Best Sports Can Be, Worst Sports Can See - All in 24 Hours

It’s amazing the kind of different emotions 24 hours can elicit – particularly in sports.

April 14, 2013 was a day that represented everything sports, and life for that matter, should be all about.

April 15, 2013 was a day that represented something completely opposite. Something that should be unthinkable, but here we are thinking about it. Something so ghastly, so horrific it seems like it should only exist in a nightmare or a really bad action movie.

The final round of the Masters Tournament on Sunday afternoon was a sports fan’s euphoria.

You had about 10 different golfers with a decent chance of victory, great stories (like the three Australians: Adam Scott, Jason Day and Marc Leishman, trying to win the nation’s first Masters and Tiger Woods still attempting to win his first major in five years), great characters (Angel Cabrera, who’s the everyman golfer, and past champion, affectionately called “El Pato” or “The Duck” for his waddling gait) and a leaderboard that wouldn’t stand pat for more than 10 minutes at a time with golfer after golfer making a run to the top, only to fall back down to the rest of the oncoming pack.

Like so many Augusta Sundays before this year’s Masters was the definition of nerve-wracking. Even though I’d see many a close Final Round Sunday before this one seemed to be the tops, the best, the most nail-biting … particularly when it came down to the 18th and final hole and the ensuing two-hole, sudden-death playoff for the coveted Green Jacket, one of sport’s most enchanting and visible honors. Adam Scott, one of the game’s best without a major championship, and Angel Cabrera, a former Masters and U.S. Open champ who seems to step up his game when the trophy’s mean the most, went mano-a-mano and hit some of the best and most beautiful golf shots that you’ll ever see – and all of this with incredible pressure on their backs. The final holes and sudden-death playoff at the Masters this year was among the most intense sporting moments I’d ever witnessed – the kind of good intense where you’re heart beats rapidly, like when you experience your first kiss. In the end, Scott made two incredible putts that fell in and Cabrera made a few equally incredible shots that just missed. I, admittedly, was rooting (and very hard, in fact) for Cabrera so a slight disappointment crept over me, but it vanished almost immediately as it set it, because this tournament, these last few holes were just too damn good to feel upset about.

And, then after all the shots had been hit for the weekend and just before the patrons shuffled to their cars to head home came the moment that truly summed it all up – the moment that represents everything sports and life should be all about. Cabrera doffed his hat, walked over to a celebrating Scott and the Argentine, who doesn’t speak much English, if any, embraced the newly crowned Aussie champion in a hug. It was a moment where two warriors of the ultimate gentleman’s game showed what true class and sportsmanship is all about. Grace both on and off the golf course – fitting for Augusta, fitting for the sport, fitting for the world.    

The final round of this year’s Masters was truly magical – something I won’t soon forget – something that I’ll go out on a limb and say won’t be topped by any other sporting event this entire year, as far as sheer excitement goes.            

Magic sometimes vanishes as quickly as it appears.

Monday morning started off glorious for those competing in the 117^th Boston Marathon, one of the world’s oldest and most prestigious marathons. From explanations given by participants both in the marathon and within the marathon community – this event is one of true communal spirit and celebration, ideals that should pervade throughout the sports world.

It was going to be a good day – then came 2:50 p.m. Boston time. Two bomb blasts, 15 seconds and reportedly about 550 feet apart, ripped through the celebration right where spectators gathered near the finish line cheering on family and friends. Billowing smoke filled the sunny skies and an appalling amount of blood covered the ground – something that undoubtedly and unfortunately will remain embedded in my memory for as long, if not longer, than those enchanting golf shots from the day before. The nightmarish image on television couldn’t even possibly measure up to the scenes experienced by those at Copley Square, where the bombings took place.  The lives that are changed forever now – whether dead, maimed, only slightly injured or just witnesses of the horror.

 

We all knew it could happen. After 9/11, I know it sounds cliché to bring up every time something incredibly tragic happens, but it’s our generation’s tragedy measuring stick, we knew that sporting events – whether large or small – could be targeted for terrorist attacks, either foreign or domestic. Surely it was bound to happen. But, in the almost dozen years since 9/11 there hadn’t been any tragic incidents at sporting events involving terrorism in this country. Maybe that’s why the bombing of the Boston Marathon seemed so surprising, so out-of-the-blue, so heinous. Maybe we had told ourselves it wouldn’t happen here – it wouldn’t happen someplace where people gathered for celebration, for enjoyment, for relaxation from their everyday lives. Maybe they would only target high rises and government building and monuments.

That was too naïve.

The evil want to inflict maximum pain and joyous occasions turning to chaotic terror accomplishes that. Whoever did this to the Boston Marathon, to this country, to the world – may they be brought to justice – essentially made a sport out of terror. They took something that many hold as sacred and destroyed it, but only for a little while. Sports fans, Americans, most of the world’s people are resilient. We won’t forget, but we’ll experience that joy again.  

Whoever did this turned a sporting event into a catastrophic news event. They brought sadness and pain to where joy and comfort belong.                   

The best thing sports could be took place on Sunday afternoon. The worst thing sports could see took place on Monday afternoon. Thank God when it comes to sports there’s an awful lot more Sundays than Mondays.  

   

Mark Bechtel's 'He Crashed Me So I Crashed Him Back' A Must-Read for NASCAR Fans

Over the years I have read many different nonfiction sports books from all sorts of sports: baseball, basketball, football, etc., but have always found that books about NASCAR and its highly entertaining and interesting history are the absolute most enjoyable. Mark Bechtel’s “He Crashed Me So I Crashed Him Back” about the 1979 Daytona 500 and NASCAR premier Winston Cup series season is right at the very top of that list, along with Ed Hinton’s “Daytona: From the Birth of Speed to the Death of the Man in Black” and Joe Menzer’s “The Wildest Ride.”

The 1979 NASCAR Winston Cup season may be the greatest season in the 60-plus year history of the sport starting with the Daytona 500 race that helped to put the sport on the map as far as major sports go all the way to the very last race of the season which saw one of the sports closest all-time points finishes with a veteran and thought to be fading Richard Petty edging out the young, brash and universally disliked (at least at the time) Darrell Waltrip.

Bechtel’s book is incredibly well written with the author mixing in a great knowledge of not only the sport, but the country at the time in 1979 throwing in stuff about the struggles President Jimmy Carter faced at the time with the U.S. hostage crisis in Iran and how a young college basketball rivalry between Magic Johnson and Larry Bird would soon help to grow the NBA in a similar way to NASCAR’s budding growth. With interesting story after interesting story Bechtel’s book is a brisk read, even though it approaches nearly 300 pages.

Bechtel’s book differs from the previously mentioned books by Hinton and Menzer in that it focuses solely on one NASCAR season instead of the sports beginnings and history. This allows for it to give even the most hardcore NASCAR fans new facts and stories about the sport, whereas many NASCAR books simply re-tell already known, but so fantastic you don’t really care stories. It also allows for the most extensive and thrilling coverage of the 1979 Daytona 500, which is almost certainly the most important race in the sport’s history. Not only was the Daytona 500 going to be the first full race broadcast live on a major television network, but it also occurred on a day when much of the country was snowed in with little more to do than watch television. The race started much like every other one before it had, but by the end the nation would see something that few could imagine: a duel at the finish resulting in the two leaders taking themselves out and an all out brawl post-race in the speedway’s infield.

“He Crashed Me So I Crashed Him Back” is truly a must-read for any NASCAR fan and will tell you everything you need to know about the 1979 season and the likes of Richard Petty, Darrell Waltrip, David Pearson, Cale Yarborough, Bobby Allison, Donnie Allison and a young, determined rookie by the name of Dale Earnhardt. NASCAR’s past is the most interesting of any sport I’ve ever read about because it’s filled with realistic and utterly entertaining characters like those aforementioned above. This book will not only fill your head with all the facts of the 1979 season, but will leave you smiling with stories about some of the greatest auto racers to ever strap on a racing suit and helmet.    

Nothing Could Hurt NASCAR More Than Drivers Using Racist Language

Early Wednesday evening (Feb. 27) NASCAR announced an indefinite suspension for Nationwide Series regular Jeremy Clements for violating the sport’s Code of Conduct for actions detrimental to stock car racing. Soon after it came to light that Clements was suspended for using a racial slur.

On Thursday (Feb. 28), Clements confirmed the racial slur in an interview with ESPN.com’s Marty Smith, but claimed that he didn’t mean any offense by the term. The slur came in a conversation at Daytona International Speedway prior to the Nationwide Series race on Saturday, Feb. 23 with an unnamed reporter for MTV and a female NASCAR employee. It’s unknown whether the reporter or NASCAR employee notified NASCAR of the incident.

In the ESPN.com interview, Clements said: “When you say racial remark, it wasn't used to describe anybody or anything. So that's all I'm going to say to that. And it really wasn't. I was describing racing, and the word I used was incorrect and I shouldn't have said it. It shouldn't be used at all.”

Here’s the thing … I actually believe Clements when he says the term wasn’t meant to be offensive, but he’s obviously too ignorant to realize that a racial slur in any context is almost certainly going to be offensive. One major problem with this story is that nobody knows what exactly was said. Clements isn’t saying, NASCAR isn’t saying and the reporter thus far hasn’t come forward and said. I have a pretty good feeling that I know what the term was, especially given the context of Clements’ statement to ESPN. Since he was referring to racing and not an individual I’m willing to bet that the term used was “n*****rigged.” Again, that’s just my observation and estimation, not in any way a fact.   

No matter what racial slur Clements in fact used or what context it was in the suspension from NASCAR is warranted and needed. NASCAR drivers can’t go around using offensive and racist terms no matter what the intent behind them is. In fact, given the already stereotypical and oftentimes negative (some deserved, much of it undeserved) reputation and image that NASCAR has a driver using racial slurs is the worst possible thing NASCAR could face. I’m 100 percent serious when I say that a driver using racist language is more detrimental to NASCAR than multiple car parts flying into the stands and injuring numerous spectators, like we saw last Saturday at the end of the Nationwide Series race at Daytona.

NASCAR has come a long way in terms of diversity through its Drive for Diversity program which has seen female drivers like Danica Patrick and Johanna Long competing in the Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series respectively, Kyle Larson of Japanese-American descent competing full time this season in the Nationwide Series and Darrell Wallace Jr., who this season becomes just the fourth African-American driver to compete full time in a NASCAR series as he races in the Camping World Truck Series.

However, in the minds of many all of these positive steps the sport is making can be undone by drivers using racially insensitive language like Clements did, again no matter the context intended. Another thing that can help to set the sport back many years is the way many fans have come to Clements’ defense claiming that he shouldn’t have been suspended for his ignorant slip of the tongue. These fans and their passionate defense of Clements’ racial slur do a lot of damage to NASCAR and the stereotype that ignorant rednecks are all that follow the sport. The stereotype is drastically untrue, but if you go to Twitter right now and type the name Jeremy Clements into the search bar you might not think so.

It’s unfortunate that a NASCAR driver had enough ignorance to use a racially offensive term, even when offense wasn’t intended, but it’s absolutely disgusting to see the support given to him by fans, who claim that NASCAR should have let the slur go unpunished.

A NASCAR driver using racial slurs is a black eye for NASCAR, but letting it go unpunished could’ve been the knockout punch.   

Manti Te'o Hoax Could Happen to Anyone or: (How I Was Hoaxed by 'Loy Allen Jr.')

The story about Notre Dame Fighting Irish star linebacker Manti Te’o and his dead girlfriend being a hoax that was broken by Deadspin yesterday is certainly one of the strangest and weirdest sports stories I’ve ever heard and I know that it’s likely bound to only get stranger and weirder. I say that because it’s still to be seen whether or not Te’o was, in fact, duped by an incredibly cruel joke as he’s stated in his written response or if he actually played a knowing role in the hoax.

Notre Dame officials believe based on their response late Wednesday afternoon (Jan. 16) that Te’o was innocent and merely the butt of a cruel joke. However, the Deadspin article leads readers to believe that Te’o could’ve easily had a hand in perpetrating the hoax, along with Ronaiah Tuiasosopo. I don’t really have a complete assumption at this time, but I wouldn’t be surprised, though certainly disappointed, if Te’o was in on the entire thing from what I’ve read. However, I can say unfortunately from firsthand experience that if what happened to Te’o was indeed a cruel hoax that it’s entirely possible that he had the wool pulled over his eyes.

Every day in this world people are at the horrible hands of others perpetrating hoaxes against them online. I haven’t seen the movie “Catfish” or the MTV series based off of it, but from what I’ve heard the term “catfishing” apparently is the act of a person who creates fake profiles online and pretends to be someone they are not by using someone else's pictures and information as a means of deceiving others.

There are only a couple of people who know this about me (until now), I’m not even 100 percent sure my girlfriend of seven years is one of them, but about 10 years ago when I was in my mid-teens I was on the receiving end of an online hoax.

Being the big NASCAR fan that I am I frequented a NASCAR message board called Driver Insider, where I would spend a great deal of time discussing and conversing about all sorts of NASCAR topics with other hardcore fans around the country. Myself, and all of the other posters on the message board, soon became enamored with one poster who, I can’t remember his username, but had us all convinced that he was Loy Allen Jr.

Loy Allen Jr. was a mostly unsuccessful NASCAR driver from the early to late ‘90s, who is most famous for two things: becoming the first ever rookie driver to qualify on the pole at the 1994 Daytona 500 and a devastating crash at Rockingham Speedway in 1996 which severely injured his neck and pretty much put an end to any major career plans.

Today, and even 10 or so years ago, Loy Allen Jr. was a name that novice NASCAR fans wouldn’t know and even avid NASCAR fans would have a hard time telling you anything about other than the Daytona pole and the Rockingham crash. Such an obscure name like Loy Allen Jr. made for the perfect cover, whereas other drivers would’ve led to immediate questioning and doubts over accuracy and credibility. If somebody claims they’re Loy Allen Jr. and have the knowledge and facts to back it up you’re likely going to believe them. If they claim they’re Jeff Gordon you’re simply not.

This poster claiming to be Loy Allen Jr. had us all going on the message board for the longest time, but he got to me even more because we added each other to Yahoo Messenger and would talk for hours about his “career,” NASCAR and baseball (which he claimed he was a huge fan of). We developed a friendship and he had me tricked to such an extent that I actually wrote an article about him for the sports webzine I created, edited and wrote for online called Sport Webzine. I thought this was my first “big time” interview, which really excited me.

After a little while I guess this prankster said something that one or two of the other members of the Driver Insider message board didn’t believe and they checked him on his facts and found him out to be a fraud. It bothered everybody on the message board because we had all been duped, but it probably hurt me the most because I’d been taken in so badly and even put my credibility as a writer/journalist on the line (despite only being in my mid-teens).

It’s an embarrassing, uncomfortable and hurtful experience when you trust somebody and you learn that the trust you’ve had in them wasn’t real. It’s especially worse when you realize that the person him/herself never actually existed or wasn’t who they claimed to be. It's definitely not something that bothers me much all these years later, in fact, I can't even remember the last time I'd thought of this until the Manti Te'o story reminded me of it today. But, depending on how deep you get taken in and how close of a relationship you've developed with this "person" I could easily see how it could mess someone up for a long time. 

I consider myself to be a pretty smart person and was certainly smart for my age at that time. I think many people would be calling me gullible, like they are right now to Manti Te’o. But, here’s the thing … these people do their research. They know their “character’s” ins and outs and its easy for somebody to gain another person’s trust when their back-story is as solid as these people can and do make it. I’m sure it’s even more sophisticated these days than it was back then.     

If Te’o was indeed pranked I can understand the embarrassment he feels, because you really do feel like you were played for a fool, except in his case it would be even worse because he developed an attraction and feelings for the apparition. If he was in on the whole thing he should be ashamed of what he’s done and his character will rightfully always be judged. However, if he was the “victim” here as Notre Dame officials have stated then he can join the club of the many who’ve been played for fools by online tricksters and pranksters out there getting their laughs and jollies out of making real people believe in and develop relationships with people that don’t exist or either do exist, but just aren’t who they claim to be. If this is the case his character shouldn’t be judged, because it can happen to almost anybody and you likely know people who have been hoaxed in a similar way.           

Craig Biggio is a No-Brainer Hall of Famer

3060 hits (one of only 28 plays to reach the 3000 hit plateau), .281 career batting average, 291 homers (a lot for the power lacking position of second base), 1175 RBI, 414 stolen bases, 7 times an All Star, 5 times a Silver Slugger and 4 times a Gold Glover. Those are Craig Biggio’s career statistics and accolades and they say and prove he’s a Baseball Hall of Famer.

Robin Yount, Derek Jeter, Joe Morgan, Paul Molitor and Roberto Alomar. Baseball-Refence.com states that those five players, four of them hall of famers and one of them a lock of a future hall of famer, are the five most similar batters in baseball history to Craig Biggio. That little factoid says and proves that Biggio is a Baseball Hall of Famer.

Rogers Hornsby, Eddie Collins, Nap Lajoie, Joe Morgan, Charlie Gehringer, Jackie Robinson, Ryne Sandberg. Those seven players are likely the only seven second basemen in baseball history that are better than Craig Biggio. So, if Craig Biggio is one of the 10 greatest players of all time at his primary position that says and proves he is a Baseball Hall of Famer.

Craig Biggio will be a Baseball Hall of Famer some day, hopefully next year, but to 32 percent of the Baseball Writers Association of America he’s not a hall of famer on the first ballot. He’s not a hall of famer today. What the Hell is wrong with those people?

Craig Biggio should have been a lock for first ballot induction into the Baseball Hall of Famer. But, for a multitude of reasons he’s not. He’s not currently a hall of famer because some writers punished him for playing in the so-called “Steroid Era,” despite their being zero evidence that he in fact used performance enhancing drugs. Some writers punished him because some writers idiotically refuse to vote for any player on their first ballot. This is why no player in baseball history has unanimously been inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Not even Babe Ruth, Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, Ted Williams or Jackie Robinson. Some writers punished him because they don’t even believe that Craig Biggio is a Hall of Famer, which is ludicrous given all of those stats and facts I said at the beginning.

Craig Biggio was one of those hardcore, nose to the grindstone, work their butt off every day of their career type players and he was one of my favorites to watch play the game from the moment I became a baseball fan to the day he retired, in a game I had the great pleasure of viewing. You can’t tell me that Craig Biggio is not a hall of famer. But, for ignorant and ridiculous reasons, Craig Biggio is not a hall of famer in 2013.