Taking Sides Again

I’ve thought about going to Vegas for Super Bowl weekend for a few years now. I’ve heard that there is a pretty cool buzz around the city for the big game and I could imagine that watching it at the Caesar’s sportsbook would be a lot of fun. Unfortunately the closest that I’ve gotten is meeting up with some grad school friends to watch the conference championships back in 2003.

That was the year the Oakland Raiders made it to the Super Bowl to face off against Tampa Bay. My friends and I watched the Raiders beat the Tennessee Titans and Bucs beat the Eagles at the Bellagio. We had hoped to watch the games at the sportsbook as we had other sporting events on other trips. Unfortunately we showed up late and there was no room. Fortunately the casino set aside an area near a bar to watch the game. It was a lot of fun to hear the fans for the different teams cheering as the games went back and forth, particularly the Raiders fans. One of my friends was a Raiders fan and was one of the louder spectators.

I don’t actually remember whom I was rooting for or even remember what I bet on. I do remember my other friend AbogadosDeNegros betting on the Raiders and Tampa Bay hoping to jinx them because he wanted to see two black quarterbacks, Donovan McNabb and Steve McNair, in the Super Bowl. Of course since my friend ADN has the anti-Midas touch both McNabb and McNair lost, but at least he made a little money to console himself with. It was a great experience and I would definitely recommend it, especially if you don’t want to the pay $25 a hand to play blackjack on Super Bowl weekend.

This weekend I’ll be watching the games from home instead of from Vegas. But that won’t stop me from picking sides so without further ado, here’s who I’ll be rooting for this weekend.

New Orleans Saints at Chicago Bears
Even though I was rooting for the Eagles last week, I really was happy to the Saints advance. As I mentioned last week, I’m a fan of both Drew Brees and Reggie Bush. I’m not sure how much their success has helped restore the city of New Orleans, but it’s nice to see that an area that was hit so hard by one of the most devastating natural disasters in this country’s history get a small reason to celebrate. So how can I not cheer for the Saints this weekend, especially when they are facing the team that cost me a fantasy league playoff spot, the Chicago Bears.

On paper, I really do think that the Saints are the better team and if they faced off against the Bears on a neutral field, the Saints would probably win. Unfortunately this game will be played in Chicago and the weather forecast is calling for snow and a high of 30 degrees on Sunday. The Saints play indoors in the infamous Superdome at home and it generally seems that dome teams don’t play well on the road in January. Sure there have been recent exceptions to the rule like the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the aforementioned 2003 NFC championship game against the Eagles in Philadelphia. There was also the Falcons/Packers game in Green Bay back in 2002 when people still thought Michael Vick would be the next great quarterback. So it’s not inconceivable that the Saints will win, they’ll just have one more obstacle to overcome with the weather.

New England Patriots at Indianapolis Colts
I really do dislike Peyton Manning. There’s just no getting around it. I didn’t think it was possible but Manning found a new way to increase my disdain for him. After the Colts win last week, in which the Colts kicker Adam Vinatieri scored all the points for his team, Manning actually complained that he should get more credit for the team’s win since he gets all the blame when the team loses. That was truly pathetic. If you want the credit, throw a couple of touchdown passes and don’t get picked off. If you don’t want the blame, don’t play like a loser as you have in the past in big games. I don’t see Vinatieri or Marvin Harrison in all those Mastercard or Gatorade commercials. You’re the team’s quarterback. Act like it.

Despite how much I loathe Manning I still am going to have support the Colts this weekend because I do like Vinatieri, Harrison, and the team’s coach Tony Dungy. I also want to see the Patriots humbled a little bit, especially since they weren’t willing to pay Vinatieri what he wanted and let him walk away as a free agent after he had done so much for the team. This is probably the Colts' best chance to finally beat the Pats, but if I were putting money down on the game, I would probably put in on the Pats. That’s how little confidence I have in Peyton Manning. But I’m still going to root for him and the Colts and hope that he finally learned how to play in January when it counts.

The Once and Future Piston

Last week when I first heard that the Philadelphia 76ers planned to buy out Chris Webber’s contract, I was mildly intrigued. I remember back in his Sacramento days, there was talk about how much Webber wanted to play in Los Angeles with Shaquille O’Neal. So I couldn’t help wondering if, after clearing waivers and became a free agent, Webber would be interested in playing for the Los Angeles Lakers even though Shaq was long gone.

A day later I learned that the Lakers were one of the handful of teams that Webber was considering playing for. I was pleased and actually did a little fist pump. I knew that Webber wasn’t the same player he was four years ago, but given how thin the Lakers are in their front court thanks to injury, I couldn’t help thinking that he would be a good boost for the team.

My excitement didn’t last long. The very next day I read on Yahoo! Sports that Webber was headed to Detroit. But I saw in the LA Times that Webber was in contact with the Lakers so I still thought there was a chance that the Lakers would get him. On Monday, Webber made his decision and even attended a Detroit Pistons game.

I was a bit disappointed but also a bit relieved. When dealing with Chris Webber, you’re not just dealing with physical frailties; you’re dealing with emotional ones as well. It's bad enough that he seems to be playing on only one leg after having microfracture surgery on his left knee three and a half years ago. What makes things worse is that it’s not quite clear if he’s come to grips with that.

Apparently part of the reason that Webber chose the Pistons is that after having a conversation with Laker’s head coach Phil Jackson, he wasn’t assured that he would be given a starting spot. It says a lot about Webber that he wasn’t confident enough in himself to think he could beat out players like Kwame Brown, Andrew Bynum, Brian Cook, Ronny Turiaf, or Vladimir Radmanovic on his own without a promise from Jackson.

It really is a shame. I’ve always had a soft spot for Webber since he was one of the cornerstones of my first fantasy basketball team back in 2000. I even contemplated buying a Webber jersey after my fantasy team won the league. When Webber underperformed or declined to take clutch shots against the Lakers in the playoffs, I would actually try to defend him. I would have enjoyed seeing him in purple and gold even if only for one season. Instead the Lakers are stuck with playing Brian Cook at the power forward position until Lamar Odom gets back. That might not be such a bad thing. If he keeps getting 25 points and 10 rebounds like he did on Sunday against the Miami Heat, I’ll continue to remember Webber more for that timeout he took in the NCAA championship game than for the couple of days he flirted with becoming a Laker.

Taking Sides

Last weekend, my football teams went three for four, much to my surprise, thanks to a little ineptitude by Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo and the New York Giants defense, which was unable to stop the Philadelphia Eagles from marching down the field to set up the game-winning field goal by David Akers. Unfortunately Bill Belichick and Tom Brady were too much for the NY Jets to handle. So I’m back this week to once again share who I’ll be rooting for in this weekend’s NFL playoff games.

Indianapolis Colts at Baltimore Ravens
I rooted for the Colts last week mainly because I’m tired of hearing that the Colts’ head coach Tony Dungy and quarterback Peyton Manning have never won the big game. I still feel a little bad for Tony Dungy that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers won the Super Bowl the year after they dumped Dungy and hired Jon Gruden. So I’m sticking with the Colts this weekend even though I don’t have anything against the Baltimore Ravens. In fact I really like Raven’s quarterback Steve McNair. He’s obviously been one of the league’s best QBs during his career but what has really set him apart in my mind is his willing to play through injury to help his team. I was really shocked that the Titans let him go in the off-season but was happy to see him experience success with the Ravens. Nevertheless, I’m sticking with the Colts even though I think the Ravens actually have a better shot of winning.

Philadelphia Eagles at New Orleans Saints
I have similar dilemma in this game. Last week I went with the Eagles and I feel compelled to root for them again even though I actually like the Saints team. Drew Brees, like Steve McNair, was cast off by his old team in the off-season, in this case the San Diego Chargers, but has been able to find unexpected success with his old team and I definitely respect that. In addition, the Saints have Reggie Bush. I’m not a big fan of USC football even though I’m from the LA area and I didn’t go to UCLA. But I had to appreciate how good Bush was at USC. Some of those highlights that I saw of him were simply amazing. I really want to see him duplicate that success in the NFL so I can see more of those breathtaking plays. Plus you have the whole post-Katrina sympathy for New Orleans. But I still want to see the Eagles win the Super Bowl without Donovan McNabb for the sake of the Sports Guy Ewing theory so I’m sticking with the Eagles.

Seattle Seahawks at Chicago Bears
Now we’re getting to the easy ones. I rooted for the Seahawks last week because of Shaun Alexander and Mike Holmgren and I really don’t have any reason to root for the Bears. I don’t know why, but I don’t really like Rex Grossman. Finally, the Bears defense helped kill any shot I had to make the playoffs in my fantasy league. I was up by 25 points or so in my match-up going into the Monday night game between the Chicago Bears and the St. Louis Rams. My opponent had the Rams’ running back Steven Jackson. I hoped that the vaunted Bears defense would keep Jackson to about 20 fantasy points. Jackson ended up with 2 touchdowns, 80 rushing yards, 58 passing yards, and 10 receptions for a grand total of 30.90. Obviously I blamed the Bears for my defeat rather than my own management skills and I swore that from that day on I would hate both teams. So I’ll be cheering as loud as I can for the Seahawks when these two teams take the field.

New England at San Diego Chargers
I’m not sure how I feel about the Chargers. Since the Rams and Raiders left, they’re the closest thing that Los Angeles has to a National Football League team. But they’re still a San Diego team so I can’t really embrace them. I do like LaDainian Tomlinson and Antonio Gates. Plus I really do feel that Tom Brady and Bill Belichick must be stopped for the sake of football. I love the parity in the NFL and we don’t need one team to threaten that. So I’ll be rooting for the Chargers, but I still wish my friend Johnny Ringo, a longtime New England fan, good luck with the Pats.

Regardless of the outcome of these games I’ll be back next week with my picks for the conference championship games.

Sympathy for the Devil?

It’s hard to feel sorry for professional athletes. They get paid millions of dollars to play games. They get special treatment from all segments of society and are able to retire in their thirties to pursue other interests. Even after that humiliating, enormous screw-up by Tony Romo that cost his team a playoff victory in their match-up against the Seattle Seahawks last weekend, when he was unable to hold the ball for the Cowboys kicker, I would probably trade places with him in a heartbeat. Professional athletes just seem to have it that good in this country.

However, despite my general lack of sympathy for ball players, I couldn’t help but feel a little sorry for Mark McGwire when I learned yesterday that he only received 23.5% of the vote on this year’s baseball Hall of Fame ballot. McGwire was eligible for HOF induction for the first time this year along with Tony Gwynn and Cal Ripken. Both Gwynn and Ripken attained the 75% of the vote required for induction and there’s no question in my mind that they both merited it.

Of course that’s not saying much since I don’t know a great deal about what makes a player HOF-worthy. A few months ago I was actually arguing with my friend Dr. X that Kenny Lofton and Nomar Garciaparra deserved to be in the HOF. Of course Dr. X told me I was an idiot and after taking a better look at their numbers, he’s probably right. But one thing that I did know about making it to the baseball Hall of Fame is that hitting 500 homeruns was pretty much a ticket in. There have been 20 players in Major League Baseball’s history that have hit at least 500 and of the 16 players that are eligible for induction, all 16 are in the Hall.

When Mark McGwire retired it sure looked like his induction was a sure thing. Sure some might say that aside from his homers, Big Mac’s numbers weren’t that great. But at the time he was number five on the all-time homer list with 583 dingers so I thought he was still a shoe-in. But then the steroid cloud started forming with Ken Caminiti and Jose Canseco exposing what baseball, sportswriters, and fans had been ignoring for too long. Ultimately, the cloud led to congressional hearings in which McGwire was called to testify and consistently refused to answer any questions about the past.

I couldn’t help feeling betrayed when I saw what I considered Big Mac basically admitting he was on the juice when he broke the single season record for homeruns. I really hoped that baseball writers would make an example of him and keep him out of the Hall of Fame. I felt the same way about Barry Bonds even though my friend pointed out that Bonds had a Hall of Fame career even before he presumably started taking steroids.

Well I got my wish, at least for one year, but now I’m starting to wonder whether such treatment is really fair. Baseball didn’t prohibit the use of steroids at the time and while their use without a doctor’s prescription might have been illegal at the time, Big Mac has never been convicted of anything. Plus, it seems we will never really know who was taking steroids at the time so without a positive steroids test, like Rafael Palmeiro, exclusion does not seem to be the right answer. Unfortunately from what I've been hearing and reading, it seems like my view is in the minority.

So what now? Well if McGwire really cares about getting into the Hall of Fame, he’s going to have to come forward and admit that he used steroids. Americans have short memories and love to forgive heroes that have fallen. If Pete Rose had made his admission about betting on baseball before cashing in on it by writing a book about it, he might have been forgiven and would be in the HOF right now. Of course the question remains whether Big Mac really cares. It seems he has tried to stay of the limelight since he’s retired from baseball. He had his glory days, including all of the personal accolades and a World Series championship in 1989. Does he really want to castrate himself just so baseball writers and fans can feel better about themselves? My guess is no and I really couldn’t blame him. I just hope that McGwire doesn’t become a scapegoat and that if he is to be kept out of the HOF, all other players under the steroids cloud, including Barry Bonds, receive the same scrutiny and are denied induction when their turn comes.

A Rooting Interest

I haven’t paid that much attention to the National Football League for the last couple of weeks. I failed to make the playoffs in my fantasy football league after winning it all last year, somewhat like the Pittsburgh Steelers, and with no hometown team to root for, my interest in the sport has waned. But now the fantasy season is over and it’s playoff time in the real world so I’m planning to tune in again this weekend. But rather than give you my picks of who I think will win, which might be used against me in the future, I’m going to tell you who I’m rooting for. Unfortunately, given how the Lakers and Dodgers have performed in recent years, that might not be such a good thing for the teams I’ll be cheering for.

Kansas City Chiefs at Indianapolis Colts
This is a tough game for me. I like both of the head coaches, Tony Dungy and Herm Edwards. I also like the Colts’ star wide receiver Marvin Harrison and Chiefs tight end Tony Gonzalez. These guys have been the best at their respective positions for years but carry themselves with a quiet confidence rather than any loud arrogance. I’m not a big fan of Peyton Manning. Sure he’s one of the best quarterbacks in the game, but I’m tired of seeing him in all those commercials and it bothers me how everyone seems to overlook the fact that he often fails to deliver in big games. But I’m also getting tired of hearing about Manning and Dungy never winning it all. So I guess I’ll be rooting for the Colts, just not very enthusiastically.

Dallas Cowboys at Seattle Seahawks
This game is probably the easiest for me to pick sides. I’m a big fan of Shaun Alexander, Seattle’s star running back, since he was the MVP of my fantasy football team last year. I’ve also been a Mike Holmgren fan from when he was the head coach for the Green Bay Packers as I was one of many that jumped on that band wagon. While he might not have managed the clock well in last year’s Super Bowl, I still think the biggest reason the Seahawks lost was because of bad officiating so I think the league owes them.

As for the Cowboys, they’ve won enough in the past. The Cowboys have won 5 Super Bowls with the most recent in 1996. I’ve also disliked Terrell Owens since he was a 49er. He’s just such an egomaniac. And while I respect Bill Parcells as a great coach, he’s always seemed like a bit of a jerk whenever I’ve seen him during a press conference. Finally, I’ve really gotten tired of the Tony Romo hype machine. While the hype has died down since he’s struggled in the last few weeks, if the Cowboys win, I know the machine would just get revved up again and none of us want that, do we.

New York Jets at New England Patriots
This game is also a little tough. My friend Johnny Ringo is a longtime Patriots fan while my other friend Heavy Hitter is a Jets fan. What makes the choice easier is all the success that the Pats have had in last five years. Three Super Bowl victories are more than enough. I’ve also gotten sick of hearing about how great Tom Brady and Bill Belichick are. There hasn’t been as much talk about them this year since the team hasn’t been as dominant as it has in the past and I’d like to keep it that way.

New York Giants at Philadelphia
As much as I dislike Peyton Manning, I find his brother Eli even more annoying. It all dates back to when he was drafted by the San Diego Chargers and whined and was able to get himself traded to New York. It’d be so funny if the Giants got eliminated in the first week of the playoffs and the Chargers, who have a bye this week, went on to win the Super Bowl. I also can’t stand Jeremy Shockey. As you can probably tell by now I’m not a big fan of arrogant players. I forgive Kobe Bryant because he plays for the Los Angeles Lakers and he’s actually won something.

I would also find it very amusing if the Eagles proved the Sports Guy’s Ewing Theory and somehow were able to win the Super Bowl without Donovan McNabb. It would be even more amusing if the Eagles ended up facing the Cowboys in the NFC championship game and Jeff Garcia was able to knock Terrell Owens out of the playoffs after all the taunts directed by Owens at Garcia.

So that’s who I’m rooting for this weekend. Again, I’m not saying you should put any money on the teams I’ll be supporting. In fact, it would probably be a better idea for you to put money on the opposing teams. I’ll chime in again to jinx a few more teams next week.