Collideoscope

Posted by: Bradley McDonald

There were all kinds of deals made in the NBA before the trading deadline Thursday night. Baron Davis and Chris Webber were the two biggest names to switch teams, but it seems like half the league was involved in one trade or another. Some of the trades don't make sense if you just look at the players involved (Baron Davis for 173 year old Dale Davis and Speedy Claxton?!), but you have to consider salary cap issues, also.

The NFL also had a pretty big trade of it's own with Randy Moss going to the Oakland Raiders for linebacker Napolean Harris and a couple of draft picks. As much of a headache as Moss is, he's still a difference-maker in the game, so this is a huge pickup for the Raiders.

I checked with my boss this morning to see if I had been traded, but I'm still here. Apparently, my salary doesn't affect our salary cap too much.

Posted by: Bradley McDonald

If you thought racing lawn mowers was cool, how about flying a lawn mower? Granted, it's not a real lawn mower, so this guy may lose some cool points from the lawn mower racing community.

Some people just have too much time on their hands. If you or someone you know has an unhealthy obsession with lawn mowers, please call 1-800-MOW-NOMO. :)

Posted by: Bradley McDonald

Bonds just doesn't seem to get it. After being bombarded with steroid questions by the media on his arrival to spring training, he called reporters liars, claimed there were more important problems in the world, and generally danced around steroid questions. He claims he's tired of hearing the "same old questions." Well, Mr. Bonds, you get the same questions because you never answer them! The interview is actually fairly humorous. Here's my favorite:

Q. Do you view the use of steroid as cheating?

BONDS: As cheating? I don't -- I don't know what cheating is. I don't know cheating, if steroid is going to help you in baseball. I just don't believe it. I don't believe steroids can help you, eye/hand coordination, technically hit a baseball, I just don't believe it and that's just my opinion.

Oh, I get it now! Because steroids do not increase your hand/eye coordination, no one should worry about them. Who cares if they increase bat speed to allow that hand/eye coordination to catch up to a 95 mph fastball? Who cares if a fly ball to the warning track now goes over the fence because of them?

If Bonds wants all this talk to go away, he should be a man and admit what he did was wrong and accept the consequences. It looks like he's a long way from that, though.

Posted by: Bradley McDonald

Last night I attended the most exciting, ugly basketball game I've ever been to. LSU defeated No. 14 Alabama 61-59 with a tip-in at the buzzer. The Tigers jumped out to a 15-2 lead to open the game and looked like NBA All-Stars doing it. Apparently that run wore them out because they looked like high school bench warmers the rest of the game. The game turned into a defensive battle, but hot three point shooting in the second half sparked runs for each team. Bama tied the game with a lucky, off-the-glass three pointer with 14 seconds left that set up the winning tip-in for the Tigers.

This was a huge win for the 15-8 Tigers with the NCAA tournament right around the corner. LSU is one of the proverbial "bubble" teams, but a win over a ranked team should boost their chances of getting in. They need to finish out the season with a few more wins to be a sure thing.

A lot of attention is given to RPI rankings this time of year. The RPI (Ratings Percentage Index) is a computer based system that is used by the NCAA tournament selection committee to evaluate teams. It's not too different from the BCS calculations used in football. The big difference is that the basketball committee just uses it is a guideline; there's no debating the rankings for football. Oh, yeah. AND basketball uses a tournament format, so any team that has a prayer to win the National Championship has a chance to do it. Novel idea, eh?

Posted by: Bradley McDonald

Franco signed a one-year contract over the off-season to play first base for the Atlanta Braves. That in itself is not big news, but Franco will be 47 years old when the season begins! It's amazing just to be playing at that age, but last year Franco was also very productive, hitting .309 in over 350 plate appearances. I'm 20 years younger and I get worn out playing softball one night a week.

Posted by: Bradley McDonald

NHL
After a last ditch effort to save what's left of the NHL season (no doubt after reading my last blog entry), the two sides got together in a 6 hour meeting on Saturday. Unfortunately, the talks went nowhere, even with hockey greats Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux at the table. Now the focus is on saving the 2005-6 season.

No matter who you put the blame on, most people agree that more should've been done to save the season. One email asked, "Why get inflexible when you've got a low-visibility sport anyway? NHL ALWAYS seems to make the short-term decision w/no sense of how they fit into the bigger sports world."


MLB
The other big news of the past week was the release of ex-MLB player Jose Canseco's book titled "Juiced: Wild Times, Rampant 'Roids, Smash Hits, and How Baseball Got Big". Canseco admits to rampant steroid use and by the way he talks, steroids were passed around clubhouses like sunflower seeds. In the book many current players are accused of using steroids including Mark McGwire, Rafeal Palmeiro, and Ivan Rodriguez.

There's no doubt that Canseco wrote the book for the sake of money and publicity (his credibility on some of the events mentioned in the book have already been proven to be shaky, at best), but his claims bring up a bigger issue. If steroid use was so well-known as the book claims, why didn't MLB do something about it then?

The drug testing policy in MLB is pretty much a joke now, even after a much needed rehauling. It appears the policy in Canseco's day was don't-ask/don't-tell. In a league that keeps Pete Rose out of the Hall of Fame for betting on baseball to protect the "integrity of the game", it's hypocritical that they haven't done more about steroids. But 70 home runs sells tickets, doesn't it?

Posted by: Bradley McDonald

Commissioner Gary Bettman officially ended the NHL season yesterday, giving up hope that the owners and the player's association could come to terms and salvage the remainder of the season (only 28 games plus the playoffs). Although both sides relented some of their demands, a middle ground could not be reached.

It seems to me that both sides were too stubborn from the beginning. All of the bluffing and posturing with the demands killed any hope for a compromise. If the sides would've been open to compromise earlier, hockey games would probably be happening right now.

It all came down to a salary cap. The players were against a cap from the beginning, but in the last few days they relented and proposed a number. That number was still too high for the owners, even though the player's proposal included a payroll tax (which would tax teams who spend more) and a revenue sharing plan.

The economic philosophy of a salary cap is interesting. Those against it say that teams who make good decisions (through free agency and draft picks) are punished when the players they've invested in have reached their full potential and ask for more money. Their work developing that player or their decision to sign him is all for naught when, because of the cap, they can't pay him the money he has earned. From Jamie Fitpatrick:

A salary cap is a form of enforced mediocrity. It’s an artificial advantage for teams that do a lousy job of scouting, drafting, trading, developing and evaluating players. Such a team can rely on the salary restriction to take down the competent franchises and force them to start over.

Good teams are screwed by the cap, punished for compiling too many good players and getting the best out of them. As they become more successful, those players demand raises and the team has no choice but to release some of them so it can stay within the salary cap. That's the reward for doing what a team is supposed to do: excellence is undermined by a ludicrous financial scheme.

This seems to contradict the basic principles of free enterprise. If a company puts out a bad product, then they won't be successful and the same should go for sports teams.

But if you look at the NHL as a whole entity competing against other sports (NFL, MLB, NBA), and not as seperate teams competing against themselves, then the salary cap begins to make sense. The comissioner's job (one of them) is to make sure the league is financially secure, and one way to do this is through a salary cap. Bettman also thinks a cap will increase interest, thereby increasing profits.

I want the fans in every market to think, at the beginning of the season, that their team has a chance. I don't want fans -- you pick the market -- to think, well, this team over there is spending three times as much, how can we compete with them?

Basically, a salary cap levels the playing field. The NFL is structured this way and a lot of sports "purists" don't like it. I'll have to admit, I'm one of them. I think that a team that earn an advantage should be able to keep it. Tom Benjamin sums it up pretty well here:

The NFL is set up like a handicapped horse race, designed to produce a near random result and generate lots of betting action. The Bettman position that every hockey team should begin the year with the fans believing that their team has a legitimate chance to win is a terrifying idea. That is the National Football Lottery, not hockey. That's my real issue in this labour dispute. Artificial "fairness" isn't very fair at all.

Of course, the New England Patriots have disproved that "near random" result argument, but you can see the salary cap affect on other teams. The Carolina Panthers didn't even make the playoffs this year and we're in the Super Bowl in 2004.

All that being said, the NHL will not begin again without a salary cap in place. The players have already consented that much. I will admit that I'm not a huge hockey fan and I haven't followed the lockout very closely, but it seems like the final proposal from the players would've been financially viable for the league. Gary Bettman just seemed set in his mind that there wasn't going to be a season.

I'd like to hear from some hockey fans. Who's to blame here?

Posted by: Bradley McDonald

From ESPN Page 2:

If the Doug Christie jersey is the perfect gift for that one buddy who's a little too whipped, shouldn't the Freddie Mitchell jersey be the perfect gift for that annoying co-worker who talks too much and doesn't pull his weight? Freddie needs to enter our everyday language, as in, "Yeah, we finally fired him, he had a little too much Freddie Mitchell in him." Or, "Don't take him seriously; he's the Freddie Mitchell of our office."

Posted by: Bradley McDonald

There's an article in the latest Sports Illustrated by Rick Reilly about New England wide-receiver Deion Branch. If you're a sports fan, you know what Branch did during the Super Bowl (tying a Super Bowl record with 11 catches), but it's what he did before the game that is more impressive. Branch called all of his ex-coaches (13 in all), from college all the way down to Pee-Wee league just to express his gratitude.

"I was crying half the time," says Branch, 25. "It's hard, but I don't want them to think I've left them behind. I want them to know I'm thinking about them all the time."

I wonder how many players in the Super Bowl were thinking about the people who helped get them there the day of the game. I doubt Eagles loud-mouthed receiver Freddie Mitchell was one of them. Mitchell once thanked his hands during a press conference for "being so great." He finished the game with one catch while Branch was voted MVP.

It's nice to see good guys finish first.

Posted by: Bradley McDonald

Who hasn't sat atop a lawn mower as a young child and acted like a race car driver flying around the track lap after lap? OK, so must of us get over that dream and now being all grown up, we hate to get on top of a lawn mower because it signifies work. But a small number of individuals have held on to that dream and have made it a reality. May I introduce to you: The Few. The Proud. The U.S. Lawn Mower Racing Association.

I can only imagine how this got started. "What'cha got there, Bob? New mower? 23 horse power...not bad. How fast? Naw, can't be faster than my Deere. Well, bring 'er over here and let's find out!"

And now it's involved into a "sport" shown on ESPN2 with local races (probably) near you! They even have a complete rule book you can download in case some cheat in your neighborhood decides to put four wheeler tires on his lawn mower (illegal!) and taint the integrity of the game! There are a few modifications allowed, but the rules state that the mower has to have been "designed and sold commercially to mow lawns" and it "must remain suitable for lawn cutting."

Posted by: Bradley McDonald

Let's talk college basketball! I caught the end of a Duke/North Carolina game tonight. I don't think there's a better rivalry in sports than this one. It doesn't matter what each team is ranked. It doesn't matter the time of year. Each time there's a Duke/UNC matchup, the intensity level is unmatched and the games are always close. This year, they both happen to be ranked in the top 10. Duke won the game by one point tonight, but both teams are very talented and could be around for a long time in March.

Speaking of March, it won't be long before every one is filling out their brackets for another NCAA tournament. March Madness is my favorite time of year in sports. You can never tell who will be upset and when. The underdog "cinderella" schools are the ones that make the tournament so fun to watch.

I remember the first year I really got into the NCAA basketball tournament. It was my freshman year in high school and a friend of mine snuck a small portable TV in his booksack, so he could watch the games at school. I managed to sit behind him one class and he eased the top of his booksack down, so we could see the game. I remember some big name team was getting upset, and we couldn't keep our excitement down. We ended up getting punish-work, but the TV was never found! Long live sport and the sport fan! :)

Posted by: Bradley McDonald

In the Once & Again section of ninetyandnine.com, there's a "Classic Survey Sez!" about Sunday night services during the Super Bowl. The question is about adjusting the time of the service because of the Super Bowl. Most of the responses are against it and I tend to agree that it sends out a wrong signal. But there are some interesting comments about having a Super Bowl "party" that is a church-sponsored event.

I know that I will be in a minority here, but I have seen several churches that take it one step further and have Super Bowl parties in their fellowship hall. It gives the men (and ladies!) a chance to get together and invite their neighbors. Neighbors that might not otherwise come, and they are afforded the opportunity to hear the gospel. Usually, this takes the form of a video either shown before the game or at halftime that features athletes which they already admire sharing their testimony. This is a powerful outreach tool. Too often, we view “outreach” as something that's done for two hours on Saturday morning (if it isn't raining!) knocking on doors. Outreach can be much more than that! We should never pass up the opportunity to tell our friends and neighbors about Christ. This is one way.

This seems like a good idea that would attract people who wouldn't normally attend a church event. It could show non-church goers that a Super Bowl party can be fun without alcohol and the usual "party" atmosphere. This correlates somewhat to the Sunday Evening Basketball post of our new "A Month In My Life" blogger. This out-of-the-box thinking may lead to a lot of new connections for church outreach.

Has anyone out there ever been a part of a church Super Bowl-type party that's mentioned above? If so, I'm curious to know the results. Do you think it was good or bad for the church and the community?

Posted by: Bradley McDonald

I'm sure if you're any kind of sports fan you've read all about the Super Bowl, but I'll give you my two cents worth, anyway. The teams looked very evenly matched and if Donovan McNabb wouldn't have turned the ball over three times, the Eagles may have won the game. Not to take anything away from New England, who once again knew exactly what they needed to do to win and went out and did it. It's amazing to see how flawless the game plan always looks for the Patriots. I guess when everyone does their job and sticks to their assignments they way the Patriots do, the game plan works beautifully.

The scary thing about the Patriots is the future. Even with Bill Belichick losing some top coaches, he should keep this team on top. If they're not a dynasty now, they will be.

Posted by: Bradley McDonald

Washer-Board

My sister called the other day and was telling me about a strange game she had heard of called "Holey-Board." I realized she was talking about a "sport" that I play every LSU gameday with my tailgating crew. We call it "Washer-Board" and I never really thought about it being bizarre until she mentioned it to me.

The game can be compared to horseshoes, even though there are no equals to this challenging and highly skillful sport (typed with tongue planted firmly in cheek). The materials are simple: regular metal washers (around 2.5 inches in diameter) and two rectangular boards with three holes cut in each. The holes are cut just big enough so that the washers fit. The object of the game is to toss the washers into the holes in the board (hence the name "Washer-Board"). The rules are a little more complex. This website does a good job of explaining the rules by which we play.

The boards are rectangular, carpet-covered boxes that are 3.5-feet long and one-foot wide. Each box contains three identical holes, evenly spaced on top.

Normally, a 10-foot length of rope connects the two boxes that are stretched out to keep them separated by that distance.

To toss your washers, you can straddle the board, stand atop the board, or on either side.

Each player gets to toss three washers. The hole closest to the shooter is one point. The middle hole is worth three and the farthest hole scores five points. The washer must go fully into the hole to score. If someone shoots after you and knocks your washer into a hole, you get the score.

After one person throws his three washers, the next person has the opportunity to cancel the first player’s score. If, for example, my washer goes in the three-point hole and yours goes in the same hole, our scores are canceled for that hole.

The player who scores last gets to throw first in the next round. In this game, you must reach precisely 21 points to win. If you go over 21, you are penalized. For example, if you have 18 points and throw a washer into the five-hole, you go back five points to 13 for the next round.

Simple, yet amazingly addictive. The game is actually pretty popular around the LSU campus on football gamedays, but there are still plenty of people who stare in bewilderment trying to figure out what we're doing. I'd be interested to know if anyone outside of the south has heard of this game. Let me know if you have!

Posted by: Bradley McDonald

- Super Bowl and TO
Terrell Owens keeps saying he's playing in the Super Bowl and he has been practicing sparingly. His doctor won't clear him to play, but this game is the goal of everyone in the NFL, so I don't think he'll sit this one out. I don't see how he can be close to 100%, but he could come out and shock everyone. The Eagles will definitely need his playmaking ability. Even if Owens makes some plays, I still don't see how the Eagles will beat the Patriots. Philly's team speed will keep them in the game, but New England has smart players and smart coaches and that will be the difference. My prediction:

New England 27 - Philadelphia 17

- Lakers and Rudy T
Lakers coach Rudy Tomjonavich has resigned from his position, citing health reasons due to stress. I would probably be stressed, too, if I had to coach Kobe Bryant.

- Sammy to Orioles
Longtime Cub Sammy Sosa will be in a Baltimore Orioles' uniform next year. The Cubs dumped him and his huge salary after his productivity and popularity dropped last year. It will be weird to see him do his trademark hop out of the batter's box in Oriole orange, but being the Astros fan I am, I won't miss him in the National League Central.

- National Signing Day
Yesterday was the first day graduating high-school football players could sign with college teams. For us die-hard college football fans, this day keeps us going in the offseason. LSU's new coach Les Miles pulled off his first upset as a Tiger when quarterback Ryan Perrilloux (one of the most sought after recruits in the nation) opted to sign with LSU after verbally committing to Texas. LSU only had a limited number of scholarships to give away, so you won't see them in any Top 5 recruiting rankings, but signing Perrilloux kept everyone happy over here. National Champion USC led the recruiting class with four 5-star players.

- NFL Players Help Out
Here's something you won't see everyday: NFL players helping unload food and distributing it to families in Indonesia. Kurt Warner and Amani Toomer will do just that with the United Nations World Food Program to help bring attention to the program, which is aiding the tsunami-damaged area of the world but also works year round in all parts of the world.