Hero Worship

I will be the first to admit having gigantic man-crushes on Albert Pujols and Gordon Ramsay.   Even so, I don't for a second want my child to emulate either one.  I also don't care what happens to them in day to day life.  Their highs, lows, and middles mean no more to me than those of a random human being.  This take is not sports related at all, so please forgive that.  Why the hell do we care so much more about Kristina Brown than anybody else?  Because she was the daughter of a wife-beater and a coke addict, both of whom happened to be famous singers.  That's it.  Bobby Brown and Whitney Houston were pretty shitty people in a lot of ways, but they could sing.  Naturally, we should worship their child, right?  This is no different than all of those people who are heart broken that Tom Brady destroyed his phone.  Make role models out of people you know, not people you have heard of.  Sorry again for non sports, but this pisses me off.

Baseball

Is this the most talent rich across the board baseball has ever been? There is talent on every team. Raw talent that's already developed and will be stars, barring injuries, for many many years. these  position players :
Harper, Trout, Rizzo, Wil Myers, Joc Pederson, G Stanton, Machado, PANIK!!!!!, Kris Bryant, Freeman, Arenado, A Russel, Gallo and many more

Pitchers: Gerrit Cole, Bumgarner, Kershaw, Gray, Wacha, Rosethanl, etc

I mean has the game ever seen so many young superstars at one time? I haven't even named everyone, those are just the ones that right now are legit stars.

Also one more regarding hall of fame- since the game has changed so much the last few decades that teams with strong bullpens and a coach who knows how to handle it can be dominant (ie Giants), will the hall voters embrace these players whose roles are almost as important as starters and are extremely valuable to a teams success. Will the hall ever vote in a relief pitcher that's not a closer is what i'm asking?

That game you play with your feet

I'm not really much of a soccer fan, though I can appreciate it when it's played at the highest levels--which, living in the U.S., basically means I watch the World Cup and the Olympics. I might be more of a fan if MLS was as good as some of the top-level leagues world-wide, or if those other leagues were easier to watch (they probably aren't really that hard, but they'd still require me to make an effort to figure that out). But I do really enjoy the game when I watch great teams. I also have to confess that I don't go out of my way to watch many women's sports; women's basketball, and softball, just seem like such different sports, though I suspect if I liked watching tennis, Serena Williams and a few others would be a draw.

All of which is why I thought it was worth a brief post on watching the U.S. Women's National Team win the World Cup last weekend. I hadn't really realized the tournament was coming until it started, because I was a lil bit busy, but I happened to be out of town when it started, and given that I'm old and I hate the night life except when it involves a book, my girl, and/or bed, I seized the opportunity to watch all of the games. I watched with Americans and Germans, soccer fans and non, with colleagues and with family, and I enjoyed it all. One of my favorite features of soccer, compared with sports we see more often in the U.S., is its unfriendliness to commercial interruptions--how amazing to watch a sporting event with continuous action without being constantly bombarded with bullshit advertising. That wouldn't matter if I wasn't watching compelling action, of course, and the women provided it. The closer games were gripping, obviously, but the final--and Carli Lloyd's hat trick--was just thrilling. I hadn't seen Alex Morgan play before, and she didn't have a spectacular tournament, but wow that woman is fast and creative on the field. Abby Wambach just seems to be in the middle of everything when she plays. I couldn't help but compare what I was watching with the U.S. men, and that comparison does the men no favors--watching a team that isn't especially competitive and is clearly outclassed isn't tons of fun, which I think tends to describe the men. But the women clearly belong, and are clearly contenders on the world stage (while not dominant).

I love the athleticism, the ball control, the aggressive strategy, and the toughness they display (so many fewer players falling, flopping, writhing on the ground, nursing injuries, etc--who was the woman who went down briefly, the popped up with the bloody head and jogged to the sideline for a quick treatment and then returned to the field? I saw this at least once). And I got to watch the final with my daughters, who now this year have seen the USWNT win the World Cup, and American Pharoah win the Triple Crown (they were asleep when the Giants won the World Series). Not a bad year in sports, even for Minnesota (Vikings and Twins) fans.

Dumb Athletes

At least Jason Pierre-Paul and CJ Wilson aren't the dumbest fireworks users in the US.  Each lost at least 1 finger to stupidity with fireworks.  Before our non-audience corrects me and says that we don't know for sure that they were stupid with the fireworks, let me intervene.  YOU LIGHT THE FUSE AND FUCKING RUN AWAY!!!!  Sadly, they are the third and fourth dumbest people in America because one idiot thought shooting a mortar off from his head was a good idea.  The other thought lighting fireworks from his chest was a good idea.  What do those two have in common?  They are now poster-children for natural selection, AKA dead. 

I'm not sure why I cared enough to comment about this, but for some reason the sheer stupidity bothered me.

living in the past

I had this all done about a week or so ago right after the warriors won but forgot to send it to myself so it's a little old but still relevant:

          Sports media and fans alike always want to compare current players or teams to the past ones. Though it makes for good banter and discussion there is no way in holy hell that many of these arguments would hold if the teams or players actually played. The one thing I will say will actually hold is if these teams or players participated during that time period but since they can't we will never know. Here is my analysis on why this is the dumbest conversation in sports today.

        Babe Ruth- though an incredible talent and outlier during his time, he would be garbage now. Facing dudes that throw 90 mph splitters, relief pitchers, specialists, advanced scouting and statistics, coaching strategies, the players themselves (Dominican, Cuban, Japanese, African American) etc. Baseball players in general, outside of the steroid era, haven't gotten so proportionately larger that it's so hard to compare, just the way it is played. Yes freaks like Trout and Harper are out there but there were also huge talents in past decades as well. We should just appreciate the players baseball has given us and stop trying to compare, the way the game is played is completely different outside of the basic fundamentals

      Jordan/Lebron- I actually think Lebron all in all is a better basketball player than Jordan was. He's bigger, stronger, quicker and plays in an era where the game is less physical and superstars are given much more preferential treatment than they did in the past. It's the intangibles, the arguing to the refs, etc that separates them. Jordan and Lebron played close enough that a comparison of the two is relevant and valid. However when you are comparing teams that played in the 50s, 60's, 70's and early 80's to teams now that's when it falls off. Basketball teams didn't have foreign players, 7' players that can shoot threes. Offenses that run the triangle and other offenses that are complex. I heard some commentator make a statement that this golden state team was the worst team to ever win the championship because they have no hall of famers as of right now on the team. Please. I just don't understand how anyone could keep their job after making a statement like that.

       Football- haven't heard this scenario too much in football. Wide receivers are the size that linemen used to be and that's just one aspect. So i wont dwell into this other than to say 99% of sports fans know that a current nfl team would absolutely destroy any team from 2 or more decades ago.

     The point i'm trying to make, lets just live in the "now." Stop trying to compare everyone to past players or to teams in the past. For some things, statistically speaking makes sense but even that is going away slightly. Just appreciate greatness now and stop trying to say this player is the next other player. Stop it!