COMMENTS FROM THE PEANUT GALLERY (X-RATED) - MIKE IN DA

COMMENTS FROM THE PEANUT GALLERY (X-RATED)

Written by: Mike in DA
Date posted: 3/18/2011


BRETT MYERS' GLOVE TELLS US WHAT WE ALL KNOW!

YO, ADRIAN: SPORTS TALKERS LIKE YOU WHEN YOU RUN THE BALL; NOT WHEN YOU RUN YOUR MOUTH!

Almost all the local sports talkers jumped on Adrian Peterson earlier in the week, so here is the PG's two cents:

Adrian Peterson is a very good running back; unfortunately, when he runs his mouth instead of his legs, he comes off like a moron.

The Minnesota Vikings RB has received heavy criticism for comparing the NFL players' place in the game to ''modern-day-slavery.'' Right after the NFL lockout commenced, Peterson ran his mouth by saying, "It's modern-day slavery, you know? People kind of laugh at that, but there are people working at regular jobs who get treated the same way, too. With all the money ... the owners are trying to get a different percentage, and bring in more money. But as players, we have to stand our ground and say, 'Hey - without us, there's no football.'”

So Peterson equated being a player in the NFL with “modern-day slavery”. Compounding the “felony” here, Steelers RB, Rashard Mendenhal, let everyone know that he agrees with Peterson. Somewhere, Larry “The Rebellious Slave” Johnson is giving a fist pump and elsewhere the Revs. Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton are figuring out how they can get some camera time playing off that remark.

As I usually do, I went to Wiki for a description of the word “slavery”: “Slavery is a system under which people are treated as property and are forced to work. Slaves can be held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase or birth, and deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to demand compensation. In some historical situations it has been legal for owners to kill slaves.”

I am not a sociologist or historian by trade. Nonetheless, allow me to point out some differences between slavery and playing in the NFL in 2011, as this definition definitely doesn’t apply to the NFL.

Sure, most of the owners are ruthless muthafuckas, but I don't think any of them have ever killed any of their players. Also, the owners don’t force the players to work, though they expect them to show up for work. You can’t fill up 70,000 seat Reliant Stadium and tell the players to take the week off. While slaves were deprived of the right to leave, NFL players can leave whenever they want. Jim Brown and Barry Sanders walked away from the game with plenty left in their proverbial respective tanks. Slaves do not have anything close to that option. If you don’t believe me, just ask Dred Scott.

Where AP's comparison to slavery is really wrong is in his pocket. While the players want a bigger piece of the NFL revenue pie, the piece they're getting now is nothing to feel sorry for. He's scheduled to make $10.7 million in 2011. (I am happy to stand corrected by someone who has access to the contract details that I do not.) That's not so bad for a guy who will be 26 on Monday. If this is slavery, then there are a lot of people out there who would love to be this kind of slave and probably want to know where they can sign up for it. Two of the foundations of slavery are that the labor of slaves is forced and that they get no pay. $10.7M or whatever does not jive with “no pay”.

The NFL Players Association has stated from the day the NFL opted out of the CBA ("Collective Bargaining Agreement" for the acronym-challenged) that all they wanted to do was to play under the terms of the current agreement. Does that mean the NFLPA supports “slavery” and has negotiated its members into “slavery”? Somehow, I doubt that.

There's one comparison you can make between slaves and NFL players. They are both treated as property. Once a player starts to age playing-wise, he is like a piece of machinery that is wearing out and needs to be replaced.

This was one of those “heat of the moment” comments, because I highly doubt Adrian Peterson would actually compare his life to that of a slave. But Peterson was right on one thing when he said, “People kind of laugh at that.” And we are laughing at the fact that Peterson will make more next season than 200 average Americans combined are making in 2011 with some to spare.

Peterson also noted that without the players there would be no games. Slow down there, brotha; I have to think about that one for a while. OK, I get it now. What AP did not say and perhaps has not yet realized is that without the fans buying PSLs, tickets, jerseys, and watching games on TV to generate ratings, there would be no way for him to get such a huge contract with plenty guaranteed. Without fan interest and spending, his contract might be for $1,000 a game.


If AP really meant what he said, he is closer to a modern-day ingrate and moron than a "modern-day slave".

A-ROD'S BUTT SLAP OF DEREK JETER IS MEMORIALIZED IN CAKE

COOLEST SPORTS NICKNAMES: "BABE"

Today’s sports nicknames are terrible, such as A-Rod, MJ, and L.T. They are nothing more than a combination of a player’s first and last name. But nicknames haven’t always been so bad.


Here is another cool one from the past: “Babe”.

George Herman "Babe" Ruth has to have one of the coolest nicknames of all time. You simply can't top a player nickname of a player who's remembered by a nickname instead of his first name. Got it? There are so many nicknames to choose from for Ruth, and all of them could be considered among the coolest. George Herman "Babe" Ruth is still considered the best hitter by many to ever play the game.

Ruth’s parents had eight children, but only one other, his sister Mamie, survived infancy. While his parents worked in the tavern they owned, Babe spent much of his time on his own and got into trouble frequently. If you saw one of the Babe's movies, you know the parents were unable to control his behavior, so Ruth's parents placed him in St. Mary's Industrial School at the age of seven. Ruth hated the regimented discipline of the school, but he learned the game of baseball. By the age of 15, he was playing both catcher and pitcher for St Mary's varsity team.



At the age of 19, Ruth was spotted by Jack Dunn, owner of the Baltimore Orioles of the International League, who signed him to his first professional contract. Ruth's parents had given custody of Babe to the Jesuits at the time he enrolled at St. Mary's, where he was supposed to remain until he turned 21. To complete the contract and remove him from the school, Dunn was forced to adopt him. This led to Ruth's being described as Dunn's "baby," which became "Babe". The nickname stayed with him for the rest of his life. Babe spent only five months with the Orioles before he was sold to the Boston Red Sox. 


With other nicknames like "The Sultan of Swat," "The Colossus of Clout", and "The Great Bambino", his legend lives on.

WILSON CHANDLER STILL NOT WELL KNOWN IN DENVER!

NFLPA TO ROOKIES: STAY HOME!

There is an interesting fuss going on at the moment with regard to the NFL labor “discussions”. The union evidently asked the college players to boycott the NFL Draft at Radio City Music Hall in New York City and not go on stage with Commissioner Roger Goodell to get their ceremonial team jersey and photo with Goodell. I don’t care one way or the other if these players show up or stay home. However, I do find one part of the union’s request a little questionable.



One of the issues which will eventually be negotiated into the next CBA is a rookie wage scale. In a way, the union will take away some of the early bargaining rights of these players that the union is asking to boycott the Draft venue even though these college players are not currently members of the union that is involved in the work stoppage.

NFL COMMISSIONER SPENDING LOCKOUT TIME AT DARQUE TAN SALON?

DONALD STERLING ON ELGIN BAYLOR: "I NEVER KNEW HE WAS A HALL OF FAMER." WTF???

Here's some news that comes from an LA Times report the other day about LA Clippers owner, Donald Sterling (born Donald Tokowitz, but changed his name for business purposes), testifying in his own behalf in the lawsuit brought against him by former Clippers’ GM, Elgin Baylor, for wrongful termination. According to the report, Sterling, who is an attorney was under oath when he testified that he did not know much about Elgin Baylor when Sterling appointed Baylor to be VP of Player Personnel for the Clippers in 1986. Sterling was asked if he knew about Baylor’s playing career or his Hall of Fame status. Here is the quote from the LA Times report:

“No, … I didn’t know that. I hired him for $3,000 a month. I didn’t really know what his role was… He was working in a mail-order company back then.”


I have a bias in this fight since I’m an LA Laker fan since 1950 and that is the team “Rabbit” played for. Sterling is a highly successful businessman and a horrible franchise owner; Baylor was a great player and a horrible general manager. Having said all that, the bit of testimony cited above leads me to conclude that Donald Sterling is fuckin’ dumb. The only other option is that he was lying when he said that; and as a professional and practicing attorney, I tend to doubt he would commit perjury in this situation.


In one of the biggest ironies you could conceive, the Clippers' racist owner was pictured along with Blake Griffin in an ad celebrating Black History Month in the 2/27 Sunday edition of the LA Times:

MORE BUCKEYE BULLSHIT!

I continue to be amazed by the situation surrounding Jim Tressel and the outrageous situation at THE Ohio State University. (By the way, the NCAA Selection Committee was chaired this year by the Athletic Director at Ohio State, Gene Smith, possibly explaining why he was not paying attention to what was going on in his department with regard to NCAA violations on the football team.)

Tressel said that he was going to grow from this experience. Let me try to translate that for you, since he obviously has not grown from prior experiences when his star players got improper benefits from boosters by NCAA standards: He probably means that he intends to go to a doctor, receive treatments with human growth hormone, and become taller once he returns to coaching. That's probably the only way he is going to grow.



When the NCAA handed SMU its “death penalty” back in the 1980s for a shitload of violations, they accused SMU of a “lack of institutional control”. Ohio State has had seven known football players receiving improper benefits since this coach took over. The coach either says he knew nothing about any of those incidents or in the latest situation he knew about it and actively covered all of it up and then lied about what he knew.

The AD in all cases must have been Sergeant Schultz from "Hogan's Heroes" and professed to “know nothing”.


How is that different from a “lack of institutional control”?

ODDS AND ENDS:

1. Expect to hear the same old worn-out phrases during the next two weeks from sports talkers: “The Big Dance”, “Going dancing”, “having your ticket punched”, and “The clock has struck midnight for Cinderella.”

2. Last Saturday (3/18), following Memphis' one-point win over UTEP on ESPN, there was this graphic: "Memphis earns 1st NCAA berth since 2009." Wow, has it been that long since their last appearance? It later was changed to "5th appearance in last 6 years."

3. Last Friday (3/11), during Ohio State's win over Northwestern, we read that Ohio State's 58-57 regular season win at Northwestern was Ohio State's "smallest victory margin this year." And I thought Ohio State beat Penn State by half a point.

4. Sometimes our local talk hosts when looking at the NBA standings look at the Houston Rockets’ record and say that if the Rockets were in the Eastern Division they would be in the playoffs if the season ended today. These guys can do all the pasting and cutting they want because the Rockets’ schedule would be completely different. Don't they realize that?

5. When UNC Asheville beat Arkansas - Little Rock  on Tuesday night (3/15) in the First Round of the NCAA Tournament, a graphic said that Asheville was the first #16 seed to ever win a game. Duh! They won, but it was against another #16 seed. That counts?

CRIER’S CORNER

BASKETBALL ACTION

The Crier continues on a roll, as it is now 20 consecutive non-losing days. That means the Crier is due to lose tonight, so go against him if you want to make a few bucks:



Date: W-L
2/26: 12-3
2/27: 5-1
2/28: 1-1
3/1: 6-2
3/2: 6-3
3/3: 4-1
3/4: 5-4
3/5: 10-5
3/6: 3-2
3/7: 2-2
3/8: 8-3
3/9: 7-4
3/10: 11-4
3/11: 9-6
3/12: 9-3
3/13: 3-1
3/14: 3-1
3/15: 9-2
3/16: 6-5
3/17: 10-1
Total: 129-54 (70.5%)


Yesterday’s Record ATS: 10-1


W - MEMPHIS at NEW YORK* (TOTAL OVER 215.5)
W -PORTLAND* (-13.5) over CLEVELAND

St. Pete Times Forum -- Tampa, FL
W - WEST VIRGINIA vs. CLEMSON (TOTAL OVER 122.5)
W - UCLA (+1.5) over MICHIGAN STATE

Verizon Center – Washington, DC
W - PITTSBURGH (-17) over UNC-ASHEVILLE

McKale Center – Tucson, AZ
W - KANSAS STATE (-2.5) over UTAH STATE
W – BELMONT vs. WISCONSIN (TOTAL OVER 126)
W - SAN DIEGO STATE (-15) over NORTHERN COLORADO

Pepsi Center – Denver, CO
W - GONZAGA (+1.5) over ST. JOHN’S
W - RICHMOND (+3) over VANDERBILT
L - LOUISVILLE (-9.5) over MOREHEAD STATE


Cumulative Season Record ATS (excludes “pushes”): 532-321


Today’s Action (for reading purposes only):


NBA

MIAMI (-4.5) over ATLANTA*
The Miami players can whine about how everybody hates them, but they brought that on themselves. The “2” guards should have a shootout here with D. Wade and Joe Johnson going at it. The Hawks split the first two games of the series this season, both in Miami, and the Heat were exposed in the OT loss in January, as they have struggled at crunch time and this game was no different, as LeBron missed a game-winning three pointer in the final seconds of regulation. MIAMI, 104-92


OKLAHOMA CITY* (-9.5) over CHARLOTTE
Huge edge to the Thunder at the point as Russell Westbrook has been a thug, but would love to see him make better decisions with the rock. The Thunder are happy to be home after coming in from South Beach 48 hours ago. In the 18-point win over the Bobcats early in the season, the Thunder were a plus 12 on the glass and that will not likely change. OKLAHOMA CITY, 110-95


PHOENIX* (-5) over GOLDEN STATE 
This just might be a calculator game as the Suns average 105 and the Warriors just two points less a contest. Monta Ellis oozes confidence, but what puts him ahead of the curve is his energy getting into the passing lanes. Aaron Brooks, the newest Sun, will prove to be a great pick-up for years to come because he can score and his potential is nowhere near realized yet. PHOENIX, 108 – 96


SACRAMENTO* (+5) over PHILADELPHIA
Sacramento is a team that could be packing its bags soon. The owners can’t secure funding for a new arena and reportedly are headed for Southern California. That is always an unsettling thing for the players to handle mentally. This is a tough placement for the Sixers in the fourth highway game of a 5-game trip. SACRAMENTO, 105-101


COLLEGE HOOPS

NCAA

Quicken Loans Arena – Cleveland, OH
GEORGE MASON (+1) over VILLANOVA
XAVIER (-2) over MARQUETTE


Time-Warner Cable Arena – Charlotte, NC
GEORGIA (+5.5) over WASHINGTON
LONG ISLAND U. (+18) over NORTH CAROLINA
MICHIGAN (+2) over TENNESSEE


United Center – Chicago, IL
PURDUE (-14) over ST. PETER’S 
TEXAS A&M (-1) over FLORIDA STATE
NOTRE DAME vs. AKRON (TOTAL OVER 136)

NIT
COLORADO* (-6) over CALIFORNIA


CIT
AIR FORCE at SANTA CLARA* (TOTAL OVER 131.5)

MIKE IN DA

HMW