SportsGirl

Well, I’m a day late, but as promised here is a little college football talk. I’m thoroughly unhappy with the BCS rankings as of this week. I am only focusing on the BCS for this column because it’s the only ranking system that really matters in the end. But truly, my discontent somewhat lies in the general concept of the rankings.

I think this all goes back to the pre-season rankings and the importance placed on them. All of the analysts get together before the season, before a single meaningful snap has occurred, and they rank who they think is going to be good for the upcoming season. I understand that watching teams practice and scrimmage can offer some insight into what they might look like when facing actual opponents. But until the season starts, how can you postulate accurately on who will be good? Look at my beloved Wolverines pre-season ranking. They started the season as the #5 team in the AP rank. As happy as it made me to see that, it looked farcical after the contest with Appalachian State. Even more so after the rout by Oregon…So now Michigan is being punished when compared to other 2-loss teams because they were beaten by an unranked Division I-AA team. I do understand the ramifications of this happening to a traditional powerhouse team like U of M, but if they had started the season at a lower ranking, it probably wouldn’t have quite the impact that it has now. So that leads me to my main contention and that is I’m not sure we should rank college teams, in any ranking system, until at least 6 games into the season.

This is one thing that the BCS gets right. But consider that the BCS formula includes the AP ranking that begins before the season, and once again pre-season rank becomes a factor. Take LSU and Oregon. You could probably land on either side of the fence of the argument over which team is better. My money says Oregon, having watched them both play. LSU has needed last-second victories in too many games for me to believe they’re the #2 team in the country. I suppose this is as appropriate a time as any to state that I believe strongly in margin of victory as a factor in ranking teams. This is one reason why it doesn’t bother me that the Patriots continue to thump their opponents by such a large margin instead of sending in second-string players in the second half. Beating a team by 3 points or 6 points as time is expiring, especially when that team is not ranked, doesn’t impress me. Now, I know, I wrote earlier about the great comeback win that BC engineered over Virginia Tech so you’re probably thinking I sound like a giant hippocrate at this point. But if you re-read that entry, nowhere did I say that BC should have maintained their #2 ranking simply because they won. It took two scores in the final 4 minutes of the game to win but for the first 44 minutes of that contest, BC was dominated. That’s not a hallmark of a #2 team. I’m not saying you can’t trail your opponent at any point in a game and still be considered top-tier, I’m just saying LSU has let too many teams hang around too long for me to give them the edge over Oregon.

I propose that we eliminate pre-season rankings altogether. Let the season start, let the teams start playing their games. Let’s see how they look a few weeks into it. Then, let the BCS formula kick in, and at that point, if the AP ranking is a factor, no biggie. Because the pre-season, artificial ranking has been removed and it’s a clean slate at that point. I just don’t like to see teams have inflated rankings because they were good last season. It’s the same reason I nearly steered my car into on-coming traffic this morning when I heard Phil Simms on Mike and Mike saying that San Diego is one of only a few remaining teams that could challenge Indy or New England. San Diego. Really? The same San Diego that gave up 500+ yards to the Minnesota Vikings? Or maybe the same San Diego that doesn’t remember that LaDainian Tomlinson is one of the greatest players in football right now…They’re a team that could challenge the Pats or the Colts? Pittsburgh I’ll give you. Not San Diego.

Tomorrow I’m going to delve into the Patriots quest for perfection as there is a wealth of discussion occurring on the subject and I feel the need to weigh in.

I have been told in the past that I’m forbidden from blogging about college football on a Monday. That the NFL trumps college any day, especially on Mondays. And to a certain extent, I agree. Between the Pats-Colts game and the Cowboys-Eagles game, there’s plenty of NFL action to discuss. But for anyone wanting to get my thoughts on the BCS mess that I see brewing this season, tune in tomorrow. I’m not pleased with the ranking of LSU at #2 this week.

For now though, let’s delve into the NFL action, shall we? As I said to my boss, who is a devout Browns fan, did you ever think that the Cleveland Browns would be described as an offensive juggernaut? His response of course was “Uh…no”. Who would think that in Week 9 the Browns would be able to rally from a 21-6 deficit against the Seattle Seahawks, a team that most analysts are far too reluctant to label as mediocre, force over-time and then win?! And that just hours before that, the San Diego defense would give up 296 rushing yards to rookie phenom Adrian Peterson? San Diego having defensive issues while Cleveland out-slugs their opponent offensively? Did I miss the message that yesterday was backwards day in the NFL?

But one thing that was not backwards was the Patriots win over the Colts in a game that lived up to the hype for me, though in a different way than I was expecting. That was a tough game for me to watch. Between the questionable officiating (could NE have gotten slapped with a few more bogus pass interference calls while Indy mugged the NE receivers sans flags?) and Brady having a very un-Brady day, I was a nervous wreck. I don’t have too many deeply-held interests in the games I watch. But New England is one of two teams that I can’t watch lose, with U of M being the other team. I have a growing affinity for the Dallas Cowboys, especially with Romo at the helm which I’ll discuss in a second, but if they lose I’ll get over it. With New England losing, I was not a fun person to be around yesterday. Sure it was exciting when Randy Moss reeled in that sick, one-handed catch in the middle of the field and maintained possession without ever securing the ball with his other hand. That man is a freak of nature. Thank God he’s on our team! But watching Dwight Freeney fly around putting pressure on Brady is not my idea of a good time. It wasn’t until the Pats scored in the 4th to bring the score to 17-20 that I started to feel the color return to my cheeks. I started to remember, hey, we’ve imposed our will on all the other teams we’ve played this season, why not on the Colts? Then the strike to Kevin Faulk came with a few minutes to go in the game and now the color in my cheeks was accompanied by a smile. Albeit a tight-lipped smile, but a smile none-the-less. But it wasn’t until the Patriots stopped the Colts on their final possession and got the ball back with about 2 minutes remaining that I actually relaxed. Even as they took a knee to end the game, I was a little tense. What if something happens and Brady drops the ball before his knee goes down and the Colts recover…you never know these days in the NFL. Stranger things, i.e. Antonio Cromarti returning a missed field goal 109 yards for a touchdown, have happened!

Still feeling euphoric from the Patriots win, I settled in to watch the Boys versus the Eagles in what I was hoping would be an entertaining Sunday night game. Considering the Cowboys won in decisive fashion, it was entertaining in that regard. But the Eagles got manhandled, starting with their first play from the line of scrimmage, and sloppy football is rarely fun to watch, even when it’s your team benefiting from the mistakes. The eventual score of 35-17 Cowboys tells the tale. Philly could never really get things going on offense. McNabb was picked off twice, and had the above-mentioned fumble on the first play. Their defense didn’t even manage to sack Tony Romo, which was a first for them. And you just sort of knew when the game started that Philly lacked the pizzazz needed to beat the Cowboys coming off a bye week and Romo coming off his monster contract negotiations. A fresh team and an underdog QB who now needs to prove he’s worth the cash his owner just promised to shell out? Unbeatable unless you bring your A+ game.

So the Eagles fell by the wayside, a fate which I’m hoping more Dallas opponents face in the coming weeks. Now I begin my stewing over what will happen if the Super Bowl is a match-up between the Cowboys and the Patriots. No matter where I watch the game, here in Dallas I’ll be a hated spectator rooting for New England, but would get lambasted even more if I played both sides of the fence and said I didn’t care who won. What’s a SportsGirl to do?

As we all know by now, thanks to careful planning by Scott Boras, Alex Rodriguez has opted out of his contract in New York. That means he’s ready to entertain offers from the highest bidder, and you know the price tag won’t be cheap. Among all the talk about the potential suitors that may enter the negotiations for A-Rod’s services, an interesting discussion arose on Mike and Mike the other morning. The discussion involved wondering if the timing of A-Rod’s contract announcement would hurt his brand value and whether or not he was one of the most universally hated athletes in all of sports. Their general consensus was that yes, he has reached that hated status reserved for the likes of Barry Bonds.

I found the topic an interesting one because it touched on an issue I brought up in regards to Michael Vick, especially as it pertains to his contract total. The guys were posing the question of why he would be reviled when he hasn’t really done much to draw the ire of the fans. Especially in comparison to some of the “troubled” athletes we, as a collective fan base, have managed to embrace, blemishes and all. One of the talking points Mike and Mike kept going back to was the size of A-Rod’s contract as a factor in the dislike that surrounds him. Their contention was that the average fan basically just thinks he is a greedy SOB that should be happy with the money the Yanks are shelling out to him and that collecting that pay check means he should somehow do more than contribute 50+ homers and 150+ RBI’s. And as the guys were debating the validity of this emotion from the fans, I started thinking more about the supply and demand concept that really drives every contract negotiation in every sport. I can understand how, at face value, the general public cannot understand someone spurning a $27 mil/year contract in favor of perhaps making more money somewhere else. It’s ludicrous, right? Most of us working schmucks would do what he does for $100K per season. So what’s wrong with a person who can’t just be grateful for what they’re receiving? Makes me hate them too!

But one of the Mikes, and I believe it was Golic, brought up a great point that really hits at the heart of the economic concepts in play here. They said, imagine if you make $40K a year on your job. And in casual conversation you come to find out that a competitor in your industry is willing to offer you $48K a year to come and do the exact same job you’re doing currently. Sure, there would be certain factors that would likely play into your thought process, such as are there intangibles at your current place of employment that are worth more than money to you. But for most of us, the chance to earn that extra pay check is worth the risks of leaving the familiar. And would any of us feel guilty for taking the extra cash? No! Because we all think the services we provide our employers are worth every penny we’re receiving. Supply and demand. What we’re supplying our employers with is met with “x” amount of demand and there’s a market rate that translates into a paycheck associated with that demand. It’s the same thing for A-Rod. His agent, while being many things, is not completely business-inept. Scott Boras is quite savvy if you ask me. He would not advise his client to opt out of the size of contract he had with the Yankees if Boras did not feel reasonably certain that there would be a high level of interest from other teams at contract terms more favorable than A-Rod’s current terms. Meaning Boras knew that other employers in a highly competitive industry might be willing to offer this employee more money for equal services. We, the average working men, cannot grasp this concept because we would never turn down the possibility to earn even $1 mil, let alone multiple millions, hence the reason we loathe A-Rod. But the concept is the same.

The only other thing working against A-Rod that I see is that he generally just doesn’t really have a personality. Derek Jeter is Derek Jeter. He’s lively, charming, enjoys going out, etc. He is the face of the franchise in NY. Other beloved athletes have noticeable personalities. Michael Jordan was known for his obsession with winning and competition. He had that great smile. The list goes on. A-Rod? He seems flat. Blah. Lifeless. Boring, even. So couple that with the fact that he makes a gazillion dollars, and the end result is that the American population basically hates him.

Now, please don’t take this to be my defense of Alex Rodriguez. Personally, I know his stats but saw first hand in Texas how it’s not enough to elevate a team onto his shoulders. And the truly great athletes are able to do that. And in turn, I don’t begrudge them their golden contracts. I just think if people really took a second to think about his situation in their own terms, they’d see that they may not make a decision all that different from the one A-Rod made. And truly, when it comes down to it, if he lands on your team? You’ll be cheering him on.

In the last month, I have re-discovered my passion for watching sports. I know, that probably seems like the impossible given that I watch more than half the sports fans I know. But I have forgone watching almost any regular TV if there is a sporting event on, unless that sporting event is something along the lines of University of Louisiana-Lafayette vs. Tulane. It’s made me realize just how entertaining sports can be.

So needless to say, with my re-discovered passion, I’ve been in heaven with all of the sporting events on TV recently. Let’s start with the baseball. My support is squarely behind the Rockies because I’m over all Red Sox fans. (all due apologies to my sister and her husband) I don’t want to hear another announcer use the phrase “shades of 2004″ or talk about Schilling and the sock, etc. I especially hate listening to that chatter because I think the 2007 Red Sox are a better team. Forget all of that “Team of Destiny” crap, this year’s Sox are just freakin’ lights out. Their pitching has been unhittable lately and their bats are on fire. After Game 1 of the World Series, I was seeing “shades of 2006″ when my Tigers got blanked by the Cardinals and everyone wanted to blame it on the time off between their series. But last night’s game I think really spoke to the incredible pitching that the Sox are getting, and also gave me hope that the Rockies could regain some footing when the series heads West. If they lose on Saturday, the Rockies are d-u-n done.

Now, onto my true love, football. It was almost painful to watch the first 55 minutes of the BC-VA Tech football game last night. BC looked inept, and I kept cringing thinking of my father who said last weekend that Matt Ryan should be the lead contender for the Heisman this year. Then the last 5 minutes of the game took place, where Ryan threw for two touchdowns and stunned the home crowd into silence with a last-minute victory.  It was awesome. Just when I was getting disheartened, feeling like none of the top 5 teams really wanted to be there, BC pulls it off. And no, I don’t have any particular affinity for Boston teams, I just like to see good teams win games they’re supposed to win. And BC still falls into “Little Guy” status with me, much more so than VA Tech. It was a great ending to a not-so-easy to watch game, complete with a BC-recovered on-side kick with the announcers saying in the background that the best option is to kick it deep and ask your defense to hold the other team to a 3 and out series. Poetic.

And last of all, we have basketball. I was fortunate enough to attend the Mavs-Bulls pre-season game on Tuesday night. I was stoked for the game for many reasons, not the least of which was the food. I LOVE stadium hot dogs. And nachos…anyways. I was looking so forward to the game–which was a last-second suggestion–and much to my chagrin, someone forgot to mention to the crowd and to the teams that basketball game are supposed to be exciting. Let me start by saying that offensive rebounding seems to be optional in the NBA. No one, and I do mean no one, from the shooting teams appears to care to go for the board on a missed shot. On Tuesday, for every 1 Maverick at the basket “vying” for the rebound, there were 4, count ‘em 4, Bulls trying to pull it down. And the same would happen when the Bulls would shoot. It’s like once the shooting team realizes the shot didn’t go in, they start back down the floor, switching into defensive mode. Annoying! So between the lack of rebounding and just the general feeling of apathy (I know, it was pre-season) between the two teams, the game was less than interesting. Maybe it was the hot dog and bowl full of processed cheese on chips that I inhaled in about 2 minutes that made me feel sleepy. But the play on the court did nothing to revive my interest and we left at half time. Happily. So it was a big disappointment and my only hopeful thought is that maybe Avery Johnson has decided to view the regular season the way my dad looks at cars. They’re just a means of transportation from Point A to Point B, so who cares what you look like when you arrive at Point B. Maybe the Little General realizes that it’s great to have a phenomenal regular season record but if you waste your intensity during the regular season, what do you have left when you make it to Point B, which is the post-season? That’s the solace I’m trying to glean from my basketball outing this week. We’ll see if it works…

All I need is to watch some compelling hockey or soccer and I’ll be a happy camper. For now, I’m enjoying my re-discovered passion and giving my thanks that I don’t have to watch the likes of Desperate Housewives for another season!

There has been a wealth of discussion on whether the Pats are the best team in football or if that designation belongs to the Colts. Enough discussion that it caused Steve Young to practically melt down on Sports Center after the game last night. His point? Why discuss what the impending match up between the two teams will mean when we all know they’ll likely meet again in the AFC title game. All due respect to Steve, as I understand where he’s coming from, but I don’t agree. Emmitt Smith made a great point during what became almost a heated exchange between Stu Scott and Young that the match up in November does mean something because it gives the winning team an edge, especially in the mental game. If you’ve beaten them in the regular season, you have that slight swagger when/if you meet again in the post-season. When you have two teams that are playing at this level, even a minor mental edge can make a huge difference.

So, it will come as no surprise to any of my readers that I think the Patriots have the superior team this season. If you compare the two on both sides of the ball you might think it’s a draw. They both have prolific quarterbacks who are amazingly accurate, with a full compliment of receivers to spread the ball to. They both have defenses with play-makers, though I think New England gets the edge there because they have a number of key guys that make plays (i.e. Tedy Bruschi, Mike Vrable, etc) whereas I think Indy’s main man on D is Bob Sanders. Don’t get me wrong, Bob Sanders is a guy to build an entire D around, but he’s probably the biggest play-maker on the team and the others are simply good.

Then it comes to coaching. Both teams are well-coached but I think NE will have a huge advantage in this department this season. Bill Belichick has something to prove. Bill Simmons of ESPN.com fame has written a great articleabout exactly how Belichick will prove his greatness this season. Because Belichick is a student of the game, of the game’s history and wants to be a part of the game’s legacy. His talent has been questioned so this season will be a 16-week response letter to all the critics. “Dear critics, I’m awesome and belong in the discussion of the best coaches ever. Don’t ever question me again. Sincerely, Bill Belichick” Or something like that…

So all eyes are on the match up in a few weeks, provided neither team succumbs to the trap of losing a gimme game in the meantime. And my money is on the Pats (of course). Because I can’t listen to Colts fans bragging if the Colts win. Too much to handle!

Blogging about baseball, that is. I find myself compelled to comment on the Indians-Red Sox series that culminates tonight in Game 7 in Bean Town. Let me state in no uncertain terms that while I might root for the Patriots, that love does not extend to all Boston teams. I’m actually throwing all my support behind the Indians, especially since they vanquished the Yankees. (note: I’m not just a “root for the winner” kind of fan. I’ve loved the Yankees since I was 13.) If my team is no longer in the picture, my support defaults first to any team from the midwest.

Now that you know who I’m rooting for, let me say the performance of the Tribe in the last two games was not enough to make me feel comfortable that they’ll take care of business tonight. Their bats have been nearly silent while Boston couldn’t look any hotter. I mean for goodness sake, JD freakin’ Drew hit a grand slam last night. The same man who hadn’t had an RBI in the post season hits a grand slam. And the Indians managed only 2 runs all game long. Their two aces, Sabathia and Carmona, have 10.54 and 16.50 ERA’s respectively in the post season. Paul Byrd has been better than these two, do that math! And I cannot stand hearing how this post season has “shades of 2004″. The bloody Schilling sock has made it’s way into my collection of hated memories. And I so desperately want the Indians to smoke the Sox on Sunday and then I want them to stand there admiring their work, just to stick it to Manny Ramirez. I can’t stand the Red Sox!

So tonight will be a nail biter for me. If the Sox do win, then my support swings to the Rockies. Because I like that they’re a young team with heart and best of all? They’re not the Red Sox!

Since last night’s meeting between the Falcons and Giants was somewhat of a bust in terms of viewing pleasure, I wanted to comment on the broadcast team that ESPN selected for this season. You know Mike Tirico has got to be thinking “As hard as it is to admit, Joe Theismann was not the problem last year, Kornheiser was! Who knew?!” Because Mike Tirico is a consummate professional in my opinion. He is a great play-by-play guy who can deftly move from the play on the field, to mixing it up with the color guys, then back to the play on the field. Ron Jaworski makes a good color guy, and really is able to bring his knowledge from his playing days in without sounding like a stereotypical meathead former jock. But then you throw Tony Kornheiser in the mix and the formula develops a bad taste.

I understand that above anything else, Monday Night Football is a broadcast program competing against the likes of the Bachelor and The Big Bang Theory, which is one of the main reasons it was pulled from ABC’s line up and moved to ESPN, where you get more slack for lower ratings. Because of the pressure to keep a large market share, so as to continue to merit the high dollars that advertisers pay, ESPN wants to find lightening in a bottle in the broadcast booth. But I think they’re trying too hard.

Everyone said at the beginning of last season that Tony Kornheiser would be the “Howard Cosell” of the team. He would bring a unique, not always sports-themed, perspective that would liven up the perceived monotony of simple play-by-play and color exchanges. But they’re trying to force a dynamic that isn’t working. And to be fair, they also did this when the telecast was still on network television by thinking that Dennis Miller could be that “catalyst” for thought-provoking discussions. And that might be accurate, except when I’m watching football, I don’t want to listen to a thought-provoking discussion about anything other than whether or not someone was smart for drafting Adrian Peterson in the first round of their fantasy football league. I don’t want to hear someone slam President Bush. I don’t care about some obscure movie reference that they find particularly appropriate for that moment of the game. I want to hear about football. I think the Al Michael’s/John Madden tandem works well in this respect. They’re lively together and I think Michael’s is the best in the business. They play off of each other’s moods well and they keep it interesting. They also keep the discussion centered on football and pretty much nothing else, save for the few promos they have to kick out during the broadcast. Imagine if you threw Jon Stewart into the booth with them. I like Jon Stewart, but how is he relevant to football?

Last night, as with all broadcasts, the MNF crew brought a guest into the booth to provide more unnecessary commentary on all things non-football related. Their guest was Jimmy Kimmel. Kimmel is great on his talk show. Absolutely horrible in the booth. The guys were stepping all over each other vying for air time and meanwhile Tirico was desperately trying to recount what was going on down on the field. Not that there was much, the game was fairly difficult to watch. Sloppy performances on defense and offence from the Dirty Birds and the G-Men weren’t much better. It’s pretty sad when Joey Harrington throws fewer picks than Little Manning and yet Little Manning’s team still wins. But still, I didn’t want to listen to Kimmel detail his flight patterns as he juggles two gigs this week,  hosting both Regis and Kelly and his own show. If I’m watching the game, I want to know things like when Amani Toomer becomes the all-time leading receiver for the Giants. Give me insight on that. Talk about how you think Tiki Barber will react to being replaced. (On that subject, check out this articlefrom Gregg Easterbrook on the subject of records being broken)

So, my advice to the producers and the suits at ESPN? Kick Kornheiser off the broadcast and leave it to Jaws and Tirico. Seriously, test this out. Next week just tell the audience that Kornheiser got sick shortly after taping PTI that day and let’s see the reaction to the broadcast that night. Since something like that might take a week to get spread by word-of-mouth, repeat the experiment the following week and see what it does for ratings. Or float the story the night before that he’ll be out of the booth. Guaranty it will increase viewership, even for a crappy game. Just don’t make me listen to another season of “insight” from Big Tony that just fails to pique my interest.

My immediate thanks to ESPN’s John Clayton for using that phrase in his recounting of yesterday’s Dallas-New England matchup. What a great way to describe the team they’ve assembled up there in Bean Town. And my immediate apologies to the devout Dallas Cowboy fans that are still smarting from the loss and who will think me a traitor for being excited over the Patriots win. But seriously, what football fan isn’t gaga over what the Pats are doing so far this season?! They’ve been amazing and yesterday truly wasn’t even their best game.

Sunday’s game was the kind I like; I honestly would have been happy if either team had won. I obviously love the Patriots because of Brady being a Michigan guy, and also because he was a late-round pick that gives us all hope that the “little guy” or the diamond in the rough can actually make something of himself. But I really do like this Cowboys team, more-so than any team in years past, despite my lack of affection for Wade Phillips. I love Romo (see little guy reference above), I don’t hate TO with the passion I felt last season, and I think this team is going to do some good things this season. But I grew up loving anything U of M; I didn’t grow up loving the Boys. So yesterday’s outcome thrilled me to death!

One thing that killed me from the game? Romo taking a knee with about 30 seconds left at the end of the fourth quarter. I know, there was no prayer of them winning at that point. Even if he threw for a touchdown and they recovered an on-side kick and immediately returned that for a touchdown then recovered another on-side kick…you see where I’m going. But by the same token, the game was done, so what’s the harm in risking an interception by throwing a bomb down the field? Are you going to be more demoralized at that point with an incompletion or a pick? Probably not. But to just give up and take a knee and concede defeat was horrible to me. I want to go down fighting, leaving everything on the field. I just thought the action lacked spirit and sent a message to that team that their coaching staff didn’t care at that point. I know, I know, the risk of injury on every play is real and if you’ve lost the game why continue with the risk. I didn’t like it.

Up next for the Cowboys is Minnesota. I’m back and forth on how I think that game will go. Adrian Peterson is paying huge dividends to any fantasy owner who took a chance and drafted him. However, the Boys did at least stop the Patriots run game, albeit with Sammy Morris and Lawrence Maroney on the sidelines. I think Dallas will bounce back, get their wits about them after two weeks of under-performing.

Next up for New England are the Miami Dolphins. No game is a gimme in my book, but good golly if the Pats don’t win this one it better be because Brady has the first known human strain of the bird flu and Randy Moss, Wes Welker and Dante Stallworth all have double broken legs. Miami is that bad.

If week 2’s game was the Patriots making a statement that they can win without the use of any “visual aids”, this week was their follow-up to that statement to remind us that there is not a stop to their dominance in sight, until possibly Week 9 when they meet Indy. I’m already popping the popcorn for that match-up!

I have been out of town on business and have not been near a computer to blog about the ‘Boys, baseball, or anything else sports-related. My fault! Look for more posts this weekend. The game Sunday between Dallas and New England will be awesome. I will plan my day around that event. And there will be discussion on this blog so just hang tight.

Now that the Yankees are out of it, my full support is behind the Indians to win the World Series. Though the Rockies certainly are making a case for their belonging! But when my primary team is knocked out, my loyalty defaults to anything that’s close to my native Michigan. So come on Tribe!

I need to take a minute to express my complete disgust with the verdict that has come out of the Isaiah Thomas trial in regards to his (no longer alleged) sexual harassment towards Anucha Brown Sanders. I feel like this is the final nail in the coffin around his career or at least his respectability. And this is a man who was revered after the Pistons won their back-to-back titles in ‘89 and ‘90.

There is something about Zeke that just seems like he should be uber-wholesome. Maybe it’s the smile. It seems genuine. He always reminded me of Webster with that smile and that sort of little boy look. Now, not only is his basketball acumen in question but he’s been convicted of being a sexual harasser. If his critics needed any more reason to call for his resignation, this is it. Of course so far the team is saying that they stand by him, as does ownership. But how long will that last? Unless the Knicks just have an unbelievable season, which is highly unlikely given their roster and past performances, I see Isaiah losing his job and probably deservedly so. Which is just a shame to me because I want to remember him as a good guy. Especially in today’s sporting culture where so many of the champs are not truly good guys.

By the way, if you haven’t read anything about the accusations from Ms. Brown Sanders against Isaiah, you may not realize that the title of this entry is a reference. She stated that, after backing away from a kiss on the cheek initiated by Isaiah, he said “What? No love today?”. So no, Isaiah, no love today. Only dismay at the fact that your legacy is forever tarnished and you have forever altered the perception of a girl who was a huge fan of your Championship teams almost 20 years ago.