Weekly Sporties

-Like everyone else I was really saddened to learn about the death of Junior Seau on Wednesday. I never met him during my time working at the stadium, but the people I know who interacted with him never had anything bad to say. What has really disturbed me in the aftermath was how people on TV were so quick to act as though they could explain why this happened. While I understand it is human nature in times of tragedy to latch on to the first and easiest solution available, I'm not going to be like a lot of people and automatically blame head injuries in professional football for what happened. For people on TV to make conclusions without facts just to push forward a personal agenda is both pathetic and dangerous. We don't know why Seau did what he did and unfortunately we may never know. The only thing we really learned since Wednesday was that Seau touched a lot of lives in a lot of places. If the outpouring of support was any indication, Junior was a wonderful man who was positive influence on other players, coaches and fans, which just makes the other day's event even more tragic.

-Most of the athletes who wanted to express their condolences about Seau did so on Twitter. Now, I've come to love Twitter, but I also recognize that some things call for more than 140 characters. If you follow me over there you know that I try to use proper spelling and grammar whenever possible and if I have to say it in text speak I usually don't say it at all (and this is coming from a guy who isn't Tweeting anything important). I just can't take you seriously when you are expressing yourself the same way a 14 year-old girl would. That is why in addition to condolences, you also shouldn't be Tweeting your apologies. After a frustrating game 2 loss to the Miami Heat, Knicks forward Amar'e Stoudemire punched the glass door on the box which housed a fire extinguisher in the Knicks' locker room. He broke the glass and severely cut his had, most likely knocking himself out for the rest of the series. Now, it was an extremely stupid act by a guy who has never really been known for his maturity, but what annoyed me more about it was that afterwards he Tweeted an apology to Knicks fans. I know Stoudemire had to go get medical attention, but he should wait until he could appear on camera to issue his first apology and actually look sorry about his mistake. Tweeting it out doesn't make him seem very regretful, it makes him seem lazy.

-We finally got to the end of bounty-gate this week, as the suspensions for the players involved were handed out. After the harsh penalties given to the coaches and executives, I was ready for just about anything, but I think the Saints seemed to get off pretty easy. There had been talk that as many as 20 players could be facing discipline but only two Saints players will miss time, along with two former Saints who are now on other teams. That was the part which really surprised me, because the NFL is essentially punishing teams which had nothing to do with the scandal. For example linebacker Scott Fujita, who was suspended three games, has been a member of the Cleveland Browns for three seasons. My guess is the Browns never expected that he was even going to be part of the group getting suspended. That's why my biggest problem with the way this whole scandal was covered is the way the NFL waited to hand out the suspensions. They had to have an idea of what was coming so they should have let teams like the Browns and the Packers (who signed the other former Saint who got suspended) know before the draft so they could have planned accordingly. I know that the NFL is looking to come down extra hard on this topic due to the increased emphasis on player safety, but penalizing teams who were not involved is not the way to rally people behind your cause.

-On Friday there was a story in the Boston Globe which explained all the creative ways the Red Sox have used to keep their "sell-out" streak for Fenway Park going. They've been known to do things like count standing-room ticket sales and seats which have been given away to charities as a way to boost the numbers high enough to get to the magic number of what counts as a sell-out. Now, it should be pointed out that every team in every sport does this kind of thing. It's an issue of ego. Not to mention a way they can keep ticket prices higher by making it seem as though they are hard to get. This is also why professional teams build stadiums build stadiums with fewer seats than expected - it's not about selling out a playoff game, it's about selling out a boring game in the middle of the season. (I contend this, and not the fact that it was approaching its 100th anniversary was the real reason Fenway has stuck around for so long.) However, this story also pointed out that online ticket resales for Sox game are at unusually low prices. There are lots of factors which could explain this such as sub-par competition, a wet spring and the fact that this year's team isn't what you would call compelling. It just makes me wonder, now that the curtain has been pulled back, how much longer does the team plan to keep up the charade? It obviously means something to them, otherwise they wouldn't be doing it, but now that everyone knows they are greasing the numbers, how much longer do they plan on pretending? Keeping up with a fake story after it has been revealed to be fake are the actions of an insane person. Still, I think they are more likely to keep messing with the totals than do something crazy, like making the seats cheaper. They may be willing to lie to keep the sell-out "streak" going, but it doesn't mean that much to them.

-After years of hard-fought battles it is pretty common for a once-hated player to move into the area of begrudging respect among the rival fans. Magic Johnson found this level with Boston sports fans, as has Derek Jeter. Yankee reliever Mariano Rivera reached this level for me in 2004 when, after blowing a few saves in the first series of the year was greeted with a sarcastic standing ovation during Red Sox Opening Day. While most Yankees probably would have been angry or embarrassed, but Rivera owned the moment tipping his cap to the crowd. It showed he had a sense of humor about the whole thing, which will always endear you to the people of Boston. That is why, like most of baseball, I was kind of bummed to watch the video of Rivera trying to shag fly balls during batting practice in Kansas City and going down in a heap after tearing is ACL. After previously hinting that this season might be his last Rivera immediately came out and said he plans to come back next year. Personally, I'm hoping the 42 year-old can rehab successfully and come back to play at least one more time, because no player who has been as good for as long as he has should end their career getting carted off before the game even starts. Hopefully his pitching career hasn't ended, but I'm pretty positive his outfield career has.

-The other day the Los Angeles Dodgers were playing a tight game in Colorado against the Rockies. In the sixth inning there was a ground ball by a Dodger's player, which was fielded poorly and the ensuing throw pulled Rockies' first baseman Todd Helton off the bag by a full three feet. However, the umpire had taken a bad angle to see the play and still called the runner out, completely blowing the call. Now, if that wasn't bad enough he then refused to consult with the home plate umpire, who must have had a better look. After that he then stayed in the umpire's locker room and did not talk to the media after the game. First off, that's the wrong attitude to take. Everyone knows that umpires occasionally blow calls, so all he had to do was explain himself and everyone could have moved on. By first refusing to ask for help and then admit his mistake it just makes him look worse. Still it is Major League Baseball who really looks bad here. For years they have refused to expand instant replay, saying that the "human element" is just part of the game. That sounds all well and good, but when people can't take their game seriously because such obvious calls are being blown their refusal make them look stuck in the past. They say they don't want the games to get too long, but this review would have taken roughly ten seconds. When the people in the stands can see the replay on their phones, you need to let your people on the field see them as well. Baseball needs to come to this century, whether they want to or not.

-One of my biggest pet peeves is when people won't declare their biases and hide behind fake arguments. Early in the week Tiger Woods announced that he would be skipping his usual pre-tournament press conference pattern, instead taking questions from his fans and answering them on his website. Now, the video itself was awful as Tiger appeared stiff and uncomfortable. Also, he didn't exactly choose any hard questions. But I had no problems with it because I find the traditional press conferences rather boring. It is cliche questions followed by cliched answers and nobody learns anything. The reporters are trying not to make the athletes mad and the athletes are trying not to say anything controversial. With that as the background, at least the Tiger video was something new even if it was just Tiger trying to control his message. Still, the most amusing part of the whole story was watching as the golf media tried to make this into an actual controversy and took Tiger to task, saying this was just a way to avoid hard questions. First off, their argument would hold a little more weight if they ever asked him tough questions but most of them are too scared to do so. Secondly, I think they are the only ones who care if Tiger doesn't take questions from media members. They wouldn't care if an athlete from another sport did this, they only care that the biggest athlete in their sport found a way to cut out the middleman. Just admit that and stop hiding behind this idea you are sticking up for journalism in all forms, because it insults our intelligence and makes you look bad.