Their usefulness used up, off they go

So.

Drs. Ira Casson and David Viano, the NFL’s deniers-in-chief, have been tossed — OK, nudged — from the NFL’s committee on brain injuries.

Well and good.

Still, not to be too cynical, but I can’t help but think the good doctors served their purpose for the league.

For years, the NFL thought it was in its best interests to disavow a clear link between the game, head injuries and dementia, and Casson and Viano gave the league what it considered plausible deniability.

As the deniability became less and less plausible, Casson and Viano became liabilities. Now that the league apparently is shifting its strategy on concussion, the two simply had to go.

But, as I said, they served their masters well. The players? Not so well.

Hey, Ari: Spin this ...

Ari Fleischer probably thinks he’s got it easy.

After all, Fleischer served as top flack to an unpopular president engaged in two wars. Now all he’s asked to do is defend the Bowl Championship Series.

What?

Yes, Fleischer has been hired to say nice things about the BCS, a rigged system that rewards the big-money conferences at the expense of smaller ones and prevents a true national championship from being determined.

Good luck with that.

Ari, you thought the far-left and the mainstream media were tough on your last client? Wait till you try to appease college football fans whose undefeated team was denied a chance to play for No. 1 …

Friday column: I’ll take my cat’s IQ over either one

IBM announced this week that it has a computer system that can simulate the thinking power of a cat’s brain with 1 billion neurons and 10 trillion synapses. At just 4.5 percent of a human brain, the computer can sense, perceive, act, interact and process ideas without consuming a lot of energy. — Discovery News


Wait a sec …

Already this Thursday morning I’ve pilled my cat, fed my cat, changed her litter box and freshened her water. As she sleeps contentedly on the heating pad I set up for her, I’m sweating another Friday column — somebody has to buy the mixed grill — and she gets me to do all this with just 4.5 percent of the power of my brain?

Something doesn’t compute.

But I think IBM is on to something with the idea of brain simulations. It could, for instance, try simulating the fan brain. I’m thinking of fans like the one who sucker-punched Notre Dame quarterback Jimmy Clausen.

Clausen, his family and girlfriend were at a South Bend, Ind., pub about 2 a.m. Sunday, a few hours after the Irish lost to UConn in double overtime. As might be expected in a place where football is taken as seriously — scratch that … more seriously — than religion, words were exchanged, and the Clausen party decided to leave.

But when the girlfriend realized she’d left her purse behind, Clausen went back to retrieve it, and on the way out got “coldcocked” for his trouble. The fan who hit him apparently took the UConn loss very personally.

Then there’s the case of the fan incident involving the Anaheim Ducks. It began when defenseman Scott Niedermayer thought he’d do something nice after being named one of the game’s stars — toss his stick to a young girl who was rinkside.

The only problem was that the girl was surrounded by adult fans, and you know what that means — yes, a fight over the stick.

As a result, one Mike Vallely, 39, was arrested and cited for public fighting. Vallely, a professional skate boarder and a singer in a punk-rock band, was described in the Los Angeles Times as “a season-ticket holder who also built a niche reputation for his online fight videos.”

Well, he’s got a new one online, but the Ducks are so embarrassed by the latest that they’ve severed their semi-official relationship — Vallely had appeared at some club marketing events and wrote a Ducks blog. According to the Times, Vallely also could lose his season tickets.

I do hope he came away with that all-important stick.

Now, if IBM does try to simulate the fan brain, or rather the brain of these type of fans, I’ll be curious to see what percentage of thinking power they come in at — 90 percent, 60 percent, 30 percent?

No, no, not of the human brain. Of the cat’s.

Contact Jim Gordon at gjames43@msn.com.

They actually believed him …

Jumping on Allen Iverson is too easy these days — so let’s pick on the Memphis Grizzlies.

What in the name of perpetual disaffection made the Griz think that a player with Iverson’s ego — declining skills or no — would be content coming off the bench?

Yes, yes, I know he said he'd be OK with it. But how could the Memphis brass believe him? He also said he was OK coming off the bench in Detroit, then began bitching about it one game in.

The good news, Memphis fans, is that Iverson — after just three games — is gone. The bad news? The brain surgeons who brought him to your fair city are … still … there.

An interview worth a look

Reader Gary Eschman pointed our attention to a Jere Longman interview with UNM’s Elizabeth Lambert, she of the infamous soccer video.

In the New York Times piece, Lambert claims the punch into a BYU player’s back was inadvertent — it doesn’t look inadvertent to me — and claims some of the things she’s shown doing were misinterpreted or taken out of context.

And she claims the incident got a lot more attention because of her gender, which is probably true.

But she also says she regrets what she did and will regret it for the rest of her life. Further, she’s seeing a clinical psychologist to better understand what caused her to grab a BYU player by her hair and yank her to the ground.

Finally, she says, “I’m working on my mental game to never let that happen again. That’s unacceptable in any sport to get to that point where you feel it’s necessary that you have to retaliate in a dirty manner.”


http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/18/sports/soccer/18soccer.html?_r=1&hp

Letting Westbrook play: That’s disrespect

When the Cincinnati Bengals player formerly known as Chad Johnson flashed a dollar bill at a referee during a replay challenge, he was fined $20,000 by the NFL — and properly so — for the display of disrespect.

When Tennessee owner Bud Adams gave Buffalo fans the middle-finger salute after the Titans’ victory over the Bills, he was fined $250,000 by the NFL — and properly so — for the display of disrespect.

Sunday, three weeks after Philadelphia’s Brian Westbrook suffered a concussion against Washington — he was out cold — he was allowed to play against San Diego.

With all we’ve learned recently about the link between football head trauma and cognitive damage, allowing a player to return that quickly, whether he’s asymptomatic or not — that is disrespectful, to the league, to the player’s life, to the player’s family.

Against the Chargers, unsurprisingly, Westbrook suffered another concussion. Eagles head coach Andy Reid insists his running back’s health is his No. 1 concern. If he respects his own word, he will not allow Westbrook back in pads this season.

* * *

Speaking of respect, what kind are the Bengals showing the league and their community with their signing of Larry Johnson?

Johnson last week was released by the Kansas City Chiefs after twice using anti-gay slurs and publicly ripping his own coach. But that’s just the tip of the Johnson iceberg.

In his time with KC, Johnson was accused four different times of assaulting women, was benched three games last year for violating team rules, and was sentenced to two years probation for disturbing the peace at a nightclub.

The Bengals, who have a history picking up bad actors, keep pledging to mend their ways. But this latest move says Cincinnati’s credo remains talent — even fading talent — over character.

* * *

Staying with a theme, as it appears we are, LeBron James wants to show respect to Michael Jordan. Which is fine.
But James wants to do it by convincing the league’s teams to retire Jordan’s number.

“I just think what Michael Jordan has done for the game has to be recognized some way soon. There would be no LeBron James, no Kobe Bryant, no Dwyane Wade if there wasn’t Michael Jordan first.”

Say what?

If there had never been a Michael Jordan, there most certainly still would have been James, Bryant and Wade.

To show the way, James says he’s going to give up his No. 23, Jordan’s old number, and switch to No. 6.

News flash for James: The greatest winner in NBA history is not Michael Jordan, but one William Felton Russell. Went by Bill. You must have heard of him — he won not six titles like Jordan, but 11.

Oh, and by the way, he wore No. 6.

Contact Jim Gordon at gjames43@msn.com.

Cheaters never prosper? Au contraire

Kelvin Sampson cheats at Oklahoma, putting the hurt on the Sooners, then cheats at Indiana, nearly destroying that program. His punishment? An $800,000 “go-away-but-don’t-sue-us” package and a job as an assistant with the Milwaukee Bucks.

At Southern California, Tim Floyd allegedly not only looks the other way as money and other goodies are funneled to star guard O.J. Mayo, he reportedly acts as his own bagman in laying a cool thousand in cash on a Mayo associate. As a result, the Trojans might get hammered by the NCAA — an investigation is ongoing — but Floyd already has landed on his feet with an assistant’s job with the New Orleans Hornets.

The NBA Cares — about dirty coaches. Talk about your old-boy network.

Good thinking vs. no thinking

Washington defensive back DeAngelo Hall didn’t start the ruckus — that was teammate LaRon Landry, who took a cheap shot at Atlanta quarterback Matt Ryan — but he happily joined in the fray, which nearly became an all-out brawl in Sunday’s 31-17 Falcons win.

Landry was fined $5,000 for his part, and Washington tackle Albert Haynesworth was fined $7,500 for coming to the aid of Hall, who was getting into it along the sideline with Falcons coach Mike Smith.

For his part, Smith was fined $15,000 and another Atlanta coach was tagged for $2,500.

Afterward, Hall — no stranger to controversy — wasn’t upset that his teammates got fined; he was upset more players didn’t get involved.

" ... I'm always ready to mix it up,” the former Falcon said. “And to see those guys kind of linger over there, yeah, I don't know what was going through their minds.”

Oh, I don’t know — maybe thoughts more intelligent than “I’m always ready to mix it up”?

Maybe Armed Robbery 101 should be mandatory for UT freshmen

So.

You’re Mike Edwards or Janzen Jackson or Nu’Keese Richardson (in photo). You’re part of a coveted freshman class recruited by first-year coach Tennessee Lane Kiffin.

Your team, the Vols, isn’t doing great, but has plenty of promise, as do your careers at UT — and possibly beyond.

So … you …

Put hoodies on and try to stick up a couple of people at a convenience store in the heart of the campus area?

Smooth move.

They got no money for their trouble — the victims had nada in their wallets — but were quickly arrested, along with their genius getaway driver, a woman found to be carrying marijuana and a marijuana grinder.

Maybe that helps explain the um … planning … that went into the armed robbery attempt.

As for Lane Kiffin, who loudly bragged about snatching Richardson away from Florida coach Urban Meyer, how’s that recruiting class looking now?

Friday column: Cover-up or bungling? Either way, it ain't good

Sports build character.

Or so we’re told from the time we can toddle onto a playing field or a soccer pitch.

How has the character building been going at The University of New Mexico lately?

Not so good on the women’s soccer team, which was embarrassed by a video showing Elizabeth Lambert engaging in various bits of thuggery in a game against BYU.

Suspended, Lambert issued an apology, claiming her actions were in “no way indicative of my character or the soccer player that I am.”

Maybe.

But as anyone can see by googling “Elizabeth Lambert” and clicking on the video link, this wasn’t a single incident, or even two. It was multiple incidents that included a punch in the back of one BYU player and the pulling — by the hair — of another to the ground.

“Liz is a quality student-athlete, but in this instance her actions clearly crossed the line of fair play and good sportsmanship,” said UNM head coach Kit Vela.

You think, coach? Lambert didn’t just cross the line; she nuked it. And if you thought she had — oh my goodness, crossed the line — why didn’t you pull her from the match?

“Liz’s conduct on the field against BYU was completely inappropriate,” said UNM Vice President for Athletics Paul Krebs. “There is no way to defend her actions.”

Good to know, Paul, because if anyone can defend “inappropriate” actions, it’s you.

Krebs, of course, is the one who soft-pedaled football coach Mike Locksley’s altercation with assistant coach J.B. Gerald — only admitting something had happened after a police report became public, then vocally supported Locksley while “reprimanding” him.

The altercation, according to Gerald, involved Locksley choking and punching Gerald during a coaching meeting. Despite evidence to the contrary, Krebs backed Locksley’s contention that no punches were thrown but did allow that the coach’s actions were “inappropriate” — clearly his favorite word.

Under pressure from news media and faculty, Krebs finally suspended Locksley, and an investigation separate from the athletic department was begun. But this, too, has been tainted by controversy, including the destruction of notes.

How bad has it been? Bad enough that school President David Schmidly asks us to please believe it was mere “bungling,” and not an attempted cover-up.

So what are we to believe? Are Krebs and company conspirators or incompetents? Actually, they look like nothing so much as small-minded bureaucrats in perpetual damage control.

Back to character and sports. We’ll give the last word on the subject to legendary UCLA basketball coach John Wooden, who knew something about both.

Sports, he said, doesn’t build character; it reveals it.

Contact Jim Gordon at gjames43@msn.com.

What kind of **** is this?

So.

Joe Girardi, on his way home after guiding the Yankees to their 27th World Series win, stops and aids an accident victim who lost control of her car and crashed into a wall at 2:25 a.m.

Good for him. Really — good for him.

But can we stop the canonization process?

"The guy wins the World Series, what does he do? He stops to help," gushed Westchester County police officer Kathleen Cristiano, who was among the first to arrive at the accident scene. "It was totally surreal."

Cristiano was at a nearby DWI checkpoint when she got the accident call.

"He was jumping up and down, trying to flag me down," she said. "You don't expect him standing by a car accident trying to help."

Ummm … why not?

"The driver didn't know it was him until after I told her," Cristiano said.

Wow.

Stand-up shortstop

But while we’re on the good-guy theme, kudos also to the Phillies’ Jimmy Rollins. He didn’t do anything as heroic as helping an accident victim, but he did do something more surprising — try to take the heat off a teammate for a bonehead play.

That teammate was Brad Lidge, who failed to cover third base in the ninth inning of Game 4 of the World Series, enabling the Yankees’ Johnny Damon to take third without a play. The gaffe seemed to rattle Lidge, who quickly gave up three runs and let New York take control of the series.

It was an unusual play.

With Damon on first and two out, the Phillies put on a radical shift for pull hitter Mark Teixeira, so radical that when Damon took off on a steal attempt, third baseman Pedro Feliz covered second. When the catcher’s throw took Feliz to the first-base side of the bag, Damon alertly bounced up and raced to third.

Where Lidge should have been.

Enter Rollins.

“I take responsibility for it,” the premier shortstop said after the game. “I make sure that the pitcher knows that with Teixeira, we play the shift over, that he knows that on the steal he has to cover third.

“That time, I didn’t really mention anything to Brad, so when you make the pitch, in his mind it was a regular steal. But with the way the defense was set up, that’s my job to make sure that he knows to go to third. I’m the captain of the infield. It’s my job.”

Perhaps Rollins really felt that way. Or perhaps he was just trying to provide Lidge with some cover. Either way, Jimmy Rollins is a class act.

Sterling behavior

Clippers owner Donald T. Sterling must be envious that the “other” Los Angeles NBA team — let’s see, they’re the … ummm … Lakers, right? — are always winning championships and setting records.

Well, now Sterling has a record of his own.

He’s agreed to pay a record $2.725 million to settle a housing discrimination lawsuit that claimed “he discriminated against African Americans, Hispanics and families with children at scores of apartment buildings he owns in and around Los Angeles."

This according to an L.A. Times story.

It continued, “The settlement, which must be approved by U.S. District Judge Dale S. Fischer, is the largest ever obtained by the Justice Department in a housing discrimination case involving apartment rentals, officials said.”

The largest EVER. Way to go, Donald T., you’re a champion at … ah … something — at last.

Friday column: Honest doesn’t always mean right

There’s a Buddhist teaching on “right speech” that asks three questions of a statement before it is made:

Is it true?

Is it kind?

Is it necessary?

The questions came to mind as I mulled Andre Agassi’s admissions — admissions used to promote his upcoming book — that he used crystal meth in 1997, lied about it, and got away with it.

The revelations from Open, expected to be released Tuesday, have roiled the usually placid tennis world.

Martina Navratilova compared Agassi to suspected baseball drug cheat Roger Clemens. Roger Federer hammered him, as did Boris Becker.

On the other side, former players including Justin Gimelstob, Jim Courier and Mary Carillo stood by Agassi, with Gimelstob saying, “This will not diminish the way I regard Andre, which is as a person with the highest possible character.”

Which seems to be the rub. Who doesn’t like Agassi, and who doesn’t appreciate his character? His rise-fall-rise story, his sense of vulnerability, the work he’s done with disadvantaged kids through his Las Vegas, Nev., academy all incline me to want to give him a break.

And yet.

As I consider the revelations, I keep wondering, what’s the point? And I’m not alone.

“Why is he saying this now that he has retired?,” asked Rafael Nadal. “It’s a way of damaging the sport that makes no sense.”

It must make sense to Agassi; here are two possibilities:

1) To be crass, it gets attention and sells books.

2) Public confession might be important for Agassi’s psyche. If so, he’s getting a lot of bang for his buck, unloading also about his relationship with his father and the fact that, prematurely bald, we wore hairpieces on the court.

But the key admissions remain the drug use and the lying. The first he describes in somewhat glamorous terms — in spite of the fact that crystal meth is a scourge, a highly addictive drug that causes severe physical and psychological damage. As for the second admission, I can’t see it helping his academy students. What’s the lesson here? Lie well enough and you can beat the rap?

Still, there are those who do not care.

“Andre is and always will be my idol,” Andy Roddick wrote. “I will judge him on how he has treated me and how he has changed the world for (the) better.”

But how do these admissions change the world for the better, Andy?

Let’s go back to the three questions:

Is it true? Apparently.

Is it kind? Not to the game that made him rich. Not, I think, to the kids who look up to him.

Is it necessary? Only if a desire to sell books, a desire for attention, or a compulsion for public confession qualify. In other words, no.

Contact Jim Gordon at gjames43@msn.com.