Posted on February 29th, 2012
By DERON SNYDER
With its revenue, TV ratings and popularity continuing to grow unabated, the NFL is in its own galaxy compared to other sports leagues.
NFL games accounted for 23 of the 25 most-watched telecasts last fall, and a total of 37 games drew at least 20 million viewers each. A Harris poll taken earlier this year asked about 2,200 adults who follow at least one sport to name their favorite. Pro football was chosen by 36 percent of the respondents — nearly thrice the number who chose baseball and college football (13 percent apiece).
Commissioner Roger Goodell knows that competing TV programs are regularly crushed by NFL games, especially highly anticipated matchups. But whether Goodell is reluctant to battle for viewers or eager to promote civic engagement, he has rescheduled the league’s season opener from Sept. 6 to Sept. 5. By doing so, the NFL avoids a conflict with President Obama, scheduled to give his speech at the Democratic National Convention on Sept. 6.
The only loser is Vice President Joe Biden, whose speech on Sept. 5 will be overshadowed by the game featuring the New York Giants, beginning their Super Bowl title defense, versus an opponent that hasn’t been announced yet.
Continue reading…
Posted on February 29th, 2012
By DERON SNYDER
Senior Night at Verizon Center provided another glimpse of Georgetown’s bright future. Freshman Greg Whittington led all scorers Monday with a career-high 15 points, and freshman Otto Porter snared a team-high 10 rebounds in a 59-41 rout of Notre Dame.
But center Henry Sims and guard Jason Clark, playing their final home game as Hoyas, also left the crowd with lasting impressions. Just like they’ve done all season, leading 10 sophomores and freshmen on their surprising team, Sims and Clark produced the steady and heady performances that make Georgetown dangerous when everything clicks.
We’ve come to take Sims and Clark for granted over the course of this season, with No. 8 Marquette up next before the Big East tournament begins next week. A victory Saturday would give Georgetown a double-bye in New York, unimaginable back in November when Sims was an unknown quantity and Clark was thought to have insufficient help.
But by the time they were introduced Monday night, surrounded by family and soaking in applause during a pregame ceremony, Sims and Clark had established themselves as the unquestioned leaders of No. 11 Georgetown. They proved it once again in the Hoyas’ second consecutive blowout since a crushing loss at Seton Hall last week.
Continue reading…
Posted on February 27th, 2012
By DERON SNYDER
The NBA’s annual midseason party is over. The out-of-town All-Stars have departed to rejoin their respective teams. The visiting media and fans have moved on to their next assignment or gone back home. The regular season resumes with nine games Tuesday night.
But Orlando, Fla., is still the center of attention and will remain so until March 15, when the trading deadline comes and goes. The entire NBA landscape could shift dramatically if Magic center Dwight Howard is playing elsewhere after then.
Howard, one of the league’s biggest and most marketable superstars, was all over town during the All-Star festivities. He hosted parties, mingled with his fellow players and served as a coach in the All-Star celebrity game. But he couldn’t get away from the question on everyone’s mind:
Will he stay in Orlando next season if he isn’t traded in a few weeks?
Continue reading…
Posted on February 24th, 2012
By DERON SNYDER
Former Dallas Cowboys quarterback Troy Aikman was at a forum in Los Angeles recently, discussing the city’s chances of acquiring an NFL franchise, when the conversation turned to concussions. Aikman, who suffered from several concussions during his Hall of Fame career, sounded an ominous note about their potential effect.
League officials and owners are “very concerned about concussions,” he said, adding, “The long-term viability, to me anyway, is somewhat in question as far as what this game is going to look like 20 years from now.”
Aikman wouldn’t prevent his son, if he had one, from playing, “but I don’t know if I would be encouraging him to play. Whereas with the other sports, you want your kids to be active and doing those types of things.”
Concussions have been a major issue in the NFL since at least December 2009, when the league conceded publicly for the first time that occurrences can have lasting consequences. Former players suffering from possible brain injuries have gained increased attention, and several lawsuits have been filed, including a class-action suit in December. A website has been established for retired players who have questions.
On Thursday the family of Dave Duerson filed the latest lawsuit. Duerson, a former Chicago Bears star who committed suicide last February at the age of 50, suspected that head trauma during his career had caused his mental state to deteriorate. He shot himself in the heart and left his brain to research, which proved him right.
Continue reading…
Posted on February 23rd, 2012
By DERON SNYDER
At the halfway point of this truncated NBA campaign, the Washington Wizards have seven wins in 33 games, giving them a lower winning percentage than every team except Charlotte — which is 0-2 against the Wizards.
Thank goodness for Bobcats chairman Michael Jordan, whose excellence as a player is rivaled only by his failure as an executive.
In hindsight, Washington might have been better off if the lockout wiped out the entire season instead of one-fifth. Does the new deal allow teams to bypass the second half and proceed directly to the lottery?
But the Wizards deserve some credit. If a team can’t be great, the least it can do is be interesting, and there’s been no shortage of attention-grabbing moments when Washington plays. The Wizards seem to be mentioned on TNT almost as much as the Miami Heat, even if its flattery versus buffoonery.
Washington doesn’t have any All-Stars on the roster, but it could dominate balloting for an All-Enigma team.
Continue reading…
Posted on February 23rd, 2012
By DERON SNYDER
According to the National Institute of Mental Health, tens of millions of people in the United States are affected by mental disorders, and only a fraction receive treatment. Iowa State forward Royce White is included in the first count, but more important, he’s in the second one, too.
White, a 20-year-old who has been on medication since he was a teen, is the latest athlete to come forward and discuss the issue. It’s a bold step for folks whose lives play out in the public eye. He leads the Cyclones in points (12.9), rebounds (9.1), assists (4.9), steals (1.0) and blocked shots (1.1), putting them on the verge of their first NCAA tournament berth in seven years.
“Anxiety isn’t really something you can measure,” he told the Des Moines Register. “That’s why it’s so hard to diagnose, so hard to pinpoint. If I didn’t take my medication, any number of things could happen: It could affect my mind and my body. I could get the sweats.
“What anxiety is, is your mind telling your body that there’s a threat, so it produces adrenaline so you can fight off that threat,” he said. “That could make you do anything, conceptually, but I’m not a dumb individual. I wouldn’t do something off-the-wall like skydive.”
Continue reading…
Posted on February 21st, 2012
By DERON SNYDER
For the record, like other hard-core hoops fans in the D.C. metro area, I would love to watch Georgetown and Maryland play each other annually in men’s basketball. Two power-conference schools with rich traditions, title aspirations, national profiles and distinct local flavor: Who wouldn’t want to see that?
Maybe the respective coaches, who at the very least might not be crazy about the idea. Nonconference home games are precious, usually reserved for padding against utterly beatable teams. It’s much more tempting to continue scheduling those games, instead of forsaking one every other year to face a formidable, nearby rival and potential repercussions in recruiting.
But after weighing the various factors in the risk-reward equation, Georgetown’s John Thompson III and Maryland’s Mark Turgeon could agree to take their chances with the series and thereby serve the area’s greater good. Then we’d have our own version of the “Crosstown Shootout,” which has pitted Cincinnati and four-miles-away Xavier every year since 1945.
However, prospects for our “Capital Clash” appear to be a bit dimmer, thanks to Maryland athletic director Kevin Anderson trying to force the issue.
Continue reading…
Posted on February 20th, 2012
By DERON SNYDER
The National Basketball Players Association has estimated that 60 percent of retired players go broke five years after their NBA paychecks dry up. So it’s not surprising to hear that a future Hall of Famer like Allen Iverson has fallen upon hard times, despite the fact that he earned more than $154 million in salary (and more in endorsements) during his 15-year NBA career.
His lifestyle included multiple cars, houses, a large posse and a traveling hairstylist to do his cornrows every few days. His love for bling didn’t help, either — a Georgia judge recently ordered his wages garnished in order to pay a jeweler more than $850,000. NBA opportunities dried up in 2010 — Iverson played his last game exactly two years ago Monday. His most recent offer to play pro sports comes from another league and involves a different ball.
New York’s Rochester Lancers, of the Major Indoor Soccer League, offered Iverson a contract over the weekend. The team has two regular-season games left on its schedule and offered to pay Iverson $20,000 per game with a $5,000 bonus for each goal scored, as well as bonuses for wins and merchandise sales.
Continue reading…
Posted on February 18th, 2012
By DERON SNYDER
Perhaps it was inevitable that some folks would try too hard on the Jeremy Lin story, attempt to go beyond puns like Linsanity, Lincredible, Super Lintendo and so on. The New York Knicks guard has enthralled the nation — landing on the cover of not only Sports Illustrated but also Time — and he appears to be having a blast. Naturally, others want to join in.
But a significant part of Lin’s novelty is his racial heritage: His parents migrated from Taiwan to California, where he was born and raised. So he’s not a just a sudden, unexpected star; he’s also the NBA’s first Asian-American star. And that has led to some questionable, if not downright offensive, imagery.
The New York Post was criticized for its headline — “Amasian!” — after Lin hit a 3-pointer to win Tuesday’s game in Toronto. The MSG Network, which airs Knicks games, came under fire Wednesday for airing the image of Lin’s face over a broken fortune cookie with the words “The Knicks Good Fortune.” Likewise, ESPN’s decision making was questioned when it aired a sign that referred to Lin as “The Yellow Mamba.”
The latter is a play on Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant, whose nickname is “The Black Mamba.” But there are two problems with altering the handle for Lin: 1) Unlike black mambas, there are no yellow mamba snakes; and 2) referring to African Americans as “black” isn’t considered offensive, unlike using “yellow” to refer to Asian Americans.
Continue reading…
Posted on February 16th, 2012
By DERON SNYDER
Can we let Bryce Harper be Bryce Harper for now, when he’s 19 and still learning the ways of the world? Can we appreciate his personality, letting him grow and mature, without asking him to be a plastic player filled with false humility? Can we encourage him to be as honest and open as possible, letting him experiment with the boundaries, instead of turning him into a colorless cliche machine who never says anything remotely interesting or stimulating?
I understand why the Washington Nationals are concerned about everything that emanates from Harper’s mouth and Twitter account. A major-league prospect hasn’t been scrutinized this heavily since … uh, Stephen Strasburg.
But this is different because Strasburg doesn’t play every day and the phenoms’ respective personalities are polar opposites.
Strasburg is likely to say or do something controversial as often as he pitches nine innings without a strikeout. Harper’s comments and actions tend to rub folks the wrong way as often as not. Unfortunately, we’ve reached the point where Harper’s critics manufacture outrage if the effect doesn’t occur naturally.
That’s what happened a couple of weeks ago when Harper re-affirmed his love for non-D.C. teams, including the Dallas Cowboys, New York Yankees, Los Angeles Lakers and Duke Blue Devils. “I love my Nationals, but im not a Redskins, Georgetown, Wizards, nor a Capitals fan!” he tweeted. A later tweet read: “Cowboys cowboys cowboys for life!!! I hate those redskins! Hah.”
Judging by the reaction from local fans and media, I guess 19-year-olds from Nevada are supposed to automatically drop their childhood rooting interests and adopt the hometown teams in their employer’s market. Spare me.
Continue reading…
Follow
By DERON SNYDER
