Weekly Sporties

-As a Celtic fan, I was heartbroken when the team traded Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett to Brooklyn. I was especially upset about Pierce, who had played his entire career in Boston and seemed to really understand what it meant to be a Celtic. However, the pure basketball side of my brain totally understood the decision. Pierce is getting older and that money should probably be spent on players who will help the team in the long-run (Brooklyn's slow start this year is making it look smarter by the second). That is why, with no emotional connect to get in the way, I was baffled from the start when it was announced that the Los Angeles Lakers had signed Kobe Bryant to a 2-year, $48 million extension. Sure, this contract guarantees that Bryant will be one of the handful of players to spend their entire career with one franchise but taking an unbiased view of things it does not seem like a particularly good deal for the Lakers. First off, Bryant is 35 and coming off an Achilles injury which ends up derailing most careers (for a while it appeared that Bryant was getting closer to resuming basketball activities but just a couple days after signing this deal he announced he was still weeks away from returning). Until he starts playing again there is no way to know what kind of player he is going to be. But it's not really the years which have me scratching my head - it's the money. This new extension will keep Bryant among the highest-paid players in the game. Now, I am not about to begrudge someone for taking an amazing deal when it is offered to them just saying it certainly shows where Bryant's priorities really lie. In the last couple of years you saw a guy like Tim Duncan take a massive paycut so that the Spurs could spread that money around and keep a Championship-caliber team intact. Meanwhile Bryant's new deal will make it almost impossible for the Lakers to add the two superstars which would be necessary to return to being a title contender (I don't care how attractive a free-agent destination Los Angles may be, that doesn't change the math) unless they renounced just about everyone else on the roster and since you still need 12 guys on a team that doesn't sound possible. Bryant has always said he values winning more than money but this contract certainly doesn't seem to follow that narrative. But what would be scarier if I were a Lakers fan is the direction this team is taking. New owner Jim Buss seems to be making many questionable decisions and fans have to start wondering if he knows what he is doing. The history of children inheriting teams from parents has more failures than successes and if people think Buss doesn't know how to run this team this contract could set the Lakers back beyond the life of this contract.

-Of course, the only thing worse for a sports fan than rooting for a team with no direction and no structure is rooting for one which seems to have a solid plan, only to have that plan completely undone by the one of the aspects of sports which no one can control, like injures. That is how fans of the Chicago Bulls have to feel after this week, when it was announced that Derrick Rose tore a meniscus in his right knee and will miss the rest of this season. For those of you who may not follow the Bulls, Rose tore the ACL in his left knee in the playoffs two season ago and missed all of last season as he slowly rehabbed. The length of his absence had caused some in basketball circles to question his toughness and when his brother released a series of public statements regarding his availability those people started to wonder just who was in charge over there. However, even though he started this season slowly (as you would expect from a guy who hadn't played in 500 days) Rose was still the hometown hero and once he returned all was forgiven. He had even shown signs of rounding back into form, which is what makes this injury, which occurred without any contact as Rose was just turning to run back up court, just that much sadder. Now the Bulls are faced with a rather serious dilemma: do they simply play out this season, hope Rose can come back next year and try to start again, or do they give up and try a new rebuilding plan? If this were Rose's first injury than of course you would wait for him as he is only 25 and, when healthy, one of the best players in the league. However, this is his second knee injury (once is an accident, twice is a trend) meaning he now has had issues with both of his knees, so you can't be sure he will ever be health again. After all, knees tend to come in handy when you are playing basketball. It is enough for rational people to wonder if Rose has to be labeled as injury-prone. Also, it is fair to ask if Rose will be able to still be an effective guard when his playing style of driving to the basket and absorbing contact will clearly have to change going forward. On top of that the Bulls have some key players approaching free agency and others players with specialized skills who you love to have on your roster if you are on the cusp of competing for a title but who don't do you much good when you are out of the playoffs by March. All of this means the Bulls are at a crossroads and, even worse, they really can't make a decision about which direction to head in until they have a better picture of what Rose's future is going to look like. It is a terrible place to be in for any sports fan and even worse when you are there for the second time in as many seasons.

-Back in October there was a big discussion about whether or not Detroit Tigers' shortstop Jhonny Peralta should have been allowed to be eligible for the postseason after being banned 50 regular season games for his involvement in the Biogenesis scandal. Ultimately Peralta not only played, he played quite well and this week he was rewarded for his postseason play with a 4-year, $52 deal from the St. Louis Cardinals. As you would imagine this has many in the baseball community questioning just what the point of the whole scandal was and I have to agreed that it does send something of a mixed message. I mean, if these suspended players are going to be given large contracts as though nothing happened, why should we spend any time worrying about what they put into their bodies? I expected that kind of hand-wringing from the sportswriters of the world but I was quite surprised when many players voiced their displeasure as well. They contend that they play the game the right way and baseball shouldn't be rewarding players who are known to cheat. (I do find it rather ironic that the "we play the game the right way" Cardinals were the ones to sign Peralta, proving that morality only goes so far when your shortstop has a bad World Series.) Still, the entire thing does shine a rather bright light on just how hypocritical many of these baseball executives are. They say they want the game to be clean, yet they are really the ones with the power to clean it up and they refuse to actually do so. All they would have to do is not sign these players but they are so scared of another GM taking a chance and having it pay off that they jump in and over-pay like they do with all the other free agents. Also, I think it is pretty clear that baseball needs to implement tougher penalties for failing drug tests when the "penalty" ends up to be that you skip 50 games of a baseball season which is too long to begin with, get to play in the World Series and then get a huge raise. Doesn't exactly sound like the kind of thing which is going to talk guys on the fringe into putting down the needle and doing a a few extra reps. Plus, the signing of Peralta or any of the guys who have failed drug tests before can't help but make me think about a guy like Alex Rodriguez. I've always said that Rodriguez was getting hit harder because he continued to proclaim his innocence even though we all know he failed tests in the past. Now more than ever I am convinced that if A-Rod has simply shut his mouth and taken his first suspension he wouldn't be involved in such a circus now. It certainly seems like baseball is only too happy to let you back into the game if you do your time and at least act as though you are sorry. Remember, baseball is called "The Show" for a reason.

-But even if you think there are no consequences for failing a drug test in baseball, you have to at least give Major League Baseball credit for acknowledging when there is an issue, which is more than I can say for America's favorite sport of football. Over the last two seasons the Seattle Seahawks have been one of the best teams in the NFL. Unfortunately they are also getting a bad reputation as one of the dirtiest, as multiple players on that team have failed drug tests. The other day there was the unique situation of two different player getting suspended in one week as Walter Thurmond was suspended for four games and Brandon Browner is facing a year-long suspension after failing a second test in less than a year. Now, like most fans I barely notice when a football player fails a drug test, but if you remember that star cornerback Richard Sherman has also initially failed a drug test before having it overturned on appeal then this is officially a trend in Seattle. But what is even more amazing is that for all the positive tests they don't get much media scrutiny. Some say it is because of how remote Seattle is compared to the rest of the NFL, but considering what it took for this to become an issue, I would say it has more to do with the fact the NFL would rather not talk about drugs in football. All of these suspensions are just the kind of thing to make me wonder if Seattle really has what it takes to win a Super Bowl. Reportedly these suspensions are for recreational drugs, not performance enhancing ones but it still seems like a dangerous precedent is being set. This kind of thing doesn't happen on teams which are serious about doing their jobs. Now, you may be expecting me to lay this at the feet of Pete Carroll due to his happy-go-lucky and player-friendly nature. And sure, you could make the case that these guys are only doing this stuff because they think they can get away with it and that sort of attitude starts and stops with the head coach. However, while I thought Carroll let the inmates run the asylum in college and that was a terrible way to operate a college program, things are different at the professional level. Thurmond and Browner are adults who are getting paid a lot of money and are the only ones to be held responsible for their actions. It would be completely fair to question Carroll when it comes to talent evaluation because he ultimately has say over who is on his team but he can't be asked to police these adults when they go home for the night. I'll just say this - even though I am pretty sure this wouldn't be a big story anywhere because the NFL has deals with so many media outlets, right about now geography appears to be on the Seahawks' side.

-Of course, if we want to know where these players learned these habits we should just look down the sidelines. They say players only get away with what a coach allows them to and this week we had two example of a head coach setting a bad example. The first came in Brooklyn when the Nets were losing to the Lakers and were out of time-outs. As players were wandering to the sidelines after a foul one of the Nets players ran into head coach Jason Kidd and knocked his drink to the ground. This took a couple of extra minutes for the crew to mop-up the spill, which gave the Nets time to work up a play on the sideline. It appeared to be a lucky break, right up to the moment the NBA reviewed the tape in which it appears Kidd mouths the words, "Hit me" to the player who ultimately runs into him (many have quipped this was the best coaching Kidd has done all season long) and quickly fined him $50,000. However, that move appears to be nothing but gamesmanship compared to what Pittsburgh Steeler's coach Mike Tomlin did on Thanksgiving when he "accidentally" interfered with a punt return in the third quarter. Even though he appears to be watching the run on the JumboTron and shouldn't have been standing that close to the field in the first place, Tomlin stepped in the wrong direction before retreating to the sideline and ultimately cause Ravens punt returner Jacoby Jones to slow down and get tackled despite the fact he had a clear field ahead of him. Even worse, Tomlin had a rather large grin on his face once the play was over. (No word on his fine yet, but I would imagine it is coming and it will be rather large. Some are saying six-figures and the team could lose draft picks. And if you don't think I am appreciating the irony considering Tomlin was the strongest voice against the Patriots during the Spygate scandal and here he is doing something which is far worse in my opinion, than you are fooling yourself.) I know the saying is that if you aren't cheating than you aren't trying but I feel like that should only apply to players, not coaches. I know both the Steelers and Nets have not had the seasons they were expecting but you can't let the frustration get the better of you. Coaches should be held to a higher standard and these guys have failed. I can almost excuse Kidd because he has only been a coach for a couple of months and may still be working with a player's mentality, but Tomlin has to know better. Fortunately for Tomlin he has an impressive resume to fall back on which should get him through this rough patch. If it doesn't he could go back to coaching special teams because he clearly hasn't forgotten about angle or using the sideline to his advantage.

-It is not uncommon to browse an internet auction site and see a Championship ring. People tend to think that every athlete who has won a Championship must be set for life, forgetting that athletes who played professional sports before they became the juggernaut that they are today got paid very little money and selling that ring could very well equal the money they made their entire playing career. Even today, for every star player who will get a huge endorsement contract there are three or four guys at the end of the bench who never played and thus don't feel like they earned a ring. It is no more valuable to them than it is to the equipment manager. That goes double if the ring is for a rather dubious achievement, such as winning a Conference Championship. All a Conference Championship ring does is remind you that you didn't finish the job and win the Super Bowl, so why would you ever want to hold on to that? I guess that is why no one should have been all that surprised when a Final Four ring from Louisville's 2012 run came up for auction. There is just one problem with this - the ring has a name on it (Chane Behanan) and he is still playing for the Cardinals. Selling game memorabilia is obviously a violation of NCAA rules. Behanan says he gave the ring to his grandmother and she didn't know it was missing until he texted her about it being up for auction. I'm not totally sure I believe that story but here is the bigger issue - I don't care whether or not it is true. As I said, there are plenty of athletes who have been given rings for accomplishments that they never intended to wear. (I still wonder where the idea of championship rings come from to begin with, as I have never been a jewelry wearing kind of guy.) If Behanan needs money, wouldn't the NCAA rather see him get it this way than have his hand out to some shady booster or worse, some bookie who wants him to shave a few points from the final score? To me this has less to do with the NCAA and more to do with the question of etiquette. No one likes it when they give a person a gift and then finds out that person has either returned or re-gifted that item but I still think it is better for them to wind up with something they may actually use instead of that unwanted item sitting on a shelf collecting dust for years to come. College athletics still claim that they exist to teach kids about how to be adults - well, one of the most uncomfortable parts of being an adult is dealing with awkward gift situations. It's probably not how they saw it happening, but I think the NCAA could use this as a teaching moment. It would certainly come in more useful than a ring celebrating the time you tied for third while playing for a sub-.500 team .

-One of the things I will always appreciate from a fanbase, even if it is the one my team is currently up against at that moment, is when they are clever. Nothing makes me happier than when a fanbase either comes up with the perfect witty new tradition in the spur of the moment and without having to have it pre-approved by the people running the scoreboard. For example, fans counting how long it takes for a player to shoot a free throw even though they are only supposed to get 10 seconds. That shows a great knowledge and respect for the game but also gets in a player's head. Conversely, I become rather frustrated when they just repeat the same thing which has been done in every stadium across the country simply because the JumboTron told them it was time to get loud and they couldn't be bothered to put four seconds of thought into it. But the absolute worst is when a fanbase is not only unoriginal but mean-spirited. That is why I was so disappointed to learn that a student cheering section at the University of Missouri has been kicked out of two different games for saying vulgar and disrespectful things to opposing players. Now, this should not be confused with the "official" cheering section of students, apparently this is a smaller group that likes to do their own thing and take the chanting up a notch. (I don't particularly remember Missouri's basketball team being so good it needed two different cheering factions.) Now, I have a long-standing policy which states fans can yell just about anything as long as they leave moms, wives and children out of it and they stay in their seats. But reportedly this cheering section went below the belt, going so far as to cheer when one of players on the other team got hurt. If that wasn't bad enough, the player in question was playing for South East Louisiana. Hiding up in the stands and saying idiotic things are bad enough, but talking trash to a small school that Missouri was crushing by 40 point? That's cowardly. At first the cheer organizers tried to defend their actions by saying it was just competitive trash talk and nothing personal. Then they (ironically) tried to act as though they were being unfairly targeted by the Mizzou athletic department. The good thing is that they quickly realized that the only thing worse than being an asshole is then trying to defend why you are acting like an asshole because no one is going to be on your side. Instead they announced they would be taking a few games off to think of better, more supportive things to say to their own team rather than try and intimidate the visitors. If nothing else I hope they can at least learn that you need to save the good material for rivalry week, when you can say anything and no one will care.