6-23-05

1.  what do you think of the state of pro sports today?

I think the state of sports today is so bad I literally cannot put it into words, but will try.  Sport-agent scums, idiot owners, and greedy players have turned professional sports into a sick pool of liquid shit.  In fact, I have to say I hate Sportscenter any more.  Here is my take on sports today: 
NHL - money has literally ruined it to the point an entire season was wiped out. 
NFL - Not too bad, but any time when a veteran of a team has to leave because of a financial cap, the state of the league cannot be too good.  Salary caps suck, and there were other ways to stop teams like Dallas and San Francisco from buying championships than going to a salary cap.  Parity is terrible for any fan with half a brain for many reasons.  New England's ride is a great story, and they will continue to win as solid veteran safeties and linebackers such as Rodney Harrison and Chad Brown go to New England in search of "their first ring".  Good for New England, and good the guys take pay cuts, but the problem I see is the players are mercenaries at best.  We have lost the "family" "team" concept in sports.  It should be a team drafts you and is going to PAY you to play a game, then you should be thankful and want to be with that team forever.  Sorry assholes, it's not a business, it's a damned game!  You play a highly competitive game!  The loyalty is gone, making in my eyes championships mean next to nothing when done this way.  I should never know the name of a team's GM and they now are the most important piece in every sport. 
NBA - Too many drugs, which is the case in all sports, too little dedication to the game by the players.  Players putting themselves before team and coach.  Shooting sucks, refs stopped calling the game by it's original rules.  No body hustles, in fact, I can see games where guys don't even sweat until the second quarter.  Pathetic.  I cannot believe people pay big money to go to the games.  It leaves me shaking my head. 
MLB - I could write books on this and am.  Literally.  MLB is so messed up I cannot do anything right now but want to vomit.  Unbalanced scheduling due to interleague has literally pissed on a game that has such a proud past.  An All Star game not being finished, teams like K.C. and Detroit unable to compete, steroids, oh my God, the list is so long it would take all day.  Let me just say baseball does not need a salary cap, it just needs revenue sharing.  New York Yankees, yah, you guys, seriously, how fun is it to beat a team like K.C. when they have a tiny fraction in cable revenues that you guys have?  You know years ago I was bird hunting and had a five foot shot on a very small bird, my friend told me not to shoot it, he said to give it a sporting chance.  I didn't shoot it and have felt guilt all my days since that I was even going to shoot it from such a small distance.  Think about that Yankees while you're polishing your store-bought championship flags that I don't officially recognize.  I simply do not recognize any Yankee championship where they outspent the competition.  It's like a legitimate government not recognizing a country ran by a cartel, etc.  Baseball to me is just shit.  Under definition it's not even a sport any more.  A sport is when the competitors are either equal or close to or have the opportunity to get to be close to competitive. 
  
2.  what is the best sport to watch, and at what level of play?
I've always loved playoff NBA basketball, especially the Championships, which the NBA has branded "The Finals" to sell more merchandise like a bunch of scum-sucking money mongrels.  But a good 6-7 game NBA Championship is awesome to watch.  All the guys are hustling and the intensity is awesome.  My favorite happens to be playoff baseball though.  It truly is the fall classic.  I still think there should be only 4 divisions and only 4 playoff teams.  There should be the NLCS and the ALCS then a World Series.  162 games is enough for me to see who the best teams are, I don't want fluke Wild Card teams stealing championships because they got lucky and picked up some guys at the trade deadline that got hot.  My favorite, and bear in mind I am a die-hard Dodger fan, was the 1986 and 1987 playoffs.  Boy, if people out there get a hold of these playoffs on tape, they are worth it to watch.  1987 was my favorite.  The Twins and Tigers in the AL and the Giants and the Cardinals in the NL.  These series were unreal and then a 7-game World Series to cap things off.  Just great stuff.  By the way, the 80's was a great decade for baseball.  10 different champions from 1980 - 1990!  Pretty equal, back when it was a sport and not just a backdrop for media conglomerates.  '80Phillies '81Dodgers '82Cardinals '83Orioles '84Tigers '85Royals '86Mets '87Twins '88Dodgers '89A's '90Reds. 
 
3.  what is the best sport, and, if you want, at what level?

MLB Baseball.  I think baseball is the best sport to play.  Watching is only good at the ballpark.  Baseball is a spectator sport, not a TV sport.  Hey, nothing agains Joe Six Pack watching at home while his favorite team plays 1,000 miles away.  I'm just saying it's best to be at the park.  ESPN, and all the TV big wigs, made sure to make it a TV sport and MLB made sure there would be offense.  Don't think for a second it was by mistake it took a decade and a half of steroid abuse to finally get a policy in MLB against steroids.  More runs in games equals bigger ratings.  The average dumb-ass fan has no patience or knowledge to appreciate a pitching duel.   In my opinion, I believe MLB turned a blind eye to steroid abuse.  They can claim they didn't know it was going on, but I don't believe that.  From the coaches, the trainers, on up, somebody had to have known.  I also think soccer is a sweet sport to play.  And I hold soccer in high regard for not caving in and trying to generate more scoring by changing the rules or the goals.  Tradition is awesome, and soccer is all about it.  I don't like the advertising on the jerseys though.
 
4.  what games have you thought of inventing?
See Square Soccer, it would be awesome.  I may have subconsiously got this game from a 3-village game they play once a year in Italy that is like rugby and basketball mixed.  3 teams, so it is a day long game of cut throat.  Scott, please put in square soccer if you saved it.  I think the 2 balls going on at once will be awesome. 
 
5.  define a gamer, and who are the top 5 gamers of all time (more if you want, or you could have a list in each sport)

A gamer is a guy who plays his

 hardest always and remembers at all time that the people in the stands pay his salary.  They also know there are little kids out there in the stands that idolize them and look at them as their heroes.  To miss a game would be the worst thing in the world intheir minds.  I have a list of 100's so I'll just go with 5 of my favorites, and apologies to all that deserve to be on the list. 

1.  Emmitt Smith - played through so many injuries, etc, and played so well
2.  Pete Rose - hustled like every game was his last
3.  Magic Johnson - without HIV they would have had to drag Magic off the court he loved the game that much
4.  George Brett - hustled like every game was his last
5.  Ronnie Lott - Best team guy, best lay it on the line guy of all time
 
Last note.  I want to let it be known I didn't include female athletics or female sports in the above, but please do not take this as a slight, ladies.  I do want to say, I was always behind the WNBA when most men laughed at the thought of it.  I love women athletics and I have nothing but the highest regard for women athletics.  Many a saturday I find myself watching a great college softball game as I love the competition level and I love the spirit, intensity and overall athletic quality the women bring to the field.  Many times I have watched a WNBA game and have been refreshed at how mature the women are in comparison with the men.  They simply do not argue, bitch, scream, throw tantrums like the male strike-out victims or the guys who think they got fouled when the ref didn't think so.  Thanks ladies, with all sincerity.
 

BWS