Lakers' Artest now on list of good guys.

I’ve done some things that I could have never predicted I would do. Being on the radio. Getting into sales. Getting into pharmaceutical sales, which I’m quite sure shocked my science teachers. This post has to be added to the list.

Ron Artest has had a tumultuous basketball career. For all of his talents as a player, he has been far more known for his erratic and uncontrollable behavior. Artest has not been high on the list of people you would want your kids to look up to. Until now.

Minutes after the Lakers won the 2010 NBA championship, Artest thanked his therapist. He has since gone public with the fact that he saw a therapist when in middle school to deal with his parents’ divorce. He stopped when funding dried up for the program. Artest embodies two things becoming more and more common among kids. Dealing with divorce and mental illness.

On September 9^th Artest paid a visit to the Eastmont Intermediate School in Montebello, CA.  He spoke to the kids about dealing with issues and making sure that they find someone to talk to. A relative, a friend, a teacher, a counselor. He went with Rep. Grace Napolitano of California who has introduced the Mental Health in Schools Act in the House of Representatives. The Act would provide funding for preventive mental health services in schools.

While it may be getting better, it’s still uncomfortable to talk about and deal with mental illness. While mental illness is a disease like diabetes and high blood pressure, there are no quantifiable tests like taking blood pressure or pulse rates or blood sugar levels. No reading that says this person is depressed or has obsessive compulsive disorder or anxiety. To many that person looks fine but just acts “weird”. After all we all have issues, just suck it up and deal with it.

It’s not that easy, especially for kids. And unlike high blood pressure or diabetes, medicine alone is not the answer. Therapy is critical in the treatment of mental illness. In this age of taking a pill and making everything better, that’s very hard to convince the patient of.

No matter what Artest has done in the past, his stepping up and raising awareness of this issue impresses me. Rumor has it that he is going to auction off his championship ring to raise money to help fund programs in schools for kids to have someone to talk to. Nice job Ron.

Let the other team score? Packers should have.

Herman Edwards said it all. “You play to win the game!” Sometimes that involves going against the norm. Yes, time for my kids to roll their eyes since a story is coming.

When I coached softball we made quite a comeback, taking the lead in the top of the 6^th and final inning. But we were up against a clock and had to be off the field soon. I realized that if the home team didn’t get to bat, the entire inning would be wiped out and we would lose. So I had Avery strike out on purpose to end the inning and let the home team bat. Strike three literally rolled across the plate as Avery sheepishly swung half heartedly. We did end up losing, but it was the right thing to do.

Fast forward to last night and Packers’ coach Mike McCarthy was faced with the same kind of situation that I was years ago. Maybe not exactly, but I just like lumping myself into the same category at McCarthy. With the game tied at 17, the Bears had the ball inside the Packers’ 10 with a little over a minute left. With no clock stoppages, the Bears could run the clock down to 8 seconds left and take the lead with a field goal.

So the question becomes, should the Packers just let the Bears score a touchdown? The Bears would be up by a touchdown but the Packers would have over a minute left to score the tying touchdown and try to win in overtime.  The alternative is to try and stop the Bears and hope that either you can block the field goal or they just miss it. This was a day after the Saint’s Garrett Huntley missed a 29 yard field goal in overtime.

While it seems against everything coaches preach, the decision should have been to let the Bears score. That presented the Packers’ with their best chance to win, which is what Edwards reminded us is the reason you play. What’s interesting is that the Bears continued to run the ball instead of taking a knee. If the Packers’ best chance was for the Bears to score, then it makes sense that the Bears’ best chance was to  not score and let the clock run down before kicking the field goal. Once again Edwards plays a role. It was Edwards who picked up a fumbled hand off and returned it for the winning touchdown when the Giants chose to hand off instead of taking a knee with a lead against the Eagles years ago. The Bears could have fumbled while continuing to run plays.

Jets handling of Braylon Edwards: Interesting discussion

  I’m watching Sunday night’s game between the Jets and the Dolphins. Just watched Braylon Edwards score a long touchdown and do a little dance. Okay, let’s talk about this.

Just in case you don’t know, let’s get all the facts out before we discuss. Edwards was arrested and charged with DUI last Tuesday at 5am. His blood alcohol level was measured at 0.16, twice the legal limit in New York.  Teammates D’Brickashaw Ferguson and Vernon Gholston were with Edwards. The collective bargaining agreement between the players union and the league prohibits the Jets from suspending him or even deactivating him. The Jets decided to not start him and let him play though later in the game.   Jets GM, Mike Tannenbaum, said that the reason Edwards wasn’t starting was because he was out at 5am.

Wow. I want to start with the action of the Jets. Again, they didn’t have the option of not dressing him. That said, no one can force the Jets to play him. What do they do? My first reaction is that he should sit, be taught a lesson. And if he doesn’t learn, maybe others will notice and be deterred. But this is an interesting issue. I know that we can’t totally compare professional sports with other professions. But what if this happened to someone where you work. They got a DUI after hours and didn’t impact any other employees or customers. Would they be punished by your company?  I have to admit that I am not sure of that answer. Those of us who think Edwards should have sat, are we being too harsh just because he is a professional athlete? Should they be held to higher standards? If so, why?

Mike Tannenbaum’s comments are interesting. I don’t think Tannenbaum was minimizing the effect of the alcohol by saying Edwards was benched for being out at 5am. I think he was saying that alcohol or not, Edwards would be benched for being out that late. That doesn’t mean he didn’t care about the alcohol. But I wonder why Ferguson and Gholston weren’t benched then. They were out at 5am also.

Vikings' Favre can't keep it up

I don’t want to ever be accused of being a front runner. Or of piling on. That means that sometimes I will say something early and be proved wrong later. I can live with that. While I may be a Packer fan, I am not a fan that gets attached. I don’t develop relationships with players. So, understand that I don’t care about Brett Favre playing for the Jets or the Vikings or anything like that. It makes no difference to me.

So my thoughts about Favre have nothing to do with my liking the Packers. The discussion about Favre always involves people saying that he should do what he wants and play wherever he wants. I couldn’t  agree any more. Players should play as long as they want to. It’s their decision and they don’t owe anything to fans except their best effort.

What bugs me about Favre is his diva routine.  His comment after the 0-2 start? We haven’t jelled. Really? Perhaps having their quarterback in camp on time would have sped that up a bit. I watched him walking into the stadium this Sunday. He walked like me. Which means he looked old. Slow. Broken down.  Damn, that’s depressing.

I’m getting out in front now to say that I think Favre has run his course. He is a grandfather and I don’t think he can do it again. It’s time for the normal breaking down of the body to begin. He can’t keep skipping camp and showing up like the cavalry. I think it’s going to be a long season for the Vikings and Grandpa.

Yanks' Jeter a cheater?

I’m very black and white. Yes, my girlfriend Tina just rolled her eyes and suggested about a dozen more very’s. Rules are rules and that’s just the way it is. Well, has been. I am realizing that there is a lot of gray in all facets of life. Even sports.

While there certainly are rules in sports, they are generally open to interpretation. A foul is what the ref calls a foul. A strike is what the ump calls a strike.  The beginning of a game is often spent with the players figuring out what the ref/ump is going to call. Then the rest of the game settles in.

So selling the call is part of it. Making sure you jump back at a little contact helps the ref see the foul. Is that cheating? Of course not. Last night the Yankees’ Derek Jeter sold the home plate ump on the fact that he got hit on the wrist by the pitch, when clearly the pitch hit the bat. Cheating? No, no, no.

The decision is the officials’ to make. The official has to take everything into account, even the sales abilities of the players involved. Then they make their call. It always has been and always will be part of sports. Part of life really, These things go on in business all the time. Product managers spinning and manipulating whatever they have to when making their pitch to get more funding from the VP.

Is all of this a bad influence on kids? No.  My daughter was taught to frame pitches as a catcher when she was 10. She picked it up right away. Five years later she was the catcher for a travel team but multiple concussions kept her from ever playing in any tournaments. We went to watch a game and it was painful for her. Her replacement didn’t have a great game. Passed balls, bad throws. At the end of the game my daughter said she couldn’t come watch again. It wasn’t watching the passed balls and bad throws that upset her. She said there were so many pitches that she could have gotten called strikes.   

Saints' Bush gives back his Heisman

One of the cool things about sports is seeing things that I have never seen before. While I’m more excited about seeing spectacular plays on the field, there are also many off the field surprises and firsts. Another one happened today when Reggie Bush announced that he is forfeiting his Heisman Trophy.

Never in the history of the most prestigious award in sports has this happened. This has a lot of different angles. Before discussing Bush’s decision I will go on record as saying that what he did was clearly wrong. What he did clearly made him ineligible to play college football. So I have no problem with the trophy being taken away. Don’t. I know where you’re going. Stop right there. It is not at all the same as OJ and Billy Cannon being allowed to keep their awards. Yes, they broke the law but they won their awards on the field where they were eligible. Awards are for on field performance and not character. Bush shouldn’t have been on the field.   

Let’s deal with Bush giving it back and saying that he wants to work with the Heisman Trust committee on educating student-athletes to help them avoid making the mistakes that he did. Bush made the announcement hours before the committee was to meet and discuss this issue.  Reports are that the committee was going to take the Heisman back from Bush. So the reality is that this was most likely a move by Bush to get ahead of that. To somehow take the high road and look like the good guy.

He wants to work with kids to help them avoid making the same mistakes? They don’t need educating, they just need morals. Knowing right from wrong. This is not a case of a misunderstanding over a nebulous or unfair rule. This is not Ricky Foggie. The former University of Minnesota QB was suspended for taking money from an assistant coach.  Foggie’s grandmother died suddenly and the coach gave him money to fly home for the funeral. Foggie paid the money back a few days later when he returned. Didn’t matter, he was suspended.  That rule has been changed.

Big time athletes today, like Bush, are not naïve. There is no way that Bush was confused and didn’t realize that taking lodging and money from an agent was against the rules. Of course he knew. He and his family just had a sense of entitlement that is so prevalent today. That the rules don’t apply to them. I’m a black and white, right or wrong guy. These kids don’t need any more education, just the impetus to do what’s right.

Eagles trade of McNabb to Redskins: Mistake

I’ll tell you that I am writing this at 8:12pm Sunday, so before the Redskins and Donovan McNabb have played. I know that Andy Reid is an offensive coach and has a great track record, but I am questioning his decision to trade McNabb and go with Kevin Kolb and Michael Vick. By trading McNabb within his division, Reid is clearly saying that he thinks Donovan is washed up.


Yes, I know that it’s only one game and that Vick looked good , but I am going on the record as saying that the Eagles will miss McNabb. Am I biased because of McNabb’s Orange roots? Perhaps. But I do think that McNabb has been a terrific quarterback and still has plenty left in the tank. Will he be influenced by the trade and come out with something to prove? Sure. He’s proud and competitive and will want to show Reid how wrong he was.

Reid’s decision was obviously made because he thought Kolb and Vick would be better than McNabb. It’s easy for me to say that Kolb isn’t ready. That seems obvious after the preseason and certainly after today’s loss to Green Bay.

I’m telling you ahead of time that Michael Vick is not the answer at quarterback . I know he is a sick athlete, no denying that. His spectacular plays are certainly amazing. Let’s see how he does over the course of the season. It’s one thing to make people miss and it’s another to make good decisions and make good throws. Come on Donovan, make me proud.

Boise State beats Virginia Tech: Put them in BCS Championship now?

Ok, so the uniforms on both sides were hideous, but what a start to the college football season. There’s a good chance that Boise State beating Virginia Tech will be the game that shapes the landscape of this whole year. Since Oregon State is really the only challenge to Boise State going undefeated, there’s a strong chance that the Broncos will be in the BCS Championship game.


Is this ok? I don’t think so. I’m a playoff guy. I don’t understand how we determine champions in every sport at every level, except for Division I college football. If Boise State does make it to the BCS Championship game, don’t get upset at them. Be upset with the system that not only allows them to make it, but really gives them an advantage.

This Dungeons and Dragons fantasy way of determining a champ gives Boise State a distinct advantage over teams from the BCS conferences. There is no question that the Broncos are a great program and can compete with anyone in the country. Beating Virginia Tech proves that. I know that if they go 12-0 they will have beaten every team on their schedule and they can only play those that are in front of them. Playing Virginia Tech and Oregon State shows that they are trying to schedule tough games outside of their conference.

But there is no getting around the fact that their conference schedule just doesn’t match the tough schedules played in the BCS conferences. It’s one thing to play Virginia Tech and then a few weeks later Oregon State and yet quite another to play Georgia and then Florida and then Tennessee and then Auburn consecutively. That kind of schedule takes its toll over the course of the season. We see in college basketball that playing such a tough schedule can benefit you come tournament time. But in college football it can end up keeping you out of the “tournament”.

It’s past time to have a playoff to determine the true college football champion. One of the wonderful things about sports is that there is a competition and a winner. Not a vote on a winner, but one determined on the field of play. Otherwise you have gymnastics and figure skating and we’ve all seen how that can work out.

Arizona Cardinals let Matt Leinart go

I have seen a lot. Translated by my kids, I am old. And yet, even though I have seen  certain things over and over again, some still surprise me. Yeah, yeah the Kinel kids would say that just means their dad is incredibly thick.

I’m still fascinated by the concept that some all time great professional athletes were unknowns in college and some college All-Americans can’t make it in the professional ranks. Which brings us to Matt Leinart. Who’d have thunk it? This guy had it all. An amazing college career that included BCS Championships and a Heisman Trophy. He was projected to be the first pick in the draft had he come out after his junior year. Hard to imagine that it’s all gone down hill since.

The Cardinals just released him, letting him go and getting nothing in return. Wow. How could this have happened?  It’s clear now that Leinart greatly benefited from all the talent around him at USC. It wasn’t bad quarterbacking on Saturday with so many players soon to play on Sundays. Once he got to the NFL he was on a team that didn’t blow the other team away in talent.

It’s one thing for me to be surprised by Leinart’s struggles but how did the Cardinals not know?  It just amazes me that so many highly successful college players get drafted early and fail. The list is extensive. Part of the issue with quarterbacks may have to do with them never having to deal with adversity in college. It comes easy to them because of all the talent around them. Once they get to the NFL the talent evens out and they have to gut it out and it’s not easy.

Then again, maybe it’s just because these guys aren’t really that good. Rumor is that the Houston Texans have already contacted Leinart and are the leading candidate to sign him. His old college coach, Pete Carroll, is sitting in Seattle with only Matt Hasselbeck and Charlie Whitehurst on the roster after they just cut JP Losman. If the Seahawks show no interest, what does that tell you?

Dungy,Hershiser,Ripken,Gretzky, and Lafontaine. Some of the good guys we should talk about more.

Football coaches had always been thought of as tough, mean, and uncaring.  Grizzled old men like Woody Hayes.  Young workaholics like John Gruden.  They yelled and cursed a lot and inspired large grown men to act like children.  Like Bob Skoronski, an offensive tackle for the old Green Bay Packers.  One summer night Skoronski took his kids for ice cream. When his coach,  Vince Lombardi,  walked up to the ice cream stand, Skoronski hid his cone behind his back.   Tough, intimidating.  Then along came Tony Dungy.

A kind,  softspoken,  non-cursing man who demonstrated that you don’t have to yell and scream and intimidate to succeed as a coach in the NFL.  I have never seen anyone so universally respected.   Tony epitomizes the concept of someone being a better person than they are a player or coach.  His retirement prompted me to think about Leo Durocher’s adage that nice men finish last. No, they don’t.   His retirement also made me realize how rare such nice people are in professional sports.  And that shouldn’t be.  So I thought and thought and lo and behold guess what I remembered?  That there are nice guys in sports.

I sat in the bleachers at Wrigley Field before a Cubs-Dodgers game and watched Dodgers pitchers Orel Hershisher and Roger McDowell playing catch with the Chicago fans.  As Dodger manager Tommy Lasorda walked by, McDowell grabbed his hat and gave it to a kid in the stands.  Then Hershiser pulled a barrel of balls over and challenged fans in the bleachers to throw a ball into it from their seat.  The first person who could throw a ball into the barrel would get Hershiser’s hat, a bat and Hershiser’s jersey with a $100 bill in the pocket.  And sure enough someone won.

In 1996, the year after Cal Ripken broke the Ironman streak, I was at Fenway before a Sox-Orioles game and watched Ripken spend 45 minutes signing autographs in three different areas of the stadium.  He was like a rock star and did his best to accommodate everyone.  I also watched Eddie Murray and Bobby Bonilla walk by those same fans and refuse to even turn their heads and look at the fans asking for autographs. 

If you aren’t a hockey fan then you may not appreciate just how big Wayne Gretzky was.  He is on the Mt Rushmore of sports icons with Babe Ruth, Michael Jordan, and Muhammed Ali.  I watched the press conference after his final game and  watched a Rangers front office person tell the media this would be the last question. Gretzky said no, that was okay, he had time. He did that five times. 

After Pat Lafontaine retired from the NHL, the head of Buffalo’s Children’s Hospital finally told the story of his good deeds. Lafontaine had his own key to the hospital so he could come and go as he pleased away from the media and the cameras.  The hospital would call in the middle of the night asking Lafontaine to come visit a sick child. He always did.

Just a few. We have to realize that not every professional athlete is Pacman Jones or Chad “whatever he wants to be called today”. There are plenty of great stories. We need to talk about them more.

       

NY Jets under Coach Rex Ryan: Boom or Bust?

Under promise and over deliver. That’s a saying that is used quite a bit in sales. Keep the bar low and you’ll easily be able to exceed expectations, thus looking like a hero. I don’t know about you, but I can’t tell you how many movies I have been disappointed in because I expected more than they delivered.




Coaches have learned to take that to a whole different level. No matter who his team is about to play, the coach would warn all who would listen that his team was up against it this week. I can still hear legendary Lou Holtz fretting about “Bill and Mary”. I’m sure that whatever school Lou was coaching at the time was favored by at least three touchdowns over that annual powerhouse, William and Mary College.



Now let’s check in on how NY Jets coach, Rex Ryan, has chosen to handle this part of his job as an NFL coach. Not exactly with the same “better watch out for Bill and Mary” attitude that Lou had. Rex makes no bones about his desire to be front and center with high expectations for his team. He has put the bulls eye smack dab in the middle of the back of everyone in the Jets’ organization. He has said he is there to win championships and wants the Jets to be the team that everyone hates.



It’s an interesting approach. On the one hand, it riles up every team that the Jets play. It produces tons of bulletin board material for the other team and certainly intensifies their focus on beating the team across from them that week, the Jets. On the other hand, it fires his team up. It gives the Jets swagger to know their coach believes in them so strongly.



I’m fascinated to see how this turns out. Do the Jets take that bravado on the field and conquer? Or do they end up like so many of the movies I have been disappointed in? Over promised and under delivered.