Sad Times in Sports

The last couple of days whenever I’ve switched on the tube to ESPN, coverage has focused on three ravaging stories involving the NFL, NBA, and MLB: the Michael Vick dog fighting indictment, the Tim Donaghy NBA gambling scandal, and the Barry Bonds HR chase (not to mention the whole Tour de France mess). All of these feature stories have placed a negative light on the three major professional sports leagues in the United States. There’s no denying it, it’s a depressing time to be a sports fan. But sometimes the media can make us think that these kinds of problems are more rampant than they really are. I flipped open the Durham Herald-Sun this morning and found a letter to the editor that really lit a fire underneath me. Here’s the letter:

“The off-the-field behavior in professional and college sports has reached a point of diminishing returns! We have all had to accept the use of steroids, blood doping and gambling as the “anything to win" means to an end.

A highly paid NFL player is involved in a dog fighting ring and the inhuman treatment of those poor animals who didn't "perform". Another famous football player murders his wife in cold blood and walks away free. He even has the gall to write a book about the event!

College players have an off-campus party and engage in underage drinking while being "entertained" by two "strippers." An altercation breaks out because some of the players didn't want to pay up, as they felt they hadn't gotten their money's worth. Of course, it was all the girls' fault.

The use of steroids, blood doping, gambling and all this other behavior has been part of the sports world for a long time. I find it reprehensible that once caught with their pants down, those athletes stare into the camera and deny any responsibility.

What is more vulgar to me are the all the idiots who spend millions of dollars and waste thousands of hours of time watching these athletes while stuffing their faces with junk food and chasing it down with lite beer.”

-BOB VASILE
Durham
July 29, 2007

This letter is a perfect example of how the media can skew the truth. I can’t blame Bob for feeling the way he does right now, if I were a regular citizen I’d be disillusioned by the sports world in lieu of the past week’s happenings. But we have to remember that these are isolated incidents and not representative of all athletes.

I like to think that the sports world mirrors the real world. I think that in whatever group or community you have, there will always be a spectrum of people who live their lives the “right” and “wrong” way. You will always have people who lack character, cheat, and perform cruel acts, but you will also have a much more considerable number of people who do things the right way and are truly upstanding, character people. There are plenty of the latter in the sports world. In one of my previous articles I highlighted the strong character of Houston Texan running back Samkon Gado, who intends on going to medical school so he can be a doctor to help the poor in his Nigerian homeland. What about Jason Taylor, who has created scholarship foundations for college students, raised money for cystic fibrosis/ paralysis research, and visited Kuwait and Iraq through the USO/NFL Tour to boost the morale of soldiers abroad. There are hundreds of players like these two, who do the right thing and really are role models. But the media has chosen to largely ignore these upstanding characters and instead focus its attention on the Pacman Jones, O.J. Simpsons, Michael Vicks, or Barry Bonds’ of the world.

What’s happened the last week is a travesty, but it upsets me when people make inaccurate conclusions based on isolated, and glorified events.

Bob, I recommend you try to look at all the good guys in sports before you rush to conclusions.

Enough with the seriousness, Scrapper Nation, get ready for perhaps the funniest video of all time. Senator Robert Byrd’s reaction to the Michael Vick Dogfighting case:



Food for thought

I don’t condone that Roger Goodell has decided he is above the law by suspending players before the legal system has run its course. Whatever happened to innocent until proven guilty? Although the evidence seems to imply terrible acts occurred on Michael Vick’s property, I think it’s foolish to suspend a player and take away his due process and presumption of innocence by suspending him without the certainty of guilt. Do you think Roger Goodell made the right decision suspending Michael Vick?

Some videos

Hello all. I want to apologize because I have a final on friday and won't be able to write another post until then. In the meantime, check out some of these videos concerning the mess surrounding the Tim Donaghy NBA gambling scandal and the Michael Vick dogfighting case.

Here's a video questioning some of Donaghy's calls (or non-calls) in Game 3 of the Spurs-Suns series:



Let's hear what The Scrapper Nation's favorite analyst, Kige Ramsey, had to say:



I want to know what David Stern knew, when he knew it. I hope (for his sake) he didn't let Donaghy ref any playoff games with the knowledge that he was under investigation. If it comes out that Stern knew and let him ref, I guarantee he'll be gone in less than 24 hours.

Watch this snippet about dogfighting (some brutal stuff for all the dog lovers out there):



And finally, "The Real Michael Vick Experience"



Another post coming this weekend.

The Debate that Rages: Paulus or Smith?

I'd like to start off by thanking the Duke Basketball Report for picking up my last article. And I'd also like to thank you, the readers, for taking the time to read and share your thoughts on the article. Keep it coming. I want to discuss a topic that emerged from reader comments on the last article; who should be our starting point guard.

Michael, a reader, started this debate by inquiring about what role Nolan Smith should play next year. Debate ensued and a lot of you have given well thought out and opposing views on how Greg Paulus and Nolan Smith should fit in within the framework of the team next season. Rudy got the “bench Paulus” crowd going. Here’s what he had to say:

"I say we bench Paulus and go with a starting lineup of Nolan, Gerald, Demarcus, Singler, and Lance. NOW THAT WOULD BE NASTY. Paulus can be a good role player coming off the bench along with Scheyer, Marty, King, etc..."

Another reader echoed this sentiment:

"What if we did start Nolan, Gerald, Demarcus, Singler, and Lance? I think that's a super athletic group that would be menacing in transition. And if we're forced to play a half court game we could have Paulus, Scheyer, Gerald, Demarcus or Lance, and Zoubek in the game."

If we want to run, I can't think of a better group to have on the court except maybe replacing Lance with another guard (Singler will have to get used to spending some time playing center next year and I think he's up to the challenge; he played excellent defense on Kevin Love in the McDonald's All-American game earlier this year). Although that lineup sounds great, benching your captain isn’t usually the most obvious suggestion.

As to be expected, some of you scoffed at the notion of Paulus coming off the bench. One reader, writing under the name Brady Quinn, had this response for Rudy:

"Ironic your name is Rudy. Paulus turned down being the quarterback at Notre Dame so he could come off the BENCH for us? There is NO WAY Coach K ever benches Paulus."

If it's really you Brady, how about hooking The Scrapper up with some tickets next season. Another reader had this to say:

"I think the starting lineup has to be Paulus, Scheyer, Gerald, Singler, and Zoubek. Coach K loves Paulus and Scheyer and the reality is that Coach isn't going to go fast. Demarcus, King, Nolan, etc...will come off the bench."

So the debate that emerged has essentially boiled down to the roles Paulus and Nolan Smith will play next season.

Before I tell you what I think, let's all gather a little more information and watch this YouTube video that Dan, a reader, found of Nolan Smith and Paulus playing against each other at a pickup game for Duke Basketball Campers (for the full video click here). The guy crossing up and then dunking on Paulus is Nolan Smith.



Ouch, facial! I did a little bit more research on Nolan and I was utterly shocked by his athleticism. He might be a better dunker than Gerald. If you thought that last dunk was good, watch this ridiculous mix tape:



Wow, right? I'm convinced Nolan's going to play an important role for us next season. The best way for me to describe him is by comparing him to past Duke players. I see him as a fusion of Sean Dockery, Daniel Ewing, and Jay Williams. He reminds me of Dockery because of his defensive intensity, Ewing because of his shooting touch, and Williams because of his explosiveness. Adding the fact that he's a classy, down to earth guy who can dunk out of the building, and you see why he has the potential to have his jersey hanging in the rafters someday (yeah I said it, did you see that mixtape?).

He's going to start the season on the bench but I think by the end of the year he should be starting. I fully believe that by the end of the season (tourney time), Duke will be better off having Nolan at the point and putting Paulus at shooting guard. Paulus is the best shooter on our team. He shouldn't wear himself out bringing the ball up the court; he should be spending his energy fighting through screens to get open like J.J. used to do. He's that good of a shooter. I don't think there's any chance Paulus comes off the bench, and I don't think he should come off the bench. He's too good and he's the leader of this team. But with Nolan and Paulus starting (along with some mix of Gerald, Demarcus, Singler, and Lance), I think Duke has the potential to make a deep, deep run next March. I can't think of more than two or three other teams that could even try to make a case they have more talent.

What do you think?

Who should be Duke's starting point guard?
	Greg Paulus
	Nolan Smith
pollcode.com free polls

Do yourself a favor and watch that Nolan mix tape again, it'll get you pumped for next season.

Duke Basketball Pickup Game: An Undercover Report

So I went to the gym last night intending to hoop for a little while when I stumbled on a pickup game featuring a few past and present Duke players. On one team were incoming Duke recruits Nolan Smith and Taylor King, along with Jon Scheyer and Jay Williams. The other team featured Greg Paulus, Lance Thomas, Gerald Henderson, and Chris Carrawell. They thought I was another kid watching in awe. Only if they’d known The Scrapper was noting their every movement so he could share this undercover reporting with the entire Scrapper Nation. Here are a few observations:

1) Paulus is constantly moving his mouth, mostly just talking junk . When Jay Williams bobbled a bullet pass from Nolan Smith, Paulus told Williams “you should really try to look at the ball if you want to catch it.” Then whenever he made a shot he said “you can’t give me that,” “Yes sir,” “gametime,” or “leave me open again *************.” When the other team was getting a lot of points in transition, Paulus barked at Lance (or LT as Paulus affectionately calls him), Gerald, and Carrawell, and ordered them not to take quick jump shots. It actually really impressed me. I love the fact that he feels confident enough to be talking that much smack. And if he’s willing to be that vocal in a pickup game, I think he’ll be ready to take his leadership to the next level as the floor general and captain of the team next year.

2) What made Jay Williams unstoppable when he was at Duke was his devastating combination of speed and strength. He’s lost a step or two because of his motorcycle accident, but he’s still very strong. Jay Williams was backing down Paulus and scoring on him at will. Paulus yelled something like “in your eye” after he made a jumpshot and you should have seen Jay Will just rush the ball down the court, lower his shoulder, and take it right at Paulus. If you’re wondering about Williams, he was cut by the Nets on October 22, 2006 and waived by the Austin Toros of the NBDL on December 30, 2006 due to injury. If he can get a little more speed back, I think he can be a productive player in the NBA. He’s just so gosh darn strong.

3) John Scheyer’s scrimmage last night reminded me a lot of the Jon Scheyer we saw last season. The first game Scheyer probably went 0 for 11, bricking all his 3's and playing without any confidence. He started the second game by dribbling down the court and pulling up. He swished it and he did the same thing the next 2 possessions. He was on fire the whole game.

Similarly, Scheyer had some ridiculous games last year including a 25 point game against Miami and a 26 point game against UNC. But he also had 11 games where he failed to reach double digits including a 7 point performance in Duke’s NCCA tournament loss to VCU. If yesterday’s scrimmage is any indication, Scheyer is still in development and needs to work on bringing consistency and confidence with him every time he steps onto the court.

4) Gerald Henderson is going to be a stud. He was scoring at will yesterday. All he had to do was get airborne and then he could just hang in the air and lay it in when the player trying to match up with him fell to the ground. He is a special, gifted athlete. If Gerald develops a reliable jump shot this season, which I fully expect he will, he could be a top 5 pick in next year’s draft. He’s THAT good. I think this guy is going to be a perennial all-star and one of the most dynamic shooting guard/small forwards in the league. If Duke is going to make any noise this season, Gerald Henderson is going to have to have a tremendous year.

5) In the words of Jay Bilas, Lance Thomas has “a tremendous motor.” He was zipping up and down the court but what I was looking for was if he could be effective in the post. Although he had a couple of highlight reel dunks, for the most part he was bobbling entry passes and making turnovers dribbling the ball in the post when he should have just been going up strong. Lance is a 3, and with Zoubek out for the moment, he becomes Duke's featured post presence. If yesterday’s scrimmage was a sign of things to come, Duke’s Achilles heal this season is going to be their post play. Duke has guards and forwards galore but we don’t have a dynamic Brand- or Boozer-like post presence. ( Zoubek is too big and slow while Lance is too small and fast). A Zoubek/Lance hybrid (with a jumpshot) is what Duke needs to cook up.

6) Taylor King isn’t bashful. It seemed like every time the kid got his hands on the rock he was throwing up 3’s. And I’ll tell you what, he’s a sniper. He was making everything. The only real knock on King is his athleticism. He was looking out of shape but if he can continue to nail that jumper, he might end up becoming a real contributor next season. King could turn out to be the best player from this year’s recruiting class because of his attitude, the kid’s a gunslinger.

7) Chris Carrawell has become a large man. And when I say large, I mean he’s suffering from intense abdominal obesity (can’t call him a fat ***, the guy’s a legend).

Outlook


Even without Demarcus Nelson fracturing his wrist and Brian Zoubek likewise breaking his foot, Duke isn’t looking especially good next year. One thing has become crystal clear, if Duke is going to have success next season, Coach K is going to have to depart from his preferred playing style. With a plethora of athletic wing players, Duke is going to have to try to push the ball and go up and down the court if they want to maximize their potential. Think about this, Duke could start Greg Paulus, Jon Scheyer, Gerald Henderson, Kyle Singler, and Lance Thomas and bring Demarcus Nelson (he should be a starter once he’s a 100%), Nolan Smith, Taylor King, Marty Pocius, Dave McClure, and Brian Zoubek off the bench. Duke will go a legitimate 11 deep next season and needs to take advantage of this deep pool of talent by pressing, running, and gunning. It could be beautiful. Coach K could even learn how to work the run and gun to perfection from Mike D’Antoni this summer. But if Coach K chooses to have a 6 or 7 man rotation as he has in the past and play a half court game, Duke could go .500 in the ACC and face another first round exit from the NCAA tournament.

The ESPYs, Links, and YouTube

I’ve finally got a little bit of time to sit back, relax, watch the ESPYs, and write a post. I decided I’d just spend this article sharing a scattering of thoughts and YouTube videos. Let’s begin:

Phil Mickelson and his wayward driver blew another big tournament today. Mickelson bogeyed three of his last five holes (including driving into a hazard on the playoff hole) to choke away the Scottish Open. Not only is Phil out of shape (I think the official term here is gynecomastia), he’s also about as anti-clutch as an athlete can possibly be. What a waste of talent.

Check out this ridiculous video of a javelin accident on Friday the 13th in Rome:



This is great. Lebron was just introduced and brought in with some people carrying him in a king’s chair. Jimmy Kimmel bends down and kisses his hand and then says “what an entrance, imagine if you guys had won a game in the Finals.” Jimmy Kimmel is great.

If you’ve spent a lot of time on YouTube you’ve probably run into some of Kige Ramsey’s video opinions about sports. This guy is a joke (in a bad way) and always signs off “This is Kige Ramsey of YouTube sports.” Here’s a little sampling of this character:



Stephon Marbury: “We got a youthier player in Zack Randolph.” Youthier?



Boise State just won the ESPY for best game. Gosh, I forgot how great a game that was. Refresh your memory:



Kay Yow, N.C. State’s cancer-stricken women’s head basketball coach, just got presented with a new ESPY award for perseverance. Reminded me of my favorite speech of all-time, the great Jimmy V speech at the ESPYs 6 weeks before he succumbed to cancer. Here it is:



Check out this quote by Greg Oden from his blog about the ESPYS:

“I was sitting next to LeBron's Mom. She and I laughed almost the whole show. Also 2 seats down was Ms. Regina King and she was very beautiful, but I didn't talk to her. The post party was cool. It was packed. I was excited to meet everyone there, but the two that I smile about the most are Kendra from "The Girls Next Door" and Sarah Underwood "Playmate of The Year" -- she is from Oregon ;). They were two of the finest women I have ever met, hands down. Those two were the stars that I won't stop telling people I met for years. In a wrap, the ESPYs were a blast and I would love to go back again.”

Lebron’s new house will be 35,440 square feet, have a recording studio, a bowling alley, a barbershop, a two-story walk-in closet, a theater, elevator, sports bar, aquarium, and a casino (yes A CASINO). Check out the great “Lebrese” on Kimmel the other night:



I’m signing out with my favorite ESPY moment of all time, Will Ferrell serenading Lance Armstrong at last year’s show:

Wimbledon Final Blog: Federer-Nadal

I’d say today’s Wimbledon Final ranks right up there as one of the greatest grand slam finals matches of all time. I really didn’t expect much from Nadal after he struggled so mightily just reaching the final while Federer had been on complete cruise control. NBC showed a stat at the beginning of the telecast that said Federer had only spent 7 hours to Nadal’s 14 hours of on-court time. But Nadal really showed me something today. When you think of French Open Champions, you think of heavy topspin baseliners who usually don’t find a whole lot of success on the fast grass of Wimbledon. We’ve seen Spaniards with similar playing styles to Nadal like Carlos Moya and Albert Costa who haven’t been able to translate their clay court success to Wimbledon. In fact, the last 8 French Open Champions (and 13 of the last 15) were won by players who failed to win any other grand slam singles title in their careers. And I have to say that I thought Nadal reaching the final last year was a fluke but after two consecutive Wimbledon finals, I’m finally starting to realize that this kid is the real deal. He is without question the fittest and toughest guy on the tour right now. He showed us so much heart and was so close to winning. If Nadal converts just one of those four break points he had on Federer’s first two service games in the fifth set, Nadal just might have come out on top.

What really impresses me about Nadal is how he rapidly adapted his playing style from the slow clay courts of Roland Garros to the quick grass courts of Wimbledon in a matter of only 2 weeks. On clay Nadal took huge backswings to maximize the topspin he could get on the ball. Today against Federer, you saw Nadal take the ball on the rise and follow his approach shots into net. And what a masterful job he did on serve. He directed around 80% of his serves to the Federer backhand and Federer didn’t make many of Nadal’s service games competitive.

With Nadal improving steadily on grass, Federer needs to regroup. If Federer intends on repeating next year, here are some things he must do:

1) Get a coach. Federer might be the most talented tennis player of all time, but his game plan needs some work. There’s no way Nadal should have held serve more times than Federer. Federer wasn’t getting much on the ball because he was staying back and letting the ball rise on his one handed backhand. Federer struck me as being unbelievably passive today. If I were his coach I would have told him to step up and go after Nadal’s serve. There were too many long points today, which is exactly what Nadal wants. I think Federer should be serve and volleying more, chip and charging more, and following his approach shots into net.

2) Work on your conditioning. Nadal is in better shape than Federer and it looks like these two are going to be having many more epic battles. Federer needs to be in better shape if he wants to avoid a repeat of this year’s French Open Final where the fatigue was apparent. His 10-10 lifetime 5 set career mark shows that this may be one of his problems.

3) Stop crying every time you win a major. This isn’t really related to winning but it just pisses me off. Seriously man, you’ve won 11 slams now. You don’t have to buckle your knees and fall to the ground crying hysterically like you just won your first tournament. Respect your opponent and the game.

4) Ditch the suit. Your sweater/jacket/pants coupled with Nadal’s Capri pants is giving all of us tennis players a bad name. Yes, The Scrapper played a little ball back in the day and now all of his friends rip on him because they point to outfits like these.

5) Hang out with Tiger more because…Tiger’s the man, you could learn a thing or two. Tiger/Federer commercial below:

NBA Draft Thoughts

If you thought the Stephen A. heckling video from last year was good, this year's version deserves an Emmy. This is officially my favorite YouTube Video of the moment.



Also, check out this Chinese milk commercial starring Yi. Can anyone figure out what's going on?



A few thoughts on the draft:

1- The Trailblazers are an enigma too me. I love that the Blazers were able to snag Oden's buddy and super-talent Josh McRoberts in the second round (a sure lottery pick if he had come out only a year earlier). But you trade Zach Randolph, one of the best big men in the game, for a player who is never going to be more than a role player in Channing Frye and a washed up Steve Francis (and that $30 million contract). I love the frontcourt of Oden, Lamarcus Aldridge, and Josh McRoberts. Oden will always be a dominant defensive force while Aldride and McRoberts will develop into true weapons on the offensive end.

2-Chicago. What are you doing? I think Noah is a much better fit than Hawes would have been but we saw how bad the Blazers wanted to get rid of Randolph. Why not trade this pick and a big salary to the Blazers for Randolph? Randolph and Ben Wallace in the post would have meant a surefire finals berth and one of the best front lines in the league. Instead, the Bulls picked a player in Noah whose skill set (defensive prowess and offensive ineptitude) is a virtual duplicate to Big Ben.

3-I hate the Ray Allen trade. This is what happens when a general manager is forced to put together a team that will win immediately instead of doing what is right for the franchise in the long run. Sure Allen is going to have a good season or two and the Celtics will make the playoffs, but that'll be about it. This trade will regress the development of Gerald Green since he is sure to see a dip in his minutes.

4-I love Golden State's draft. Not only did they unload J-Rich's huge contract, but they got two talented youngsters that fit into their system perfectly. Brandan Wright is ready to play in Golden State's up-tempo style immediately and Marco Bellinelli was the steal of the draft. He'll be better than J-Rich and he's ready to play today. And in case the Warriors decide to go after KG or Yi, they now have some good trading chips.