Coaching…Is it Overrated?

September 26, 2016

Everybody remembers their youth sport coaches, primarily the good ones but also includes some questionable characters. The good ones you liked as people and the bad ones yelled at you too much. I don't want to go into what characteristics make a terrible coach. I am sure the list is long for many. I will never forget the strange coaches that felt inclined to play their child ahead of others who were far more deserving and more talented.

I am bringing up the overrated coaching argument because we expect a lot of the coach, and they take way too much blame for losing and too much credit for winning. Coaching is essential as a progressive path as athletes age and move up through the levels of their chosen sport. The coaches handling the youngsters in the early stages of their venture into organized sports are so influential. Many youth coaches don't realize how much impact they have and can either enhance the experience or sour the fun for kids. I am not talking about whether they bring juice boxes to the dugout or sidelines but how they teach and motivate them.

Nowadays, many coaches do the yeoman work of being a child psychologist, adult therapist, equipment manager, fundraiser, umpire, referee, doctor, and policeman. It is a challenge that sometimes takes a squad of adults and coaches to get the job done when it once took one or two adults. Youth sports today are taken more seriously, and if the coach is not handling things perfectly, I am sure they will hear complaints from many parents. I feel for those coaches who don't deserve the criticism.

When a child climbs the ladder of sporting competition and the pool of talent is refined, the coach needs to change to more of a mentor and teacher. This is where good instructional coaching is needed more than ever. There is a shortage of quality coaching in the teenage group. A successful coach at this level can elevate a child's performance and perhaps prepare them for the next step.

If a child is still playing organized sports into their late teens, they have been taught well and groomed for the next level, collegiate and professional. Coaching is less critical in this age group, and the athlete needs to take a survivor mentality to keep rising the ranks. Good player management and instruction are always required, but no one will care more if you succeed than yourself. No one is to blame at this point, and the motivation has to come from within.

At the highest level of coaching and managing is where one has to perform more like a game strategist and less about teaching. In some sports, such as professional basketball, the coach has minimal influence on team members and their performance. Players are getting paid, and if that doesn't motivate them, they will probably join the rest of us in the day-to-day working stiff grind. Coaching at the pro level is a slippery slope. You are only as good as your talent, and if you don't win games soon, it's goodbye. Professional coaching is about instilling a system and a strong strategy for winning, and it can only be successful if the players can execute.

Is coaching overrated? It is overrated when coaches take the brunt of the blame for poor performance unless a full-blown mutiny rises against them. When a team flat-out rejects a coach, he usually doesn't handle the various egos with sensitivity. Like I said earlier, having the gift of molding the mixed bag of personalities into a cohesive unit will at least make you popular. If a coach can do that and win on the field, you have the recipe for being very successful. If it were easy, there wouldn't be a shortage of youth coaches. Every athlete should coach once in their life. At first, the rewards will appear slowly and especially the monetary aspect. One thing you will soon realize when we step into the shoes of all the others who tried, you will think twice about throwing rotten tomatoes at the coach.

The Chicago Cubs, Trump and the Super Moon

November 23, 2016

 Everybody remembers their youth sport coaches, primarily the good ones but also includes some questionable characters. The good ones you liked as people and the bad ones yelled at you too much. I don't want to go into what characteristics make a terrible coach. I am sure the list is long for many. I will never forget the strange coaches that felt inclined to play their child ahead of others who were far more deserving and more talented.

I am bringing up the overrated coaching argument because we expect a lot of the coach, and they take way too much blame for losing and too much credit for winning. Coaching is essential as a progressive path as athletes age and move up through the levels of their chosen sport. The coaches handling the youngsters in the early stages of their venture into organized sports are so influential. Many youth coaches don't realize how much impact they have and can either enhance the experience or sour the fun for kids. I am not talking about whether they bring juice boxes to the dugout or sidelines but how they teach and motivate them.

Nowadays, many coaches do the yeoman work of being a child psychologist, adult therapist, equipment manager, fundraiser, umpire, referee, doctor, and policeman. It is a challenge that sometimes takes a squad of adults and coaches to get the job done when it once took one or two adults. Youth sports today are taken more seriously, and if the coach is not handling things perfectly, I am sure they will hear complaints from many parents. I feel for those coaches who don't deserve the criticism.

When a child climbs the ladder of sporting competition and the pool of talent is refined, the coach needs to change to more of a mentor and teacher. This is where good instructional coaching is needed more than ever. There is a shortage of quality coaching in the teenage group. A successful coach at this level can elevate a child's performance and perhaps prepare them for the next step.

If a child is still playing organized sports into their late teens, they have been taught well and groomed for the next level, collegiate and professional. Coaching is less critical in this age group, and the athlete needs to take a survivor mentality to keep rising the ranks. Good player management and instruction are always required, but no one will care more if you succeed than yourself. No one is to blame at this point, and the motivation has to come from within.

At the highest level of coaching and managing is where one has to perform more like a game strategist and less about teaching. In some sports, such as professional basketball, the coach has minimal influence on team members and their performance. Players are getting paid, and if that doesn't motivate them, they will probably join the rest of us in the day-to-day working stiff grind. Coaching at the pro level is a slippery slope. You are only as good as your talent, and if you don't win games soon, it's goodbye. Professional coaching is about instilling a system and a strong strategy for winning, and it can only be successful if the players can execute.

Is coaching overrated? It is overrated when coaches take the brunt of the blame for poor performance unless a full-blown mutiny rises against them. When a team flat-out rejects a coach, he usually doesn't handle the various egos with sensitivity. Like I said earlier, having the gift of molding the mixed bag of personalities into a cohesive unit will at least make you popular. If a coach can do that and win on the field, you have the recipe for being very successful. If it were easy, there wouldn't be a shortage of youth coaches. Every athlete should coach once in their life. At first, the rewards will appear slowly and especially the monetary aspect. One thing you will soon realize when we step into the shoes of all the others who tried, you will think twice about throwing rotten tomatoes at the coach.

Why Can’t I Just Watch the Game?

October 22, 2016

I recently went to an NFL game that surprised me somewhat—not surprised by the outcome but more by the surroundings and ambiance of the stadium. The stadium is a few years old and has state-of-the-art functionality.

The scoreboard is not a scoreboard but a colossal television that is amazingly clear even during the daytime. The Wi-Fi is free, and concessions are wide-ranging in choice. Unfortunately, there hasn't been much improvement in stadium seating over the years. They are still hard on the rear end are crammed together with little leg room making carrying and balancing your beer and hot dog a circus act. You still put your butt in someone's face while you bust through the line of spectators in your row. Some things will never change, which is the least of my gripes at the shiny new and pricy stadium.

Can you imagine being in a football stadium with the only noise generated is the crowd and the public address announcer? Well, that was a foregone era reserved now only for high school football. Between every play and break of play, it seems the stadium is engulfed in bombastic blasts of music and sound effects. It's not any music but short bursts of heavy metal. I don't mind a "We Will Rock You" now and then because it was the first song to be used worldwide. Now you will listen to various tracks from ACDC and Gary Glitters, Rock N Roll part 2, Guns N Roses, Welcome to the Jungle, and a list of other arena jams. At the game I attended, the owners sometimes bypassed the music to unleash war drumming along with the PA announcer yelling it was third down. The main question here is, why do I need to be pumped up into a frenzy? Everybody stands, which I hate, especially when I have a plate of nachos.

Teams think fans need to be pumped up with the ear-shattering sonic sound bombs while the big screen tells us to make noise. The idea of making the other team lose their hearing rarely works except in places like the cavernous confines of the Seattle stadium. I know everybody has to be excited to stand up and bellow out "Defense," but when you have to raise the decibels to damaging levels, and if the defense doesn't take a stand, now what? We blew out some of the cilia in our ear canals for nothing. Sorry for the anatomy term; cilia are the tiny hairs in your ears part of our hearing system.

Maybe this is an age thing, perhaps. On the contrary, do we want our children exposed to the sound levels in these arenas and stadiums? Hearing loss is an accumulative condition spread over years of exposure. Sports venue noise is only one of many issues that society presents when it comes to hearing damage. A large portion of today's youth uses earphones and earbuds, which will show up as hearing problems in the future if not managed. I like my earphones as well, but I try to keep them at lower levels so I can notice some outside noise. The last thing I want in this world is not to hear my loved ones tell me how much they love me or not. Happy listening.

When Your Favorite Team Loses

October 17, 2016

When you see the opposing team storm the field after they won the big game, it feels like someone either threw rubbing alcohol on an open wound, or you sit dumbfounded by the turn of events. I acknowledge the bitter taste of defeat, which then turns into anger and manifests into a dumb stupor. The next day, I try to block it from my brain and focus on positive things like puppies and strawberry shortcakes. In reality, I try to ask myself why I spent so much damn time getting wrapped up in the lives of millionaires while I watch their games in my underwear eating a bowl of cereal. After much introspection, I realize I put up with the silliness of being a loyal fan because the team I follow is part of me.

As much as I don't want to get emotionally sucked in my favorite teams' daily ups and downs, I eventually come around and get concerned if things are not going so well. Hey!  They lost five games in a row; I better listen to sports talk radio and find out what the hell is going on.  The worst roller coaster rides are the NBA and MLB seasons because they drone on forever, and some mini-seasons happen within the big season. First, your team starts out, guns a blazing, winning and getting everybody excited, then about halfway through the season, they hit a roadblock and skid off the tracks. Players become injured, and now the team has to trade a bundle of young prospects to get a player who might come in and save the day. Sound familiar? That's the MLB every year, and the NBA is almost the same, except they save most of their torture for the end at the playoffs. The NBA and the NHL have piled on four rounds of playoffs that they make you endure for three months.

As a loyal fan, if you have lasted through the marathon season and managed to give a damn to the end, you now get to bite your nails down to the nubs and watch the playoff rounds. If your team manages to move forward into another tier of the playoffs, you get to change your life and normal behavior into the scheduled time of the games. You make arrangements for food choices and who you will watch the game with. If you fly solo and want to be left alone in your living room while you sweat it out, you get the luxury of talking to yourself. I have done this plenty of times and find it liberating to cuss, burp, and yell in privacy. I like to be around a gathering of people during a big sporting event because it distracts you from having to watch every single minute of every single play.

If your team is fortunate to win the big game, you get to walk on cloud nine for a brief moment in time. You get to boast and talk trash against all of the naysayers and get to buy clothing that said your team won the championship. If your team loses the championship game, you get mixed emotions. Those mixed emotions are cross between anger, sadness, despair, and denial.  I deny that it never happened and try to act as if it was no big deal. But in reality, it hurts, and you first want to blame those athletes and coaches who blew it and choked, and sometimes it's the referees and umpire's fault. This is all part of the deal when you become a loyal fan, and if you are a Chicago Cubs fan, you have endured more abuse than usual. Maybe it's their year but if it doesn't happen, take time to decompress and watch another sport because spring training is only four months away.

Cajones…The Number One Badass Credential

October 5, 2016

We all remember childhood bullies, the little psychopaths that tormented us and will forever have a place in our long-term memory. We also remember the one kid that stood up to that mutant. Was that you? I have both cowered down and stood up. The times that we stood up are the times that have given us the most pride in ourselves and the person we strive to be. Funny thing you didn't feel so reflective at the time when you stood your ground. You just knew that enough was enough. Cojones is the Spanish term for balls, but the term is transgender when it is Americanized because women can have cojones when it comes to being brave and having some moral courage to take a risk.

When we watch sports, and you see a great play, you feel compelled to yell and hand out high fives. Then you see a play when an athlete took a risk that elevated the team or their performance to a higher level, that is, cojones. If they fail while taking a risky chance, then we call that performer a fool to try. The line between success and failure is very thin, and if you fail, there are immediate consequences.

I was watching the Oakland Raiders and New Orleans Saints on week 1 of the NFL season and saw the Raiders coach sporting a big set of cojones. His team just scored in the last seconds of the game to only trail by one point. The Raiders could have kicked an extra point to tie the game and send the contest into overtime. Raider head coach Jack Del Rio decided to go for a two-point conversion to put their team ahead by one point with 30 seconds remaining. If it backfired, he loses the game, and he is blamed for being reckless. Fortunately, his team succeeded and held on to win the game. NFL games are high stake gambling affairs, are highly scrutinized by the fans and media that have the ultimate power to define your capabilities. Del Rio seemed calm and light-hearted about the call, and that is why I was so impressed.

In these days of big contracts, clothing endorsements, hypermedia scrutiny, and social media, rarely do you see athletes and coaches sway too far outside the norm. When they wander into unconventional behaviors, the backlash will follow tenfold if they fail and make careless decisions.

 I am a big fan of football's "flea flicker" and you only see it on a rare occasion.  It's a shame that football is pretty predictable in its play-calling, and most fans in recliners can figure out what is coming next. Real cojones are not often displayed like using onside kicks when they usually blast a kick off into the end zone. It’s not often when we see a trendsetter and individuals who think outside the box and get us fans excited to see a new way.

Cojones means "not giving a damn about criticism." Be the person with big cojones in your life. When you can get kicked a little, spat on, yelled at, scolded, but what doesn't break you makes you a tough son of a gun. Think outside the box, and you will find how you are alone at times, but when you are right on, the payday comes with higher rewards. I know this is just pop-psychology, but it's the only psychology that makes sense.

The Underachievers

September 22, 2016

 Ah…the underachievers, the culprits who are making your team lose. The underachievers are scoundrels and need to be run out of town. They are the ones that are usually overpaid and have become overweight and complacent in their actions. They have guaranteed contracts and will cruise until the last year of their deals. The underachievers don’t care if they are underperforming and usually get hurt and unable to play for long periods. Unlike the overachievers, they are descending in their performance level and can very well find themselves cut loose. Sometimes they are released while they are still owed millions. Now we really hate them. Of course, this was a harsh assessment, and most of it is from our outside biased opinions.

The underachievers are not to be lumped in with the choker. The choker is more of a short-term malfunction that involves bodily functions displacing themselves at the most inappropriate time. The underachievement involves a select period when the performer can't seem to reach the level of performance that their peers, fans, and media have expected of them. The bodily function description is applicable sometimes, but it's more of the case of fear of one's ability. The underachiever moniker is the stuff that self-help books have set out to rid ourselves of. I have read some of those books like many of you but luckily have never found myself in a seminar hugging everybody and denouncing my past afflictions.

Now that we have thrashed all of those of don't make the grade in their so-called area of expertise, let's break down why this underachieving is happening. There is an old description of underachievers, and it's called the "Peter Principle." The Peter principle is a concept in management theory formulated by Laurence Peter and published in 1969. The idea is that selecting a candidate for a position is based on the candidate's performance in their current role rather than on abilities relevant to the intended role. Thus, employees only stop being promoted once they can no longer perform effectively, and "managers rise to the level of their incompetence." Put that in a sports context, and it rings true in many situations. Some players just are not going to reach a certain level of performance because it is beyond their skill level. They were given the job without much thought for their ability and long-term chances to be successful.

Another aspect and reason for perceived underachieving are the hidden injuries. Every athlete deals with injuries, and some will find themselves outright unable to perform. Then there are the situations where the injury is not debilitating enough to take the athlete off the field, and the player tries to perform as though they are healthy. Many athletes will not disclose their injury to the public, and only a select few know what is ailing them. I can imagine that aching muscles and backs are hardly reported daily. NHL Hockey players are notorious for making vague references to injuries with the notion of not letting your opponent know what your weakness is.

Underachievement affects every damn human in the world. Unless someone is outright lazy and finds delight in not getting the job done, then we probably don't know the whole story. But as sports fans, we hate excuses and want our players to get the job done all of the time and don't whine about it. When fans are booing in the stands and are entirely fed up with losing, the ugly finger-pointing starts, and players will be given dunce caps. You can rest assure that the players themselves are searching for answers. The answers don't come easy, and slumps and downturns are part of the game. The players that can figure it out are the ones that have longer and more successful careers.

Next time I find myself underachieving, like not getting any chores done, is it laziness? Or my aching back? Am I not qualified to mow the lawn? Some of those can apply, but the good thing, 20,000 people are not booing me, and I am not being criticized on the internet. The underachiever label is about as typical as anything in sports, like it or not, but hopefully, you are not a quitter. There is only one worse thing than being an underachiever, and that is a quitter. 

Sex Appeal at the Olympics

August 25, 2016

There, I got your attention with the one word that seems to stop most people in their tracks. Now that I opened the can of worms (sorry worms …not sexy), let's discuss the subject.  Most of us living and breathing sports fans watched a portion of the Olympics with lots of young and amazing athletes performing on the world's biggest stage. The athletic bodies were in full display for us to marvel at, and we only wish we had a set of abdominals and biceps to match.

Maybe it was only me, but I suspect that I was not alone in noticing the track and field runners seem to be wearing less than usual.

As a man, I am not so prudent to complain, but I have to wonder why a track runner is competing in basically a swimsuit along with jewelry and lipstick. Maybe these athletes that are dolled up are presenting themselves to potential suitors when the Olympics are done. As for woman's beach volleyball, the two-piece athletic gear is a bikini. I am not sure why they are playing in a bikini, but maybe it is keeping the spirit of the beach intact.

Not to be lost in the shuffle are all the men parading around in all their athletic glory. My wife enjoyed swimming and couldn't help herself to remark about a swimmer's physique. The usual comment after that was that I should ramp up my workouts to incorporate more upper body weightlifting and perhaps some added core work. I can take those comments two ways, I can either be insulted and not understand why she can't accept the way I look, or I can think that she couldn't take her hands off of me if I had a swimmer's body. Honestly, I don't swim much but enjoy the challenge she has presented to me.

I enjoy the Olympics, but I like the Summer Olympics more. There is a broader range of events, and I can relate to athletes because of the same sports that I once competed in. The Summer Olympics seem more compelling and offer more meaningful stories, and world records and milestones are constantly being set. For instance, the young man from South Africa, Wayde van Niekerk who won the 400m in track and field, broke the world record.  He ran in the far outside lane and broke the world record with 43.03, a record that stood for seventeen years.

Now, what does Wayde van Niekerk have to do with sex appeal? Probably nothing, but it goes to show you that the Olympics are no different than a Hollywood movie, give me drama, give me some conflict and give me some sex appeal. As pure as we want the Olympics to be, they are packaged and presented with the things that all humans desire. I don't want all of the showings of skin to drift off in some weird tangent like women's judo in two-piece outfits. There must be some restraint on this trend unless scientific studies prove athletes perform better in less clothing. I am just not sure; we will see in Tokyo in 2020 if anybody competes in clothes.

The Decathlon and Heptathlon -Still the Greatest Litmus Test for Athletes

August 19, 2016

The ten events required in the Olympic Decathlon, which involve running, jumping, and throwing, are the only true litmus test to see who is the best overall athlete. The Heptathlon is the woman's version which consists of seven track and field events. The last two weeks have showcased some incredible athletes that are undoubtedly the best in their sport, but how many of them can high jump over six feet? Or throw a shot put over fifty feet. You know the answer. Some can do certain feats but not combine the skills to compete in the Decathlon and Heptathlon. Of course, sometimes it takes at least ten years or more of training and competing even to sniff an Olympic medal.

There are athletes in professional sports that I have seen that could have been a decathlete. For instance, LeBron James, probably the closest person in the NBA that could have been a decathlete. A handful of NFL players have the right combination of speed, strength, and agility that fit the mold. As you see, the test is very select, and only a small portion of the athletic gene pool could make it in the decathlon.

In the 1970s, a television program called "Superstars" was started by ABC sports. The program gathered great athletes from a variety of professional sports to compete in ten events. Of course, they were not all decathlon events except the hundred-yard dash. An athlete could compete in up to seven events, but no athlete was permitted to compete in the sport of their discipline. Some of the events were weightlifting, bicycling, swimming, bowling, half-mile, and the obstacle course. The first athlete to win the show was pole vaulter Bob Seagram. I could understand why he won when you see what it takes to be a good pole vaulter. The program ran for almost twenty years and even spun off a British and European version. I believe the show should be revived and have a worldwide drawing to find a unique athlete.

Even though the Superstars were finding good cross-functional athletes with many skills, they were still limited. The argument usually ends with the litmus test, best-skilled athlete versus the best overall athlete who is more based on the core athletic abilities. I am intrigued by the three multi-events in the Olympics, including the Woman's Heptathlon and the Pentathlon. The Pentathlon combines shooting, fencing, equestrian, swimming, and cross country running. These types of events demand not only great physical training but also keen mental focus.

So, at the end of the Olympics, you will see some athletes win a handful of medals, but the Decathlon, Pentathlon, and Heptathlon don't engage in this type of competition; it is one gold, one silver, and one bronze. These events are done in one and two days, adding the endurance factor as the great equalizer. There will be only one overall winner, and the rest of the athletes will remain in obscurity, but that is the life of this athlete. They were probably the kids in school who were into everything but never just settled into one thing. Their versatility skill is not always rewarded in society, and the "jack of all trades" moniker is sometimes scoffed at. It is the highest skill a person can possess that can adapt to anything thrown their way. Salute to the decathletes, heptathletes, and the pentathletes.

This year's Men's decathlon winner is Ashton Eaton, who tied the Olympic Decathlon scoring record and won his second Olympic title. Eaton joins a list of great American decathletes in Olympic history. The past American winners are Jim Thorpe, Harold Osborn, Jim Bausch, Glenn Morris, Bob Mathias, Milt Campbell, Rafer Johnson, Bill Toomey, Bruce Jenner, Dan O'Brien, Bryan Clay, and Ashton Eaton.

The Olympics, The US Team and Kazakhstan

August 11, 2016

 This Olympics seems a little different to me. Maybe it's just because a four-year span creates a whole new storyline that seems fresh. I have seen so far the dominance of swimming and gymnastics by the American teams, which seems unparalleled. The usual competition from the Russians and the Chinese is not very strong, which doesn't diminish their efforts, but it shows how powerful the US squads are performing.            

Certainly, the men's basketball teams will conquer the world, and track and field will have their share of medalists, but we might also win kayaking. We never win kayaking, for crying out loud. I have been watching the Olympics since 1972 and have never seen the USA have so many great athletes all at once. 

Michael Phelps, the greatest Olympian of all time, continues to push new boundaries fueled by the slightest bit of competition from others. Here is a man that has a gear that only a few athletes possess. He still has the desire to train constantly, for years on end, day after day. As I watched the 200m butterfly gold medal race, it was jaw-dropping to see him lead from start to finish. Has there ever been an athlete to dominate a sport for so long? The list is short.

The woman's gymnastics team is a storyline that few of us understand. Yes, they won the team competition but not only won it but was so skilled and deep that it was never a question if they would win. By now, everybody has heard of Simone Biles, the fireplug of a gymnast who is the reigning world champion. Along with Gabby Douglass, Madison Kocian, and the rest of the young ladies, they appear to be so well trained and prepared it feels US woman’s gymnastics has reached its pinnacle. After decades of trying to catch up to the Russians and eastern bloc nations, they are now the ones that other countries will chase. It will be entertaining to see all of them compete in the individual events, another medal haul.

Another observation I have seen is how many parents and families have traveled to Brazil despite the warning of impending doom. It appears that every medal winner has their family in the stands rooting them on. I am a sentimental fool and love the crowd shot with the parents living on the edge of their seat as their child performs. I want the child to have their great Olympic moment so that the parents won't have a coronary event on television.

I am ready for next week and the track and field events, my personal favorite. But I must admit I like watching most of the events, even rowing. I also find myself rooting for other countries because if America won everything it wouldn't be a competition. I noticed that Kazakhstan won a medal in swimming. The guy that won that medal is now a national hero in that country, never having to pay for a drink for the rest of his life. His name is Dmitriy Balandin, you will forget his name, but he will have a statue built in his honor.

This week has been great to watch because I love sports and because a day without Trump and Hillary is a good day. Everybody needs a break from that over-the-top coverage and all of the attention on what one person said. If Michael Phelps declared he was running for president after the Olympics, he would probably win. The guy is unstoppable.

What if Steroids were Allowed in Sports

August 3, 2016

How many athletes would use them if they were allowed? Steroids will never be unbanned, but we already have seen what happens when prominent athletes use them.   One doesn't have to look very long ago to see the athletes from the Russian 2014 Winter Olympics team. This well-publicized and documented scheme of doping was orchestrated at the highest levels in their sporting hierarchy.  They used sophisticated methods to mask their testing and achieved great success at the Games. I cannot wrap my mind around why they felt they would get away with this crime when almost all others in the past have gone down in a blaze of glory. For those who decide to partake in the usage, it comes down to risk and reward.

Steroids, growth hormones, blood doping, and all other ways to enhance performance are not ever going away. The only way to slow it down is to make the punishment for getting caught harsh enough to deter.  Lifetime bans on incrimination may be the last step to rid the majority of the cheating. Even then, some fools will take the risk, especially if it means a chance at a big paycheck.  Most athletes know when they will get tested, so they cycle their schemes around those test dates.  Random testing catches a few, but I don't think it has deterred usage with results that most sports entities are looking for.

A solution with a Libertarian bend would be to lift all bans on usage and doping and let the forces have their way. Does it sound like madness? Records and statistics would go away because guys would probably smack 90 home runs a year unless the pitchers are so much better than fewer home runs are hit. The usage would shorten the lives of many of the users, all statistics would have an asterisk placed next to them, and children would get their hands on them. Bad idea, can't happen, won't happen.

Now we're back to punishment as the only deterrent. Public shaming has already been used as a way of ridiculing the guilty, but as you know, it has its limits. The professional sports leagues need to get tougher to combat the usage, but they get pushback from player's unions. The middle ground may be to have mandates placed in contracts that if you get caught using, then you will have your contract revoked matter what is guaranteed. Let's face it, people go down the enhancement path because of big paydays and that they are reinstated after serving a suspension.

It will come down to the players agreeing to harsher punishments, not the owners.   The owners like the results that enhanced players bring, but they hate it more when they get caught; it reflects on their brand and franchises to allow cheating. The battle still needs to be fought over the stricter rules, which will involve a lot of litigation and negotiating.  In the end, the players should want a level playing field, but somehow the change is coming slow.  Because the process is slow, newer methods are being discovered, and ways of cheating are evolving faster than the rule makers can keep up with.

The Olympics are almost here, so don't be surprised to hear more and more about cheaters taking the risk. Unfortunately, we will have to question if a world record is set in track and field races or Russian victories and some of the most innocent appearing participants being skeptically examined. The whole Olympic doping scheming goes back over 30 years, and who knows how many world records were set with juiced athletes.  I will watch and enjoy the Games for what they are and never mind the suspicious activity. Otherwise, why have them at all?

Sports on the Radio is Still Free…Maybe

July 19, 2016

I just got my cable bill and noticed the ever-increasing charges for watching my local sports teams. As the tickets of the live events increase and fewer people attend, fans can turn to the television to catch almost every ballgame. This is where the cable and satellite providers nail you. They hook you on their sports package, and your wallet is what they want to keep you digging into. Sure, it's still cheaper than going to a game, but when your bill climbs to $150 a month, you might need to take a hard look at what you are getting.

For instance, I subscribe to the satellite sports package in my household, and my overall tab is running $140 a month. My bill includes some movie channels, but most importantly, I watch my local teams viewed in High Definition. I pay extra for the HD viewing as well. Once you notice the clarity, you can never look at the standard definition again. Some local teams play as much as fifty miles from my house and are not feasible to attend during the week. I have the luxury of watching all games on the big screen, in a lazy boy chair with a cup holder.

Where is all of this leading to? Television contracts are driving up the revenue for pro sports, which means players are being paid more. When players are compensated more, the cost for seats rises in price, TV contracts rise, cable and satellite cost too, and the cycle keeps repeating itself over and over. The days of getting a free game on your TV are almost extinct unless you own a nifty pair of rabbit ears (you know the antenna prongs you can set up in your house), or you are sporting an old aerial antenna on your rooftop. This eliminates 99% of sports fans who are paying for the cable/dish robbery.

How do we get around paying the ransom? Well, you have a few choices which are not perfect but do offer some solace. The radio is still free last time I checked. Unless you add gasoline in the car or the electricity or battery, it needs to run one. You can go to a friend's house and bribe him with beer and snacks to let you view a game. You can go to a sports bar, order a coke and eat the complimentary pretzels and hopefully, you are not thrown out. Hmmm, this is not as easy as I thought. The only other way to check out a free game is to go to a store that has a big-screen television and ask them to turn on a ballgame for you while you sit on one of those comfy couches.

On a serious note, be prepared to keep digging deeper into your wallet to see all sporting events unless you are willing only to take in pickup basketball games at the park. When you think about it, your property taxes are paying for the upkeep of that park, and those are only going up too. It comes down to how much you are willing to pay and how important this is to you. I see the cost as a luxury to receive sporting events in my living room while sitting in my big recliner looking at the 55" screen. It hasn't reached the point for me to cancel the sports channel, but there may come a time when I turn to my transistor radio and putter around in the garage as my dad did. This was gratifying to him to have the ballgame on while he was multitasking. He was multitasking before the word was invented, and all because he loved his sports.

On the Cusp of the Summer Olympics

July 6, 2016

 The Summer Olympics will be arriving soon into our living rooms, projecting onto our giant screen tv's from the shores of Rio. I admit I have heard more about the Zika virus, body parts floating onto the beach, and Russian steroid abusers than about the events and the athletes. Brazil has got its hands full this year, and hopefully, those folks can pull it off. We all want to see great athletic endeavors along with Brazil's reputation for partying and frivolity more than bug bites and potential terrorist sad sacks trying to impose their will.

The two-week spectacle has always had a special place in my heart since the years that Jim McKay was the MC for ABC Sports. If it were not for the great broadcasting by the Wide World Sports and ABC team, I would not even watch the Olympics. I was hooked when I watched my first Olympics in 1972, which featured Mark Spitz and a hostage crisis. I was very young and impressionable and inspired by the heroics of the athletes but at the same type baffled by the hostage crisis. The ABC broadcast team handled the situation with great concern and compassion as the nation was glued to the TV to watch the exciting events unfold.

We know nothing about most of the sporting events, so we count on the Olympics to inform and educate us. Who on earth knows anything about Greco Roman Wrestling? Unfortunately, we will not see most of these obscure events because we will get bombarded with swimming and gymnastics. I, for instance, enjoy the track and field portion because it is the most diversified of all of the sports. Track and Field offers a wide variety of events that will showcase athletes from a multitude of countries that have a chance of winning. In particular, I can't get enough of pole vaulting and high jumping. In addition, the 100 meter and 200-meter races are about as time-honored as it gets, and Usain Bolt will be competing and running again like lightning.

            It is easy for all of us to feel cynical about the Olympics as a commercialized event full of cheating, shmaltzy glamorization of athletes who get paid for their participation. Certainly, feels that way sometimes, and it makes us long for the day when Bruce Jenner was on a Wheaties box and not People magazine. On the contrary, I am glad we still have the Olympics as one of the few actual global events that brings the world together as one for a fleeting moment. The terrorist and the haters may not like the big spectacle, but maybe they could find some joy in a race or a weightlifting event. Better yet, perhaps they can be inspired to see how far they can push themselves to excel in the world of sports, which is the truth and essence of the Olympic spirit.

It's the Shoes, Gotta Be the Shoes

June 29, 2016

 Athletics and shoes have teamed up the last forty years to put their mark on fashion. Before that, shoes were considered just equipment, and very little attention was given, even when Joe Willie Namath was donning a pair of white cleats in the AFL. As a kid, I never thought the Converse Chuck Taylors, Joe Lapchicks, or PF Flyers were anything so special that I had to have them. I would wear any damn shoe my parents could afford, and sometimes I wore my older brother's hand-me-down shoes.

Then something started happening in the early seventies in the shoe world. I am not a historian, but I think Adidas and Puma shoes became more and more visible. When a neighbor kid began wearing the white Adidas with the three black stripes, I was smitten. But still, my parents couldn't afford them, so when the neighbor kid was done with his old Adidas, he gave them to me. I wore them until they fell apart, and then I taped them together to squeeze out a little bit more life. Then I had to settle for the Kmart brand that had two or four stripes, not the same status and everybody knew it.

It wasn't really until Michael Jordan came around for the athletic shoe market to take off. There were others before Jordan's influence, but they never had the impact of brand.  Jordan and Nike revolutionized how young people feel about shoes. It was no longer just a fashion piece but more about status and hipness. The rarer and more exclusive the Jordan shoe, the more cultural value it had amongst kids. Their parents had to shell out over a hundred dollars for a pair of basketball shoes that became unchartered territory for a "gym shoe."

So, twenty-five years later, we have reached the point of saturation for athletic shoe styles and brands and now has become just another commodity. Sure, it's a billion-dollar market, but I don't think we will see a new revolution of shoes for a few years.  I tend to believe the next wave will somehow incorporate innovative technology, much like a smartwatch. You will be able to know the wear status and temperature of a shoe for optimum performance. Of course, you will know that your toenails are too long because the shoe will tell you so.

In the last decade, athletic shoes are also required to make statements about our beliefs and causes. I have seen many pink shoes in a game supporting breast cancer awareness, and numbers scrawled on them to support the passing of a fellow athlete. You also can get an athletic shoe in any color and style, which makes me longing for the days of Johnny Unitas's black high-top cleats. As I age, I want fewer frills on my shoes because a $150 pair of jogging shoes will not improve my performance. I own a pair of Stan Smith all-white tennis shoes that were so hard to find that I had to wait weeks to get them on the internet. I guess simple shoes are not cool, but I think there comes a time when uncool is cool again. 

Why We Watch Sports

June 21, 2016

Years of watching sports, good and bad, and hours and hours invested into the pastime often leaves me wondering why I do this. Why am I not doing something more productive like cleaning out the garage? Sometimes you sit there in a relaxed state, taking in a golf tournament or a football game where your team is not playing, and no emotional expulsion will take place. The second you see an outstanding feat, your brain triggers your body to respond in rapture. The second you experience an umpire or referee making a call against your squad, the blood and venom boil over, and something not very pretty comes out of your mouth.

Our sports heroes are not always the first ones we saw on TV or at the stadium. For me, it was the older neighbor kids that were good basketball and baseball players. Our neighborhood was filled with families with children, this being the era of the baby boomers. This was before video games and child abductions, so we played outside constantly without adult supervision. I idolized the older kids on the block, but I also really liked wrestling and roller derby. These sports offered bigger-than-life action heroes fighting good against evil.

As I aged into my teen years, I often gravitated to athletes who were not the day's biggest stars. I found something in them I discovered in myself, even if I didn't know it at the time. I remember also liking oddballs like Mark "The Bird" Fydrych," Pistol Pete Maravich, and Billy "White Shoes" Johnson. They all had something unique about them which wasn't traditional that I still find gravitating towards.

I’m sure you can see your personality in the athletes and heroes you chose to follow in your formative years. If you liked Reggie Jackson, the slugger, or Michael Jordan growing up, you probably want the best of the best in most things in life. You demand excellence in yourself and others you deal with on a day to day to basis. Take a look; there is some validity to my simple little personality test.

Why do we, as spectators and fans, need our heroes? Most of the time, it is because of the skill level of their performance we admire, but it is also because we see ourselves in them. We marvel not just at their physical gifts, but it can be the way they handle themselves on the field of play. Nowadays, I find myself rooting for the older players who haven't received all the high accolades of others in their playing career. Okay, I am a sucker for the underdog.

On the contrary, the worst thing you can be called is a "bandwagon fan." You know the person who starts wearing the jersey when their team is in the first place and because everybody likes a winner. If you support the team that recently lost the championship, does that jersey get put away until they are winning again?

The most recent sports heroes to transcend to the highest of highs to be placed on the mantel of immortals has to be the feats of LeBron James. Sometimes he has been the bum and heel but nothing says more about him with his efforts in the NBA finals. He willed his team to beat the once unbeatable Golden State Warriors and gave Cleveland its first championship in professional sports in fifty-two years. Congrats to LeBron James, The Cavaliers, and the city of Cleveland.

The Highland Games are Going Strong

May 19, 2016

I have always been curious to find what this is all about after years of seeing advertisements for these Games. I picture a large bearded man heaving a big rock or throwing a Thor-like hammer. Locally, a version of the Highland Games is performed even though we are six thousand miles away from the real highlands of Scotland. The internet has allowed the world to enjoy a good look at what, at first glance, appears to be an outdoor festival with a bunch of people performing ancient feats of strength. Yes, it is that and more.

The Highland Games celebrates Scotch and Celtic culture and especially that of the Scottish Highlands. Yes, you hear a good dose of bagpipes and men wearing kilts which is part of the scene, but it centers on the competitions for the Scotch athletics along with piping, dancing, and drumming. Though the events are based on centuries of Highland culture, the organized version of what we see today was started in the 1800s. It is said to be influenced by a chap named Baron Pierre de Coubertin, who saw a display at the Paris Exhibition of 1889. He wanted to plan the event based on a revival of the Olympics.

The Highland Games is now a worldwide sport with a season running from May through September. The most renowned Highland competition is the Cowel Games held in Dunoon, Scotland. This competition will attract an international crowd of 25,000 people. In the US, two events bring in more attention, those being performed in Pleasanton, California, which has as many as 50,000 spectators during Labor Day, and the one at Grandfather Mountain in North Carolina, which sees more than 30,000 spectators.

Of course, the great cultural aspect of the games attracts many, but I think that most of the fans are present to drink some good Scotch, what? Yes, I am kidding. When I go to my first games, I look forward to seeing good athletes perform acts of strength and listen to the bagpipes. Something about the pipes can bring a tear to my eye.

As far as the feats of strength, here is a list of some of the events:

The Scottish Hammer Throw - Like the traditional hammer throw, the man or woman here heaves a metal ball with a four-foot shaft connected to it. Feet stay in a fixed position as the athlete twirls them overhead then releases.

The Caber Toss - A person holds a long pine pole that is tapered and held end over end. With the thicker part on the bottom, the pole is tossed and flipped so the thinner end is on the ground and the fatter is on top. The goal is to get the pole to stand straight up in a twelve o'clock manner.

Stone Put - This is similar to the shot put, but here a real stone is used instead of a steel ball. There are two different competitions with this event, one allows for any pre-throw motion, and the other is a standing position as long as the stone is heaved with only one hand with the rock cradled against the neck. These stones weigh various weights ranging from 20 to 26 pounds for men and 13 to 18 for women in the standing-only event, and 16-22 and 8 -12 in the open throwing category.

Sheaf toss - The athletes have to heave a 20-pound bag of straw with a pitchfork over a bar. Like pole vaulting, the bar has risen after successful attempts. The women use a ten-pounder.

Other great displays of strength are on display throughout the festival, which is just as medieval and entertaining. The Highland Game festivals are open invitational, and these events create a statistical database for the athletes and competitors to know who they are up against. There is also a World Championship event called the World Highland Games Championship performed every year since 1980.

Hundreds of versions of the Highland Games exist internationally because it has something for everybody to enjoy. I am looking forward to seeing my first Highland spectacle this summer because I think most of us can appreciate this type of time-honored celebration of culture and athletics. Now, where's the Scotch whiskey?

Pass Me Those Garlic Fries

April 28, 2016

"You are what you eat," the old saying that I am not sure what it means. If applied at a ball game, I am a hot dog. I enjoy dogs with sour kraut, mustard, and onions about as much as a lobster dinner. I admit, I possess carnivorous tendencies, but have you ever eaten a tofu dog?…A crime. When eating at sporting events, most of us forget about health choices and the actual benefit of the food we are ingesting into our bodies. When I am at home, I am pretty sure I would never eat a bowl of tortilla chips covered in steaming orange cheese sauce and jalapeno peppers, but at a ball game, I would devour the mess like a lion and its prey.

You can go to most sporting events and find multiple choices in sausages when years before, hot dogs were the only choice for meat stuffed into a membrane. The old-time favorites of peanuts and popcorn are still available, but now you can indulge in nachos, garlic fries, pizza, a bowl with any ethnic food lumped together, sushi, and yes, even a salad. The smell waffles through the stadium, and the strongest of health-conscious fans will break down and want something to munch on. I have seen people eating salad at a game that goes against my rules for behavior, no greens during any sporting event.

Yes, stadium food is indulgent, not a healthy choice in most cases, costs an arm and leg, and distracts from the contest itself. But we like and want it and will throw down ten dollars for a beer with six bucks for a sausage. It is all about the experience of a live event which is best enjoyed while scarfing garlic fries. It is an extension of our living room with our big screen TVs and our food. Why can't we watch the game without self-indulgence? Is it because the game is not an enjoyable time without a hot dog and eating completes the whole event. Could be. I think the dog and contest are the same. Without one, you can't have the other. We are trained early as fans by others, for this is the way you act.

The food at sporting events has spawned many spin-off businesses. Take the chicken wing, for instance. The once disrespected part of the chicken has become the most important. There are probably over a thousand joints catering to the wing craze. You can bet artificial wings are on the way. I can see chickens in the future being genetically morphed or scientifically enhanced to grow four wings to help alleviate shortages during the Super Bowl. In addition, I saw garlic fries now being offered in the frozen food section of the supermarket. I am not sure if I would ever buy these, but it is good to feel I can fulfill that craving without going to the ballgame.

So, the trend is now a reality. You cannot bring a picnic basket into a game. You can still carry in your bag with some food items, but you will most likely be sitting next to a guy wolfing down a colossal dog and beer, and you will look at him and either say, "This smuck spent twenty bucks on that meal" or "damn, I wish I had money to spend on that." Sadly, the costs of this stuff are so inflated that it keeps some families from attending more games. I've yet to find a kid menu at the game nor a senior citizens discount. I believe the quadrupling of concession prices helps keep the team on the field, but I still need to understand why the workers only get a small wage, and the washed-up pitcher gets twenty million dollars a year. Without the fans buying expensive dogs, the overpriced players wouldn't be on the team. Sometimes a hot dog is just a hot dog, but sometimes a hot dog is a meal ticket.

Bowling the Lost Art

April 22, 2016

When I heard my neighborhood bowling alley was closing because the lease was getting too expensive, a wave of sadness came over me. You can't pack up an alley and move it somewhere else and start over. The lanes are gone, and slowly the era of bowling dies another death. The great indoor and year-round sport loses to economics and a changing demographic who rather play a video game version. The older generation of bowlers hasn't brought the next wave of players to the sport.

Let's face the truth. Bowling has never been considered sexy. I don't notice a lot of male and female glamour models at the alley, nor do I expect to find any. The joy is about honing your craft, competing, hanging with buddies, talking trash, fist-pumping, drinking long necks, and enjoying a sport that doesn't require 1000 bucks in gear. Even if you don't have the equipment, you can rent at the alley. Bowling will constantly be ridiculed for the people who regularly roll and mocked in movies like the Big Lebowski and Kingpin. The sport contains a wide span of players and embraces anybody who decides to play. You can go to any alley on most weeknights and see a large variety of people in leagues that range from CEO's and doctors to manual laborers and barbers.

Bowling also gets a bad rap about the debate of “is it a sport or a pastime?" Ridiculous. A lot of practice and hours spent will tell how hard it is to develop a consistent rolling motion. The beauty of the curve that can pick up a 7 -10 split cannot be accomplished without attention focused on precision and form. The same can be said for golf, but golf never gets the ridicule that bowlers hear. A bit of snobbery comes up with golf versus bowling but then again, I don't care for those who criticize something they are only mediocre at.

The history of professional bowling is long storied. Many of us were introduced to professional bowling through the dulcet tones of Chris Shenkel on Wide World of Sports. He covered bowling for thirty-five years as it became one of ABC's signature shows on Saturday afternoon.

The bowling alley sprung up and languished from the 1950s to the 1970s and was packed with serious bowlers, families, and lonely people. Now the decline has been on the wall for the past twenty-five years due to the high value of space and labor. I have a feeling it will become a fringe sport with smaller alleys like a pool hall. Unfortunately, the cost to bowl will increase because of the laws of economics with the reduction of open lanes. I am sure most of us are sad about our beloved childhood establishment's passing into something less cool like a drugstore. The beauty of bowling is that it is a sport for everybody and if you want to be good, you can be paid.

I will never forget when I brought a first date to go bowling because if she couldn't show her fun side at the beginning, I knew she wasn't right for me. We didn't go on a second date. Life goes on, and bowling will as well, no matter how many alleys get closed.

When Sports Coverage Becomes a Hollywood Tabloid Show

Twenty-four-hour news coverage of sports is great for all fans and employment for all of the thousands of folks who make it happen. But all of this microscopic coverage of the major sports has reached the point where it rivals the tabloid Hollywood television programs for actual content. It's television and sports talk radio that is becoming less about sports and more about airing juicy stories about athletes' innocuous behavior or their latest contract negotiations. I can only take so much listening to this babble before I have to turn it to the news station for a traffic report or public radio to learn about the depletion of the frog population of northern Vermont.

When I listen in on the sports talk radio banter, I get more of a kick out of the passionate listeners who call in to voice their opinion about how bad Johnny Manziel is acting in public. Really? To be put on the air to talk to a broadcaster about this irrelevant crapola? I am trying to understand this behavior and what does it have to do with sports. The programs that cater to this type of listener must work hard to find the kind of stories that will find listeners (primarily men who have little to do) that are compelled to call in. Because I listen every so often, I must secretly like to hear this type of story and the multitudes of men who have to voice their opinion from Deflatgate to Bryce Harper's latest comment.

I like to watch my sports and sometimes listen to a game recap but send me off to bed when the discussion turns to a table of ex-jocks yucking it up about the game wearing expensive suits. I truly get the economics of the sporting industry and the need to make it into an entertainment experience. I like to see coverage with more emphasis on why the sports we watch are great, not tabloid-style gossipy ramblings.

I find sports most enjoyable when I see athletes excelling masterfully. I am curious to know how they train what do they do to separate themselves from their competition. I am curious about all sports besides just football, baseball, basketball, hockey, and soccer. Have you ever wondered how a competition cliff diver practices or how a professional wrestler trains? I know this isn’t mainstream stuff, but I find it a helluva lot more interesting than the LeBron James contract situation. The fans in Cleveland might disagree, but then again, Cleveland is starving for a championship trophy of any kind. This is why I enjoy the Olympics because you get to watch things you rarely see and the athletes that dedicate their lives to the event.

Next time you turn on the radio to one of these sports programs that like to dig up tabloid horse manure, call them up and chew them out about their programming. I know that controversy sells, but only because it reflects everything terrible in the world. Take the high road and shoot some hoops at the gym instead, and you will feel better.

Get Up…Get Movin

Football is over except for rumblings about players misbehaving. Hockey is done messing around with the first half of the season, and now it's time for "old-time hockey" and the drive to the Cup. Baseball is heading down south, where there is no snow on the field. March Madness isn't quite mad at this point, and the NBA is experiencing a history-making team. The Olympics are gearing up for the summer, and golf and tennis are just a blip on the radar. Big wave surfing is in full swing, and alpine skiing is exciting to watch if you can find it on your television.

This is a good time of the year to not watch sports and get into the gym. It could be time to take some golf lessons or start jogging around the high school track. I dusted off my bicycle and almost rode a mile. The knees popped, and the legs were a little wobbly, but it felt like progress. It's time to put the beer can down, get out of the recliner, gulp a protein shake and shoot some hoops. Even if it's raining or snowing outside, gear up, toughen up, and run around the block like an Ironman. Take off the clothes hanging on the elliptical machine and crank out twenty minutes of sweat and pain.

You get a chance to reinvent yourself every winter before things warm up, and before you walk outside with shorts and a tank top on. Wouldn't it be nice to step outside sporting some new muscles, ones that look bigger and less wimpy? For me, I want to start lifting a little weight but even more critical, and I want to be able to touch my toes and feel more limber. They say having tight hamstrings results in back pain. Who hasn't had back pain? Stretching is the least expensive of all exercise programs unless you hire a coach to yell at you to hold your legs and keep your head down. I began stretching in bed. After having an excruciating leg cramp in bed, I discovered this little jewel of a trick that felt like someone dug an ice pick into my calf. As you get older, getting a sports-type injury in bed is as about as bad as it can get.

So today, make it a day to challenge yourself with an activity that requires some sweat or at least some grunting. Shoveling snow doesn't count, but if you are in snow country, strap on some cross-country skis and trek on down the road and hopefully not fall. I am going to go bike riding today and extend my journey to two miles. Who knows where this could lead? Maybe I have to buy those shiny shorts and fancy shirts and get serious.

The Super Bowl, Quarterbacks and Hot Wings

January 29, 2016

 Another year and your team is not in it. So, everyone must pick a side, as they say, but you are torn. Okay, maybe not torn but just wanting a good game. For instance, last year, the game came down to the final plays, so most of the watching world put down the hot wing for a minute to see the crescendo ending. For those Seattle fans who took the brutal loss on the jaw, you have another year to recover, and hopefully, you find your way back. Last year also had two teams that didn't have the beloved player that everyone roots for to succeed. Tom Brady and Richard Sherman are both polarizing characters who do not garnish much love outside of their teams' fan base, so the game was more about the matchup of two good teams.

This year has the two big stories of Peyton Manning’s possibly swan song of a career and Cam Newton’s first appearance in the big show. Both of these guys have their detractors, but they are also the biggest stars of their teams. Manning comes into this game on his last legs and is in a position where he doesn't have to do all of the heavy lifting as in prior years. Denver's defense is really good and must be at the ultimate best to stop the Cam Newton express. Newton and his boys have been solid all year and present a daunting task for Denver to overtake.

I am sure the betting in Vegas will be siding with Carolina but how much the spread will end up is yet to be determined. As the game gets closer, there will be some angst and nervousness about who to take. The Carolina defense has been crushing and putting a lot of heat on the quarterbacks, which is the biggest dilemma for Manning. We all saw the meltdown when Denver played Seattle, and I am sure he is very aware of having a good start. He will have to pull every Omaha and audible trick up his sleeve to get one by the Carolina boys.

As for Cam Newton and his rise as a superstar and MVP, he can validate the season and career with a victory. Every quarterback that plays in the big game knows the status a victory brings to a career. Manning won one Super Bowl after a storied career, but if Newton does not win this one, he will discover how hard and desperate it can be to get back on top. Seattle made it twice in a row but will find it harder and harder to make it back with the same core squad. The change-over in personnel and parity in the NFL gives you a three-year window to make it with your current team makeup. Newton has looked outstanding and will be a force to contend with, but Denver, who just survived the Tom Brady show, will be up to the task.

I want Manning to win this one because he seems like he has done everything with class in his career. In a karma kind of way, that should be rewarded. I didn't root for him in his prior Super Bowl attempt when he was with Indy, and when he was with Denver, he let me down. I had plunked down some money on a Super Bowl pool like most football fans and was delighted to see the numbers 0 and 0 come up. I thought that I had a good chance to win a prize. You saw the first play of the game, a safety against Denver, and the 2 to nothing score sent me straight to the beer keg. That was one of the worst Super Bowls ever played, and Manning was on my special list of all things repulsive. I have now forgiven him and hope he wins one for all of the old guys with sore necks and gets one more chance at glory.