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NBA Blog: A Few Things You Should Know About The Jason Kidd Trade
Feb. 20th, 2008 | 02:56 pm
1.) It's finally official. The long-discussed, once scrapped, and now reconfigured trade that brings Jason Kidd, the perennial All-Star point guard, back to the Dallas Mavericks is finally done with. The trade, also sending forward Malik Allen and swingman Antoine Wright to Dallas, brings young point guard Devin Harris, center DeSagana Diop, swingman Trenton Hassel, $3 million in cash, and two first-round picks (2008 and 2010). The most puzzling addition to this trade was the throw-in of Keith Van Horn from Dallas to satisfy league trade requirements that require the salaries of all players involved in trades be within 10 percent and $100,000 in range of one another. The reason this is puzzling is because Van Horn hasn't touched a basketball since 2005, when he unofficially retired. Dallas was allowed to include Van Horn because he never officially filed retirement papers with the NBA, and league rules stipulate that he must stay at least 30 days with his new team for him to collect his now-prorated salary. "The original trade included Dallas forwards Devean George and Jerry Stackhouse," said New Jersey Nets Vice President of Public Relations Gary Sussman in an email statement. "The trade was vetoed by George as an exercise of his Early Bird rights, basically a no-trade clause for players in their first two years with a new team."
2.) Does this make Dallas an instant title contender in the all-powerful Western conference? Yes and no. With Shaq moved to the Phoenix Suns, Pau Gasol finding a new home in LA with Kobe Bryant as his running mate with the Lakers, and countless other teams feverishly trying to keep pace and get a deal done before Thursday's trade deadline, the Mavericks had to make a move. In the short run, it gives them a championship-caliber point guard in Kidd, and a fearsome trio when coupled with reigning MVP Dirk Nowitzki and rising star Josh Howard. In the long run, Mavericks owner Mark Cuban has taken on $11 million in bad contracts to make this deal work for an aging point guard, and they have essentially mortgaged their long-term future with the idea of making a serious run this year as at a championship.
3.) Has Kidd got anything left in the tank? Most definitely, yes. The man known as the triple-double machine again leads the league in triple doubles (double digits on 3 different categories, most notably points, rebounds, and assists) while averaging 10.4 assists per game, 3rd in the league behind Steve Nash and Chris Paul. His 8.4 rebounds per game are essential too, he immediately comes in and is 2nd on the team in that category, even as a point guard. He has 99 career triple-doubles, which is only behind Oscar Robertson and Magic Johnson in the history of the league. It should be noted that no other active player in the league has a third of as many triple-doubles. So, yes, the guy can still play at a high level. "I have never seen a player quarterback a team quite like Kidd," noted Sussman. "Being around him on a daily basis and seeing the effect he can have on an entire franchise is unbelievable. He exerts positive energy, and this isn't even taking in the fact that he can utterly dominate a basketball game without taking a single shot."
Jason Kidd, already smiling, wearing a Mavericks uniform for the first time in 14 years, at their Tuesday practice in their Dallas facility.
4.) So why in the world would the Nets trade away a guy that took them to back-to-back NBA Finals? For the past few months, Kidd has been disgruntled and has privately demanded a trade, seeing no way for the 20-30 Nets to make a serious run at the championship. His recent woes have been manifested recently, as he sat out a game earlier in the month with what he initially called a migraine but what was later reported to be an act of protest as to why he hasn't been traded. Secondly, Kidd turns 35 next month, and history has not been kind to aging guards, especially those who really on quickness and agility as much as Kidd does. Just check the career numbers for other notable point guards, such as Isiah Thomas and John Stockton, their bodies simply begin to break down after the wear-and-tear of 15-some-odd seasons on their treads. Thirdly, this trade can prove to be a coup in the long run. Devin Harris is only 24, and is being touted as the fastest point guard in the league already. DeSagana Diop is a useful center for a team desperate for size with the injury to center Nenad Krstic. The two first-round picks allows the team to keep injecting youth into the roster and start a total rebuilding project over the next few years. Best case scenario: the core of Devin Harris, All-Star guard Vince Carter, and energetic forward Richard Jefferson, already in the 7th seed in the Eastern conference if the playoffs started today, gel quickly and make some noise in the playoffs, then use that confidence to start something special. Worst case scenario: They got rid of their disgruntled aging point guard and were able to shed nearly $11 million in bad contracts. "This deal cannot be judged today," said Sussman. "A few years down the line when our young guys (Harris and Diop) develop and hopefully some intelligent decisions can be made through the draft, that's when we can really assess this trade long-term."
5.) Does this have an effect on the rest of the NBA? Of course, especially in the suddenly loaded West. As soon as the Kidd trade developed (and thanks to the Shaq and Gasol deals as well), Western Conference teams were reported to have hit the phones, trying to make a deal to help them keep pace. Among the deals being rumored are the Nuggets reported interest in Kings All-Star Ron Artest, and LeBron James, the superstar guard from the Cleveland Cavaliers, demanding an elite point guard of his own in Andre Miller. Immediately after the Kidd deal, the Hawks made a quick move to deal another talented point guard, Mike Bibby, and that trade is now finalized. This move will ultimately lead to the busiest trade deadline in recent years, and the landscape of the NBA power has clearly shifted West. "Oh, there's no question the Western Conference is the premier division, now more than ever,"Sussman said. "It's going to be awful tough for a team in the East to overtake whoever comes out of the "Wild West" in the Finals, but we're just looking to make the playoffs and continue to develop our players."
Poll #1141585 Jason Kidd: From a Net to a Mav
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 1
2.) Does this make Dallas an instant title contender in the all-powerful Western conference? Yes and no. With Shaq moved to the Phoenix Suns, Pau Gasol finding a new home in LA with Kobe Bryant as his running mate with the Lakers, and countless other teams feverishly trying to keep pace and get a deal done before Thursday's trade deadline, the Mavericks had to make a move. In the short run, it gives them a championship-caliber point guard in Kidd, and a fearsome trio when coupled with reigning MVP Dirk Nowitzki and rising star Josh Howard. In the long run, Mavericks owner Mark Cuban has taken on $11 million in bad contracts to make this deal work for an aging point guard, and they have essentially mortgaged their long-term future with the idea of making a serious run this year as at a championship.
3.) Has Kidd got anything left in the tank? Most definitely, yes. The man known as the triple-double machine again leads the league in triple doubles (double digits on 3 different categories, most notably points, rebounds, and assists) while averaging 10.4 assists per game, 3rd in the league behind Steve Nash and Chris Paul. His 8.4 rebounds per game are essential too, he immediately comes in and is 2nd on the team in that category, even as a point guard. He has 99 career triple-doubles, which is only behind Oscar Robertson and Magic Johnson in the history of the league. It should be noted that no other active player in the league has a third of as many triple-doubles. So, yes, the guy can still play at a high level. "I have never seen a player quarterback a team quite like Kidd," noted Sussman. "Being around him on a daily basis and seeing the effect he can have on an entire franchise is unbelievable. He exerts positive energy, and this isn't even taking in the fact that he can utterly dominate a basketball game without taking a single shot."
Jason Kidd, already smiling, wearing a Mavericks uniform for the first time in 14 years, at their Tuesday practice in their Dallas facility.
4.) So why in the world would the Nets trade away a guy that took them to back-to-back NBA Finals? For the past few months, Kidd has been disgruntled and has privately demanded a trade, seeing no way for the 20-30 Nets to make a serious run at the championship. His recent woes have been manifested recently, as he sat out a game earlier in the month with what he initially called a migraine but what was later reported to be an act of protest as to why he hasn't been traded. Secondly, Kidd turns 35 next month, and history has not been kind to aging guards, especially those who really on quickness and agility as much as Kidd does. Just check the career numbers for other notable point guards, such as Isiah Thomas and John Stockton, their bodies simply begin to break down after the wear-and-tear of 15-some-odd seasons on their treads. Thirdly, this trade can prove to be a coup in the long run. Devin Harris is only 24, and is being touted as the fastest point guard in the league already. DeSagana Diop is a useful center for a team desperate for size with the injury to center Nenad Krstic. The two first-round picks allows the team to keep injecting youth into the roster and start a total rebuilding project over the next few years. Best case scenario: the core of Devin Harris, All-Star guard Vince Carter, and energetic forward Richard Jefferson, already in the 7th seed in the Eastern conference if the playoffs started today, gel quickly and make some noise in the playoffs, then use that confidence to start something special. Worst case scenario: They got rid of their disgruntled aging point guard and were able to shed nearly $11 million in bad contracts. "This deal cannot be judged today," said Sussman. "A few years down the line when our young guys (Harris and Diop) develop and hopefully some intelligent decisions can be made through the draft, that's when we can really assess this trade long-term."
5.) Does this have an effect on the rest of the NBA? Of course, especially in the suddenly loaded West. As soon as the Kidd trade developed (and thanks to the Shaq and Gasol deals as well), Western Conference teams were reported to have hit the phones, trying to make a deal to help them keep pace. Among the deals being rumored are the Nuggets reported interest in Kings All-Star Ron Artest, and LeBron James, the superstar guard from the Cleveland Cavaliers, demanding an elite point guard of his own in Andre Miller. Immediately after the Kidd deal, the Hawks made a quick move to deal another talented point guard, Mike Bibby, and that trade is now finalized. This move will ultimately lead to the busiest trade deadline in recent years, and the landscape of the NBA power has clearly shifted West. "Oh, there's no question the Western Conference is the premier division, now more than ever,"Sussman said. "It's going to be awful tough for a team in the East to overtake whoever comes out of the "Wild West" in the Finals, but we're just looking to make the playoffs and continue to develop our players."
Poll #1141585 Jason Kidd: From a Net to a Mav
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 1
Who got the better of the Jason Kidd deal?
View Answers
| The Mavericks - the guy has been to 12 All-Star games! |
   1 (100.0%) |
| The Nets - rebuild for the future, hope for the progress of Devin Harris. |
| 0 (0.0%) |
| Neither, both teams adressed needs and will benefit. |
| 0 (0.0%) |
| The Eastern Conference, where the talent is now thinly diluted. |
| 0 (0.0%) |
| The NBA, where popularity is now at an all-time high due to some blockbuster, front-page trades. |
| 0 (0.0%) |
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Don Imus: A National Tragedy
Apr. 6th, 2007 | 11:36 pm
For this weekly post, I couldn’t pass up this story. Not as a student here at Rutgers, and avid supporter of the women’s basketball team, whose historic achievements this season will forever be overshadowed by the racist and shameful remarks made by Don Imus the day after we lost the national championship to Tennessee. When the radio shock jock described the Rutgers women's basketball team, on the April 4 Imus in the Morning, as "nappy-headed hos," he packed so many layers of offense into the statement that it was like a perfect little diamond of insult. There was a racial element, a gender element and even a class element (the joke implied that the Scarlet Knights were thuggish and ghetto compared with the Tennessee Lady Vols).
But a reasonable person could ask, What was the big deal? And I don't mean the lots-of-black- rappers-say-"hos" argument, which has already began to pop up as conservatives try to defend this deplorable act. Rather, I mean, what celebrity isn't slurring some group nowadays? Our culture has experienced an almost psychotic outburst of -isms in the past year. Michael Richards and "nigger." Isaiah Washington and "faggot." Senator George Allen and "macaca." Mel Gibson and "fucking Jews." But we also live in a culture in which racially and sexually edgy material is often, legitimately, considered brilliant comment, even art. Last year's most critically praised comedy, Borat, won Sacha Baron Cohen a Golden Globe for playing a Kazakh journalist who calls Alan Keyes a "genuine chocolate face" and asks a gun-shop owner to suggest a good piece for killing a Jew. Quentin Tarantino has made a career borrowing from “blaxploitation” movies. And the current season of South Park opened with an episode about a Michael Richards-esque controversy erupting when a character blurts the word “niggers” on Wheel of Fortune. This is not to say that Borat made Imus do it or to make excuses for Imus. Even in the midst of his apology tour the past few days, Imus did enough of that for himself, citing his charity work, his support of black Senate candidate Harold Ford Jr., even his booking the black singing group Blind Boys of Alabama on his show.
Even for Mr. Imus, a nationally syndicated radio host who knows his way around an insult, it was a shocking remark, one that seemed to impugn both the physical and moral characteristics of a team composed mostly of black players. What followed was a familiar dance for Mr. Imus and the media companies that profit from his ability to shock his way to big audiences: outrage, indignation and, eventually, the expression of deep regret. And so on Thursday, Mr. Imus wondered aloud on his show what the big deal was, saying people should not be offended by “some idiot comment meant to be amusing.”
MSNBC, which simulcasts Mr. Imus’s show on cable television, issued an apology, noting that the program is not a production of the network; NBC, its parent company, called the comments “deplorable.” CBS Radio, which syndicates the radio show, was sorry as well: “We are disappointed by Imus’s actions earlier this week which we find completely inappropriate,” the company said in a statement. “We fully agree that a sincere apology was called for and will continue to monitor the program’s content going forward.”
Don Imus, by the way, is one of the most popular radio hosts in the country, with millions of daily listeners on more than 70 stations around the country. The television simulcast of his show on MSNBC is surging in the ratings — “Imus in the Morning,” which the network simulcasts with the New York radio station WFAN, gained 100,000 viewers in the last year, for an average daily total of 358,000, according to Nielsen estimates. This is hardly the first time Mr. Imus has made racially insensitive remarks during a broadcast. In a 1997 interview with “60 Minutes,” he said he chose one white staffer to tell racial jokes on his show. He once referred to the PBS anchor Gwen Ifill as “a cleaning lady.” And in 2001 he took a pledge, guided by the Chicago Tribune columnist Clarence Page, to refrain from making further racist comments on his program. Looks like that pledge was pretty hollow after all.
For now, Rutgers University and the women’s team has to suffer. Their great season for the record books, where the young team rebounded from a slow start to challenge the best team in the country in the national championship, forever tarnished. All because of one man’s ignorance.
This radio shock jock has made himself into one of the most hated men in America.
But a reasonable person could ask, What was the big deal? And I don't mean the lots-of-black- rappers-say-"hos" argument, which has already began to pop up as conservatives try to defend this deplorable act. Rather, I mean, what celebrity isn't slurring some group nowadays? Our culture has experienced an almost psychotic outburst of -isms in the past year. Michael Richards and "nigger." Isaiah Washington and "faggot." Senator George Allen and "macaca." Mel Gibson and "fucking Jews." But we also live in a culture in which racially and sexually edgy material is often, legitimately, considered brilliant comment, even art. Last year's most critically praised comedy, Borat, won Sacha Baron Cohen a Golden Globe for playing a Kazakh journalist who calls Alan Keyes a "genuine chocolate face" and asks a gun-shop owner to suggest a good piece for killing a Jew. Quentin Tarantino has made a career borrowing from “blaxploitation” movies. And the current season of South Park opened with an episode about a Michael Richards-esque controversy erupting when a character blurts the word “niggers” on Wheel of Fortune. This is not to say that Borat made Imus do it or to make excuses for Imus. Even in the midst of his apology tour the past few days, Imus did enough of that for himself, citing his charity work, his support of black Senate candidate Harold Ford Jr., even his booking the black singing group Blind Boys of Alabama on his show.
Even for Mr. Imus, a nationally syndicated radio host who knows his way around an insult, it was a shocking remark, one that seemed to impugn both the physical and moral characteristics of a team composed mostly of black players. What followed was a familiar dance for Mr. Imus and the media companies that profit from his ability to shock his way to big audiences: outrage, indignation and, eventually, the expression of deep regret. And so on Thursday, Mr. Imus wondered aloud on his show what the big deal was, saying people should not be offended by “some idiot comment meant to be amusing.”
MSNBC, which simulcasts Mr. Imus’s show on cable television, issued an apology, noting that the program is not a production of the network; NBC, its parent company, called the comments “deplorable.” CBS Radio, which syndicates the radio show, was sorry as well: “We are disappointed by Imus’s actions earlier this week which we find completely inappropriate,” the company said in a statement. “We fully agree that a sincere apology was called for and will continue to monitor the program’s content going forward.”
Don Imus, by the way, is one of the most popular radio hosts in the country, with millions of daily listeners on more than 70 stations around the country. The television simulcast of his show on MSNBC is surging in the ratings — “Imus in the Morning,” which the network simulcasts with the New York radio station WFAN, gained 100,000 viewers in the last year, for an average daily total of 358,000, according to Nielsen estimates. This is hardly the first time Mr. Imus has made racially insensitive remarks during a broadcast. In a 1997 interview with “60 Minutes,” he said he chose one white staffer to tell racial jokes on his show. He once referred to the PBS anchor Gwen Ifill as “a cleaning lady.” And in 2001 he took a pledge, guided by the Chicago Tribune columnist Clarence Page, to refrain from making further racist comments on his program. Looks like that pledge was pretty hollow after all.
For now, Rutgers University and the women’s team has to suffer. Their great season for the record books, where the young team rebounded from a slow start to challenge the best team in the country in the national championship, forever tarnished. All because of one man’s ignorance.
This radio shock jock has made himself into one of the most hated men in America.
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The Upcoming NFL Draft: Hype or Ever-Growing Phenomenon?
Mar. 30th, 2007 | 01:49 am
The NFL Draft (officially the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting) is defined as an annual sports draft in which National Football League (NFL) teams take turns selecting amateur college American football players and other first-time eligible players. What this formal defintion doesn’t explain is how the hell athletes being selected to play for certain teams has become such a mega-event, and how sports media organizations such as ESPN have milked this innovation in new media so well. The marketing for the draft is craftily done, making NFL Draft Day more important that the Super Bowl even (the Super Bowl has two teams you can root for, while the draft offers hope and optimism for all 32 teams). In 2007, the NFL draft earned its highest rating, a 4.7, better than many weekend live sports events on cable TV. Some part of it was seen by more than 36 million viewers over the two days, also a record, according to ESPN. It was on in nearly 4.3 million households.
ESPN's coverage starts at 8 a.m. (a full 4 hours before the first pick is announced!) Saturday with a one-hour "SportsCenter Draft Special." The draft starts at noon and runs until 5 p.m. on ESPN. It then switches to ESPN2 from 5 to 7. On Sunday, ESPN will have coverage from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. For the third year, NFL Network will also have live coverage of the draft. It will go from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday and 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday. That’s right, three separate channels for two stations will have live coverage of the entire draft weekend.
Today the NFL draft has become an elite event. To say it has become a cottage industry is to grossly understate the situation. It is huge by any scale. Every ESPN platform (TV networks, Internet, radio, magazine, mobile phone) is involved. For the telecast alone, ESPN has developed features on the draft's top 250 players. Perhaps the reason the NFL draft has become so popular is that each one has multiple plotlines. Nearly every football fan has some interest in the draft. Pro fans want to see who their favorite team picks up; college fans want to see which NFL team scoops up their favorite player. It's part sports, part award show, part reality TV. There's always an element of the unknown in the draft, even if it's evident to everyone what a team's needs are. The biggest question this year has been: Which star quarterback will go first: JaMarcus Russell of LSU or Brady Quinn of Notre Dame? Trying to answer that question has been a challenge, according to ESPN's Chris Mortensen.
"I don't have to evaluate players the way (ESPN's) Mel Kiper has to," Mortensen said, "so what I try to do is talk to evaluators in the league. When it comes to quarterbacks, I have about a group of about seven or eight guys who over the last 10 or 15 years are pretty good at evaluating quarterbacks.
"What has surprised me a little bit is how much of a great consensus there is that JaMarcus Russell is the No. 1 guy, that not only is he physically gifted everybody talks about how he can throw the ball 80 yards, which he can, by the way; I've seen it but by all estimates, he is a more accurate passer than Brady Quinn.
"Whereas Brady Quinn, he's got great intangibles: He's kind of got that Peyton Manning work ethic, so to speak; physically, he looks like an NFL quarterback. But I think it's defined itself as JaMarcus is No. 1 and Brady is No. 2.”
The Draft is not a two-day event. It's a three-month event. NFL Nation (that's everybody) begins talking about the draft before the Super Bowl broadcast signs off. Draft guru Mel Kiper Jr. suggested to me that it starts even earlier than that. "I get calls from people in Week 5, Week 6, when their teams are starting to struggle,'' says Kiper. "They're already wondering who they might be able to get in the draft.'' Mel Kiper stands to be the best example of just how popular draft weekend is. This is a man that devotes every ounce of energy in his body, 365 days a year to try and predict what will happen on two days, and makes a great living off it!
From early February into late April, fans talk endlessly about the draft, watch and listen to shows about the draft and hammer Web sites devoted to the draft. The hype is endless from the dead of winter into the middle of spring. Give me another event that can match this. The phrase "Sports is all about leading in to the event” is evident most for the NFL Draft, which makes the NBA draft seem non-consequential and the MLB draft nonexistent. When training camp begins in July, we will train our eyes on the top draftees, looking for the smallest chinks in their armor, trying to see if they were the right pick. Even during the regular season, when a player is struggling we revert back to their draft year and find all the players who were selected after our struggling hero. There's not a frustrated Chicago Bears' alive who can't tell you that while Rex Grossman was selected 22nd in the first round of the 2003 Draft, the Dallas Cowboys managed to find Tony Romo as a free agent a few hours after the draft was finished. The point is this: Teams never escape their drafts and players never escape their draft status. It defines them forever. Imagine if regular people had to endure this type of lasting scrutiny: "John, you met your sales quota again this quarter, but your numbers are disappointing for a first-round pick.''
The Draft is the ultimate fan participation event. The draft, like fantasy sports, allows fans to do exactly what the teams do: Watch, evaluate and select players. As Kiper said, "Everybody thinks he can be a general manager.'' In this sense, the draft is very much like college recruiting. In reality, both are just the first step in a very long process that begins with the selection of a player and doesn't end until many years later when that player's career can be evaluated. But neither college nor NFL fans treat recruiting, or the draft, as an open-ended proposition. Instead, they view it as a victory or defeat on Signing Day or Draft Day.
The Draft also has higher stakes than any game. Consider last year's Houston Texans. Texans' owner Robert McNair had signed off on the Texans' decision to select Mario Williams with the first pick in the draft, instead of Reggie Bush, Vince Young or even Matt Leinart. McNair owned up to the pressure he felt in backing his football people's call. But look what has happened: Williams looks like an average player, Bush and Young are budding superstars and the Texans have cut loose former No. 1 pick David Carr in hopes that Matt Schaub is better than a backup quarterback. The entire franchise is on thin ice because of questionable decisions made on draft day. There's no single game -- maybe no single season -- that can impact a franchise so deeply and for so long. And the Texans are just an example. The Falcons are running out of time with Michael Vick. Likewise the Giants with Eli Manning (both Vick and Manning were #1 picks). The decisions that teams make on Draft Day will impact the franchise and its fans for years.
Because rookie salaries are so astronomical, the pressure on front offices to make successful picks is overwhelming, and yet they are wagering eight figures on players who have never played a snap in the NFL. It's madness, yet a GM can lose his job on draft day. He can't lose it on one bad Sunday, unless it's the culmination of many bad Sundays.
The greater proof is in the ratings. More people watch the Draft than watch the NBA playoffs, selected NASCAR races or regular season college basketball. And they do so by a wide margin during the early rounds of the draft. Fans flood websites during the two days of the event. The reality is that the NFL is by far the most popular sport in America. And while the Super Bowl is a 14-day explosion of hype, the Draft is a relentless presence that lasts nearly as long as the entire regular season. It is an accidental stroke of genius (Commissioner Bert Bell wasn't looking for ratings when he started the draft 71 years ago; he was just trying to give weaker teams a chance to sign good players), that dwarfs every sporting institution on the landscape. SEAN HYLTON writes an article for the WCFcourier (http://www.wcfcourier.com/articles/200
Millions will be watching to see if the Oakland Raiders select JaMarcus Russell with the #1 overall pick.
ESPN's coverage starts at 8 a.m. (a full 4 hours before the first pick is announced!) Saturday with a one-hour "SportsCenter Draft Special." The draft starts at noon and runs until 5 p.m. on ESPN. It then switches to ESPN2 from 5 to 7. On Sunday, ESPN will have coverage from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. For the third year, NFL Network will also have live coverage of the draft. It will go from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday and 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday. That’s right, three separate channels for two stations will have live coverage of the entire draft weekend.
Today the NFL draft has become an elite event. To say it has become a cottage industry is to grossly understate the situation. It is huge by any scale. Every ESPN platform (TV networks, Internet, radio, magazine, mobile phone) is involved. For the telecast alone, ESPN has developed features on the draft's top 250 players. Perhaps the reason the NFL draft has become so popular is that each one has multiple plotlines. Nearly every football fan has some interest in the draft. Pro fans want to see who their favorite team picks up; college fans want to see which NFL team scoops up their favorite player. It's part sports, part award show, part reality TV. There's always an element of the unknown in the draft, even if it's evident to everyone what a team's needs are. The biggest question this year has been: Which star quarterback will go first: JaMarcus Russell of LSU or Brady Quinn of Notre Dame? Trying to answer that question has been a challenge, according to ESPN's Chris Mortensen.
"I don't have to evaluate players the way (ESPN's) Mel Kiper has to," Mortensen said, "so what I try to do is talk to evaluators in the league. When it comes to quarterbacks, I have about a group of about seven or eight guys who over the last 10 or 15 years are pretty good at evaluating quarterbacks.
"What has surprised me a little bit is how much of a great consensus there is that JaMarcus Russell is the No. 1 guy, that not only is he physically gifted everybody talks about how he can throw the ball 80 yards, which he can, by the way; I've seen it but by all estimates, he is a more accurate passer than Brady Quinn.
"Whereas Brady Quinn, he's got great intangibles: He's kind of got that Peyton Manning work ethic, so to speak; physically, he looks like an NFL quarterback. But I think it's defined itself as JaMarcus is No. 1 and Brady is No. 2.”
The Draft is not a two-day event. It's a three-month event. NFL Nation (that's everybody) begins talking about the draft before the Super Bowl broadcast signs off. Draft guru Mel Kiper Jr. suggested to me that it starts even earlier than that. "I get calls from people in Week 5, Week 6, when their teams are starting to struggle,'' says Kiper. "They're already wondering who they might be able to get in the draft.'' Mel Kiper stands to be the best example of just how popular draft weekend is. This is a man that devotes every ounce of energy in his body, 365 days a year to try and predict what will happen on two days, and makes a great living off it!
From early February into late April, fans talk endlessly about the draft, watch and listen to shows about the draft and hammer Web sites devoted to the draft. The hype is endless from the dead of winter into the middle of spring. Give me another event that can match this. The phrase "Sports is all about leading in to the event” is evident most for the NFL Draft, which makes the NBA draft seem non-consequential and the MLB draft nonexistent. When training camp begins in July, we will train our eyes on the top draftees, looking for the smallest chinks in their armor, trying to see if they were the right pick. Even during the regular season, when a player is struggling we revert back to their draft year and find all the players who were selected after our struggling hero. There's not a frustrated Chicago Bears' alive who can't tell you that while Rex Grossman was selected 22nd in the first round of the 2003 Draft, the Dallas Cowboys managed to find Tony Romo as a free agent a few hours after the draft was finished. The point is this: Teams never escape their drafts and players never escape their draft status. It defines them forever. Imagine if regular people had to endure this type of lasting scrutiny: "John, you met your sales quota again this quarter, but your numbers are disappointing for a first-round pick.''
The Draft is the ultimate fan participation event. The draft, like fantasy sports, allows fans to do exactly what the teams do: Watch, evaluate and select players. As Kiper said, "Everybody thinks he can be a general manager.'' In this sense, the draft is very much like college recruiting. In reality, both are just the first step in a very long process that begins with the selection of a player and doesn't end until many years later when that player's career can be evaluated. But neither college nor NFL fans treat recruiting, or the draft, as an open-ended proposition. Instead, they view it as a victory or defeat on Signing Day or Draft Day.
The Draft also has higher stakes than any game. Consider last year's Houston Texans. Texans' owner Robert McNair had signed off on the Texans' decision to select Mario Williams with the first pick in the draft, instead of Reggie Bush, Vince Young or even Matt Leinart. McNair owned up to the pressure he felt in backing his football people's call. But look what has happened: Williams looks like an average player, Bush and Young are budding superstars and the Texans have cut loose former No. 1 pick David Carr in hopes that Matt Schaub is better than a backup quarterback. The entire franchise is on thin ice because of questionable decisions made on draft day. There's no single game -- maybe no single season -- that can impact a franchise so deeply and for so long. And the Texans are just an example. The Falcons are running out of time with Michael Vick. Likewise the Giants with Eli Manning (both Vick and Manning were #1 picks). The decisions that teams make on Draft Day will impact the franchise and its fans for years.
Because rookie salaries are so astronomical, the pressure on front offices to make successful picks is overwhelming, and yet they are wagering eight figures on players who have never played a snap in the NFL. It's madness, yet a GM can lose his job on draft day. He can't lose it on one bad Sunday, unless it's the culmination of many bad Sundays.
The greater proof is in the ratings. More people watch the Draft than watch the NBA playoffs, selected NASCAR races or regular season college basketball. And they do so by a wide margin during the early rounds of the draft. Fans flood websites during the two days of the event. The reality is that the NFL is by far the most popular sport in America. And while the Super Bowl is a 14-day explosion of hype, the Draft is a relentless presence that lasts nearly as long as the entire regular season. It is an accidental stroke of genius (Commissioner Bert Bell wasn't looking for ratings when he started the draft 71 years ago; he was just trying to give weaker teams a chance to sign good players), that dwarfs every sporting institution on the landscape. SEAN HYLTON writes an article for the WCFcourier (http://www.wcfcourier.com/articles/200
Millions will be watching to see if the Oakland Raiders select JaMarcus Russell with the #1 overall pick.
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Boxing; Can This Dying Sport Be Rejuvenated on May 5th?
Mar. 17th, 2007 | 10:20 pm
The De La Hoya-Mayweather fight feels like a trip down memory lane, back to the days when boxing still mattered and people asked questions like "Where are we watching the big fight this weekend?" Before May 5, most every group of pals will force the one guy with the biggest TV to host a pay-per-view party, either by guilting him into it or by going through the charade of pretending someone else with a much crummier TV is hosting, knowing full well the buddy with the giant plasma will step up in the end. Sounds just like the old days, right?
Unquestionably, it's the biggest fight in years. It's also the last Big Fight, period. Oscar De La Hoya seems to be the only boxer who matters anymore, and he’s not even the champion! You say the name De La Hoya Oscar generates a wide range of opinions. He's a classy dude! He's never beaten anyone great in his prime! He's full of himself! He's a warrior! He's overrated! He has a gravity-defying head that looks like Sputnik…but at least people have opinions about him. You can't say the same for Mayweather, the best pound-for-pound fighter alive but also someone who could walk by you on the street (minus the entourage) and you wouldn’t even cast a second glance. We need Floyd's brilliance to push the fight to another level, but Oscar's star power makes it relevant in the first place.
Well, what happens when Oscar retires? Only one megafight remains that doesn't involve Mike Tyson and a grizzly bear: the Klitschko brothers breaking their lifelong vow and battling for the heavyweight title, which won't happen unless they both go broke, which is highly unlikely. So unless someone improbably emerges as the Tiger Woods of boxing, this could be the last Big Fight for a long time. And it might not even be that good a fight: The bookies originally made Floyd a 3-1 favorite, mainly because he's a sleeker, deadlier, more polished version of Sugar Shane Mosley -- yes, the guy who beat Oscar twice.
The outcome doesn't matter as much as boxing's brief return to the mainstream, which has been propelled partially by HBO's De La Hoya/Mayweather 24/7, a masterfully entertaining "reality show" about the lead-up to the fight. The first episode alone featured Floyd dropping about 10,000 f-bombs, 50 Cent improbably showing up at Floyd's camp on a Segway and the trash talking conferences being sandwiched by brutal training sessions where Mayweather literally bleeds his opponents out of the ring.
Meanwhile, Oscar is shown balancing sparring sessions with family life and his many business interests, and we watch him sitting in his enormous kitchen or training in front of hundreds of media people.
You'd have to hark back to Leonard-Duran for a matchup with such clearly defined white hat/black hat roles. Floyd hasn't just positioned himself as the villain; he wants to be the villain, making him different from Jones Jr., Holmes, Tyson, Hagler and everyone else since Duran who has begrudgingly worn a black hat to sell a fight. Deep down, every boxer from the past 25 years has wanted to be loved. Floyd wants to be remembered, even if it means portraying himself in the most hated, egotistical, money-hungry fashion.
For our purposes, it's been a revelation to watch two superior boxers promote a fight without forcing mutual contempt simply for the hype. Floyd genuinely dislikes Oscar and resents his fame. Oscar genuinely dislikes Floyd for not showing him respect. Over everything else, that's what makes this a special sporting event: In a world where NBA refs hand out flagrant fouls like parking tickets, baseball pitchers aren't allowed to protect teammates and hockey players settle scores by high-sticking someone in the helmet and waiting for three other guys to jump in, it's nice to know that two athletes can still settle a feud by beating the crap out of each other.
We need to knock down the house and start over. And in the years following the De La Hoya-Mayweather fight, as boxing crumbles from a lack of mainstream interest, we will. Until then, let's enjoy the Last Big Fight. Call your buddy with the big TV and tell him you're coming over on May 5, just like old times. If it can make boxing, which used to be America’s favorite sport in the early 70’s (Muhammad Ali) to the mid-90’s (thank you, Evander Holyfield and Mike Tyson) relevant again, this will be the most important sporting event in the past 10 years. An entire sport’s popularity can be rejuvenated on the basis of one night, and I for one will be watching.
Can these two once-in-a-generation boxers revitalize an aging sport?
Unquestionably, it's the biggest fight in years. It's also the last Big Fight, period. Oscar De La Hoya seems to be the only boxer who matters anymore, and he’s not even the champion! You say the name De La Hoya Oscar generates a wide range of opinions. He's a classy dude! He's never beaten anyone great in his prime! He's full of himself! He's a warrior! He's overrated! He has a gravity-defying head that looks like Sputnik…but at least people have opinions about him. You can't say the same for Mayweather, the best pound-for-pound fighter alive but also someone who could walk by you on the street (minus the entourage) and you wouldn’t even cast a second glance. We need Floyd's brilliance to push the fight to another level, but Oscar's star power makes it relevant in the first place.
Well, what happens when Oscar retires? Only one megafight remains that doesn't involve Mike Tyson and a grizzly bear: the Klitschko brothers breaking their lifelong vow and battling for the heavyweight title, which won't happen unless they both go broke, which is highly unlikely. So unless someone improbably emerges as the Tiger Woods of boxing, this could be the last Big Fight for a long time. And it might not even be that good a fight: The bookies originally made Floyd a 3-1 favorite, mainly because he's a sleeker, deadlier, more polished version of Sugar Shane Mosley -- yes, the guy who beat Oscar twice.
The outcome doesn't matter as much as boxing's brief return to the mainstream, which has been propelled partially by HBO's De La Hoya/Mayweather 24/7, a masterfully entertaining "reality show" about the lead-up to the fight. The first episode alone featured Floyd dropping about 10,000 f-bombs, 50 Cent improbably showing up at Floyd's camp on a Segway and the trash talking conferences being sandwiched by brutal training sessions where Mayweather literally bleeds his opponents out of the ring.
Meanwhile, Oscar is shown balancing sparring sessions with family life and his many business interests, and we watch him sitting in his enormous kitchen or training in front of hundreds of media people.
You'd have to hark back to Leonard-Duran for a matchup with such clearly defined white hat/black hat roles. Floyd hasn't just positioned himself as the villain; he wants to be the villain, making him different from Jones Jr., Holmes, Tyson, Hagler and everyone else since Duran who has begrudgingly worn a black hat to sell a fight. Deep down, every boxer from the past 25 years has wanted to be loved. Floyd wants to be remembered, even if it means portraying himself in the most hated, egotistical, money-hungry fashion.
For our purposes, it's been a revelation to watch two superior boxers promote a fight without forcing mutual contempt simply for the hype. Floyd genuinely dislikes Oscar and resents his fame. Oscar genuinely dislikes Floyd for not showing him respect. Over everything else, that's what makes this a special sporting event: In a world where NBA refs hand out flagrant fouls like parking tickets, baseball pitchers aren't allowed to protect teammates and hockey players settle scores by high-sticking someone in the helmet and waiting for three other guys to jump in, it's nice to know that two athletes can still settle a feud by beating the crap out of each other.
We need to knock down the house and start over. And in the years following the De La Hoya-Mayweather fight, as boxing crumbles from a lack of mainstream interest, we will. Until then, let's enjoy the Last Big Fight. Call your buddy with the big TV and tell him you're coming over on May 5, just like old times. If it can make boxing, which used to be America’s favorite sport in the early 70’s (Muhammad Ali) to the mid-90’s (thank you, Evander Holyfield and Mike Tyson) relevant again, this will be the most important sporting event in the past 10 years. An entire sport’s popularity can be rejuvenated on the basis of one night, and I for one will be watching.
Can these two once-in-a-generation boxers revitalize an aging sport?
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The controversy surrounding age minimums regarding professional sporting associations
Mar. 9th, 2007 | 02:48 pm
I wanted to address the growing trend of sports associations like the NBA and the way they handle their future employees. For the past 10 years, high school players have made very good money jumping straight to the pros, with the NBA taking the success stories (Kevin Garnett, Kobe Bryant) with the bad (Kwame Brown, Sebastian Telfair). David Stern, commissioner of the NBA, instituted a new rule last year that prohibited the straight-from-high-school jump, forcing aspiring young men everywhere to have to enroll in college. The results have been nothing but spectacular, with only high school kids who would rather be paid sooner rather than later the only real “losers” in this equation. This has become about more than just basketball. The players aren’t just college students just like me, now it’s college coaches who have a lot more interest in high school phenoms, and the universities that will do anything to obtain these now-prized recruits. The stakes? Millions of dollars to be made before a teenage kid even steps onto an NBA court. So how has the result of the first year where players couldn’t make the high-school-to-pros jump played out? How have colleges benefited—or suffered? What consequences does this rule have for professional sports organizations and the manner in which they handle these teenagers (case in point: Boston Celtics general manager Danny Ainge got fined $35,000 for sitting next to Kevin Durant’s mother in public). Let’s take a closer look at the two young men, collegiate freshman Kevin Durant and Greg Oden, whose basketball skills and charisma have taken the media by storm, and who were forced to play college basketball this year after the NBA’s new age minimum rule.
Recently, Kevin Durant showed up to collect one of several player-of-the-year awards wearing a burnt-orange tie, black shirt and black suit. Somehow, it made him look even younger, taller and skinnier than he did in a Texas Longhorns jersey (which is no small accomplishment in itself). Durant had to lean down at the lectern to reach the microphone, and at the end of a short, gracious acceptance speech, he flashed an uncertain smile at the front row. There, his parents and grandmother sat and beamed back. He still looked like an 18-year-old kid to everybody present, but he was about to become a $40 million man with a lot more to worry about than his grades.
We no longer debate whether youngsters as talented as Durant and Ohio State’s Greg Oden should leave school early, no matter how reluctant either might have been, only in what order they’re likely to get drafted by the NBA. Even so, the fact that they even wrestled with the decision is a sign of progress. Durant declared himself available Tuesday and while Oden was coy about his own plans at the Buckeyes’ pep rally Wednesday night, he has only a few weeks to decide. Whether he gets picked first in the June draft, ahead of Durant, or just behind him at No. 2, there will be one contract worth close to $20 million over four years awaiting his signature the second after he shakes NBA commissioner David Stern’s hand. A sneaker deal similar to the one Nike reportedly gave Durant would double the dare. Then there’s the cautionary tale of Joakim Noah to consider. Noah returned to Florida for his junior year along with teammates Al Horford and Corey Brewer to defend the Gators’ first national title. He wound up playing against Oden in the championship game, won it, and then found out NBA scouts wished he had declared for the draft a season earlier. Noah didn’t get a bill for his third year at school — he was on full scholarship — but the decision likely cost him a few million.
Durant and Oden - Two teenagers on the minds of every basketball fan.
So, is one-and-done any better than players jumping straight to the pros from high school? When Stern won a small concession from the players’ union in July 2005, and effectively pushed the league’s age minimum to 19 and a year out of high school, it was easy to be cynical about the answer. The decision was still being balanced on the backs of the kids and the league was going to win, either way. It was still assured of a steady supply of talent, and whether a season on campus made those kids more mature was up to them. On that admittedly slim evidence, it’s been a win-win proposition. Coming up with an age-minimum has been a headache for all of pro sports, but it has fallen disproportionately to Stern and the NBA to come up with a remedy. Unlike the NFL, a handful of players could make the jump from high school to Stern’s league, and unlike MLB, few were good enough early enough to dominate the headlines. But Stern fought to force his future employees to do one season in college, anyway. Asked about that decision the other night, he took full credit for what looks to be a shrewd business decision. Stern claimed he didn’t have Oden or Durant in mind when he lowered the age-minimum, but he wasn’t cursing his good luck, either.
“We are going to have a lot of the attention and the hype ... because there are going to be a lot of good players in this draft and a lot of them are going to be very tall,” Stern said. “So we’ve got a lot of teams thinking that they’ve got a selection to make that’s going to be that decade-long choice.”
The flip side is that NCAA coaches and the kids they were recruiting benefited, too. They got a breather, knowing they were locked up for at least one season together, and there was even a ripple effect. A few of the best sophomores stuck around as well — besides the Florida trio, UCLA’s Aaron Afflalo returned for one more year. College basketball was a better game for the added depth. The downside is that Noah and the next young man who becomes the model for the stay-in-school crowd might have regrets. But just like Noah, Durant and Oden demonstrated, at the very least, that they learned enough during their season on campus to make an informed choice. And at a time when child actors, gymnasts, skaters and others are being rushed to the stage at breakneck speed, you can’t ask for more than that.
Recently, Kevin Durant showed up to collect one of several player-of-the-year awards wearing a burnt-orange tie, black shirt and black suit. Somehow, it made him look even younger, taller and skinnier than he did in a Texas Longhorns jersey (which is no small accomplishment in itself). Durant had to lean down at the lectern to reach the microphone, and at the end of a short, gracious acceptance speech, he flashed an uncertain smile at the front row. There, his parents and grandmother sat and beamed back. He still looked like an 18-year-old kid to everybody present, but he was about to become a $40 million man with a lot more to worry about than his grades.
We no longer debate whether youngsters as talented as Durant and Ohio State’s Greg Oden should leave school early, no matter how reluctant either might have been, only in what order they’re likely to get drafted by the NBA. Even so, the fact that they even wrestled with the decision is a sign of progress. Durant declared himself available Tuesday and while Oden was coy about his own plans at the Buckeyes’ pep rally Wednesday night, he has only a few weeks to decide. Whether he gets picked first in the June draft, ahead of Durant, or just behind him at No. 2, there will be one contract worth close to $20 million over four years awaiting his signature the second after he shakes NBA commissioner David Stern’s hand. A sneaker deal similar to the one Nike reportedly gave Durant would double the dare. Then there’s the cautionary tale of Joakim Noah to consider. Noah returned to Florida for his junior year along with teammates Al Horford and Corey Brewer to defend the Gators’ first national title. He wound up playing against Oden in the championship game, won it, and then found out NBA scouts wished he had declared for the draft a season earlier. Noah didn’t get a bill for his third year at school — he was on full scholarship — but the decision likely cost him a few million.
Durant and Oden - Two teenagers on the minds of every basketball fan.
So, is one-and-done any better than players jumping straight to the pros from high school? When Stern won a small concession from the players’ union in July 2005, and effectively pushed the league’s age minimum to 19 and a year out of high school, it was easy to be cynical about the answer. The decision was still being balanced on the backs of the kids and the league was going to win, either way. It was still assured of a steady supply of talent, and whether a season on campus made those kids more mature was up to them. On that admittedly slim evidence, it’s been a win-win proposition. Coming up with an age-minimum has been a headache for all of pro sports, but it has fallen disproportionately to Stern and the NBA to come up with a remedy. Unlike the NFL, a handful of players could make the jump from high school to Stern’s league, and unlike MLB, few were good enough early enough to dominate the headlines. But Stern fought to force his future employees to do one season in college, anyway. Asked about that decision the other night, he took full credit for what looks to be a shrewd business decision. Stern claimed he didn’t have Oden or Durant in mind when he lowered the age-minimum, but he wasn’t cursing his good luck, either.
“We are going to have a lot of the attention and the hype ... because there are going to be a lot of good players in this draft and a lot of them are going to be very tall,” Stern said. “So we’ve got a lot of teams thinking that they’ve got a selection to make that’s going to be that decade-long choice.”
The flip side is that NCAA coaches and the kids they were recruiting benefited, too. They got a breather, knowing they were locked up for at least one season together, and there was even a ripple effect. A few of the best sophomores stuck around as well — besides the Florida trio, UCLA’s Aaron Afflalo returned for one more year. College basketball was a better game for the added depth. The downside is that Noah and the next young man who becomes the model for the stay-in-school crowd might have regrets. But just like Noah, Durant and Oden demonstrated, at the very least, that they learned enough during their season on campus to make an informed choice. And at a time when child actors, gymnasts, skaters and others are being rushed to the stage at breakneck speed, you can’t ask for more than that.
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The Phenomenon That Is Fantasy Sports
Mar. 3rd, 2007 | 04:51 pm
The war room is seated. 4 members are in one room, clicking away at their computers/laptops. Another is in his room, his picks mired in confidentiality. Yet another is using a friend’s computer, making sure that he doesn’t miss the next few hours. With every passing moment, more research is made on a players history. Is he going to be healthy enough to start the season? How has he been doing in the past few years? Are his pre-all star breaks better than his post all-star? Is his move to the top of the Dodgers order going to significantly improve his stock? Does this guy really have as live an arm as it seems, or was last year a fluke? Can this Japanese import really make the transition to not only the MLB, but to an American lifestyle? Is this guy going to be multi-position eligible, or are you going to have to stick him into a utility spot all year? Is this veteran beginning to show signs of wear and tear, or can he continue to dominate? Will this chronic underachiever be traded away by midseason, or will he put up big numbers in lieu of his contract year? These are all questions you ask yourself as you conduct your own little war room. This is the phenomenon known as fantasy sports. Wikipedia lists a fantasy sports as “a game where fantasy owners build a team that competes against other fantasy owners based on the statistics generated by individual players or teams of a professional sport,” but that only begins to scratch the surface of how addictive this is to millions of people worldwide (most notably male American sports fans. Some sports writers criticize fantasy sports, especially those involving team sports, of focusing too much on statistics. A player on a real team might be a team player and help his/her team win championships, but in fantasy sports that team play may not matter as much as having good individual statistics. Professional athletes now regularly play fantasy sports, drafting themselves and their teammates on their own teams, all the while accruing every bit of statistical data imaginable about themselves and their peers.
There was a bill presented before Congress in 1999 that would have prevented public fantasy sports businesses, the contention being that fantasy sports is in fact a form of sports gambling. That bill failed, and eventually a 'carve-out' was created for the fantasy sports business. In 2006, the United States congress passed the "Security Port Act", which prohibits credit card transactions and other electronic transfers to online gambling operators. What’s interesting to note is that this bill included an exemption for fantasy sports; now millions of players around the world participate and bet on how their team would do. Me and a couple of buddies of mine conducted our own fantasy league for the upcoming 2007 baseball season. A couple of the highlights included:
1. Albert Pujols, the consensus #1 pick, being followed by none other than the Mets’ Jose Reyes. Reyes has become the fantasy equivalent of perfection, a 5-category star that can beat a team by himself based on every statistic (runs, batting average, the occasional home run, RBIs, and an entire team’s worth of stolen bases). Not too bad to be a Mets fan with this guy batting leadoff for you.
2. Alfonso Soriano drafted ahead of Alex Rodriguez. Simply put, my buddy Keith might have made the biggest mistake in fantasy baseball history. Only time will tell.
3. Sevvy, another roommate of mine, taking a chance on a little-known Japanese import pitcher named Daisuke Matsuzake (or Dice-K, as the media has been quick to nickname). This pitcher, while dominant in the Japanese league, comes to the Boston Red Sox this year, a team that is expected to contend immediately and is only 3 years removed from a World Series ring. The Red Sox paid over $50 million just for the rights to negotiate with Dice-K, and Sevvy chose him over well-established American farm league products (Brandon Webb, Jake Peavy, etc.) in the hopes that his gyroball (a pitch famed to never have been seen before by any major leaguer) will confuse opponents all year.
4. The steal of the draft in my opinion, Barry Bonds in the 12th (!!) round, a player I thought would come back with a sense of purpose after being only 26 home runs away from tying Hank Aaron’s all-time home run mark. Either that, or drafting a catcher that bats .350 and has a batting title to his name at age 23. I honestly don’t know which move will have more of an impact on me winning this league. Probably both.
5. Jimmy (a supposed fantasy giant) drafting an entire team of no-namers, ranging from the huh?? (Nick Markakis, Josh Barfield) to the who!? (Mark Teahan, Stephen Drew). If not for a decent outfield, we can start crowning his team as the one everyone can’t wait to face each week.
6. The cliché Yankees fan (yes folks, there’s one in every league) drafting the good (A-Rod, Hideki Matsui) with the washed-up (Mike Mussina) and the altogether dumb draft picks (Chien-Mien Wang).
The past few years have changed what I wrote for nonsensical gibberish by a rabid sports fan, to language that millions of people thrive off come draft day each year. Draft day, especially, is an important day for fantasy sports players, as you get to start the season by handpicking which players you want to constantly be checking up on throughout the season. Fantasy sports has taken on a world of its own, with the explosive popularity of fantasy sports, coupled with the availability of venues showcasing numerous live games via satellite, has had significant effects on viewing and rooting habits among participants. Rather than supporting a favorite team in any one game, some fantasy owners may instead support the players on their fantasy rosters. This causes behavior that is often incoherent from a traditional sports fan perspective. In addition, individual NFL players have complained about the effects of fantasy football on fans' habits and preferences. In interviews with ESPN, Broncos QB Jake Plummer stated, "I think it's ruined the game." And, as New York Giants RB Tiki Barber noted about fantasy fans, "there's an incongruity in the wants." For instance, a fantasy owner might have the quarterback from one team and the running back from another on his roster, and end up hoping both teams score frequently. However, he will only cheer passing scores from the first team and running scores from the second, creating a scenario where the owner supports both teams but in a qualified, dispassionate manner. What’s even more fascinating (and I am as guilty a party as any) is when you are starting a player on your fantasy team against your favorite real-life team, leaving you torn on who or what to root for. In article by CNN Money (http://money.cnn.com/2006/08/11/news/c
On their website, the Fantasy Sports Trade Association claims that fantasy sports have hit the major leagues, expanding into a $1.5-billion-a-year business. “Fantasy sports are now viewed as mainstream,” according to University of Mississippi professor Dr. Kim Beason, who conducts an annual study, sponsored by the Fantasy Sports Trade Association (FSTA), tracking the consumer behavior of fantasy sports participants. “Five years ago, a lot of businesses had zero use for fantasy sports, but now they have seen that it can be lucrative and they are trying to get involved.”
Technology, which has defined the current era of fantasy sports, granting participants easier access to statistics and a greater ability to network with one another, promises to play a prominent role in the games' future. Fantasy sports leagues from providers such as MSN/Fox Sports, CBS Sportsline, and ESPN supplement their offerings with extras such as podcast and instant message updates. Mobile devices will allow participants to immerse themselves in fantasy sports on the train, waiting in line at the bank, or on their lunchbreak. From its pencil and paper roots to today's sophisticated multimedia offerings, fantasy sports offer participants the chance to escape into an league where they call the shots. And as technology allows participants to engage themselves ever more deeply in their personal field of dreams, marketers have the opportunity to go with them, forging a real connection from fantasy sports.
A huge fantasy football draft room. Crazy or more commonplace than you think?
Fantasy sports have received support from many players, who prove they are fans themselves by participating.
There was a bill presented before Congress in 1999 that would have prevented public fantasy sports businesses, the contention being that fantasy sports is in fact a form of sports gambling. That bill failed, and eventually a 'carve-out' was created for the fantasy sports business. In 2006, the United States congress passed the "Security Port Act", which prohibits credit card transactions and other electronic transfers to online gambling operators. What’s interesting to note is that this bill included an exemption for fantasy sports; now millions of players around the world participate and bet on how their team would do. Me and a couple of buddies of mine conducted our own fantasy league for the upcoming 2007 baseball season. A couple of the highlights included:
1. Albert Pujols, the consensus #1 pick, being followed by none other than the Mets’ Jose Reyes. Reyes has become the fantasy equivalent of perfection, a 5-category star that can beat a team by himself based on every statistic (runs, batting average, the occasional home run, RBIs, and an entire team’s worth of stolen bases). Not too bad to be a Mets fan with this guy batting leadoff for you.
2. Alfonso Soriano drafted ahead of Alex Rodriguez. Simply put, my buddy Keith might have made the biggest mistake in fantasy baseball history. Only time will tell.
3. Sevvy, another roommate of mine, taking a chance on a little-known Japanese import pitcher named Daisuke Matsuzake (or Dice-K, as the media has been quick to nickname). This pitcher, while dominant in the Japanese league, comes to the Boston Red Sox this year, a team that is expected to contend immediately and is only 3 years removed from a World Series ring. The Red Sox paid over $50 million just for the rights to negotiate with Dice-K, and Sevvy chose him over well-established American farm league products (Brandon Webb, Jake Peavy, etc.) in the hopes that his gyroball (a pitch famed to never have been seen before by any major leaguer) will confuse opponents all year.
4. The steal of the draft in my opinion, Barry Bonds in the 12th (!!) round, a player I thought would come back with a sense of purpose after being only 26 home runs away from tying Hank Aaron’s all-time home run mark. Either that, or drafting a catcher that bats .350 and has a batting title to his name at age 23. I honestly don’t know which move will have more of an impact on me winning this league. Probably both.
5. Jimmy (a supposed fantasy giant) drafting an entire team of no-namers, ranging from the huh?? (Nick Markakis, Josh Barfield) to the who!? (Mark Teahan, Stephen Drew). If not for a decent outfield, we can start crowning his team as the one everyone can’t wait to face each week.
6. The cliché Yankees fan (yes folks, there’s one in every league) drafting the good (A-Rod, Hideki Matsui) with the washed-up (Mike Mussina) and the altogether dumb draft picks (Chien-Mien Wang).
The past few years have changed what I wrote for nonsensical gibberish by a rabid sports fan, to language that millions of people thrive off come draft day each year. Draft day, especially, is an important day for fantasy sports players, as you get to start the season by handpicking which players you want to constantly be checking up on throughout the season. Fantasy sports has taken on a world of its own, with the explosive popularity of fantasy sports, coupled with the availability of venues showcasing numerous live games via satellite, has had significant effects on viewing and rooting habits among participants. Rather than supporting a favorite team in any one game, some fantasy owners may instead support the players on their fantasy rosters. This causes behavior that is often incoherent from a traditional sports fan perspective. In addition, individual NFL players have complained about the effects of fantasy football on fans' habits and preferences. In interviews with ESPN, Broncos QB Jake Plummer stated, "I think it's ruined the game." And, as New York Giants RB Tiki Barber noted about fantasy fans, "there's an incongruity in the wants." For instance, a fantasy owner might have the quarterback from one team and the running back from another on his roster, and end up hoping both teams score frequently. However, he will only cheer passing scores from the first team and running scores from the second, creating a scenario where the owner supports both teams but in a qualified, dispassionate manner. What’s even more fascinating (and I am as guilty a party as any) is when you are starting a player on your fantasy team against your favorite real-life team, leaving you torn on who or what to root for. In article by CNN Money (http://money.cnn.com/2006/08/11/news/c
On their website, the Fantasy Sports Trade Association claims that fantasy sports have hit the major leagues, expanding into a $1.5-billion-a-year business. “Fantasy sports are now viewed as mainstream,” according to University of Mississippi professor Dr. Kim Beason, who conducts an annual study, sponsored by the Fantasy Sports Trade Association (FSTA), tracking the consumer behavior of fantasy sports participants. “Five years ago, a lot of businesses had zero use for fantasy sports, but now they have seen that it can be lucrative and they are trying to get involved.”
Technology, which has defined the current era of fantasy sports, granting participants easier access to statistics and a greater ability to network with one another, promises to play a prominent role in the games' future. Fantasy sports leagues from providers such as MSN/Fox Sports, CBS Sportsline, and ESPN supplement their offerings with extras such as podcast and instant message updates. Mobile devices will allow participants to immerse themselves in fantasy sports on the train, waiting in line at the bank, or on their lunchbreak. From its pencil and paper roots to today's sophisticated multimedia offerings, fantasy sports offer participants the chance to escape into an league where they call the shots. And as technology allows participants to engage themselves ever more deeply in their personal field of dreams, marketers have the opportunity to go with them, forging a real connection from fantasy sports.
A huge fantasy football draft room. Crazy or more commonplace than you think?
Fantasy sports have received support from many players, who prove they are fans themselves by participating.
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Globalization of Sports Through International Media (aka I've become obsessed with soccer)
Feb. 24th, 2007 | 11:48 am
I was recently noticed by SportsPageMagazine.com, and have been hired as an “Internet intern” for their corporate website. I received my first assignment from them, asking “When covering sports, what regions and issues interest you the most and why?”
My name is Mohamed Ali, and I am a junior at Rutgers University majoring in Journalism and media Studies as a member of the SCILS department. My academic advisor recently implied to me that learning about sports media coverage on an international level might be something I would not only be interested in, but would also include information that might serve useful for my career plans. I plan on getting into sports journalism after Rutgers, and I have been writing sports articles for about 2 years now. This is my own weblog, which I update sports articles I write myself. The topics I cover range from the main U.S. sports such as football and basketball (and the professional leagues associated with them), to international sports such as soccer, to fantasy sports and documentaries. This is my first paper for sportspagemagazine.com, and I also contribute to Rutgers’ own paper, The Daily Targum, under Mike New of the sports department. As for the prospect of international sports coverage, I plan on working for an international sports media source in the future. I would love to, for example, cover the English Premier League for BBC News-Sports in England for a living. This also goes hand in hand with my advisor implying that understanding the intricacies of international media may open my eyes to things I may be experiencing in the future. As far as globalization is concerned, the sports landscape is moving to a more international format more so every minute. Using the English Premier League that I mentioned earlier as an example, soccer is the perfect sport that comes to mind when thinking of the effects of international media on a sport like this. Take the U.S. as a prime example; just a few short months ago, America thought of only one type of “football”, the NFL, with futbol generating the same level of interest as that of having a root canal. A lot of that type of thinking changed with the World Cup this year, as America noticed other countries’ passion for the sport, and matches for the World Cup were broadcast in almost every restaurant and bar in town. Taking a stroll around New Brunswick even, and you felt the newfound enthusiasm every time you saw an Italian flag hung up (the house that I live in being one of them) and cars with World Cup stickers on the bumpers (ditto). On a similar note, David Beckham, arguably the most recognizable athlete in the world, whose personal life and endorsements far exceed his actual playing ability, will now come to America and play for Major League Soccer, signing a 5-year contract worth $250 million dollars. The interest generated from this move was quite noticeable here, as his new team, the Los Angeles Galaxy of the MLS, saw a 500% increase in season ticket holders within 48 hours of the announcement of the deals. All of a sudden, soccer, by far the most popular sport in the world, but one of the least popular here in America, has taken steps to become fully globalized in the U.S. It’s that type of globalization movement, along with numerous other occurrences, that has made me wonder. Why does the NFL even have an interest in NFL Europe, and why are people still talking about Ricky Williams in the Canadian Football League? Why is the NFL, and my favorite team, the New York Giants, hosting a home game next year in London? Why has major League Baseball continued to play season openers in Japan? Why has the National Basketball Association announce plans to play a number of games next season in China? How have sports figures like Ichiro, Yao, and Beckham obtained one-name, household status here? Maybe it’s the sports nut in me, but hopefully I can begin to answer those questions through this blog as I become more and more comfortable with international sports coverage. This is a prime example of new media, and I will continue to cover how the changes in sports media have come about, particularly with less emphasis on the popular American sports and more on the sports that trigger the most emotion worldwide (soccer, boxing), as well as a few unconventional sports topics that may have even exceeded the popularity of the games themselves (fantasy sports, drafts, etc.)
With Beckham on board, soccer has taken bold strides in increasing it's popularity among Americans sports enthusiasts.
My name is Mohamed Ali, and I am a junior at Rutgers University majoring in Journalism and media Studies as a member of the SCILS department. My academic advisor recently implied to me that learning about sports media coverage on an international level might be something I would not only be interested in, but would also include information that might serve useful for my career plans. I plan on getting into sports journalism after Rutgers, and I have been writing sports articles for about 2 years now. This is my own weblog, which I update sports articles I write myself. The topics I cover range from the main U.S. sports such as football and basketball (and the professional leagues associated with them), to international sports such as soccer, to fantasy sports and documentaries. This is my first paper for sportspagemagazine.com, and I also contribute to Rutgers’ own paper, The Daily Targum, under Mike New of the sports department. As for the prospect of international sports coverage, I plan on working for an international sports media source in the future. I would love to, for example, cover the English Premier League for BBC News-Sports in England for a living. This also goes hand in hand with my advisor implying that understanding the intricacies of international media may open my eyes to things I may be experiencing in the future. As far as globalization is concerned, the sports landscape is moving to a more international format more so every minute. Using the English Premier League that I mentioned earlier as an example, soccer is the perfect sport that comes to mind when thinking of the effects of international media on a sport like this. Take the U.S. as a prime example; just a few short months ago, America thought of only one type of “football”, the NFL, with futbol generating the same level of interest as that of having a root canal. A lot of that type of thinking changed with the World Cup this year, as America noticed other countries’ passion for the sport, and matches for the World Cup were broadcast in almost every restaurant and bar in town. Taking a stroll around New Brunswick even, and you felt the newfound enthusiasm every time you saw an Italian flag hung up (the house that I live in being one of them) and cars with World Cup stickers on the bumpers (ditto). On a similar note, David Beckham, arguably the most recognizable athlete in the world, whose personal life and endorsements far exceed his actual playing ability, will now come to America and play for Major League Soccer, signing a 5-year contract worth $250 million dollars. The interest generated from this move was quite noticeable here, as his new team, the Los Angeles Galaxy of the MLS, saw a 500% increase in season ticket holders within 48 hours of the announcement of the deals. All of a sudden, soccer, by far the most popular sport in the world, but one of the least popular here in America, has taken steps to become fully globalized in the U.S. It’s that type of globalization movement, along with numerous other occurrences, that has made me wonder. Why does the NFL even have an interest in NFL Europe, and why are people still talking about Ricky Williams in the Canadian Football League? Why is the NFL, and my favorite team, the New York Giants, hosting a home game next year in London? Why has major League Baseball continued to play season openers in Japan? Why has the National Basketball Association announce plans to play a number of games next season in China? How have sports figures like Ichiro, Yao, and Beckham obtained one-name, household status here? Maybe it’s the sports nut in me, but hopefully I can begin to answer those questions through this blog as I become more and more comfortable with international sports coverage. This is a prime example of new media, and I will continue to cover how the changes in sports media have come about, particularly with less emphasis on the popular American sports and more on the sports that trigger the most emotion worldwide (soccer, boxing), as well as a few unconventional sports topics that may have even exceeded the popularity of the games themselves (fantasy sports, drafts, etc.)
With Beckham on board, soccer has taken bold strides in increasing it's popularity among Americans sports enthusiasts.
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RUTGERS FOOTBALL
Nov. 27th, 2006 | 11:34 pm
Watching the game this close to the field? Priceless.
So we lost. To an unranked, .500 Cincinnati team no less. This a week after we beat former No.3 Louisville, who had proved their worth by beating another former No. 3 Big East powerhouse, West Virginia, the week before. We plummeted from #6 to #15. The entire year, we wanted to push it as far as we could. How long could this undefeated thing last? I still remember hearing the chants of “We 3-0!, We 3-0!” from my buddy’s phone after he had been in the locker room postgame. Still felt the excitement after we squeaked by South Florida for our 5th. So I start getting group requests (for those on the wrong side of 30, that’s Facebook lingo) called “Teel is a waste of my college tuition” and “Where is the love…Lace?” (Jabu Lovelace, Rutgers’ backup QB, isn’t going anywhere).
Have people really forgotten that we were 1-11 a few years ago, and we were genuinely thinking national title game after the Louisville game? NATIONAL TITLE GAME?! RUTGERS vs. Ohio State? Are you kidding me? A buddy of mine suggested that it may be better to get just to a BCS bowl game and make it close rather than go to the national title game and face the best team in the nation. Wait WHAT? Being recognized as one of the top 2 teams in the country? We would have a leg up on the USCs and Miami’s when it comes to recruiting, saying WE played for the national title game. Rutgers, finally, would be in the nation’s spotlight, and not for a punchline…
Diehard`(for now) fans.
“THIS IS OUR YEAR” said defensive (tackle) captain Eric Foster time and time again.” Foster and Meekins, Rutgers’ answer to Ted Washington and Warren Sapp. Brian Leonard, the do-it-all fullback who leaps over defenders like he’s some superhero. Ray Rice, the speedy phenom who no defender in the nation can seem to tackle. Courtney Greene, the NFL-bound freak of a safety who, along with Ron Girault, have formed a self-proclaimed “G-Force” that offensive skill players just can’t seem to pass. William “Papa” Beckford, a personal favorite of mine, the linebacker who couldn’t get on the field last year, all of a sudden becomes some type of machine-like D-End who has opposing tackles sweating before kickoff. The coach, ohhhh the coach. The man who made "KEEP CHOPPIN!" a household quote. The same guy who was on the hot seat a few short years ago, is now a god among men on campus. Rutgers fans, and I’m one of them, look at Schiano as a man who can do no wrong, a man whose intellect, motivating tactics, and pure football IQ somehow made our D-Line unblockable, our kicker infallible, and has made stars out of guys like Devraun “Who?” Thompson among others. I’m not kidding to you when I say these types of things; these are the type of comparisons that Rutgers football fans began to make. Our team was unstoppable. Behind a backfield that has garnered not one but two Heisman candidates, and the #2 ranked defense in the country, we were going to win the whole shebang, Pittsburgh Steelers style.
Raise your hand if you knew who Darnell Stapleton was before this year. That's what I thought.
“So Coach, what do you think of your teams chances of going to Glendale on January 8th?”
“Well, that question won’t even matter if we don’t beat Cincinnati next week.”
“But Coach, do you have faith in the BCS system that they won’t overlook a team like Rutgers if you guys win out?”
“Well first things first, and we’re facing a very good Cincinnati team next week.”
“But Coach…”
HAVE PEOPLE REALLY FORGOTTEN how many years we suffered? So many losses, piling up on top of one another like Kramer’s racial slurs. So many losses, and we’re going to be hung up over one? We lost to a very good Cincinnati team whose only losses this season were ranked #11 or higher at the time they played (including undisputed #1 Ohio State). I can truthfully say that going 9-0 to start this season made us the Cinderella of Cinderellas. I can’t tell those that aren’t familiar with the Scarlet Knights just how bad this football program was, and how master puppeteer Greg Schiano has transformed it so quickly. The year before I came to Rutgers as a tiny freshman, the Knights just capped off an impressive 1-11 season, and we became the butt of all jokes around the nation. “Don’t even bother going to a football game,” I was told. “It’s no fun when you know your school’s got no shot.” So I’d watch USC and Miami games, dreaming of a day when I could say that my team can compete the way they do. Of course, I thought that I would have to wait until I was an aging alumni to say this, not this year. Last year you couldn’t even begin to describe the unadulterated excitement the student body felt when little ol’ Rutgers clinched a bowl game, the first time in 20-some-odd years something like this has happened. Now take that excitement, multiply it a trillion times over, and you have the scene at the end of the Louisville game. That Louisville game slapped the country in the face. “You’re not pushing Rutgers around anymore,” the school seemed to shout. “We’re f%*@n RUTGERS, and we will kick your ass in football.” The #2 offense in the country, limited to 50 total yards of second-half offense. Our dynamic back, Ray Rice, rushing for over 130 yards and 2 scores, padding his Heisman-worthy stats some more. Brian Leonard, Rutgers’ golden boy, getting us the last few yards we needed to put us in field goal range and in position to win the game. And Jeremy Ito, the Judge, MISSING a game-winning field goal only to redeem himself with a make on his second effort. And don’t forget those Rutgers fans, those crazy nuts, running onto the field with 1 second left, unable to contain their excitement for just 1 more second. And yes, I was one of them. But boy, did we haul ass in getting back to the sideline. No way where we going to ruin this game for our boys……
Who's this kid behind me? And why the hell does he keep taking pictures of me with his phone?
So a week passes, and Rutgers interest in its football team seems to decline. Now this bothers me. Did Michigan, or Florida, or USC fans just stop caring about their team after one loss? And RUTGERS of all schools has the arrogance to mull over ONE loss, after THOUSANDS (look it up, really, thousands!) of losses in the past couple of years got the same disinterest out of them as you would a Ron Artest rap album. Thousands of students camped out the night before to try and obtain limited Louisville tickets (over 10,000 tickets gone in 4 hours) and the same limited amount of tickets didn’t even sell out for our last home game against Syracuse? Don’t worry about the bandwagon guys, there’s plenty of room on the bus.
So Mike Teel, our starting QB, comes into the pub that I work in after the big Syracuse win with 2 of his buddies…so the first thing I could think of to do for him would be to give them a free round of drinks on me and congratulate him on the big win.
“So we taking the East this year?” and he didn’t hesitate…“Hey If we go down to Morgantown next week and take care of business….” His voice trails off, but its replaced by a smirk. “Put it this way, if we win out and Michigan faces Ohio in the national title, we’re going to the Rose Bowl. If Michigan doesn’t, we’re headed to the Orange Bowl.” I say something about the Parade of Roses and his eyes light up. “Don’t sleep on us just yet,” he says.
So America, you can have your Troy Smiths and your Dwayne Jarretts. Glorify your Brady Quinns and your Steve Slatons. Give me Leonard, Rutgers’ golden boy, any day of the week. One loss won’t deter me from being as avid a Rutgers fan as I can. One day we’ll all realize just how huge this season was. Maybe (hopefully) this starts a continuing trend of Rutgers football excellence. Maybe we revert back to our old losing ways, making this season that much more incredible. For now, I’m just going to enjoy this crazy ride as long as I can.
So I re-check glorious ol’ Facebook after the game, and deny those groups. I check out a buddy of mine’s page and there’s no “I Hate Mike Teel Fan Club” or anything like that. I keep looking, but all I find is a group he created called “I Know Now That I Bleed, But I Still Believe Cause I Bleed Scarlet”. I check it…hmm…only 3 members. Well make it 4, my friends. Rutgers, we’re in it for the long haul. As long as we’re still on the banks of the Old Raritan, I’ll bleed Scarlet. GO R-U!!!
And yes, I followed him all the way into the locker room.
________________________________________
Speaking of the locker room, for the real RU football fans out there here are 2 videos of Rutgers football after the Louisville game (The quality is terrible, it's from my phone, but it's Leonard and Rice dancing after the game! What more can you want?!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ixgwp76U
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2kdpNUb
________________________________________
I'm going to leave you with a picture that should sum up just how much Brian Leonard means to our school. With 106 yards and 2 touchdowns (also marking the first time Rice and Leonard both had 100 yards in the same game), Leonard became, fittingly, Rutgers' all-time leading scorer. Thank you for everything Brian.
It is rumored that Leonard dropped the sword after the game and picked up the axe in preparation for the showdown with West Virginia. CHOP CHOP!!
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(no subject)
Nov. 9th, 2006 | 05:29 pm
Poll #864114
Rutgers vs. Louisville
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 1
__________
Also, I have been informed by a football insider that there is a chance they may NOT bring out the black jerseys for tonight's game, opting to save it for a later game (which makes no goddam sense to me).
On a lighter note, I made my first YouTube appearance, as I was interviewed by the local news when I went and picked up my student ticket. Check it out (I'm the guy in the gray sweater): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hclh5pAk
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 1
Who will win Thursday night's showcase?
View Answers
| RUTGERS |
| 1 (100.0%) |
| LOUISVILLE |
| 0 (0.0%) |
| Who cares?! Ohio St. would mop the floor with either of them anyway! |
| 0 (0.0%) |
__________
Also, I have been informed by a football insider that there is a chance they may NOT bring out the black jerseys for tonight's game, opting to save it for a later game (which makes no goddam sense to me).
On a lighter note, I made my first YouTube appearance, as I was interviewed by the local news when I went and picked up my student ticket. Check it out (I'm the guy in the gray sweater): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hclh5pAk
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RUTGERS vs. LOUISVILLE
Nov. 7th, 2006 | 09:34 pm
No. 3 Louisville at No. 15 Rutgers
By Mo Ali
There are five remaining unbeaten teams in the nation right now. After Thursday night, Rutgers or Louisville will bring that number down to four. The 8-0 Scarlet Knights host the 8-0 Cardinals in a game that will give the winner sole possession of first place in the Big East and control of their own destiny. After all, the Big East champions are automatically awarded a spot into one of the 5 BCS bowl games. No. 3 Louisville is coming off its biggest win of the year, defeating previously No. 3 West Virginia at home, 44-34. No. 15 Rutgers comes off a win against Connecticut, 24-13, and has had a week-and-a-half to prepare for this game. This is arguably the most important game for Rutgers since its first college football team, as this is the first time in Scarlet Knights history that they will partake in a game in which both teams are ranked.
Heisman Trophy candidate Ray Rice was limited to 79 rushing yards against UConn, his lowest output of the season, and suffered an ankle injury late in the 4th quarter and lay on the ground for about a minute before exiting the game. "It's just a little sore," Rice said. "I'm ready to go." Rice, the nation’s 6th leading rusher, practiced Tuesday with the team but was removed after a handful of plays. An insider said that Rice is more hurt than the coaching staff would let on, and was seen limping noticeably after many plays in practice. Leonard, on the other hand, was described as looking “fresh, as fast as he’s looked since the season began.” Look for Leonard to shoulder the load in this game, even though he’s been outcarried by Rice 4-1 so far this season.
Michael Bush, Louisville’s preseason Heisman-candidate tailback, suffered a season-ending leg injury in their first game of the year against Kentucky. Bush came into this season as Division I-A’s active TD leader, one touchdown ahead of Heisman candidate Brian Leonard of Rutgers. He is replaced by two able backs in senior Kolby Smith and sophomore George Stripling, both averaging over 5.5 yards a carry on the season. Louisville is lead by its other preseason Heisman candidate, All-American quarterback Brian Brohm. Brohm completed 19-of-26 passes for 354 yards and a touchdown against West Virginia’s 12th ranked defense last week.
An interesting note is that Coach Greg Schiano’s Knights are second in the nation in total defense, giving up only 223.4 total yards per game, while the Cardinals are second in total offense, tallying 492.63 yards per. The Rutgers game has been completely sold out, with an extra bleacher put ON the field about 10 feet away from the end zone (where I managed to snag a ticket) and accommodated seating put on the grassy hills of the South End Zone. Only 10,500 student tickets were released, and they were sold out within 4 hours. Thousands of students camped outside the stadium the night before the release, and Schiano surprised them with an appearance and 500 pizza pies to show his appreciation of their support.
A little secret for you fans out there that even the players don’t know about: Rutgers plans to unveil its black jerseys for the first time in its history in order to pump up the atmosphere. It also plans on handing out close to 40,000 black towels, as well as use a new “Let’s chop!” anthem (Schiano’s slogan of choice) on 3rd downs in order to give it’s team every bit of home-field advantage it can. I also learned that ESPN has doled out $50,000 to bring in an overhead field camera for the first time to a Rutgers game, a practice only held for NFL games.
NOW LET'S GO R-U!!!! THIS IS R HOUSE!!!
With Rice hurt and Teel struggling to find consistency, it'll be up to Leonard and the Knight's 2nd-ranked defense to take the leap into first in the Big East over Louisville.
By Mo Ali
There are five remaining unbeaten teams in the nation right now. After Thursday night, Rutgers or Louisville will bring that number down to four. The 8-0 Scarlet Knights host the 8-0 Cardinals in a game that will give the winner sole possession of first place in the Big East and control of their own destiny. After all, the Big East champions are automatically awarded a spot into one of the 5 BCS bowl games. No. 3 Louisville is coming off its biggest win of the year, defeating previously No. 3 West Virginia at home, 44-34. No. 15 Rutgers comes off a win against Connecticut, 24-13, and has had a week-and-a-half to prepare for this game. This is arguably the most important game for Rutgers since its first college football team, as this is the first time in Scarlet Knights history that they will partake in a game in which both teams are ranked.
Heisman Trophy candidate Ray Rice was limited to 79 rushing yards against UConn, his lowest output of the season, and suffered an ankle injury late in the 4th quarter and lay on the ground for about a minute before exiting the game. "It's just a little sore," Rice said. "I'm ready to go." Rice, the nation’s 6th leading rusher, practiced Tuesday with the team but was removed after a handful of plays. An insider said that Rice is more hurt than the coaching staff would let on, and was seen limping noticeably after many plays in practice. Leonard, on the other hand, was described as looking “fresh, as fast as he’s looked since the season began.” Look for Leonard to shoulder the load in this game, even though he’s been outcarried by Rice 4-1 so far this season.
Michael Bush, Louisville’s preseason Heisman-candidate tailback, suffered a season-ending leg injury in their first game of the year against Kentucky. Bush came into this season as Division I-A’s active TD leader, one touchdown ahead of Heisman candidate Brian Leonard of Rutgers. He is replaced by two able backs in senior Kolby Smith and sophomore George Stripling, both averaging over 5.5 yards a carry on the season. Louisville is lead by its other preseason Heisman candidate, All-American quarterback Brian Brohm. Brohm completed 19-of-26 passes for 354 yards and a touchdown against West Virginia’s 12th ranked defense last week.
An interesting note is that Coach Greg Schiano’s Knights are second in the nation in total defense, giving up only 223.4 total yards per game, while the Cardinals are second in total offense, tallying 492.63 yards per. The Rutgers game has been completely sold out, with an extra bleacher put ON the field about 10 feet away from the end zone (where I managed to snag a ticket) and accommodated seating put on the grassy hills of the South End Zone. Only 10,500 student tickets were released, and they were sold out within 4 hours. Thousands of students camped outside the stadium the night before the release, and Schiano surprised them with an appearance and 500 pizza pies to show his appreciation of their support.
A little secret for you fans out there that even the players don’t know about: Rutgers plans to unveil its black jerseys for the first time in its history in order to pump up the atmosphere. It also plans on handing out close to 40,000 black towels, as well as use a new “Let’s chop!” anthem (Schiano’s slogan of choice) on 3rd downs in order to give it’s team every bit of home-field advantage it can. I also learned that ESPN has doled out $50,000 to bring in an overhead field camera for the first time to a Rutgers game, a practice only held for NFL games.
NOW LET'S GO R-U!!!! THIS IS R HOUSE!!!
With Rice hurt and Teel struggling to find consistency, it'll be up to Leonard and the Knight's 2nd-ranked defense to take the leap into first in the Big East over Louisville.
