Posted on May 8th, 2012
By DERON SNYDER
The Washington Nationals didn’t shine in their first coast-to-coast broadcast since Nationals Park opened in 2008. ESPN’s audience for Sunday Night Baseball saw Philadelphia deliver a 9-3 beating and watched Washington outfielder Jayson Werth suffer a broken wrist.
To the uninitiated, the five-time NL East champs simply routed the perennial also-rans, inexplicably featured in prime time. But well before Jordan Zimmermann’s first pitch that evening, observers across the country knew that Washington is an up-and-coming force.
Residents of our metropolitan area might be slower to realize the Nats’ new status, which is perfectly understandable. Considering the team’s losing ways since it relocated from Montreal, and the 33-season drought in D.C. prior to 2005, would-be fans’ recent options merely went from no baseball to bad baseball.
That’s OK. The Nats have an entire summer to get locals up to speed and show that things have changed.
As my colleague Patrick Hruby reported in Tuesday’s article on the Nats’ standing in D.C., there’s a long way to go. But unlike critics who bemoan the attendance, like when phenom Bryce Harper made his home debut last week, I think the market is coming around reasonably well.
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Posted on May 7th, 2012
By DERON SNYDER
Like every other boxing fan on Earth, I would love to see Floyd “Money” Mayweather fight Manny “Pac-Man” Pacquiao. Whether the bout could live up to its hype or be as entertaining as Mayweather’s unanimous decision Saturday against Miguel Cotto is questionable. But there’s no doubt that the highly anticipated match would be the richest fight in boxing history.
Unfortunately, the money might not be enough to entice Mayweather. His $32 million guarantee Saturday was a Nevada record, topping the $30 million that Mike Tyson was guaranteed for his 1997 rematch against Evander Holyfield. In his last three fights, Mayweather has been guaranteed a total of $79.5 million, which doesn’t include his considerable take from pay-per-view sales, concessions and other revenue.
“This is just a testament to Floyd’s [market] power,” said Leonard Ellerbe, Mayweather’s closest adviser and CEO of Mayweather Promotions. “Floyd Mayweather is a one-man walking conglomerate. Over the last 12 months, he is the highest-paid athlete in sports.”
Mayweather will be Nevada’s highest-paid inmate as of June 1, when he begins serving an 87-day sentence for misdemeanor domestic violence. He faced more than 30 years before accepting a plea bargain and later winning a petition to delay his incarceration until after Saturday’s fight. He convinced Judge Melissa Saragosa that his bout on Cinco de Mayo would have a $100 million impact on the Las Vegas economy.
That was quick thinking, but he’ll still have plenty of time to ponder the question of meeting Pacquiao. Mayweather has gone back and forth in that regard, calling out Pacquiao in a series of tweets in January after arguably ducking him for two years. But Mayweather doused hopes a few days before the Cotto fight, again accusing Pacquiao of using performance-enhancing drugs to increase in size and strength.
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Posted on May 4th, 2012
By DERON SNYDER
This week has been a rough one for the NFL.
Former San Diego Chargers linebacker Junior Seau committed suicide, raising more questions about the effects of playing football. Commissioner Roger Goodell suspended four players, including a season-long ban for New Orleans Saints linebacker Jonathan Vilma, for their alleged roles in a “bounty program.” As the NFL Players Association filed a grievance after announcing plans for a vigorous defense, former quarterback and current NFL Network broadcaster said he’d prefer that his sons not play football.
But a heartwarming event occurred in the midst of all that negativity (even if the reason is a bit depressing). New Tampa Bay coach Greg Schiano signed one of his former players, Eric LeGrand, to a contract with the Buccaneers. Though the move was symbolic — LeGrand has been paralyzed since suffering an injury during a Rutgers game on Oct. 16, 2010 — it helped highlight the player’s remarkable, inspirational story.
“Leading up to the draft, I couldn’t help but think that this should’ve been Eric’s draft class,” Schiano said in a release by the Bucs. “This small gesture is the least we could do to recognize his character, spirit and perseverance. The way Eric lives his life epitomizes what we are looking for in Buccaneer men.”
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Posted on May 3rd, 2012
By DERON SNYDER
The events of May 2, 2012, won’t be forgotten in the NFL. A one-two punch of shocking developments — unrelated on the surface but perhaps with connective tissue beneath — highlighted the ongoing wrestling match in our love-hate relationship with NFL violence.
Commissioner Roger Goodell clearly is concerned with the perception of the league at the very least. He has been on a safety crusade for three years, since the NFL conceded publicly for the first time that concussions can have lasting consequences. That’s why he slapped Jonathan Vilma with a one-year suspension Wednesday for his role in “Bounty-gate,” even though there’s no evidence that the New Orleans Saints‘ program resulted in injuries.
As we’ve all seen in the cases of many former players, Goodell is aware that damage can take years to surface. Wednesday’s apparent suicide of former San Diego linebacker Junior Seau reminded us of Dave Duerson, a retired Chicago Bears star who took his life in similar fashion with a gunshot to the chest in February last year.
We don’t know why Seau shot himself there, but Duerson did so to leave his brain to science. Researchers discovered the same trauma-induced disease — chronic traumatic encephalopathy — found in more than 20 deceased players. Duerson’s family has filed one of the numerous concussion-related lawsuits against the NFL. Former Atlanta Falcons safety Ray Easterling was part of another case before he committed suicide in April.
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Posted on May 2nd, 2012
By DERON SNYDER
The NFL was unequivocal about its stance on the New Orleans Saints’ so-called bounty program in March, when the league suspended head coach Sean Payton for one year and suspended former defensive coordinator Gregg Williams indefinitely. It also slapped Saints General Manager Mickey Loomis and assistant head coach Joe Vitt with eight- and six-game suspensions, respectively.
“Let me be clear,” Commissioner Roger Goodell said in a statement after issuing the league’s severest sanction ever for a head coach. “There is no place in the NFL for deliberately seeking to injure another player, let alone offering a reward for doing so. Any form of bounty is incompatible with our commitment to create a culture of sportsmanship, fairness and safety. Programs of this kind have no place in our game, and we are determined that bounties will no longer be a part of the NFL.”
Goodell could have cut and paste those sentiments into a statement Wednesday, when the other shoe fell on players implicated in the scandal. Saints linebacker Jonathan Vilma was hit the hardest, drawing a one-year suspension that begins immediately and ends after the Super Bowl.
In addition to Vilma, defensive tackle Anthony Hargrove (now with the Green Bay Packers) was suspended for eight games, Saints defensive Will Smith for four games and linebacker Scott Fujita (now with the Cleveland Browns) for three games.
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Posted on May 1st, 2012
By DERON SNYDER
Apparently, the Washington Redskins’ brain trust still is suffering side effects from last year’s painful experiment, when it tried to swallow a dose of Rex Grossman and John Beck at quarterback for a full season.
We thought it was over once the team traded three No. 1s and a second-rounder to move up in the draft. We figured the symptoms would fade away when Robert Griffin III’s name was called. We believed his selection started the healing process.
But we underestimated the effects of last season’s quarterback play. The toxic trial left emotional scars at the conscious level and below. Exposure to their self-inflicted irritant left coach Mike Shanahan & Co. weak. They feared further repercussions when the fourth round rolled around.
That’s the only explanation for using the 102nd pick on a player they hope never sees the field.
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Posted on April 30th, 2012
By DERON SNYDER
“Suffice it to say, this isn’t the coming-out party for Bryce that we had in mind. This isn’t the optimal situation developmentally for Bryce.”
That was Washington Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo during Friday’s conference call, announcing Bryce Harper’s promotion. Rizzo would’ve preferred more Triple-A seasoning for the phenom before his much-anticipated arrival — presumably for a series at Nationals Park — but Washington’s combination of injuries and anemic offense forced a change of plans.
Harper flew from upstate New York to Los Angeles for two weekend games against the Dodgers. He landed with a mere .250 batting average in 72 at-bats for the Syracuse Chiefs, and just 129 minor league games overall. A self-described “scouting and player development guy at heart,” Rizzo would never agree that April 28 was the right time for Harper’s major league debut.
Perhaps it wasn’t the best timing.
But based on what we know about the 19-year-old prodigy, it might be perfect timing.
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Posted on April 30th, 2012
By DERON SNYDER
Every February, shortly after the Super Bowl, the NFL invites more than 300 college players to Indianapolis for the NFL Scouting Combine. Once there, the players are weighed, measured, poked and prodded and undergo a battery of tests and drills in front of representatives from each team. Two months later, the vast majority of players are divvied up in the NFL draft, which took place last week.
One of the biggest stories this year is the Dallas Cowboys’ move up to select former Louisiana State University cornerback Morris Claiborne with the sixth pick. Claiborne was considered the best defensive player in the draft but gained a measure of infamy in early April when his score on the Wonderlic test — administered each year at the Scouting Combine and intended to measure basic intelligence — was leaked. He reportedly scored a 4 out of 50.
But it turns out that Claiborne might be smarter than his score indicated. He told reporters that he didn’t take the test seriously because he didn’t see the relevancy. “I mean, I looked on the test and wasn’t nothing on the test that came with football, so I pretty much blew the test off,” he said.
To many observers, Claiborne’s score made him a laughingstock and a symbol of college sports’ brokenness. Whether admissions policies, coursework and grades are up to par for college athletes is one thing. But everyone agrees that Wonderlic scores are virtually meaningless in predicting a player’s success or failure in the league. Some have even suggested that the NFL is stupid for mandating the test, which wasn’t designed for football players and doesn’t discourage NFL teams.
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Posted on April 26th, 2012
By DERON SNYDER
When the Boston Bruins beat Vancouver last season in the Stanley Cup FInal, some Canucks fans reacted with riotous acts.
When the Washington Capitals beat Boston in a first-round series Wednesday night, some Bruins fans reacted with racist tweets.
The former incident resulted in about 170 injuries and $5 million in property damage. The latter incident’s toll can’t be calculated with body counts and hard numbers.
But the stream of vile and vulgar comments directed at Caps forward Joel Ward via Twitter — simply because he’s a black man and scored the game-winning goal – surely costs us something as a society.
There’s no way to read the offensive tweets — most of which can’t be repeated here or in polite company — without paying a price. You might lose some faith in your fellow man. You might lose the illusion of “post-racial” America. You might lose a piece of your mind or soul.
But unless you have a soft spot for white sheets and swastikas, you’re going to lose something.
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Posted on April 25th, 2012
By DERON SNYDER
Earlier this month it was Washington Redskins wide receiver Jabar Gaffney. He went on an epic Twitter meltdown, unleashing a stream of expletive-laced tweets about his estranged wife and his cousin NFL cornerback Lito Sheppard. One example from the since-deleted account read: “Ain’t nobody [bleeped] my wife but for anybody saying any slick [bleep] better watch ur girl and not let me get hold to her.”
Gaffney briefly was the top trending topic in the world. He later claimed that his account was hacked and asked for privacy.
But there’s no doubting the authenticity of the latest outrageous tweets from an NFL personality. Hall of Famer and NFL Network broadcaster Deion Sanders not only live-tweeted an alleged assault by his estranged wife, Pilar, but he sent out a picture of him and his sons filling out a police report.
Sanders’ first tweet on the incident Monday night was straight out of reality TV: “Pray for me and my kids now! They just witnessed their mother and a friend jump me in my room. She’s going to jail n I’m pressing charges!”
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