Welcome to March, Gabbers. It’s supposed to get warmer soon. We’re gonna hit 43 around these parts. Conference tourneys start this week. Those always have some great ball. The Big East tournament is usually legendary, but I have high hopes for the Big Ten this year. I’ve been able to catch the MSU-UofM games this year and they’ve been great. Last Sunday’s one point nail biter was one of the better games I’ve seen in a while.
Our old friends the talking heads seem upset by the apparent lack of favorites heading into this year’s tournament. I can’t remember a tournament where the projected winner made it through anyway. Honestly, the tournament is more about the journey and brackets than favorites. It’s just fun to watch everything shake out and even more fun to try and guess how it will shake out. Think about it, how many other times have you found yourself rooting for Stoney Brook? For my money the fact that this year has been so even makes brackets harder, but makes the tournament that much more exciting.
March is also bringing us the World Baseball Classic this year. The 16 team tournament is already underway, but surprisingly isn’t getting a lot of air play here in the US. ESPN is showing it on one of their associate channels, ESPN Deportes. The US starts play in pool D in Phoenix, AZ. They have a rough bracket as they’re matched up with pre-tourney winners Canada as well as Mexico and Italy. While a lot of big names have pulled out due to injury concern, the US roster features a lot of familiar names from the big leagues including Adam Jones, David Wright, Giancarlo Stanton, and Ryan Braun. The rotation for their first round includes R.A. Dickey (v. Mexico), Ryan Vogelsong (v. Italy), and Derek Holland (v. Canada). Our bullpen is strong with Craig Kimbrel highlighting a group that includes Chris Perez and Heath Bell.
Joe Torre is managing the squad for the US and also plans to use the tournament as a testing ground for improvements for the MLB. Officials from the MLB plan to visit the WBC games in Miami to explore factors that they believe could impact the expansion of instant replay like camera angles. As of now, replay is limited to determing fair/foul balls and trap v catch calls. Many in the game believe that the MLB is considering expanding the use of replay to plays at the plate and throws to the bases. Many believe these calls will be added next season, but won’t rule out the idea of such expansions starting after the all-star break this season.
The questions that still remain center on how the MLB would execute replay calls. Most seem to think the MLB will employ a system of manager challenges similar to what the NFL has in place. Another option would be to create a position for an independent replay umpire who would determine what calls to review. Cost certainly limits the idea of a replay official. The NHL has its system for reviewing goals in which a central office in Toronto reviews every goal to determine if the puck crossed the line and did so legally. Finally, the MLB would have to determine what calls are challengable. While most agree that balls and strikes would be left up to the umpire, there are several other instances that the league may have to consider.
Legally, the player and umpire unions have only agreed to replay options for fouls and catches. The MLB would have to gain the consent of both groups to be able to expand the replay system in any way. I have little doubt that both unions would agree to expand the system in principle. The difficulty would be in the means. How can the league bring in more cameras and stop time for a game many believe is long enough already? I am all for expanded replay, but have doubts about what it could do to the flow of the game. I think it takes away from some NFL games as it stands. The replay process is very new to sports and I only hope they can continue to refine it so it is less of an obstacle and more of a useful tool as was intended.
Arian Foster has come out to announce that he will be logging off of Twitter. Foster, who featured an eclectic feed that talked about the game as well as his appreciation for physics, declared that he was finished with the site Monday on Twitter. Much has been written here and elsewhere about the stupidity of athletes on Twitter. Will Fosters move trigger an exodus from the site by athletes? I hope so in some ways. I’ve yet to see an athlete get much more than bad publicity and outcry from the site. On the other hand, it does give everyone something to write about. Seeing more guys leave would have us focus a lot more on the actual sport. Wouldn’t that be something?
Well, that’s it for me this week. Thanks as always for stopping by. Thinking about the WBC, I don’t know if I should root for the US or Venezuela. Venezuela has 3 tigers and a stacked line-up on paper. Of course, the more time Miggy and co have to rest up, well, that may be favorable in my opinion. That in mind, I leave you with your word of the week.
Vatication, noun
When the Pope abdicates the the Chair (cathedra) of Peter before his natural death, the Emeritus Pope is said to be on permanent Vatication.
Vatication is like the ultimate staycation, since it is a vacation in the Vatican taken on a permanent basis by Emeritus Pope.
Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI starts his permanent Vatication on February 28, 2013, the day he abdicates the pontifical throne, doffs his signature red Prada loafers, and his papal ring is destroyed.
Since Beeze brought us the Tim Joyce investigative report on the Sex Abuse Scandal within the USA Olympic Swim team both of us have spent a good deal of time trying to get this story sent out to the very media Joyce calls out. We were up until nearly 4 am Monday morning; this is the time of day where newsrooms around the country and their producer’s are putting together the morning broadcasts and we got an unusual amount of traffic as we spent a good 90 minutes tweeting the link to both the Gab and WBAL sites for them to see exactly what it was that outraged us. At the end of the day you’ll be really surprised who picked up this story, a little online newspaper in Toronto Canada called “The People at Risk Daily”, and we thank Lisa A. McLeod for doing so, she clearly gets it, but CNN, ESPN, NBC, every news anchor and top gun reporter (and yes B.O.B., even Bill O’Reilly got one from me) could not have been less interested.
In the last 48 hours I’ve been reeling over this, all the while I can scan the channels and see Olympic Coverage, Olympic Coverage, Olympic Coverage, Spoiler Alert, Gabby Douglas etc…USA Swim Scandal? Nada! The cowards Joyce speaks of in the mainstream media, you know the ones who have to answer to a higher authority before ever airing anything without the stamp of approval from the “Politcal Correctness Department” because it’s taboo to step on the toes of the likes of NBC and the billions they doled out for Olympic broadcast rights, or ESPN who can’t offend anything or anyone in sports until it’s obvious the rest of the planet will hang the offender out to dry too, i.e. Jerry Sandusky. Part of what’s wrong here very well could be Joyce’s timing of the story. Joyce’s story hit the web July 31st, the Games were underway and if you’re working on an Olympic story whether it’s a competitor fluff piece or a hard story like this you’d think timing shouldn’t matter, it’s about the USA Olympic Swim team, it talks about the very coaches who are now being investigated for said abuse but that’s not what Bob Costas is going to be allowed to talk about after interviewing Michael Phelps who just broke the Olympic medal record…just can’t have it. When Beeze posted the story at the Gab early Monday morning we weren’t even 24 hours into the shooting of the Sikh Temple in Wisconsin, that got top bill and rightfully so, but my problem is why is a news organization like CNN or FOX News not able to cover more than one top story, they do it all the time and on a slow news day they still manage to fill their slots with plenty of crap to keep their anchors talking.
I started thinking; just maybe the reason isn’t the timing of the games as much as it is the story has “USA Swimming” in the title and not Penn State. It sure seemed pretty easy to point the finger at a school in a college town, say the administration and coaches covered it up, district attorney’s and police departments knew but basically looked the other way while Sandusky molested boys in the Nittany Lion locker room shower stalls, as I recall no one died, but Sandusky went to trial, was publicly humiliated, Paterno was forced out as head coach and into the grave. I’m not minimizing the abuse of Sandusky, personally I look forward to the day there’s breaking news he was found swinging in his cell, I’ll be more than okay with that sound bite. But when we’ve got numerous coaches, suicide, sexual abuse, cover-ups, a girl who got pregnant from a coach, there’s something seriously wrong when no one wants to ask the question - What the hell is going on with the USA Olympic Swim team and why hasn’t anyone appointed a special prosecutor from the US Attorney’s office? Why hasn’t a congressman asked why is this being swept under the rug? Oh yeah, it’s an election year, they have bigger fish to fry, their careers. Barry Bonds and Roger Clemons got more attention than this and that was for perjury about steroid abuse…(is this making sense to any of you yet)? Why, because they were multi-million dollar, high profile athletes that makes it okay? Where are our priorities? I’m sorry, when the safety of young girls (and most of you know I have a daughter so you know where my anger is coming from) are being compromised by the very coaches entrusted by parents to train them to represent our country and it’s covered up for the sake of the reputation of an organized sport and the ole boy network that oversees it I can’t fathom why this isn’t front and center and I’m not seeing headlines with coaches being escorted into police stations cuffed and jackets hiding their faces, just like Jerry Sandusky...this story mirrors Penn State in so many ways. The differences, it's on a much larger scale, over a longer period of time, involves not one but many coaches and children and 16 year Sarah Burt walked herself in front of a tractor trailer and committed suicide. Yeah, it makes you just scratch your head doesn't it?...or want to go out and hurt someone.
B.O.B I believe was who made the comment that when the games were over, the closing ceremonies have concluded and athletes, networks and reporter’s come home this might just rear its ugly head. I thought the same thing too. If that’s the case, I won’t be surprised, but I’ll have a lot of mixed emotions if I do see it. First, I’ll be extremely pissed off if I hear Erin Burnett, Kyra Phillips or Soledad O’Brien talking about this like they just found out about it, that I can assure you isn’t the case, they all got it the morning Beeze and I tweeted “talking heads” from here to the moon and back. If Bill O’Reilly talks about it I’ll be glad FOX covered it instead of pumping sunshine up Mitt Romney’s ass while we still listen to him and Harry Reid trade barbs over Mitt’s tax records, because in the grand scheme of things, this is what I really want to know about. Wrong! Sure, I’ll be glad to see this get the attention it deserves, but God help whoever it is that does so if they got this story originally from us, I’ll be calling them out for doing exactly what it is I believe they’re doing, lying in wait to pounce when the timing is just right - after the games. Which we all know is the wrong reason, it’s just the politically correct reason, and that’s horse shit.
Sarah Burt deserves better, her family deserves better. Tim Joyce deserves the same recognition for having the guts to break this story as Sarah Ganim got when breaking the Sandusky story, and we all know that story wasn’t really “breaking news” either, it was a story that resurfaced on the heels of one reporter who was just not going to take NO for an answer. I’m here to say, I’m not taking NO for an answer either.
Got to go now, I need to tweet the hell out of this to the same mainstream media that ignored the last story and I suggest you all do the same…don’t you take NO for an answer either.
Well, the Oklahoma City Thunder fan-base has grown greatly...Now that they will be facing the Miami Heat in the NBA Finals, most of Cleveland, and I think most fans watching, will be rooting for the Thunder...Christ, some joker on TWITTER has already merged the OKC logo with the Cavaliers logo...I'm not worried...As I said HERE, I think the Thunder Will take care of business...
-But there is bigger things to talk about in my opinion...It's been awhile since I've posted anything having to do with my hatred of Jerry Sandusky, and the dirty dealings at Penn State...Well, now that I have seen the jurors for the Sandusky trial that starts Monday, I'm left scratching my head...
The jurors include an engineering administrative assistant at Penn State, a dance teacher in the Continuing Education Program and a professor who has been on the faculty for 24 years...Also a Penn State senior, a retired Soil Sciences professor who had 37 years at the university...A man with Bachelor's and Master's degrees from Penn State, and a woman who has been a season ticket holder since the '70s...
Why am I scratching my head? Because with at least half of the jury having personal ties to Penn State University, I wondering what the hell is going to happen...Are these assholes going to help him get off, which would go along with everything I have thought since the beginning...That everyone involved with that place is so blinded by their loyalty for Penn State Football, that they will do anything to try and cover up their dirty deeds...Yes, there is still the story floating around out there that the President, Paterno, and the board knew all about this, and were involved in the cover-up all these years...
But could it be that their loyalty to Penn State could automatically lead them to wanting "the Book" thrown at Sandusky for tarnishing the school and Joe Paterno's reputation...Maybe, but which ever way things go, people will have questions and doubts about it...Hell, we could even get a mis-trial...Fuck, I just don't trust anything that goes on there...
-And speaking of not trusting things...Boxing has reared it's ugly head again...Saturday night, Manny Pacquiao lost to Timothy Bradley...Now I haven't bothered paying for a fight in years, because Boxing has been garbage...But I still try to keep tabs on the news...And the easiest way to track something as it happens, without watching it, is Twitter...If you follow the right people, you'll get nearly punch to punch updates...So Saturday night I kept an eye on Twitter...From the tweets I was seeing, Pacquiao was leading throughout the fight...Shit, Pacquiao landed 82 more punches then Bradley...
But then the fight went to the judges scorecards, and the Twitter-verse exploded...The judges, and the world of boxing were getting thrashed for this decision...We have heard about fights being fixed, and fighters taking a dive, but this seemed like the fix was in, and no one told the two guys in the ring...
I remember when Boxing was still a big deal...The night of the Hagler/Leonard fight, every kid on our street was in my parents living room, watching that fight...Now most kids don't know shit about boxing...They either watch MMA, or they watch wrestling, which while I think it's crap, at least they're up front about it being bullshit, unlike Boxing...No one respects Boxing anymore, and that's because Boxing doesn't respect itself...
- Off the topic of sports...I often bash my city, Cleveland...I especially bash the horribly run Cleveland Browns...Then I was watching the Nightly News...I try to do it as often as the kids let me...That or get my news later in the evening when everyone is asleep...But the thing I noticed recently is the weather...Blazing heat and wild fires out West...The South East got it's ass flooded with buckets of rain...Earlier in the spring tornadoes hammered big chunks of the country...The Gulf and East Coast get their Hurricanes...Any day now the great quake is going to snap California off...
And here in the Cleve...We've had great weather...Mild Winter (I only shoveled twice)...Great Spring, and Summer came early...I don't actually like Summer, I'm a Fall guy, but still, no shitty, ass beating weather here...So for all the crap I dump on my town, I have to say, I may be living in the best location, weather wise,(and natural disaster wise) in the country...
That's it for now...Have a week...Oh, and go Thunder!
All I can hear in my head is, "I come from a land down under!" Or did Men at Work mean cum!?!
So the NFL had their "Pro-Bowl" and the NHL had their "All-Star" game this weekend...Love hockey and football but "All-Star" games are crap...The NHL skills competition can be fun to watch, but I'm losing interest in that these days too...Now they do a shoot-out thing, trying to be like the NBA's dunk contest...Guys hot-dogging and using props...Everyone was swinging on Patrick Kane's nuts, but his moves weren't the best...And I had more fun watching the goalies try to fuck with the shooters...Nobody is giving Carey Price any love...He turned his back to the shooter and watched his reflection in the glass, and he made the save!
Prince Fielder signing in the D was cover plenty already by everyone and their brother, and I could give a damn about Basketball...So what to talk about in Sports? Well, in a shocking update, I will defend a sports writer from The Cleveland Plain Dealer...The PD as we call it, is a piece of shit! Just a horrible paper...And now former Browns beat reporter Tony Grossi was not a favorite of mine...But I'm sticking up for Tony Grossi today...WHY? because his own shitty bosses, at his shitty paper didn't!
Last week Grossi who has worked the Browns beat for 18 years, tweeted that Browns owner, Randy Lerner is "a pathetic figure, the most irrelevant billionaire in the world."
Now, I don't disagree with him at all on that! But Grossi quickly deleted the tweet when he realized what happened, saying it was suppose to be a text messaged "smart-(aleck) remark to a colleague." He also apologized to Lerner and the Browns...
But the damage was done as many followers re-tweeted it...Why wouldn't they? Finally, a reporter covering the team, said what we had all been thinking for quite some time! Fans are always talking about how Lerner is never at games...Always watching his Soccer team in England, or in New York with all his big bank buddies, plotting how to rape the middle-class more...Grossi was right on, and Browns fans were happy some one cut loose...Sadly, Grossi back-pedaled...Most likely fearing for his job...Right again, because instead of having his back in any way, shape, or form, the yanked Grossi off the beat...
And no matter what they try to say, I'm sure Lerner and the Browns organization made it clear, that they didn't want to see him again...Since Lerner took over after is father's death the franchise has come across as thin-skinned...It's skin got even thinner when the walrus, Fatty Holmgren came on board...Snapping at the media for questioning him, and the direction of the team...Snapping at the media because they wanted questions answered...Saying, "You're with us, or your not, and remember that when you come looking for playoff tickets." Try winning 6 games first, you fat fuck!
Listen up Fatty and Lerner...Here's the only trophy you two fuck-stains will be seeing...
And before people get on Grossi and his Twitter slip-up, just as they do whenever some dope gets in trouble because of a tweet...I personally know a Plain Dealer Sports Writer...Known him for years thanks to my dad...I have sat next to his drunk ass in a fine Cleveland watering hole, as he hit on my wife, and she laughed at him...Three minutes later, he was sleeping on the bar...None of these PD hacks want to be on Twitter...They were forced get Twitter accounts...There is a reason my dad isn't on Twitter...Guys that age don't need or want to fuck with new technology...They don't want to be on the grid anymore then they already are...They don't have the same Look at me mentality as Ashton Kutcher and I do!
So the PD made Grossi get on Twitter, but when he makes a mistake, they don't have his back...What twats...If they had any balls, class, and credibility, they would have said, 'Our guy made a mistake, and apologized, it's over and done with. If you don't like it, too bad.' But we know that won't happen...So Tony Grossi, I don't know where they are going to stick you, other then in the ass...So I suggest start writing a column, so you can get away with blasting dopes like Lerner...And put Twitter to good use...Shred all those pricks that didn't back you up...Burn that shitty bridge to the ground!
-Last week I blasted TIM_THOMAS...Plenty of people disagree with me, but fuck it, I stand by what I write...Taking a political stand, and saying it has nothing to do with politics sounds retarded...Then after calling attention to yourself and your stand, and refusing to talk about it continues to make you look retarded...Let alone, I thought how you originally made your statement made you sound like a dolt!
-Little Hockey here...Have you ever heard of the Bakersfield Condors? That's okay...But you gotta figure, if you're playing Hockey in Bakersfield California, you better know how to fight...
These two teams racked up 14 ejections and 278 penalty minutes, with 18 fighting majors!
Want to learn more about Hockey in Bakersfield...I suggest the book, "They Don't Play Hockey in Heaven"...Great book about life in minor league hockey, life after cancer, and life.
-Well we started in Australia, we may as well end there...
This was Ashton Kutcher's tweet last night after Joe Paterno was fired...He tweeted it to his 8 million followers and walked away...
I don't follow him, because I think he's a dolt...But his idiocy was ReTweeted by tons of people...I jumped all over his ass tweeting things like "@aplusk I guess you support child rape too, you stupid fucking asshole!" and
"@aplusk Too bad you didn't get raped, and have people cover it up...Then maybe you'd get it!" and
"@aplusk A stupid old football coach is more important then kids getting raped...You're an idiot...Try reading the report asshole! He knew!" and then he admitted he tweeted without knowing what the hell he was talking about...
"@aplusk Try reading something other than a script fuckstain! KIDS GOT RAPED! 10 year old raped in PSU shower by a coach, JoePa covered it up"
"@aplusk deleted his idiotic tweet. Doesn't make it better that he spoke without knowing a damn thing about what he was talking about. #Dolt"
Kutcher apologized repeatedly, and admitted to being an idiot...But that's not enough for me...Then on Thursday he posted THIS bullshit...
He talks about being a football fan, yet some how he thinks Penn State, the #12 team in the country with a 8-1 record, would fire Paterno for football reasons...And how does a football fan not know about this horrible story that has been swirling around Penn State? HOW ASSHOLE?
Either he really is a total and complete fucking idiot, or he is a typical, Hollywood celebra-tard, looking for some free PR...No matter what it is, unlike him, I don't delete my tweets, and I stand by them...Including the one where I said "@aplusk Too bad you didn't get raped, and have people cover it up...Then maybe you'd get it!"
Bring back Charlie Sheen...He may be a junkie, nut-job...But he's not a complete fucking idiot, supporting the cover-up of child rape...Even if he didn't mean it, and his bs story is true, have some info before you spew your idiotic thoughts to the world...
And by the way...All this talk about Paterno, and Kutcher, and Sandusky, and the Penn State students being fucking idiots...Oh, I'll get to them in my next post...The real shit that isn't being talked about enough, is the kids...The victims of these horrible crimes...Luckily, Theo Fleury, a survivor of sexual abuse was on the CBS Morning Show, and reminded people of that...Get his thoughts HERE.
