I always loved Greg Jennings...

Greg Jennings was the one guy who seemed like a role model.  Family guy, spiritual, never caught saying the wrong thing...  Oh wait, he joined the Vikings and that all went to crap.  First, he went after Aaron Rodgers.  I think it's pretty clear that Rodgers makes everybody around him better, and even James Jones, who is Jennings' child's godfather, didn't really know where Jennings' criticisms were coming from.  Now Jennings is complaining that Norv Turner's offense may be too complicated:  http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap2000000345571/article/greg-jennings-norv-turners-offense-tough-to-grasp.

This is really funny to me.  Norv Turner is one of the worst head coaches in the history of the NFL, but also one of the best offensive coordinators.  He has been successful at every non-HC stop.  Greg Jennings apparently does not want to work at his craft because he is already complaining.  If he would just stop and look at the history of Turner as an OC, he would realize that he is probably in for a 17-20 YPC average this season.  Good luck GJ.

V. Stiviano

V. Stiviano, or whatever the hell her name is, is "devastated" that the conversation she recorded has been released.  There are two possibilities here: 1) She is lying and wanted to stick it to Donald Sterling, or 2) She is really upset that her gravy train has left the station.  Donald Sterling is a horrible human.  I grew up rooting for the Clippers, so I am aware of the depths of his depravity.  This whole situation is funny because I really believe that V. Stiviano, aka, a dozen other names, wanted to embarrass Donald Sterling, but didn't realize that she was screwing herself over in the whole deal.  Go away Sterling and V. Stiviano (aka, what's your name again?).

Barry Bonds

Prior to 1998, Barry Bonds was arguably the most complete player in baseball.  He was truly a 5-tool player.  Ken Griffey, Jr. was supposed to be great like Bonds, but injuries tanked the back half of his career.  This purpose of this post is to argue that Barry should be in the Hall of Fame despite the enormously long list of reasons his enshrinement would not be popular.  Unlike my partners in poor blogging, I am not a Giants fan.  I'm also not a Pirates fan.  I'm really not a Barry Bonds fan.  The guy was a complete ass to me once when I was 10 years old at a Dodger game.  In fact he is probably my second least favorite player of all time (Tom Candiotti will always hold that spot... a story for another time, perhaps).

So why should Barry Bonds be in the Hall of Fame despite being perhaps the most notorious cheater in the steroid era?  Here is the story and the simple reason he belongs in the HOF.  The consensus is that he started doing steroids some time following the 1998 season because he got pissy that Mark McGwire broke the single season home run record.  I won't get into the speculation on why he was mad, as there are a number of theories, some less savory than others.  He did steroids (which he claims was accidental... we aren't that stupid, are we?) and did things no player has ever done before. I understand the man cheated, but it is very interesting how easily many forget that Bonds either had 400 home runs, or nearly 400 home runs before he was ever expected of cheating.  He had also stolen 400 bases.  And played gold glove caliber defense.  And had a great eye at the plate.  Okay, I'll stop. You get the picture.  He was amazing.  And an a-hole.  His pre-steroid numbers placed him squarely as the best all around player of his generation, and probably the best all around hitter (when factoring in average, home runs, etc.).  Had he retired prior to 2000, he would have been a first ballot hall of famer... Well, except for the fact the the voters for the HOF stand on principles that don't make any sense a lot of the time.

As much as we all like to joke, about his ever-growing hat size, or call him "Barroid" Bonds, it doesn't change the fact that he belongs in the hall of fame because he was the best player of his generation with or without steroids.  Even if you ignore the back half of his career, the numbers (which mean everything in baseball) are indisputable.  Barry Bonds belongs in the baseball Hall of Fame.

Cheaters

So Michael Pineda was ejected tonight after he was found to have a shit ton of pine tar on his neck, that he later admitted to using so that he wouldn't throw errant pitches not so that he could cheat. first off that's like a steroid user saying he took them so that he could do sodoku puzzles quicker not because he wanted to cheat. But this is my point, the yankees in my opinion have slowly crept to #2 on my worst franchise in professional sports. Yes they have classy players (jeter, riveria- who i used to dislike both players, but the more i watch the more i appreciate both players), but they have continually spent billions of dollars on again sluggers, bad clubhouse guys and generally overrated players (swisher) in the quest for another world series. they have players like a-rod that they decided would be a good idea to give him a 300 million 10 year contract extension only to have him decline so drastically his ass can hardly round the bases anymore. the yanks and their fans have this snotty attitude with this smugness that makes me want to slap an endangered animal right in the nostril. yes. they are the most storied franchise in baseball in baseball if not ever. but holy shit, get over it jerk offs.they did three peat in the late '90's and first title in the new millennium but they did so by outspending the rest of the league almost two fold more than the next franchise. it was also before the rest of baseball figured out "moneyball" and sabermetrics and that spending the most money didn't necessarily guarantee a championship. Every time i see someone wearing a yankees hat and they live 4000 miles away i just laugh....WHY are you a yankees fan? i rooted for them for about a week during the middle of september in 2001 but that was about it. the way they "buy" stars, is so bad for the game. the way a star on a mid market to low market team finishes their arbitration years how many times have we said to ourselves "well the yankees are picking him up." fans are stunned when a player decides to remain with their team (Mauer). I hate the yankees. i hate that they have pinstripes. i wish no player that signs with them luck. i spite every one of them. i hate that they don't allow their players to have facial hair. i might be way off base but i just can't stand this team.

Pulling the levers

I've been trying to figure out for a few days what I have to say about Rick Adelman's retirement, in part because my first response when thinking about Adelman is kind of ridiculous (more on that in a minute), and in part because I really don't have great perspective on how to evaluate him.

So to begin with the latter point. Adelman was a player (I'm sure I knew that at one point, but I had forgotten) and coach for a long, long time. Great. The reason I lack perspective: I only really noticed him when he coached the Kings. Sure, I had a vague sense that he was somewhat effective after he left Sacramento, but I didn't pay that much attention. The only time I really closely followed the NBA was when Adelman was coaching the Kings, and not coincidentally, the team nearest me was most relevant. Yeah, yeah, I'm not a great fan and all that; basketball isn't at the top of my list of priorities. I'll watch it once in awhile, I can appreciate it, but I'm not as drawn to it as I am to baseball and football, perhaps because I didn't play it competitively (I mean, I was on a team and we tried to win, but I stunk, so I, at least, wasn't competitive in the sense of relevant--I was quick and could jump, but didn't really have any actual skills). But I did pay attention to Adelman's Kings.

And apparently that was the key: they were Adelman's Kings. That mattered, it seems. For some reason I've always thought he looked like Gentle Rosenburg, the Arquillian jeweler in Men in Black (and also, who knew there was a MiB wiki?!). When Rosenburg is in the morgue after being killed by the Bug, Agent J/"Dr. White" and Laurel Weaver find and press a button on his ear, and the face plate slides back to reveal the actual Arquillian inside his head, pulling levers to operate what's essentially a gigantic robot/mechanism. So maybe this isn't so ridiculous after all--but Adelman was really the Arquillian pulling the levers, and the team was the body (which means by extension the players were the pieces of the body--Chris Webber can be anything but the knees, Scot Pollard is obviously the hair, Vlade Divac the nose, Bobby Jackson the hands, let's make Doug Christie the vestigial tailbone, Jason Williams the eyes, Peja Stojakovic the lead feet...). Whatever, it worked, and I guess that's as good a way as any to remember a coach, and Adelman.

Albert Pujols

I am an unabashed supporter of Albert Pujols.  I continue to believe he is a clean athlete.  He is also a great community contributor and somebody who has embraced the concept that athletes, whether they like it or not, are role models to some children (and even some adults).  The man is the best pure hitter I've seen aside from Barry Bonds.  In fact, I think I'll write a Barry Bonds post right after this.  Albert Pujols just hit his 500th home run.  Congratulations Albert Pujols.  You are an awesome baseball player (and you even play some defense!).

Paying College Athletes

I'm just one a few million or so voices with an opinion, and considering only two people read this blog, very unlikely to be heard or stir any significant pots.  College athletes are attempting to unionize.  Most interesting is that this group of athletes is not asking for money, but for support beyond graduation in terms of medical coverage.  More importantly, these athletes are asking for protection of their scholarships against injuries, coaching changes, etc.  I firmly believe that these are legitimate concerns.  However, stipulations must be in place.  I will get to the concept of straight out paying players later.

Concern 1:  Athletes want medical coverage for injuries sustained playing sports at the University.  If one were to think about the scope of this request, it would make all Universities and Colleges go broke pretty quickly.  Athletes suffer a lot of injuries with effects that last a lifetime.  Academic institutions can't just be on the hook for a lifetime of medical bills.  However, if a student graduates, the University could perhaps offer coverage for maintenance of injury-related medical coverage until the former student is able to find gainful employment that provides health insurance.  Once health insurance is obtained via employment, the University is no longer responsible for continuation of medical coverage of that particular injury.  Bear in mind that this is likely very generous, as the students choose to play their sport of choice (and yes, for some the choice is due entirely to making money playing professionally).  They also have the choice to make the most of their education in order to support the medical consequences of choosing to be a college athlete.

Concern 2:  Protection of scholarships.  Universities should not continue to make scholarships one year contracts.  If a student is offered a scholarship coming out of high school and remains in good academic and legal standing within the University, that student should remain on scholarship.  This is pretty simple in my mind.  If the student suffers an injury that prevents contributing as an athlete, redistribute the duties of this student to provide service in other ways.  An example would be as a student assistant to an athletic team. This change would prevent students who do not have the means to pay for an education and rely on scholarship money to continue to get the educational opportunity they were promised when they entered the University.

Now on to the hot-button issue of paying players.  Recently, Shabazz Napier of UCONN stated that it is unfair that the Universities make money while he doesn't have enough to eat.  I'm going to go out on a pretty sturdy limb here and state that there is no way that Napier doesn't have enough to eat.  I went to a large public University (UC Berkeley).  Athletes (at least those on scholarship) were provided with three meals a day in the dorms.  The food sucked, but it was food, and there was no limit on how much a student could eat.  There's a reason students gain the Freshman 15, and it isn't typically because of beer.  It is mostly due to easy access to three meals a day of buffet-style food.

The second issue is the exploitation of the athlete for the financial benefit of the institution.  Athletic departments have a huge revenue stream, coupled to huge costs.  For example, Alabama pays nearly $9 million per year in tuition.  This is ~1/12 of their total revenue.  The rest of the money is distributed to recruiting and other necessary functions.  The final component, however, is coach salary.  We could debate the issue of coaches at public Universities being the highest paid public state employee IN THE ENTIRE STATE.  I feel this money should be redistributed to the University for educational purposes a little bit more. The point is:  who is really getting exploited and for the benefit of whom?  From my perspective, it appears that maybe the coach is exploiting the students for that huge salary.  Otherwise, the revenue generating sports are supporting the non-revenue generating.  Should we really get rid of college baseball because Johnny Manziel's jersey is being sold and he isn't make a liquid monetary profit?  I don't think so, although coherent arguments can be made to the contrary.

The final point, then the rant stops.  Athletes are getting paid.  They are paid hundreds of thousands of dollars in tuition, room, board, food, etc.  It is up to the individual athlete to choose to whether this is important, however, the concept that they are not getting paid anything is ridiculous.  I'm going to use a Cal alum as an example.  Joe Igber was a running back at Cal for all 4 years that I was a student.  He was a very good running back.  He was also an engineering student, and rumor had it that he had a near 4.0 GPA. Clearly he was a special dude with regards to his ability to handle a lot of work and time commitments. Once done with college, he was offered an NFL tryout and turned it down to pursue graduate school.  I'm pretty certain he is glad to not have potentially 6 figures in student loan debt.  In my mind, this is an acceptable form of payment.