Tragedy Averted

So Al Sharpton was all set to protest at the New York Knicks' home opener because he believed Isiah Thomas had said that it was OK for a black man to call a black woman a b*tch, but not OK for a white man to do the same. A news conference was held on Saturday in which Zeke, his wife Lynn, and Sharpton all showed up.

Lynn Thomas produced the full length tape for Mr. Sharpton (and Tamika Mallory from the Decency Initiative).

Mrs. Thomas also added:

"I know my husband never said those things," she said. "If he spoke like that I would not be with him."

Per Saturday's news conference, Sharpton is apparently satisfied now that Zeke knows it's wrong for a black or a white man to say to anyone. That means no protest against Zeke and the Knicks.

And now the Knicks can get back to what they do best . . . when you figure out what that is, let me know.

My Post-Super Bowl 41 1/2 Round Up: Canned Fans? Battle of Just the QB's?

So much has been said about yesterday's game between the New England Patriots and the Indianapolis Colts. But I have two things to say.

First up, were the Colts playing unfair?

Like the Patriots several weeks ago, the Colts have also been accused of cheating. (For irony, see the sign behind Brady in the picture above.) This alleged cheating is actually kind of interesting. First, they're saying that the Colts piped in the canned sound of fans to make it extra loud while the Pats were on offense yesterday. Presumably so that the Pats couldn't hear any signals.

Now, I am surprised because I actually noticed this yesterday. I thought I was hearing things, or a mic had changed positions, but lo and behold, I heard what could become "Coltgate." The idea that the Colts would purposely pipe in fan sounds is quite comical for its genius.

However, CBS says blame it on them. And the NFL looks like they're going to go with that, too.

There were having some audio problems at the Colts' home that prevented Bill Belichick from communicating with his beloved Tom Brady, which required them to have to signal plays in to Brady.

Well, it didn't matter in the end because the Colts didn't win anyway, proving once again that alleged cheaters never prosper . . . but confirmed cheaters do.


My second point: why do the quarterbacks on these teams get all of the accolades? I found myself falling into that trap yesterday. Caught up in the hype of the battle between the QB's that I unwittingly framed the game as "Peyton's showing up" when I was referring to the whole team. It seems that not enough credit is given to the Colts' running back, Joseph Addai, or Brady's receivers (including my own fantasy team's Wes Welker, and Randy Moss, Donte' Stallworth). The commentators are in on it, too. I'm not sure if it's the nature of the beast (that the QB runs the show) or something else . . .

MYSM: It's Called A Sideline Reporter Because That's Where You Should Stand

Being a reporter is a tough job. When you're reporting live, you just never know what might . . . hit you. Especially when it comes to horses

(Horse racing may be an activity, but that's for another time).

MYSM #2 comes from Sunday's meeting between the Detroit Lions and Denver Broncos. I'm not sure if you have to be a huge football fan to get this one. I was in the airport yesterday and the entire sports bar that I was in was laughing and cheering. Granted, it was a sports bar, but it's rare to get bipartisan cheering for anything. 344 lb Lions defensive tackle Shaun Rogers (one of the best at his position) makes one heck of a running back here, too, complete with the stiff arm to Denver RB Selvin Young. Big boy can move!

No Good Deed Goes Unpunished

Life just isn't fair sometimes.

Probably no one knows that right now better than Detroit Tigers relief pitcher Joel Zumaya. While playing the role of the good son, Zumaya tried to save some belongings from the attic of his parents' home in California as the wildfire closed in.

All of a sudden, a heavy box falls on his pitching shoulder, he has major surgery, and now it looks like he'll miss half of next season because of it. And he was on track to be a closer (i.e., close out the games) . . .

There are plenty of times growing up when my parents asked me to do something and I wished something would fall on my arm so I didn't have to be bothered. Now that I'm older, I see this may have been a little shortsighted.

Zumaya already missed three months of last season after somehow rupturing a tendon in his middle finger while warming up in the bullpen.

Strange injuries make you think that God might be trying to tell you something. Hopefully he'll learn whatever it is while he's healing up. His rookie year was 2006, when he helped the Tigers make their run to the World Series, so hopefully this won't be a career-altering or -ending injury. No one will really know the deal until he can throw again, which means not until next March at the earliest.

In the meantime, keep an eye on this guy since he seems a little accident-prone. Maybe Michael Jackson still has that tank he can borrow:

Another One Snorts Bites the Dust

Martina Hingis, former world tennis #1 and five-time Grand Slam champion, shockingly retired for the second time after admitting that she tested positive for cocaine at Wimbledon this year. She denies that she used cocaine and says she's leaving (for good, this time) because she doesn't want to spend the time and effort fighting the results.

(To borrow from an e-mail that I wrote earlier:)

Cocaine use by an athlete typically means you a) really have a problem and/or b) can't be serious about whatever sport you're playing. Len Bias was probably the former, and you see what happened to him. You're asking your body to do a lot if you're going to push it to the edge and use cocaine on top of that.

I don't buy her denial at all. She came out of the blue with this one, and now they can't do anything to really check it out. The only reason she's not going to jail like Marion Jones is because BALCO didn't give it to her and her "dealer" wasn't a part of a federal investigation. Instead, she just up and retired before it could become an issue.

It's actually sad because she really was a talented youngster. I sat courtside and watched her at the U.S. Open this past September and she looked way off her form of 10 years ago, both mentally and physically. Her heyday ended the same day the Williams' began. It became apparent that these girls were too big and strong for her game. She was better off finding a new job anyway unless she was happy just hovering in the top 20.

But if she does have a drug problem, I sincerely hope she takes care of that first.

Durant Durant

Quick note on Kevin Durant's debut:

He may not have taken the best shots, and he was probably understandably nervous, but this kid is not afraid to take the shot, and confidence is everything in this league. He still scored 18 points in 31 points, 3-14 in the first half, 4-8 in the second, as the Seattle Supersonics dropped their opener against the Denver Nuggets, 120-103. ESPN's statisticians put in overtime again, finding that 18 points was the 4th most ever scored by a John R. Wooden Award winner (given to the top college player of the year, which he won) in an NBA debut. I'm sure J.J. Reddick has some NBA record, too, if you look hard enough.

The Nuggets look pretty good, Allen Iverson (25 points, 14 assists) and Carmelo Anthony (game high 32 points). I would love to see them make a run in the West, but they're one of the main no-defense teams out there. Still, here's hoping they work that out.

For the Sonics, Jeff Green only had 5 points in his NBA debut, but I think he'll pick it up. Hopefully the Sonics can figure out where they want to be so they can build on this young team.

But this Durant. He's going to be nice.

Ouch.

On Tuesday night, the Smith Center high school football team in (what do ya know) Smith Center, Kansas defeated Plainville, scoring 72 points in the first quarter, ultimately winning the game 83-0.

Wow.

The first thing people will say is why did they run up the score like that? I understand some people are upset with the New England Patriots for "running up the score" on the Washington Red Skins last week, winning 52-0. Basically, this means that because the Patriots were winning by so much, they should have just folded and stopped trying to score.

This is hogwash. In professional sports, there are so many things that factor into every single play in the game, including contracts that might ride on particular stats. Player goals. Fantasy football numbers. But who cares? It's a professional sport, and these are professionals. If you don't want to have the score "run up," then stop them from scoring or get a new job.

However, I don't think this same rule should apply to high school sports. This are teenagers who are not professionals and shouldn't be treated as such. There are plenty of kids who are just playing to be involved on a team, not to mention that we're dealing with young egos here that are still being shaped. I would put the responsibility on the coaching staff to say "give it a rest."

But I wasn't at the game, so perhaps Plainville was just playing so poorly that it would have seemed like Smith Center was going easy on them if they didn't take the opportunities to score when they had them. From this article, I'd say that is about accurate. The Smith Center coach seems almost embarrassed by the lopsided win. And this the second time this year that Plainville lost to Smith Center, having lost 69-0 in a previous meeting.

Smith Center hasn't given up a single point the entire season.

Well, Plainville, keep your heads up. And listen to your coach:

"Right now, for a lot of our kids, things look pretty dim," Petrie said. "But it's our job to put this in perspective. I told them after the game -- this is probably the worst thing that's ever happened to many of them. But you know what? If that's the worst thing they ever have to go through, they're going to be in pretty good shape. It's going to take time, but they'll soon realize the sun is going to come up again."

A lesson for us all.