Weekly Sporties

-It is not uncommon for NBA teams to rest players during particularly rough stretches of the season, especially if that team is full of older players. So, when the San Antonio Spurs faced their fourth game in five nights in Miami against a rested Heat team that hadn't played since Saturday, Spurs coach Greg Popovich decided rest was more important for his team (which also had injuries to two other key players and only ended up dressing 9 guys for the game) and sent Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili, Tony Parker and Danny Green home a day early. This is not the first time Popovich has pulled this move and every other time it has not been worth mentioning, but yesterday NBA Commissioner David Stern fined the Spurs $250,000 for sitting this many key players. Stern feels it sends a bad message to NBA fans and thinks Popovich should have played his starters during what will be their only trip to Miami this season. While I appreciate the gesture and can understand part of his argument (it does suck to spend money to see a team which only comes through once a year only to find out their star player is not playing for one reason or another), personally I have a feeling these fines are a direct result of the fact the game was on TNT and not some moral obligation to the fans. If Stern really cared about giving NBA fans quality every night, he would do something to make sure all his stars didn't end up on six teams. Plus, this opens an entire can of worms because now how will Stern justify not fining teams that start tanking at the end of the year to improve their lottery chances? Of course, the easiest way to eliminate this problem would be to cut a few games off the schedule, because everyone knows the NBA season is too long. Either way, I feel like this is far from the last time we will hear about this issue, because I don't think a fine is going to change Greg Popovich's thinking one bit.

-As I feared last week, the college conference game of musical chairs continues this week as the ACC looked to fill the void created by Maryland's departure to the Big Ten. However, in kind of a surprising move they decided to add Louisville instead of UConn, which had been the big speculation (rumors are Boston College wasn't excited about having another team so close). I actually think Louisville would have made more sense in the Big 12, but at this point I'm resigned to the fact that things like geography don't really matter. (Meanwhile, the Big East countered by adding Tulane and East Carolina, making their march towards irrelevance nearly complete. Seriously, they should just dump all schools which play football and concentrate on becoming the best basketball conference in the nation.) Now there are reports that the Big Ten is making eyes at UNC, which is one of the few teams in the ACC which is good in both basketball and football (good being a relative term). At this point I think it is becoming clear that we are indeed heading for the four, 16-team super-conferences and three of those spots are going to be filled by the Pac-12, SEC, Big Ten. The question then becomes which league survives: the ACC or the Big 12. I would assume the ACC would have the easiest time keeping up, considering they have more teams. Plus, Texas nearly left for the Pac-12 last year and could very easily make that jump any time they wish. My thing is that if that is the inevitable conclusion to this whole experiment, what exactly are we waiting for? No one likes it when people drag out a story they already know the ending to, so let's just get this over with. We've already got the BCS playoff we want, now let's figure out the best way to determine which teams will play in it, because that will be a lot more fun that figuring out conference realignment.

-Last weekend's victory over Michigan capped an undefeated regular season for Urban Meyer and Ohio State, showing just how valuable a good coach can be in college football. However, due to ongoing NCAA sanctions from the last regime, the Buckeyes are ineligible for any postseason play. This fact has resulted in fans petitioning President Obama to pardon Ohio State, which would put them in a major bowl. I give them an 'A' for effort, but I don't see this one happening. First of all, I don't know what good it would do because I'm not totally sure that if the President did pardon them it would actually get them into the National Title game. The Big 10 has not been overflowing with great teams this year, so there are some questions about just how tough a schedule Ohio State faced to begin with. Still, it would at least get them in the Rose Bowl. But the more interesting aspect of this story in my mind is that their undefeated regular season does bring up an interesting debate about just how much playing with no pressure can change how a team performs. When you know you have nothing to lose and the season essentially doesn't count than you may as well go all-out in every game. I would be fascinated to know how the season would have played out if the pressure to be perfect has increased as the games ticked away. Sadly, we'll never know. There is good news for Ohio State fans in all this and that is most of this team is coming back next year and it is not like they will have a hard time recruiting. They have a very good chance to be in the National Championship debate at this time next year and they won't even need a Presidential pardon to do it.

-It is just about time for baseball's Hall of Fame voting and the day a lot of people have been dreading is finally here - Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens and Sammy Sosa are appearing on the ballot for the first time. If you just looked at their resumes these guys would be shoe-ins, but given their histories of suspected steroid usage, I can't see any way in which the three of them get in during this round of voting. Baseball writers think far too highly of themselves as some kind of guardians of the gate to let the anyone suspected of using PEDs in the first time they are eligible. In fact, if Mark McGwire's voting totals are any indication, they won't even come close. Fortunately for those writers there are several players who are borderline Hall of Famers they could put in instead, which gives them cover for this year. However, this is a problem which is only going to keep popping up because every new candidate for the foreseeable future is going to have at least some suspicion attached to their name. It is a complicated issue, because even if you don't think the player took drugs than they will at least have kept silent while someone around them did (for some reason this sin, which would be just as bad in the normal world, is totally ignored in baseball). Is it all going to come down to how loud this whispers about drugs were? That is not exactly the kind of voting criteria you should be basing a Hall of Fame on. Baseball simply needs to acknowledge they had a drug problem and have some kind of note on the players' plaques, because the only other option for this era is to just not put anyone in for several years. The ironic thing is that I don't even think the fans really care all that much, which means by refusing to vote for these guys the only thing these baseball writers are really doing is keeping the conversation in the front of people's minds. If they really want it to go away they should just put them in the Hall of Fame, because that pretty much is the last time most baseball fans will think about these players.

-Speaking of organizations which think far too much about protecting their sport's past and not enough about growing the game for the future, this week the USGA and the Royal & Ancient came together to ban any golfer from using an anchored putter in competition. Starting in 2016, golfers can still use long putters but those putters are not allowed to be leaning into the golfer's stomach or chest. Some players did this maneuver to eliminate shaky hands from their putting stroke, feeling the anchored putter gave them more stability. I never used to have an opinion on it but the more I saw anchored putters, the more they annoyed me. Personally, I'm fine with the rule, because I think that if you want to be a professional you should have to deal with all aspects of the game and that includes nerves while putting. But despite agreeing with their ruling in this instance, I think it is time for these two governing bodies to realize they need to have different rules for the professionals and the amateurs. A lot of casual players questioned how this was going to affect the way they played the game, when the simple fact of the matter is it shouldn't. Not all golfers are the same and this would be like the NBA saying their rules should apply to every pick-up game across the nation. Golf has been having a problem getting more people to play in recent years and banning equipment which makes the game easier is going to to help bring in new, casual players and those are the people who really keep golf going. I say unless you want to enter into a tournament than bring whatever equipment you need to make the game more enjoyable. Otherwise you can make all the rules you want, because they are much easier to enforce when they only apply to a few hundred people.

-This weekend, the MLS Cup will be contested between the Houston Dynamos and the defending champion Los Angeles Galaxy. Normally this sort of match-up wouldn't be worthy of a mention, but it will mark the end of David Beckham's MLS career. His contract is expiring after the game and Beckham has already announced he will not re-sign with the Galaxy, instead attempting to go back to European soccer, most likely after playing for a club in Russia or Australia to show those teams how much gas he has left in the tank. (He is not gone forever, as his contract with the MLS does give him the chance to buy into the Galaxy or his own expansion team once he finally retires.) The question now is whether or not the Beckham experiment was a successful one for the MLS. Sadly, I would have to say no. Despite coming over with a lot of promise and one of the best commercials the world has ever seen, I simply have not seen an uptick in the popularity of the sport most people predicted upon his arrival. If anything I would say it is less popular as fans who tuned in expecting him to do something magical in his time here walked away disappointed. I don't think it is all Beckham's fault though. Americans love a good rivalry and unfortunately Beckham didn't bring anyone with him that he could play against and get the fans interested. I think the other problem is that the other big-names stars who did eventually come over are doing so after most people feel they have left their prime. No one wants to see guys jogging around on what amounts to little more than a victory tour. If the MLS really wants to become a more popular league they need to grow more talent and have them stay here versus bolting for Europe and then coming back after their best years have passed them by. It was a good try by the MLS, but it turned into nothing more than an expensive failure.

-At the top of this post I mentioned how David Stern fined the San Antonio Spurs for sitting most of their starters during a trip to Miami. Well, if the Phoenix Suns had been involved it could have cost the team a lot more money than that. You see, since the Suns traded away Steve Nash and aren't fielding a particularly strong team this season, they are having trouble drawing fans to the area. To try and fight this perception they will be holding "satisfaction guaranteed night." For their December 6th game the Suns are telling fans that if they come to the game and do not have a good time, they will be able to apply for a refund. Now, I will give Phoenix credit, as this isn't part of a larger gimmick - they will not be doing anything out of the ordinary for the game. No reduced prices at concessions stands or bringing in some pop star to perform at half-time. Heck, they aren't even tying the promotion to whether or not the team wins the game. Apparently they are supremely confident that if someone just comes for the game with will have a good enough time to want to come again. Of course, there are some stipulations - if you don't enjoy yourself you will have to fill out an online form and send it to the Suns along with your ticket. That makes the skeptic in me want to wait to see how many people A) apply for and B) receive their refunds. However, just the other day I wrote a post saying it was time that entertainment venues started giving fans a safety net in case of a bad experience at a show and at least the Suns appear as though they are trying to give their fans an honest effort in return for their money. I mean, they could also do it by fielding a competitive team, but I'm pretty sure they decided this was the much easier path. Besides, once they get back to being a good team the fan experience can be as awful as they want and people will still show up. Never forget - winning covers up a lot of warts.