Or, an alternate title, we can call this the Ultimate Open Thread. Because my promised Kevin Garnett appreciation was simply too weighty a task to try and squeeze in among 75 other deadlines as I scramble to get out of town on a car trip across Canada to the Maine coast.
Maybe I'll get it together once ensconced in the woods, but as all vacationers know, that's not likely. Look for it after August 18. In the meantime, I will try and check in to approve comments and ask folks at The Rake to do the same, but it probably won't happen as rapidly as usual. I'd still love to get your takes on all things sports, and will chime in myself once I get settled in a couple of days. In the meantime, enjoy this cool weather and keep the topics hot.
Thanks.
Moroni - I genuinely appreciated the lyrical quality of your post, but I have to respond.
Hitting a 90 mph slider for a homerun in a major league ballpark is not far and away the most difficult feat in sports.
All of the other 'feats' you cited involved no opponent, but the baseball example includes the opponent. Factor in a professional opponent and many other sports feats are just as unlikely:
- blocking a lightning quick 280 pound NFL defensive end as he rushes the quarterback
- cleanly tackling an EPL striker 1 on 1 as they dribble in for a shot
- returning a 140 mph serve for a winner at one of the majors
- connecting on a right cross for the KO with a pro boxer
the list of athletic feats at the elite level that most of us will never be able to do is pretty lengthy.
Watching Kevin Garnett on the basketball court was a gift every game, although sometimes we took him for granted. The same goes for Johan Santana, then he goes out reminds you that he's special. Unbelievable game.
I was talking a little trash on Johan after he made the comments following the trade of Castillo. Yesterday, Johan reminded me to keep his name up out my mouth.
We all have biases. We are all being socialized everyday. We must admit to and acknowledge that, many things influence our decisions. We have certain attitudes towards events, people, and objects. They influence our decisions just as well. When we saw that Joey Crawford and Tim Duncan incident, we should have known this realization of vendettas a long time ago. It goes without saying people have hard feelings between one another in the NBA with players and officials. If a player constantly berates a particular ref, why would it be inconceivable that the ref wouldn't remain impartial while blowing the whistle? Because it's his job? That's like putting a person crippled in an auto accident from being hit by a drunk driver, against a drunken driver defendant in a similar accident. That's why there is jury selection to weed out the chance of impartiality and bias, but there in lies the acknoledgement of impartiality and bias. What this former ref is saying should be obvious. Why should there be shock? In fact, it's a good thing this gets brought out into the open. Of course you cannot eliminate this bias or grudges completely, but you can limit its prevelance. But the sad or strange/funny thing is how "shocked" the media and Stern alike have been. Now we all joke about a "make up call". But why is it there seems to be truth in it? I am not too worried about the upcoming season and refing. If anything, I do believe it will have the best officiating effort in...well who knows how long. What do you all think?
Interesting article on the business side of running the Timberwolves
Timberwolves readying post-KG marketing push
http://twincities.bizjournals.com/twincities/stories/2007/08/20/story1.html?page=1&b=1187582400^1507933
Sorry I didn't make it clear, cheap seats, but I have little doubt Lance Armstrong used drugs.
I used biking as an example of the steroid/performance enhancing drug issue because bikers know they work. With McGuire and Sosa, any doubt to their effectiveness was removed in the world of baseball.
So Stephen and I am in this competition, along with five other of Minnesota's best T'Wolves bloggers:
http://www.nba.com/timberwolves/news/coming_soon_battle_of_the_bloggers_...
The preview article just got updated on the Timberwolves website, and it looks like the first round gets posted on Friday. Make sure to check it out... and vote too!
P.S. I'm "Dave."
Thinking about it some more, I've realized that this pretty much means that the Wolves weren't interested in trading for Foyle. If they're willing to buy him out, I have to believe they would have been willing to take something like Ricky Davis and Mark Blount for him.
Adonal Foyle is free. Should the Wolves try to sign him to the mid-level (especially since Howard wants out), or hold off and keep the money?
While jesse's trade idea may have on-court merit, I don't think it works very well from a salary-cap standpoint as the Wolves would need to take back something like $12M in contracts besides the pick since both teams are over the cap. Lopsided trades like the one where Phoenix sent Kurt Thomas and two #1s to Seattle for a #2 only work when you have a trade partner with cap space.
But I also read in the Strib that Golden State bought out Adonal Foyle, so I guess that rules out the Foyle/Blount trade idea several of us were floating.
midlife- In your earlier comment were you insinuating that Lance Armstrong "didn't" use banned, performance-enhancing drugs?
From what I've read, he's pretty much linked to blood doping as Bonds is to steroids (i.e. insiders say that's the case, but there's no smoking gun, per se).
Is anyone surprised that Sid Hartman reports that Juwan Howard is asking to be traded now that KG is gone?
I remain amazed at how Kevin McHale can throw millions of Glen Taylor's money away, season after season.
I'm sorry for the persecution you've faced, savvyparker.
I also agree that we should feel shortchanged when we get an enhanced set up guy (though he was pretty untouchable) and others get the Pujols & A-Rods, or the Ryan Howards or the Morneaus (oops)...
If MLB starts testing everyone, and agressively, like in cycling, then we would have to deal with fallout like cycling. Once people realize they work, and that probably happened in the 80s, then it becomes temptation for everyone... and to interpolate Barkley's "I am not a role model" idea... what makes these guys who can hit a baseball more moral than the rest of the world. Or... what would you do for 10 million dollars?
Does anyone think it possible for the Wolves to package Ricky Davis and Juwan Howard and maybe a second rounder to the Clippers for our 1st round pick we gave them? They need a PW and Ricky could provide some scoring.? Seeing we are going to be not so good this year, woulnd't it be cool of us to make some sort of attempt at trying to get that pick back as well? Or did McHale make this one loettery protected? My hunch is no. Anyone know?
If Sports were serious about cleaning up the game(s), they should institute tougher penalties for getting caught using steroids. Two chances and you are out of the game for life. Your first time is your "warning" with like a 20 game (baseball, for example. 4 games is fine for football) suspension or something. Second time, out for life. With all that money on the line however, there is no way the head honchos of their respective sports would ever go for it. I honestly think it would do wonders amongst the players, as who wants to miss out on the cash these guys are making?
I could support ironclad rules like this. Clean up our games so people don't have to question today's athletes.
having fallen victim of wendy's barbaric garment regulations, i can assure you that tolerance is a relative term. what i'm more upset about is the twins exemption from this 'roid era. juan rincon, not withstanding.
Asch on Al Jefferson:
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/writers/steve_aschburner/08/08/jef...
I feel a little better now. Thanks, Asch!
From HOOPSWORLD.com
Wolves: New Players Should Be Given Fair Chance
By Stephen Litel
Aug 8, 2007, 18:19
As the Minnesota Timberwolves press conference began Tuesday afternoon, all five of the newly acquired players looked almost bored. As owner Glen Taylor and Vice President of Basketball Operations Kevin McHale fielded questions from the media, Al Jefferson, along with his new/old teammates fought the urge to fall asleep.
Who can blame them, really?
Since the day the trade between the Boston Celtics and Minnesota Timberwolves was finalized, these four young men - and one old man in basketball years, Theo Ratliff - have been asked the same questions over and over again, in slightly different incarnations:
"When are you going to start living up to your potential?"
"Why should fans even bother to watch this team since you are going to be young and probably lose quite a lot this season?"
"How much pressure is on you to replace Kevin Garnett?"
As the media seemingly bypassed questions for these players who adjusted their offseason schedules to return for this postponed press conference due to the Interstate 35W bridge collapse, Kevin Garnett remained the hot topic. It is certainly understandable to mourn the loss of a player of his caliber - the greatest player in Timberwolves history and will retain that status for the foreseeable future – but at what point is it acceptable to welcome the additions of these fresh faces to the Twin Cities?
To a certain degree, it is as if all the frustration this team has caused throughout the years is being taken out on the young men who just arrived in town, however misplaced that may be. Of all the new additions to the Timberwolves, the only one with any sort of checkered past is Sebastian Telfair, who addressed his off-the-court issues as well as his refocusing on the game of basketball.
"I am so confident right now because I committed myself to basketball for the entire summer," said Telfair after the press conference. "I didn’t go on vacation, I didn’t sit on any beach the entire summer. I’ve been in Las Vegas. I took myself out of my comfort zone of New York City, went to Las Vegas and completely trained all summer."
Telfair adds, "I’m going to be mentally prepared this year. I’m going to work to be the best that I can be."
Obviously, whether or not Telfair is well-behaved remains to be seen, but if that guy would emerge he could be quite an asset to a young Timberwolves team. The remaining Celti-Wolves are all high character, good citizens, who should be welcomed and embraced. Their articulacy and level of intelligence is something not readily available in today’s NBA.
"The thing is you always want to improve, you never want to get stagnant and you never want to stay the same," says Ryan Gomes. "I have goals that I want to reach, like improving my points per game, rebounds per game, field goal percentage…all those things."
Yet, Gomes continues to show that his goals include more then improving his personal stats; he is searching for more important accomplishments during his time in the NBA.
"The first time you get traded, you want to prove that you are a good player and that Minnesota made the right decision by bringing us over here. Everyone knows that we’re a young team, but why can’t we win? These are the things that we have on our mind, besides our individual goals, that we as a collective want to attain. Why don’t we stand out for something positive, instead of people saying that young teams can’t win?"
The void between the Timberwolves and their fans has never been greater then it is now. The connection through the void was Kevin Garnett and is now gone. Unfortunately, these fine young men brought in by Kevin McHale and company must now earn the fans back for the faults of the franchise they just joined. None of these players are of the caliber of Kevin Garnett on the basketball court, but off the court they are his contemporaries.
© Copyright 2007 by HOOPSWORLD.com, a Basketball News Exclusive
It's hard to admire bonds, because he is such a colossal moron, but what can you do. We would have to roll back every record that's come since baseball players were commonly using steroids? And this likely goes back to that monster hitting Cleveland team, full of Goliaths, and every team since. The cats out of the bag, performance enhancing drugs really do enhance performance, and MLB is now like Cycling. It's not only batting and fielding practice, but find the drugs that are not yet detectable and make sure your doctor doesn't use your real name.
Everyone is looking 6 years down the road at A-rod potentially challenging this record but shouldn't we pause and look at him. We've hit the Lance Armstrong question: if the performance enhancing drugs work (and they do)... how can you beat the incredible athletes who use them?
The Twolves press conference welcoming the new Wolves seems to shed more light on the briarpatch in McFail and Faylor's brains.
At one point, Taylor said something about wanting results quick. Thought we were rebuilding. Then McFail talked shit about the "finesse" game that Flip developed. Guess what, Kev? We were in the playoffs all those years. He wants "smash mouth" ball, even though he failed to teach it to so many of our players. Meanwhile, what's Wittman even got to say? Did he talk at all??
A lot of this was echoed in the dailies' coverage, and maybe ESPN too. But points nonetheless.
Oh yeah, THud sold like 73 copies of his last record. Check this out for more and stick with it. It's pretty hilarious when they start ticking off the numbers. Are these dudes local? Why else would they call out THud so rightfully?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64KnTgmIA1g
And for good measure, this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1IoCGpP1FSM
I don't feel MLB is doing everything possible to stop steroid use. There is a Zero tolerance policy at Wendy's for shirtless customers. No shirt, no service. It's hard to imagine but Wendy's enforces their rules more strictly than MLB.
On occasion I can hit an NBA three, I can put a ball 3 feet from the hole from 100 yards out, I can chip a soccer ball into the corner of the net, I can throw a perfect spiral to a streaking receiver, I can't EVER hit a 90 mph slider over a major league fence. Hitting a homerun in baseball is the most difficult thing to do in all of sports. Steriods or no, Barry Bonds is one of the greatest ever. The record is a bit tainted, but Selig is a joke for pretending to be above all this when it happened on his watch, everyone in every locker room knew what was happening. Sosa and McGwire's chase of Maris made baseball relevant again after the strike, I wonder what Selig would have done had he known they were using steroids. Wait, he did know, and didn't do anything. What a hypocrite. Bud Selig-Contract Syphilis (best sign at a Twins game ever).
My apologies for being slow to post comments. Britt asked me to ride herd while he was on the road, and well, I let the dogies wander for two days. Sorry.
As for Bonds, give him an asterisk.
Like many people, I'm more excited about Glavine's 300th than Bonds's 756th. Glavine's a Massachusetts guy, born and raised not much later or much further away than I was, a fact I recall more vividly as I move east across Canada. Bonds, well, son of a baseball player, black guy, generally disliked for all kinds of legitimate and illegitimate reasons--I can relate only to the last point.
But you know what? Anyone who watches ESPN classic and sees the puny guys in the floppy unis that look too big for them know that we all bought into the steroids craze, and willfully looked the other way. If Bonds is evil, we're all hypocrites.
Hank Aaron was a class act. But many many great baseball players were jerks and worse, "cheated" according to the rules (written or otherwise) at the time, and they're still admired for their skills and voted into the Hall of Fame. That's where Bonds belongs. McGwire too, someday. Palmiero...well, that's a cheater AND a hypocrite.
I firmly believe that the entire home run record as it pertains to Barry Bonds is a complete sham. It is a dishonor to all sporting fans. I cannot believe that people actually support Bonds in his quest. In my opinion, those who support him are not true fans.
Shouldn't that be "Inmates! Run the asylum." And it wouldn't have killed you to say please.
Jesse,
you start out your note with a question, Did Bonds use steriods, that you don't explictly give an answer to, but then by the end of your letter you are calling Bonds a chump. It seems you've reached your conclusion and that you think Bonds is a cheater. Fine.
I also think it's likely Bonds used some steriods. The degree of use is unknown (cream, clear, injections (HGH)) and the importance of the type of steriods is also unclear. Does it make it worse if Barry injected steriods into his butt rather than simply rubbing a cream on his elbow?
In all of this Bonds talk I think it's important to remember two things
1. Many people talk about Bonds and steriods. Careful reading reveals that most of these sources are only relying on speculation and have no real relationship with Bonds and have never actually seen him or anything in his behavior demonstrating that he used steriods. The media often misleads the public by declaring in a large headline that a Bonds associate says he used steriods only to reveal in the last paragraph of the story that this person has never met Bonds and in the words of REO Speewagon "heard it from a friend who, heard it from a friend who, heard it from another you've been messing around."
2. More importantly, it's foolishness to think that Bonds is the only one who cheated and that it was only hitters that used steriods. In fact, I've read many reports suggested that many more pitchers than hitters were using (which makes sense when you see the high salaries of some middle relievers). Juan Rincon! I mean, c'mon! How do we feel about the record if Bonds hit 100 of his home runs against pitchers using steriods? There is no responsible way to put an asterisk next to Bonds record.
What Bonds has done is still amazing and impressive. Even if there were no steriod allegations, Aaron's accomplishment is still more impressive given that time in which it took place. All records are made to be broken and Hank Aaron's legacy is still intact and much, much larger than his record.
Thanks The Rake and Britt for the open thread and all the work this summer. Who woulda guessed it'd be so busy.
If I was Hammering Hank I'd be upset right now. Everything that Hank had to go through and put up with, is not going to perish with him losing the Home run record to me. Did Barry Bonds use steroids? That's the 64,000 question. And if it comes to light later on that he did in fact use steroids, what then of the record. But what is there to say about a person who would cheat in competition that would make you say they wouldn't cheat in court to preserve that which was achieved by cheating. It's the small lie leads to a bigger lie and that leads to another lie to cover up for the previous lie type thing. So will we ever know if Barry used or didn't? Probably not. And more than likely his Home run record will stand without an * next to it. Now, I wonder if people willl remember what it meant at the time for a Black man to break a home run record held by a white man. He was receiving 1000's of hate letters per week. In 1973, there was still much tension between Blacks and Whites. Hank Aaron's home run record stood for something. It meant so much to so many different people. It was also the man himself that contributed to the esteem of the record. Now, we look on, as Barry will become the new Home run record leader. It has no special meaning, just more about steroids, scandle in a sports atmosphere far different than the one Hank played in. In a culture vastly different than the one Hank lived in. And this is how we cherish those feats. By allowing a chump like Barry to give a new meaning and representation to a record a once glory held record.