Views from the Nosebleeds: 2016 NFL Regular Season, Week 10

Frankly, I don't show frequent love to NFL place kickers because, like many football fanatics, I tend not to regard them as "real" football players.  I often hate how a game can swing on the foot of a guy who only comes out for kickoffs, extra points and field goals--especially with the tough year kickers are having since the extra point extension to the 15-yard line last season.  Well, if you ask Chiefs play-by-play announcer Mitch Holthus--who has long been one of my favorite radio network announcers--Cairo Santos might as well have been Moses, King David and Jesus Christ rolled into one.  When their visit to Carolina was primed for overtime tied at 17, Panthers receiver Kelvin Benjamin handed Marcus Peters and the Chiefs' opportunistic defense an early Christmas present via a fumble on Carolina's 24-yard line with only 20 seconds remaining in regulation.  As Santos nailed the first walk-off of his career, Holthus' call was one for the ages:

This would be the biggest kick for Santos...and all of Brazil holds its breath...17-17...it's now four seconds they're saying left in the game...ball in the center of the field...on a 37-yard attempt...placement is down...Santos' kick...he lines it up AND THAT BABY IS RIGHT DOWN THE MIDDLE!  É SULCÉ É BOA!  É SULCÉ É BOA!  AND ALL OF BRAZIL AND THE CHIEFS KINGDOM REJOICES WITH AN INCREDIBLE, IMPROBABLE VICTORY ON THE ROAD!

First and foremost, thank God I kept my TuneIn Premium subscription because I wouldn't have located this audio otherwise.  Second, when I do something even remotely as amazing as that, I need Mitch Holthus on speed dial and speaking Portuguese is purely optional   Third, that's the best radio call I've heard since 98.5 The Hub color analyst Scott Zolak gave us, "BRADY'S BACK!  THAT'S YOUR QUARTERBACK!  WHO LEFT THE BUILDING?!?!  UNICORNS!  SHOW PONIES!  WHERE'S THE BEEF?!?!"  With that, fellow pigskin enthusiasts, let's recap Week 10...

Love & Basketball? The Fallen Romance With My Ex-Favorite Sport, Part 1

So early last week, Big Little Brother Scribbler sent me a text saying that he was on his way to Houston for the announcement of Allen Iverson's possible induction into the Basketball Hall of Fame along with four-time NBA champion Shaquille O'Neal.  When he mentioned those names, it reminded me of two things: 1) being happy when the Sixers took Game 1, but being disappointed when the Lakers swept the rest of the series; and 2) when basketball was still competing with football as my favorite sport.  Although Michael Jordan had retired for the second time in 1998, Dominique Wilkins (my favorite player of all time) retired a year later and Hakeem Olajuwon and Patrick Ewing were on the downside of their careers, the new breed that included Iverson, O'Neal, Kobe Bryant and Kevin Garnett were keeping the party going.  However, somewhere along the way, I stopped watching as many regular season games because 82 games just became too much to follow and I simply focused my energy on the playoffs--treating what was once my favorite sport with the same attentiveness that I give the MLB.  So what made me trade in what seemed to be an undying love for basketball for just a casual and sometimes strong like?  Well, in the first of what has become a two-part series, "Love & Basketball? The Fallen Romance With My Ex-Favorite Sport," I will discuss the more personal reasons why I am no longer as smitten with hoops as I was in the 80s, 90s and early 00s...

Big Deal or Not? A Perspective on Jason Collins' Announcement

After weeks of discussions about the possibility of a male athlete in one of the four major sports in the United States coming out as openly gay, NBA free agent center Jason Collins has decided to carry that gauntlet.  In a joint article with Franz Lidz from last Monday's edition of Sports Illustrated, Collins stated this:

I'm a 34-year-old NBA center. I'm black. And I'm gay...I didn't set out to be the first openly gay athlete playing in a major American team sport. But since I am, I'm happy to start the conversation. I wish I wasn't the kid in the classroom raising his hand and saying, "I'm different." If I had my way, someone else would have already done this. Nobody has, which is why I'm raising my hand.

Mind you, this announcement comes nearly two weeks after former Baylor University women's basketball star and Phoenix Mercury No. 1 overall draft pick Brittney Griner admitted that she was a lesbian.  However, that neither received the same amount of fanfare nor--and I say this with the utmost respect--wasn't as much of a surprise on a couple of different levels--though equally encouraging for other female athletes who may have trepidations.  Ironically after the whole debate about whether Griner could be successful playing in the NBA, homosexuality may be the only arena where female athletes aren't susceptible to as much scrutiny as male athletes.  Thus, I believe that's one of the many reasons why Collins' willingness to be the first has been heralded as such a "landmark" event in American professional sports--even drawing strong comparisons to Jackie Robinson becoming the first Black player in Major League Baseball in 1947.  (I personally wouldn't go that far because racism was much more prevalent during Robinson's era whereas homosexuality is significantly more tolerated, accepted and/or celebrated in this day and age, but it's still an important event nonetheless.)

"Boo This Man" Moment of the Week: Mike Rice & Tim Pernetti

(Yeah yeah yeah, I know this all unfolded last week, but you have yet to hear my take and I know that you've been waiting for it because my opinion means soooooo much to you.  Besides, I needed a week to really get my thoughts in order about this mess.  So buckle your seat belts, ladies and gents...)

Imagine sending your 18-year-old son to Rutgers University to play college basketball.  You're excited to see him take his talent to the next level and get a good education while he's at it, whether he decides to go pro or simply wants the experience of playing at a Division I school.  You leave him in the hands of an adult that you assume will not only teach him how to improve upon his game, but will also have your child's best interest at heart overall.  Never would you think that this same adult would utter words like this to your child: "You're a f*ck*ng fairy...you're a f*ck*ng f*gg*t."  Okay...so maybe you didn't make such an assumption because you've heard about coaches cursing out their players.  I'll give you that one concession.  However, I'm sure that you never thought that a supposed leader of young men would shove, kick or punch them; hurl basketballs at their heads, feet or groin areas; or beat them with pads because they didn't perfectly execute a play as it was drawn.  What would you do if you knew that former Rutgers Scarlet Knights Head Coach Mike Rice was verbally and physically abusing your son and other kids over a span of 2-3 years?  Not days...not weeks...not months...years.  I'd put money on your reaction mirroring LeBron James' tweet: "If my son played for Rutgers or a coach like that he would have some real explaining to do and I'm still gone whoop on him afterwards!"

Are You Not Entertained?!?! The Glorification of Gruesome Sports Injuries



By now, most of you have heard about or seen the lower leg injury that Louisville Cardinals' guard Kevin Ware suffered playing against the Duke Blue Devils in the NCAA Midwest regional final on Sunday.  With a little over six minutes remaining in the first half contesting a three-point shot, Ware came down awkwardly on his right leg, which bent at a 90-degree angle and led to an open fracture where nearly six inches of bone protruded through his skin.  In a scene filled with coaches crying, teammates regurgitating and an arena full of people praying for the sophomore guard, it is arguably the most horrific injury ever seen on a basketball court.  CBS, who aired the game, may have shown the replay a total of three times and that's it.  Other media outlets like ESPN showed it afterwards and gave warning to their viewers of its graphic nature.  I didn't actually see it as it happened, but once I heard about the specifics the next morning, I had no desire to see any replays.  Only by research for this particular post did I come across a few of the bone protrusion pictures.  To date, I still haven't seen the video and don't want to see it.

Singing Out of Tune: The Blunder Years

On the latest edition of the His & Hers podcast hosted by ESPN's Michael Smith and Jemele Hill, they discussed Golden State Warriors' shooting guard & small forward Klay Thompson, who was fined $35,000 for being one of the escalators in the February 26th "brawl" between the Warriors and the Indiana Pacers.  Consequently, his father Mychal Thompson--the No. 1 overall draft pick for the Portland Trail Blazers in 1978 and two-time NBA champion with the Los Angeles Lakers in 1987 and 1988--docked him pay out of his "allowance" for his involvement...mind you, that "allowance" comes from Klay's money that he makes as an NBA player.  The Thompson parents literally hand their young adult son an envelope full of spending money once a week.  Wild, right? Jemele Hill seemed to think so and had this to say: