The sporting world has been blown away by the series of allegations, legal troubles, and apologies by the NFL, its players, and staff over the next few weeks. The Ray Rice scandal, the Adrian Peterson allegations, several other players being involved with domestic altercations, and the way the NFL has handled them have all made for a lot of bad pub and worse feelings for the fans and the league. Some people are calling for heads to roll. They want people fired, namely the Commissioner Roger Goodell and the players who have committed these alleged infractions. Due to backlash and scrutiny, the league and teams have all made good and at least taken the players off the playing fields and active rosters. But what will satisfy fans, rights groups, or advertisers? Will contrition and self-imposed penalties do the trick? The Commissioner made a press conference where he read an apology for his actions in handling the Ray Rice scandal. Most observers made a point to say that the Commissioner on behalf of the NFL dodged most or all direct questions and did not really tell us anything we didn't already know. An apology like that as students of apologetic ethics might tell you, really could do more to hurt the person than help them. Goodell looks like a guilty man trying to earn himself breathing room while hiding behind the legal process knowing that he had to make a comment. In my opinion, the NFL has not done nearly enough to make this right. They announced like always that they will be forming a committee to work on domestic issues and player conduct that is made up of mostly women. How novel. They announced stiffer penalties for domestic violence convictions (6 games for 1st offense, lifetime ban for 2nd). But the real damage may already have been done. How can sponsors trust the NFL as a brand or a partner if their employees are engaging in illegal, immoral behavior? Some sponsors have already stopped their partnership with specific teams or as a whole. But for the long-term health of the league, how can they be trustworthy to not make more mistakes that sully their reputation? Really, they best answer is to bring in someone who can act as a disciplinarian Commissioner or Director of Player Conduct to take the reigns from Goodell. Goodell has been a great CEO for the NFL if you will, but his record with discipline is spotty. Too harsh sometimes, not harsh enough other times. If you bring in someone with some knowhow and football background (say a revered old coach) I think you would increase the chan ces of positive stories outweighing negative ones.
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On the field of sport, it is common to see taunts and celebrations. Our favorite athletes can actually create an image and a brand by separating themselves on the field with some colorful gyrations. There has been the Icky Shuffle, the Dirty Bird, the Lights Out, and Aaron Rodgers' title belt pose, endearingly known as the Discount Double check from Rodgers' role as pitchman for State Farm Insurance. Well sometimes imitation is the sincerest form of flattery and sometimes that imitation is a bad idea. Enter Lions linebacker Stephen Tulloch. In Sunday's game between Tulloch's Lions and the Packers, Tulloch secured a key sack of Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers and lept to his feet to celebrate. He left his feet appearing to mimic the Discount Doublecheck move but as he landed his leg gave out and he crumpled to the ground. He rose quickly but would not return to the game. It was later found that he had torn his ACL in that leap and is done for the season to recover. The Lions now have to forge ahead on a promising 2014 season without the leader of their defense. They have since been linked to a a couple linebackers to fill the void a little but the damage is done and it remains to be seen just how much they accomplish without him. All because of one silly, throwaway dance and some throwaway bravado. Sometimes you got to know when to dance and when to get off the dance floor. I am all for the humor and the fun of the the regular, harmless dancing and taunting of football. Even as they make more and more rules against it, I dig it. But if you are going to leave your feet or physically exert yourself in any way, you better be sure you can handle it and you won't be putting your health and the team in jeopardy.
It can be said that if you have a gift but cannot find the ability to use it, then you have no gift at all. This is the case of Cincinnati Reds speedster Billy Hamilton. Hamilton has been a fixture of the struggling Reds offense all season, posting a .256/.298/.364/.661 line in 2014 with 56 SBs in 79 chances ("Billy Hamilton Statistics and History", 2014). His speed sets him apart from his peers as one of the most explosive players in baseball capable of making a run all on his own,. You might say "what's the big deal?" Well those 23 Caught Stealings notwithstanding, Hamilton just has not been as productive as the Reds need him to be. Sure, the Reds offense has been wracked with injuries this year and failed to hit consistently. Manager Byran Price has had to use "99 total lineups (130 when including pitchers)" ("2014 Cincinnati Reds", 2014). But Hamilton has been there in 148 games, batting leadoff 132 times. In September, "[h]e's batting just .150 (6-for-40) this month and what's worse is that he's got just one stolen base in 12 games" (Bender, 2014). That doesn't get it done. His talent is obvious. But for the Reds to succeed and for Hamilton to flourish, he is going to need to play some winter ball, fall league ball, something. pitchers have figured out his tendencies in a little over one full season of big league ball. He needs to learn to better make contact to best utilize his blazing speed and cut down on his 114 Ks.
Otherwise, it;s like he has no gift at all. References 2014 Cincinnati Reds. (n.d.). Retrieved September 20, 2014. 2014 Cincinnati Reds. (n.d.). Retrieved September 20, 2014. Bender, H. (2014, September 1). Billy Hamilton drives in two with eighth triple | Fantasy Alarm. Retrieved September 20, 2014. Billy Hamilton Statistics and History | Baseball-Reference.com. (n.d.). Retrieved September 20, 2014. Sports is a transcendent medium. Athletes become movie stars, celebrities,authors, or almost anything you can think of. Sometimes an athlete is so synonymous with his craft that leaving it behind is too hard. They often go into coaching or the media cover the events. Sometimes athletes don't know when to hang 'em up and call it a career.
And that's where I come to Nature Boy Ric Flair. Ric Flair is a 16-time World's Heavyweight Champion, a 2-time WWE Hall of Famer and an NWA Hall of Famer ("NWA 2008 HOF") (wrap your mind around that for a moment, sports fans). He has seen it all and done it all. He has dined with elite, wrestled in front of 190,000 people for North Korean dictators (Schwartz, 2014), been to the top of the mountain and has the countless tall tales to show for it. It was a career that few could imagine and fewer still could step away from. But at age 65, Flair is now at the point in his life where he has exhausted every feasible opportunity to wrestle competitively and he has been over the last few years slowly growing into retirement. He still moonlights on WWE television, working with younger talent and making appearances at card shows, industry events and even some small, independent wrestling shows. But for someone who wrestled for the better part of 40 years (!!!) the adjustment from rock star to just plain old Richard Morgan Fliehr has not been easy. Imagine if Brett Favre had been able to go out and sling it for 40 years and then suddenly the body starts to fail and the desire is not quite there and it all stops. It would be tremendously hard. That is the reality of a wrestler like Flair. I write this thinking about how Flair just went in for some surgeries last week (Johnson, 2014) and how he has struggled to adapt to civilian life as he has gotten older and it takes away a little of my joy. Ric Flair is one of my two celebrity heroes. I met him many years ago and told him so. I have always admired his tenacity, his drive, and the lasting connection he made with his audience. We sports fans are used to our athletes growing old but riding off into the sunset with grace. Well for wrestling athletes like Flair there isn't much grace beyond that horizon. All too often, wrestlers cannot walk away into civilian life after years and years of rental cars, hotel rooms, being on the road, the boys in the back, and most importantly going out night after night in front of 10,000 cheering and screaming fans and soaking in the adulation 280 days a year. That high, is too much to resist. You too would struggle to adapt if you had to quit that drug cold turkey too. References Johnson, V. (2014, September 16). Ric Flair recovering from multiple surgeries, will miss Smackdown. Retrieved September 20, 2014. NWA 2008 HOF. (n.d.). Retrieved September 20, 2014. Schwartz, N. (2014, January 22). Ric Flair describes wrestling in North Korea in front of 190,000 people. Retrieved September 20, 2014. Ok, I'll admit it: I was a Madden Football junkie. An addict. All hooped up on the foosballs. That was only a couple years ago. I broke my addiction over the course of a couple seasons as life got in the way and the product got a little...unsatisfactory. Don't get me wrong, Madden still delivers all the hits and features of the biggest, best (and only) NFL-licensed game on all the major consoles. You still got the closest-to-the-real-thing players, playbooks, and on-field play as ever. I felt the series lost a little steam is all. That doesn't mean the corporate sponsors felt that way. "GMC is the official vehicle of Madden NFL 25. What this means is that in-game advertising returns to the popular football series as the all-new 2014 GMC Sierra full-size pickup will be included in this year's installment. As the quote alluded to, ads in Madden have been common, if not overdone in recent years. Recent sponsors Doritos and Old Spice have been plastered all over the stadiums and load screens of the games. Those two sponsors even had deals where if you bought their products, you got codes for exclusive in-game content. While I'm all for some gamers purposely going out to buy body wash, that's too much.
References Celebrate your Madden NFL 25 Super Bowl with an in-game GMC truck. (2013, July 13). Retrieved September 15, 2014, from http://www.gamezone.com/news/2013/07/16/celebrate-your-madden-nfl-25-super-bowl-with-an-in-game-gmc-truck It was often joked at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina that the fall is just another time to wait for and ask when basketball season is coming. The Duke men's basketball team under coach Mike Krzyzewski has set a standard for programs across the country with their continued success, excellent student-athlete reputation, and graduates who have gone pro. In fact, it is with that success that Krzyzewski has reached the heights that he has winning over 903 career games and has set the record for Division I men's career coaching wins. With all the success, the football program at Duke has rarely made a blip on the radar. And then came Coach David Cutcliffe. Cutcliffe came to Duke in 2007after years of success in major college football as a head coach and offensive coordinator having groomed such quarterbacks as Heath Shuler, Peyton Manning, Eli Manning, Erik Ainge,Thaddeus Lewis, and Sean Renfree. Those Six quarterbacks whom Cutcliffe coached in college went on to play in the NFL, while Todd Helton and Seth Smith both of Major League Baseball were QBs under Cutcliffe in their college football days. His pedigree was going to have to work wonders as Duke had for years been a football laughingstock after some rather prestigious years decades earlier. "The program has 17 conference championships (7 ACC championships and 10 Southern Conference titles), 53 All-Americans, 10 ACC Players of the Year (the most in the ACC), and have had three Pro Football Hall of Famers come through the program (second in the ACC to only Miami's four) ("Colleges"). Although Duke has mostly struggled since the mid-1960s, the Blue Devils are currently undergoing a renaissance under Cutcliffe. Duke is the defending Coastal Division champion, having secured their first division title on November 30, 2013 with a win over arch-rival North Carolina. Additionally, the Blue Devils cracked the top 20 of the BCS standings, the AP Poll, and the Coaches' Poll during the 2013 season" However in more recent seasons, Duke had serious trouble winning. "From 1999 to 2007, Duke's football win-loss record was at 13–90; from 2000 to 2001 Duke suffered a 22-game losing streak". That's when Cutcliffe was hired."Cutcliffe was hired as Duke's 22nd all-time head football coach to lead the Blue Devils football program in late 2007 (Baker & Rucker, 2007). Duke went 4–8 in 2008 and Duke's 2009 season was a 5–7 campaign, the closest the school had come to bowl eligibility since 1994 (Robinson III, 2009). Cutcliffe's Duke teams had back-to-back 3-9 seasons in 2010 and 2011. Duke's 2012 team, despite low preseason expectations, after a 33–30 win against rival North Carolina became bowl eligible for the first time since 1994 (Carter, 2012). Extending its season to December 27, 2012, Duke fell to Cincinnati 48–34 in a close contest in the Belk Bowl, finishing the season with a 6–7 record (Associated Press, 2012).
Duke's 2013 season was a break-out year for the team, as the Blue Devils have continued to cross off many of their infamous losing streaks. On October 26, 2013, Duke achieved its first win over a ranked team since 1994 with a 13–10 victory over #14 Virginia Tech at Lane Stadium in Blacksburg, VA, a rarity for the Duke football program (Associated Press, 2013). That win over Virginia Tech was also Duke's first road win over a ranked team since 1971 (Martin, 2013). Following a bye week, on November 9, 2013 the Blue Devils achieved their first winning season since 1994 with a 38–20 home victory over in-state rival NC State, (Associated Press, 2013) their seventh of the season. Extending its winning streak to 6 straight by defeating #24 Miami 48–30 on November 16, 2013, Duke appeared in the AP Poll for the first time since 1994, listed at #25 with a record of 8–2 ("The AP Top 25 Poll", 2013). With a win at Wake Forest on November 23, 2013, Duke claimed its ninth victory in a regular season for the first time since 1941, the season in which the Blue Devils hosted the Rose Bowl. The win also gave Duke at least a share of the Coastal Division title and a #24 AP Poll ranking ("The AP Top 25 Poll", 2013). With a 27–25 win over North Carolina on November 30, 2013, Duke locked up their first 10-win season in school history, the Coastal Division title, and a spot in the 2013 ACC Championship Game against Florida State, during which time Duke was ranked #20. David Cutcliffe received the Walter Camp Coach of the Year award in 2013 (Duke Sports Information, 2013). The Blue Devils were invited to the Chick-fil-A Bowl, where they lost another close, hard-fought game 52–48 to Texas A&M to finish the season with a record of 10–4 ("Johnny Manziel, Aggies rally, edge Duke in Chick-fil-A Bowl.", 2013)." The traditions are forming under Cutcliffe and the wins are coming. Perhaps Duke can form a winning program in the mold of Notre Dame, Stanford, and Brigham Young before them, winning because of their rigorous academic standards rather than in spite of them. Time will tell, but the future is bright for the Blue Devils. And it isn't even basketball season yet. References Baker, M., & Rucker, B. (2007, December 15). Source: Duke hires Cutcliffe. Retrieved September 15, 2014. Carter, A. (2012, October 21). Late touchdown lifts Duke to 33-30 win over UNC. Retrieved September 15, 2014. Colleges. (n.d.). Retrieved September 15, 2014, from http://www.profootballhof.com/hof/colleges.aspxDuke Sports Information. (2013, December 6). Cutcliffe Named National Coach of the Year. Retrieved September 15, 2014. Johnny Manziel, Aggies rally, edge Duke in Chick-fil-A Bowl. (2013, December 31). Retrieved September 15, 2014. Martin, N. (2013, October 28). Record-setting day leads to historic win for Duke football. Retrieved September 15, 2014. Press, A. (2012, December 27). Cincinnati shocks Duke with 83-yard TD pass with 44 seconds left. Retrieved September 15, 2014. Press, A. (2013, October 26). Duke picks off Logan Thomas 4 times, upsets No. 14 Virginia Tech. Retrieved September 15, 2014. Press, A. (2013, November 9). Blue Devils beat Wolfpack 38-20 for 7th win. Retrieved September 15, 2014. Robinson III, E. (2009, November 11). Local & North Carolina state news from Raleigh, NC | NewsObserver.com. Retrieved September 15, 2014. The AP Top 25 Poll. (2013, November 17). Retrieved September 15, 2014. source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duke_Blue_Devils_football#cite_note-57 Professional sports is a multi-billion dollar business and yet the fans get so little of that. In fact, they often are the most likely to shell out money of any interested parties. No other hobby on the planet requires so much of its fans and followers. But over the years the fans have found more and more ways to be even more closely connected to their favorite teams and players. Social media has brought them closer, perhaps too close. And the advent of fantasy sports has made the average fan a statistics junkie. In some cases it can even make you rich. The ads shown above are just a sample of the sites you can find with a quick google search for daily fantasy sports. Fanduel and Draftkings are examples of 1-day fantasy sites where you can play with real money (and somehow it's not considered gambling). They offer all sorts of games, matches, and leagues in almost any major sport. Fans play these religiously, sometimes actually winning money. I myself have won almost $500 on fanduel in less than 6 months. Of course, I've only turned around and put it all back towards the games themselves. And therein lies the beauty and business model of the sites -- get them hooked and they'll never leave with their winnings. With a few ads, these sites must be racking in the dough!
I included rotorants.com on there as well because they represent a subsection of the industry*. Every day, they offer advice, lineups, and blogs about daily and weekly fantasy sports happenings. They offer their best lineups and content for a small fee, often daily or weekly charges. That's right - someone actually found a way to make money off OTHER PEOPLE playing fantasy sports! They offer some really good help for picking lineups so it actually should pay for itself. But what a capitalist world we live in! These games make fans more closely follow the sports and players, rather than just their favorites. If anything, it's the best advertisement the leagues and players could ever ask for. At its worst however, it's a dark and mean world where fans go to twitter to threaten the lives of the players when they don't perform or taunt each other for accomplishments they didn't actually physically perform. *In the interest of impartialness, I write for rotorants.com Another day, another example of why it's just Calvin Johnson's world and we're just living in it. The Lions' all-world Wide Receiver pulled in another amazing performance Monday night to lead the Lions to a rousing 35-14 victory over the visiting New York Giants. The Lions were playing in their third Monday Night Football game in as many seasons, having gone 1-1 in those previous two. The Giants not afraid of the spotlight and national attention were coming off one of their worst season in recent memory that still saw them finish sniffing the Playoffs at 7-9 the same record as the Lions in 2013. However, it is safe to throw out the record books when two teams face in Week One of the a new season. And throw them out is just what the Lions did! "Stafford was 22-for-32 with 346 yards and two touchdown passes, good for a career-best 97.5 Total QBR . He has 23 300-yard games in the past four seasons, third-most in the NFL in that span. Only Drew Brees (35) and Tom Brady (25) have more. Stafford completed six of eight passes for 146 yards and two touchdowns when under duress, including 3-of-3 for 107 yards when targeting Johnson. Stafford’s 75 percent completion when under duress was a career best. Lions receivers did not drop a pass in this game. They led the league the past season with 46 drops -- 10 more than any other team. Megatron’s mega-game Johnson had 164 yards and two scores and set the tone with a 67-yard touchdown reception less than three minutes into the game. It was his 13th touchdown reception of at least 50 yards in the past eight seasons, and with it he passed Greg Jennings and DeSean Jackson for most in the NFL. Most 150-Yard Receiving Games *Since Merger in 1970
Johnson has 14 games with multiple touchdown catches over the past seven seasons. Only Randy Moss has more in that span (15). Johnson had a career-high 98 yards receiving and two touchdown catches in the first quarter. In fact, Johnson matched his career high for first-quarter touchdowns in a season with the two he caught in this game. He had as many yards at halftime (131) as any other receiver had in a game in Week 1. At the end of three quarters, Johnson had outgained the Giants 131-123. Johnson was the first receiver to have at least 150 yards and two touchdowns against the Giants in a while. The latest was Santana Moss of the Redskins in 2005. What's the significance of a Week 1 win? Since the postseason expanded to 12 teams in 1990, 54 percent of teams to start 1-0 reached the postseason. Only 25 percent of teams that started 0-1 made the postseason. Did you know? This was the 29th time the Lions have appeared on Monday Night Football. Only twice -- 1981 (31-point win against the Bears) and 1973 (25-point win against the Falcons) -- have they won by more than they did on Monday." References ESPN Stats & Information. (2014, September 8). Top stats to know: Lions 35, Giants 14. Retrieved September 15, 2014. No matter how you do it -- everyone is celebrating after Week One in Detroit!
As for some of Week 2's scores, here are some of the scores of the above games:
Doesn't seem very competitive, does it? The teams agree to schedule these games because one side gets money and gets to play on major cable television. The other gets an (often) easy win and a chance to play a game or two with less tension to ease young players into the season. It isn't as easy as agreeing not to schedule FCS schools; some FBS schools are probably worse than the best FCS school and there will always be payouts to be given to teams looking for an easy game against a bad FBS team. In the end, the financial constraints of modern college athletic programs will probably dictate that some schools will always be willing to fall on the sword to better afford more smaller sports for their student-athletes. References Press, A. (2014, August 30). FCS champion Bison stun Cyclones, extend FBS win streak to 5. Retrieved September 15, 2014. ESPN.com services. (2013, February 13). Big Ten won't be playing FCS teams. Retrieved September 15, 2014. Michigan Wolverines vs. Notre Dame Fighting Irish - Box Score. (2014, September 6). Retrieved September 15, 2014. Oregon scores final 28, buries Michigan St. (2014, September 6). Retrieved September 15, 2014. TD Staff Reporter. (2014, May 28). Will Muschamp Does Not Want To Play FCS Teams. Retrieved September 15, 2014. So it's football season again and I could not be more excited. My team, the Detroit Lions, are in a place they simply are rarely in: a chance to contend. This season will mark some new faces as well.
New head coach Jim Caldwell hopes to bring the winning formula and attitude to a team and a franchise without any idea what that feels like. His past success in Indianapolis and Baltimore more than proceed him and his work with QBs Joe Flacco and Peyton Manning should help rub off onto Lions QB Matt Stafford. New Offensive Coordinator Joe Lombardi brings with him some similar pedigree. Grandson of legendary coach Vince Lombardi, he has helped run the New Orleans Saints offense as QB Coach for 5 years. His style of wide-open offense with multi-back sets and complex blocking and route schemes should make the Lions offense which got mildly predictable last season more explosive. The Lions hope to see big contributions from newcomers Corey Fuller WR, Golden Tate WR, and Eric Ebron TE. New Defensive Coordinator Teryl Austin comes from the vaunted Baltimore Ravens defensive philosophy where legends like Ray Lewis and Ed Reed helped mold a scheme and a brand that Austin hopes translates to the Motor City. He has brought some help with him and new additions from the draft as well, including LB Kyle Van Noy, Jerome Couplin SS, James Ihedigbo SS, Nevin Lawson CB,,Cassius Vaughn CB, George Johnson DE, C. J. Mosley DT, Caraun Reid DT, Darryl Tapp DE/OL, and Larry Webster III DE. This year marks one of the Lions' first Monday Night Football games in recent memory in Week One against the New York Giants. Excitement is as high as ever in Motown and Michigan at large. Now it's time to #restoretheroar like they did 57 years before! |