Know Your Role, and Shut Your Mouth, Rookie.

With all the attention Dallas Cowboy's rookie wide receiver Dez Bryant is getting prior to this upcoming season, you might forget that he's never even played in an NFL game. From GM's asking Bryant if his mother was ever a prostitute, to Bryant following Quarterback Tony Romo to a quarterbacks only practice area, it seems hard not to hear about Dez Bryant these days. On Sunday, Bryant got himself in the news again (for the wrong reason this time), by refusing to carry veteran wide receiver Roy William's shoulder pads after the team had finished practice.

This act is common among many teams, where older players make rookies carry equipment as part of a hazing process, but also to show respect to veteran players. This type of hazing is a tradition that has gone on for decades, and carrying someones shoulder pads is probably easier and less demeaning than some of the other experiences N.F.L. rookies endure. After the incident, Bryant responded to the situation by saying:

"I'm not doing it. "I feel like I was drafted to play football, not
carry another player's pads. If I was a free agent, it would still be
the same thing. I just feel like I'm here to play football. I'm here
to try to help win a championship, not carry someone's pads.
I'm saying that out of no disrespect to [anyone]."

While Bryant said he didn't mean any disrespect by, it is one of the most selfish and insolent acts I've ever seen by a rookie, in any sport. As Roy Williams awknowlegded, it's something that all rookies have to go through, no matter what draft pick you were, or how important you think you might be.

At least you didn't have to wear a ridiculous outfits and face the media (like Robinson Cano and Justin Upton, below).

At least the equipment you were asked to carry was only a players pads and was during training camp. Not during during a home game in the regular season, in some ridiculous backpack.

All you had to do was carry shoulder pads maybe a couple hundred yards back to the practice facility. Is that really too much to ask? Have a little fun, and forget your ego for one second, Dez.

Dwyane's World

What's more surprising: the fact that Dwyane Wade was dumb enough to compare losing basketball games to September 11th, or smart enough to apologize for it the next day? Well, since it was probably his PR Department that made him apologize, not Wade's genuine gesture, I don't think I can choose the later. Answering questions yesterday, Wade said:

“There’s going to be times when we might lose one, two games in a row,
maybe two games, three games in a row, you never know. It’s going to
seem like the world is crashed down. You all are going to make it seem
like the World Trade has just went down again. But it’s not going to be
nothing but a couple basketball games lost and we’ll have to get back on track.”

While Wade probably offended thousand's of people, he's not the first moron to touch on the sensitive subject. Nick Saban, head coach of the University of Alabama Football Team had this to say after a monstrous upset against the University of Louisiana-Monroe in 2007:

"Changes in history usually occur after some kind of catastrophic
event. It may be 9-11, which sort of changed the spirit of America
relative to catastrophic events. Pearl Harbor kind of got us ready for
World War II, or whatever, and that was a catastrophic event."

No Nick, the loss would have been like September 11th if two planes had flown into Bryant-Denny Stadium, as the fourth quarter was ending. Way too offend the World War II Veterans also. However, none might be worse than Rick Pitino's comparison in 2009 after being accused of rape (and at least adultery). In response to how him and his family will get through the tough times, Pitino said:

"When 9/11 hit, you needed a community to get you over it. In
New York City, it was easy because everybody knew the devastation
of that and they got each other over it. In Louisville, the impact wasn't
felt like New York City, but I needed the community to help me get over it.
The university officials and my friends and loved ones have helped me
through this very difficult time."

Although Pitino did lose his brother-in-law during the September 11th attacks, it hardly seems that would justify a comparison to committed adultery. At least the first two comments were sports-related, this is just in bad taste. I think we can all agree that, under no circumstances, is a 9/11 references comparison ever appropriate in sports. If I had a nickle for every dumb comment an athlete made...

C'mon, A.J., really?

New York Yankees pitcher, A.J. Burnett, was forced out of yesterday's 10-5 loss to Tampa Bay. It wasn't because he'd given up four runs over two innings though, but because he'd cut both of his palms after slamming a set of double doors in frustration, after a consecutive second bad inning. Burnett started the third inning, and was lifted after facing only two Rays; who's at-bat's included a hit batter, a wild pitch, and an R.B.I. single charged to Burnett.

The early exit required manager Joe Girardi to use two middle relievers over the remaining seven innings, Dustin Moseley and Chad Gaudin, who gave up six runs over nine hits and four walks. The unfortunate, but necessary, use of Moseley and Gaudin might not have been such a big deal, especially with Burnett coming clean and apologizing for losing his temper, if it weren't for Andy Pettitte having to leave today's game just one out later than Burnett the day prior. Pettitte came up lame, stretching his leg and groin area, after delivering a pitch to Kelly Shoppach in the third inning.

Now, with the use of five more relief pitchers in today's game, Girardi has been forced to play all seven of his relievers over the last two games. You have to expect early exits from pitchers over the season, especially unfortunate injury-related ones like today, but this just makes Burnett's idiocy even more unacceptable. If you're a Major League Pitcher, you are going to give up runs, act like an adult (a professional might be asking too much of him). It's not like he gave up these runs to the Pirates or Mariners, it was a team that is fourth in the league in runs scored. When you're sporting an E.R.A. just under five (and you're 1-2 with a 6.89 E.R.A. against the Rays), you really can't be that upset with yourself; it's nothing out of the ordinary.

Pitch Hand Was Way Strong

In what was essentially the exact opposite of the Home Run Derby the night before, the National League topped the American League by a score of 3-1, in the 2010 All-Star Game. However, if you take away one enormously clutch double (by Brian McCann in the seventh inning with two outs and the bases loaded), the A.L. wins a nail biter, 1-0. If you also take away a lazy fly ball out by Robinson Cano in the fifth inning, we might still be watching baseball right now.

Ubaldo Jimenez and Josh Johnson made most of the A.L. lineup look silly, while Elvis Andrus made himself look silly, in what might have been the most "rookie-est" of base running blunders in All-Star Game history (seen below). Since the National League doesn't have nearly the the amount of big hitters as the American League, one can only wonder: is it a coincidence that the N.L. won what was such a low scoring game? A defense heavy game clearly favors the National League Players, and in the lowest scoring All-Star Game since 1990, the N.L. seemed to dominant for most of the game. The previous thirteen years (when the American League had gone 12-0-1), scoring average just over 9.5 runs per game. It seems obvious that the more scoring that takes place, the more of a chance the A.L. seems to have.

I hate second guessing a manger, especially when he is the regular manager of my team, but why wasn't Alex Rodriguez running for David Ortiz in the ninth inning? I know there might have been some position issues, but it could have been figured out. So what if A-Rod has to play first base for an inning or two, there wasn't any guarantee that there would have had to be extra innings even if Alex had scored. Remember, this is an event that has seen Rodriguez himself insist that Cal Ripken Jr. play shortstop for an inning, once they were already out on the field, and John Kruk bat against Randy Johnson with his batting helmet on backwards. Interesting and unusual things are supposed to happen, this is the All-Star Game. Regardless, when it comes down to it: I think the fans would rather see (and pay to see!) a high scoring game, not a collaborative pitchers duel. No wonder it was the lowest television ratings ever for an All-Star Game.

Goodbye, George.

As you might have noticed, this is my first post on this blog of mine. I had been meaning to get it started sooner, but never got around to it. Until today, when I learned of the passing of George Steinbrenner, and decided this would be a very fitting day to share my first thoughts.

The appropriately overcast and rainy day in the City probably symbolizes the feelings of many New Yorkers right now. George Steinbrenner might have been the epitome of a Love/Hate relationship, and while the more of a Yankee fan you were, the more you probably leaned toward the love side; you can’t deny the impact this sports tycoon giant had on American sports. Many people loathed the fact that George was so involved in almost every day-to-day aspect of the organization, but what others despised about him, enabled me to envy and admire him.

Steinbrenner’s passion for winning for immense, but even more so obvious, creating multiple dynasties the “American Way”: starting from the absolute bottom. If you purchased a multi-million dollar business, wouldn’t you want to oversee as many facets of it as possible? Steinbrenner bought the Yanks for $8.7M, they’re now worth around $200B, and the YES Network (which he created) took in $250M alone in 2005, essentially A-Rod’s contract. Every penny brought in since 1972 was an impact of smart ownership, because Steinbrenner realized that people will pay to see great players play. And even if they’re on a bad team now, if you get enough great players together, they’ll win soon enough. From a business standpoint, the Yankees never had a losing season; because even the years they didn’t make the playoffs, they still usually led the MLB in total revenue.

I think of George as one of the few people who got to have his cake, and eat it too. He will surely be missed, and if his sons can do half as good a job as he did, I’ll be happy (although I guess that’d only be 25% as good a job as him, since there are two of them, and only one George).

George M. Steinbrenner III (1930-2010)