Hazing and Sports

I just finished an interesting piece by Jason Whitlock on ESPN.com. In the article, he discusses hazing. What a hot button issue, especially on college campuses. I should clarify that I think hazing in most forms is bad, especially in the case of the Vermont hockey team. But the issue shouldn't be older persons condemning our generation for low morale standards. As Jason noted, the same things happened when he was a college student, but nobody knows about it as quickly because of technology such as digital cameras and facebook. Things on college campuses today are not worse than they were in the 1970s and 1980s. In fact, I would go as far to say that things may be better. Parents and administrators just find out about things faster than they used to. Maybe older people should take a good look at the ways they acted in college and realize that these 4 to 7 years (think Van Wilder) are times to make mistakes and goof up, and the real life can wait. What we learn at college doesn't come in classrooms but in our experiences and mostly our mistakes. So this really doesn't have a lot to do with sports, but whatever...

And You Wonder Why They Hate Us

You read my mind, Slowpitch, as my next post was about San Jose ignorance. Only a few times in my life have I been embarrassed to be an American, but Monday was certainly one of them after I heard about the San Jose Shark fans booing the Canadian national anthem during pregame. Who are these people?! I don't think there are many more disrespectful (nonviolent) acts towards a country or its citizens. I bet these yahoos out in Cali would be royally pissed off if they found out the crowd was booing the US anthem up in Edmonton. This reminded me of when I was in Cozumel, Mexico a couple of years ago and while at a dance club a group of dumbass American tourists starting chanting "USA! USA!", each holding a Dos Equis in his hand, not ten minutes after passing through a conga line in which the natives poured free tequila down their throats; I wanted to crawl under a rock and hide. Grow up, dipshits.

I Don't Claim to be a Hockey Guy...

but I have actually paid somewhat close attention to the playoffs this year. All the new rules implemented this year must be working because scoring is up and it just appears more fun to watch (not that I've watched much NHL in the past). The high point of the postseason came a couple weeks ago in which the 8-seed Edmonton Oilers knocked off the top-seeded Redwings after coming from behind to score four goals in the final period to win 4-3. It appears the days of 1-0 wins are over. I hope the die-hards are welcoming this run-and-gun style of play.
The Eastern Conference Finals Hurricanes-Sabres matchup should be entertaining, and who couldn't rally behind the Mighty Ducks or the underdog Oilers? The one intriguing aspect of hockey is that it's anyone's game. This year in the West all four of the top seeds were upset leaving a dogfight with the 5-8. In what other sport does that ever happen? Tune in.

Swinging for the Fences

Has anyone been following the Babe Ruth homerun chase? I know, I know, I shouldn't add anything to the Bonds saga, but his behavior is interesting. Since hitting HR #713 Bonds has hit 1-19 (0.053) as anyone can clearly see him take monstrous moonshots at every decent pitch. It wouldn't be worth noting except that his latest comments to the media include how he "doesn't care about the homerun record" and just wants to play baseball. However, watching him repeatedly swing for the San Fran bay clues otherwise. On Friday, he hit a line drive towards center and simply turned right back around and walked towards the dugout without even looking to see if it was caught. In tonight's game, he hit a sharp grounder up the middle that hit the pitcher, who then bobbled it to a couple yards away, scrambled to retrieve it, and still threw Bonds out at first as the camera clearly showed him leisurely jogging up the line. He absolutely would have been safe if he put any kind of hustle into it--not the actions of a guy who "just wants to play the game." I don't know, maybe it's just hard watching this clown stick around merely to set a new (tainted) record. He can surely only be a distraction as indicated by the Giants sitting in last place in their division. I can't imagine what his teammates think.

A Bit of Comedy

More Spirit of St. Louis

With three more RBI's and another homerun tonight, Albert Pujols is on pace to hit:

HR: 85
Record: 73
RBI: 210
Record: 190

I know we're only a quarter of the way through the season, but he's still putting up monster numbers. I bet he could get injured tomorrow and sit out the remainder of the year and still get some MVP votes (knock on wood). A possible Triple Crown?

HR: 1st
RBI: 1st
Avg: 3rd

We are witnessing one of the greatest hitters of all time...

Spirit of St. Louis

There has been something I wanted to set straight for a while now. Last spring I was sitting at one of my favorite local establishments, Welch Avenue Station, when I made conversation with a guy sitting by himself at the table next to me. It began with chatting about the baseball replays one of the five TV's was airing but only after we caught the end of a Chicago blown game in the ninth it was revealed he was a Cubs fan. And actually, I think I recall him assuming I was too. (The Station is notorious for being a huge Cubs bar.) I quickly let him know I was indeed a rival Cardinal fan but went on to discuss the Cubs' woes anyway. Like any good midwest fan, I gave props to my foe where due and he did the same--it was actually a good conversation with someone who knew what he was talking about.
However, before he got up to leave he made a comment about St. Louis having "fairweather fans," something you can imagine I took issue with. Fairweather? I wish I had the chance to ask him why he would make such a claim. For starters, I'm probably a St. Louis fan for the same reason he might be a Cubs fan or why someone living in Florida is a Marlins fan. I do realize that Iowa is home to the Cubs, but I don't think someone needs to have a damn good reason to not be a faithful but instead pick a different midwest team.
By definition, being a fairweather fan requires only being a fan when your team is winning. Throughout MLB history, the Cardinals have been pretty consistent with a few highs and lows, and any time they've finished at the bottom of the division they've bounced right back into contention the next season. St. Louis is revered for having the best fans in baseball (as verified in a Sports Illustrated survey given to 200 MLB players a couple years back) that always support their team. I think this may be a good time to point out the year 2003 when Cubs fans were absolutely crawling out of the woodwork once they made the playoffs. Everyone became a Cubs fan overnight. I distinctly remember Homecoming with a group of Chi Omegas that would ask nightly if the Cubs won, passing in and out of the coliseum to cheer them on, having never watched a Chitown game in their life, not being able to name two players without "Sosa" on his back. And we're "fairweathered"?! I don't remember any red and white bandwagon two years ago.
What actually instigated me to writing this entry was that recently I did have someone tell me I follow St. Louis because "they're good." For a team that made it to the World Series only once in the past decade and hasn't won it all since a couple weeks after I was BORN, yes, that must be it. In the years following 1982 the likes of the Tigers, Reds, and Blue Jays (twice in a row) have won the title, but it would be silly to think such a thing of their fans, wouldn't it? Now, I will admit that the Cards have had their share of winning seasons and postseason success, but one could argue a portion of the Chicago fans are simply a result of their "lovable loser" reputation. (I remember in "03 talking to Derek Watson, a Twins fan, about how his dislike of the Cubs stems from the fact "they don't earn their fans." He just can't see how they continue to be so bad and have the largest following while his Twins have been competing at a high level for years and gain no support. Needless to say, we both relished in their NLCS collapse.)
I doubt that guy ever thought twice about his ridiculous claim about me and my follow redbirds. Oh well, I guess that's just part of the rivalry. After all, I have to respect the Cubbies because I don't think I could tolerate such a downtrodden club year in year out. I'd rather fly high in St. Louis, regardless of the weather.