Posts Tagged ‘sports’
Video – Alabama High School Football Coaches Fighting (Stupidity)
Via Deadspin, a story about high school football coaches behaving very badly:
Alabama high school football coaches coming to blows after a game shouldn’t be that surprising, considering how seriously Alabama takes football in general, but that doesn’t make the incident any less ridiculous.
The key phrase above is “but that doesn’t make the incident any less ridiculous.” I don’t care how “seriously Alabama takes football in general,” these are adults being paid to coach kids. Yes, high school football is a big deal in some parts of these United States. Youth sports in general have become increasingly popular over the past 10+ years (my estimate), with major media coverage of younger and younger players. Remember the story about a 13-year-old QB committing to USC in 2010? (Here’s a follow-up on the now 17-year-old David Sills from June of 2013 if you’re interested; I admit to not actually watching the video I just linked to because I don’t really care.)
In case the above parenthetical was unclear, I’m not a fan of the excessive media coverage of youth sports. These are kids, most of whom will not go on to have professional sports careers, and they don’t benefit financially from the attention they receive unless they do manage to make it to the pro level. I am a fan of kids participating in youth sports, and I hope that the increased scrutiny of young athletes hasn’t taken away any opportunities for less talented youngsters to get on the field. For example, I was a sub-par baseball player — my first season I didn’t get a hit, although I was third on the team in walks because I quickly realized that 12-year-old pitchers don’t hit the strike zone all that often (at least they didn’t back then). By the time I stopped playing, I was good enough to start at first base and probably hit about .260 (guessing here). But I loved baseball. I was never going to be a superstar, but neither were most of my teammates. Why did I quit? Because the kids AND THE COACHES became increasingly hostile and hyper-competitive. Competitiveness can be a good thing on and off the field. But when a grown man screams and curses at a 10-year-old for striking out, that’s insane. A lack of sportsmanship from teammates doesn’t help either. This isn’t to say that everybody has to congratulate you for whiffing at an easy pitch and ending the inning with the bases loaded. But, to paraphrase Lisa Simpson, why would you come to our game just to boo (and curse at) us?
That’s why the video upsets me. It looks like a freakin’ bar bawl. I know these aren’t little kids; many high school football players are anything but little these days. It doesn’t matter. No one should behave like this, but for non-professional coaches it’s even more embarrassing.
via Alabama High School Football Coaches Get Into Postgame Brawl (Deadspin)
Rutgers Mike Rice Practice Video Is Disgusting
Rutgers basketball coach Mike Rice was fired. ESPN has video of why.
The video shows Rice doing the following during practices: shoving and grabbing players, hurling basketballs at them (at least once at a player’s head), and verbally abusing them by “screaming obscenities and homophobic slurs.” The latter refers to a word that begins with the letter F and ends with “got.”
The firing was announced via Twitter. I still find that odd although it is convenient.
Based upon recently revealed information and a review of previously discovered issues, Rutgers has terminated the contract of Mike Rice.
— Rutgers Athletics (@RUAthletics) April 3, 2013
Apparently there is another wrinkle here. ESPN reports that a Rutgers employee was fired and it may have been for telling the administration about Rice’s behavior. Here’s a video about that.
It is beyond belief that anyone would behave in this manner and be able to get away with it for any length of time. College sports are screwy.
Breaking news: Rice says he’s sorry. (Scroll way down on the page.) OK.
Streaker Disrupts Youth Soccer Game
You thought streakers only went to professional sporting events. You thought wrong. This streaker interrupted a high school soccer game. Seriously.
No, we mean it. They have video. And unlike in pro sports, they let the streaking nudniks on TV.
Makes us wonder if perhaps wannabe streakers will start to frequent high school sports. At least they’ll get on TV. If a trend emerges, please pretend we never suggested this. Because it’s a bad idea.
Via PE.com
We Were Ahead Of The Curve On Lance Armstrong
Flashback time. We’ve never been fans of Lance Armstrong. Back in May of 2010 we wondered, “Are we done with Lance Armstrong now?” Remember when Floyd Landis accused Lance of doping? And all those folks who defended Lance? Now Lance is saying he lied.
He made his confession in a TV interview with Oprah Winfrey, which is very celebrity of him but probably not a great idea since he said under oath that he hadn’t used any performance enhancing drugs and that’s, like, perjury, according to published reports.
Here’s one of the reporters he lied to, ESPN’s Rick Reilly, talking about how he’s none too happy with the former cyclist.
[youtube:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILP_PZV4pGA]
This is the full interview if you like that kind of thing.
[youtube:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43EE9I8ZMFc]
I don’t need to watch it. Maybe eventually I’ll look at a clip of the important part. For now it’s enough to say that we were ahead of the curve in terms of the “Lance Armstrong is a douche” story.
DaddyDeals – McFarlane Toys Cyber Monday Sale
Like toys? Sports? Saving money? We dug up a Cyber Monday DaddyDeal from McFarlane Toys that will save you 30 per cent on all sorts of neat stuff.
McFarlane Toys is the purveyor of fine toys and collectibles from franchises such as Halo and The Walking Dead, as well as sports figures great and small. (Mostly great and/or not small.) Sometimes these two worlds collide, as in this statue of Hines Ward as he appeared in The Dark Knight Rises. (Only $12.99, people!)
Here’s the deal (via ComicBookResources) – “Between 12:01AM and 11:59PM PST on November 26th, the entire store will be 30%.” So all day Monday November 26th Pacific time, you save mucho dinero online at McFarlane Toys. You’re welcome. Visit their site and get shopping.
NSFW VIDEO Woman At Youth Soccer Game
Remember — we said this video of a woman streaking at a youth soccer game is NSFW, which means Not Safe For Work. OK? So don’t blame us if someone sees this and gets all angry and stuff.
The video will be after the jump. So you really can’t blame us at all.
We found it on Huffington Post’s “Weird News” section. Not that we ever read that sort of thing. No. Not here. Of course not. Ahem.
Our favorite line from the HuffPo writer is the following: Read more »
Saints Sign Al Toon’s Son Nick Toon
Yes, former New York Jets receiver Al Toon named his son Nick Toon. Nick is a rookie receiver who was drafted by the New Orleans Saints. They just agreed on a contract.
Mostly I’m posting this news because the name Nick Toon made me chuckle. To be fair to Al, who my kids are aware of thanks to a game of Jets Monopoly we have in our house, I don’t think Nicktoons was a thing back when Nick Toon was born in 1988. So it’s not as bad as, say, naming your kid Roc when your last name is Singer. Which I never, ever considered doing.
(Aside: I’m more of a Giants fan, but I don’t hate the Jets. I do, however, want to point out that Jets Monopoly was a gift.)
See also: Father and Son Quarterbacks
