Spurs Scandal?

A breaking story so far this week is the controversial San Antonio Spurs' decision to rest their starters in Thursday's game against the Miami Heat. Head Coach of the Spurs, Gregg Popovich, sat Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, Danny Green, and Manu Ginobili; in fact, those players didn't even make the trip out to Florida. This has angered basketball fans, and Commissioner David Stern. Here's why neither have a right to complain.

As a Head Coach of a professional team, regardless of the sport, you have to make the hard call. Of couse, you want to be as competitive as possible, 24/7. But in order to stay highly competitive, you have to keep your players healthy. Thus, you have to be proactive, and lay back. You have to lose some, to win some. This is what Coach Pop tried to do. He wanted to avoid letting his players become fatigued. This back fired, and it obviously shouldn't have.

I can understand why fans could be mad. They paid all this money to watch all-stars, and it turns out they've been benched. I've been there, done that, personally. But, David Stern needs to stay out of it. If he turns out to follow through on his statement, and sanction the Spurs, he would be abusing his powers. So, he needs to back off.

Gregg Popovich made the right call. Everyone else needs to respect his decision has a coach. There is emotion here, where emotion does not belong.

Welcome Back, Fighting Irish

Notre Dame overcame their final obstacle that was standing in the way of a perfect season. Notre Dame has a flawless 12-0 record to finish their regular season. They are most definitely playing in the BCS Championship. Who will win the other slot to play in collegiate football's biggest prize? It's a toss up between  two SEC rivals: Alabama and Georgia. How will it be decided? The SEC Championship Game. Here's your anticipation guide to the most important, as well as the second most important, game this football season.

I am actually somewhat satisfied that Notre Dame has returned to their pedestal of greatness. As a writer and sports fan who hasn't been on the planet long enough to see the 1970's or 1980's version of the Fighting Irish, I am coherent to the fact that Notre Dame is a dominant team, but up until now, I never witnessed any evidence. I now have my evidence. The cool thing about Notre Dame is that they make themselves cool by being old-school. Classic black and yellow jerseys without any names makes them sport the retro look, as well as their end-zones only having diagonal lines and every referee, coach, player, and fan being in the presence of Touchdown Jesus making the stadium old-fashioned, yet interesting. All these factors make South Bend a Mecca of College Football.

Notre Dame maybe fun and fancy, but who will get a chance to take a swipe at their perfect season? The SEC Championship is set to be a bash. Alabama and Georgia will face off in what could be the season's most interesting game. Alabama is the overwhelming favourite, but one mustn't overlook the Georgia offence.  If Alabama wins, as they should and will be ashamed if they lose, Alabama will give Notre Dame a run for their money in the BCS Championship, which is too close to call at this point. If Georgia pulls an upset...all bets are off. In the scenario in which Georgia advances to the National Championship, Notre Dame would have a more definite edge. Either way, Notre Dame should have an edge on both contestants.

Welcome to the Bowl Season everyone! Let the bash begin!

Thanksgiving Football Preview

It's Thanksgiving here in the United States. It's time to give thanks, eat turkey, and watch footanball! Here is some insight on today's Thanksgiving Day games.

New England @ New York

This game has been the most advertised of all of today's three games, but it definitely won't be the best game to watch. I  have lost a lot, if not all, hope in the Jets, meanwhile the Patriots are en route to win the AFC East. Expect a blow out.

Washington @ Dallas

This game should be pretty good. Dallas has been shaky all year long. Tony Romo has failed time and time again to hit his tempo and come through for his team.  RGIII has been red hot, while the rest of his team haven't done much better than their previous seasons. Both teams are very evenly matched and I look forward to watching this game.

Houston @ Detroit

This game has already started as I write. It's 0-7 for Detroit with 5:49 to go in the First Quarter. Nonetheless, I still think that the Texans will win because they have had a stellar season thus far. Matt Schaub has really come through for his club.

Getting out of Hand

NICK UNITED

Commentary for Futbol, Soccer, or whatever you call it!

Every professional sports league has its issues. Maybe its drug abuse, labour disputes, a biased distribution of wealth among players, coaches, and owners. The Barclays Premier League has a social issue that most leagues have been through with for decades, and it's getting out of hand.

 
The Premier League has been plagued with racial tension, and I really don't know why. So many of the American sports leagues maintain the "he's Black, and as long as he keeps scoring points I don't really care what his skin colour is," mentality. The English Premier League has failed to do that. There is know an epidemic across the FA of players, fans, and even referees, racially abusing one another. What makes the problem even more perplexing is that there is so much discrepancy whether certain claims of racial abuse are even valid. 

The primary example to help better define and identify this issue would be the John Terry Scandal. Of course, anyone who follows soccer/association football knows what happened. Basically, Anton Ferdinand of Queens Park Rangers claimed the John Terry of Chelsea 'racially abused' him. [Ferdinand] Terry and his club [Chelsea] launched efforts to try and prove Terry innocent. This included that team mate Ashley Cole, who is black, testifying on Terry's behalf. (Of course, the FA's verdict made Cole a little bit mad and caused him to go twitter-crazy, but we'll visit that in a minute.) Anyways, John Terry was eventually acquitted by the Magistrates Court, but the FA fined him and banned Terry for four games. This caused Ashley Cole to through a twitter fit and call the FA names when they declared Cole's evidence (which primarily included pointing out that Terry wasn't racist) invalid. The precise details, I'm not going to disclose, I don't really need Google kicking me out.

The solution to this issue is hard to come by. Of course the FA should expand punishments on those who racially violate others, but that doesn't totally fix the problem. The players have to not want to be racist, because its what they want, not because they'll get punished. The cliché for this situation could be, 'if white was a minority, would we [white people] appreciate being called derogatory names?' It's simple respect. A problem getting out of hand, needs to be fixed...soon.

MLB Season in Review

The 2012 Major League Baseball season was an exciting instalment into the never ending book of big league baseball. Boston busted, rookies shined, and the Giants won big in 2012. This was the first year that there was a all-or-nothing, wildcard game to get into the playoffs.  This complicated things quite a bit, after the Oakland Athletics stole the pennant from the Rangers, who went to the wildcard play-off game and were beaten out by Tampa. So, after two consecutive years going to the World Series and losing, the Texas Rangers didn't even make it into the post-season. There were also a handful of teams who completely they busted. Philidelphia, after losing Halladay to injury, finished at .500 and third in the NL East. Back in the American League, the Boston Red Sox went through the floor under Bobby Valentine; they finished dead last in the East Division.

Now, fast forward to the post season. We had the National League, the Reds being overtaken in the Giants in five games, while the Cardinals also had to take five games to oust the Washington Nationals. Things were just as tight in the AL. The Yankees took the maximum length of series to put end to the Orioles hopes. On the other hand, the Lions took five games to stop the A's in their tracks. I initially thought that the Reds would win the series against the Giants, and I thought the Nationals had the pitching ability to overtake St. Louis.

On to the next round, I don't think anyone saw the Yankees being swept, though, they never  seem to get further then the League Championship Series. It was an extremely close race between the defending Cardinals and the Giants. San-Fran eventually was able to advance over St. Louis in seven games. 

On to the World Series, I was not expecting a sweep, and neither was the majority of  baseball-loving America. But a sweep it was - the San Francisco Giants won their second title in three years. It's no repeat, but it is definitely a feat of note.

Now let's talk awards. Tomorrow is the announcement for Cy Young Awards, and Thursday is when the MVP award winners will be known. I think that R.A. Dickey will get the National League Cy Young, since he had multiple one-hitters and a minuscule earned run average. Justin Verlander, David Price, or Jared Weaver are deserving of the American League Cy Young Award, though I think it will go to David Price, as he personally had a remarkable year, while Verlander and Weaver both have a "another day at the office" sense to their seasons. Now let's talk MVP. Hands down, the American League MVP would be Miguel Cabrera for winning the triple crown. Thought, Mike Trout is definitely a candidate. The national league is another story though. Yadier Molina or Ryan Braun could definitely have a chance at getting the MVP, but if it were up to me, I think that R.A. Dickey is the most deserving.

The previous baseball season was a hit, and baseball fans can only hope for 2013 to be just like 2012.