Ali Helped Mold the Modern Athlete, But There Likely Won't Be Another Like Him Again

Today is the legendary Muhammad Ali’s 70th birthday. Many people, including Ali himself, have called Ali the greatest of all time. Is Ali the greatest of all time? Maybe? I don’t know if he’d rank number one if I made a list of the greatest athletes of all time, in fact he probably would not, but I’m certain he’d be near the top. There’s no doubting, at least, that Ali is one of the greatest. 

One of the things that made Ali the greatest wasn’t just his amazing boxing skills inside the ring, but what he stood for outside of the ring. In fact, he stood for a couple of things outside of the ring. He stood for a glimpse into the future – for better or worse – and he stood for what he believed in. The reason why I say that Ali was a glimpse into the future is that Ali was a brash personality who ran his mouth as well as he competed. Top notch at both he helped create the modern day athlete who’s got a larger than life ego and does stuff like talk about themselves in the third person. But, while that comes off as unlikable among many of today’s modern athletes, it’s probably the thing we love the most about Ali and that’s because he always seemed to back it up. It’s rare to have a brash athlete that is that beloved. The only one I can think that comes close is Pro Football Hall of Famer Deion Sanders, but on an obvious lesser level. 

The other thing that makes Ali such an iconic figure is that he stood for what he believed. In 1967, Ali was essentially vilified in this country for refusing to be conscripted into the U.S. military during the war in Vietnam, because of his Islamic beliefs and his general opposition to the war. This isn’t something that Ali should’ve been vilified for, but championed for, which is now the way many view his decision. Ali stood up for what he thought was right, how can you honestly vilify someone for that? In today’s sports world there aren’t many athletes who would go to this type of length to stand up for themselves, and this is an example of how Ali molded the modern day athlete, but also why we likely won’t ever see another like him again. Happy birthday, champ.  

Barkley Easily Athlete MVP of 'SNL' Hosts

There have been many professional athletes or former athletes that have hosted “Saturday Night Live” over the years; in fact, the number of athlete hosts approaches 30, but of all of those athlete hosts there is only one who has hosted multiple episodes. That is Pro Basketball Hall of Famer and current TNT NBA analyst Charles Barkley, who last night hosted ‘SNL’ for his third time. 

Why is Barkley the only athlete or former athlete to ever host ‘SNL’ more than once? It’s because he’s the best, and in my opinion, it’s not even close.

“Saturday Night Live” has had athlete hosts for almost as long as the legendary sketch comedy show has existed. The very first athlete host was Pro Football Hall of Famer and legendary Minnesota Vikings quarterback Frank Tarkenton back in 1977. Other notable athletes who hosted the show include O.J. Simpson, Michael Jordan, Wayne Gretzky, Deion Sanders, Jeff Gordon, Bill Russell, Joe Montana, Walter Payton, George Foreman, Derek Jeter, Tom Brady, Lance Armstrong and Peyton Manning.

Almost always episodes hosted by athletes are absolutely horrible. Of that entire list I previously mentioned, only Manning really hosted a decent episode. It’s so bad when athletes host that most of the time when they’re announced a feeling of dread comes over me well before the famous “Live from New York, it’s Saturday night …” is read. We fans have been quite thankful that, other than Barkley, there hasn’t been an athlete host the show in three and a half years since Olympic gold medal winning swimmer Michael Phelps hosted (that was a particularly dreadful episode) in 2008.  

What sets Barkley apart though?

Most of it has to do with that fact that Barkley is just an all-around funny and fun-loving guy in real life. His exuberant personality has led many times to pregame, postgame and halftime shows on TNT basketball coverage being funnier than entire episodes of ‘SNL.’ Most athletes that ‘SNL’ has chosen to host other than Barkley simply don’t have these funny personas. In fact, Manning has absolutely zero personality, which is why the fact that his hosting stint wasn’t half-bad was extremely impressive and surprising.

There is one knock on Barkley that seems to pop up on social media sites like Twitter when Sir Charles stops by Studio 8H for ‘SNL’ and that’s that Barkley is a “bad actor” and “noticeably reads cue cards.” Both of those knocks are actually true, but I must ask, “what’s the big deal?” We all know going in that Barkley isn’t an actor and we also all know going in that these guys, including the cast members, read off of cue cards. If the humor of the show is funny and Barkley gets laughs, which he does, than these shouldn’t really hurt the episode.

Now, if I had to choose a list of the greatest hosts in ‘SNL’ history or my personal favorite ‘SNL’ hosts I doubt that Barkley would appear on either list, but when it comes to athletes hosting he honestly is a unanimous MVP.     

Why I Feel Bad for the Houston Texans ...

I don’t typically feel bad for sports teams. There’s very rarely any reason to feel bad for them as they mostly make their own destiny through winning, losing, good and bad decisions and the like. However, as we’re on the verge of the NFL Playoffs I can’t help but feel really bad for one franchise … and that’s the Houston Texans.

For 10 years that franchise has struggled through many bad seasons, only posting a winning record prior to this season in 2009, and has never made a trip to the playoffs. This season they were set up to own their division thanks to a Peyton Manning-less Indianapolis Colts and a weak Tennessee Titans and Jacksonville Jaguars teams, and they did. They posted their first division title with a 10-6 record and it was made all the more impressive by the fact that they were without their best defensive player Mario Williams for most of the year, their best receiver (and maybe the NFL’s best receiver) Andre Johnson for most of the year and their star quarterback (and a vastly underrated one at that) Matt Schaub for a good portion of the season to end the season. 

The Texans with all their pieces together would’ve been a threat to win the AFC and I’m not joking in the least when I say that. And, that’s why I feel bad for this team. They’ve waited 10 years for this moment and they finally get there and could’ve really done something and they stand absolutely no chance of going deep into the playoffs, in fact, they very likely will lose to the Cincinnati Bengals in the first round this weekend. That absolutely sucks.   

5 Greatest Japanese MLB Players

5. Takashi Saito – 21-15 W/L, 2.18 ERA, 84 Saves, 389 K, 1X All Star – 6 seasons 

4. Kazuhiro Sasaki – 3.14 ERA, 129 saves in 4 seasons, Rookie of the Year, 2X All Star

3. Hideo Nomo – 123-109 W/L, 4.24 ERA, 1918 K, 1X All Star, Rookie of the Year, 2 no hitters

  

2.  Hideki Matsui - .285 BA, 173 HR, 753 RBI, 1239 Hits, 2X All Star, World Series MVP

1. Ichiro Suzuki - .326 average, 95 HR, 605 RBI, 2478 Hits, MVP, 10X All Star, 10X Gold Glover, Rookie of the Year

Long road lies ahead for new NBC Sports Network

Attention sports fans! A new 24/7 sports network is debuting this afternoon. The NBC Sports Network, which was formerly known as Versus, is set to launch today. The network was set to launch at 3 p.m. following the NHL Winter Classic hockey match between the Philadelphia Flyers and New York Rangers on NBC, but that match has been pushed back two hours due to weather conditions. There is no word on whether or not the network will launch at 3 p.m. as expected or wait until following the game. The network was supposed to begin with a recap show of the Winter Classic. 

The start of a new 24/7 sports network is really quite a big deal as ESPN, which started in 1979 with one network and has expanded to many since then, has basically owned the landscape. There are other successful sports programming networks like the NFL Network and MLB Network, but they’re dedicated to one specific sport as their names imply. NBC Sports Network knows that it’s a long road ahead and for the time being there really is no way to compete with ESPN, but they hope to be strict competitors in the future. NBC Sports Chairman Mark Lazarus says that the NBC Sport Network is on a five-year plan to start out slowly and gain viewers by hopefully attracting big time sports leagues.

ESPN launched in 1979, most of which you can learn about indepthly through James Andrew Miller and Tom Shales’ great 2010 book “Those Guys Have All The Fun: Inside the World of ESPN,” and didn’t have any big time sports at the time, but grew slowly, but surely over the years. Now over 32 years later, ESPN is the king of televised sports and there doesn’t seem to be anything that can compete with it. 

This is where NBC Sports Network really has a tough task ahead of it. In 1979 there wasn’t any competition to deal with as far as sports cable programming so ESPN could take its time to build. That opportunity might not exist in 2012, especially with most sports viewers opting for the behemoth ESPN for their sports news. 

The fact that the NBC Sports Network doesn’t have any big time sports upon its launch, and doesn’t look like they will for the first couple to few years is also a big negative in its corner. The network doesn’t have live game coverage of the NFL, NBA or MLB or even other popular sports like NASCAR. ESPN has all of those, as well as a few other networks. The biggest attraction that the NBC Sports Network has is the NHL. Other sports that the network will carry in its first year include college football, basketball and hockey (though many of the college football and basketball games aren’t noteworthy), Major League Soccer (a clear fringe sport), the IndyCar Series (struggling in ratings and will only get worse now that Danica Patrick has left for NASCAR), the Tour de France (good luck) and the Olympics (possibly the network’s saving grace in 2012). 

Hockey via the NHL is going to be the network’s biggest draw throughout its first year and probably further into its run. In 2012 alone the network will air 90 regular season games and a whopping 50 playoff games. This week alone the network will air four games, including the San Jose Sharks at the Vancouver Canucks tonight on its first night of programming. The one thing really going for this startup network is that for the first few years it’ll probably be a hockey fan’s dream, as the sport has been almost completely neglected by other networks.

Other programming that will be spread throughout the network’s debut week includes original shows like “NFL Turning Point,” “NHL 36,” “NHL Overtime” and “SportsBiz: Game On,” as well as coverage of the motorsport Dakar Rally, snowboarding, skiing and assorted fishing programming. The network will also debut new original documentaries like “Cold War on Ice: Summit Series ‘72” and “NBC Sports: A Storied Journey.” 

The biggest original debut for the network will come at 5 p.m. on Monday (if it’s not affected by the time change of the Winter Classic) when it debuts its “NBC SportsTalk” Monday through Friday weekday show that will basically be the network’s answer to ESPN’s “SportsCenter”(note the lack of space between both titles). “NBC SportsTalk” (it’s already evident they should shorten it to just ‘SportsTalk’) is supposedly going to be more conversational than “SportsCenter.” It should be interesting to see how the show compares and does against “SportsCenter” as it airs at the same time as the early evening “SportsCenter” telecast.  

Hockey and the other fringe sports might keep the network afloat, but they certainly won’t bring in big ratings. The network will have to be a big player in the negotiating rights for the NFL, MLB, NBA or even NASCAR when those packages become available in the next few years. The NBC Sports Network might have actually hurt itself somewhat from the get go as they plan on cutting back on some of the old Versus fare like bullriding and MMA. The cutting of MMA is one that might especially hurt, as it’s a sport that’s clearly growing in popularity in the country. 

The biggest break for the NBC Sports Network is that it’s launching in a year in which NBC’s broadcasting the London Summer Olympics. The network will likely carry much of NBC’s Olympics slate, as in the past the network has spread its programming over its other networks like USA, which don’t typically show sports programming. The London Olympics should really boost the network’s ratings in its first year on the air. 

As for the on-air talent the network is adding mostly new faces to the forefront, but will also make use of some of its already well-known commentators like Bob Costas and Dan Patrick. The fresh faces look might be a risky start for the network, as bigger names headlining the programming could have lead to a bigger viewership right from the start. 

More sports programming on television is something that’s always going to be a plus for sports fans and it wouldn’t hurt for ESPN to have some competition, but the NBC Sports Network will definitely have a long haul ahead of them without a big sports league and their competition being so huge. However, if they get off to a decent start, in a few years they might be a pretty big player in sports television. Though, that’s a pretty good-sized if.

10 Best Games or Sporting Events I Watched This Year

10. PGA Championship: Rookie Keegan Bradley wins the PGA















9. Braves/Pirates 19 inning game: Braves beat Pirates in 19 innings on likely the worst missed call of 2011














8. The Masters: Charl Schwartzel wins on thrilling final day














7. Super Bowl: Injury plagued Green Bay Packers beat Pittsburgh Steelers














6. Japan beats U.S. in Women's World Cup on Penalty Kicks













5. Dallas Mavericks comeback in game 2 of NBA Finals to beat Miami heat

4. Rookie Trevor Bayne wins the Daytona 500 in just his second career start

3. Dan Wheldon wins the Indy 500 when rookie and probably winner J.R. Hildebrand wrecks in final turn












2. Game 6 of World Series: Back and forth game ends on extra innings walkoff by St. Louis Cardinals third baseman David Freese












1. NASCAR Sprint Cup finale at Homestead-Miami where Tony Stewart and Carl Edwards duke it out for the closest championship in NASCAR history

Leaning on Tebow's Everlasting Arm

Y’all remember in May when that crazy old Christian radio dude Harold Camping said that he had a mathematical equation that told him the rapture would occur and the world would come to an end on May 21. Then when that didn’t happen he said that his math was wrong and he was off by five months and the rapture would actually occur on October 21. And, then when that didn’t happen he said that it actually had happened, but the ones of us who were left behind had not been taken up to our savior’s home in the sky.

Well, I believe Harold Camping was right. Now, I know it might sound crazy, but hear me out. I believe that Camping was in fact telling the truth after the first wrong prediction when he said he was off by five months and I too believe him when he said that the rapture did in fact happen on October 21.

Why? Because two days after that a returned Jesus Christ inhabited the body of Denver Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow and the lowly Broncos beat the Miami Dolphins. They would lose the next week to the Detroit Lions, but then they would embark on a six-game winning streak that could only be referred to as miraculous.

Sure, the Mighty Tebows lost pretty handedly to the New England Patriots on Sunday, but they had to because people were catching on and you don’t want anybody jumping on the Jesus bandwagon because they all think they’re going to Hell.

Don’t bandwagoners suck, y’all?

But, here’s the plan between now and the beginning of February. Tebow is going to continue leading the Broncos to victories. He’ll first win the AFC West division, he’ll then beat whoever he has to in the first few rounds of the playoffs and then he’ll take the Super Bowl by storm putting on the greatest show the football world has ever seen, which will include saving Madonna at halftime and then when that clock strikes all zeroes and the Broncos have won the Super Bowl and Tebow the MVP all of the Tebow believers will pile on Tebow’s shoulder pads and ride that highway to the sky, while all of us non-believers will die in a fiery blood storm that will include getting stomped by Ndamukong Suh, hit in the head by James Harrison and forced to listen to Rex Ryan press conferences for all eternity. For all of us who will face this damnation I can only hope that Tebow will have mercy on our souls.       

My 2011-2012 NBA Season Predictions

 Western Conference

Northwest:

1. Oklahoma City Thunder
2. Portland Trail Blazers
3. Utah Jazz
4. Denver Nuggets
5. Minnesota Timberwolves

Pacific:

1. Los Angeles Clippers
2. Los Angeles Lakers
3. Phoenix Suns
4. Sacramento Kings
5. Golden State Warriors

Southwest:

1. Dallas Mavericks
2. Memphis Grizzlies
3. San Antonio Spurs
4. Houston Rockets
5. New Orleans Hornets

Eastern Conference:
Atlantic:

1. New York Knicks
2. Boston Celtics
3. New Jersey Nets
4. Philadelphia 76ers
5. Toronto Raptors

Central:

1. Chicago Bulls
2. Indiana Pacers
3. Milwaukee Bucks
4. Detroit Pistons
5. Cleveland Cavaliers

Southeast:

1. Miami Heat
2. Atlanta Hawks
3. Orlando Magic
4. Washington Wizards
5. Charlotte Bobcats

Western Playoffs: 1. Thuder 2. Mavericks 3. Clippers 4. Lakers 5. Grizzlies 6. Spurs 7. Blazers 8. Suns

Eastern Playoffs: 1. Heat 2. Bulls 3. Knicks 4. Celtics 5. Hawks 6. Magic 7. Pacers 8. Bucks