Mike & Mike Show Not Up to Par

The most famous sports radio show in the country is arguably ESPN Radio’s “Mike & Mike in the Morning.”  After listening pretty consistently for the last few weeks I have decided that this show is horrible.  I like Mike Greenberg.  If you haven’t checked out his book, Why My Wife Thinks I’m an Idiot, you should pick it up now.  It is a very entertaining book.  Honestly, I have nothing against Golic either.  Together they have great chemistry.  The fact is that the entire show is so generic and worthless to listen to.  Two of my biggest beefs are…

 

1. Commercial time is atrocious.  The segments are max eight minutes and commercials can last as long as 10 minutes.
2. They never discuss something in depth.  Both guys give their opinion for about two minutes and then they go to commercial or the next topic.

 

Number two is a major issue for me because I listen to WDFN, a Detroit sport radio station.  Admittedly, I am more interested in Detroit sports topics than Yankees topics. (I have discussed my hatred of the media’s love of New York)  Still, the shows on the local station actually are entertaining.  What is the point of sports radio?  The real reason is to argue about sports.  Mike & Mike will bring up a topic like last nights NHL Finals game.  Not only do neither of them follow the sport, they don’t even convince me that they watch the game!  If you aren’t going to really have an opinion don’t talk about it.  I could sit in for Golic, if I was as good at talking on the radio as him in general, and come up with the same generic opinions that he does everyday.  In fact, I can have a much more meaningful conversation about the game with my friend at work once I get there.

 

In the meantime, the morning show on the station I listen to talks about an event like ESPN would but instead of leaving it at a 6 minute segment on the game they will pick out a specific thing to discuss.  For example, the ridiculous coverage on Tiger Woods this past week.  Instead of talking about solely what is happening to Tiger they will broaden the issue to what if Tiger doesn’t break the record?   What other athletes had injuries that prevented them from being great or breaking records?

 

Many people don’t like the calling-in aspect of sports radio, but that makes it what it is to me.  There just doesn’t seem to be a passion to discuss without bringing in the fans of the show.  (Yes, I know they talk about emails sometimes) Mike & Mike are great radio personalities, I respect them for that, and would love to talk to them about sports.  Their show, however, just doesn’t entertain me the way I feel the most popular show in the country should.  More than 50% of the show is commercials and their topics are too generic and don’t dig deep enough to bring meaningful and interesting discussions out from the woodwork.

 

Can someone explain why this show is thought of to be so good?

 

Super-Earths!

I just read this article about discovering new planets.

I feel like I am living in a cartoon or something.  Super-Earths?  I do not know much about astronomy, except for the astronomy course I took in high school in which I got something like 103% (that was only because if you got a question wrong on a test you were to be ridiculed for weeks).  Still, are astronomers really that lazy?  One thing I get confused about is what this does for us.  I mean we are not going to be able to go there any time soon or ever.  It seems as if the air pressure or other scientific stuff will simply not allow our bodies to go certain places.  That is what is so frustrating about these things!  Awesome, Super-Earths!  Now what?

 

My favorite part of the article, other than the name, had to be the duration of these planets orbits.  The longest orbit is 20 days.  So, again I don’t know that much, but I take that as being seasons would occur in the span of 20 days.  This would mean that in three weeks we would go from hot to cold and back to hot.  Damn, that would be pretty cool.  Talk about never getting bored.  Retail stores would have to really get shipping of season related clothes really fast. 

 

Back to the name though, I’m thinking that instead of Super-Earths we go with something like Mega-Earths.  Super-Earth just sounds kind of weak and soft to me.  But we could go places with Mega.  The “Mega-Man” could do so many cool things like kill freaky ice flying creatures and take down the fire throwing boss.  Don’t tell me you don’t remember that guy! 

 

Becky Hamilton a Traitor?

For those that do not know the story, Becky Hamilton, a WNBA player, has decided to play for the Russian Olympic team and a colleague has called her a traitor.  Traitor seems rather harsh.  My problem with this whole story is that she is allowed to do what she is doing.  Hamilton is not a citizen of Russia.  She is U.S. citizen as far as I know.  The Olympics are all about country pride, or at least that is what it is for me.  If Russia was to win, Hamilton will be standing on the medal stand with a Russian flag over her head.  That just seems wrong since there is no reason for her to be spreading Russian pride.

 

I admire that she wants to play in the Olympics.  She wants to be given the chance to play in the world event and wasn’t given the chance to play here in the U.S.  That is wrong for sure.  She plays in the WNBA and she wasn’t given the chance to try out for the U.S. team.  That is a different issue though.  I would not call her a traitor because she is an athlete that wants a gold medal, wants an opportunity to play, and wants to gain an experience that most of us who played sports could only dream of gaining.  I just know that I could not win a gold medal and start waving a flag from another country.  That is something that she decided is worth to do.  I am not going to judge her because of that.  The real problem is that these athletes are now able to play for whoever they want.  The Olympics just aren’t not what we seem to think they are.  It is no longer about the country teams; it is about the individual athletes.  We just have to accept that as sad as it is to many of us who enjoy the team competition of the whole thing.

Celtics bring intensity back to the Finals

Thursday night’s Game 4 of the NBA Finals was not only a strange and entertaining game to watch, but it was an indication of what the NBA is becoming.  What am I talking about?  Defense.

The Celtics were down by about 20 points in the third quarter last night…however, when you’re defense is as good as theirs, it’s never over.  Mounting one of the best comebacks I’ve ever heard of in an NBA Finals game, defense led the way for Boston.  They held the Lakers to 15 points in the third quarter and 18 in the fourth.  I don’t know about anyone else, but if you can hold Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol, and the deepest roster in the NBA to 33 points in a half, that is impressive and not to be forgotten…especially since they did it on the road when they were down by 20 at one point!

Why am I bringing this up?  Two reasons:

1)  It was absolutely amazing to me that being up 2-1 in the series and down 20 points that they didn’t just give up…like most NBA teams would do.  Instead they fought back with defense (and a little offense) holding the Lakers to 91 total points.

2)  Defense really does win championships!  Now I know the series isn’t technically over, but all Boston has to do is win one of three games now…something they could complete in Game 5 in LA.  At any rate, I have never truly and completely believed that statement.  Yea it sounds nice and maybe in college it works to some degree because teams can play great zone defenses and presses, which leads to many easy baskets for them (the whole “defense is the best offense” bull-oney).  However, the Celtics are actually proving it can work in a league with ego-maniacs and millionare players.  Their commitment to getting it done defensively is showing the rest of the league that defense can really win championships.  Now I know some might be thinking about San Antonio and the championships they’ve won based on defense.  My response:  they weren’t playing the Lakers in the Finals!!!  This Boston team is shutting down the MVP and his offensively gifted cohort!  I thought the Lakers would score too many points for the Celtics offensively challenged squad to overcome.  Thankfully, I was wrong.  If Boston wins, this year could mark an official turning point in the NBA, and we could see more teams turning to defense in order to reach supremacy.  Detroit did it in ‘04, San Antonio has done it pretty well over the past few years (even though their Big 3 on offense carries them), and now Boston is leading the way.  Who knows, maybe the Suns will start practicing some defense…  That might be what it takes from now on to win an NBA Championship.

Top 5 Sports Video Games

There is sometimes a game that will come out and make such a huge impact in the sports video game world.  Here are my top 5 life-changing sports video games…

 

5. NHL Hitz (XBOX)

Whether you like the NHL or not hockey games are among the most fun video games.  NHL Hitz brought with it the idea of pure arcade hockey for the new generation.  It all started with the classic “Rollin’” song by Limp Bizkit.  If that didn’t get you pumped up the announcer sure did.  After that, if you still weren’t excited you had to turn the corner when you players would reach their sticks up to the sky, a lighting bolt would hit them, and they would light on fire!  This game was simply fun to play.  In an age where games were finally starting to get sophisticated, Hitz gave us a pick up and play game.  The best way to score was doing a 360 before you shot the puck.  The game was life changing for me because of the time I spent with it.  It is rare to have a game where every time you turn it on you know you are going to have fun…especially with a friend.  What more could you want, and, oh yea, the goalies turned into a brick wall sometimes.

 

4. PGA Tour Golf II (Sega Genesis)

I’m not sure how many of you would remember this game, but it is life changing.  The amount of rounds I played with this game is uncountable at this point.  Why is this game so memorable?  To put it simply, the game was perfect.  Golf games are a lot of fun now.  I own Tiger Woods 2006 I think and it is a lot of fun to play.  PGA Tour Golf was great on a different level.  There are three elements that I would remember forever.  The courses – Sawgrass and Scottsdale were easily my favorite.  That is how I knew hole 17 at Sawgrass!  Putting – Push “B” and you are taken to a 3D screen of the green.  It is a perfect way to line up your putt.  Swing power – The three click system was amazing.  I still remember that a 4ft putt uses a 10ft putter and you go to the 3^rd line.  Life changing.

 

3. Baseball Stars (NES)

Baseball Stars was first great baseball game in my opinion.  It was a little before my time but I still got plenty of playing time in over my years.  The customization options were better than what we see today!  I remember making my own team with my friends name or the names of the current Pistons team.  Then, you had to go up against the Lovely Ladies (easily the worst team) and mercy them in 1 inning (less than 3 minutes) and earn money so you can make your player attributes better.  Finally, who could play that game and forget the American Dreams!  You get to play against “Cy” and “Babe” all the time.  The Black Ninjas were pretty good too.

 

2. NHL 94 (Sega Genesis)

Does this need explanation?  I put Sega Genesis but this can also be played on Super Nintendo I just never did.  Also, pick any year you want from NHLPA 91 to NHL 98 and I will say the game is life changing.  One of the greatest movie scenes ever is inspired by this franchise.  Swingers made this game a classic because everyone understood what was going on in that scene.  These games had the best game play to date when dealing with hockey games.  I don’t know what else to say but “Watch Gretzky’s head bleed, look man, I made is head bleed.” 

 

1. NFL 2K (Sega Dreamcast)

For those who personally know me, you know this had to be up there.  This is not about what are the best games of all time per se.  I am not here to argue that 2K football is better than Madden (or at least was while it was around).  Life changing sports games can be pinpointed with this game.  I remember being at a friends house in 1999.  He had a Dreamcast and we watched the demo of the game that he had.  I was hooked from then on.  The game introduced a 300% improvement in the graphics department from any other game, it was all 3D.  Commentary was out of control great and players actually caught balls.  NFL 2K changed the shape of football video games.  It also changed the way I looked at sports video games.

 

What do you consider a life-changing sports video game?  Now, I’m not a complete loser.  Life-changing is used in a light fashion.  Obviously, my entire life did not change.  My video game life did change, however.

Sports Pet Peeve 2

New York

To those who live in New York, I am not complaining about you.  This pet peeve is about the attention New York gets in the media.  Yea, it might be a little “old-fashioned” to complain about it but it has not gotten any better.  Being from Detroit, I do not want all the attention on the Detroit teams.  I love how they are usually going under the radar.  When the Tigers got all the press in the world…well, I’ll stop there and say look where that has gotten them.  So, when I turn on ESPN I do want to know about the national sports.  What do I usually see?  The first story has to be about a New York team.

 

The best example of this is easily the Yankees.  They are almost too easy of a target.  How often does their sub-par year have to be the top, or one of the top, stories?  They are not a good team this year.  I don’t need to hear about them.  A-Rod is out for a month!  Oh no!  Alert the world at the greatness that is what used to be the Yankees.  The other day there was seriously a story about how New York baseball is struggling.  It was explaining the Mets and Yankees seasons.  Really?  Both teams are below .501 at the time of this writing.  It is not newsworthy.  There is a great race at the top of the AL East and even better one in the NL Central.  Let’s make those the top stories.

 

I could go on for a little while but this can get boring fast.  Rangers have the biggest salary in the NHL, but still aren’t good.  We must talk about that.  Knicks are the worst team in the NBA.  We need to make sure that Isiah Thomas is the lead story about the league.  This is not a creative gripe, but it seems to me to be pretty valid.  There are things in this sports world that are much more annoying, and I’ll get to those in future posts.  I just figured to get this obvious one out of the way.  How do New Yorkers feel about the constant attention?  (That is a serious question)  Do they like having stories about their teams when they are awful?  I really don’t know.  I do know that if the Lions were the top story when they were awful then we would hear about them every single day, and I am pretty sure I would get sick of that.  Heck, I already am sick of it and the season is 3 months away. 

 

NFL’s “reasonable” testing not so reasonable

Almost every sports fan knows about the NFL and its issues with players testing positive for banned substances such as steroids and illegal drugs like marijuana.  Several policies have been put into place to test players throughout the season, which must not be a very easy task. 

I say this because I recently discovered that the NFL has a “reasonable cause” testing program that is part of the overall testing policy.  This plan basically consists of testing for a certain list of players that may be more likely to test positive.  Players who have missed tests in the past are also subject to being placed on this list.

To be honest, this is ridiculous.  How can you be more sure about some players testing positive than others?  Sure, if they have tested positive in the past then you want to test them again quite frequently.  But, how could you determine who should be on this list from the vast majority of players who haven’t tested positive?  Those guys are probably just as likely to use an illegal substance than guys who have already been caught once.  Are more linebackers and linemen going to be on this list because they are the biggest guys and need the most strength and body mass?  Quaterbacks could use steroids too for their arms…look at baseball and how many pitchers juice in that sport.  Are they going to test more black players because those players have recently had more frequent marijuana inicidents?  This would be like if at the airport the security people only randomly  searched people of a darker skin color than white…poor judgement.  I can’t believe the NFL would even risk missing some players who are using illegal drugs and substances, especially after what happened in the MLB and how much flack Bud Selig is getting from it.  It’s not enough to have random testing plus this “reasonable cause” list.  Every player should be subject to testing more frequently, even if they know it’s coming.  If testing happens enough, they’ll know they can’t do that stuff because they’ll get caught eventually.  If professional sports leagues are really that serious about cleaning up the problem with steroids, enhancers, and drugs, then they should take a more critical approach, even if it costs some extra money.  Otherwise, they might as well legalize everything…that would make it easier.  I suggest the initial thought:  clean up the league now before the problems get any worse.  You never know, maybe grown men will respond to a harsh policy and it will eventually be regarded as normal protocol.  It’s worth a try.

NBA Finals Is Not Basketball

I have been a big advocate of NBA basketball this season but the finals have opened my eyes and I must be honest.  It is tough to watch something so scripted.  This has nothing to do with the players involved.  Both teams I’m sure are playing their butts off every second of the game.  It’s the finals for Pete’s sake.  The NBA wanted a dream match up and they ended up getting it.  Unfortunately, nobody gets to watch these two teams battle like they should be able to because the refs are determining which team has that edge.  Did the Celtics win game 2 because they shot a ton more free throws?  No.  Did the Lakers win game 3 because they shot a ton more free throws? No.  Still, both of those games showed one team having a far better shot at winning because of the discrepancy.

 

People will claim that whichever team is more aggressive is the team that deserves more free throws.  There is no doubt that is true, but the numbers are a little out of control.  28 more free throws in one game?  Come on.  I would love to watch these teams play basketball, but we aren’t given an opportunity.  Instead we get to watch these incredible athletes go shoot free throws over and over and over. 

 

Honestly, I do not see myself going out of my way to watch game 4.  It isn’t entertaining.  Sure, I am a huge hockey fan, but no one can honestly say that this NBA Finals has been more exciting to watch than the NHL Finals.  I can go outside myself and shoot free throws.  I cannot play basketball in the NBA Finals, and it is to bad that nobody on the Celtics or Lakers are given an opportunity to play either.  Let me guess, the Lakers go to the line 34 more times in game 4?  Whatever gives David Stern the ability to talk up his dream final I guess.

Big Brown goes for history…hopefully falling short

On the eve of the Belmont Stakes, much ado is being made about Big Brown and his chances of completing the Triple Crown.  While this would be something incredible to witness, I can’t say I really want it to happen.

Horse Racing is one of the oldest sporting practices of this country and has usually been about which horse is the fastest on a given day.  That version of the sport is quite fun to watch because the unpredictability is riveting.  However, the sport now has become about which horse can perform, and live, while being treated with steroids and other harmful performance enhancing medications.

The horse with the most on the line tomorrow at Belmont is indeed one of the horses being given a performance enhancing substance.  While the substance in question, Stanozolol, is legal in the sport, it’s hard to believe it has a completely positive affect on Big Brown.  This drug, more comonly known as Winstrol, is meant to improve muscle growth and can be used to stiumulate apetite among weak animals.  Something tells me that after his wins at the Kentucky Derby and The Preakness Big Brown must be feeling great fatigue in his body.  So, how can it be seen as legal to induce apetite changes and enhance muscle growth on an animal that might not even be healthy enough to race again so soon?  How can a sport in which athletic ability is the most important aspect of its players allow anabolic steroids to be legal? 

Aside from the fact that it may be putting undue hardship on an animal and the obvious ethical concerns, performance enhancing drugs in horse racing makes the sport so much more predictable and wrogly entertaining.  I enjoy watching the major horse races because the long-shot usually has a fair chance of winning…assuming he, and the other horses, are not doped up.  However, this time around, the favorite, and Triple Crown hopeful, is pubicly known to be on steroids.  And the worst part, if he wins tomorrow, most people will be so caught up in the moment that they won’t realize the Triple Crown was achieved unethically.  I compare it to when Barry Bonds broke the homerun record; most people thought it was a great thing to see but would have put an asterisk in the record book next to the number.  The difference though, is Big Brown is known to be on steroids and Bonds is only thought to be.  This is all the more reason I need to say performance enhancing drugs should be outlawed in horse racing, like all other major sports, especially since the competitor himself, the horse, has no say in whether or not they’re used.  It annoys me to know that trainers and owners of these horses will drug them in order to earn some money and chase a sacred feat, like the Triple Crown.  If Big Brown wins tomorrow, I move to have an asterisk placed next to the entry in the record books…which is tough to say because Big Brown could have been a special enough horse to win a Triple Crown without having steroids forced upon him.  I guess we’ll never know.

Sports Pet Peeve 1

A new, hopefully consistent, series of posts here at Sports & Stuff is the Pet Peeve section.  This can be anything from sports media, to players, to sports themselves.  Today’s inaugural edition begins now!

 

Pet Peeve 1: MLB Fans

 

Before you go ahead and blast me for this initial annoyance of mine let me assure you that I think baseball is a great sport.  I like watching it from time to time.  I will admit, however, that I am not an avid fan that will make time to watch a random game that does not affect me.  My problem with MLB fans is that I feel that they think they know what is going on more than any other sport.  Baseball, to me, is the most difficult sport to analyze.  It is also the dumbest sport to argue about. 

 

MLB fans insist that they know exactly what is wrong with their team or what the right move for that team is.  Baseball is clear cut who is playing well and who isn’t right?  Wrong.  This all starts with pitching.  A pitcher will be judged so quickly.  The judgment will be based on what just happened and I do not find that to be fair.  In basketball if a player misses a bunch of shots you can easily say that he is not playing well.  The pitcher could put the ball exactly where everyone wanted it, but if the batter crushes it the pitcher will be said to have “missed” his spot.  This type of judgment is fine by coaches or catchers, but, more than any other sport, the casual fan will be able to make a comment that has no real evidence behind it.  Sure, the batter hit a home run, but that could have just as easily been just a great swing!

 

The amount of casual fans is what annoys me the most.  Baseball is the easiest sport to go to a game and not care what is going on.  Heck, I have found myself to just lose touch with the game while I am there, and I usually care more about the game itself than anyone at the arena.  Still, people go to games to go to the ballpark, which is great.  What is not great is the amount of people who go, have no idea what is going on, and then make comments that make it seem that they think they know what they are talking about.  Just because you played T-ball does not mean you know the dynamics of a swing.

 

Finally, baseball fans annoy me because they get so wrapped up in the standings.  It is now June.  The MLB season ends in October.  The regular season game in April and May does not mean anything in the grand scheme of things.  Can we stop worrying about the Brewers being 5 games back in May?  Nope, because fans insist on taking every moment to worry about the standings with 130 games to play.  This does not seem to happen in other sports.  You do not here panic or praise after being 4 games up in December of the NBA season. 

 

All of these, and probably more, are reasons for why Baseball Fans are my first pet peeve.