Snubbed

In every social group, roles seem to be clearly defined. Since it's 2013, I guess I can now refer to them as "cliques." Whether it's right or wrong, socially acceptable or not, certain personality types fit certain roles. There is always a quiet kid. There is always a loud kid. There is always that kid who gets in trouble a lot, and (most of the time) there seems to be a kid who does everything right. The major professional sports are no different. The quiet kid is the NHL, the sport that seems to fly under the radar until it gets upset that the other sports are having more fun and decides its time for some drama. You have the loud kid, or the NFL, who is always making headlines, always in the news because its product seems to be in the greatest demand. The NBA definitely takes the title of kid who always gets in trouble. If you need a reason, see Kevin Garnett and Carmelo Anthony fighting outside the locker rooms at the Garden, just the other night. Then there is Major League Baseball. Since the 1994 strike, baseball has been relatively quiet in terms of scandal--minus steroids, but from an organizational standpoint, the suspensions in place for steroids make it very difficult to find a rational reason to do them. Perhaps baseball's New Years resolution was to be more like its professional brothers.

1996 was a pretty normal year, sports wise. It was the last time the Summer Olympics graced American soil. The major sports were dominated by dynastic teams from the last thirty or so years. Jordan's Bulls won the NBA crown, Aikman's Cowboys won the Super Bowl, and Jeter's Yankees won the World Series. Kentucky won the NCAA Basketball Tournament, and Florida won the National Championship in college football. But 1996 was also significant because it was the last time Major League Baseball did not elect someone to its Hall of Fame...until now.

Craig Biggio launches a ball at Comerica Park photo credit: waiverwireblog.com

Steroids are as hotly a contested topic that sports has seen since Tonya Harding. They are talked about in schools, barber shops, even funerals. And today the Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA) decided that if you took steroids, no matter what your numbers are, you simply are not going to get into the most exclusive club in sports. That's the way it's going to be I guess, and that's fine. Steroids are cheating, I understand. I personally don't think it makes you that much better, but I've never tried them so I'm not really sure. I'm okay with that decision, though. It means Barry Bonds and Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa and Roger Clemens will probably never have a place in Cooperstown. Oh well, should have thought of that before you put the needle in your ass. But baseball struck out looking when the writers failed to elect Craig Biggio to its version of the "He-Man Woman Haters Club."

Money drives the world. It can't buy happiness, but it sure can buy things that make you happy. After all, cash is king. Professional sports pays its "clients" more handsomely than almost any other industry. If you're good, you can make bank if you want. Forget loyalty, throw that out the window, because the next guy is putting an extra zero at the end of that check. It's easy to get caught up in money. There are numerous examples. Take A-Rod, Randy Johnson, and Jason Giambi for example, and that's only the Yankees. I don't care that A-Rod was traded, no. But then look at a guy like Craig Biggio. Before we get into the statistical robbery that occured, lets look at the character.

Biggio was drafted by the Houston Astros in the first round of the 1987 MLB Draft. He made his debut in 1988 for the club, and he NEVER played for another team. Biggio came up as a catcher, and changed his position about five times to make his boss happy. He was a fixture in the Houston community. He has won numerous awards for that hard work and charity. He won the Roberto Clemente Award, perhaps the most prestigious community and sportsmanship award in sports. He won the Hutch Award in 2005, given annually to a player who shows tremendous competitive fire and will to win. He won the Branch Rickey Award in 1997, given to the person (not player) in Major League Baseball who exemplifies tremendous community service. So throwing his numbers completely out of the equation, that's a good start for a Hall of Fame resume.

He could have average numbers with that start and still have a good shot to make the Hall of Fame on his first try. 2,000 hits, maybe 300 steals, throw a couple of Gold Gloves in there, you've got a case anyway. Forget the fact that his numbers are good enough to get him in alone. How about the fact that Biggio, a player whose entire career was spent in the steroids era, was never once associated with steroids? He played with Jeff Bagwell, Roger Clemens, and Andy Pettitte, so any argument about temptation not being there is now gone. He was never in trouble. Biggio tore his ACL and MCL in the middle of his career. It was hardly a blip on the radar for him, coming back to have numerous productive seasons.

So now let's look at those stats that apparently were not good enough to get Biggio elected to Cooperstown on the first try. Biggio was a career .281 hitter. Okay, that's about the only above average stat he has, because everything else is exceptional. He has 3,060 hits. He has 3,060 hits. No typo. If you have 3,000 hits, and your name isn't involved in scandal, you go to the Hall. Period. Aside from that, Biggio has 291 career home runs. You might look at it as average, and it is, for a career cleanup hitter. But Biggio was a career leadoff hitter. He had fifty leadoff homeruns...fifty. That's the most in National League history. Oh yeah, he stole 414 bases.

Craig Biggio celebrates his 3,000th hit with his family photo credit: celebritybabies.people.com

Okay the hard numbers are there. Now let's look at the accomplishment aspect of Biggio's career. He had 10,000 at bats. Only twenty-three players in MLB history have reached that number. His 3,060 hits have only been passed by nineteen other players. Craig Biggio fell nine home runs shy of 300 for his career. Had he hit nine more homeruns, he would have become only the second player in MLB history with 3,000 hits, 300 homers, and 300 steals. The other one is in Cooperstown, his name is Willie Mays. Biggio is the only player in history with 3,000 hits, 600 doubles, 400 steals, and 250 home runs. When he retired, he was fifth in career doubles, and also had the most doubles for any right handed hitter...in history. He did all of this while flying under the radar, for the most part.

Biggio was a seven time All-Star. He won four Gold Gloves, without ever really having a true primary position. He won five Silver Slugger awards. He played in a World Series. His number is retired in Houston, and he deserves a spot in Cooperstown. He deserved to be voted in today. This hits home a lot more for me because I grew up playing second base. I was the Houston Astros mascot for Halloween one year. I loved Craig Biggio because he played baseball the right way, the hard way. He kept his mouth shut, he put his head down, and he went to work every day. In the group that could have been elected today, Craig Biggio is definitely the kid who seems to do everything right.

Roll Tide On South Beach

Happy 2013 everyone. It's been a while since I've been on cyber space, and since there was so much excitement about it last night, I figured it was time to rejoin. Over 100,000 followers for one girl whose face was shown on the television about five times? I would like to firmly say I was not one of those bandwagon followers who decided to follow Katherine Webb's (AJ McCaron's girlfriend) every move on twitter. No, I was already following her. Just kidding, on both accounts--I definitely am now following her. And despite twitter followers, she was not the center of attention last night. Believe it or not there was a football game that went on in Miami, sort of.

Nick Saban and Alabam wave to fans after winning last night's National Championship. photo credit: sbnation.com

I, like most of you, believed Notre Dame had a chance to beat Alabama in last night's BCS Championship game. 12-0...great coach...tough schedule...and it was Notre Dame. And then they played. It quickly became: 12-1...good coach...mediocre schedule...still Notre Dame though. Rudy couldn't have saved the Irish. Forrest Gump was not needed for the Tide. Alabama manhandled Notre Dame. That's being nice. They made them look like the Little Giants, before they beat the Cowboys, of course. Notre Dame's version of Becky "The Icebox" O'Shea forgot how to tackle. Notre Dame's secondary looked like they might as well have been wearing honolulu blue and silver. When you've got Manti Te'o missing tackles, and the grand canyon for Eddie Lacy to run through, well that's when you see 42-14. All of that on the table, the Irish deserved to be there.

Now the haters out there will take to twitter and say they would have rather seen Oregon (cough Lebron--can't pass up an opportunity to hate on him). Maybe Oregon would have fared better. Maybe the New York Jets would have fared better, although probably not. But the point is, the Irish went 12-0. Nobody beat them, no matter how many teams should have beat them. They did not play an easy schedule. It was rather the opposite. That Oregon team lost to Stanford...Notre Dame did not. Sure the Cardinal had a different quarterback for the two games, but how is it Notre Dame's fault that Stanford couldn't evaluate their talent well enough when they came to South Bend? You go 12-0 and you are Notre Dame, you're going to the title game. Deal with it. Get over it. Period.

The problem for Notre Dame was not their schedule. It wasn't anything they did or did not do. They ran into a brick wall. Ronald Reagan couldn't have influenced that wall coming down. I thought it was ironic that at halftime Brian Kelly didn't have much to say about what his team could do better. For the first time in a while, instead of dancing around the question and giving the generic "we have to execute our game plan better and not make mental mistakes," Kelly instead said what everybody watching the game was thinking: Alabama is damn good.

Tricky Nick

It starts at the top. You've heard that saying numerous times. Half the time you don't even know what it means. In sports, however, it's clear. The coach runs the show, unless Kobe is on your team. College football is no different. And whether you love him or hate him, Nick Saban may be the best ever.

There's a bold statement to capture your attention. The thing is I hate Nick Saban. I don't know him at all. I've never met him, I've never seen him, I have hardly heard him speak. But I hate him. The guy is cheat codes. He's too good. My hatred for Saban started long before the entire state of Alabama began its love affair with the coach. Nick Saban made a name for himself in East Lansing. Two hot shot young coaches were making names for both themselves and their programs. Saban had made Michigan State football relevant for the first time since Bubba Smith laced up his cleats. And Tom Izzo had recaptured the "magic" that MSU basketball had been so desperately missing. There they were, two coaches in the spotlight, doing the right things, and winning. And just like that, Saban was gone.

Nick Saban coaching Michigan State. photo credit: wosn.tv

Now LSU is a more appealing job than Michigan State is, plain and simple. Saban could have made Michigan State into a power though. But he left. Oh well, he thought it would advance his career, and he was right. I guess it makes me love Tom Izzo more. All the times he could have bolted, whether for other college jobs or the NBA, Izzo stayed put. Saban did it the easy way. He took the job at LSU. He won a national title. He left. Insert the Miami Dolphins and go ahead and describe it as disaster. Back to college for Nick, and it's unlikely he will ever leave again. Why the hell would he? Five mil a year, any high school player you want, and oh yeah you coach in the heart of dixie. He was bound to win the game in Miami, since he hardly won anything in the pros there. Saban is so good he makes the Auburn girls like Alabama. And now Nick is approaching that other coach from dixie, Bear Bryant.

It's going to be difficult for Saban to ever achieve the love that Bear Bryant has in Alabama. The stadium in Tuscaloosa is named after him for Christ's sake. But one thing has been presented: Saban is the greatest college football coach in this era. That is certainly up for debate and many people will debate it. But think about it. Saban has now faced three of the four midwestern powerhouse football programs, in the last three years. Notre Dame...check. Michigan...check. Michigan State...check. The scores of those games? A combined 132-35. Are you kidding me? 132-35???

Those games illustrate to me why Saban is the best since the Bear. In all three of those games, there was plenty of time for both teams to prepare. Are Alabama's players more talented than those three teams? Yeah, probably. But not 100 points better. Saban faced Michigan State and Notre Dame at the end of the season. He had about a month to prepare for both of those games. He faced Michigan at the beginning of the year. He had plenty of time to prepare for that one, too. Mark D'Antonio, Brady Hoke, and Brian Kelly are all very good coaches. Yet Saban made all of them look like they were coaching their first game.

Is that the whole story? Obviously not. Saban has lost games as well. He lost one this year. But even Bear Bryant lost games. Three titles in four seasons. Four titles overall. And kids, the scary part is that he isn't done. Expect Alabama to be back. They had five players drafted in the first thirty-five picks of last year's NFL Draft. And then they won another National Championship. Whether you are in cyber space or real life, that is pretty damn good.

Low-mas

When Barry Sanders played with the Lions, he was nothing short of amazing. Sanders had an impact on the city that few athletes had before him, and few will have after him. He retired as the second leading rusher in NFL history, trailing only Walter Payton. And when he retired, most sports fans wondered what he could have done had he played a few more years. Most Detroit fans wondered what he could have done with a decent offensive line. But the one exception to that line (for those who don't know about Kevin Glover, and that seems to be a lot) was Lomas Brown.

Brown was a very good lineman for Detroit. He anchored the Lions' line for eleven years, and created holes for Sanders to run through, which he did, a lot. He was hardly ever injured, missing only one game with Detroit. He made seven straight Pro Bowls at a point in his career. He was everything you want in an offensive lineman, a guy that represented your team and your city well; and then last Friday happened.

Lomas Brown blocking for the Lions photo credit: apse.net

Now Rob Parker set the bar pretty low for people (that associate with Detroit) to mess up on what they say nationally, with his comments on RGIII. But as any good competitor will do, Brown challenged him. When talking about a game against Green Bay in 1994, Lomas admitted to personally allowing quarterback Scott Mitchell to be in a position to get injured, which is exactly what happened. Mitchell broke his hand, Dave Krieg came in, rallied the team from a big deficit, and who would have thought, the Lions still lost. Then, on top of his idiocy to begin with, Lomas decided to say, "I've been out of the game since '02. I don't think that much can happen to me. Yes, America, yes, I did it." I don't feel like looking up my college notes on footnotes, so that's from the world-wide leader.

I like to take a pretty laid-back approach when writing these because I think when you mix humor with good content, your readers enjoy the piece. There is no humor in this article because it just isn't funny. Are you kidding me, Lomas Brown? Now I double checked just to be certain, and Lomas Brown did graduate from college, although you may not know it from this decision. Whether or not something can happen to him from a legal/financial standpoint, I don't know. Somehow my guess is we are going to find out soon. But throw that stuff out for a second, and consider something a lot more important than money. Brown does a lot of work with kids, whether it's through charity or coaching. Wonder what he's going to tell them about this little episode...

It's no secret Scott Mitchell wasn't liked in Detroit. He was overpaid to begin with; he didn't live up to expectations; simply put, he sucked. But as bad as someone is, you don't go out and hope he gets injured! Take Stefan Logan, for example. No person in their right mind wants Logan to get injured. You hope the coach takes him out, God yes. But hoping he gets injured? No. Give Mitchell a lot of credit through this whole situation. Lomas lobbed him a perfect alley-oop and instead of bashing Brown for his comments, perhaps the most disliked quarterback in recent memory has given everyone a reason to like him. Mitchell said to do that shows, "a blatant disrespect for the game," and he is right on the money, even if none of his throws ever were.

Scott Mitchell walking off the field after getting injured against Green Bay in 1994 photo credit: usatoday.com

I'll give credit to Brown for one little thing: he had the courage to speak his mind truthfully. Good for you. The same can be said about Rob Parker. They both were honest and these days that counts for something. But for everyone's benefit, keep it to yourself you idiot. You can think that. You can even say it, but say it to your wife, not to America. It sets an AWFUL example for kids who are growing up, and it sets an even worse example for those idolize YOU. It's not that difficult of a concept; think before you speak. Should I go on national television/radio and say how I actually tried to let someone get hurt? Right up there with should I actually pour my five year old cousin these shots of 151...

Sometime in the next few days, Brown will probably come out and apologize, not apologizing for his comments but for the setting in which he said them. It won't be heartfelt. He made sure of that when he clarified that what he said was absolutely correct. And he also clarified another thing for all of us. He made that question a lot more valid and a lot more mysterious. What would it have been like if Barry Sanders had a decent offensive line?