Silver wrote that Clinton would win Indiana by just 2 points, and Obama would run away with North Carolina. Clinton ended up winning Indiana by 1%, and Obama ended up winning North Carolina by 15%.

The election is nowhere near as close as people think. Take a look around, with the way things are, there's no possible way that the people of this country can handle four (or eight!) more years of this Neo-Conservative, trickle-down bulls**t. Personally, I can barely handle 13 more days of looking at that rickety old bastard's waxy-face (I couldn't tell which would come first during the debates: McCain melting into a puddle of goo under the hot studio lights, or him finally snapping and calling Obama the n-word [I'm fairly confidant his numbers in the south would have gone up had the latter happened]) or listening to Sarah Palin (words aren't strong enough to describe my hatred for her). Just relax, the nightmare will be over November 4th.

MUSIC TO WHICH YOU SHOULD BE LISTENING:
From the UK, it's the Go! Team, "Grip Like a Vice."

Jumped the gun...

2008-10-20T23:34:00.002-04:00

Well, after watching the Patriots remind Jay Cutler he's no John Elway last night, I think it's safe to say I was a little premature in declaring the end of Boston's dominance. After all, the Celtics are still a powerhouse, not only in the Eastern Conference, but in the entire league (not to mention the Red Sox were really only 3 runs away from going to the World Series again). I guess I was just a little too excited about watching the Red Sox lose, especially after declaring the death of God in the bottom of the 7th in Game 5 of the ALCS.

Watching the Patriots, though, reminded me of a news story last year, that I feel should have garnered a lot more attention than it actually did. That news story would be the one about Sen. Arlen Specter calling for some sort of investigation into Roger Goodell's destruction of the Patriots "Spygate" tapes. Seeing as Specter is an ardent supporter of the Eagles, many dismissed this as just one bitter fan trying to stir some trouble for the team that felled his in Super Bowl XXXIX. There's a lot more to this, however, and Spector's request raises a lot of questions dealing with the current state of sports that will have to be addressed sometime.

Typically, the only time politics gets into sports is when politicians pander to the locals by telling them how much they support the town's team (so far the only person exempt from this has been Joe Biden, who doesn't give a flying f-word about who he rubs the wrong way) This time it was a call for some sort of government intervention into the league's going-ons, and it wasn't the first time Sen. Specter has had an altercation with the NFL. In fact, it's happened a few other times before. While it may seem like our government officials should better spend their time dealing with issues other than professional athletics, but we do need to be reminded that the NFL is a business, and one that needs to be regulated (or deregulated, if you're a fan of our current economic turmoil) just like any other business. The Players Association can only do so much against Emperor Goodell (still not quite as bad as Herr Selig, but he's on his way) before the government has to intervene to get something done. So before we go around complaining about politicians getting involved in sports, we must remember it's for the good of the league.

The plot thickens, however, when one looks into Specter's wallet. It appears, that Specter had Comcast's, rather than the public's, interests in his mind when he took this jab at the NFL. While it may not be the best thing that the person fighting against Goodell's hypocrisy (why is Adam Jones suspended for an entire season, while Tank Henry and Chris Henry only miss a few games?) is an agent of Comcast in it's battle with the NFL, it still is a good thing that someone is bringing the fact that steroids are not the only thing wrong with professional sports these days. People need to realize that a lot of what's going on behind closed doors in the head offices of these leagues probably isn't the most ethical (or even legal) stuff. It's not all just BALCO, Spygate, or Tim Donaghy (or the fact that the Lakers are able to get Pau Gasol for peanuts, allowing the revival of a classic rivalry [or the Chicago Bulls, with their mighty 1.7% chance of winning the draft lottery, getting the number one pick in the draft and a shot at restoring the glory they had in the 90's]).

Though outrage over Bill Belichick's home movies seems to have disappeared with the Patriots' loss in Super Bowl XLII, hopefully it won't be long before the masses realize the near-tyrannical rule the commissioners and higher-ups have over these leagues and start saying something about this stuff.

MUSIC TO WHICH YOU SHOULD BE LISTENING:
Here's one of the best from one of hip-hop's best: Off of The Cool, it's Lupe Fiasco and "Dumb it Down."

At long last, our national nightmare is over...

2008-10-20T12:06:00.000-04:00

No, George W. Bush is still president. The national nightmare I'm referring to is the chokehold that Boston-based athletic franchises have had on the wild, wild world of sports.

You see, in my opinion, anyone who is a Red Sox (or a Yankees fan, for that matter) living outside of the New England/New York area is an idiot. There are 28 other teams in Major League Baseball, I'm sure you can find one closer to you and a helluva lot more likable than these two teams. It's not so much that I see most non-Bostonian Red Sox fans and non-New Yorker Yankees fans as fairweather fans, it's just what the two teams have come to represent. It's the fact that if both of these two franchises folded there would be some sort of mass-suicide at the head offices of ESPN. You can't turn on the Michael Bay of Sports Networks without Chris Berman (I could go on all day about this jerk, but I'll save that for another post) or Stuart Scott's freaky eye shoving that stupid rivalry down my throat. For God's sake, it's like there's nothing else going on in the world of sports when these two teams play each other. For a while there I thought the network was going to dark for the playoffs when it looked like neither the Red Sox nor Yankees would make the playoffs.

This is why, for this October, I am a Tampa Bay Rays fan. There's nothing better than watching this team 'f' everything up for the Red Sox and Yankees. They're the Yojimbo of the AL East. The Rays are the lone swordsman who strolls into town split between two warring families and just f*cks everything up for the both of them. Who doesn't love it? It's been 15 years since a team's reminded everyone that there's more than just two teams in that division, and that was the Toronto Blue Jays (a team with a lot less popularity than back-to-back World Series Champions should have).

I didn't always harbor so much hatred for the Red Sox (but I always have for the Yankees!), because they always had one player that was just so much fun to watch. I'm talking Manny Ramirez. I love this guy so much I want to take him out behind the middle school and get him pregnant.

The guy was one of the few people in the world who you could actually tell was having fun, and not looking bored to death, playing baseball. How could you not love a guy who leaves the outfield to go to the bathroom and answers calls on his cell phone during a game. I've never seen anyone watch a home run they themselves have hit longer than the Man Ram. The man is responsible for quite possibly the three greatest baseball plays of all time:

-Manny completely forgetting how to play baseball and cutting off Johnny Damon in 2004.

-Manny making the catch, high-fiving a fan, and still making the throw in time for the double-play.

-Manny being Manny.
Manny Ramirez Rolling Around

As you can tell, this created a conflict of interest for me. I loved Manny, but hated the Red Sox. Thankfully, he was traded to the Dodgers late in the season and now I can completely hate the Red Sox, so there was a happy ending after all. And once again, we've reached a World Series where the world's intellectuals can be happy as it is Red Sox/Yankees-free (it's only happened 3 out of the last 10 years!).

But for all this Red Sox hating, I still think this year's Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year award should go to Bernard Pollard, murderer of Tom Brady and destroyer of one of Boston's other obnoxious sports franchises.

MUSIC TO WHICH YOU SHOULD BE LISTENING:

Since this is the inagural post, and therefore the inagural "Music to which you should be listening", we'll start this one off with a bang. Here's quite possible the meanest mothers in rock and roll, The Queens of the Stone Age and "Go With the Flow":

I couldn't embed the video, and, in my opinion, it's the best music video out there, so be sure to check it out.