February 22, 2010
Bode Miller isn’t a typical athlete from an Olympic sport. Every four years, we take two weeks out to appreciate sports that, normally, might as well not exist. From ski jumping to biathlon, curling to speedskating, these anonymous sports are mostly made up of anonymous athletes, with faces that we see everywhere for those two week, but otherwise wouldn’t recorgnize if we passed them walking down the street.
Occasionally, though, some of these anonymous athletes find a way to stand out from the crowd. Michael Phelps won eight gold medals, and became an international star. Apolo Ohno, now the all-time leading medal winner among Winter Olympians, with seven, gained national fame and attention after winning Dancing With The Stars.
Miller, though, clearly marches to the beat of a different drum. He burst onto the national scene back in 2002, when his skis carried him to two silver medals at the Salt Lake City Games in 2002. But in the time since, we’ve come to know Miller more for his antics off the ski slopes than his success on them. In a television interview, Miller admitted to skiing drunk, and compared it to drunk driving, comments he later apologized for. He also broke away from the U.S. Ski Team for a time, a move he later would go back on, as well.
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Posted by tbontemps1
February 11, 2010
When North Carolina took the floor last night against their forever rivals at the Dean Dome, one of the greatest Tar Heels of all-time sat courtside to watch the festivities. It’s been a tough season for Tyler Hansbrough, his first in the NBA. After being drafted 11th overall by the Indiana Pacers, the power forward has dealt with a variety of injuries, including a bizarre inner ear infection that has forced them to sit out for most of the last two months.
But because of his injury troubles, Hansbrough was free to come back to Chapel Hill to have his No. 50 raised to the rafters, becoming the eighth player to have his number retired. Hansbrough was a first-team All-American each of his four years at North Carolina, and swept every national player of the year award his senior year.
Above all, though, Hansbrough played every game like it was his last. He hustled. He dove on the ground. He fought for loose balls. He grabbed every rebound that he could. Tyler Hansbrough clearly enjoyed playing basketball, and played the way we all wish everyone who had the ability to play at that level would.
No one wishes that more than Roy Williams does today, because after the Tar Heels lost again last night, 64-54, it’s become clear that the reason his team is winning isn’t because of a lack of coaching, or a lack of talent.
North Carolina is losing because of a lack of heart.
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Posted by tbontemps1
February 8, 2010
Even before this year started, Sean Payton and Drew Brees had earned the respect of everyone around the National Football League.
Payton, the offensive genius who worked several places as an offensive coordinator, most recently with the Dallas Cowboys, before getting his first head coaching job with the New Orleans Saints in January 2006. His first move was to go after Drew Brees, whose contract had ended with the San Diego Chargers and had become a free agent.
Brees, much like Payton, had some tread worn off his tires before arriving in New Orleans. The only reason he was available was that, because of earlier struggles, the Chargers had chosen to draft another quarterback, Philip Rivers, in 2004, because they didn’t think Brees was going to be able to get the job done. But after two bounce-back years from the former second-round pick, Brees hit the open market with a great resume, but a right (throwing) shoulder that looked very risky.
When several teams, including the Miami Dolphins, passed on Brees, the Saints and Payton convinced Brees to come to New Orleans to ply his trade.
And with last night’s 31-17 win over the Colts, Payton and Brees proved they both belong at the very top of their respective professions.
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Posted by tbontemps1
February 8, 2010
Peyton Manning entered last night’s Super Bowl on the greatest hot streak of his life. Throughout this season, Manning had shredded defenses in every game his team had competed in for all 60 minutes. The Colts’ only two losses all season, in Week 16 to the New York Jets and Week 17 to the Buffalo Bills, came with Manning and many of the team’s other key players standing on the sidelines watching.
Manning deservedly took home his record fourth Most Valuable Player award this season. He shredded the Baltimore Ravens and New York Jets in the team’s two playoff games. The Colts seemed to have the better team, and everyone seemed to think they would win the game. Even Tony Dungy, the famously modest former coach of the team, said the Colts would win the game convincingly on Saturday.
Only they didn’t win the game. In fact, they lost thanks, in large part, to a critical late-game mistake by Manning, whose interception was returned 74 yards for a touchdown by Saints cornerback Tracy Porter with the Colts down seven, 24-17. Then the score was 31-17, and the game was all but over.
With a win in last night’s game, Manning could put himself into the conversation as the greatest quarterback of all-time. Now? That argument can’t be made now, at least not for awhile. Manning will have to try and reverse the feelings that this game will leave with people for a long time to come. He did throw for over 300 yards, but he also made the biggest mistake of the game, and single-handedly ended his team’s chances of winning. And that, rather than having a case for being the greatest quarterback of all-time, is what people remember Manning for now.
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February 8, 2010
It looked like the Colts would make it after all.
After turning their backs on a clear chance at history when they gave up the last two games of the season (after starting the year 14-0), the Colts had breezed through the first two rounds of the playoffs, dispatching the Baltimore Ravens and New York Jets with little trouble. And then, after they led 10-0 at the end of the first quarter, after Peyton Manning had shredded the Saints’ defense with a combination of Joseph Addai runs and pinpoint passes, it looked like it would be a coronation of the Colts and their legendary quarterback with the Super Bowl title that they said they could only win if they didn’t go undefeated.
But then karma, at long last, came back around. And for all of his powers, even Peyton Manning couldn’t overcome the karma that his head coach, Jim Caldwell, and his general manager, Bill Polian, placed on the team several weeks ago.
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February 5, 2010
Over the past two weeks, there has been a love-fest with New Orleans and its beloved Saints. And, really, why not? Given all that Saints fans have gone through over the past few years in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, and the complete and utter devastation that it left behind, it’s nice to see the people there have something to rally around and cheer about.
But, at the same time, anyone who lives in New Orleans is also, more than likely, just as big a fan – if not bigger – for the LSU Tigers football team. And just three years ago, the Bayou Bengals won the national championship by dismantling Ohio State. Not only that, but the Tigers won the game in the Superdome in New Orleans. Really, how much better can it get than that?
The people of Buffalo, on the other hand, have had no such luck. Over the past 15 years, one woeful franchise after another has seen their fortunes take near 180-degree turns, as teams like the New England Patriots, St. Louis Rams, Arizona Cardinals and now the Saints have gone from being the league’s perennial doormats to having successive turns at the top of the sport.
Meanwhile, Buffalo has watched its football team suffer through 10 years without a playoff appearance, and, at one point, its hockey team was bankrupt and nearly left town entirely. Its a town in need of a change in luck, and soon. But will that change ever come?
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Posted by tbontemps1
February 4, 2010
Michael Jordan was once asked a political question. His response, one just about everyone can come up with, typified the way His Airness saw the world.
“Republicans buy sneakers, too.”
To Jordan, making any kind of political stand on controversial issues of the day only could serve to alienate people from the massive pool of customers buying his “Air Jordan” sneakers every year. In his mind, being as vanilla as possible has led to him earning hundreds of millions, if not billions, of dollars over the course of his career.
Of course, that wasn’t always the case. Back during the civil rights movement, in particular, many players were much more active socially than the ones today. Some of the most dominant athletes of their times, players like Jim Brown, Bill Russell and Muhammad Ali, among others, were willing to take controversial stands on major issues, as they were only interested in what was the right thing to do.
But in the years since, that idea has gone out the window, and now Jordan’s idea of the way to go about your business has become the standard operating procedure among the top athletes of today. You never see guys like Tiger Woods, Peyton Manning, Derek Jeter or Roger Federer take a controversial stand – it’s just not good business.
And that’s why it is refreshing to see Tim Tebow take a stand on arguably this country’s most divisive issue: abortion.
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Posted by tbontemps1
February 3, 2010
When the Orlando Magic essentially swapped Hedo Turkoglu for Vince Carter last summer, I loved the move. After watching Orlando advance to the NBA Finals and take the Los Angeles Lakers to a hard-fought six games before Kobe Bryant and the Lakers captured the title, it was clear that the Magic were close to getting a ring. However, the one thing that they lacked was a perimeter player who could command a double-team, and could score in many different ways.
Hedo Turkoglu, for all of his admirable qualities as a player, is not that kind of guy. Vince Carter is, and the fact that the Magic also acquired another sweet-shooting power forward, Ryan Anderson, from the Nets in the trade as well was just a bonus.
I thought that Vince was going to be the missing piece for Orlando, the guy that separated them from the pack and would allow them to take the final step and become NBA Champions. Only that hasn’t happened, at least so far this season. Instead, Vince has found himself becoming a role player, and one with a diminishing role, at that, as the Magic have spent the season struggling to find their identity.
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