"Finally, tonight, the Winter Games. Count me among those who don’t like them and won’t watch them ... Because they’re so trying, maybe over the next three weeks we should all try too. Like, try not to be incredulous when someone attempts to link these games to those of the ancient Greeks who never heard of skating or skiing. So try not to laugh when someone says these are the world’s greatest athletes, despite a paucity of blacks that makes the Winter Games look like a GOP convention. Try not to point out that something’s not really a sport if a pseudo-athlete waits in what’s called a kiss-and-cry area, while some panel of subjective judges decides who won ... So if only to hasten the arrival of the day they’re done, when we can move on to March Madness — for God’s sake, let the games begin."

That was the ever 'too' outspoken  American sportscaster Bryant Gumbel prior to the opening of the 2006 Winter Games in Turin, Italy. This is unfair, but the emergence of African-American speed skating sensation,  Shani Davis, reminded me of Gumbel's foolish words.  Don't blame me, blame Gumbel.  By all accounts, Davis seems like a nice guy trying to stay focused on his quest to become the first African-American to win a Gold medal in the Winter Olympics. I'm just wondering whether Gumbel will tune into this year's edition of the Winter Games in Vancouver...?  I know I will tune in to see Davis, and I will also be watching the Canadian squads, and other athletes from other countries, from various ethnicities.

Arenas fires Washington Bullets

 'What'd I do now coach?'

Just when the dust had begun to settle from New York Giants Wide Receiver Plaxico Burress' (accidentally) self-inflicted gunshot wound to his leg last year, NBA guard Gilbert Arenas has stirred the pot once again.  The Washington Wizard pulled two handguns on teammate Javaris Crittenton in a heated dispute over a supposed gambling debt Crittenton had incurred during a card game on a team flight.

I really don't want to spend much time on this one except to say that I hope NBA Commissioner David Stern throws the book at Arenas.  Make an example of him, because the NBA cannot afford another similar occurrence.  Arenas has to be suspended at the very least for the remainder of this season. And if it were up to me, I might suspend him for life for putting other players in harm's way.

From every angle, this looks terrible. From a league perspective with regards to marketing, professionalism and sportsmanship. Furthermore, racially, as there countless young upstanding Black basketball players who will inevitably feel the racist tremors from the shock-wave that Arenas' embarrassingly idiotic actions will invoke in the United States.  You know, they'll go something like:  "Oh, the NBA has gone too Hip Hop" or "Just more Black men shooting at each other".  Way to go Arenas!

Doping the Sweet Science

So long as Filipino welterweight boxing champion and living legend, Manny Pacquiao, disagrees with the drug testing procedures his slated opponent Floyd Mayweather Jr. insists he adheres to, this bout will not happen.  Mayweather Jr. and Sr., their entourage, even Oscar De La Hoya, claim 'PacMan' is doping.  Standard doping tests for professional boxers include urine samples before and after fights however, Mayweather Jr. is demanding that Pacquiao agree to Olympic style drug testing, which includes random blood and urine tests that would commence once the contracts are signed.

Pacquiao meanwhile, refuses to agree and has since filed a defamation suit against Mayweather Jr. and his group for damages to reputation.  Good for PacMan.   Here we have a multimillion dollar athlete, who grew up without a high school education, and he has since passed his high school equivalency exams, and enrolled into Notre Dame of Dadiangas University so he can obtain a university degree for his post-boxing political career.  Mayweather's claims therefore, are certainly damaging to Pacquiao's 'from the ground up' reputation.

Without a hint of naivete from yours truly, I am well aware there's a chance Pacquiao is doping, but there's also a chance most other professional athletes are as well, Mayweather Jr. included.  Just because Oscar De La Hoya, and a handful of other of Pacquiao's Mexican chumps say he doped (because he spoon fed them the meaning of  'whoop ass'), does not legitimize their unsubstantiated and harmful accusations. If Mayweather is scared, and he should be,  he should reconsider fighting PacMan, instead of smearing him.

Torn Muscles

So we have officially moved into our new place.  It took roughly 12 hours this past Monday December 28th, but it's finally over. As for the daunting task of unpacking and setting up our new pad, well it seems mild and painless compared to the grueling affair me, Sabrina, and - thankfully - Greg went through a couple of days ago.

First, U-HAUL (I'll never recommend them) completely F*&^%^' up our reservation.  They claimed to have sent us a last minute email on Sunday at 3pm notifying us of a transfer of pick-up locations.  Needless to say, we never received the email, so we ended up at the initial location at 10am only for there to be no moving van for us. From there, U-HAUL sent us across the city to a most inconvenient location. We managed to wrestle a discount from them, but they pretty much strong armed us as we had to move that day no matter what.  Two hour later and two hours late, we finally had our moving van and were ready to go.  We spent the next three hours shuffling up and down the stairs, loading our belongings into the van, and the next 3 hours unloading it.  Simply put: BRUTAL.

All I can say is that it never hurts to have some good friends with you in a move. If it weren't for Greg, me and Sabrina on our own might have run out of steam.

In any case, at least our new place has a nice deep bathtub for me to soak my torn muscles in...

Moving...

My apologies for the extended absence.  First, the holidays and Christmas came around (a belated 'Merry Christmas' to all of you who celebrate!), and now, we're moving.  I cannot wait to be in the new place, but tomorrow is going to be hellish...  up and down the stairs in our building for a good three to four hours!  Ugh.

I'll be back soon with some things to say about Jersey Shore and the delayed Pacquiao/Mayweather Jr. fight.

I think Mayweather is scared...

I smell a smear campaign...

 

Tiger Woods, coincidentally, is being linked in media reports to a Toronto doctor currently under investigation by the FBI for prescribing PEDs... This one smells a bit fishy to me, any thoughts?

More in the coming days...

Living and Dying by the Sword

I made a conscious decision to avoid commenting on the Tiger Woods situation until things settled down.  I just had this feeling this story was going to take six or seven twists and turns before the general public had any idea what exactly had transpired.

First off, let me just say that adultery or cheating among pro athletes is nothing new, I mean, it's practically a birthright.  The only reason we hardly ever hear about it is because the professional newsmedia doesn't report on it unless law enforcement officials get involved in the process.   So while Tiger Woods secretely managed to tally up twelve (!!!) or so 'goomars', this probably never gets out unless his wife, Elin, chases him through the neighbourhood with his own nine iron - which she did.

It really isn't that difficult that take a stand on this one.  Tiger screwed up, plain and simple, and he deserves what he's getting.  His squeaky clean image has been micromanaged ever since he broke onto the PGA tour, becoming the first ever pro athlete to make a $ 1 billion.  And how did he do it?  Well, he's a pretty phenomenal golfer, but even as the top player and earner on the tour for the past decade, his tour earnings don't even come close to what he makes in sponsorship deals; on TV, in magazines and newspapers, online, and on billboards that me or you couldn't avoid if we tried.  So when the tables are turned, why should Tiger be able to turn it off?  In this day and age when superstars like Tiger top up their sponsorship deals because of intense exposure provided by new internet technology, they simply live and die by the sword.   Plain and simple, suck it up Tiger.