by Julian Spivey The NFL season finally kicks off tonight when the Pittsburgh Steelers take on the New England Patriots after what was seemingly the longest offseason in the history of professional football. The NFL needs football games worse than ever and the fans want to see football games worse than ever. This isn’t because of our addiction to football as a country, which occasionally seems out of control, but because nearly all of the NFL talk during the offseason has been negative and to the point of exhaustion and even nausea. “Deflategate,” the controversy between the NFL and the defending Super Bowl champion Patriots deflating footballs, became the talk of the NFL offseason and in the process perhaps the most overblown story in the long history of the NFL. The fact that it became a story at all is pretty ridiculous, but the way in which NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell so thoroughly screwed it up as he has become accustomed to doing with nearly every big controversy involving the sport is what truly turned it into the nightmare for everyone involved that it became. It almost feels or seems like Roger Goodell can’t get out of his own way when it comes to leading the world’s most profitable professional sports league. Goodell has shown to be almost inept at his position, but is still hanging on because it doesn’t seem like there’s anything that can be done to quell the continually booming popularity of the National Football League. Forgive the harshness here, but I once told someone that Goodell could rape and kill children and the league’s popularity wouldn’t even falter. That’s how insatiable the country’s passion for the sport of football has become. Sometimes it seems a little unhealthy when the popularity of the game doesn’t even slightly dwindle when so many of its players are involved in physical assault cases or the leader of the entire system looks like the world’s most inept and clueless dictator. And, this is why kickoff for tonight’s season opening game in Foxboro, Mass. couldn’t come at a better time. The cluelessness of the NFL was on full display last week when Judge Richard Berman nullified the NFL’s four game suspension of Patriots quarterback Tom Brady in the “Deflategate” scandal case because he determined that the NFL really didn’t have enough evidence or cause to suspend Brady for the number of games in which a player testing positive for performance enhancing drugs would receive. The NFL had no real evidence whatsoever that Brady was involved in the Patriots deflating footballs and still handed down a suspension of a quarter of the season, because Goodell can do whatever the hell he feels like because he’s judge and jury of the league. This is a sign of a broken system and it’s been broken during almost the entirety of Goodell’s reign and still nobody seems to truly care because … football. That’s why the NFL needs to kickoff right away. Because as soon as that first ball is put in the air tonight everybody will go back to forgetting about Goodell’s inability to run a league in an impartial and fair way just like they forgot last season that he was seemingly OK with players knocking their significant others unconscious. Goodell is and has been out of control as commissioner of the NFL for quite some time and should be forced to resign his position or be fired, but because the league continues to thrive and the majority of fans don’t care about anything that’s not going on in between those white lines he’ll continue to do things his way – the absolutely wrong way.
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by Eric Fulton Over the years, tennis has faded in popularity among American sports fans. While the U.S. Open is played at the end of August/early September, it is often a reminder that most people would just rather watch football. So if you are scoring at home, it is football first and then everything else. But, there has been one constant American tennis player that has kept us talking about the sport and she is doing everything in her power to accomplish something that has not been done since the late ‘80s. Serena Williams has become her own icon after many years following in the shadows of her older sister, Venus. While Venus has had a great career in her own right, she would probably tell all of us that she would choose her own sister has the best tennis player in the world … possibly ever. Serena’s dominance in the tennis scene all over the globe has become nothing short of amazing for a sport that really lacks players from the United States. Most of the American players we all knew and love from the ‘80s, ‘90s and early 2000s are long gone. Venus and Serena still remain from that 2000 group in which the Williams sisters with Andy Roddick and Lindsay Davenport, just to name a few, who were going to continue a great wave of tennis players from the U.S. However, injuries and bad play would plague most of the other players leaving the likes of Venus and Serena to carry the flag of a nation that once dominated tennis. On Tuesday night in New York, the Williams sisters met for the 14th, and quite possibly the final, time facing each other. This time it was for much more than bragging rights. History was on the line as Serena was attempting to complete the calendar grand slam (winning the Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon and the U.S. Open in the exact order in the same year.) Entering the match, Serena was having the most dominant year any tennis player has ever had; and she already defeated her older sister once head-to-head at Wimbledon. It was an epic three set match with the younger sister besting the older sister. After the match, they embraced in a hug that was simply amazing to watch. Serena leads Venus all time head-to-head 9-5. Now that she passed her sister, Serena can focus on getting the grand slam. If she wins the U.S. Open final on Saturday, she will become the first woman since Steffi Graf in 1988 to accomplish the feat. American tennis is not what it used to be. It needs Serena to be successful much liked golf needed Tiger Woods to win in the early 2000s. Why? Because it made the game more watchable when the most dominant and popular player was winning. This win at the U.S. Open will cement Serena as one of the best to ever play the sport of tennis. Will Serena make history? I would not bet against her and neither should you. by Julian Spivey Things are going to get groovy on Sunday night at Darlington Raceway as NASCAR has returned to the famed South Carolina track on Labor Day weekend for the first time in more than a decade for the traditional Southern 500, one of the most storied races in NASCAR history. As a way of really driving home the historic and traditional aspect of the Southern 500 at Darlington on Labor Day Weekend NASCAR is doing a throwback race and it has been incredibly well-received by everybody involved, especially the fans. The biggest treat for the fans has been the throwback paint schemes that mimic or pay tribute to some great paint schemes of the past. About ¾ of the cars in Sunday night’s race will be running throwback schemes with some paying tribute to notable legendary schemes and drivers of the past like Aric Almirola running his boss Richard Petty’s iconic No. 43 Petty blue and red STP sponsored car, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. running a car that looks exactly like the one David Pearson drove during his 1968 and 1969 championship seasons and Clint Bowyer running a scheme that pays tribute to the recently departed Buddy Baker. A good number of drivers are also paying tribute to their auto racing fathers with Jeb Burton running an identical color scheme to the one his dad Ward won the 2002 Daytona 500 with, David Ragan running his No. 55 Toyota with a similar scheme as his father Ken ran in the 1987 Cup season and Paul Menard and Chase Elliott also running schemes similar in style to those of their fathers. Among other interesting throwback schemes are Josh Wise’s No. 32 running an identical color scheme to that of Ricky Craven, who won the closest finish in NASCAR history at Darlington in 2003, and Kyle Larson running an exact replica of the car Tom Cruise’s character Cole Trickle drove in the NASCAR movie “Days of Thunder.” In addition to the paint schemes adding some interesting throwback flair to the proceedings at Darlington on Sunday evening the broadcast by NBC Sports is also doing the same with throwback graphics from the ‘70s and legendary broadcasters Ken Squier and Ned Jarrett, joined by his Hall of Fame racing son Dale, stepping into the broadcast booth to call a portion of the race while usual broadcasters Rick Allen, Jeff Burton and Steve Letarte step aside for a bit. Supposedly the broadcasters will also be dressed in ‘70s garb during the race, as well. Among the other spectacles is NASCAR Hall of Fame driver Terry Labonte serving as Grand Marshall for the race. Incredibly, Labonte’s first and last career wins came in the iconic Southern 500 in 1980 and 2003 respectively, with Labonte’s win in 2003 coming in the final Labor Day weekend event before the race was moved to the spring and replaced by Atlanta Motor Speedway. The throwback vibe for Sunday night’s race has had everybody within the sport and who’s a fan of the sport excited and talking about it for weeks, which has made it one of the most anticipated events of the season and should become one of the most watched races of the year. Hopefully these drivers in their throwback paint schemes will put on some old school, throwback racing on the track, as well. 5 Best Throwback Paint Schemesby Eric Fulton College football is officially back in session tomorrow night. Now that the Division I FBS (Football Bowl Subdivision) is in year two of their College Football Playoff, every game truly matters. There are plenty of storylines to follow. Although, I am pretty sure many sports fans who love the sport have been thinking about all of this since Ohio State won the National Championship in January. Speaking of the Buckeyes, will they repeat? They are the unanimous number one team in the country playing three different quarterbacks at about the same time. They also have the best coach in college football, Urban Meyer, who was once an SEC title winning coach. Speaking of the SEC, they have not won a national championship in a couple of years after dominating the previous seven years. Will Nick Saban and Alabama get back to the championship game? How about Auburn? They were in the final BCS championship game two years ago. How about LSU or will someone else surprise the college football world and help the SEC become the best conference in college football once again? ESPN, who spends a lot of time talking about college football has a question they ask during their promos of college football, “Who’s in?” What they are referring to is who will be the four teams vying for this year’s National Championship? Yes, fans will say Ohio State or Alabama. Could the Big 12 have either TCU or Baylor in the final four after being shut out last year? Will the Pac-12 have a team make it? Oregon? USC? Stanford? Me personally, I love Arizona State and I think they have a shot as the dark horse team. Last year, the Cinderella of college football was Mississippi State. The Bulldogs began as an unranked team and then went all the way to number one. Although, they did not finish the year as number one, they still were able to capture the heart of the country. Who will be that team in 2015? Arkansas? Tennessee? Perhaps another team that flies out of nowhere, comes in and tries to shock the college football world? Plus, what is more exciting than the fact so many teams look promising entering the season is that we don’t have players like Johnny Manziel or Jameis Winston who steal the headlines for all the wrong reasons. Speaking of two former Heisman winners, who will win this year’s Heisman? Maybe their play on the field will grab the attention of voters and fans than their acts off the field. I think this is the year someone we may not know well now will win it. I believe college football at the peak of its game is better than the NFL. And the thing is players in college are doing this for free while still getting an education. So I love the fact that college football is back in our lives. I think 2015 will be a wild and crazy football season that all sports fans will indeed remember. by Eric Fulton I have been a huge fan of the game of baseball since I was five years old. There are so many things I love about the game from the action to the stadiums to the men who tell the story of the game. No one calls the game better then and now than Hall of Famer Vin Scully. Scully has called thousands of games, particularly the with Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers. Now, I have not heard all of Scully’s calls because for one, it is hard getting Dodgers games all the time living in central Arkansas. But for those who do not live in the greater Los Angeles area, we may only hear Scully call a game as little as once a season. However, just one time would make you appreciate the hard work and dedication this man puts into every broadcast. Scully began calling games for the Dodgers in 1950, which was in the early stages of Jackie Robinson’s career. He has called many games when Connie Mack, baseball’s all-time winningest manager, was managing championship teams. Just recently, he just called a game involving Chicago Cubs shortstop Addison Russell, who was born in 1994. He’s seen more baseball history than almost certainly anybody in the history of our nation’s game. Perhaps two of his most famous calls were when he was calling World Series games in the 1980s for NBC. The calls he made when Bill Buckner made his error in game six of the 1986 World Series and Kirk Gibson’s walk off home run in game one of the 1988 World Series are still epic calls still heard frequently to this day. Last Friday, the Dodgers announced that Scully will be back for his 68th year in the booth in 2016, which will be the last for the broadcaster who will turn 88 in November. He held a press conference on Saturday, and in true classic fashion, he was happy because he loves his job. I don’t think anybody’s ever seen Scully without a smile upon his face when talking baseball. What a tremendous voice that baseball will indeed lose after next season. For those that love listening to the stories of Jack Buck and Harry Caray, just to name a few, you may want to have plans to watch a Dodgers game or few next season so that you have one more chance to listen to a great storyteller of baseball, probably the greatest storyteller of baseball. I also wish that he can somehow call the whole World Series as well. Nothing against Fox’s Joe Buck, but I would rather have Vin Scully call the World Series in his final season. Thank you for your tremendous voice and major contribution to the game that I love, Mr. Scully. There are none quite like you. by Julian Spivey When the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup Playoffs began last week at the Barclays Tournament ESPN Radio’s “Mike and Mike in the Morning” co-hosts Mike Greenberg and Mike Golic had an interesting conversation on their show about how even golf fans don’t seem to be particularly interested in the sport’s version of a playoff format. The PGA Tour instituted the FedEx Cup playoffs in 2007 as a way to try to keep fan interest in the sport up after the fourth and final major of the season, the PGA Championship. The playoff format includes a season long points system that few fans (and even some golf media members) seem to understand and a four tournament playoff that shortens the field down each week until the top 30 in the points fight it out in the Tour Championship to win $10 million dollars. Despite fielding the 125 best golfers on the tour and an incredibly wealthy $10 million payout few fans seem to get as excited about the golf playoffs as fans in other sports. The problem with golf is that it has so many big events during the course of the season with the four majors (Masters, U.S. Open, British Open and PGA Championship) and the Ryder Cup every other year that the playoff just doesn’t seem to mean as much. The $10 million payout is huge, but as Greenberg and Golic brilliantly pointed out on their morning radio show last week it’s unlikely any golfer would rather win the FedEx Cup title than say the Masters or British Open. And, so it’s hard to get even halfway interested golf fans really hyped about the FedEx Cup playoffs. Another thing that hurts the FedEx Cup is it’s frequently won by very good golfers, but not necessarily the kind of golfers you would consider among the very best in the game or the type of names that bring about huge television ratings. Tiger Woods is the only golfer to win the title twice, but names like Bill Hass, Brandt Snedeker and Billy Horschel just aren’t going to entice the casual fan and even some bigger fans of the game to really tune in or get excited – especially when these events coincide with the beginning of both the NFL and college football seasons. There are some ways that the PGA Tour could improve the FedEx Cup playoffs though. Make the point system more simplistic so everybody could understand it. It’s a small thing, but could make a lot of difference. NASCAR’s point system used to be harder to understand than it is today (although nowhere near the level of the FedEx Cup standings), but a few years ago the sport made it extremely simplistic and in doing so actually made things more fair and now fans know how many points each driver will receive for each finishing spot in a race. It makes watching the events more enjoyable and certainly less confusing. The biggest thing the PGA Tour needs to do is enforce its athletes to show up for every event or face elimination. Rory McIlroy, the current No. 1 player in the World Golf Rankings, didn’t have to attend the Barclays Tournament this past weekend, because missing the tournament wouldn’t eliminate him from the playoffs. A playoff system where the athletes in it don’t actually have to compete in every event to win the championship seems ridiculous. The PGA Tour should mandate that all 125 players make the first tournament to remain eligible to win the playoffs and the $10 million. The playoffs have been won in the past by golfers who didn’t even appear in the first tournament. In fact, the eventual FedEx Cup champion has only won the first tournament (the Barclays) once in the eight year history of the playoffs with Vijay Singh doing so in 2008. Before we get to another aspect of a playoff system that the PGA Tour should look into implementing let’s discuss another change that golf might need to look into. Jordan Spieth became the No. 1 ranked golfer in the world two weeks ago after his runner-up finish at the PGA Championship, but lost that No. 1 ranking after missing the cut at the Barclays. McIlroy regained the No. 1 spot despite the fact that he didn’t even swing a club this past weekend. That seems asinine, doesn’t it? Back to the improvements the FedEx Cup could make. This one would throw major excitement into every round of the playoffs, but I’m sure would also be controversial. Jordan Spieth is very likely going to become the PGA Tour Player of the Year (Jason Day could potentially steal it from him by winning the playoffs), but he failed to make the cut at the first tournament of the playoffs. I think that should be an automatic elimination from the playoffs. Some would argue that eliminating a golfer of Spieth’s stature because of a missed cut would hurt the playoffs more than help them – and that makes sense as far as TV ratings and even fan interest goes – but think about the intensity and excitement it would make for cut day at these playoff tournaments. The winner of a playoff format should always be the best team or athlete throughout the playoffs and missing a cut doesn’t exactly scream “champion.” Only two of the FedEx Cup tournaments actually have cuts, but it would still make the first two tournaments even more exciting to watch. These three changes: an easier to understand point system, mandating all eligible compete in every event, and automatic eliminations for missing cuts would build some much needed excitement to the FedEx Cup playoffs. But, you could just as easily argue the fact that golf doesn’t need a playoff system, because it’s just never going to compete with the major tournaments throughout the year. by Julian Spivey Jake Arrieta may not be a household name to your average baseball fan, but he’s been one of the two to five best pitchers in Major League Baseball this season and is a serious contender for National League Cy Young Award winner. If you didn’t know Arrieta before you certainly should now after his masterful no-hitter against the N.L. West Division leading Los Angeles Dodgers, who’ve ridiculously now been no-hit twice in the last 10 days, on Sunday night (August 30). Arrieta struck out 12 Dodgers hitters and only walked one batter during the 14th no-hitter in the long history of the Chicago Cubs and the sixth no-no during the 2015 MLB season. The interesting thing about Arrieta is he leads the National League with 17 wins this season and is in the top five in nearly every important pitching statistical category: second in ERA (2.11), fourth in WHIP (0.93) and fourth in strikeouts (190) and yet few people outside of Chicago and baseball experts seem to be talking about him. The names Zack Greinke, Clayton Kershaw and Jacob deGrom (because he plays in the Big Apple) get thrown around and rightfully so, because each of those guys are having Cy Young type seasons – but Arrieta is right there with them and frankly better than a couple of them. Greinke leads Major League Baseball this season with an incredible 1.61 ERA and has a record of 14-3 for an 82 percent winning percentage (which leads the majors). If I had a Cy Young Award vote it would go to Greinke and he has to be considered the frontrunner for the National League award. But, everybody has been talking all season long about Greinke’s brilliance on the mound. Until Arrieta’s no-hitter on Sunday night few were doing the same with him despite him having comparable numbers to Greinke and better numbers than Kershaw, deGrom and the Pittsburgh Pirates ace Gerrit Cole. In fact, a friend and I were just having this conversation on Saturday night on the eve of Arrieta’s no-hitter. My friend was touting Arrieta’s season and I was the one claiming he might not have the name recognition to be receiving Cy Young votes come season’s end – I hope I’m wrong and after his no-no on Sunday I should be. The most interesting thing about Arrieta and a good reason why he’s probably not as well-known as he should be, despite his terrific season, is how he came to be the Cubs’ best pitcher and one of the best in the N.L. Arrieta was a highly touted prospect a few years ago for the Baltimore Orioles, but in 69 games for the team from 2010-2013 he was five games under .500 for them and had an atrocious ERA of around 5.50. That just won’t cut it in the big leagues and when his ERA was over 7 in 2013 the Orioles needing pitching for a potential playoff run gave up on Arrieta and shipped him to the Cubs for pending free agent pitcher Scott Feldman. It’s a deal that’s made a world of difference for the Cubs, who find themselves likely playoff bound this season for the first time in years, and the Orioles must be kicking themselves now that Arrieta has reached his potential. Since his trade to the Cubs, Arrieta has gone 30-13 with a 2.54 ERA. Few pitchers in the National League have numbers comparable to that over the last two-plus seasons. The Cubs got a steal of a deal and it’s time people outside of the Chicago area found out about it. by Julian Spivey Juan Pablo Montoya led the IndyCar Series point standings for every single moment of the 2015 season until the checkered flag flew at Sonoma Raceway on Sunday, August 30 and he found himself tied atop the standings with Scott Dixon, and a loser as the tiebreaker for the championship went to Dixon for winning the most races on the season as Dixon had just wrapped up his third victory. Now, before I continue it’s important to note this and the fact that I’m fully aware of it: “take double points away this season and Dixon still wins the title 482 to 478” according to motorsports journalist Eric Smith. That being said … double points in IndyCar Series races are an absolute gimmick and need to go. Double points paying races are an incredibly bad idea, because in many instances they could lead to a champion who’s much lesser deserving than another driver simply because a driver performed better in the double points paying races. One driver could pretty much win an entire championship just by winning all three double points races or even two of them so long as they remain within a certain distance of the points lead. Double points paying races don’t really even make much sense. Fans don’t seem to care anymore about these three races that pay twice the amount of points per finishing spot. The entire reason for having these events is to throw an added bonus or gimmick into the championship fight. But, there’s a better chance of a driver getting an unfair advantage or disadvantage due to this system than there is it benefiting the title hunt in any way. It’s just another sign of big time professional motorsports leagues devaluing their championships by throwing a unique change into the system. NASCAR knows this all too well, as they’ve tinkered with their championship format so much that they’ve basically made the championship meaningless – as was proven last season when Ryan Newman came one spot shy of winning a title without winning a single race. In NASCAR, four drivers go into the final race of the season and the highest finisher wins the title regardless of anything that’s happened in the previous 35 races of the season. Now, IndyCar hasn’t become as ridiculous as NASCAR, which sold out fairness and consistency for exciting more than a decade ago and it’s just gotten worse ever since, but double points paying races does make things a little less fair than they should be. The only truly fair way to run a motorsports championship is solely by most points and the points should remain the same for each position in every race. That’s apparently not exciting enough for the folks who run these racing leagues and perhaps it’s not exciting enough for the majority of fans, but anything other than that could and frequently does lead to a champion who might not be the most deserving. As a little bit of a side note: IndyCar really should adopt the points per position system that NASCAR uses, in order to make things easier to understand for its fans and a little more interesting from race to race. |
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