COMMENTS FROM THE PEANUT GALLERY!
Written by: Mike in DA
Date posted: 10/25/2010
SHAQ TEXTS KOBE!
KUDOS TO SR 610 FOR GIVING US A FULL WEEKEND OF SPORTS ACTION AND NOT SPORTS TALK JIBBERISH FROM SOME BUSH LEAGUE SPORTS TALK HOSTS!
That's what sports is all about - the games. Sports talk is just a time filler or background noise for most of us. SportsRadio610 gave us wall-to-wall football game coverage on both Saturday (college) and Sunday (NFL) with three games each day. That is much more enjoyable than listening to Brien Straw and Greg Koch (pictured above), as well as any of the other cheap labor, concoct topics like they did the previous Saturday (10/16), such as, "Who would you trade from the Texans to the Redskins for Albert Haynesworth?"
To both stations, bring on the games!
HMW CONGRATULATES EMMY AWARD WINNERS FROM HOUSTON!
Well, in addition to the national Emmy Awards that are annually presented on TV, there are twenty regional Emmy Award presentations. One of them is the Lone Star Emmy Awards for excellence in local broadcasting in the state of Texas.
Last Sunday (10/17) in Dallas, the eighth annual Lone Star Emmy Awards were presented. Among the recipients were Fox Sports Houston’s Patti Smith, Max Mejia, and Marshall Hooker, each of whom took home a Lone Star Emmy under the category of "Sports - One-Time Special" for their "Spotlight" show about Miguel Tejada in 2009.
Another recipient who you should be familiar with is Astro color analyst, Jim Deshaies, who won an Emmy in the "On Camera Talent" category.
Congratulations to all the winners for a job well done.
I’m waiting for one of our current local sports talk hosts to eventually get inducted into the Texas Radio Hall of Fame, but I get a feeling that I won't get a chance to see that in my lifetime since my days are numbered.
CHILEANS TO NYC MARATHON: THANKS, BUT NO THANKS!
The biggest news that came out of Chile in the last month is the rescue of the trapped miners who spent more than two months surviving underground until they could be rescued. Now that the miners are out, they have achieved a sort of celebrity status. One of them used to be a pro soccer player who played for the Chilean National Team for a while. The miners’ celebrity status has attracted various offers to them including attendance at important soccer games in Chile where people can express their gratitude regarding their safety. All of that is fine and good and was probably expected to happen.
What could be a bit of a stretch is that the miners have been offered an entry slot in the New York City Marathon on November 7. These guys just spent more than two months underground and with the NYC Marathon in two weeks, I can’t picture any of them overly excited to participate in a 26.2 mile race.
FROM THE HMW MAILBAG:
Robnemar left a comment pertaining to Craig Shelton’s post of 10/20, "THE EXCORIATING OF LEBRON JAMES - CRAIG SHELTON - ...": (http://sheltonmedia.blogspot.com/2010/07/excoriating-of-lebron-james-craig.html):
"I just wanted to say one last piece about this issue based off of what Matt (Jackson) and Adam (Wexler) were talking about this morning (10/21) in regard to LeBron, Twitter, ESPN, and Racism...... Again I don't see this particular issue as a racist issue. But I do think the LeBron allowed himself to be subject to would-be racist ridicule. I just don't think he really understands why. I will tell you why.
When I was a kid growing up, as a black kid in my house, my mom and dad always told me that in order to be given the chance to excel, you have got to be better than the competition. Not equal, but better. When LeBron did what he did this summer, what he did was allow himself to be subject to stereotypes and become inferior. He turned into the person that people that would oppose what he is as a black man, always see us to be. To the people that live in the world of racial and cultural and social stereotypes, they don't have to know you to think they already know what you are. What he did was put on the ultimate minstrel show for that type of audience. He kept them entertained. He gave to them exactly what they have been wanting to see. Even expecting to see. It was just a matter of when.
He has so much potential to be more than just a basketball player, but he refuses to see himself as anything more than that. He should have had enough sense to know that no matter how much money he makes, or how famous he becomes, he will always be a black man first and foremost. He has to live accordingly. But I guess he has to care about that in order to live it out as that. It is like when I watch the news and see the young black couple that became the cab driver killers, or the brotha that was a school teacher that had an indecent relationship with a student, then took his wife and new born baby hostage, stabbed said baby before stabbing himself, then got 80 years in jail.
No matter how far removed you are from those people and what they did, those crimes affect me, they affect Craig, or Lamont or whoever because with everything that our society has gone through, to the opposition, I am just as capable of being that same person that they see us to be on the news. I just hate that we live in that kind of world. But you would be naive to not take this world that serious. The same thing with Tiger Woods. Especially with an interracial marriage. He should have known better more than anybody else to keep his nose clean.
But my point is, they don't care about the cause that much to see how they affect me and the other normal brothas out there. It is not racism that threatens LeBron although his actions brought a segment of racism to light. Lebron needs to get himself together and think about who he would be if he didn't have the God-given gift of basketball in his life. LeBron, you have got to take responsibility at some point in your life bro. You are a father for Christ's sake. You have got to look before you leap and please gain some perspective that can keep your head above water off of the basketball court. You can't play ball forever brotha.” END
Earlis left a comment following Craig Shelton’s post of 10/21 entotled, "NFL PLAYERS, IT'S TIME TO GET WITH THE PROGRAM! - ...": http://sheltonmedia.blogspot.com/2010/10/nfl-players-its-time-to-get-with.html:
“Yup, you should not lead with your head...every now and then back in the day articles in newspapers and television actually appeared stating this fact...you tackle using your shoulder..basic fundamental technique. Until this change takes place football will continue to be played the wrong way..I am not holding my breath until the change takes place.
Sad to say and many will say I am playing the race card, but until a star white boy (Brady or Manning for example) gets paralyzed very little will happen top to bottom in the game to change the way it is played as to how tackles are being made. If a lot of white chicks were getting sick from HIV, the public response would be very different. As of now, the big spike in the numbers of new HIV cases is among black females.. This hardly raises an eyebrow in mainstream America. I must give Hillary Clinton credit for stating that scientific fact on national television.
That's the way it is baby... When they say it ain't about race, guess what? Uh huh. That's the imbalance cursing our future today...who pushed this agenda over the centuries? We hate gays. We hate immigrants. That policy is straight out of the Christian Church in America. Look it up baby. That's why Al Gore invented the Internet...Use it! Heck if it is good enough for Charlie Pallilo it will work for you too, Matt and Adam.” END
BANNED BY THE NBA!
Here’s a story that you may have heard on one of the local sports talk shows about the NBA banning a shoe for just the second time in its history, but as usual, the Peanut Gallery will give you more information than the sports talkers did.
25 years ago, the NBA banned Nike's Air Jordan 1. Now, a pair of shoes called the Concept 1 by Athletic Propulsion Labs (APL) has become the new embargo target due to its spring systems.
The NBA banned the shoe because under league rules, the players may not wear any shoe during a game that creates an undue competitive advantage, such as increasing a player's vertical leap. As a result of that rule, players will not be permitted to wear the APL shoes during NBA games. The Air Jordan shoes of 25 years ago were banned for reasons of their colorful appearance rather than any performance advantage.
In biomechanical testing (whatever that is) at a leading West Coast university laboratory, the APL Concept 1 shoes delivered increases in vertical leap of up to 3.5 inches when compared against a leading competitive brand’s most expensive basketball shoe.
“We were not exactly shocked to hear the NBA chose to ban our shoes,” said APL co-founder Adam Goldston. “The Load ‘N Launch Technology not only provides an instant and dramatic increase in vertical leap, but the biomechanical testing showed that the players exerted far less energy as a result.”
If what APL claims about the extra vertical is true, they shouldn't be surprised about the ban, but they should be thankful, because these things are about to become the hottest shoes on the street though they are rather expensive. Just about everyone who plays even occasional pickup games could use the shoes that are too awesome for the NBA to allow. Those additional 3.5 inches of vertical leap could increase my vertical leap to 4 inches.
If you don't think the ban is great PR, just open up APL's website and you can see what APL thinks about it(http://www.athleticpropulsionlabs.com).
If you can use some elevation to your jumping ability and are interested, the shoes come in black and white and cost just $300. The cost is the bad news. Shipping is free. That's the good news.
IT’S NOT OVER UNTIL IT’S OVER!
How long does one have to cover baseball before he/she understands that it’s neither nuclear physics nor psychiatry, that all games start 0-0, that the worst teams can beat the best? I forgot who, but at least a couple of our local sports talkers declared last week that “This series is over!” after the Yankees’ Game #1 comeback win against Texas. For those guys who thought it was over, they were right. But it’s over for the Yankees and not the Rangers.
If I kept a record of all the predictions these sports talk hosts made, you would be amazed to find out that their prediction percentage is not very impressive, considering that they are supposed to be more knowledgeable than "Joe Listener".
Sports talk listeners often give these guys too much credit on their ability to predict what is going to happen in sports. They will call in to ask what side a host likes in a certain game or who should they play this week on their fantasy team, etc. The sports talk guys are guessing and their guesses are not much better than yours. They might come up with a few buzz words that might impress you, but don’t rely on them if you’re going to make a financial decision based on their predictions (aka “guesses”).
For example, on Friday’s show (10/22) on Sports Talk 790 (10 AM - Noon, daily) the Mighty Gwinn said he felt confident the Yankees would win Game #6 of their playoff series with Texas. I wonder how many listeners were confident in Mighty’s confidence in the Yankees. FYI - the Yankees were three-hit in a 6-1 loss and can now start their winter vacations.
THESE YOUNG GIANT FANS MUST HAVE VERY LIBERAL PARENTS!
"I WON’T BE BACK! WELL, ON SECOND THOUGHT…"
James Harrison – LB, Pittsburgh Steelers - is a very good football player. When the NFL said it would levy big fines plus suspensions on dangerous hits, Harrison was so bewildered that he was excused from practice for a day, as he contemplated retirement because the NFL was going to take away the game he had been taught to play.
It took Harrison a full 24 hours to either do this math or have his agent explain the math to him. Harrison’s Steelers’ contract, which is in its second year, is for six years and $51M. He will probably net after about $10 – $13M after taxes from that because he may never collect the balloon payments at the end, as he will be pushing 35 when they commence. If he chose alternate employment if football had not worked out for him, he probably would be driving a truck. I don’t think lifetime earnings for a truck driver comes anywhere near $10 – $13M.
Harrison came back to his senses and returned the next day to the Steelers and will indeed play under the new "burdensome" restrictions.
Vincent Jackson – WR, San Diego Chargers - had a contract dispute with the Chargers; they did not want to not pay him what he wanted to be paid. And so, Jackson and his agent had been running their traps for the last six months about how Jackson will sit out the year and how Vince would never wear a Chargers’ uniform again.
This week we learned that Jackson will return to the Chargers under the terms of the deal the Chargers have had on the table for the last several months. Nothing has changed. He will not sit out; he will play for the Chargers and wear that uniform.
You can now put Harrison and Jackson in the same category with LB Lance Briggs, who swore three years ago that he would never play another down for the Chicago Bears, but still does, and Ricky Williams, who was going to quit football, travel the world, learn to speak Spanish and smoke pot.
FLUB OF THE DAY!
On Friday’s (10/22) afternoon show on SR610 with Robert Henslee and Mike Meltser subbing for Rich Lord, the guys were talking about NBA Futures bets, such as: the Over/Under on how many games Yao Ming will play this season; the Over/Under on Kevin Martin’s ppg for the season; various teams' odds to win the NBA Championship, etc.
Robert mentioned that the Miami Heat were 17-10 favorites to win the NBA Championship with the Rockets being 35-1 to win it all. Mike asked Robert what does “17-10 favorite” mean and Robert told him that means you have to put up $17 to win $10 if you want to take the Heat to win the championship.
If that was true, then if you took the Rockets to win, you would have to put up $35 to win $1?
That’s why they’re called "sports hosts" because they’re definitely not "sports savants". I don't expect them to be "wise guys" or to break the bank in Las Vegas by gambling, but sports talk hosts should at least understand the fundamentals of gambling and gambling odds because those topics come up every so often and very few of our local sports talkers are familiar with it, so that they can discuss the topic with confidence and informatively.
Since there were'nt the usual local weekend sports talk shows on SR610, on Sunday night (10/24) after the Viking-Packer game, I thought I’d check out the last 30 minutes of the Nuno-Raheel Show to catch a flub and I wasn’t let down. Raheel brought up a story about Philadelphia 76er coach, Doug Collins, who has been suffering headaches and dizziness in the preseason related to a fall and concussion he had on Memorial Day.
Raheel was surprised that Doug was still affected by the fall that Raheel said occurred about six weeks ago. Raheel obviously got his holidays mixed up. Memorial Day, when Doug had his accident was the last Monday in May, which would have made it almost five months ago. Labor Day was the holiday Raheel was referring to which occurs on the first Monday of September.
And how about the scholars on the SR610 Morning Show on Friday morning (10/22) who didn't know that "concussed" was a word, actually a verb derived from Latin meaning "to shake violently".
MORE CONCUSSION TALK:
And speaking about "concussed", Chicago Bears’ safety, Chris Harris, tweeted that he thought that the league was singling out defensive players for fines and suspensions when it comes to dangerous hits to the head. Give that man the MENSA Award for 2010.
Considering that wide receivers and tight ends on pass patterns seek to catch the football, it is not advantageous for them to seek out a DB or a LB on defense and whack that defender in the head prior to trying to catch the football. I have watched football for about 60 years and have never seen a pass pattern designed such that headhunting on the defender was a forerunner to completing the pass.
Memo to Chris Harris: “The NFL is not singling out defensive players. The NFL is singling out players who deliver dangerous shots to the head. The vast majority of them happen to be defensive players.”
The NFL is not the only league worried about concussions. MLB is considering a new action of its own. They have formed a new “concussion subcommittee” to the already existing medical advisory committee to study the idea of creating a new 7-day DL in MLB for players who have been concussed. That sounds like something really sensible and that is why I’m guessing it will end up in controversy.
The process would be for this new subcommittee to find that this is a good idea and for the full medical advisory committee to endorse it before sending it to Commissioner Bud Selig for approval. Then the MLBPA (Major League Baseball Players Association for the acronym-challenged) would have to get on board before it will happen. That is how such a simple and constructive idea may never come to fruition.
TIME TO FILL UP THE PEANUT GALLERY WITH A FEW MORE JENNIFER STERGER GRATUITOUS NUDE PIX!
Jennifer Sterger who is allegedly the recipient of those intimate photos from Brett Favre has retained legal counsel. That is most certainly her right. Her choice of representation and the timing of all this makes you wonder what is going on. The attorney (Joe Conway) that she retained specializes in criminal defense matters. Last I heard, she was the alleged victim here and not a potential felon.
She was reportedly going to speak with NFL Security about all this. It is surely not clear to me why she or anyone for that matter would need to have an attorney present when talking to NFL Security or to anyone in the NFL front office.
These guys will never learn. It’s probably because these guys have been star athletes since they were kids and have thus grown up with a different set of rules than regular schmucks like me must follow. They only get called on it when their violations are flagrant. They probably will never fully understand the basic concepts of right and wrong that I learned in Miss Frye’s kindergarten class.
MIKE IN DA
HMW
Email: houstonmediawatch@yahoo.com
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