Posted on July 26th, 2012
By DERON SNYDER
Let the games begin and let the foolishness end.
Here’s hoping the Opening Ceremony on Friday night starts a better spell for the London Olympics. Because getting into the spirit has been challenging thus far.
Perhaps the difficulty is a natural progression, a byproduct of hyperactive lives in cyberspace, which leaves us “always on.” Slowing down to recognize the Olympics’ unique and special qualities is much harder when everything else all year moves in a round-the-clock blur.
When news from this Olympiad has caught our attention, it’s been for the wrong reasons. We’re at the point where only the torch can spark our dampened attitudes.
One of biggest downers is the International Olympic Committee’s steadfast refusal to commemorate the 1972 Munich Games, where 11 Israeli athletes and a West German policeman were killed by Palestinian terrorists. Widows of the slain athletes met Wednesday with IOC president Jacques Rogge to formally request a minute of silence during the Opening Ceremony.
But just like other attempts by other parties during other Olympics, the widows’ request was rejected. “We feel that the Opening Ceremony is an atmosphere that is not fit to remember such a tragic incident,” Rogge said at a news conference last week.
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Posted on July 24th, 2012
By DERON SNYDER
We all know the media can be, uh, funny sometimes when it comes to why and how someone is highlighted and someone else isn’t. A perfect example just happened involving Penn State’s late football coach Joe Paterno and Grambling’s late football coach Eddie Robinson.
On Oct. 29, 2011, headlines blared the news after Penn State’s 10-7 victory against Illinois. “Joe Paterno makes history with 409th win,” read a Sports Illustrated story. “Sloppy Penn State hands Paterno a record victory,” said a New York Times story. Afterward, during a postgame ceremony that was aired at Beaver Stadium to more than 100,000 fans, officials presented Paterno with a plaque.
Paterno had passed Robinson — who retired in 1997 and died in 2007 — for most wins by a Division I coach.
But a not-so-funny thing happened Monday, when the NCAA stripped Penn State of 112 victories (111 credited to Paterno) for the school’s role in the Jerry Sandusky child sex-abuse scandal. Most headlines didn’t refer to Robinson regaining his record; they pointed to former Florida State coach Bobby Bowden surpassing Paterno for most wins in Division I-A (also known as the Football Bowl Series).
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Posted on July 24th, 2012
By DERON SNYDER
The Nittany Lions, severely wounded by the NCAA’s blast, are down. Naturally, buzzards are in the midst of circling overhead. It won’t be long before the pecking begins, and Penn State’s recruiting efforts are ripped to shreds.
It’s the circle of life, and college football is no exception. The strong devour the weak, the fast prey on the slow and the big gobble the small.
There’s no shame and less trepidation among the football coaches with Penn State in their crosshairs. They are attracted to that roster like sharks are drawn to chum, in this case players who became free agents Monday and can play elsewhere immediately without missing a year.
Part of the NCAA’s penalty loosened transfer rules and created a rare dining opportunity for opposing schools, turning Penn State’s recruits and returning players into an all-you-can-eat buffet.
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Posted on July 23rd, 2012
By DERON SNYDER
The “death penalty” would’ve been more merciful for Penn State’s football program. Instead of being hooked up to tubes and machines and continuing to exist with a pitiful quality of life, Penn State would’ve suffered less if the NCAA simply pulled the plug for a year or two.
But showing mercy and easing suffering isn’t part of the NCAA’s sentencing guidelines, and certainly wasn’t appropriate in this case of unprecedented, institutional anarchy. Suspending the program for former university officials’ role in the Jerry Sandusky child sex-abuse scandal would’ve been too easy. Hitting the Nittany Lions with a four-year postseason ban and a four-year reduction on scholarships is more painful and longer lasting.
The NCAA created a spiritual and emotional void at Penn State in gutting the program for the next decade. The school escaped the death penalty but was relegated to a worse fate, the living dead.
It all makes for great debate, fodder to fill hours of broadcast programming and millions of column inches. There are those who say the punishment is too harsh. Critics contend that the sanctions are too lenient. Still others argue that the NCAA overstepped its bounds in venturing from its normal purview.
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Posted on July 23rd, 2012
By DERON SNYDER
In penalizing Penn State for its role in the child sex-abuse case involving Jerry Sandusky, NCAA President Mark Emmert sent a message to other schools whose approach to sports might be off-balance. While most cases involve infractions such as payments to athletes, bogus class work or recruiting violations, the underlying theme is the same: multimillion-dollar athletic programs operating outside the boundaries.
“One of the grave dangers stemming from our love of sports is that the sports themselves can become ‘too big to fail,’ or even too big to challenge,” Emmert said Monday in announcing Penn State’s sanctions. “The result can be an erosion of academic values that are replaced by the value of hero worship and winning at all costs. All involved in intercollegiate athletics must be watchful that programs and individuals do not overwhelm the values of higher education.”
Later on Monday, the Buffalo Wild Wings signed a new deal to take over naming rights for the Insight Bowl. Earlier this month, ESPN agreed to pay an average of $80 million a year for the Rose Bowl’s broadcast rights, a 167 percent jump from the $30 million the network currently pays. The whopping increase led to speculation that media rights for college football’s impending playoff-package championship could go as high as $600 million.
So Emmert’s calls for perspective are a bit tardy. Besides, there’s been cheating in college sports for as long as schools have played games, and there hasn’t been a penalty yet that ended it.
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Posted on July 20th, 2012
By DERON SNYDER
If 100 people were asked whether the New York Knicks were smart to let Jeremy Lin leave for the Houston Rockets, half might say yes. The other half would be correct, though, because Lin meant more to the Knicks than he could possibly mean to any other team.
Just ask Wall Street, where stock for the Knicks’ parent company, MSG, has lost nearly $100 million since Lin’s departure. The Knicks were so worried about what they’d have to pay Lin based on the Rocket’s offer, they failed to calculate the cost of losing him. Lin single-handedly drove MSG stock to a record-high price in February and resolved a 48-day standoff between the Knicks’ TV station and Cablevision.
The Knicks’ Charles Dolan has been one of the league’s worst owners during his tenure, thanks to a series of bad moves that made the team a laughingstock. But allowing Lin to get away might be his dumbest move yet. Not that you’ll hear any complaints from Houston, where the 23-year-old Harvard grad was introduced on Thursday.
“It’s been an unbelievable ride,” said Lin, who came from nowhere last season and now owns a three-year, $25 million contract. “Just a lot of things I didn’t expect to happen, in terms of just the way last season went. I still have to kind of remind myself that this is all actually happening sometimes. But it’s a huge blessing. I can’t believe how it all shaped up, and for me to be here right now. I’m definitely excited and thankful.”
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Posted on July 19th, 2012
By DERON SNYDER
Former Washington Wizards forward Etan Thomas was a youngster when he came home one day and found his mother watching an “ABC Afterschool Special.” Tears welled in her eyes as she listened to depressing statistics about kids from single-parent households, which hers became due to divorce when Thomas was 7.
“They said if you come from a single-parent household, you’re not going to make it,” Thomas said during a recent panel at First Baptist Church of Glenarden, Md. “We made a pact. I told her I was going to make right choices and make right decisions.”
He kept his word, playing four years at Syracuse before the Dallas Mavericks selected him 12th in the 2000 draft. He was traded to Washington and spent seven of his 11 NBA seasons with the Wizards before ending with Atlanta in 2010-2011.
Thomas is working out in hopes of landing a roster spot next season. If successful, he’ll try to improve his career averages of 5.7 points and 4.7 rebounds. But he’s much more concerned about the dreary statistics on jail, teenage pregnancies, suicide rates and high school dropouts that worried his mother and continue to inundate society.
That’s why he speaks regularly at schools and correctional facilities and why he wrote a new book, “Fatherhood: Rising to the Ultimate Challenge.”
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Posted on July 18th, 2012
By DERON SNYDER
Maybe the side effects of NFL football are getting to Dez Bryant. Maybe he suffered a concussion that went undiagnosed last season. Or maybe he fell and bumped his head while engaged in some other activity.
Whatever the case, something’s wrong with the Dallas Cowboys receiver if he thinks that attacking one’s mother is ever OK. It’s bad enough for a man to assault a woman — any woman — but it’s especially egregious when she’s the one who gave birth to him.
Bryant was arrested Monday in DeSoto, Texas, on a misdemeanor charge of assault after getting into an argument with Angela Bryant. She had called 911 Saturday afternoon to report the incident involving her son, indicating that this wasn’t their first altercation.
“I can’t keep letting him do this,” Angela Bryant said on the call, made from a nearby friend’s house. “I can’t keep letting him do me like this. I’m tired. I’m going to put an end to it today. I’m going to put an end to it today. I’m tired.”
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Posted on July 17th, 2012
By DERON SNYDER
We barely recognized Verizon Center on Monday night. The arena was sold out with a loud, energetic crowd. Unlike similar occasions when the basketball court is in place, the throng was virtually unanimous in its allegiance. Nearly every fan rooted earnestly for the home team, which was stocked with All-Stars.
It figures that Washington’s lone representative, Nene, played for the visitors. Wizards fans might have never believed the scene otherwise.
The U.S. men’s Olympic team overcame a sluggish start and held off feisty Brazil for an 80-69 victory in the final domestic exhibition. The crowd undoubtedly was happy with the win but likely still harbored concerns about Team USA’s outlook in London.
“There’s no reason we shouldn’t bring home the gold,” President Obama said during a courtside interview on ESPN. “We just have to stay focused.”
That’s one of the main threats facing Team USA each Olympiad, especially against lesser competition. It’s hard to concentrate and pay attention to details when you’re 30 points better than the opponent. If the Americans get too comfortable operating in flip-the-switch mode against the likes of Nigeria and Tunisia, they could struggle against legitimate contenders such as Spain and Argentina.
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Posted on July 17th, 2012
By DERON SNYDER
President Obama has some explaining to do. He was expected to be courtside Monday night at Verizon Center in Washington, D.C., to catch part of the first game, which featured the U.S. women’s Olympic basketball team versus Brazil. But he didn’t appear in the arena until just before tip-off of the men’s game.
With two daughters and an athletic wife, Obama surely knows he can’t dis the women’s team. He made it to Verizon in time to greet and congratulate the players on a practice court after their 99-67 victory. The team gave him a jersey and an autographed basketball and posed for photos.
“We talked a little health care, tax breaks,” guard Diane Taurasi said. Guard Lindsay Whalen, who led all scorers with 21 points, added: “He just said represent your country well, and that he’s proud.”
Showing its own pride, the crowd chanted “U-S-A!” as Obama and Vice President Joe Biden entered and took their seats. First lady Michelle Obama and the couple’s oldest daughter, Malia, were also among the president’s party. Obama was interviewed at halftime and weighed in on a debate sparked by Kobe Bryant’s assertion that the current Olympic team is superior to the 1992 “Dream Team,” which featured Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird and other superstars.
“This is a generational thing,” Obama said on ESPN. “I was around in ’92. I was a Bulls fan. So I have to go with the original Dream Team.”
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