( 1:06 AM )
I don’t usually like to give Sportscenter credit, but I will tonight. They led the 11pm show with Cavs highlights (LeBron scored 43) instead of more Ron Artest garbage. Of course they teased the Artest story right up front, but I feel like being gracious tonight.
I haven’t watched LeBron play this season. I am going to now. Watching highlights and reading box scores and seeing how well the Cavs are playing, it’s time to start watching this guy. He is probably the best player in the NBA right now. Kobe will never be the same after the rape allegations and all the other hits to his image from the Shaq and Phil Jackson fallout. It’s all LeBron all the time from here on out.
I can remember watching LeBron play early last season, maybe even his first game. I remember how tentative he looked when going to the basket. I told my wife that once he realizes that he can just take it strong to the hoop and that nobody can stop him, he’ll be the best in the game. Based on the highlights I just saw, that’s exactly what he’s starting to do. Wow, I must be a genius.
And as impressive as James is, Dwayne Wade is looking almost as amazing this year. His stats are as impressive as LeBron's so far. These guys need to play each other 15 times a season.
As for the Ron Artest debacle, check out this Slate article that I wish I had written. This is by far the best commentary I’ve seen about the whole thing.
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Five songs that make my dog bark everytime he hears them:
1) Been Caught Stealin’ by Jane’s Addiction
No surprise here. As soon as the guitars come in, there is the sound of a dog barking. Gets him every time.
2) Done Somebody Wrong by the Allman Brothers
From Live at the Fillmore. As this song starts, you can hear a dog barking offstage, no doubt alarmed by the stunning slide work of Duane Allman. Again, my pup starts woofing at my speakers wondering how that lab got in there.
3) My Science Fiction Twin by Elvis Costello
The song starts with heavy drums and loud distorted bass. It drives him nuts. I simply can’t play this song in the house anymore without headphones.
4) Hollywood Freaks by Beck
Just too much going on in this song for my dog. I don’t know exactly what he objects to, he just doesn’t like it.
5) Mother by the Police
This one sneaked up on me. I can’t say I’m surprised—it’s a pretty cacophonous song. And when Andy Summers sings, I usually start barking.
The album that most baffles my dog:
Vespertine by Bjork.
I was playing this last week, and the dog started cocking his head and looking puzzled as he swiveled his head back and forth from speaker to speaker. He never barked—he just listened real hard and tried to figure out what was going on. I often try the same technique when listening to Bjork.
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Seven terms that I pretend to know what they mean, even though I’m really not sure:
1) Supercilious
2) Obsequious
3) Self-effacing
4) Fennel
5) Dirty Sanchez
6) Stereolab
7) The Hague
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Popular cheers at Fenway Park when the Yankees are in town, as rewritten by John Kerry:
“Despite their storied history and recent success, the Yankees are, in fact, the inferior ballclub.”
“Derek Jeter’s boyish good looks and gentle demeanor make him an excellent candidate for homosexuality.”
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( 11:15 PM )
I’m a little bit surprised at the amount of attention this latest Maurice Clarett story has gotten. Actually, I shouldn’t be surprised at all, since ESPN loves to run any story involving this guy. I’d estimate that over the past 2-3 years, Clarett has gotten more Sportscenter attention than everybody except for Kobe Bryant and Shaq. And ESPN magazine is where this latest story broke.
Anyone who follows college football at all should not have been surprised to hear Clarett’s “startling” allegations about corruption in the program. Ohio State has long had the reputation as being a school that would pass a washing machine if it could catch 10 touchdowns in a season. Remember Andy Katzenmoyer? He was an All-American linebacker who told Sports Illustrated in 1999 that he “took classes like golf and AIDS awareness during summer school to stay eligible for his final season at Ohio State, and he complained that he was at the university to play football, not to attend classes” (from the Chronicle of Higher Education, 12/1/00).
Most people know which of the big football programs actually make players go to class and which don’t care. They’re typically the same schools that have boosters who find cushy jobs for players so they can “earn” some money, another not-so-shocking development in the Clarett story. Schools know they can’t insulate players from boosters. So they probably don’t try all that hard. Look at the scandal at Michigan that involved Chris Webber and other basketball players. This stuff goes on, and everybody knows it.
When I was a student at Wake Forest for one glamorous semester, I met a football player who had transferred from Nebraska. I asked him about the difference between a top-ranked program like Nebraska and Wake, which at the time was the perennial laughingstock of the ACC. He said it was like night and day. At Nebraska, he didn’t have to do any work. He didn’t have to go to class, and when he did, it was extremely easy. All he had to worry about was football.
But at Wake, it was a different story. He said classes were hard and that he had to put in more work. He said the professors at Wake weren’t as forgiving of athletes as the ones at Nebraska.
The worst part of the Clarett story is that he was dumb enough to bring all this up at a time when his draft stock is sinking fast. Now he’s got every GM in the NFL convinced that he’s a major league head case. Smart of those ESPN magazine folks to recognize this and exploit him. That’s good journalism.
What is more questionable is the fact that they played portions of the taped interviews for the story on Sportscenter. This was a written piece in the magazine, and the conversations were taped, a common practice. But what is not common is the release of those interview tapes. I’m no journalism professor, but I have do have a degree in journalism, and as I understand it, tapes of interviews are typically only for the writer so he can make sure he gets accurate quotes and information (or to cover his ass in a controversy). Usually the tapes are not released unless the source denies saying what was printed, which Clarett has not done. Yet they were playing these tapes on the 6pm Sportscenter the day this story came out in the magazine. And listening to the tapes makes Clarett sound even worse.
ESPN obviously did this because it is better TV to play these audio tapes than to just put the words up on the screen and have an anchor read them. I don’t like this decision, and I wonder if Clarett was told up front that the tapes would be used for broadcast or if they asked his permission after the fact.
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( 10:07 AM )
Election Day 2004
Since 9/11, I have felt that Bush would be re-elected. This election was always going to be about national security concerns, and voters would feel safer voting for Bush. But within the last few days, I have changed my mind. I think Kerry is going to win. I think the overwhelming enthusiasm over this election has to favor Kerry. I don’t really trust the polling. I wouldn’t be surprised to see a sizable Kerry victory. That’s my official prediction—that Kerry will be declared the winner sometime tonight.
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I was in New Jersey this weekend and caught a few minutes of the Philadelphia Eagles post-game show on Comcast Sports Net. My father-in-law was giving me the rundown of studio yappers and mentioned that “The Governor” was on. I assumed this was a nickname for some ex-Eagle player I had never heard of. I never thought for a second that Governor Ed Rendell of Pennsylvania would be on this show. But low and behold, there he was! Two days before the most important and hotly contested election in decades, and the governor of one of the most crucial swing states is wasting 3 hours (3 hours!) on TV talking about the Eagles! This guy is a former DNC chairman and a rising star in the Democratic party, and instead of knocking on doors or holding a rally, he’s on TV gabbing about how the Eagles were able to slow down the turbo-charged Ravens offense. How could this happen? Does Terry McAuliffe know about this? Does the Kerry campaign know about this?
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