I'm going to try my hand at a reoccurring article. There's a segment on a local sports radio station that gives their thumbs to sports happenings. I always want to call in, but I can never get through. So here are my thumbs.
Each week I will give either thumbs up or down to recent sports stories. I also want to see what you have thumbs for either up or down. Give me your opinions, but remember these are only my opinions.
Thumbs up:To the Chicago White Sox locker room for using blow up dolls for "slump busters." For any one who has ever played a sport where a locker room is used, you know what it's like inside one. It's a crazy place where just about anything and everything can and will happen. Then, when you add baseball players, who are arguably the most superstitious athletes around, things can get pretty weird.
Those who know what it's like to be in a baseball slump, know you will do just about anything to break out of it. I think the White Sox as a team were trying to break out of their week long slump and did some fun things to loosen up, and that just so happened to involve a couple blow up dolls, bats and signs with a coaches slogan. I don't see any harm in that.
I guess we should be glad that they just used blow up dolls instead of what is usually used for a "slump buster."
Thumbs up:To Les Miles for kicking QB Ryan Perrilloux off the LSU football team. It's not too often where a big time D-1 powerhouse like, oh let's say, the defending national champions kick a player who is thought of as being the next bigtime QB off their football team. I know a few years back the Oklahoma QB was kicked off for taking money for not working, but this is a little different.
This is a coach looking at the makeup of a player on his team. You always hear of NFL teams looking at backgrounds of players they are thinking about drafting, maybe this will turn over a new leaf of college coaches doing the same thing before they recruit the big name from the inner city.
Thumbs up:To Cliff Lee of the Cleveland Indians for having one of the best starts and best stretches in a season in recent memory. This guy is pitching his brains out. I mean, he was left off the playoff roster last year. Now he has an ERA under 1.00 and is beating the Yankees in Yankee Stadium against a guy who has been one of the best in the league the past two seasons.
Cliff Lee right now is carrying the Tribe who can't seem to hit to save their life. Without Lee who knows where the Indians would be in the tough under .500 AL Central. I wouldn't give him the Cy Young Award just yet, but if he keeps pitching this way for another month or two, he may be a lock.
Thumbs Down:To Carol Slezak of the Chicago Tribune for writing and complaining about a uncomfortable situation that she wasn't even in the same country for.
First off, she wasn't even in Canada to even be in the locker room of the White Sox. She didn't feel uncomfortable at that moment. She was probably in her house when she heard of the fun and looseness that was happening around the Sox clubhouse.
Second, when she took the job covering MEN's sports, she knew she was going to be in clubhouses and locker rooms with naked men doing who knows what. But did that bother her. No, not seeing naked guys all the time, that didn't make her feel uncomfortable. However when there is a fake plastic doll propped up by bats, that makes her feel uncomfortable? Give me a break.
You took the job, you knew the territory, live with it. Don't tell me that this could never happen in any other "office," because this isn't a normal "office," what office do you know of that has naked guys in it, all throwing their dirty jock into the same basket?
Thumbs Down:To Cedric Benson of the Chicago Bears for crying when getting arrested this past weekend. Now I'm a scrawny little guy, I may cry when getting arrested, you Cedric Benson are a very large (but not very good) NFL running back. Man up.
The thing is, I believe him and all of his people when they say, he wasn't drunk, and was not resisting arrest. That's not the thing. The thing is, that you cried for your mommy when the police were arresting you and pepper spraying you. Take it like a the large man you are.
Thumbs Down:To bandwagon jumpers. You know going into the season whether or not your home town team is going to be any good or not. So why is it when your team, who isn't supposed to be any good, goes on a hot streak and you jump on the bandwagon. Then a week later they come back down to Earth and start playing like they were supposed to play all season and you jump right off.
I live in Chicago and this city may have the most injuries from people jumping on and off bandwagons. Last week, there was going to be an All-Chicago World Series, now a little over a week later, neither team is going to make the playoffs and people are trying to figure out who they can trade and who they can get for next season. There's 162 games in a baseball season. We're 6 weeks into it. Just wait a little bit.
Thumbs Down:To the NBA for giving Kobe Bryant the MVP Award. This award is supposed to be for the BEST player in the NBA in a particular season. Kobe was not the best player in the NBA this season. He was at best the third-best player.
I was listening to Ernie Johnson of TNT on Mike and Mike yesterday morning and he said he voted for Kobe for a couple reasons. One because his team won the Western Conference. Two because of looking at his body of work from his career and seeing how much he's changed this season and how unselfish he has become. This is not a Lifetime Acheivement Award, this is a season award!
I would have been OK with Chris Paul getting it. Without him, the Hornets would definitely not be in the position they are in. The man who was arguably the best player in the NBA and without him, his team may have won 10-15 games is the King.
LeBron James deserved this award much more than Kobe. LeBron lead the league in scoring, Kobe was 2nd, ok wash. LeBron was 8th in assists (showing his unselfishness), Kobe was 19th. LeBron was 27th in rebounding, Kobe didn't even make the top 37. Kobe got LeBron in steals by .2 per game, ranking them 5th and 6th. Needless to say, LeBron brought more to the Cavs than Kobe did to the Lakers. The NBA made the wrong choice.
Let me hear your opinions.
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5 months ago
Ur an idiot
5 months ago
What you say about Kobe depends on your definition of MVP, by your definition, Lebron's the guy, some people would even go with KG due to how he changed the very dynamic of his team in just one year. I think Kobe deserved it because he led (led in every sense of the word) his team to the top of what is arguably the most competitive conference of the last 20 years, Lebron led his team to 4th in the pathetic east in which a team 8 games below .500 made the playoffs. I'm a Boston fan so if anything I'm biased in favor of KG and somewhat against Kobe because of the Celts Lakers rivalry (which has lost a lot of its luster since Magic-Bird), I still think Kobe deserved it, he was a leader and the most valuable player (not the best) in the league. Your entitled to your opinion of course but I happen to disagree. Othern then that disagreement, very good read, keep up the good work.
Peace,
Max
5 months ago
It's nice to hear a guy from Chicago admit to bandwagon fans there. I live in Milwaukee and we're said to have numerous 'wagon jumpers' too, but when we throw it back all we hear is "Cubs fans are the most loyal". Their are wagon jumpers everywhere and it annoys me too.
Overall, well done Eric.
5 months ago
Dude, as a Brewers fan, the Cubbies have done well, my Brew Crew are slumping, and I think they are doing well. Maybe I'm saying this because my team can't win a ballgame, but Cubbies look impressive just like my $5 footlong. I love that commercial. 5...5 dollar....5 dollar footloooong! Dee Lee is killing. His season totals are probably better than Milwaukee's totals the last 10 games. I really liked your blog, it's nice. Now I gotta go watch something on TV...................................I'm back. Nothing's on except Family Guy.....................................I'm back...again. Cubs are on, too. GO BREWERS! LET'S WIN 4 ONCE!!!!!!!!!
5 months ago
You are an idiot. You ever had pepper spray sprayed into your eyes? How "large" you are has nothing to do with how much that hurts and what sort of reaction it brings from someone.
Does MVP not stand for Most Valuable Player? I don't believe "BEST" is included in there. So for you to stress the "BEST" player aspect like you do, pretty idiotic.
You know going into the season? I'm sure Bears fans knew they would stink up the joint last year, while I'm sure Browns and Bucs fans just KNEW they were going to be good last year, right?
She did sign up to be a sports reporter and cover men's sports. However, she did not sign up to be subjected to such degradation of females. The clubhouse, like it or not, is not just the player's domain anymore, not in this day and age of the media.
from 5 months ago
Bloody hell man, the locker room is the damn locker room! You want the job, you take what comes with it. This is what comes with it, now, so SHUT THE **** UP and deal with it. The locker room is team-only territory and the media are in it only with the permission of the team. Shut up Carol, and don't complain about what the TEAM does to make itself better without hurting anyone else.
5 months ago
Thumbs Up for Gavin Floyd...flirting with the no-no again? Kid is lookin good.
That Carol woman is a liberal, equal-rights-wannabe. You have to be kidding me. First of all, you are a sports writer...how many middle aged women that would actually give a damn really read your useless editorial? No one is going to care about this feminist crap. Why would a woman REALLY be offended by this? Realize that this is a group of guys trying to find an offensive spark, and they feel that using some blowup dolls to offset some tension is a good idea...it's hysterical, actually.
Second of all, it's in Canada..America's good ole hat. I really don't think I need to explain anymore.
Third, what is a woman doing writing sports in the city of Chicago? What is the world coming to? Go back to the kitchen and fix your husband/boyfriend/male lover a sandwich. That's where you belong. My best friend told me that only thing women can do better than men is produce babies...ain't that the truth.
5 months ago
So if they decide the locker room is a place for racial slurs, or homophobic slurs, or things that are demeaning to people of different races or orientations, that's fine with you? Because it's in the locker room? Therefore it is excusable and should be condoned, and the other people who spend time in that locker room should be subjected to such antics? Please. Nice to know what upstanding morals and ethics you have.
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