Posted on June 15th, 2016
By DERON SNYDER
The Detroit Lions, Chicago Bears, Green Bay Packers, New York Giants, Pittsburgh Steelers and Cleveland Browns are among the NFL’s oldest franchises.
They also were among the seven NFL teams that don’t field cheerleading squads … until Detroit removed itself from that number Tuesday.
So Lions fans will have an alternative form of entertainment this season when the main attraction (inevitably) disappoints.
“One of the things clearly that we have to do is create a great in-game environment,” team president Rod Wood told reporters Tuesday. “And having cheerleaders added to that along with many other things we’re considering, including working on our Wi-Fi.”
Ogle and Google. Sounds like a winning combination.
You can’t go wrong with having cheerleaders. Unless you think scantily clad women jiggling on the sidelines sends a conflicting message about sexism and objectification as sports/society grapples with the entrenched issues of sexual assault and domestic violence. It’s harder to imagine cheerleaders as brain surgeons when our focus is on their bodies.
As the father of a “Foxxy Dancer” with the Morgan State University Marching Band, I have a different view of dancers and cheerleaders. However, I remember my old view and realize it’s still predominant among many other red-blooded men.
But we’re all responsible for own thoughts – no matter how provocative a routine might be – and even more accountable for our actions.
I’m fine with NFL teams employing cheerleaders to enhance the games’ atmosphere and aesthetics. The lovely ladies certainly don’t detract from the proceedings. But teams that subject cheerleaders to sub-minimum wages, psychological abuse, leering male sponsors and hours of unpaid work should be kicked right between the uprights.
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Posted on June 14th, 2016
By DERON SNYDER
Two hours into ESPN’s five-part documentary on O.J. Simpson and I’m already wishing it was longer.
That’s what happens when, as a Los Angeles Times critic puts it, you view “a masterwork of scholarship, journalism and cinematic art.”
“O.J.: Made in America” resumes Tuesday night after introducing us to 18-year-old Nicole Brown at the conclusion of Part 1. We all know what happens in the end – someone (possibly/probably Simpson) kills Brown and an acquaintance, leading to the trial of the century.
But judging by Sunday night’s installment, our advance knowledge won’t spoil what we learn along the way.
The lessons are plentiful and multi-layered, providing rich, contextual soil that’s impossible to till in today’s popular microwave analyses. This isn’t a simple black-and-white case of race, celebrity, passion and criminal justice. It’s all of that and more, tracing its roots to the politics of identity, the clash of cultures and the history of psychological warfare.
I had just turned 11 in 1973, when Simpson became the first NFL player to rush for 2,000 yards in a single season. He was a ubiquitous figure afterward, his name becoming synonymous with the NFL. His fame grew through commercials for Hertz and later, in retirement, through movies and broadcasting.
But I didn’t know the backstory, how Simpson arduously scrubbed himself of blackness in an attempt to be viewed as non-other. How white America eagerly embraced him in the late 1960s to assuage itself during the fight for civil rights. How he played into the hands of those who point at outliers such as him and other “success stories” to dispute evidence of overall oppression and injustice.
“None of the people that we associated with looked at him as a black man,” former Hertz CEO Frank Olson said in the documentary. “O.J. was colorless.”
That was great … for O.J.
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Posted on June 9th, 2016
By DERON SNYDER
They are the most powerful individuals on the court. Theirs is the final word. Whatever they say goes; if they say it’s you, then you have to go.
No one loves them aside from their family. Even that can vary based on which calls are made and which team Uncle John and Aunt Jane bet on.
If game officials are a tad defensive when the public slams their work, that’s understandable.
But I don’t think the National Basketball Referees Association is being thin-skinned in calling for an end to the NBA’s Last Two Minute Reports. The organization made several valid points in a news release Tuesday.
The “transparency” the league seeks in releasing officiating critiques “does nothing to change the outcome of the game” and “encourages anger and hostility toward NBA officials,” the NBRA said. “… While the goal of transparency was to promote understanding and credibility, there is no evidence that progress against these goals is being made.”
Indeed.
The league insists that L2M reports are a good thing, but no one can explain how. In the annual pre-NBA Finals news conference last week, commissioner Adam Silver said the public wants to see consistency and “understand if we call something a foul, why we called it a foul, and we often give explanations for why we believe something was a foul, whether it was correctly called or incorrectly called.”
Silver hopes the reports and use of instant replay are “building trust and integrity in the league. People are going to recognize that we are going to make mistakes, the officials are going to make mistakes,” he said last week. “Human error is going to be part of this game, just as it is with the players. … I’d say largely what these Last Two Minute Reports are showing is that the referees get it right about 90 percent of the time.”
Except the other 10 percent is what everyone harps on, always to no avail and often with no clear answer.
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Posted on June 1st, 2016
By DERON SNYDER
Thank goodness Golden State rallied from a 3-1 deficit in the Western Conference finals against Oklahoma City.
Nothing against the Thunder and their A-list stars, Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook. But a rematch of last year’s NBA Finals was the desire here. The Thunder would’ve spoiled the party and ruined an historic run by the 73-win Warriors.
Worst of all, we’d be deprived of the unbridled joy and fascination in watching the Splash Brothers do their remarkable thing.
Steph Curry is the unanimous MVP and scored a game-high 36 points Monday in Game 7, but the Warriors’ season would’ve ended two days earlier if not for Klay Thompson. As a giddy OKC crowd envisioned confetti falling later that night, Thompson put the Warriors on his back and went off for 41 points, including a playoff-record 11 3-pointers.
The Thunder scored 18 points in the fourth quarter; Thompson had 19 by himself. His outburst clearly inspired a struggling Curry, who used the lift to score 22 of his 31 points in the second half.
That’s what brothers are for, picking up one another and protecting each other’s back. With Curry and Thompson swishing 3-pointers all over the court, the Warriors have the most formidable tandem of backcourt marksmen in memory. Or maybe period.
“Klay and Steph are probably the two greatest shooters that we’ve probably ever seen,” Cleveland’s LeBron James told reporters Tuesday. “Obviously in today’s game they are. Some of the shots, there’s nothing that you can do about it. Better offense beats great defense any day.
“It’s hard to contain them,” he said. “We all know that, the whole league knows that, our team knows that. But we have a game plan and we have to follow it and be true to it.”
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Posted on May 30th, 2016
By DERON SNYDER
I’ve been blessed to cover a variety of major sporting events in 25-plus years as a journalist, including Super Bowls, World Series, NCAA tournaments, BCS bowl games and Kentucky Derbies, among others.
One event that constitutes an undesirable gap on my resume is the Olympics, an omission I’d love to address at some point. However, if given an opportunity to cover the Games of the XXXI Olympiad this summer, in Rio de Janeiro I wouldn’t think twice about declining.
As much as I’d like to check off that experience from my bucket list, it’s not worth potentially kicking the bucket due to Zika virus.
OK, that’s a bit of hyperbole. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “people usually don’t get sick enough to go to the hospital, and they very rarely die of Zika.”
However, more than 180 scientists and health experts have signed an open letter released on Friday, demanding that the 2016 Summer Olympics be moved or postponed. It cites the World Health Organization labeling Zika a “Public Health Emergency of International Concern,” and claims that going through with plans to hold the Olympics in Rio would be “unethical.”
Maybe it’s me, but inviting half a million visitors from more than 200 countries to a hotbed of public health concerns seems imprudent at the very least. Especially for pregnant women, whose babies can suffer severe fetal brain defects. The CDC recommends that workers “consider delaying travel to areas with active Zika virus transmission.” Brazil fits that description all too well.
“I’m thinking about (whether to go), Chicago Bulls star Pau Gasol told reporters in Madrid Monday. “Just like every athlete, or any other persons considering going to Rio, should be thinking about it.”
Gasol, the Spanish basketball team’s most accomplished player, said he wouldn’t be surprised if some athletes opt out of the Games to putting their health and their family’s health at risk. I’ll be surprised if we don’t see a mass exodus.
The World Health Organization is doing its best to avoid that scenario.
“Based on the current assessment of Zika virus circulating in almost 60 countries globally and 39 countries in the Americas, there is no public health justification for postponing or cancelling the Games,” WHO said in a statement Saturday, responding to the open letter. “WHO will continue to monitor the situation and update our advice as necessary.”
Far be it from me to question WHO’s objectivity and allegiance in this matter. Besides, that’s unnecessary, because the 180-plus scientists don’t mind.
“We are concerned that WHO is rejecting these alternatives (relocation or postponement) because of a conflict of interest,” the open letter read. “Specifically, WHO entered into an official partnership with the International Olympic Committee, in a Memorandum of Understanding that remains secret. There is no good reason for WHO not to disclose this Memorandum of Understanding, as is standard practice for conflicts of interest. Not doing so casts doubts on WHO’s neutrality.”
Quite a bit of money is at stake. Brazil budgeted around $13 billion to host the Games and expects a lasting economic impact though increased tourism (event though the extended boost didn’t materialize after 2014 World Cup). Years of planning and resources devoted to the Olympiad make any alteration an abhorrent thought for organizers.
Athletes, some of whom have spent most of their lives training for the event, can feel the same way. “Let’s see what happens,” tennis star Novak Djokovic told reporters Sunday, adding that he needs more information but plans to participate for now. “To even think to cancel the Olympic Games is unthinkable, honestly. I mean, many athletes and people already planned in advance and so many people already planned their trips and accommodation in Rio.”
Flights, room reservations and anticipated revenue shouldn’t be considerations at all. A change of venue would be terrible for Brazil but it wouldn’t be the first an international athletic competition was affected by public health concerns.
Three Olympiads have been cancelled due to war (1916, 1940 and 1944) and the 2003 Women’s World Cup was moved from China to the U.S. due to a SARS outbreak.
In its recent statement, WHO said cancelling or changing the location of the Games “will not significantly alter the international spread of Zika virus.” The organization has lots of room for improvement if the goal is to reassure athletes, media and fans wondering if they should make the trip.
The scientists, in a response to WHO’s response, were undeterred. “Rio’s official data show that the rate of mosquito-transmitted disease is three times higher in early 2016 than early 2015, including a surprising increase in the precise neigbourhood of the Olympic Park, they said in a statement Monday. “… clearly mosquito control and Zika control are not working as they must.”
Considering that evidence – and WHO’s possible conflict-of-interest – the 2016 Olympics are an “experience of a lifetime” that should be eschewed if they remain in Brazil as scheduled.
Posted on May 25th, 2016
By DERON SNYDER
No one saw this coming, but Oklahoma City has stolen Golden State’s thunder.
The 73-win defending champions, darlings of the regular season, are dazed and confused, just like everyone else watching the Western Conference finals. The Warriors aren’t simply losing the series. They’re being trampled, stomped as if they don’t belong in the same league, let alone on the same floor.
Not surprisingly, the proceedings have raised questions from observers who never were completely sold on Golden State. They have found their voice after a season of murmuring.
Is Steph Curry really the NBA’s best player? Did they win last year simply because Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love were injured? Is the Warriors’ carefree brand of ball an evolution or short-term solution?
Golden State was so dominant during the regular season, never losing back-to-back games. Now it has been routed in consecutive contests by 28 and 24 points. The confidence and swagger has disappeared. The crisp passing and player movement are nonexistent. Just as shocking, the swarming defense has been shredded, with OKC posting a 72-point first half in Game 3 and again in Game 4.
Curry has looked like a mere mortal – even feeble – after playing Superman all year. The injured knee and ankle that cost him six games this postseason seem to be factors, though he and coach Steve Kerr downplay the notion.
“He’s coming back from the knee, but he’s not injured” Kerr said after Tuesday’s blowout. “He just had a lousy night (6-of-20 from the field with six turnovers). It happens, even to the best players in the world.”
Asked about the possibility of being hampered, Curry declined to make his health an issue: “No, I’m fine,” he said.
That’s more than we can say about the Warriors’ current condition.
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Posted on May 17th, 2016
By DERON SNYDER
Once again, it’s time to check off some items on my “TIDU List” – Things I Don’t Understand:
*HOW WE’LL EVER SOLVE ‘MOST VALUABLE’ VERSUS ‘THE BEST’
Take LeBron James away from the Cavaliers, and Cleveland is just another middling team in the muddled Eastern Conference. Take Stephen Curry away from the Warriors, and Golden State remains an elite contender in the rugged Western Conference. That would be James’ argument if he stumped for the Most Valuable Player award, which went to Curry last week. It’s a never-ending debate.
But Curry was the clear choice this year – on both counts.
*WHY THE NATS FORCED MIKE RIZZO TO WAIT SO LONG
The general manager’s hits-to-strikeouts ratio has been impressive in building a multiyear contender. Only St. Louis Cardinals has more wins since 2011 (465 compared to the Nats’ 443). Rizzo and his staff drafted or traded for virtually every player on the 25-man roster, with some lopsided deals to his credit. Yet ownership left him hanging before picking up his option last week.
He lucked into historic No. 1 picks, but has played his hand superbly.
*HOW TO ERASE BASEBALL’S UNWRITTEN RULES
When does one epic bat flip equal a hit by pitch and a haymaker? When the Texas Rangers get payback on Toronto’s Jose Bautista, seven months and seven games after the fact. Rookie Rougned Odor socked Bautista in the face Sunday after Matt Bush drilled the slugger in the ribs. Bautista didn’t help matters with a super-late slide into Odor, who previously displayed his overhand right five years ago in the minors.
Odor clearly ignores another unwritten rule: No real punches.
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Posted on May 12th, 2016
By DERON SNYDER
Our society has a maddening and deplorable habit of cheapening legitimate claims by aggrieved parties. Too many cases are likened to games, in which someone “plays the victim” or “plays” assorted “cards” (race, gender, sexual orientation, etc.).
A popular version involves blaming the media for your own mess. Another is blaming the casualties that you caused. Sadly, when a number of culprits cloak themselves in innocence and the dishonorable claim to be disadvantaged, we become calloused to true sufferers of abused and misused power.
Take, for instance, Penn State president Eric Barron. He makes it sound like the university has been oppressed, not the dozens of youths assaulted by convicted child molester and former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky.
“Unfortunately, we can’t control the 24/7 news cycle, and the tendency of some individuals in social media and the blogosphere to rush to judgment,” Barron wrote in an open letter Sunday after a judge’s ruling put the scandal in headlines again. “But I have had enough of the continued trial of the institution in various media. We have all had enough.”
If that was the case, if Penn State really were tired of Sandusky besmirching the school’s name, it shouldn’t have sued its insurance company three years ago. Instead of eating the millions of dollars in settlement claims as it knowingly keeping a pedophile on the payroll, the school opened itself to further scrutiny by trying to pass the bill to Pennsylvania Manufacturers’ Association Insurance Co.
The galling litigation has brought the spotlight back to Penn State and the glare isn’t pretty. A school spokesperson told The Associated Press last week that legal settlements with Sandusky’s accusers cover alleged incidents dating to 1971. That’s 40 years before he was arrested.
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Posted on May 6th, 2016
By DERON SNYDER
Superstar Kevin Durant was sniffling, getting teary-eyed and speaking with a cracked voice toward the end of his acceptance speech in 2014 after winning the NBA Most Valuable Player Award.
And he hadn’t even mentioned his mother yet.
He was talking about his brothers, his friends and his grandmother, thanking them for their love and support as he rose from a suburban D.C. legend to one of the planet’s most recognizable players.
But when he finally got to discussing Wanda Durant – “And last, my mom …” – about 23 minutes into the 26-minute masterpiece, plenty of folks were crying with him.
His expression of affection, emotion and appreciation sparked a viral video (more than 800,000 views) and made national news. It also caught the attention of Queen Latifah, whose Flavor Unit Entertainment produced “The Real MVP: The Wanda Durant Story,” which premieres Saturday at 8 p.m. ET/PT on Lifetime.
The movie stars Cassandra Freeman (Inside Man, Single Ladies), who received Wanda Durant’s seal of approval for portraying the young, single mother struggling to raise two boys in Prince George’s County, Md. “She said ‘I cried so much watching you. You are me,’” Freeman tells The Root. “That’s what she told me. She said it was like watching herself.”
Some mothers might think they’re watching their own story and many viewers might know someone in Durant’s situation. Roughly 70 percent of black children grow up in single-parent households according to widely accepted estimates. By the time she was 21, Durant had Tony, Kevin a crumbling marriage. She worked hard to provide a roof, food and clothing for her boys, largely on her own.
“It’s a great story,” Wanda Durant tells The Root. “The beautiful part is it’s not an uncommon story. It resonates with a lot of people.”
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Posted on May 5th, 2016
By DERON SNYDER
To excel as an NBA official, candidates need thick skin, dull hearing and slow tempers.
They need the ability to tune out frenetic crowds – including spectators mere inches away – screaming about blown calls and defaming refs’ genealogy.
They must live with split-second decisions to blow or not blow the whistle, even as lingering doubts are confirmed via replay on the arena’s big-screens and excoriated by talking heads on smaller sets.
When it comes to an enviable job, this one doesn’t qualify. Between complaining players, argumentative coaches, heckling fans and carping media, refs fully earn their six-figure salaries, first-class travel and luxurious accommodations.
The task is difficult enough. They don’t need the league office piling on to prove it.
In case you missed it, the NBA identified five missed calls – FIVE! – during the final 13.5 seconds Monday in the San Antonio-Oklahoma City series. That might rank second only to Wilt Chamberlain’s 100-point game among records least likely to be broken.
The mistakes were revealed in a “Last Two Minutes Report,” an initiative launched last season. All calls and material non-calls in the final minutes of close games and the entirety of overtime periods are reviewed and released to the public.
“Our fans are passionate and have an intense interest in understanding how the rules are applied,” Mike Bantom, executive vice president of referee operations, said when the program was announced. “NBA referees have the most difficult officiating job in sports, with so many split-second decisions in real time.
“We trust this consistent disclosure will give fans a greater appreciation of the difficulty of the job and a deeper sense of the correct interpretations of the rules of our game.”
That was wishful thinking.
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