Dwight Howard and the Entitled Star Athlete

The above image is from the Orlando Magic's 108-86 loss to the New York Knicks last night, a game that was broadcast nationally on ESPN. As you can see, Magic coach Stan Van Gundy is hosting a timeout discussion, probably focusing on the reasons Orlando had fallen so far behind. Then off the the right of the image, Dwight Howard and teammate Jameer Nelson sit isolated from the rest of their team, completely out of hearing reach of even Stan Van Gundy's voice, let alone your average screeching coach. This sign of disrespect to their coach and their teammates is something that is not just a common problem on the Magic, but all across professional sports today.

In countless cities in America, faces of sports franchises are carrying themselves with this type of lofty attitude, putting themselves about the team itself, caring more about themselves as a brand than they do about the win in the next morning's paper. There is really no excuse for this type of behavior, and Howard's actions last night is a perfect example. If anyone in the National Basketball Association should be doing everything in their power to re-endear themselves with their employer, their teammates and their fans, it's Howard, following a trade request that went unfulfilled and has loomed over the Magic all season. Instead, Howard shows a complete disregard for all of those parties, by clearly displaying what one would perceive as selfish actions. What message is he sending here? That he and Nelson aren't responsible for the loss? That Van Gundy has nothing to offer him as far as advice in this situation? Even if these things are true, this is almost an aggressive act of disrespect considering six steps is the difference between this being talked about nationally or a non-issue.

This issue shines a spotlight on many problems in professional sports today, where the athletes have all the power and control the fate of the league. We saw this with the secret conspiring that led to the Miami Thrice, LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, as well as countless other trade requests and other me-first activity. But what can be done about this. What is stopping star athletes from acting this way? When fans are paying money to see them, and not the owners and coaches, who ultimately has power over the athletes? When the athlete is earning a considerably higher salary than their coach, how does a coach discipline that athlete. The basic bureaucratic system and chain of power and command is flip-flopped.

I hope that Howard has to ask questions about this, and I hope other athletes start facing consequences for their selfish actions. Maybe it just takes an outspoken veteran (on Orlando I would point to Jason or Quentin Richardson) to put these guys in their place and show them where they are wrong. Maybe these events require league intervention and suspensions. But there is really no excuse for disrespecting your teammates in any situation, win or lose. I suppose the only punishment is the fact that when we're looking at the NBA teams still playing in June, the Orlando Magic probably won't be one of them.

What Do We Believe in All This Braun Business?

So Braun becomes the first guy to get accused of violating the MLB drug policy and have the suspension revoked. But to me, something is still fishy here and it's not Mickey D's 2 for $3 Filet-O-Fish deal. There are a lot of different factors that make me question Braun's innocence in all of this. Now, I'm not saying he's guilty or he was definitely using PEDs, but let's explore some of the signs that could lead one to believe that this case is due for some further investigation.

Let's just look at Braun's public statement from Miller Park once it was revealed that he would not be serving the 50-game suspension for violating the drug policy. First of all, why do you need to make a 13-minute public statement like this with cameras and microphones and the works? Is this the new installment of "The Decision" entitled "The Appeal"?

He says that the reason he didn't come out before and "attack evereybody" was because he didn't want it to negatively affect the game of baseball. Then why is he doing it now? Once the suspension has been lifted obviously the media will get a hold of it, why would Braun need to come out and confirm everything we already know after the fact? To rub it in people's faces? Sounds like overcompensation to me, an act of a guilty man.

Braun says he was a "victim of a process that failed." Dino Laurenzi Jr. begs to differ. Without getting too specific, Braun basically blames Laurenzi, the urine test collector, or not following protocol which led to the positive test.

Laurenzi states, "I followed the same procedure in collecting Mr. Braun’s sample as I did in the hundreds of other samples I collected under the program."

Braun states, "There were a lot of things we learned about the collector, the collection process, about the way the entire thing worked that made us very concerned and very suspicious."

Who do we believe?

Basically Braun is saying that his sample got switched with one of the other two players who were tested that day, or that Laurenzi or his wife (the only other person in Laurenzi's home where the urine had to spend a night) planted something in his sample that caused the resulting high level of testosterone.

What I don't get here, is where the motive is for Laurenzi? Is he a Cardinals fan? Why has this not happened with any other of the 600 tests Laurenzi has done? One of Braun's defenses was that the testosterone level in the result was three times higher than anything else ever recorded in one of these tests, which was suspicious to him. But if Laurenzi was going to try to frame Braun, wouldn't he be slicker about it and tamper with the sample to make it look like a normal positive test? None of it adds up.

I'll admit that most of the evidence Braun provides points towards him being an innocewnt victim in this process, but from where I sit I think there needs to be further investigation. This was either a freak accident, or there was some foul play from either Braun or Laurenzi. I, as a sports follower, would like to know which one of those things is the truth. Braun says that by the suspension being revoked the truth has prevailed. I'm not sure we've heard the full truth at this point.

Weighing the Options: Why I didn't start The Wire

I understand that it is a fantastic show and that it is most definitely right up my alley, but I'm just not going to start watching The Wire... yet.

Jena Janovy. Jay Asser. Bill Simmons. President Barack Obama. Several friends of mine. These people have all endorsed The Wire and agree that it is an amazing, must-watch show. And while I have great respect for all of those voices, I just can't start the show at this time.

You see, I have a problem. If I start a television show, I have to watch every episode of that television show until I have seen all that is available. Much like Pringles, once I pop I just can't stop. Lost: three seasons (70 episodes) in two months. Dexter: four seasons (48 episodes) in two months. Breaking Bad: four seasons (46 episodes) in a matter of weeks. And I know I watched all of Six Feet Under in a small amount of time as well, especially considering it wasn't my type of show at all. It's an issue.

And in my final and most busy semester of my college career, I just can't afford to open the Pandora's box that would lead me to watching five seasons and 60 episodes of The Wire in two of the most important months of my life. It has nothing to do with my perceived quality of the show, or any of the many positive endorsements I have heard. It's a personal, self-control issue that I'd like to nip in the butt.

If I were to start this show I feel like it could jeopardize my timely graduation. If I got hooked on The Wire at this time, like I know I would, I would be left borrowing a phrase I have actually heard from the show said by Senator Clay Davis...

"Sheeeeeeeeeeeeeee...."

Coverage of Women's Sports

The way I see it, the coverage of women's sports gets better as you get more local. I'm not saying that's 100 percent true, or the way it should be, I'm just saying that's how I see it.

Working with the local western Massachusetts papers, I have seen some great coverage on high school girls sports and took part in it myself. I've done recaps and features for girls tennis, softball and soccer, and even put together a "Hampshire Gazzette All-Stars" team for local tennis. If you read that paper every day you have a pretty darn good sense of what is going on with those local teams and you really get to know the athletes.

I feel like the only women's college sports I am exposed to is the March Madness tournament, and even that is usually greatly overshadowed by the men's bracket. However, Brittney Griner has been changing that a bit. Her dominant presence alone has drawn me a little closer to women's college hoops, because I'm always looking to see what impressive feat she will accomplish next.

On the professional level, I'm not really exposed at all to what is going on, and that may be to some fault of my own. But it's also not seen much in the national eye. I see WNBA games on local sports networks occasionally and tune in to hear my boy Mike Gorman, the best play-by-play basketball guy there is in my opinion, do the Connecticut Sun games. But once again, that's a sort of local, New England factor. Very rarely will you see a WNBA game aired nationally, or a highlight package on Sportscenter. Even in the playoffs it's tough to catch most of the games, but at least you'll see highlights when it gets closer to the finals, and the finals are certainly aired (at weird times though, I feel).

One thing in women's sports I do think gets good coverage is the Women's World Cup. Those games are super exciting to watch and are aired pretty frequently. But besides that, I think locality has a lot to do with how well women's sports are covered.