Sorry, Ron, but your reputation does precede you

Poor Ron Artest, still misunderstood.

Houston center Yao Ming, informed Artest had been traded to his Rockets from the Sacramento Kings, referenced Artest’s best-known faux pas — the year’s suspension he received after inciting a small riot in Detroit during a 2004 game.

"Hopefully, he's not fighting anymore and going after a guy in the stands," Yao said.

Artest replied by saying it was a pity Yao had bought into "all the propaganda" about him.

Later, Artest said Yao’s comments had brought him down “because I'm so far beyond (the brawl).”

Yes, he’s moved far beyond that — to animal cruelty and domestic violence, in separate incidents that occurred last year.

And Jack Benny is still 39

According to a Jeré Longman and Juliet Macur story in The New York Times, two budding gymnasts on the host Olympic team might be underage — not that it can be proven when the country providing the passports for the athletes has a government as totalitarian as the People's Republic of China.

Younger gymnasts — He Kexin and Jiang Yuyuan are both suspected of being 14 — are said to have an advantage in lightness, flexibility and, possibly, fearlessness.

Bela Karolyi, the coach of the U.S. team, notes that age is an easy thing to alter in an authoritarian country, he said, because the government has such strict control of official paperwork.

Karolyi, the story continues, remembered one North Korean gymnast — Kim Gwang Suk — who in the 1991 world championships stood 4-foot-4, weighed 62 pounds, still had what appeared to be baby teeth, and claimed to be 16.

At one point, the North Korean Gymnastics Federation listed her at 15 for three straight years.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/27/sports/olympics/27gymnasts.html?ref=olympics&pagewanted=print

Your parietal lobe: Don't leave home without it

Regardless of how nice you are, how centered, how peaceful (ah-ommmmmm ….. ah-ommmmmm …), you’ve occasionally been menaced by another member of the human race driving in a scary fashion and noticed this humanoid is in the midst of telephonic communication.

And you’ve thought quietly, gently to yourself — or possibly even murmured in a barely audible fashion:

HEY, BRAIN-DEAD!!!!

Well, it turns out, in a sense, you were right.

An article at Salon.com quotes a professor of psychology at the University of Utah who found that driving while talking on a cellphone is as dangerous as driving drunk, and — guess what? — using a headset is no help.

"The impairments aren't because your hands aren't on the wheel,” says David Strayer. “It's because your mind isn't (on) the road."

The article by Katharine Mieszkowski continues:

“Now neuroscience is showing your mind literally isn't on the road. The overtaxed driver's poor brain doesn't distinguish between a conversation that takes place on an iPhone or a Bluetooth headset. In both cases, the chatting driver is distracted, putting herself, her passengers, other drivers, bicyclists and pedestrians at risk.”

In other words, parts of your brain (the parietal lobe, the visual cortex) that should be paying attention to the fact you’re piloting 3,500 pounds of steel at the speed of a cheetah are not available to the process and, well, might as well be expired — as you, your passengers and people around you might soon be IF YOU DON’T GET OFF THAT PHONE!!!

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2008/07/25/cell_phone_driving/

It MUST be collusion

The major league players union is considering filing a grievance on behalf of Barry Bonds, still unemployed despite 28 home runs last year for San Francisco. The union can’t believe all 30 clubs would independently agree not to hire baseball’s biggest embarrassment since Pete Rose.

While granting Bonds’ still-impressive power, let’s see what other attributes he would bring to a contender:

A liability in the field? Check.

A prickly personality? Check.

A reputation as a clubhouse cancer? Check.

An indictment on perjury charges? Check.

Gee, why wouldn’t anybody want this guy?

http://www.latimes.com/sports/baseball/mlb/la-spw-bonds25-2008jul25,0,5143016.story

And take care of the poor in his gated community

A story on the Yankees at least discussing the possibility of signing Barry Bonds noted that Bonds' agent had said the slugger was willing to play for a prorated share of the big league's $390,000 minimum salary "and donate his salary to buy tickets for kids."

For a chance to pad his home run totals, Bonds is also willing to dress in public as Mother Theresa ...

But sometimes they have a point

The cry of being “disrespected” by athletes making more money in a few months than most of us will in a lifetime gets real old real fast. On the other hand, it’s amazing how some teams can treat a player who just days ago was part of its “family.”

Take Marcus Camby.

Camby, a 34-year-old veteran, was about the only Denver Nugget who actually worked when his team didn’t have the ball. For reasons having largely to do with salary, the defensive specialist was suddenly traded to the L.A. Clippers — essentially for a ham sandwich.

Though it miffed Camby, that’s OK; they can trade whom they want for whatever they want. What’s not OK is the Nuggets not having the common decency to tell Camby themselves.

"Nobody called, nobody said anything," Camby said when he was introduced as a Cliipper. "The day before I was told, I was with plenty of team people who could have given me a heads-up. I found out when my agent called me."

And at that press conference, Camby said he still hadn’t heard from anyone from the Nuggets’ front office or coaching staff.

Which is not only classless but stupid. Why piss off a pretty good player you’re going to have to face several times a season? I don't get it.

http://www.latimes.com/sports/basketball/nba/clippers/la-sp-dwyre22-2008jul22,0,1145333.column

Day One

Welcome to the The Anti-Fan blog.

I’ve been fiddling with it for a while and you may have chanced upon it the last week or so, but Friday, July 25, is officially Day One.

I’ve been writing The Anti-Fan column for The New Mexican in Santa Fe since late-1999, and what I wrote about my approach in my first column is as true now as it was then. Besides my blog postings — which will be put up nearly every day — I’ll post my weekly columns each Friday, and eventually an archive of my columns will be available on-site, but for now, let me quote from my first column as a form of introduction.

Whoops. Before I do that, please note, the next blog item is today's New Mexican column. The blog proper begins with the third item ("You can be ...). Also note that comments (and criticisms, yes) are welcome; profanity and rants are not. I hope you enjoy the blog. OK, here's the first column:

(Column begins)

My first fan moment?

New Year's Day 1961, sitting in front of a black-and-white TV, watching someone named Larry Zeno run, so help me God, a single-wing offense for UCLA in the Rose Bowl game against Minnesota.

The Bruins lost, but that didn't matter I liked their uniforms. A fan was born.

I was 9 years old.

My next fan memory was 1962, on the playground listening to my transistor radio as the Los Angeles Dodgers folded in the ninth inning of the deciding playoff game against the San Francisco Giants. That was painful, but with the Dodgers there were better moments to come, such as 1963 when Sandy Koufax and company swept the Yankees in the World Series.

But I not only rooted for the Dodgers, I rooted for the Angels (painful), I rooted for the Lakers (mainly painful), I rooted for the Rams (always painful), I rooted for the Kings (excruciating). I rooted and watched and listened.

For a fan in L.A., sometimes things got better (Bill Russell retired; a decade later Magic Johnson was drafted), sometimes things got worse (Sandy Koufax retired; Georgia Frontieri took over the Rams). But a fan I stayed.

Then I moved to Santa Fe.

Living in a city so far from the bigs can help one's perspective. So can growing older. The other day I watched a young New Mexican photographer living and dying with every pitch of a Yankees game, and I thought, "Was I ever like that?''

But it's not only distance, in miles and years, that have changed my attitude toward sports. It's the times, and no, they're not a changin' they're changed. There have always been greedheads and egomaniacs in sports, but now there's more, it seems, and with the amount of sports coverage on TV, they're harder than ever to ignore. Thanks to the communication revolution, the boors and babies and me-firsters come into our houses and into our faces until I want to say, a la Rhett Butler, "Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn."

I'm no longer a fan. Call me The Anti-Fan.

But tuning out sports altogether is difficult. For one thing, I often edit sports stories and design the sports pages at The New Mexican, and it helps to have an idea what's going on. For another, it still can be riveting to watch what happens between the lines.

That's where you see character displayed, both good and bad. And if I root for anything these days, it's people with character. And that's what I'll do here, as well as its opposite. You won't find any paeans to Lawrence Phillips here, or excuses why general manager X just had to give bad guy Y a second, third or ninth chance because, shoot, it's the American way, and to err is human and, oh yeah, our guys just have to plug that hole at wide receiver.

Noting hypocrisy in either politics or sports doesn't take a sharp mind; a barely sentient one will do. I qualify.

(Column ends)

There's 'a part' and 'apart'

In my Oxford American Dictionary under the adjective class, the example given is “a class player,” and the synonyms listed include decent, gracious, respectable, noble.

All of which can be used to describe U.S. soccer star Abby Wambach in her reaction to having her 2008 Olympic dream suddenly end.

In the Americans’ final tune-up before Beijing, Wambach collided with a Brazilian player, breaking two bones in her left leg. As she is facing a 10-month recovery, her Games are over before they began.

Yet though her leg is broken, her connection to her teammates is not, a fact she made quite clear in a recent interview.

“Yes, I know I’m a very important player for the team,” Wambach was quoted in the Los Angeles Times. “But (the injury) made me realize even more how insignificant one player is in a team environment. It really does take a team to win championships.”

Instead of sulking, Wambach has reached out to encourage Natasha Kai, Lauren Cheney and Amy Rodriguez — the three players who will try to replace her. “So many more people are getting involved. And I’m excited to see how it all turns out,” she said.

But what about her loss?

“I don’t feel sorry for myself. I’m not going to cry victim,” she said. “I’m a moving part on this team. I do not encapsulate the whole. I am a part.”

In my dictionary under the adjective selfish, the example given is “he is just selfish by nature,” and the synonyms listed include egotistical, self-absorbed, inconsiderate, uncaring.

All of which could be used to describe tight end Jeremy Shockey in his reaction to the injury that ended his 2007 season.

Last December, when the Giants’ tight end fractured his left fibula, he went into a funk, which only got worse as the team got hot.

The sulk deepened as the Giants rolled through the playoffs, eventually shocking the then-perfect New England Patriots in the Super Bowl.

All the Giants did was win and win and win, but instead of being happy for his teammates, Shockey’s main thought seemed to be, “How dare they win without me?”
Shockey sustained the sulk not only through the Super Bowl (which he watched from a luxury box), not only through the post-game celebration (which he avoided), not only through the victory parade (which he boycotted), but through the team’s recent minicamp (during which he remained in the locker room).

Despite Shockey’s obvious talent, the Giants traded him to New Orleans for a pair of draft picks — just to him out of their locker room.

Back to the dictionary.

The antonym for selfish is altruistic. I suggest Abby Wambach will do just as well.
As for Shockey, to truly capture his nature, I suggest a switch to a Yiddish dictionary and a word that might not be appropriate for a family newspaper.

It rhymes with mutts.

Contact Jim Gordon at gjames43@msn.com.

You can be as stupid and boorish as the boys — yes, you can!

So.

The WNBA has had its first benches-clearing brawl.

Congratulations, women.

That’s the import of a column by the L.A. Times’ Helene Elliott, who says that Tuesday’s fracas between the Los Angeles Sparks and the Detroit Shock was a good thing because videos of the incident already had drawn some 250,000 viewers on YouTube and “that kind of exposure is priceless.”

Elliott also said it was a good thing “because it forces us to think about the ways we perceive female athletes — and the way female athletes perceive themselves.”

In other words, male jocks tend to be respected for a tough disposition but we expect women athletes to be feminine, which is unfair.

Elliott concludes: “Tuesday wasn't a dark day for the WNBA. It should signal the dawn of an era in which female athletes are appreciated for being competitive and fiery. No apologies necessary.”

That’s a great attitude. I can’t wait until the WNBA has its first Ron-Artest-into-the-stands-to-punch-a-fan moment. Then, I guess, the league will have REALLY arrived.

http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-elliott24-2008jul24,0,5814206.column

'Accepting responsibility'

In January, in her first interview since being sentenced to six months in prison for check fraud and lying to federal officers about her steroid use, Marion Jones told Oprah Winfrey she accepted responsibility for her actionhttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifs.

In March, she entered prison.

Four months later, she’s asking President Bush to commute her sentence.

Which seems about right for someone who has been lying to people for years.

Doug Logan, the new chief executive of USA Track & Field, wrote a letter to Bush, asking him to not pardon Jones. Noted Logan:“When she came under scrutiny for doping, she taunted any who doubted her purity, talent and worth ethic. Just as she had succeeded in duping us with her performances, she duped many people into giving her the benefit of the doubt.”

Here’s guessing she won’t be getting one from the Oval Office.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/23/sports/olympics/23track.html?ref=othersports

Celling out?

First, there was a report from Bob McGinn of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that a Green Bay source was saying Brett Favre not only made repeated calls to Minnesota offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell and head coach Brad Childress, but did so on a cell phone issued to him by the Packers.

If that were true, it would mean the Packers would receive the phone bills for Favre's calls, and would know precisely whom and when he reached out to touch someone — someone, say, from a Central Division rival.

And if that were true, of course, it would also mean:

1) Brett Favre is dumb as a box of rocks.

2) Brad Childress is as dumb as Brett Favre.

3) The Packers’ tampering charge against the Vikings is a slam dunk.

Now, however, The Green Bay Press-Gazette is reporting a Favre source is insisting the quarterback does NOT have a Packer-issued cell phone. "One hundred percent, without a doubt ..." the source said.

Ah, what to believe? For now, we can believe this: The NFL security staff visited the Vikings' facility Tuesday to investigate the tampering charge. And we can believe this: In a story this high-profile, eventually, truth will out.

Links: Story about McGinn's report:

http://ww3.startribune.com/vikingsblog/?p=1719

Green Bay Press-Gazette story:

http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080723/PKR01/80723178/1058&referrer=NEWSFRONTCAROUSEL

Can you hear me now?

In New Zealand, an 8-year-old Ukranian girl has been booted from a junior tennis tournament because she was found to be wearing a communication device. On the other end, electronically speaking, was her father, who claims he wasn't coaching her — which is against the rules — but merely telling her the score.

The father, a professional wrestling coach, insists he's NOT a pushy father.

The girl insists having her father tell her the score is easier than looking at the scoreboard.

Funny, but when I used to play tennis, I was able to follow the score without the benefit of a scoreboard OR a bug in my ear. But maybe I was special ...

I expect more from a soccer mom ...

Remember when soccer moms were lionized in America? Schlepping little Bobby and Julie to endless practices and games, they were the selfless backbone of the family. Well, one soccer mom apparently decided that selfless stuff has gotten old.

Deborah L. Angilley, parent, former coach and former — definitely former — club treasurer has been charged with 13 counts of theft for allegedly stealing more than 50 large from the Fife-Milton-Edgewood Soccer Club of Tacoma, Wash. The number might be as much as $72,000. The club isn't sure.

The club's not sure? Who in the world was keeping their books? Oh, right ...

According to the story in the News Tribune, Angilley said in May "that she disagreed with the charges and was organizing her documents to counter the claims."

We can't wait.

Angilley was scheduled to be arraigned yesterday, July 24. The trial is set for Sept. 23.

http://www.thenewstribune.com/331/story/418496.html

In the age of Jayson Blair, not necessarily

Someone recently posted a fake article on a Nebraska Cornhusker fan site claiming that two University of Oklahoma quarterbacks had been arrested on cocaine charges. The bright fellow used a format of The Daily Oklahoman and the byline of an Oklahoman reporter, and now is being sued by both. The parents of the two players say they'll sue, as well. A Birmingham News column by Ray Melick discussing the hoax quoted Rodney Orr, founder of the Alabama fan site TiderInsider, as saying someone posting fake info went to the trouble of creating a fake newspaper, the Piedmont Gazette. Said Orr: "They thought posing was a newspaper article would give their stories credibility."

http://bama.live.advance.net/sports/birminghamnews/rmelick.ssf?/base/sports/121645534233670.xml&coll=2

Enjoy the Games

This from the BBC:

“Human rights activist Hou Wenzhuo said she was locked up in Beijing's notorious Qincheng Prison last month.

The 38-year-old says she was interrogated for 18 days — without being charged — before being released. Her release was as sudden as her arrest.

A number of other political activists have also been detained by a government that does not want any protests at the Games.

‘I think it's unacceptable that the year of the Olympic Games is made a year to destroy human rights," said Ms Hou.’ ”

Hou may or may not know it, but she got off easy. Ask Bike Zhang.

According to the China Aid Federation, Zhang, chairman of the Federation House Church, and his wife, Xie Fenglan, were kicked out of their Beijing home in early July by Public Security Bureau officers. A friend took them in, but the police forced them out.

A hotel owner took them in, then — under pressure — turned them out. When the couple tried to travel to another city to find a place to stay, they were stopped, grabbed and interrogated all night “without food, drink or rest.”

In the morning, Xie Fenglan collapsed but wasn’t taken to the hospital for five hours. In the days following her release, she and her husband have been prevented from finding shelter — even with Xie Fenglan’s sister — and at last report, were living on the street.

Why this treatment?

There are state churches in China, which are regulated by the government. But many Christians in China belong to “house churches,” underground churches. And though there are some reasons to believe the communist government is slowly coming to terms with a rise in faith — and especially Christianity — (see link to a June 22 Chicago Tribune story below), the authorities remain twitchy, especially with the Olympic Games nearing.

Zhang’s most serious crime apparently was meeting with an American congressional delegation.

According to the China Aid Association, when it asked why it was treating the pastor and his wife in that way, it was told, "Because Bike Zhang met the Americans and destroyed the harmony of the Beijing Olympic Games."

Ah, harmony. We must have harmony. We WILL have harmony.

Links:

About Hou Wenzhuo: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7500343.stm

About Zhang and his wife: http://www.bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?id=28496&ref=BPNews-RSSFeed0718

About Christianity in China:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-jesus-1-1-webjun22,0,2458211.story

"Accepting responsibility"

In January, in her first interview since being sentenced to six months in prison for check fraud and lying to federal officers about her steroid use, Marion Jones told Oprah Winfrey she accepted responsibility for her actions.

In March, she entered prison.

Four months later, she’s asking President Bush to commute her sentence.

Which seems about right for someone who has been lying to people for years.

Doug Logan, the new chief executive of USA Track & Field, wrote a letter to Bush, asking him to not pardon Jones. Noted Logan:
“When she came under scrutiny for doping, she taunted any who doubted her purity, talent and worth ethic. Just as she had succeeded in duping us with her performances, she duped many people into giving her the benefit of the doubt.”

Here’s guessing she won’t be getting one from the Oval Office.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/23/sports/olympics/23track.html?ref=othersports

Celling out?

First, there was a report from Bob McGinn of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that a Green Bay source was saying Brett Favre not only made repeated calls to Minnesota offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell and head coach Brad Childress, but did so on a cell phone issued to him by the Packers.

If that were true, it would mean the Packers would receive the phone bills for Favre's calls, and would know precisely whom and when he reached out to touch someone — someone, say, from a Central Division rival.

And if that were true, of course, it would also mean:

1) Brett Favre is dumb as a box of rocks.

2) Brad Childress is as dumb as Brett Favre.

3) The Packers’ tampering charge against the Vikings is a slam dunk.

Now, however, The Green Bay Press-Gazette is reporting a Favre source is insisting the quarterback does NOT have a Packer-issued cell phone. "One hundred percent, without a doubt ..." the source said.

Ah, what to believe? For now, we can believe this: The NFL security staff visited the Vikings' facility Tuesday to investigate the tampering charge. And we can believe this: In a story this high-profile, eventually, truth will out.

Links: Story about McGinn's report:

http://ww3.startribune.com/vikingsblog/?p=1719

Green Bay Press-Gazette story:

http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080723/PKR01/80723178/1058&referrer=NEWSFRONTCAROUSEL

Like athletes need the help ...

At the end of Ray Melick's column, he quotes Oklahoma Associate Athletics Director Kenny Mossman, who isn't optimistic lawsuits will stop the abuse of fans posting damaging false information about players.

"I have a hunch any aftereffects will be short-term," he said. "The anonymous nature of message boards has enabled people to assassinate the character of our athletes.”

Just what an NBA star needs — more adulation

When Gilbert Arenas recently went to the basketball-crazy Philippines to push Adidas shoes, he was treated like a rock star.

Actually he was treated like conquering hero.

Actually he was treated better.

This from "The New York Times":

"When he landed at Ninoy Aquino International Airport, Arenas was met by a horde of television and newspaper videographers and photographers who followed him throughout his three days in Manila. Arenas said that he was so taken aback by the size and opulence of his presidential suite at the Peninsula Manila Hotel that he took pictures to prove he stayed there.

"To visit Adidas stores, he traveled in a motorcade of dark sport utility vehicles with an escort of three police motorcycles. Before he arrived at each site, bomb-sniffing dogs swept the areas, and brawny Adidas-clad security guards wearing Secret Service-style earpieces set up barricades to corral the fans who had crowded mall walkways to catch a glimpse of him."

The best quote in the story came from Arenas: “They make you feel like you’re a god. When my N.B.A. career is done, I have to play here one year just to feel that.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/17/sports/basketball/17arenas.html?ref=sports

All you maze-and-blue fans

Growing up a UCLA fan in Southern California, I didn't have a strong preference when it came time for Michigan and Ohio State to tangle in the Midwest, but I tended to root a little bit for the Wolverines during the Woody Hayes' era at OSU. In recent years, it may have been nothing more than Michigan conceit that the Wolverines football program was purer-than-thou, but I still leaned a bit toward Ann Arbor. No more.

Michigan fans who still want to imagine their program as a cut above, ethically, won't like the start of Rich Rogriguez's tenure in Ann Arbor with his selfish and unnecessary feud with West Virginia, and certainly won't like Detroit Free Press columnist Michael Rosenberg's take on things. After detailing RichRod's $4 million settlement with West Virginia — $2.5 of which will be paid by the University of Michigan — Rosenberg concludes with the following:

"Rodriguez might win big at Michigan. But if he does, and he demands a big raise every year, or flirts with other employers, or ignores his contracts, or refuses to put the school’s interests ahead of his own, then Michigan fans should not be surprised. As we have seen in the last few months, this is who he is."

Wave those pom-poms high ...



http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080709/SPORTS06/80709105/1048/sports

On second thought ...

Hall of Fame quarterback Terry Bradshaw recently told Dan Patrick of Sports Illustrated that he used steroids, then changed his story to say he meant cortisteroids, taken to reduce inflammation. In another day or so, Bradshaw will remember he meant baby aspirin.

Before his accidental death in 2005, another former Steeler, Steve Courson, wrote "a 5,000-word letter expressing disappointment that more players weren't open about their steroid use and saying the league's enormous popularity relies on a 'myth' of its players as drug-free heroes." This according to The Baltimore Sun.

Courson, who first admitted his steroid use in 1985, said "the part that is upsetting to me is the realization now that I had to defend myself for almost 20 years for telling the absolute truth."

Why would Courson think that in a business worth BILLIONS that "absolute truth" would be valued?

http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-courson3-2008jul03,0,1407205.story

Perhaps more to the point ...

Defense attorney James O. Broccoletti, unfortunate enough to have Tim Montgomery as a client, tried to put the best spin possible on the former track star's July 2 guilty plea to heroin distribution.

According to the Associated Press acount, "Broccoletti said outside court that Montgomery has had time to reflect since he was sentenced in the check-cashing scheme and decided to take responsibility for his actions."

Um ... yes ... but there was also the little matter of the audio and videotapes that showed Montgomery selling a confidential informant 111 grams of the drug over four meetings. According to the AP, Montgomery's lawyer said the tapes "also played a role in the plea."

You think?

Still trying his best, Broccoletti said, "Tim is optimistic and he wants to proceed and get back on track." Maybe his optimism explains why Montomery, while signing the plea deal, was smiling and laughing. Or maybe Montgomery, a liar, a steroid cheat, already a felon for his role in a check-kiting scheme, remains clueless.