Weekly Sporties

-As I mentioned last week, Spring Training has officially begun for every team in Major League Baseball, which means after just one week the beat writers are desperate for any new item to write about. We have reached the point where they only thing they can think of is to ask players on new teams about their old teams and hope one of them takes the bait, even though nothing good can come of it. This week it was former Ranger Josh Hamilton burning a few bridges when he said that Dallas is not a true baseball town. He thought that Rangers fans are bandwagon-jumpers who love the Cowboys the most and only show up to watch baseball when the team is playing well. He said the true baseball towns are places like New York, Boston and Philadelphia. (I couldn't help but notice he did not include LA, where he just signed. I think that was done on purpose. At least no one can say he was only trying to butter up his new fans.) Since no fanbase likes being called front-runners (even though every city has more than their share of them), Dallas was quick to defend itself, saying Hamilton's comments were sour grapes based more on his less-than-graceful exit from the team. The thing is, I actually have no problem with anything Hamilton said and if they are honest with themselves, neither should any Dallas residents. I don't think anyone will argue against saying football is king in Texas. Yes, there are people who live in that city who think baseball is the best sport, but those people are rare. If you polled everyone in that area and asked which team they wanted to win a championship the most the Cowboys would win and it wouldn't be very close. Hamilton gets points for honesty. For their part the Rangers say they will do just fine attendance-wise without Hamilton and I think that is true... as long as they are leading the division when Cowboys training camp opens.

-Speaking of football in Texas, this week it was revealed that Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel, the only freshman to ever win the Heisman trophy, is taking four classes this semester and all of them are on-line. Basically, that means if it weren't for spring football practice he would be required to spend as much time on the A&M campus as I would this semester. Now, technically there is nothing wrong with this. Plenty of legitimate schools have started to see the benefits of online classes. Plus, given the fact that Manziel is probably a big man on campus it actually makes some sense, because this way his presence won't be a distraction to his fellow students who may actually want to learn something. Still, Manziel needs to be careful here. Remember, he is still supposed to be a "student-athlete" and when it comes to the NCAA investigators too often perception is reality. There have already been several incidents to put him on their radar, such as pictures of him gambling the night away in a New Orleans casino and sitting in very expensive courtside seats at a Mavericks game. Manziel comes from a family who can easily afford such things, but just because his family has some money that won't stop certain people from assuming he is getting a little outside help. Seeing as how the last few Heisman trophy winners were the subject of NCAA investigations, I assume Manziel is under a spotlight from the NCAA to make sure he remains eligible. Since he is one of the few Heisman winners who actually remained in school the Aggies have a lot to lose if the NCAA finds a problem. And if we learned anything from this Miami Hurricanes debacle it is that if the NCAA investigators want to find a violation, they are going to do whatever it takes to do so. Even though he isn't doing anything wrong, Manziel may want to lower his profile for the rest of the offseason.

-Last weekend's NBA All-Star weekend was a pretty boring affair, right up until the last couple of minutes of the game when people started playing defense. The All-Star game is kind of a weird exhibition, because certain people take it seriously, other take it half-seriously and some see the entire weekend as a time to goof off. That is why it is hardly surprising that at least once every year we hear about some kind of friction between the people who take it super-seriously and those who only want to goof off. This year the tension was between Spurs coach Greg Popovich, who was coaching the Western Conference All-Stars, and Lakers' Center Dwight Howard. Apparently at one point Popovich drew up a play for Howard out of a timeout, only Howard wasn't paying attention, didn't know he was going in the game and still had his warm-ups on. According to some reports this lead to a string of obscenities being hurled at Howard from Popovich. I'm sure this is hardly the first time this has happened during an All-Star game, but the problem for Howard is that he has already been heavily scrutinized for being seen in certain circles as a guy who doesn't take the game seriously enough and in those peoples' eyes this is simply more proof that he doesn't have what it takes to be a champion. I have to say, for the first time in a few years I am on Howard's side of an issue. Seriously, it's the All-Star game - it doesn't count and no one remembers who won. Yes, Howard is immature, probably not getting enough out of his talent and if the Celtics had traded for him I would have put a fist through my TV, but if this story is true than Popovich is the one who needs to chill out a little. Every now and then these people need to remember they are getting paid to play a game and the All-Star Game is the perfect opportunity for that. Still, I can tell you this much - Howard is a free agent this summer and I am pretty sure he can scratch San Antonio off his list of suitors.

-Because the NFL doesn't actually believe in having an offseason, this week the NFL rules committee met to discuss a few changes. I'll say this about the league - they may not get every thing right, but when something is seriously wrong they correct it as quickly as they can. That is why it was hardly a surprise to hear that the NFL is close to implementing two new policies, both of which I approve of. The first fixes one of the stupidest rules the league has, which states that if a coach throws his challenge flag during a play which is already automatically being reviewed the coach gets a 15-yard penalty and the play is no longer allowed to be reviewed. Obviously this was put into place to prevent coaches from showing up officials and while I like the spirit of it, clearly there was a big flaw in the logic. The two main things which automatically get reviewed are turnovers and scoring plays and I don't care if a coach is trying to show people up, you really need to get those right. Fortunately the league plans to tweak the rule before next season. Coaches will still get a 15-yard penalty but now the play will still get looked at, which makes a tremendous amount of sense. Also, they will look to stop coaches from running out onto the field trying to intimidate refs by re-emphasizing the rule which is supposed to keep coaches on the sideline (they aren't officially calling this the 'Harbaugh Rule', but I think we know that is who it is aimed at). I like change as well. Half the time I feel like the coaches who run around screaming are just doing for attention anyway, so hopefully this will calm some of them down a little. Still, I can't help but find this whole thing ironic. This offseason the League can't do enough to protect its officials, whereas this time last year they were locking them out over to a few hundred thousand dollars. I'd like to think it was because the replacement refs showed them just how valuable the trained professionals are, but more likely it is because these new rule changes don't cost them any money.

-Speaking of policy changes, a couple weeks ago I mentioned the USGA and the Royal & Ancient, golf's two governing bodies, have proposed a rule which would outlaw the use of the anchored putter by the year 2014. At the time there were several players bellyaching about it, but I figured it was just the people who preferred to use that putting style who had a problem. However, this week the PGA Tour met with the players' advisory board and during the meeting it was revealed that close to 80% of professional golfers were against the ban (a much higher number than the percentage of people who actually use a long putter). If that number is true there could be a serious fight coming. Some are saying that if the players really dig in their heels the USGA and R&A may have to back off their proposal or risk the chance the PGA players will just ignore their rule banning anchored putters. That would put golf in the awkward position of having a rule which only applies during the US and British Opens. That could be really weird, but that is not what I found the most interesting aspect of this story. If ignoring rules is an option, why are we just getting to this now? Honestly, golf is full of dozens, if not hundreds of rules which should be tweaked in certain circumstance or outright ignored in others. Anchored putters are where people decided to draw their line in the sand? Seriously? They went with this instead of people watching at home being allowed to call in rules violations an hour after the tournament has ended, which can result in a player getting disqualified? Or the fact that if a single attached leaf is touching the sand in a bunker you aren't allowed to move rest of the branch should your ball go in the hazard? We're going to forgo those to fight so that guys with shaky palms can take their hands out of the equation and have a better chance of making a putt which could beat you? Look, I ignore rules on the golf course all the time and not only does it speed up my play, it makes the game a lot more fun. Trust me, if the PGA is going to start picking and choosing which ones it want to apply to itself, there are better ones to start fighting about.

-As a rule, it is never a good sign when people are telling you how bad an idea a contract is before the ink is even dry on the paper. Sure, everyone is an expert after a player gets hurt two years into a five-year contract, but it is rare to have the euphoria of a new contract wear off at the press conference to announce it. But, that was the case seven years ago when the New York Islanders signed goalie Rick DiPietro to a 15-year contract. Sure, DiPietro had a few solid seasons leading up to that deal, but no one thought it was a good idea to lock a player down for that long, even one playing a position as important as goalie. So, I have no doubt the Islanders have received more than their fair share of "I told you so!" emails since Friday when they placed DiPietro on waivers. That means DiPietro, who has spent the last few years struggling with injuries and has eight years remaining on his contract, will be sent to the minors if he clears waivers (which he will, because no one wants to pick up a massive contract with all that time left) and the Islanders will still be on the hook for the bulk of his salary. Now, since DiPietro is a former Boston University player, I'm sure several members of my family will be rooting for a comeback which can happen because he is still only 31 and goalies can play until they are in their 40s, but the first thing he needs to do is get out from under that deal. He was never going to live up to those expectations and, frankly, his agent never should have let him sign the deal, I don't care how much money he made. If DiPietro gets healthy and on the right team he could get back to the form that made him such a hot prospect to begin with. Meanwhile, the only thing the Islanders can hope to do is come to an agreement to buy out the rest of his deal this offseason and start rebuilding all over again. I would suggest an organization-wide policy of not signing anyone to a contract longer than five years as a good starting point.

-After baseball was voted out of the Olympics because it was one of the most costly sports (Atlanta may be the only place where the new baseball stadium came in handy after the Games were over), the professional leagues across the world got together to stage their own Olympic-style tournament called the World Baseball Classic. Unfortunately for them, much like Olympic baseball, most people haven't been paying attention. Because it takes place in the middle of Spring Training most of the players who are good enough to play in the Majors stay home rather than risk injury. So, what you end up with are teams full of fringe players, which I doubt is what the organizers had in mind when they started this thing. Plus, thanks to the fact it takes place in March, most players aren't in playing shape and the quality of the games can be low. Because of the timing and the rosters it is easy to forget that the WBC is actually taken very seriously by certain countries. However, this week we got a reminder of that when news broke that Taiwan had sent scouts to act as fake umpires to spy on the South Korean team in advance of the tournament. Apparently the scouts had shown up and were denied access to the South Korean facilities. So, rather than go home and lodge an official complaint, they decided the best course of action was to go to the stadium where the South Korean team was playing and pose as umpire trainees. They only got caught because someone thought there were far too many people in the umpiring seats and notice four of them were timing the Korean pitchers instead of taking notes on, you know, umpiring. For their part Taiwanese officials are claiming the four scouts acted on their own and were not ordered to do this. For Taiwan's sake I hope that is true because the only thing worse than losing a tournament most people don't care about participating in is cheating to win a tournament where the rest of the teams are only half-trying.