Wednesday, April 30, 2014

Dropping the Banhammer

Photo from Getty Images
This news is almost a day old and probably overtalked at this point. But I feel like I should take note of what was a milestone day in American sports history. Yesterday was a day that could have far-reaching implications for years to come.

I'm sure by now you've at least heard about the comments Donald Sterling made to his girlfriend, if not actually heard the recordings. And after a couple days of deliberation for due process, as should have been done, the NBA determined it was Sterling, and thus banned him for life from anything NBA-related for all intents and purposes, and fined him $2.5 million. It's chump change for Sterling, but does make a statement. The biggest deal out of all of this is that commissioner Adam Silver is going to try to push the other owners to call for a vote to force Sterling to sell his stake in the Clippers.

I'll cut to the chase. What Sterling said was despicable. It's 2014; we should be far beyond all this racial nonsense. Sadly, these tensions still exist and we have a long way to go despite what anyone else may say. It's an attitude that has no place in society.

Screenshot of clippers.com (from Bleacher Report)
That being said, there's a major component ignored by the media at large that deserves some mention, and a lot of public commentary on a lot of the news stories ask these questions.  No one seems to be talking about the culpability of V. Stiviano, who made the recording. A lot of arguments have been made about the fact that Sterling was recorded and whether or not it was done knowingly. Some sources quoted in the ESPN story linked above say that Sterling knew he was being recorded, which is in accordance with California law (in California and some other states, both parties have to be aware of and give permission to be recorded; in others, only one party needs to be aware). Either way, the fact that these recordings were released, likely without Sterling's permission is alarming. I'm not sure if she can be prosecuted, but a defamation lawsuit from Sterling may follow. Some commenters on these news stories have called Stiviano a "gold digger" in that she may have released these tapes to get some money from Sterling. I'm not sure whether or not that's true, but it's something to be considered.

Photo by Mark J. Terrill/AP
The other argument that baffles me that other people have made is that somehow Donald Sterling's First Amendment rights have been taken away. I was required to take a Communication Law class as part of my Broadcast Communication major at North Central, and we did talk about the First Amendment in there. What a lot of people don't realize is that the First Amendment only protects you from government punishment based on what you say. Freedom of speech is not freedom from consequences. If I said something on here that was incredibly offensive, as long as I'm not placed under arrest or the government at any level doesn't try to shut COAS down, my First Amendment rights aren't being infringed on. You would have the right to call me an idiot, call for me to stop posting, demand I take the post down, or what have you, and I wouldn't be able to claim infringing of my rights.

There's one big matter that hasn't been attended to yet, and that's whether or not the Clippers can/will be sold. Silver did say he would like the owners to pursue this. And according to ESPN legal analyst Lester Munson, they can call for a vote to revoke his ownership. This would be a dangerous precedent, however. Even though I think you could make the argument that Sterling did damage the brand to adversely affect the league, the question is whether or not he did anything to violate a contractual obligation. If they can successfully argue that he did, we could see him forced to sell the team. But let's be honest: even though owning an NBA team is a privilege, not a right, and the government isn't involved, this is a largely unprecedented case for the NBA and American sports as a whole. Mark Cuban is right to call it a "very, very, very slippery slope". Even though I don't think Sterling should own the Clippers, is it the right move to force him to sell? What if, down the line, another owner says something in private that comes off maybe not quite as offensive as what Sterling said, but enough furor ensues that people demand he or she be forced to give up their ownership? Do we really want to open that can of worms?

Like others have said, this should have been taken care of years ago. Donald Sterling is a scumbag; this is not up for debate. What is is what should happen going forward. Even though it's 2014 and we've made progress, there's still more to be made. And I hope all parties involved don't do anything that could mean major trouble down the road.

Wednesday, April 23, 2014

Happy Birthday Wrigley!

If you read my MLB previews, and in particular the NL Central preview, you know that for the third year in a row, I have absolutely no faith in the Cubs this season. I think I've already tweeted out something to the effect of "#Cubes" about half a dozen times so far this year, which seems light given how bad the Cubs have been so far unless they're facing the somehow worse Arizona Diamondbacks. But today is a special day.

A lot has changed since April 23, 1914. My grandparents weren't alive yet, the World Series drought was at a whopping five, going on six years, and Weeghman Park was a single-tier stadium that held fewer than 20,000 fans. The Chicago Tribune has a great interactive graphic on how the park has changed in the last 100 years and what's to come.

Photo from April 13, 2009 game vs. Colorado
Wrigley was not my first Major League ballpark; that distinction belongs to the Metrodome when I was about three or four and Kirby Puckett was still doing Kirby Puckett things (RIP Kirby). I didn't want to stay for the whole game though; we left in about the seventh inning. My first full game though was a trip to Wrigley in the summer of 1998 when Sammy Sosa was on the juice baseball was undergoing a rebirth following the '94 lockout. Sosa would hit his 38th of 66 home runs that year and the Cubs would win.

Since then, I've been to Wrigley at least once every season. And despite most of those years ranging from mediocre to abysmal, the Cubs have had a minimum of a .500 record when I've been there every season except, weirdly enough, 2008.

Photo from April 22, 2009 game vs. Cincinnati
I have a lot of great memories of times at Wrigley Field. I skipped school one day in April of my sophomore year of high school to freeze my butt off for a double header. I've had seats right behind home plate thanks to connections with the Muscular Dystrophy Association. North Central has had alumni outings here every year towards the beginning of the season, and I was for all intents and purposes kidnapped into going last season by my wonderful fiancee. I was out in the bleachers the day Fergie Jenkins and Greg Maddux had their numbers retired in 2009, and again last year when Joel Quenneville brought the Stanley Cup with him to throw out the first pitch. I've heard multiple insults thrown at opposing outfielders and laughed at the chorus of boos directed at a guy wearing a Cardinals shirt at a Cubs-Orioles game (and the call in the ninth inning from a probably drunk guy that "It's not too late to throw him onto the field!"). It's where I saw my first two walkoff wins in person, including one from the bleachers after a phenomenal pitcher's duel between Ryan Dempster and Tim Lincecum. It's also the site of my favorite game I've attended in person back in 2003 when the Cubs blew out the Brewers behind a wealth of home runs; Kerry Wood was part of a set of back-to-back-to-back jacks, and Sammy Sosa hit a pair of bombs, including one that went at least 520 feet (I can still see that ball sailing well past me out over Waveland and onto Kenmore Avenue).

Photo from May 3, 2013 game vs. Cincinnati
My dad has been going to games at Wrigley since he first moved to Chicagoland in 1984, and he's the one who introduced me to this cathedral of baseball. He'll be the first to tell you that "Wrigley is a pit", and even said so in a project I did during my senior year at North Central for my Writing Across Media class. But he and I can both attest to the magical feeling that you get when you're on the Red Line approaching the Addison stop when you can first see the lights atop the ballpark, and the atmosphere you get when you first step out of the station and into the neighborhood. Just being among that throng of people and seeing the history in and around the ballpark... you can't really put it into words. If you haven't been yet, you need to.

I'm not sure yet when I'm going to make it to Wrigley this season. Planning a wedding while working on a new home, plus a honeymoon takes up a lot of your time. Hopefully I'll be able to make it there after all the excitement is past and I can celebrate the Party of the Century with the Birthday Park itself.

Tuesday, April 8, 2014

Way Post-Super Bowl, Pre-Draft NFL Quarterback Ratings

Instead of doing this right after the Super Bowl this year, I opted instead for a crazy tournament where a simulator determined that the 1999 St. Louis Rams were the greatest team of all time (or at least, the greatest Super Bowl winner).

Two months later, ESPN finally did what they did last year and added a ranking poll of 34 NFL quarterbacks. Being the sucker I am, I went for it.

Obviously there's some debate in terms of particular order, but like I did last year, I'm going to separate these quarterbacks into tiers. The tier names may change, but the principle is pretty much the same. I'm also including the overall SportsNation rankings as of the time I submitted my list.

Saturday, April 5, 2014

Making a Muscle, Making a Difference

If you have been something of a long time reader of COAS, you'll know the ties my family has to the Muscular Dystrophy Association. For eleven-plus years now we've been doing everything we can to help my brother Logan in his fight against Duchenne muscular dystrophy. Today was one of the big days every year.

Whether it's been at the Naperville Riverwalk, Brookfield Zoo, the United Center or most recently Soldier Field, for years my family has raised money as we walk for Logan. Today we were along the lakefront for another installment.


It was, as always, a festive atmosphere. The Chicago Bears Drumline was in attendance today, and a lot of teams dressed up for the occasion as well. The most impressive was Costumers With a Cause, where a group of people dressed up as various TV and movie characters.

But I think one of the best things about this year's walk was the team we had assembled. We had quite a few family friends that made the trip to join us, but Logan's most recent family was also there. 

Logan started high school back in August, but rather than follow in my footsteps and attend Aurora Christian, he ended up at Aurora Central Catholic, and they've done a decent job of accommodating him. During the fall we found out that ACC's football team was participating in Coach to Cure MD, a program that many high schools and colleges do to help fight muscular dystrophy. It's something they've done for a few years, but they'd never had a face to the cause... until this year.

My dad got in touch with head coach Brian Casey, who told the team, and Logan was officially brought on board. He wore #3 for the Chargers and was on the sideline for the stretch run that included a huge win over rival Marmion and a trip to the IHSA playoffs. Most importantly, the team really took him in as one of their own. And today, four of his friends from the ACC football team along with Coach Casey joined us for the walk.

Thank you to everyone who donated to our team, as we successfully raised about $3500 to help MDA, and contributed to a grand total of over $236,000! Thank you also to everyone who has passed along well wishes or kept us in your prayers. Logan's muscles may be weak, but his spirit remains ever strong.

Make a Muscle, Make a Difference!