Epic Failures

On Sunday the biggest race in the Indy Racing season (oxymoron?) ended in an epic last-minute collapse.  JR Hildebrand came into turn 4 of the Indianapolis 500 with no one between him and the immortality of victory.  But then he slammed into the turn 4 wall like a total moron.

Yes, it was a dope move by a rookie, but as I cruised through ESPN.com I saw the question asked is this “The greatest choke in sports history?”  

Was it a slow sports day over at the ESPN campus?  Did the brain trust of ESPN go out for an extended liquid lunch?  I don’t even care if the result of the article was that is wasn’t.  How can anyone with half a brain even ask that question with a straight face?!

I get that he had a big lead.  I get that he SHOULD have won.  I get that the final lap ended with a shocking result.  But that’s not a choke.  That’s sports.

This of it this way:

-          Detroit Pistons vs. Boston Celtics : Up 107 – 106 with the ball, did anyone expect Isiah Thomas to turn the ball over and cause his team to lose in the 1987 Conference Finals?  Nope, but it happened

-          NY Knicks vs. Indiana Pacers:  Up 6 points with just under 19 second did anyone see the Knicks losing?  Nope! But then Reggie Miller goes crazy and scores 8 points in the blink of an eye.

-          Foreman v. Ali:  Getting pummeled round after round by the bigger, stronger Foreman.  Who would have expected Ali was playing possum the whole time and would put George on his back to take the victory?

-          Buffalo Bills v. Houston Oilers: Down 32 points with a backup QB did even the most loyal homer think the Bills would come back to win in that 1993 playoff game.  It happened though.

You see, that’s sports.  That’s not a choke.

It’s not like Dan Wheldon was coasting in neutral cheering JR on.  He was flying at 210 MPH trying to track that punk down. 

Let’s do a simple game  Choke vs. Not-a-Choke.

Example 1:  A choke is if you are Jean Van de Velde on the final hole (THE FINAL HOLE!) of the 1999 British Open just needing to keep the ball in play, make a double bogey and lift the jug in victory.  But instead you insist on hitting your driver into who knows where. Then ignore the smart play 2 or 3 more times en route to a triple bogey and eventually losing the championship.      Not-A-Choke is Greg Norman at the 1996 Masters.   Yes he went into the final day with a 6-stroke lead and blew it by shooting a 78, but that’s golf.  Nick Faldo, the champion that year, shot a 67.  That would have meant Normal would have needed to put up a an even par 72 to have won.  Achievable?  Certainly.  But such an inevitability that would eliminate all future competition?  No sir.   

Example 2:   A choke is when you are the Michigan Wolverines and are a super-charged hype machine in the NCAA National Championship game…1992 (don’t get ahead of me here).  1992 big blue faced the Duke Blue Devil’s only to puke up a measly 1 3-pointer all game.  They were demolished 71 – 51 in a total choke.   Not-A Choke is when you are the Michigan Wolverines and are a super-charged hype machine in the NCAA National Championship game…1993.  Specifically Chris Webber.  In an attempt to do everything he could to win the game he called a misguided timeout resulting in a technical foul.  That’s not a choke…that’s just trying a little too hard and losing focus.

So what’s the point?  I guess there are two points, really.

1.       JR Hildebrand,  just like Greg Normal, Isaiah Thomas, Dan O’Brien, Chris Webber, and so on failed on a massive stage.  But his failure was just trying too hard.  That’s not a choke. 

2.       The media still sucks.  Just because the Indy 500 crash happen YESTERDAY the moron media wants to name it the biggest choke EVER!  Come on guys, really?  I don’t care if the kid forgot which direction he was driving and turned around backwards and finished in dead last.  It still wouldn’t be the biggest EVER.   I’ve been over this before… The Greatest of All Time Flu (aka GoatFlu) needs to be stopped. http://sergeant-says.blogspot.com/2010/12/goat-flu.html

NHL Crowd Control

Tonight will be an epic Game 7 battle between the Boston Bruins and the Tampa Bay Lightning… But I want to turn the clock backwards for a moment and address a growing issue in the NHL that blatantly reared its ugly head at the end of Game 6 on Wednesday.

As the game concluded and the final scuffle was broken up, what seemed like small plastic tennis racquets began to fall from the skies above.  Maybe fall is too soft a definition.  It was more like they were flung…launched…hurled!  Worst of all they were thrown AT players on the ice.  Both teams!  I almost lost my mind when the Versus cameras were on David Krejci when one of these giveaways plunked him directly in the head.  Good news was it hit his helmet, but it was an inch or two away from getting him directly in his exposed face. 

Imagine for a minute that Game 7 was played without the man who scored 3 or Boston’s 4 goals the night earlier because some Floridian took hit eye out with a 15 cent giveaway noise-maker.  Seriously.

So what does the NHL do about it?

Well, the only thing that they will address is Nathan Horton allegedly spraying a fan with a water bottle (which is stupid) in defense of his team being peppered by the fans.  Thankfully Horton got away with it because if he compromised his status for Game 7 just to be a tough guy to the recently retired Joe 6-Pack (I assume if Joe 6-Pack is in Florida he is retired…going out on a limb there) all of Boston would personally run him out of town without a second thought about his OT goals in round 1.

The NHL, as usual, does nothing.  Just like the Boston fans continue to throw their yellow towels on the ice after goals the retirees in Florida continue to throw their noise makers at players.  No one will stop it and it’s only going to get worse.

So here is what the NHL needs to do.   Carry-Over Unsportsmanlike Conduct penalty!   Baseball games have been forfeited because the team could not control their own fans (See: Dodgers 1995 baseball giveaway night) or in soccer the league makes the team play a few games without any fans at all!  So if Tampa decides to give away projectile gifts they understand they run the risk of starting the next game a man down for 2 minutes.   Seems fair to me.

NHL Rule 75-1 Minor Penalty XXVIX:  Unsportsmanlike Conduct – Supporters

It is the responsibility of the Team and Team Management to ensure the safety of all players, coaches and officials on and off the ice. If items are provided to supporters which have the potential to do injury to players, referees or staff it is the responsibility of the Team to prevent those items from being propelled onto the playing surface.  If, in the eyes of the officials or the NHL, such an effort is not made resulting in potentially dangerous situations, the Team will be assessed a 2 minute minor to be served by any player chosen by the Team.  If the infraction occurs after the completion of the game or in the final 30 seconds of a game in which the result is not in doubt the minor penalty will carry over to the first 2 minutes of the following game.

-Note 1:  If the provided items are not harmful (i.e. towels, soft foam, stuffed toys, etc…) the league will determine if the players, referees or staff are at risk and adjust the penalty accordingly.

-Note 2: Hats will forever be excluded from this infraction in the case of a hat trick.  This is a tradition of hockey that will never be ruled an infraction.

-Note 3:  Also excluded are octopuses in Detroit and toy rats in Florida.

So there it is NHL.  Problem solved.  Your welcome!

Go Bruins!

Busted Posey and his Moron Agent

Last night San Francisco’s catcher Buster Posey was annihilated in a collision at the plate by Florida’s Scott Cousins.  The collision looked brutal and Posey left the game with a leg injury (and likely a concussion to go with it).

In the wake of a superstar catcher going down in this crash, Posey’s agent cried foul and demands the MLB look at rules to protect catchers in these plays at the plate.

Shut…Your…Face!

What is Cousins supposed to do?  It’s the 12^th inning and there is a close play at home.  Posey was blocking the entire plate (as a catcher is trained to do) and Cousins tried to separate the catcher from the ball (as a runner is trained to do!).   

A.      If Posey’s agent doesn’t want him to get run over he should train him to go with a swipe tag instead of blocking the plate.  And while he’s at it he should train him not to block pitches in the dirt.  Those hurt something fierce.  And train him to stand in the far back corner of the batter’s box when he’s at bat.  Sure he’ll barely hit over .200 but he’ll be healthy! 

B.      What should the rule change to?!  All players must slide feet first into home.  Ooooh, then the runner’s going to slam his metal spikes into the catchers legs?  And the runner risks tearing an ACL by sliding as hard as he can into a stationary catcher?... Not a fan of that rule.    Or maybe make runners slide head-first… oh yeah…that’s how Manny Ramirez broke a finger and how Josh Hamilton broke his arm.  That won’t work.     New rule!  If there seems to be a play at the plate, the runner has to stop halfway down the line and will face the catcher in a dance-off.  The second base umpire will be Simon Cowell and Jerry West will be Paula Abdul.   

C.      The runner is the player at most risk!  Posey has shin pads, knee pads, chest pads, and a full face helmet!  Cousins has a one ear-flap helmet that falls off at the slightest impact.  So when the decision is made the run over the catcher I’m not sure Posey was the one who was putting more on the line.

This was a good baseball play all the way around.  Good job of blocking the plate by Posey.  Great play by Cousins to score.  The result was just unfortunate.

I wouldn’t be surprised if when Posey addresses the media he says right away that it was a good, clean baseball play and it was just unfortunate that his spike stuck in the dirt. 

What would be awesome (but not likely) is if Posey continues to say. “I apologize for my agent.  His comments about rule changes is based purely on how my health impacts his wallet.  He hasn’t played baseball since he was cut from the freshman team in high school and wouldn’t know the difference between a catcher’s mitt and a ham sandwich.” 

Stop the Fight against Fighting!

This past Saturday I stood with my head down at the TD Garden during a moment of silence for Derek Boogaard who suddenly died at an age far too young.    I certainly couldn’t help but think of what damage his recent concussion may have done or how it potentially contributed to his early death.  I also couldn’t stop thinking about how Mark Savard might never play again for fear of meeting the same fate.

Bottom line is concussions are killing athletes and the blind-side hits, targeting the head, and reckless play needs to come to an immediate stop.

That being said... When I returned to mu humble abode I flipped on the NHL Network to catch the highlights of the game I just watched (It’s a guy thing).  The meatstick behind the desk was talking about Boogaard and how her got a concussion from a fight with another player.  Dip-stick McGee (or whatever his name is) continued to ask when fighting will be removed from the game and expounded on how unnecessary it is to Hockey.

Shut up!  Seriously?!  I’m not going to go off on why fighting in hockey is as vital as a slap-shot.  About how it’s the way the game has always been played and how it always should be played.  Rather I want to discuss the opinion that the way to eliminate concussions is to eliminate fighting.

Fact: One can get a nasty concussion during a hockey fight.

Fact: One can get a nasty concussion from a blindside hit to the head.

So what’s the difference?  Simple. One does not look at his opponent and say “Hey Alexi, next time I skate by you with my head down pop me in the back on the head with your elbow!” 

Nope…that would be stupid.

But when two players fight they square off, face to face, drop their gloves in agreement that it’s on!  It’s not cheap.  It’s not unfair.  It’s mano y mano battle.  If you punch an unsuspecting player you get suspended.  If you just into another guys fight you get suspended.  If you have anything on your fists when your  fight you get suspended.  There are more rules protecting the fighters than there are a center driving crease. 

So get off it.  Is it tragic that Boogaard is dead?  Yes.  Is it cause for the NHL to take a serious look at concussions? Yes!   Is fighting the reason for most concussions?  Not even close.

Stay focused on eliminating the cheap shot artists of the league (talking to you Matt Cooke) and let the tough guys fight it out if they want.  Boogaard was a fighter and had nothing but respect for his fellow tough guys, and as made clear in the league wide reaction the respect certainly went both ways.