Specter wising up?

Senator Arlen Specter, R-Pa., has decided he will not seek a congressional hearing on the "Spygate" matter after weeks of threatening to do so, stating that the judiciary committee already has "too much to do."

Oh really Sen. Specter? Are you sure it's not also due to the fact that Senate should have nothing to do with what happens in day-to-day operations of the NFL? Getting involved in the whole steroids issue, I can understand. It actually involves more than sports- there are legality and other larger issues in play. But whether or not a team cheated against the rules of it's league? Please. NFL rules were broken, not laws.

And it's a dead issue. The Patriots admitted it, and were punished. It's not a national crisis.

If the Stanley Cup falls in the woods...

One of the better Stanley Cup finals in recent memory ended last night, bringing an end to another reasonably anonymous NHL season. It's too bad. While the ratings were up over last season, and games 3 through 6 six aired on NBC- the fact is that hockey remains far from the heart of the bulk of this nation.

What many people missed was the new face of the NHL, the Penguins' Sidney Crosby, taking on one of the old guard- one of the original six- the Red Wings. They missed a triple-overtime game that was won by the Penguins, forcing a game six, when they were some 34 seconds from elimination before tying the game in third period. They missed the first European-born captain to lead his team to the Stanley Cup, in Niklas Lidstrom. Exciting stuff, and- save for some smallish, hockey-crazed regions of this country- we seem to be left with the tree falling in the woods analogy. Left with a situation where it come to one of the most popular athletes in the world in another sport saying things like,"I don't think anybody really watches hockey anymore." The fact is, Tiger Woods probably isn't in the minority with that line of thinking.

I love hockey in case you couldn't tell. It boggles me that more people don't. So far the post-strike NHL hasn't made much of splash in the national conscience: one needs to make a concerted effort these days to follow the sport. It's buried in the sports pages and on national TV- relegated to the Versus Network or sporadic segments on Sports Center. And commissioner Gary Bettman still keeps a rosy outlook despite all the evidence of his league's lack of visibility.

Maybe it'll just take some more time to get people back. And maybe the ratings will increase again next year. And maybe I'm wrong- maybe there are more NHL fans still out there than it seems... but I hate to see the league I grew up watching (a kid in southern California growing up watching hockey- an anomaly in of itself) flounder now in some sort of nebulous mediocrity- especially when, as proved by this year's finals, the game has so much to offer fans.

JT deserves more, people

Pretty shocking to me, the outrage of people in the media and throughout the blogosphere at Jason Taylor. All he has maintained is that he wants to win before it's too late for him, that he wants the best possible situation for himself. A little selfish? Perhaps. Monstrous and egotistical? Hardly. 

Now I don't think he deserves a free pass by any stretch of the imagination, but I think after all his time in Miami he deserves the benefit of the doubt. It's June 1. If he doesn't show up for training camp, by all means- fire away, people- be angry that he isn't on the field. But to sit there and call him a liar, to say he is no longer needed, to attack the character and question the loyalty of a guy who has given his heart and soul to his team and his community for so long is a bit much.  

And why the hell should he or any player these days feel the pull of loyalty? Yes he is under contract. But what does that mean in today's NFL, where that contract isn't even guaranteed? Everybody's hopping on the Parcells/ Sparano train before it has even left the station. As a fan I am pleased with what they have accomplished so far, but until wins are on the board- what have they done? JT has been a Dolphin, has led his team, has proven results. You want loyalty Fin Fans? How about showing a little but yourself, rather than jumping ship at the first sign of trouble.

Not your daddy's Lakers-Celtics... but I'm hooked

I have been transported. I am a 10 year old kid watching Bird and Magic, Kareem and Parrish, McHale and Worthy battling it for seven games in The Fabulous Forum or Boston Garden... 

Okay the characters have changed, the venues have changed... hell, the game has changed. 

I grew up an avid Lakers fan, but as an adult my fervor for basketball has diminished. I would still pull for my old team, but I don't follow the NBA with the same intensity I do baseball or football. Well this year, as the Lakers and Celtics spent the better part of the regular season and then the playoffs seemingly on a collision course to warp us all back to the mid-80's, my eye was definitely caught. And now that it's official- the NBA finals start Thursday, Lakers vs. Celtics- I am hooked. Like, clear-your schedule-sorry-honey-we're-watching-the-game-tonight hooked. Hooked like I haven't been in years.

Kobe and his posse versus the Big Three of Boston should be sight for the ages. Just thinking about it takes me back. I can see Magic's junior sky hook going through the net in Game 6, Michael Cooper stepping back for what seemed an eternity before throwing up a three-ball... I can taste my hatred for Larry Bird and Danny Ainge. It's all there. Now while I may not be able to drum up the same hatred for KG or Ray Allen, and my heroes of yesteryear are all gone- my anticipation for this series is through the roof. 

My very unbiased pick: Lakers in 6. Kobe as Finals MVP (I know, waaaaay out on a limb there.) 

Drown out those Beat-LA chants and go Lakers.

The Mighty keeps falling...

Roger Clemens just can't catch a break.

First his trainer turns him in as PED user. Now, his deacade long affair from the past with country singer Mindy McCready comes to light- to which she says "I cannot refute anything in the story." What's it coming to when you can't trust your shady trainer or your mistress to lie for you when you need them the most?

Looks like he said- he said has been joined by he said- she said. Now, McNamee saved some physical evidence of his relationship with Clemens. I gotta think that Clemens is hoping McCready doesn't go all Monica Lewinsky and do the same. I think we should all hope for that- for sanitary reasons.

Clemens was guy whose workouts were stuff of legend. His exercise routine gave him some of the strongest legs ever seen in baseball. Now it's increasingly looking like he doesn't have leg to stand on.

Against the grade

The NFL draft has come and gone. All the hype and coverage culminated in two full days of wheeling and dealing, selections and expectations.

Now the same "experts" we have been listening to for months- who gave us hundreds of mock drafts (which bore very little resemblance to how it went down) and prognostications- as they do every year are giving out their post-draft grades for each team. A+ for this team, C- for them. All this when common opinion is you really can't judge the success of a draft for three years. Yet, right or wrong, these guys dole out the grades- based on their opinions of what they thought each team needed. Apparently the teams themselves, those receiving bad grades, didn't know what they needed to do- and should have listened to the mock drafters.

I understand that everybody needs to pay the bills, and that's all these draft experts are doing- but I am not a big fan of the instant post draft grade. None of these guys are putting anything on the line by throwing out their opinions. Whereas the guys in the front office actually making the choices are putting their jobs on the line with these selections. Let's give it some time, then we can really see who won and who lost- instead of just guessing.

Draft Week downer

As NFL draft weekend approaches, another NFL story which just won't die has come back in to the lime light. Spygate. Matt Walsh, the former employee of the Patriots is all set to talk to Commissioner Goodell and tell him all he knows about the video-taping practices used by the Patriots in the past. People are expecting Walsh to divulge information or physical evidence that the Patriots video-taped a Rams' pre-SuperBowl walkthrough in 2001.

All I really have to say is: who cares? I am no Patriots or Bill Belichick fan- in fact I can't stand either of them. But give it a rest. They got caught. The Pats and Belichick were punished, and they aren't doing it anymore. And I don't think it was ever the main reason for their success. I think it is safe to say they didn't video-tape for the remainder of last season after they got caught- and they were still pretty good. And I am still sure that there were many other teams out there employing the same or similar tactics- they just didn't get caught. You can bet there were tape- destroying parties throughout the league when this news originally surfaced.

Goodell has said he will crack down on Patriots if new evidence is revealed stating, "Taping a walkthrough is much different from what I punished them for." What's the commish gonna to do? Take away the Pats' Super Bowl victory? Fine them more cash? Hollow penalties that won't erase what happened. On some level it is kind of like the steroid crisis in baseball. I am sure there were many people who knew it was going on at all levels. Then when it became a public issue, it was denounced and people were made examples of. But we're left in the same place. Correct the problem now and going forward, and let the past be just that.

Now I am not saying that any transgression in sports can and should be swept under the carpet. But rather than delve into the past to punish these transgressors- learn from it. Especially in unprecedented matters. Make sure it doesn't happen in your league again, and make it imperative for the league's members to adhere to strict guidelines in this matter in order safeguard the integrity of the game.

Most of all, I am just bored with this story. Even as a professed Patriot-hater, I can't summon up the energy to care. And with the draft approaching, it should be a celebration of what's good about this game right now- not what was wrong in the past. Oh, and if congress gets itself involved in this one, as Sen. Arlen Specter has hinted they might- I am going to stop paying taxes.