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.

All-Star Weekend Review and Grades

Even though this isn't a full season we, the NBA audience, still received a full slate of events at All-Star Weekend in Orlando. There were ups, there were downs, there was dancing, there music and although I think he's great, there was too damn much Kevin Hart. If you didn't get a chance to see everything, this is the post for you, and if you did see everything, let's relive the weekend together, shall we?

FRIDAY NIGHT

Celebrity Game
The celebrity game was actually kind of entertaining this year. Despite there being a huge blowout, no Justin Beiber and Kevin Hart dominating the spotlight the entire time, the C-List was shining and there were a lot of pluses to this game. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and ESPN personality Doug Gottlieb showed some actual impressive and entertaining basketball skill.

Gottlieb played at Oklahoma State and Notre Dame as well as the Russian Basketball Super League, so you knew he was going to be a ringer. He even administered a full court press on Ne-Yo! And we saw what Duncan can do in last year's game, but this year the two blew up and really caught my eye with some flashy moves and great team play. Kevin Hart was pretty funny, and when he got tossed from the game after throwing his shoe he locked up the MVP award right there. I was also happy to see that Michael Rappaport was not playing this year, because he annoys me, but was upset when they had him in the broadcast booth for what seemed like an eternity.

Grade: B

Rising Stars Challenge
As you probably know, this was not your older brother's Rookies v. Sophomores Rising Star challenge. The NBA decided to borrow an idea from the NHL and add a new twist to the event with Shaquille O'Neal and Charles Barkley drafted from a pool of all the first and second year players who would participate in the event. Team Chuck really surprised me. Coming in everyone I was watching with was talking about how Team Shaq had all the big names and talent, but let me put this is CAPS so the point is well taken, KYRIE IRVING IS LEGIT. Didn't miss from beyond the arc. Perfect 8-for-8.

As far as the entertaiment factor goes, Ricky Rubio was my MVP. Some of his passes were just a beauty to watch, and he had one Cousy-esque fake that sent me into a man-crush fit. And he dribbled through my boy Boogie Cousins' legs before throwing a lob to Mr. Lob City himself Blake Griffin, who provided some huge slams both Friday and Sunday night (but none Saturday night, I'll get to that). John Wall also had some highlight dunks and passes that are worth noting. Watch all these highlights here. Love the new draft format. Improvements are being made to this game and I like it.

Grade: B+

Linsanity 2: The Return of Melo

The second week that would be the sequel (weekuel?) in the Jeremy Lin saga certainly did not lack the drama that his audience saw in the first week, and it also included many of the same themes. There were big numbers, racist headlines, infinite hype and speculation. But in Linsanity 2, there were two new plot twists: the introduction of losing and the return of the Knicks' best player, Carmelo Anthony (played by Carmelo Anthony).

When the Knicks suffered their first loss (to the New Orleans Hornets of all teams), ESPN used the offensive headline, "Chink in the Armor" to get the point across that Jeremy Lin is indeed human. What that headline wasn't, was humorous, and I can't think of a more straightforward, obvious and useless inclusion of race possible in a headline. How any one (1) human, especially one who works at ESPN and has seen all of the backlash from racist comments about Lin, could think that that headline wouldn't stir controversy and get him fired, is a total mystery to me. Just shameless, offensive thought process.

But Linsanity 2 also included lots of drama on the court as well, the main point of conflict coming in the Knicks' 100-92 loss to the New Jersey Nets (what's with them losing to bad teams?). This game was Carmelo's triumphant return, and speculation had been growing in the previous days that Lin and Anthony would not be able to co-exist. The Knicks did lose that game, and Lin and Anthony had a bad communication late in the fourth resulting in a key turnover, but for most of the game they seemed to work well together. So while people may have blown off the handle about the two main characters losing in their first game together, I think the real story of that loss was our hero's defensive liabilities.

Deron Williams torched Lin most of the game resulting in 38 points for D-Will and Lin fouling out. But this wasn't the first time we saw this out of Lin. Jose Calderon had his way with Lin six days previous (11-17 FG, 29 points, nine assists, seven rebounds) and John Wall dropped 29 on him in his second start. I don't think Lin's cooperation with the Knicks' superstar is going to be anything he needs to concentrate on too much, but he is certainly going to have to work on his one-on-one defense (and his decision making and ball control; gotta limit those turnovers).

What will we see in the third installment of this Linsanity movie franchise? Who knows. Things may cool down a bit for now, (although with All-Star weekend coming up he will be getting tons of attention) but they will certinaly be "heating" up when the Knicks take their talents to South Beach tonight. What we do know, is that people will still be flocking to theaters, bars and TV sets to see the Linsanity saga continue, and if they stop, the Knicks can always bring in Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson to save the franchise.

New Thoughts on Concussions

After watching some pretty heart wrenching media pieces on concussions and the results they can lead to last week, I definitely have a more intensified view towards how cautious we should be about them happening, and also how they are treated after the injury. Concussions, and really all head injuries, are something that should be taken extremely seriously, and monitored heavily, in all sports, not just the ones heavy on contact.

The main thing that stuck out for me, as well as most of my other classmates since we talked about this a lot, was the second impact syndrome. I had never even heard of this condition and it seems like the most dangerous aspect of this entire issue, especially since younger folk are particularly susceptible. Since the injury is so serious and can turn fatal fairly rapidly and leaves most people who live through it disabled, it becomes infinitely important to take precaution in preventing putting athletes in a situation where it could happen.

The problem is, these things are often difficult to detect. The second impact could happen days, weeks or even months after the first one. This makes it very hard to detect if the athlete is still suffering from symptoms. In the case of the video we watched where the kid died, the kid said he was okay, the mother gave him the okay to play, his doctor gave him the okay to play, and clearly the coaches and players thought he was good to go. So how do we prevent SIS when it's hard to detect when the athlete is at risk? That becomes the question.

Clearly more must be learned about lingering symptoms and how we can the diagnose leftover effects of a concussion even months after the initial incident. It's such a fleeting thing and the slightest mistake could mean life or death. But like any issue, the main question is, 'where do you draw the line?' In this case, the line would be where we start over-preparing and taking too much precaution, if there is such a line in this case with the consequences being so severe.

When an athlete suffers a concussion do you sit them out all season? All year? When does it become safe to bring someone back. Is it ever? One of the concussion victims we saw who was left disabled said, "I could have sat out a season, and now I'll sit out the rest of my life." That is what is at stake here, but what if a player really is okay and they miss out on a prime chance to prove themselves to scouts, coaches, etc. which could lead to a future scholarship or lucrative career? How do we go about playing those who need to and sitting those who are at risk when we aren't always sure who falls under which category. That question almost comes down to a life vs. money issue.

Well, I've gone on for longer than I needed to. I'll have to just think these questions through. Until next time.