Saturday, February 16, 2008
My Wish List For Sports In 2008
2007 was a great year. There were so many heartwarming moments of triumph, so many gut-wrenching moments of defeat, and so many laugh-out-loud moments of craziness in the world of sports that won't soon be forgotten.
But now it's 2008, and like so many "Rocktober" t-shirts, 2007 has been tossed on the proverbial burn pile in favor of the anticipation of another unforgettable year in sports.
What will 2008 bring? I can't claim to know what will happen, but I can offer a brief list of what I would like to see happen in sports in the upcoming year.
1. A use of video replay in all major sports.
This should be an easy one to get, as it seems to be on the verge of happening anyway, but there is a surprising backlash against the process.
I can understand why, though; the NFL has bogged down the replay process to a Bledsoe-ian running speed.
Once the questionable play happens, the team's video guys look at it, then they tell the coach to throw the flag, then the referee discusses it with the coach for a while, then the ref looks at the play, then the ref looks at the play again, then the ref steps back from the video booth to talk about the play with the video officials, then the ref looks at the play again, then the ref scoots back out onto the field to discuss it with the coaches for a while, then the ref announces his decision, then the game is finally allowed to resume. Whew. And all in slightly less time than the typical cricket match.
This may be the first and only time you'll hear me say this, but here's an area where I agree with the process used in college football. The NCAA simply puts an official (actually, three officials) in a video replay booth up in the press box area of the stadium, and allows them to make a call without having to go through the coach's challenge process. If a questionable call is made, the replay officials look at the video to see if a change is needed. If it is, they alert the on-field referee of the correct call; if not, the game simply continues uninterrupted. The coaches do have the ability to challenge a play if the replay officials do not initiate the process, but the on-field referee does not have to run over to a little hood-covered booth or anything; the replay officials in the press box still make the call.
It's simple, it's effective, and it doesn't bog the game down. Before we get to 2009, I'd like to see this kind of replay officiating implemented in the NFL, MLB, the NHL (which already has some kind of replay, but it could use some tinkering) and the NBA (also featuring an existing system that is a little short of perfect).
2. More ejections.
And not just in baseball, where it's extremely amusing to watch a manager get tossed, then continue his tirade until he is all but forceably removed from the field.
What I'm getting at is the increasing regularity with which we see highly- (overly-?) paid athletes ignore the rules of the game, only to be confronted with a minor penalty at best.
In the area of properly punishing offenders, the NHL is the current front-runner of the major sports. Already this season we've seen players who have purposely tried to injure an opponent immediately removed from the game, and from a sizeable portion of his team's following games. Take last March's Chris Simon incident, in which the New York Islanders' forward bashed in the face of Ryan Hollweg of the New York Rangers. Simon received a match penalty and was kicked out of the game, then was handed a then-record 25-game suspension that has stretched into this season. Jesse Boulerice of the always-thuggish Philadelphia Flyers was also suspended for 25 games after cross-checking Vancouver's Ryan Kesler in the face in October.
The swift, drastic action taken by the NHL in this regard is appropriate because of the nature of hockey as a sport -- any time you have large men with sticks traveling at high rates of speed across a sheet of ice, somebody's going to get hurt -- but it's also noteworthy because we don't see players ejected from other sports very often, MLB notwithstanding.
In the NFL, Warren Sapp of the Oakland Raiders was ejected from the Dec. 23 game against the Jacksonville Jaguars after receiving three unsportsmanlike conduct penalties in one play, which has to be some kind of record. Before that, it's hard to recall the last ejection in the NFL, let alone find it online (thanks for nothing, Google). I think it might be the 1999 game in which Cleveland Browns lineman Orlando Brown was inadvertantly hit in the eye with a penalty flag (which is pretty funny, actually) and went crazy, shoving referee Jeff Triplette before getting ejected and eventually suspended from the league.
But these two incidents are isolated against the seemingly ever-present backdrop of inappropriate in-game behavior that goes all but unnoticed. I have actually heard (and would love to see a YouTube clip of) an NFL referee picking up a flag, noting that it was "just some pushing and shoving." There are a few YouTube clips of referees actually calling penalties for, and this is a direct quote, "giving him the business." I hope this does not become an officially recognized way to call penalties.
Whatever it's called, there are far too many extra-curricular activities happening in any given NFL game, whether they be celebratory or confrontational in nature. If Terrell Owens should be fined for the simple, relatively benign act of dumping popcorn on his face after a touchdown, why should players (and coaches!) be able to verbally abuse officials game in and game out without any sort of punishment?
In 2006, Tyler Brayton of the Raiders (there seems to be a pattern here, yes?) was penalized and eventually fined for kneeing Jerramy Stevens of the Seattle Seahawks in the groin on Monday Night Football. Stevens was also fined, but neither player was ejected during the actual game.
My point here is that the old adage of "hit 'em where it hurts" comes into play, and that "where it hurts" is not where it used to be. For the average person, a fine of $15,000 would be pretty devastating; or at least, it would make him or her think twice about repeating the action for which the fine was enforced. But for an NFL player, even those in the lower echelon of talent like Brayton and Stevens, $15,000 is not that big of a deal. The average NFL salary is again over $1 million per season, which means that the average game check in the NFL is $62,500 (one million divided by 16, the number of games each team plays per season). In reality, $15,000 is what the average player gets paid for less than a quarter of play, which really doesn't dent the old bank account very much by the end of the year.
So hitting them where it hurts has to be where it really will hurt, and that's in the time they're allowed on the field. If you kick a player out of the game for acting like a jerk, chances are other players in the league will see that acting like a jerk will get you kicked out of the game. And most players, given the high levels of competitiveness needed to be a professional athlete, would rather cut off an appendage (see: Ronnie Lott) than miss any playing time.
3. Another all-time classic sports movie.
There have been a few in the not-too-distant past -- Remember The Titans, for example -- but gone are the days of Willie Mays Hayes prowling centerfield for the Cleveland Indians (with Bob Uecker in tow!) and Johnny Moxon coming off the bench to lead the West Cannan Coyotes to the inevitable championship triumph (yes, I just referenced Varsity Blues in conjunction with classic sports movies).
There have been some close calls, like 2006's Invincible, the true story of a Philadelphia bartender who earns a spot on the Eagles' roster in the mid-70's. We Are Marshall was also a worthwhile cinematic experience, but both films came up a little short. If I had to put a finger on it, I'd say they were a little bit too real, actually. If you haven't seen the movies -- SPOILER ALERT -- skip down to the next paragraph. At the end of Invincible, we find out that Vince Papale didn't even win the Super Bowl with the Eagles, and at the end of We Are Marshall, we find out that the team only wins one game that season. The Miami Dolphins won only one game this year -- granted, they didn't have a tragic plane crash kill all but three players, but the season was enough of a trainwreck as it was -- and we'll not likely see a movie about them in the near future.
All I'm looking for is a good, old-fashioned, good-guys-win, bad-guys-lose, overcoming-insurmountable-obstacles, triumph-in-the-face-of-adversity, don't-mess-with-me-because-I-like-writing-sentences-with-hyphens-instead-of-spaces kind of sports movie.
And it had better include some kind of 80's music training montage, or I'll walk right out of the theater.
Well there you have it, the top three things I'd like to see happen in sports this year.
How about you? What would you like to see from the sports world in 2008? A BCS playoff system, perhaps? More steroid testing? Some kind of inter-sports all-star competitions in the vein of the Battle Of The Network Stars?
I would love to hear your list, and I'd love to share it with our faithful readers, so send me your thoughts.
Drop me an e-mail at sports@valleycenter.com, or send me some snail-mail to PO Box 1529, Valley Center CA 92082, and I'll put it in next week's edition. Include your name and phone number, just in case it's a really good idea and I want to hear more about it.
In the meantime, start thinking about some things you'd like to see the sports world do away with in 2008, so we can discuss that next week.
But now it's 2008, and like so many "Rocktober" t-shirts, 2007 has been tossed on the proverbial burn pile in favor of the anticipation of another unforgettable year in sports.
What will 2008 bring? I can't claim to know what will happen, but I can offer a brief list of what I would like to see happen in sports in the upcoming year.
1. A use of video replay in all major sports.
This should be an easy one to get, as it seems to be on the verge of happening anyway, but there is a surprising backlash against the process.
I can understand why, though; the NFL has bogged down the replay process to a Bledsoe-ian running speed.
Once the questionable play happens, the team's video guys look at it, then they tell the coach to throw the flag, then the referee discusses it with the coach for a while, then the ref looks at the play, then the ref looks at the play again, then the ref steps back from the video booth to talk about the play with the video officials, then the ref looks at the play again, then the ref scoots back out onto the field to discuss it with the coaches for a while, then the ref announces his decision, then the game is finally allowed to resume. Whew. And all in slightly less time than the typical cricket match.
This may be the first and only time you'll hear me say this, but here's an area where I agree with the process used in college football. The NCAA simply puts an official (actually, three officials) in a video replay booth up in the press box area of the stadium, and allows them to make a call without having to go through the coach's challenge process. If a questionable call is made, the replay officials look at the video to see if a change is needed. If it is, they alert the on-field referee of the correct call; if not, the game simply continues uninterrupted. The coaches do have the ability to challenge a play if the replay officials do not initiate the process, but the on-field referee does not have to run over to a little hood-covered booth or anything; the replay officials in the press box still make the call.
It's simple, it's effective, and it doesn't bog the game down. Before we get to 2009, I'd like to see this kind of replay officiating implemented in the NFL, MLB, the NHL (which already has some kind of replay, but it could use some tinkering) and the NBA (also featuring an existing system that is a little short of perfect).
2. More ejections.
And not just in baseball, where it's extremely amusing to watch a manager get tossed, then continue his tirade until he is all but forceably removed from the field.
What I'm getting at is the increasing regularity with which we see highly- (overly-?) paid athletes ignore the rules of the game, only to be confronted with a minor penalty at best.
In the area of properly punishing offenders, the NHL is the current front-runner of the major sports. Already this season we've seen players who have purposely tried to injure an opponent immediately removed from the game, and from a sizeable portion of his team's following games. Take last March's Chris Simon incident, in which the New York Islanders' forward bashed in the face of Ryan Hollweg of the New York Rangers. Simon received a match penalty and was kicked out of the game, then was handed a then-record 25-game suspension that has stretched into this season. Jesse Boulerice of the always-thuggish Philadelphia Flyers was also suspended for 25 games after cross-checking Vancouver's Ryan Kesler in the face in October.
The swift, drastic action taken by the NHL in this regard is appropriate because of the nature of hockey as a sport -- any time you have large men with sticks traveling at high rates of speed across a sheet of ice, somebody's going to get hurt -- but it's also noteworthy because we don't see players ejected from other sports very often, MLB notwithstanding.
In the NFL, Warren Sapp of the Oakland Raiders was ejected from the Dec. 23 game against the Jacksonville Jaguars after receiving three unsportsmanlike conduct penalties in one play, which has to be some kind of record. Before that, it's hard to recall the last ejection in the NFL, let alone find it online (thanks for nothing, Google). I think it might be the 1999 game in which Cleveland Browns lineman Orlando Brown was inadvertantly hit in the eye with a penalty flag (which is pretty funny, actually) and went crazy, shoving referee Jeff Triplette before getting ejected and eventually suspended from the league.
But these two incidents are isolated against the seemingly ever-present backdrop of inappropriate in-game behavior that goes all but unnoticed. I have actually heard (and would love to see a YouTube clip of) an NFL referee picking up a flag, noting that it was "just some pushing and shoving." There are a few YouTube clips of referees actually calling penalties for, and this is a direct quote, "giving him the business." I hope this does not become an officially recognized way to call penalties.
Whatever it's called, there are far too many extra-curricular activities happening in any given NFL game, whether they be celebratory or confrontational in nature. If Terrell Owens should be fined for the simple, relatively benign act of dumping popcorn on his face after a touchdown, why should players (and coaches!) be able to verbally abuse officials game in and game out without any sort of punishment?
In 2006, Tyler Brayton of the Raiders (there seems to be a pattern here, yes?) was penalized and eventually fined for kneeing Jerramy Stevens of the Seattle Seahawks in the groin on Monday Night Football. Stevens was also fined, but neither player was ejected during the actual game.
My point here is that the old adage of "hit 'em where it hurts" comes into play, and that "where it hurts" is not where it used to be. For the average person, a fine of $15,000 would be pretty devastating; or at least, it would make him or her think twice about repeating the action for which the fine was enforced. But for an NFL player, even those in the lower echelon of talent like Brayton and Stevens, $15,000 is not that big of a deal. The average NFL salary is again over $1 million per season, which means that the average game check in the NFL is $62,500 (one million divided by 16, the number of games each team plays per season). In reality, $15,000 is what the average player gets paid for less than a quarter of play, which really doesn't dent the old bank account very much by the end of the year.
So hitting them where it hurts has to be where it really will hurt, and that's in the time they're allowed on the field. If you kick a player out of the game for acting like a jerk, chances are other players in the league will see that acting like a jerk will get you kicked out of the game. And most players, given the high levels of competitiveness needed to be a professional athlete, would rather cut off an appendage (see: Ronnie Lott) than miss any playing time.
3. Another all-time classic sports movie.
There have been a few in the not-too-distant past -- Remember The Titans, for example -- but gone are the days of Willie Mays Hayes prowling centerfield for the Cleveland Indians (with Bob Uecker in tow!) and Johnny Moxon coming off the bench to lead the West Cannan Coyotes to the inevitable championship triumph (yes, I just referenced Varsity Blues in conjunction with classic sports movies).
There have been some close calls, like 2006's Invincible, the true story of a Philadelphia bartender who earns a spot on the Eagles' roster in the mid-70's. We Are Marshall was also a worthwhile cinematic experience, but both films came up a little short. If I had to put a finger on it, I'd say they were a little bit too real, actually. If you haven't seen the movies -- SPOILER ALERT -- skip down to the next paragraph. At the end of Invincible, we find out that Vince Papale didn't even win the Super Bowl with the Eagles, and at the end of We Are Marshall, we find out that the team only wins one game that season. The Miami Dolphins won only one game this year -- granted, they didn't have a tragic plane crash kill all but three players, but the season was enough of a trainwreck as it was -- and we'll not likely see a movie about them in the near future.
All I'm looking for is a good, old-fashioned, good-guys-win, bad-guys-lose, overcoming-insurmountable-obstacles, triumph-in-the-face-of-adversity, don't-mess-with-me-because-I-like-writing-sentences-with-hyphens-instead-of-spaces kind of sports movie.
And it had better include some kind of 80's music training montage, or I'll walk right out of the theater.
Well there you have it, the top three things I'd like to see happen in sports this year.
How about you? What would you like to see from the sports world in 2008? A BCS playoff system, perhaps? More steroid testing? Some kind of inter-sports all-star competitions in the vein of the Battle Of The Network Stars?
I would love to hear your list, and I'd love to share it with our faithful readers, so send me your thoughts.
Drop me an e-mail at sports@valleycenter.com, or send me some snail-mail to PO Box 1529, Valley Center CA 92082, and I'll put it in next week's edition. Include your name and phone number, just in case it's a really good idea and I want to hear more about it.
In the meantime, start thinking about some things you'd like to see the sports world do away with in 2008, so we can discuss that next week.
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