Yardbarker: EastCoastBias

Tour de France Rest Day Report #2

Mon, 21 Jul 2008 06:32:09 -0500

Now the Tour really starts. After two weeks of cat-and-mouse games in the flat stages and the Pyrenees, we're down to 5 riders with a shot at the yellow jersey. The time in between the rest days was mostly for the sprinters, but yesterday's first Alpine stage set the tone for the week to come.

Impressive Accomplishment or Just Another Choke Job?

Sun, 20 Jul 2008 19:44:30 -0500

Watching Greg Norman's lead slip away in the final round of the British Open today, I couldn't help wondering how the headlines would treat the biggest sports story of the weekend. Would we see lots of "At Age 53, Norman Makes One Last Run at Greatness" or would the headlines read "Norman Chokes Away Another Major"? Which is the more interesting angle on the story? I wasn't sure, so here's a breakdown.

Redskins Trade for Jason Taylor

Sun, 20 Jul 2008 18:39:06 -0500

The Redskins' acquisition of Taylor will obviously help this year given their injury problems, but is it the right move given the team's status as 3rd or worse in the NFC East?

Ugliest Famous Faces in Sports

Thu, 17 Jul 2008 09:48:49 -0500

Some very famous, best-in-the-world sports figures are really hard on the eyes. Take a look at some of the worst of the ugly.

Tour de France Doping Scandal #3: Riccardo Ricco

Thu, 17 Jul 2008 09:45:46 -0500

Now it's getting serious. Today, the entire Saunier-Duval team was withdrawn after Ricardo Ricco ("The Cobra") tested positive for EPO. This is by far the biggest and most damaging news for the Tour this year. By figuring prominently on the toughest mountain stages, Saunier-Duval was making its mark on the Tour. I also think it's fair to say that Ricco was one of the most promising young climbers in this year's Tour. Now we know why.

Can Kyle Busch Get to 13 Wins?

Wed, 16 Jul 2008 07:00:40 -0500

Kyle Busch won his 7th race of the year on Sunday at Chicagoland with a late pass of Jimmy Johnson, extending his championship lead to 262 points. He's a lock to make the Chase, so lots of the drama surrounding the rest of the season will be the question of whether he can get the all time record for wins in a season.

Best and Worst of MLB All-Star Game

Wed, 16 Jul 2008 00:49:04 -0500

Who were the winners and losers of the All-Star Game that almost never ended? JD Drew was the MVP, but Tejada and others deserve some credit. How about Dan Uggla's new record?

Tour de France Rest Day Report

Tue, 15 Jul 2008 07:02:47 -0500

After 10 stages over the past week and a half, the overall picture of this year's Tour de France is starting to become a little more clear. So who still has a chance to ride into Paris with the yellow jersey?

Billy Packer Dismissed from NCAA Broadcasts

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 18:53:18 -0500

According to ESPN.com:

Billy Packer's streak of Final Fours is over after 34 years.

Packer, a color commentator, will be replaced in CBS' coverage by studio analyst Clark Kellogg, according to media reports Monday.

Jim Nantz will continue in his Final Four play-by-play role.

Packer, 68, will leave CBS after 28 years to pursue "other projects in basketball," according to The Miami Herald.

An announcement was expected Monday.

Tar Heel fans collectively to Billy Packer - "shut up old man, or I'll break your hip."

REACT:

I have really mixed feelings about this shake-up. Packer apparently took tons of heat for declaring that the game was over when Kansas was up by about 30 on UNC in the National Semi's this past April, only for UNC to put a huge scare into Kansas and almost come back. I think that freaked out the suits at CBS more than anything, because nothing makes a producer happier than hearing their broadcaster practically encourage viewers to turn a game off with some hour and 30 minutes left in the broadcast. Not like that would piss the advertisers off.

I also dislike Packer for being smarmy, crotchety, and generally speaking, playing the "angry old man" role next to Jim Nantz. Packer could find something that he disliked about anything. Hell, Jesus could be playing basketball against Moses one-on-one, each shooting 100% from the half-court line, with a tie-game in the final minute of play, and Packer would complain about the defense. Personally, it irks me that everytime I put in my tape of the 2002 NCAA Championship game (which is more and more often just to remind myself that the Terps were respectable not too long ago at basketball), I have to hear Packer comment at least twenty times during the First Half that it was the ugliest National Championship game he's ever seen. But you know what? I think more than anything the truth hurts.

But I look at it from this angle as well... Packer provided quality color commentary. He knew the game inside and out. He knew what he was talking about, even if he pissed you off when he was saying it. I can't imagine Clark Kellogg bringing the same degree of insight to the broadcasting table. Nor can I imagine Kellogg conveying the same degree of excitement that Packer could convey. Because for all of his "old man-ism's," when a game was on the line, Packer conveyed the excitement in an understated, non-Gus Johnson way.

I do think the broadcasts will suffer for Billy Packer not being there. All told, I think that the broadcast team of Nantz-Kellogg will just be too mellow for such an important game as the National Championship Game.

Piling On - More Nats Abuse

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 18:53:17 -0500

Norman Chad (a writer between his annual stints killing what's left of the poker craze) has a comical though scathing column in the Washington Post this week about Nationals Park. He's not a fan.

Redskins Kept Trademark, Likely Will Lose Radio

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 18:53:17 -0500

If you didn't read the NFL Roundup from Friday, you may have missed that the Redskins won their federal challenge to the Trademark Office's decision to cancel the Redskins' trademark as racially derogatory. The District and Circuit Courts for D.C. both cited "laches", the equitable concept that prevents defendants from being prejudiced by suits brought long after they could have been.

It ain't over yet.

The Native American group, led by Susan Harjo, heading the fight against the slur is considering a new strategy. Redskins owner Daniel Snyder has just bought a group of radio stations through his Red Zebra Broadcasting group. That means he has to obtain new FCC licenses for the stations. That means he needs FCC approval. That means this is the first possible opportunity the Native American group has to challenge the anticipated daily use of the epithet on the airwaves. That means the laches defense that has been so successful for Snyder in the courts is not going to be an option.

Danny Snyder Little Napoleon

They're going to challenge it, and they're very likely to win. Imagine Snyder's furor when the FCC tells him his licenses are approved, with the minor caveat that he can't use the word "Redskins" on "Redskins Radio". Oops.

Ironically, who knows better than Snyder what it's like to feel bad every time you turn on the radio. I mean, isn't that why he bought WTEM, SportsTalk 980, in the first place, canning just about everyone?

Snyder, who obtained the rights to "Washington Warriors" when the Redskins' trademark was first temporarily cancelled, will have a difficult decision to make. Does he take a monster loss on his newly acquired radio stations, or does he finally cave and change the team's name to protect his other investment? Snyder would be caught between a small garden gnome and a hard place.

Stay tuned...just not to [expletive deleted] Radio.

Home Run Derby = Yawn

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 18:53:17 -0500

I wanted to see this tonight, oh well...

Usually, the Home Run Derby is one of the more exciting events of the MLB All-Star extravaganza. What could be better than watching the best sluggers in the game crush as many as they can? Whether you like the individuals or not, watching them hit the ball 450 ft repeatedly can be enjoyable. Who can forget Big Mac crushing balls over the green monster, or Albert Pujols or Barry Bonds... ?

But this year, the lineup leaves quite a bit to be desired for various reasons. The AL lineup is Justin Morneau, Evan Longoria, Josh Hamilton, and Grady Sizemore. The NL lineup is Chase Utley, Dan Uggla, Lance Berkman, and Ryan Braun.

So what's wrong with that lineup, you might ask? The NL has 3 MVP candidates lined up, while the AL has some of the superstars of the game including the likely rookie of the year in the AL.

Stop screwing around, and give the hometown fans someone to cheer for.

What's wrong is that the great home run hitters of this generation are not represented. A-Rod and Manny both recently passed the 500 HR milestone, while Griffey hit his 600th this year. Ryan Howard and Albert Pujols are two of the best HR hitters in the game right now, but none of those 5 players will be swinging for the fences tonight. Nor will Vlad Guerrero, David Wright, Chipper Jones, ...

Depending on your definition, at least 5 of those players are from small-market teams, meaning that the percentage of fans who see these players on a regular basis is quite small. In addition with their youth, very few have established a name for themselves beyond the last year or two. Berkman leads this group with 281 HRs at age 32, while Utley only has 122 career HRs.

Berkman is the senior statesman of this derby, at 32 with 281 HRs.

The derby is supposed to be for the fans, a chance to see the stars who they love hit the ball as far as possible. Instead, the fans get a bunch of solid players, but none of them are known for bashing the ball out of the park for the last decade. When was the last HR derby without a single hitter in the 300 HR club?

I'm not saying it isn't nice for the small-market players to get some recognition, because those 8 are all quality players, at least this year. What I'm saying is that I'd like to see some of the many future Hall-of-Famers swinging tonight, instead.

A whole new way to watch sports...

Sat, 12 Jul 2008 18:36:57 -0500

So I've always considered myself a truly patriotic guy. Not the kind of guy to ride in the back of an antique convertible with the American Legion guys throwing candy out to little kids at Fourth of July parades. But patriotic enough to root like hell for the Americans at the Olympics and get some dust in my eye everytime I see that flag raised high and our anthem played at a medal ceremony.

That said, when my IRS "Stimulus Check" arrived in the mail a few weeks ago, there was some discussion as to how to spend it. Somehow my wife and I had stumbled into that class of people that got a $1,200 rebate check. I think the IRS maybe just threw darts at the wall. I'll leave it to our resident tax law expert, J-Red to explain.

Many of you know we just moved into a new townhouse and there is a lot we could do with that $1,200. Namely, place it in our savings account to rebuild the account from our down payment. But my wife and I, both of us being patriotic, decided that this just wouldn't do. No. We had to spend our money frivolously, on consumer goods, to bolster the economy. So, in the most ardent show of patriotism since John McCain survived years in the Hanoi Hilton without giving up information on his colleagues, we went to our local Best Buy, and bolstered the Gaithersburg, Maryland economy by purchasing this:

That's right. A Samsung 46" 1080p LCD flatscreen HD-TV. Hell, we were so patriotic, we even took advantage of a July 4th sale. We were even more patriotic by helping to support the Japanese economy by purchasing a Samsung product, because we want to support our continued rebuilding efforts of the post-World War II Japanese economy. Can't let them fall prey to North Korea.
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So, gang, last night I took in part of my first major league baseball game in full and beautiful HD. I also took part in my first ever Baseball Tonight viewing. Two words... HOLY. CRAP. I mean, watching the O's-Red Sox game (the Nats weren't on HD... maybe this has something to do with that pathetic 9,000 figure), I could see the beer belly and pasty skin of every Masshole crammed into the seats in Fenway. From the behind the pitcher's mound angle, you can spot which player's jersey the fan is sporting, and practically what brand of beer they are drinking. More importantly, you can see the move on the pitch, the velocity on the pitch, and the mechanics of the swing. On wide-angle shots of the ballpark, you literally feel like you're there. All I can say is I cannot wait to watch this TV during football season.
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Baseball Tonight was even more amazing, as I read somewhere that ESPN somehow has higher HD-quality broadcasts than standard network HD broadcasts. I'm not a technocrat enough to understand what I'm reading when I read that, but I can tell you that once you go HD, it's really, really difficult to go back.
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Now, I really can't wait for the Olympics next month, set to be broadcast all in HD. Now I'll be able to see, among other things, the testicles that have developed on all the Romanian female weightlifters. I would cite to outdoor events, but I don't think my HD broadcast will be able to overcome the choking smog to actually see the events.
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So a public patriotic service announcement from ECB - use your stimulus check to buy an HD TV. You'll never watch sports the same way again. And don't buy American.

NFL Roundup - Favre Coming Back, Matt Jones' Nose Candy, and Redskins Slurs

Fri, 11 Jul 2008 18:03:34 -0500

It has been a big day for NFL news, and we're only in early July. I'm already ready already.

1) Favre Is Back - Chris Mortensen has just reported that Brett Favre "emphatically expressed" in a conference call with the Packers that he is coming back this year. He has had his agent, Bus Cook, overnight a letter to the Packers requesting his release.

PSYCH!!!!

That Favre is so realistic about having to go elsewhere to finish his career is reassuring, but what incentive do the Packers have to release him now, rather than try to make sure they can send him out of the NFC? I suspect the Packers will remove Favre from the retired list and try to shop him around, consulting with Favre as well. Given his struggles in the Metrodome, I don't think the Vikings are as high on Favre's list as experts would have us believe. I suspect he could end up in Tampa, with a head coach who has excelled with older QBs before (Gruden and Rich Gannon).

2) Matt Jones Caught with Cocaine - I don't have much to add to this story. Jones has struggled at times in Jacksonville, having converted from Arkansas QB to NFL WR. When you get picked up at 4:11 a.m. in Arkansas with cocaine in your possession (reportedly cutting it into lines with a credit card, hopefully platinum, not Winn-Dixie), there aren't a lot of good excuses.

No coke sheen? Cops must not have even let him have a little bump. Fascists.

3) Redskins' Name Survives Court Challenge - For the second time, a federal court has refused to cancel the Washington Redskins' trademark at the request of a Native American group. For the second time, the court said that the Native American plaintiffs waited too long to bring the suit. The legalese word for this is "laches", and the concept is that a) it must not hurt that much if you waited so long and b) it's not fair to the defendant to fear lawsuits for eternity. It's basically a common law statute of limitations.

I can't believe they settled for lifetime passes to Six Flags America.

To be clear, no federal court has ever said that the team's name is not patently racist. They've only said that they choose not to hear the case because the name has been used for now over 70 years (as a trademark for over 40), and that evidence of the damage the name has done to Native American communities is spotty at best.

Yeah, it's bullshit. Congress puts statutes of limitations on acts all the time. It chose not to for this one. That should be evidence that they did not want there to be one, not that courts were free to decide their own.

If you want to read about the case's progress prior to now, Wikipedia has a nice summary. The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board actually cancelled the Redskins trademark in 1999. On appeal by the team, the United States District Court for D.C. reinstated the trademarks, saying there was insufficient evidence of disparagement, and that the doctrine of laches made the suit unfair to the Redskins. The Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit agreed with the District Court in 2005, but sent the case back to District Court to decide whether laches also barred the claim of one plaintiff who was only one year old in 1967 when the mark was registered, and thus could not legally have sued until 1984. Today's ruling determined that waiting from 1984 to 1992, when this matter was first brought to the Trademark Office, also constituted laches.

If you're wondering, it is poor form for a District Court to say "seriously, we're not going to make an NFL team change names just for a few of you Indians." It's much more professional just to say "laches" and shrug.

Tour de France Doping Scandal #1

Fri, 11 Jul 2008 18:03:34 -0500

And so it begins... We all had a sick feeling in the pits of our stomachs that once again this year's Tour would produce positive drug tests, and today that has been confirmed. This post is labeled scandal #1 because just like cockroaches, when you find one, there are lots more you can't see. And recent history indicates that we will see more than one positive test over the next couple weeks.

As yet another member of USPS/Discovery during Lance's reign has been caught doping, one has to wonder whether this is part of a continuing French conspiracy to discredit Lance's legacy. Or maybe Lance was doping along with his entire team, and they were just good enough not to get caught. Or maybe his team was doping, but he's actually innocent as he has so vehemently and vigorously claimed. Too bad the same defense didn't work out as well for Floyd.

While this may be unfortunate for team Liquigas, Manuel Beltran's positive test is unlikely to significantly affect the outcome of this year's Tour. It's just another black mark on cycling's filthy doping record.