Posts Tagged ‘All’s Fair in Sports and War’

Chicken Little and the SB-206 Victory

Friday, October 4th, 2019

by Gus Griffin

gus

 

 

 

 

california-state-capitol-legislature

By now, most of you are aware of SB 206, the California bill which allows college athletes in that state to profit off THEIR image without risking losing their scholarships or eligibility. Foreseeably, the entire NCAA industrial complex opposed this and insist a protracted fight, likely to the Supreme Court. The defenders of the current NCAA model always go into their Chicken Little act when anything is remotely suggested to bring about a more just system. I call them Chicken Little because their response is very similar to those who resist raising the minimum wage with baseless scare tactics.

The following are their most common fear-mongering tropes and why they are ridiculous:

THEY GET PAID IN THE FORM OF A SCHOLARSHIP

First of all, the data has been clear for years and indicates that a college degree is declining in value. More college graduates are unemployed than at any other time in American history. It just is not what it once was, but even if it were, this response implies as if it is largess on the part of the college. Let’s be clear; be it community college, division 2 or 3, or the big-time revenue-generating programs, being a college athlete is a job that requires, between practice, games, and travel, in excess of 40 hours per week. As college athletic advisers, I can tell you that we would NEVER advise a full-time student to work that much and yet the defenders pat themselves on the back as if the scholarship is a handout for which the athletes should be grateful. They earned their scholarship and more.

IT WOULD BE UNFAIR TO OTHER COLLEGE STUDENTS

Why? Does the college marching band generate millions for the college? How about the gaming team? If they do and have commercial appeal, they should not be hindered either. But the honest truth is that neither gaming, though growing very fast, nor the marching band are generating the kind of revenue that big-time football and basketball generate. In fact, the revenues generated by football and basketball routinely fund the entire athletic department.

IT WOULD UNDERMINE TITLE 9

Title 9 is the 1972 amendment that requires gender equity on college campuses and is often used as a scapegoat by reactionary defenders of the status quo, to pit the genders against one another.  Payment would come from what athletes can independently negotiate. College-based budgets would not be affected at all. In fact, female athletes with commercial appeal could profit off their likeness, just as the males could. The great WNBA star and former UConn Huskie, Diana Taurasi, talks about how her alma mater still makes money off her and she has been gone for 15 years now.

IF THEY ARE PAID, THEY WON’T BE MOTIVATED TO STUDY AND ARE MORE LIKELY TO DROP OUT OF COLLEGE

BS! The data is clear. The number one reason students drop out of school is not a lack of motivation and it is certainly not having too much money. To the contrary, the number one reason students drop out is cost. So, how is paying them going to dull their interests? The student athlete who only came to make it to the pros is unlikely to graduate whether he/she is paid or not. And still yet, he/she will be enhanced by merely being exposed to the college environment.

NCAA Basketball: NCAA Tournament-Harvard PracticeOf course the ultimate issue is the non-profit industrial complex of college athletics. Like big time organized religion, it is structured in such a way that allows it to have the protection of being tax exempt while raking in millions of dollars. It is a thinly veiled derivative of the capitalist model and thus inherently prone to such exploitation. Until that is replaced, college athletes ought to be able to do what those who endorse the “free market” system say they believe in, which is to profit off their talents. College sports in America generates revenues in excess of $1 billion annually. The charade of amateurism will no longer be allowed to keep a portion of those revenues away from the primary generators of them, which are the athletic labor.

The cries of the status quo defenders are falling on deaf ears. The reality will soon be that the 5-star football recruit pondering Alabama, Ohio State, Clemson, or USC will likely go to sunny Southern Cal, but not just for the sun. That basketball recruit pondering Kentucky, Duke, Carolina, or UCLA will do the same. They won’t be able to beat them so they will have to join them. If they need a nudge, it may come in the way of federal legislation, which is already being crafted by former Ohio State and NFL receiver Anthony Gonzales, who is now an Ohio Congressmen.

This victory did not happen in a vacuum. It is a result of a movement all around the country from graduate students to Walmart and fast food employees to unite against an increasingly oppressive work place. The sleeping giant of exploited labor is waking up. For college athletics as well as other aspects of the the dying capitalist model, the message is clear: the gig is up!

 

Gus Griffin, for War Room Sports

Hope for the Hopeless…Even the Jets and Dolphins (9/21/2019)

Thursday, September 26th, 2019

by Gus Griffin

gus

 

 

 

 

Dolphins-Jets

(Originally Published on September 21, 2019)

As we enter the 3rd week of the NFL season, there are nine teams that have yet to win a game. As early as it is, this typically brings about what I call “panic analysis”. This is not always a bad thing. In 1993, an 0-2 start is what prompted Cowboys owner Jerry Jones to cave to the holdout of running back Emmitt Smith and sign him to a new deal. The “Boys” would go on to repeat as Super Bowl Champions and win again after the 1995 season. That was the exception. For the most part, it’s basically Chicken Little/the sky is falling type of talk. While it is true that starting 0-2 does not bode well for a team’s playoff hopes, some just get carried away with the doom and gloom. The fact is, if a team can figure out WHY it is winless, there is enough time and football remaining to correct the problems…provided you have a decent amount of talent and GREAT coaching.

Now, of the nine teams, the Dolphins and Jets are in especially dire straits. The Dolphins have lost their first two games by a combined score of 102-10. Both games were at home. Even with the addition of the great LeVeon Bell, the Jets were already offensively challenged. Now they are down to their 3rd QB. Las Vegas sees the futility of these two teams, making them both over 3 touchdown underdogs. It is extremely rare for any NFL team to be a 3 touchdown underdog. In my nearly 40 years of being an investor on some level or another, I cannot recall two teams being this big of underdogs in the same year, let alone the same week.

With all of that said, there are historical examples that provide hope for all 9 teams to include the Dolphins and Jets to make the playoffs.

New Orleans Saints v Pittsburgh Steelers1989 Pittsburgh Steelers: This is the 30th anniversary of one such example. My Steelers had not made the playoff in 5 years and only had 1 winning season during that span. This was the longest drought in the tenure of Hall of Fame head coach Chuck Noll, whose teams won 4 Super Bowls in 6 years in the 1970s. He is still the only head coach of the Super Bowl era to repeat twice. They opened up the 1989 season getting trounced by the Cleveland Browns at home, 51-0. The team then went to Houston to lose to the Oilers 41-10. The spoiled fan base of Steeler Nation was calling for the legendary Noll’s head.

Then he turned it around.

The Steelers would go to Cleveland and beat the same Browns team that had throttled them in the season opener, 17-7. The team finished the season 9-7 and made it to the playoffs, earning another trip to Houston, where the Oilers awaited. Houston had swept the season series from the Steelers. The Steelers would win 26-23 in overtime. It would have been especially satisfying for Noll given that he absolutely detested Oilers coach Jerry Glanville.

The next week the Steelers would go to Denver and come up just short of John Elway and the Broncos, 24-23.

A team that had one of the worst starts in NFL history ended up winning 10 games, to include a road playoff victory. I considered it to be Noll’s single greatest coaching job, which is to say a lot. When the all-time greatest coaches are mentioned, Chuck Noll’s name is omitted too often.

SAN DIEGO, :  Coach Bobby Ross of the San Diego Chargers watches his team play the Arizona Cardinals 09 December in San Diego, California. Ross, who led the Chargers to their first Superbowl last year, is struggling to get his team in the playoffs this year, with a 6-8 record. The Chargers lead, 28-17, in third quarter.                            AFP PHOTO   Vince BUCCI (Photo credit should read Vince Bucci/AFP/Getty Images)

1992 San Diego Chargers: This team started the season 0-4. It had gotten so bad that head coach Bobby Ross was introduced by the team’s play-by-play announcer as the director of the Laurel and Hardy Show.

Then he turned it around.

The Chargers would go on to win 11 of the final 12 to make it to the playoffs, where they would beat the division rival Chiefs before bowing to Dan Marino and the Miami Dolphins in the conference semi-finals. That Chargers team is the only team in NFL history to start a season 0-4 and still make the playoffs. NOTE: My Steelers would have pulled the trick in 2013 but for a bad call between the Chiefs and Chargers, even by the league’s admission.

This is just but one reason (in addition to his college record at both Maryland and Georgia Tech) why I consider Bobby Ross to be the most underappreciated coach in football over the past 50 years.

Of the nine teams, the one with the best chance to turn things around, in my mind, would be the Carolina Panthers. They have the best QB, when healthy, enough proven players on the defensive side from the 2015 conference champions, and are in a relatively speaking weaker division.

Does all of this mean that there is hope even for the Jets and Dolphins?

HELL TO THE NAW!  LMAO

 

Gus Griffin, for War Room Sports

Five Things to Take Away from the Antonio Brown Drama

Thursday, September 12th, 2019

by Gus Griffin

gus

 

 

 

 

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The latest news about Antonio Brown are sexual assault allegations. If true, and all data indicates that false allegations occur less than 10% of the time, this is more disturbing than any of the five items that I will list. While the emails certainly don’t make Brown look good, at the time of this writing I simply do not feel I have enough information to speak on this.

There are at least five things I do feel comfortable speaking on as take-aways from the Antonio Brown drama.

In no particular order, they are as follows:

 

  • THE NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS ARE IN THE HEAD OF THE PITTSBURGH STEELERS!

That has been clear for some time on the field, even before Sunday’s 30-3 thrashing. As great as Brown has been against the rest of the league, against the Patriots he has been “Ok”. The team is 2-5 against them since his arrival and he has averaged under 5 catches per game and has only had one 100-yard game. The fact that the Steelers may have actually passed up a better compensation package from the “Evil Empire in the Northeast” to keep Brown away from them speaks volumes. And yet he ends up there anyway, as did LaGarrett Blount and James Harrison before him;

 

  • HE LEFT $20 MILLION IN GUARANTEED SIGNING BONUS MONEY ON THE TABLE

Even if winning a ring is more important to Brown than money, is it really $20 million dollars more important? As a friend noted, this is generational wealth. The dude has 4 children. It wasn’t just about him… or at least it should not have been just about him. The thing about this on the money side is Brown could have gotten it without all this drama. Julio Jones just became the highest paid receiver in NFL history and I wouldn’t know his voice any more than Kawhi Leonard’s.

 

  • VALIDATION OF HIS NARCISSISM

The two finalists in America for Narcissist of the Decade are Donald Trump and Antonio Brown… and Brown has a chance to pull off the upset! Other than being rich, if you are on ANY list with Donald Trump, you need to take a good, long look in the mirror and not to admire yourself. If Brown, in fact, got what he wanted, this whole process has emboldened him as is. The thing to remember about the narcissistic personality type is that it is unfulfillable. Trying to satisfy and accommodate it is about as likely as filling up a black hole with dirt. For Brown’s sake, let’s hope an older and wiser Terrell Owens can connect with him about the long view and the price to be paid for one’s narcissism. The reality is that even the great Michael Jordan was humbled by the Wizards. Bill Gates is white…and was the richest man in the world when a court told him that he could not do whatever he wanted to do. Everyone must answer to someone.

 

  • THE COLLATERAL DAMAGE OF DRAMA PIMPING

The column that I was initially going to write was going to be called, “What the F%$#* is wrong with Antonio Brown?”

I reconsidered for two reasons: 1) It would be low hanging fruit, unlikely to bare any perspective not already commonly discussed and most importantly; 2) What if Brown really does have a personality disorder and isn’t just being a petulant clown?

The second is what concerns me most. I want no part of contributing to the already too neglected collateral damage from drama pimping. By drama pimping I mean the exploitation of human grief, struggles, and pain for profit.

Some will say I am embellishing the issue. If it’s just for entertainment, what’s the problem?

The problem is when manufactured drama for the exclusive purpose of entertaining is conflated with real life human struggles that are rooted in genuine mental health issues, the general public has a hard time telling the difference. Add to that the ignorance and stigma about mental health and such compounds the problem of getting those really suffering to seek treatment. Shows like Iyanla Vanzant’s Fix My Life are ground zero for this conflation.

 

  • THE PATRIOTS ARE VULTURE CAPITALISTS

The Canadian writer Naomi Klein wrote a book called the “Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism”. The book basically describes the process of how vulture capitalist takes advantage of disaster victims in desperate situations. They swoop in and devour the last bits of flesh off the carcass of the victims. They did it in Haiti, New Orleans, and are hovering over the Bahamas as we speak. The Patriots are the sports version of vulture capitalist. They rummage through the dysfunction of other organizations and when the time is right, swoop in and secure an asset for pennies on the dollar of its actual value. It’s actually a great tactic when limited to the sports world. Beyond the sports world, it’s predatory and inhumane.

The Patriots were already one of the favorites to win yet another Super Bowl. Now they are the favorites to win. It’s not as if some of the reclamation projects that the Patriots have attempted have all worked out. Chad Johnson and Albert Haynesworth come to mind. But Brown is the first of such to still be in the prime of his career and could very well push them over the top.

Like I said, none of the take-aways are good…unless you are a Patriots fan.

 

Gus Griffin, for War Room Sports

Why Expanded Replay Will Not Fix NFL Officiating

Sunday, September 8th, 2019

by Gus Griffin

gus

 

 

 

 

IR

This year will be the 20th anniversary of the NFL using replay to “get the call right”.

I don’t know anyone old enough to remember officiating before the installation of replay who thinks that it has improved the game. And yet, in no small measure to the tipping point of the Saints getting “jobbed” out of a Super Bowl appearance, the league is not only set to expand replay, but expand it in a way that second guesses the previously sacred “judgement calls”.

Last March, teams voted 31-1 to adopt a rule that will make pass interference reviewable. Based on that margin, the NFL has no idea of the Pandora’s Box it is opening.

The only thing for sure, I believe, is that this will lead to longer games.

The fundamental problem is one of mis-diagnosis. Sure, there are bad calls, and nothing can completely eliminate those. The more specific problems are the “No-calls”, which is what happened in last year’s NFC title game, and almost certainly sent the wrong team to the Super Bowl.

When the diagnosis is wrong, so too will be the treatment.

I’ll go as far as to say that expanded NFL replay will not only fail to improve officiating, but that replay in and of itself has made officiating worst.

To understand my contention, we should leave the realm of football and consider entertainers of another type:

The Flying Wallendas.

As many of you know, the Wallenda family has been walking high wires for years. One of the things that attract many to their exploits is the lack of a safety net. Either they get it right or they could literally die, as was the case with Karl Wallenda in 1978. As tragic as that was, given that there have been seven generations tempting fate, it is beyond remarkable that there haven’t been more fatalities. I attribute that to the conditions and environment in which they perform. Because there is no safety net, there is no place for complacency. Focus is not optional but is a lifesaving necessity.

In the NFL, instant replay has become a safety net for officials. I don’t necessarily believe this to be a conscious thing. In fact, I believe that the subconscious is even more intractable. Just as I do not believe the Wallendas would be as focused if they knew that there was not a safety net below them, I do not believe that NFL officials would miss as much if they did not have instant replay.

To put it another way, I do not believe that Prince would have taught himself how to play 27 different instruments had the technology of today existed when he came up. Necessity and conditions greatly influence performance.

Add to this the fact that officials were emboldened during their last work stoppage by how abysmal their replacements were and the embarrassment it caused the league. There is a correlation between one’s notion of how much he is needed and his complacency.

In the case of many, such as recently retired Ed Hochuli, who is an attorney and worth about $6 million, officiating was never vital to his financial wellbeing.

So how do we fix NFL officiating?

 

  • I believe the answer is counter-intuitive. We don’t need to expand replay, we need to reduce replay. It should be limited to inbounds, scoring, and turnovers. That is it. Some may contend that first downs should be included. If you do you are extending the game;
  • Fire the bad ones. A $200K a year weekend gig in which you keep your league paid travel miles and only work 6 months out of the year is a privilege, not a right. Most officials are like Hochuli and have day jobs. They will survive.
  • Understand that perfection is not the enemy of the good. No system is going to eliminate all bad and missed calls. If you want to make EVERYTHING reviewable within the last 2 minutes of the game, fine. That would have corrected the missed call between LA/NO.

An acronym for the NFL is “not for long”. Players and coaches have long known this if they did not perform. It should have the exact same meaning for officials.

 

Gus Griffin, for War Room Sports

Charlie Brown and Those Who Believe in the Jay-Z, NFL Partnership

Friday, August 23rd, 2019

by Gus Griffin

gus

 

 

 

 

JZ

Over the past 3 years, I have written 6 different columns related to Colin Kaepernick.

My guess is that anyone who wanted my view could go to War Room Sports to read them and get a pretty good idea about my thoughts on the matter. Simply put, I am not sure that I have anything new to add to the discussion about the recently announced Jay-Z partnership with the NFL. Ironically, the column that most reflects my thoughts about this union wasn’t actually written about Colin Kaepernick.

CBIt was about Charlie Brown and Lucy.

Essentially, I compared sports fans of Washington DC teams to Charlie Brown trying to kick the football held by Lucy. No matter how much history and evidence that she would always pull the ball away just as old Chuck approached, the fans believed this time would be different.

Those who believe in the Jay-Z and NFL partnership are like Charlie Brown.

They go through intellectual contortions to rationalize embracing it as a substantive response to the issues raised by Kaepernick. Contortions that the great gymnast Simone Biles could not reproduce.

The most common tropes are as follows:

  • This is chess not checkers; as if Jay-Z has some Machiavellian strategy that will secure the elimination of police brutality and other forms of oppression;
  • If you are not at the table you are on the menu; which makes merely being in the presence of power the goal rather than wielding power toward the elimination of cannibalism; or
  • Let’s give it a chance and wait and see; which sounds like a form of faith described in the book of Hebrews. The problem with this is that there is no substance of what is hoped for, nor evidence of things not seen.

Then there are those who espouse that maybe Jay-Z will secure some business set asides. To that I ask, for whom? The other Black folks who are among the 1 percent, which are not as impacted by the issues Kaepernick raised? Or maybe preferential hiring of Black folks for seasonal minimum wage jobs with no benefits in stadiums, that essentially codify the working poor?

Upon what track record are these hopes based? It seems above question that Jay-Z has been very supportive of the families directly impacted by police brutality. That is a positive contribution that should not be dismissed.

It is also on the back end of the oppressive process.

JZ

To the extent that poverty has been criminalized in America, gentrification and the displacement that accompanies it is one of those foundational issues. Any analysis of the construction of the Barclays center in Brooklyn must conclude that Jay-Z was the primary pitchman for the project to the community and little to none of the promises made to sell the project were kept. In the process, a whole bunch of Black people were moved out. They are no less homeless or otherwise displaced just because a Black face was central in the causing their exodus.

Jay-Z’s take away: less than 1% percent ownership in the Nets plus whatever profit he gained from its eventual sale. Should we be hopeful because it amounts to more than 30 pieces of silver?

I just don’t understand what about this warrants hope. In fact, this partnership is about as organic as an arranged marriage. I would go as far as saying it was foreseeable and straight out of the textbook on Sedating an Uprising 101. In chapter 1, it is clearly outlined that the ruling class throw the masses one whom they like to quell the revolt. That person discourages any further radical descent suggesting that any and all solutions must come from the very systems that are at the root of the problems to begin with.

In the end, the only people to benefit will be Jay-Z, his class comrades, who will be the only ones to make out from any business goodies secured, and the NFL shield, which provides cover for the “owners”.

As sobering as it is to come to the reality of how little this partnership will make a difference, it is as important to understand those who espouse the aforementioned tropes. They are as follows:

  • Affinity cheerleaders are those who think that Jay-Z will advocate for them just because he is
    Black….the demographic disproportionately adversely affected by the issues raised by Kaepernick. If you believe that you are engaging in willful naivety. Same skin is not always kin. It should be remembered that affinity is broader than just race. It can include gender, religion, etc.;
  • Cult of personality followers are those who are so obsessed with the person that they refuse to engage in any critical analysis of the person’s behavior and record. Anytime the word cult is used to describe a group, it is not good;
  • Opportunists are those who know nothing of substance will come from the partnership but see the platform as an opportunity to advance their own individualistic agenda. In this sense they are not Charlie Brown. Such are among the least trustworthy personalities in that they are not driven by any set of principles or have any interests in changing the systems of oppression, but only advancing their own place within such systems;

An underlying factor in all of the above is a lack of class analysis, which explains why poor Black folks think a billionaire rapper is on their side.

There is a hope.

Within 2 months of writing the Charlie Brown piece about the futility of Washington sports fans rooting for their teams, the Capitals won their first Stanley Cup title. So maybe I don’t know what the hell I am talking about! So, to all of those who believe that this partnership is something positive, go ahead take a run and try to kick the damn ball yet again. Lucy represents Jay-Z and the NFL. Charlie Brown represents you!

 

Gus Griffin, for War Room Sports

The Righteous Indignation of Trent Williams

Monday, July 29th, 2019

by Gus Griffin

gus

 

 

 

 

Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images

Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images

Maybe the hold out of Washington All-Pro left tackle Trent Williams is just about getting a new or reworked contract. He has 2 years left on his current deal, with cap hits of $14.7 million this year and $14.6 million in 2020.

Maybe Williams wants to be like or surpass the other Trent…as in Raiders offensive lineman Trent Brown, who became the highest paid offensive linemen in league history. He will earn $36.75 million guaranteed and an average annual salary of $16.5 million per year.

After all, he holds ALL the leverage in this situation for a number of reasons:

  • He is arguably the best left tackle in the game, which protects the typical right throwing QB’s blind side;
  • His probable replacement, Ereck Flowers’ pass blocking has been described as “a backwards skating 300 pounder”. That is an attempted humorous way of saying that he isn’t very good;
  • Instability at this position makes it all the more difficult to throw your first round QB to the wolves

If it is just about money, all of the above explain the situation and there really is nothing unique about this. A “financial apology” may smooth over all animosity.

I suspect there is more to this hold out and recent reports support my suspicion.

In the winter, Williams underwent surgery to remove a tumor from his head. It was determined to be malignant, which means that it was made up of cancerous cells.

Subsequent reports say that Williams was unhappy with how the team doctors handled his situation and some have even said he seeks a trade as opposed to playing for the team again. Due to health privacy laws, the team is limited in what it can say about this matter without Williams’ consent.

Be that as it may, Williams is not the only player unhappy with the team doctors and overall handling of injuries. Keep in mind that Washington has been the most injury-riddled team in the NFL in each of the past 2 seasons. They put 26 players on the injured reserve in 2017 and topped that with 28 in 2018.

Football is a violent game and injuries must be baked into the planning recipe. To lead the league in injuries is bad luck.

To lead the league in consecutive years is extremely abnormal.

The team has tried a number of responses, including ice made of Gatorade.

That was not an attempt at humor but is true.

There are a number of theories, including the team’s tendency to draft players with an injury history under the thinking that they would be financial bargains. Say whatever one wants about owner Daniel Snyder, but he has no history of being cheap.

All of this leads me to believe two things: 1) that the prospect of Cancer is as terrifying for a 300 plus pound multimillionaire as it would be for any one of us, and 2) that such fear made him more conscious of his medical treatment than perhaps he had been before. More than a few of his teammates have echoed his concerns and stand by him.

The NFL’s “M.O.” is to treat players the way a factory treats a conveyor belt. When they are of no more use, they are discarded and replaced. Players are not conveyor belts in a factory. They are human beings. The fact that they are very well paid human beings does not mean that they forfeit the desire to play with their grandchildren one day.

Then again, it could be just about money. I’m sure that some will utter the tired trope, “he signed a contract and he should honor his contract”. Teams cut players under contract all the time. In other words, it’s only a contract as long as the team says it’s a contract. Under those conditions, holding out is the player’s only direct leverage.

Either way, I’m on the side of the players, which is to say labor. You need go no further than the health struggles of retired players to know how little the NFL cares about its most valuable asset and how hard it has resisted the moral responsibility to take care of them. When one considers all of this, Trent Williams’ indignation is more than righteous!

 

Gus Griffin, for War Room Sports

The Big Three and Serena’s Reality

Monday, July 22nd, 2019

by Gus Griffin

gus

 

 

 

 

Tennis

I hope that even the peripheral tennis fan can appreciate what we are witnessing from the men’s “Big Three” of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, and Novak Djokovic.

Why? Because they just may be the best threesome of athletes to overlap one another during their prime in any one sport, EVER!

When I say best three, I mean three athletes whom all have a legitimate G.O.A.T. claim.

Think about it for a bit: in baseball we had Willie Mays and Hank Aaron, and later Ken Griffey Jr and Barry Bonds, but it is hard to find a 3rd peer.

In basketball we had Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, and Larry Bird. For all of their ambassadorship and marketing of the game, neither Magic nor Bird have a valid claim.

In football we had Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, and Drew Brees. But is there really a good argument to put either Manning or Brees over Joe Montana?

When talking about Federer, Nadal, and Djokovic, it’s hard to find “buts” to either’s claim beyond one of the other two.

No disrespect to Rod Laver, who won a calendar year grand slam in both 1962 and 1969.

All of the Big 3 have won the career grand slam.

Bjorn Borg’s capacity to go from clay to grass, winning the French Open and Wimbledon in the same year, 3 straight years, is the second hardest thing to do in tennis, behind the calendar year Grand Slam. But he never won a hard-court major.

We almost never talk about Pete Sampras and his 14 major titles. But he never won the French Open.

Other than the calendar year Grand Slam, there is nothing all 3 members of this group have not done.

How dominant have they been?

 

  • They have won 50 of the past 58 major titles.

 

  • They have all 3 made the final four of a major 12 times in 13 years. In six different years, all three made it to the final four of all the majors. If not for injuries, especially to Djokovic and Nadal, it would likely have been more.

 

  • The major title count to date is Federer with 20, Nadal with 18, and Djokovic with 16. They are ranked in reverse 1, 2, and 3 in the world.

 

Tennis’ Big Three has been to Jo Wilfried Tsonga, Tomas Berdych, and David Ferrer, what Michael Jordan was to John Stockton, Karl Malone, Charles Barkley, and Patrick Ewing.

While Federer is clearly a lion in the winter, he is still formidable. He played his A game in last Sunday’s Wimbledon final and was still not able to beat Djokovic on his B game.

The only frustrating thing about the Big Three is identifying heirs to their throne. They are all over 30 and can’t go on forever. So, who in the hell is next?

Three have the game but all have glaring flaws:

Alexander Zverev has all the tools but just seems uninterested at times and has even all but admitted as much.

Stefanos Tsitsipas also has the game but lacks experience.

And then of course there is the mercurial Nick Kyrgios, who blatantly admits that he does not train. Even with that, his record against Nadal and Djokovic is 5-4. The guy has never lost to Novak Djokovic.

On the women’s side, we Serena fans are going to have to prepare ourselves for the possibility that she may never win another major.

SWIt’s not a question of capacity. When her serve is right, she still beats every other player. The problem is that increasingly the serve is not right and her “B” game is no longer good enough to survive the unforced errors and beat upper echelon players, as it once was. There are times when I cannot get the image of Mays, Manning, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Muhammad Ali towards the end of their careers out of my head. I could not bear to see Serena go out the way that they did.

One of the things that makes a great athlete is a fierce stubbornness. It, likewise, is also what keeps them around beyond their greatness. She certainly has earned the right to leave when she is good and ready. I just hope she is ready before Mother Time forces the issue.

 

Gus Griffin, for War Room Sports

 

Megan Rapinoe: One of My New Favorite Athletes

Monday, July 8th, 2019

by Gus Griffin

gus

 

 

 

 

United States' Megan Rapinoe celebrates after scoring the opening goal from the penalty spot during the Women's World Cup final soccer match between US and The Netherlands at the Stade de Lyon in Decines, outside Lyon, France, Sunday, July 7, 2019. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco) ORG XMIT: XAF175

United States’ Megan Rapinoe celebrates after scoring the opening goal from the penalty spot during the Women’s World Cup final soccer match between US and The Netherlands at the Stade de Lyon in Decines, outside Lyon, France, Sunday, July 7, 2019. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco) ORG XMIT: XAF175

I am not a soccer fan.

I could not explain the basic rules of the game, nor tell you much of the history, other than Brazil holding the most World Cups.

While I understand it to be the world’s most popular sport, I really cannot provide a comprehensive explanation as to why.

And yet with all my superficial understanding of the game, the one thing that I am crystal clear about is my admiration for Women’s American Soccer star Megan Rapinoe.

Who is Megan Rapinoe? She grew up gay in Redding, California, which is just north of my birth town of Sacramento. While I know nothing about growing up gay, I do know Northern California. Aside of the San Francisco Bay area, it is culturally California’s version of “Middle America” and the South. It is politically an oasis of red among a sea of California blue. It is unabashedly pro-Trump.

Rapinoe was also the first white athlete to follow Colin Kaepernick’s lead and kneel during the national anthem in 2016. Her stance made such an impact that the U.S. Soccer authorities implemented a rule that mandated standing. So she has continued her protest by refusing to sing the National Anthem.

It was not a one time, “follow the trend” stance. When recently asked about being invited to the White House if the women win the World Cup, Rapinoe responded, “I doubt we get invited and even if we do, I would not go ‘to the fucking White House’.”

Some will say she is one of many that have rejected such invitations under the current administration. What makes her stance so admirable? For me the answer is the potential greater Black LGBT alliance. This is important because one of the most reliable tools the empowered use against the masses is “divide and conquer”. We can certainly continue to struggle for Black liberation on our own. And we will. LGBT can do the same for their human rights. I am sure that it will. The same can be said of undocumented citizens, labor, and a number of other marginalized demographic groups. But we would be much stronger working in coalition with others as opposed to working in silos.

While I am sure there are racist factions among the LBGT community, I am far more familiar with anti-gay bias among Black folks. They fall into one of two categories: ideological bigots, which are divided between the Evangelical or Nationalist factions; and the simple garden variety bigots. The primary reasoning seems to be the notion that comparing the LGBT movement with the Civil Rights movement trivializes our struggle. It is true that no two movements are exactly interchangeable. It is also true that the mere option of non-revelation is a tool that most Black folks have never had to combat the terrorism that we have endured. LBGT have such a tool.

Rapinoe acknowledges the distinctions when she said, “I haven’t experienced racial profiling, police brutality, or the sight of a family member’s body lying dead in the street. But I cannot stand idly by while there are people in the country who have had to deal with that kind of heartache”.

That, in my mind, is what an ally sounds like, and her actions have been consistent with her words.

What remains a mystery to me is the basic question around homophobia, for which I have yet to get any rational answer: How does the relationship, love, or even just sex, between consenting adults adversely affect your life? On the movement level: How does rejecting willing allies advance our agenda?

From my experience, the answers to these questions have routinely been based primarily on bigotry masquerading as cultural nationalism or religious integrity.

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall uprising in New York City. It is considered to be the moment when a culmination of police brutality led the LGBT community to say enough is enough. And therein lies the basis for alliances. The same state sponsored harassment that LBGT was subjected to at Stonewall harassed Black folks in Selma, Alabama in 1965 and undocumented immigrants today. Those who use homophobia as a tool to stigmatize and oppress, often do the same with racism. Those who use racism often do the same with xenophobia. Those who use xenophobia often do the same with misogyny. The tools of oppression are equal opportunists in protecting the interests of the empowered class. Thus we must have the same openness in accepting willing reciprocal alliances. We need not have the exact same experiences. We only need to recognize injustice because as Martin Luther King said, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere”.

It is against this backdrop that Megan Rapinoe and many others from the LGBT community have expressed a desire to align with other struggles for human rights. It is only reasonable that they expect reciprocal solidarity for their human rights. If you have an issue with that, their sexual orientation isn’t the problem. You are!

 

Gus Griffin, for War Room Sports

KD and Kawhi’s Revenge

Friday, June 28th, 2019

by Gus Griffin

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He came out blazing!

For the opening minutes of Game 5 of the NBA Finals, you would have never known that Kevin Durant (KD) was dealing with what could be a career-ending injury.

He looked every bit the basketball phenom we have come to know. That is a combination of Bob McAdoo, George Gervin, and Dirk Nowitzki…only a better defender than either (did you see him at 7-foot stay in front of 6-foot guard Fred VanVleet?). Among non-centers, I consider KD to be the most difficult matchup for a defender in NBA history.

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Then Achilles arose and that is where we are today. This week, Durant declined his $31.5 million option to remain with the Warriors, which makes him an unrestricted free agent. While it is still in doubt whether or not Durant will ever be what he once was, make no mistake that multiple NBA teams will be willing to roll the dice that he will and offer him a super max contract.

KLLast year at this time, when Kawhi Leonard refused to play due to his injury, his basic interest in the game of basketball was being questioned. As a result, the San Antonio Spurs, which many consider to be among the most stable franchises in all of sports, traded him. Today, after leading the Raptors to an NBA title, he has a legitimate claim to be the best player in the game. He is also now an unrestricted free agent and will get a super max deal.

Overall, both KD and Kawhi get the last laugh…good for them. However, why do so many feel that it is their place to decide if someone is or is not hurt, and when a player should or should not play?

There are so many factors to be considered when it is determined if a professional athlete, less than 100%, should or should not play. Yet, rarely is there a narrative from us fans/media that considers all of those factors.

The most common line of thinking is something like this from a recent talk radio caller; “KD knew the risks and chose to play anyway. Professional athletes are obsessively competitive and always want to play, otherwise they likely would not have made it to this level. It is what they do. Those reading any more into this are over-analyzing. After all, one can walk outside and be struck by lightning”.

This vacuum analysis is based on the false premise that the decision to play was ultimately KD’s. That simply was not true. The ultimate decision maker is the organization. The vacuum of which I speak assumes that nothing external to KD’s line of thought drove the decision. The ridiculous and insulting notion that the Warriors are better without him was not a factor. Toxic masculinity, which exists in varying degrees on all male sports teams, that says, “You tough it out and play through injury”, was not a factor. The fact that the Warriors were down 3-1 and KD was their only viable hope of getting back into the series was not a factor. Finally, his pending free-agency option was not a factor.

Anyone that believes any of this is delusional beyond imagination.

Without going into the thinly-veiled homophobic tone of “he is soft”, there is the condescending arrogance that we know their bodies better than they do. Even the “ok” from team doctors is suspect because…he/she is the TEAM’S doctor and thus has an inherent conflict of interest. Also, just because people would have played hurt “back in the day” does not mean they should today. Once upon a time people worked without wages. That does not make it a valid consideration for labor today. Finally, there is the notion that because they make a lot of money, they should play short of being on a deathbed. In fact the opposite makes more sense. If we speak in terms of the professional athlete’s body being his most valuable commodity, then why would he risk compounding an injury by playing hurt?

One thing about the journey of KD and Kawhi is that they were both once considered low profile personalities. They were the humble, anti-showboat type of athletes that fans wanted to root for…that is until they did not provide the labor that was expected. Today, both are cautionary tales that despite all the fame and money, many fans, media, and especially owners see professional athletes as chattel.

Speaking of “owners”, this mindset is why NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, to his credit, is paying attention to the designation of “owner”. In a country where Black men were once literally property, and in a league where they make up nearly 75% of the players, referring to their “bosses” as owners should be more than a dog whistle. Of course, formal Chattel Slavery that once existed in America is no more. But as long as so many feel it their place to tell a grown man when he is and isn’t hurt, should or should not play, it will be a reminder that the slave owner’s mentality is in the present, alive and well.

 

Gus Griffin, for War Room Sports

The Curious Obsession with the Black Athlete’s Smile

Friday, June 21st, 2019

by Gus Griffin

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(Originally published on June 20, 2019)

When Zion Williamson goes number one in the NBA draft tonight, many platitudes will be offered. Some will be completely basketball based, such as his explosiveness, his “handle” (dribbling ability) etc. Others will not have anything to do with basketball, such as his humble beginnings and the one that annoys the hell out of me most will be, “he has such a great smile!”

I have been a sports fan for my entire conscious life. I am now 52 years old and not once can I recall sports commentators swooning over the smile of a White athlete the way they do over that of a Black athlete.

The Black athlete’s smile is one of many “dog whistle” codes in sports used to discuss race while maintaining plausible deniability that one is in fact talking about race. Others are “how hard he works” and “how scrappy he is”. Translation: White. Then there is “God-given talent” and “head case”. Translation: Black

Surely, some will say that I am over-reacting and that it is really just a simple compliment that actually could lead to lucrative commercial endorsements for the Black athlete. There certainly is something to the endorsement angle. My contention is that the Black athlete’s smile is selling more than a product or service to America. It sells the assuaging of White guilt for America’s past AND present transgressions and oppression of Black people. The Black athlete’s smile reassures America that everything is all right and that Black people are content and have no interest in rising up and revolting.  There is no better platform for the delivery of this reassurance than one in which the highest profile Black men in America reside and that would be professional sports. Not only are they the most recognizable, but they are, relatively speaking, the biggest, fastest, and strongest. If they are reassuring, there is little reason to fear the rest of us.

In reality, it is just the opposite. The professional Black athlete’s life is so diametrically at odds with that of the masses of Black people from a material perspective, to the point of it being a total misrepresentative sample. The rebels of Ferguson and Baltimore should be what America pays more attention to than the smile of the Black athlete.

What is fascinating about this is the fact that it is not at all a conscious process. Even marketers, who correctly think that Zion Williamson would be a good pitchperson, do not fully understand the WHY. We have been so well schooled in the do’s and don’ts of racial etiquette and social mores to the point that we act and react on automatic pilot.

That etiquette has been interrupted by the current presidential administration which has unmasked and put away all of the previously agreed upon rules regarding race. At the same time, the president has made it blatantly clear how he feels about Black athletes, when he referred to NFL players who kneeled in protest to racial injustice, overwhelmingly Blacks, as “Sons of Bitches”.

Perhaps now, more people can understand why the great sportswriter William C. Rhoden called his book, “40 Million Dollar Slaves”. One of its central points is that regardless of the Black athlete’s wealth, his ultimate role is his usefulness to White America, be it from an entertainment standpoint, commercial standpoint, or psychological guilt relief.

The good news is that the Black athlete is perhaps more conscious of these factors than at any time since the 1960s. We have the various intersectional movements to thank for this to include Black Lives Matter.

If America is interested in moving forward on the issue of race, it must pay much more attention to the pain and experience of everyday Black folks. One way to do this would be to honestly assess, no matter how uncomfortable it may be, the legacy of Slavery and Jim Crow. The current reparations discussions in Congress is a place to start. If we have that honest assessment, we will come to understand that all of the combined wealth of the Black athlete to include Michael Jordan and LeBron James would be pennies on the dollar compared to the wealth created by slavery and inherited by White America, be it in terms of privilege and or capitol.  That reality cannot be dismissed with a smile.

 

Gus Griffin, for War Room Sports