Sportsmanship Vs. Gamesmanship

What Dewayne Wise of the New York Yankees did the other night was cheating. Plain and simple. He knew he didn't catch the foul ball as he went into the stands but yet showed the umpire that he had. He is not the first as he was just following a precedent that has been set by other players. Mitch Maier of the Kansas City Royals did the same thing a few days earlier. Then you have future Hall of Famer Derek Jeter acting like he got hit by a pitch when he knew it hit off the knob of his bat. He was awarded first base. I believe the sports enthusiasts call that "gamesmanship." They say it with a laugh. A sports purist calls it cheating and refer to a thing called "sportsmanship." I believe these players should be suspended. It is a question of integrity. They have been questioning Pete Rose's integrity for years. They banned him from baseball. What kind of example is this setting for all of the Little Leaguers out there? Is it alright to do whatever you have to do as long as you win?

The College World Series

I watched the College World Series Super Regionals on Saturday and I was quite surprised at how some of the head coaches used their pitchers almost to the point of being dangerous. One example of this is the way LSU used Gausman against Stony Brook. He pitched 2 or 3 innings to finish off the suspended game, had to wait about 45 minutes before the start of Game Two, and then started and pitched several innings of that game. That could not have been healthy for his arm. Several of these pitchers had already been drafted in the Major League draft held the week before and any arm injury could cost them a ton of money and possibly any chance at a pro career. I was impressed by North Carolina State's use of Freshman Pitcher Carlos Rodon. He was the starter in Game Two and pitched three scoreless innings. After waiting out a 2 hour and 20 minute rain delay, NC State's coaching staff removed him from the game and would not let him continue pitching. I wonder if the decision would have been different had Rodon been a Senior or would have been leaving school after his Junior year for the pros.

Cincinnati-Xavier

The Cincinnati-Xavier game is Ohio's version of Duke-North Carolina with the the rivalry being heated and the school's being in close proximity. I am sure that most everyone has seen the lowlights of the end of yesterdays game by now and it was an ugly end to a lopsided game.

Trash talking by both teams were evident throughout the game. The referees should have started handing out technicals as the two teams went into halftime and had a verbal altercation. Maybe that would have calmed the two teams down. The referees started losing total control of that game in the second half and the result was the brawl that happened with a little over 9 seconds to go.

The press conference after the game was very telling. Granted I only saw the clips that they showed on ESPN. The Xavier players spent the entire time justifying the defense of their manhood and one of the players even referred to himself and his teammates as "gangstas."

I really admire Cincinnati Head Coach Mick Cronin's comments. He questioned his teams fitness to even wear the University of Cincinnati jersey and said that they were lucky to even be able to play for the University of Cincinnati and have scholarships and it was an embarrassment for the school to be represented that way. He went on to say that he had physically taken the jerseys off of some of those players and a determination would be made later if they would even be allowed to put them back on. Coach Cronin handled himself well during that press conference and also represented the University of Cincinnati as well.

"Cluck" Kellogg

I owe Jay Bilas an apology. A big one. I may even invite him out for a beer to prove the sincerity of this apology. I just thought he was one of the crappiest college basketball analysts out there. Clark Kellogg went out and proved me wrong this afternoon during the North Carolina-Kentucky basketball game.

If I can channel Terry Bradshaw for a minute, I need to give a little background here. My Grandaddy had a chicken one time and this chicken clucked all day long. You never knew what she was clucking about, she just clucked to be clucking.

That is my analysis of Clark "Cluck" Kellogg's performance today. His anti-Carolina bias ranks right up there with Billy "Fudge" Packer and "Dumbass" Dan Bonner. He talked the whole game and never said anything of relevance. Anytime Kentucky made a play, he would ramble on for the next 30 seconds about that play. Whenever North Carolina made a play, he was either still talking about Kentucky or he was silent like they had turned his microphone off. The viewers couldn't have gotten that lucky. After the game, I realized a senile Woody Durham would have still been a thousand times better than "Cluck" Kellogg. I also had a hankerin' for some fried chicken. Right, Terry Bradshaw?

Why Do We Need Announcers?

I was watching the North Carolina-South Carolina basketball game last night and Jay Bilas really outdid himself in announcing this game. He kept harping on the fact that South Carolina had 17 first half turnovers and that North Carolina should be ahead by alot more than 13 points. I am not denying it was a valid point but he repeated it over and over and over.

I have always thought Jay Bilas is one of the better college analysts out there especially for an ex- Duke Blue Devil but last night he was really off of his game. Most ex-Dookies are cut out to be clueless announcers or assistants on Coach K's staff but Jay Bilas was always the exception. Maybe he has spent too much time listening to Jay Williams or maybe he should stay in the studio but last night, he was horrible.

NHL 12

I bought my copy of NHL 12 the day after it came out. The mountains of Western North Carolina are not exactly a hot bed of hockey and we usually do not get that EA series in until after it has been out for about a week.

I love my sports games to be as realistic as possible. That is one of the reasons that I have always enjoyed the EA Sports hockey franchise. When they included the AHL,CHL and the European Leagues last year, that just put the game over the top in my opinion. NHL 12 is no different.

I always start a franchise in the "Be A GM" mode and this year I decided to stay with the hometown team, the Carolina Hurricanes. I usually pick the Philadelphia Flyers. The Hurricanes have alot of good, young talent and a great goalie in Cam Ward.

I naturally went out and lost the first game I played, 3-2 in OT to the Winnipeg Jets. I gave up 2 goals in the last two minutes and then the OT game winner 2 minutes into OT. I was hooked. The game does so many things, I still have not figured them all out yet but I am working on it.

The only thing that the game did that I did not like was that it froze up on me. I read somewhere on the internet that someone else had said they thought it froze up more often than normal. I am a stats freak and I hate getting about halfway thru a great game and then losing everything like that. All of the positives far outweigh that one negative.

Video Games

I have to admit it. I am 45 years old and I still get stoked about video games. I just threw a no hitter in my MLB 11: The Show video game and the way I was acting, you would have thought I had just won the Million Dollar Challenge (I know its a different video game). MLB 11: The Show is one of my favorite video games and it is one of the few non-EA Sports games that I buy. I can only handle the sports games and every once in a great while I will buy a war game or a car game.

I am in my Franchise Mode and I was using Ted Lilly of the Los Angeles Dodgers and I was facing the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim or whatever they call themselves these days. The only thing that kept if from being a perfect game was that I hit Torii Hunter with a curveball in the fifth inning. I threw alot of curveballs early in the game and didn't use the slider much at all. I struck out 7 and didn't give up a walk and only went 3 and 2 on one batter.