Hits, Risk and Brawls

I don’t get gymnastics. I mean, don’t get me wrong, it’s cool and all. Gymnasts do stuff I don’t dare dreaming of out of fear of injury. Flips in the air, flying around a bar, tricks on hanging circles? Yeah, I’ll pass on that.

I just don’t get how you could stay and watch it. Or how you could pick a winner. How can a judge determine that one move is better than the other. That’s like giving students different questions on a test.

I’m more into watching the physicality of sports. I like one-on-one matchups and brute strength. I’d rather see a pitcher versus hitter conflict that a man/woman doing flips on a map.

I want to see what happens when a defensive end matches up with a left tackle. When a wide receiver and a safety both go up for the football.

I want to see the outcome of a point guard pushing through a center for the layup or slam dunk. To see a perimeter guy slam down a shooting guard’s attempt at a trey.

I like seeing a player lit up along the boards so that the defense can grab the puck. I like seeing a goalie give all he has to stop a little black disk from entering the goal.

I’m the sports fan that likes seeing real scores happen in front of her very eyes. I want to see why a team won and not guess at how an event was scored. I don’t want to have to second guess the winner and loser.

In football, you can see when the ball crosses the goal line. In baseball, you can see a player run over homebase for the run. Or the ball fly into the stands for a homerun. In hockey you can see the puck slide into the goal. And there is nothing like the sound of a ball falling through the net in a basketball game.

So maybe, there should be an event where they throw other gymnasts through bigger rings hanging from the ceiling. Or you race across those parallel bars. Or, better yet, you race through the same routine on the bar. That would be cool. First to land wins the event. We could even install sensors, like the ones in swimming, to make sure of the outcome.

We should really look more into this…

In honor of Valentine’s Day

There is nothing more annoying than Valentine’s Day…except maybe anyone who is associated with the Patriots in any way.

Despite this, I have found a Valentine! Yes, I know, I’m just a tad late for this. But that’s okay.

 

Ashton Gibbs, will you be my Valentine?

 

How do I love thee? Let me count thy ways…

1. ASHTON GIBBS FOR THE THREE!!
• Don’t give him room to shoot. Gibbs is shooting 38% from beyond the arc this season. Last season he was at 43%. Not only is he good at throwing up treys, he can throw them up late in games when they are much needed.
2. Free Throws were never more aptly named
• If you’re playing Pittsburgh and have to foul, you better make damn sure the jersey number isn’t 12. Because if it is, you’re going to be in worse shape that you started in. Gibbs is 90% from the line (108/120)this season; last season he shot 80%. Not too shabby at all. Earlier this season, Gibbs broke Pittsburgh’s 20-year-old record of consecutive free throws made.
3. And Ashton Gibbs wins another one for the Pittsburgh Panthers.
• What a clutch player. As a Pittsburgh fan, it is somewhat calming to see Gibbs get the ball when Pitt is down and their chances are ticking off the clock. He seems to shoot with perfection under two minutes. SWOOSH!!
4. HE’S A DIAPER DANDY!
• Gibbs is only a sophomore. Meaning I could potentially have the rest of this season, plus two more years of the Gibbs-Pittsburgh bliss. That present is better than getting chocolate!

Now that I’ve written this Valentine and therefore celebrated this oh-so-loving day, can we move on with our lives? Unless, of course, Ashton Gibbs wants to be my Valentine…then we can turn Valentine’s Day into a monthly thing.

Love of the Game

There is little to nothing that I don’t love about sports.

There is action, suspense, misery, and bliss. One day could be the best day in the entire world, and the next day you end up in the dumps.

Two seconds can change a game. Hey, one second can change a game.

And nothing is permanent. Being in the basement one year can turn into a ring the next.

More than any of this, though, is the excitement that comes with cheering on your favorite team. Or, better yet, cheering on your home team. I spend hours yelling at the TV. My room at home is in the basement, and my parents can still hear me at times.

A year ago I was dating a guy whose dad could have gotten us tickets to a Jets-Dolphins game in the Meadowlands. He was cautious to say the least about taking me. A very loud, in-your-face, say-whatever-she-wants Dolphins fan in the Jets section? I don’t think so. His brother agreed it might be a bad idea.

So easily one of the best parts of being a college student is sitting in the college section. Students run the game. The yelling, the cheers, the utter highs and the utter lows. All are prevalent in the student section.

Tonight, Brockport’s Golden Eagles took on the Geneseo Knight on the ice. It was a big game. Geneseo brought their pep band…so you know Brockport had to bring it. The house was packed, there was no one in the stands who wasn’t wearing a green t-shirt. And not one student was watching the game from his/her seat.

I yelled as loud as I could. I screamed cheers. I kept up the noise whenever it got quiet. The whole student section stepped it up tonight. We blew that pep band out of the arena—just the way it should be.

Another great thing about the student section? Nothing is off limits. They may call it unsportsmanlike, but in reality it is good clean fandom. Support for your school is everything.

It’s a good thing I am a writer and not a broadcaster. My voice is completely gone. I wouldn’t want it any other way, though. Tonight was exactly what sports are about. I loved every single second of it.

If you were curious, we lost 2-1. Still loved every second of it…. 

Lindsey Vonn in SI

Yesterday I decided to start reading more newspapers. Actually, strike that. I decided to start reading newspapers again—a busy college life will do that to you.

Sitting in a boring Natural Disasters class, I came across a small excerpt in the sports section of USA Today that downright confused me.

A post on the blog Women Talk Sports criticized Sports Illustrated for having a “sexual” Lindsey Vonn on the cover.

I racked my brain, trying to figure out what the post was talking about. I grabbed the magazine off my desk (since that was what I was reading before I took the sports section from the guy behind me) and still couldn’t figure it out. It was simply a still photo of Vonn skiing down a hill.

The author of the post, Dr. Nicole M. LaVoi, said:

“When females are featured on the cover of SI, they are more likely than not to be in sexualized poses and not in action–and the most recent Vonn cover is no exception.”

Really? Vonn is a professional skier. Therefore, she should be skiing down a hill for the cover of a sports magazine. There is nothing overtly sexual about it. The pose can be taken sexually,however, because frankly anything can be made sexual and pretty much everything is.

LaVoi posted a follow up response due to all of the backlash she was getting. One particular argument against her was that men have been photographed in similar non-action shots on the cover. She said that although true, females are shown in this light more, which is a bad attribute since female athletes are only covered by the media 6-8% of the time.

While her points are valid, LaVoi is forgetting the context of this situation. The Olympics have yet to take place. The cover is meant to preview the event; it is not a recap of it. The NFL preview doesn’t show Ben Roethlisberger in action. It shows a headshot of him. Had this been an Olympic recap, then Vonn should definitely have been in an action shot on the cover. But this was simply a feature on a great athlete, not a story about her success the week before. 

Mardi Gras starts early this year folks

Super Bowl Sunday is a holiday. At least it should be. Our lounge was full of people and food, and random yelling at the TV. You’d think it were Christmas or Thanksgiving.

It is always a big day. There are funny commercials, a halftime show, and the main event: the big game. The best part of the night, at least for the Saints fans in the room, came late in the fourth quarter:

“Throw a pick, throw a pick!”

“Dude, Peyton Manning doesn’t throw picks”

A few plays later: Manning throws a pick. Worse still, it was returned for a touchdown that gave the Saints all that they would need to take home their first Lombardi trophy.

The Saints Tracy Porter jumped Manning’s pass to Reggie Wayne and thanks to one key block, ran it back 74 yards to help the Saints win 31-17. Porter also picked Brett Favre late in the AFC Championship game to help the Saints get to the Super Bowl.

Manning drove his team down the field, but the team ran out of downs near the goal line.

Mardi Gras is nine days away, but that means nothing to New Orleans. It just means the party keeps going. Not only is this their first Super Bowl, but it is also a symbol of the city’s rise after Hurricane Katrina. 

Four years ago the city was in complete ruins; covered in water and devastation abound. The Louisiana Superdome barely had a roof and residents of the city were huddled inside, braving the hurricane raging outside.

The Saints comeback started the next September. In their first game back in the Superdome, the Saints had a triumphant win against the Falcons. Drew Brees had just arrived in the city; he and his wife Brittany planned on helping the city rebound in any way it could.

Now, the Saints have a Lombardi trophy. It’s not just the players, though. That trophy belongs to every single person who lived in New Orleans when Hurricane Katrina hit. For every person that has only been inside the Superdome once, when it became his/her home when he/she had none. For every person in New Orleans who is still trying to rebuild. And for every person who lived and died with the Saints because it was all he/she had left to hang on to.

And by the way, tomorrow should be a holiday too. “Super Bowl Recuperation Day.” I don’t know about you, but I’m beat.

(P.S. The gorilla and EA Sport simulation game were right. I’ll keep that in mind. And does this mean Reggie Bush and Kim K ardashian are getting married? Just wonderin…)

Too much time on our hands

Unless you’re like Drew Barrymore’s character in 50 First Dates you know that it is Super Bowl time. And unless you’ve been living in a bomb shelter since the Cold War you know that it is time to pull out all the stops: all the experts, all the players, all the coaches, all the fans, and all of ANYTHING else you can think of to predict the winner.

With two weeks between the Championship games and the biggest football game of the year—as well as a 24/7 news cycle that includes five live hours of SportsCenter everyday—every media outlet has way too much time on their hands. And when that happens, the craziness ensues.

Just look at the Michael Vick drama. Breaking news glowed red over half of my television one morning to say that Vick was making an appearance at a local school. Man, did I need to know that one.

I also watched—via a live helicopter feed—Brett Favre, his wife Deanna, and Vikings’ coach Brad Childress make the trek from the airport to Minnesota headquarters during the whole will he/won’t he return from retirement extravaganza.

So I was not surprised when I watched SportsCenter this morning and discovered who—or rather what—ESPN has added to the annual Super Bowl picks. A video game. And a gorilla. (And no, I am not calling any of the broadcasters a gorilla. It was an actual gorilla.)

An EA games simulation predicted that the Saints would win Sunday. They even showed key plays, such as Joseph Addai and Reggie Bush scoring touchdowns. And of course Peyton Manning throwing a bomb to Reggie Wayne. Wayne then becomes air born after the tackle and rotates like helicopter wings into the end zone. This better actually happen in the game. It looked sweet.

Now, according to SportsCenter, you should be paying attention to this simulation. It has correctly predicted 5 of the last 6 Super Bowls and almost predicted the exact score of this year’s championship games. I don’t know if I should just chalk it up to interesting coincidence, or be fearful that ESPN has a device that can tell the future.

I’ll give ESPN this one. But just wait for what happened next.

A gorilla was given two paper mache footballs filled with things gorillas like to eat. One football had a Saints logo, the other a Colts one. The gorilla ignored the Colts one altogether, and immediately went for the Saints one. So, Saints are winning the Super Bowl. I mean, who wouldn’t believe a gorilla?

So, for those who have money on the game: pick the Saints. A video game and a gorilla told you too. What more do you want?!