What happens, when something happens to Tim Tebow?

Tim Tebow doing his signature knelt prayer. It's caught fire in Denver and around the country, people can be seen "Tebowing" everywhere from the Golden Gate Bridge to Central Park.

Unless you have been on a media fast for the past few months, there has been a lot of talk of Tim Tebow. Mostly good, some doubting, and still some that is just plain mean. As a Christian and a sports fan, I am concerned about one thing though: What happens when something happens to Tim Tebow?

Let me clarify. Tebow has been the NCAA and NFL’s poster child for sportsmanship on and off the field since he signed with the Gators. If there is a player a Commissioner didn’t have to worry about, Tebow is that man. But as good of a human as he is, he is still human. So what happens when he losses his temper? What happens when he gets short with a reporter in a post-game interview? What happens when Tebow turns into just another NFL player, if even for a few seconds?

It is my fear that he will, pardon the pun, be persecuted for being less Tebow, and more like the rest of us. Tebow holds himself to a higher standard of living than most individuals even contemplate, but does that give us the right to expect that from him?

Setting goals for yourself is just that, for yourself. If your goal is to lose 20 pounds by your birthday and you only manage 12, it is not anyone else’s place to hold that against you. The same goes for Tebow. Should he ever snap and cuss on field once while the camera is focused on him, that is his own moment to deal with. Tebow is the type of person who is his own harshest critic. He would be far more disappointed in himself than I ever could be for him.

The problem lies outside of Tebows own reach. Skip Bayless would turn from Tebows biggest fan, to his biggest critic in a heartbeat. Jim Rome would trash him for weeks claiming we were mislead and it has all been an act until this point. But when it all came down to it, Tebow would still be more of an upstanding player/citizen/person than 99% of our country.

I fear that Tebow will lose heart. I fear that Tebow will be so disheartened that he will walk away from the game and focus on staying out of the stories. I fear the best role model that America has right now, will be torn down by the very same people that built him up. Tebow is a great man, but he is just a man.

The Burden of Talent in Sports Today

Since getting married early last August, I have been without any form of television or reliable internet, which for my bride’s and mine relationship has been wonderful, but for my sports knowledge, not so much. What I know is primarily what I read on various Twitter feeds and Facebook posts. Not good enough for someone who used to TiVo the L.A Clippers vs. the Milwaukee Bucks just to see what Mo Williams did for me fantasy wise that night.

This past year was declared by many to be the Year of the Underdog. In the NBA, Dirk and his Mavs were finally able to break that menacing glass ceiling that had held them back for so many years, and obtain that first Championship they so desperately wanted. Beating LeBron and the Miami Heat along the way made it that much sweeter.

In the MLB the Texas Rangers made it to the World Series for the second year in a row, however this time they were the favorites against the quiet St. Louis Cardinals. In both Game 6 and Game 7 the Rangers were just 1 STRIKE away from winning it all. Not inning, not out, one, single pitch away. The Cardinals had a hometown boy rise to the occasion and the Rangers fell for a second straight year.

These stories were also found in the NHL with the Boston Bruins handing the Canucks a game 7 loss that sent the entire city of Vancouver into a fit of rage. The NCAA tournament which saw Kemba Walker lead his UConn Huskies to 10 straight wins, from the Big East Conference Tournament to the NCAA Championship, a feat no one (but myself at the MGM Casino in Las Vegas) saw coming.

These “underdog” stories were everywhere, and they seem to be shaping up again in 2012, even though the year is in it’s infancy The Denver Broncos are making a strong push for the Super Bowl, the Los Angeles basketball scene has been flipped on it’s head with the Clippers dominating and the Lakers slumping, and Murray St. keeping it’s NCAA title hopes up by being the only undefeated team in the nation at this point.

The term underdog gets thrown around easily these days. The worst example recently is that Drew Brees in an underdog to win NFL MVP. He’s such an underdog, that he’s projected to finish second in the voting. Really? We as a society find words we like, use them until we’ve said them so much it sounds weird coming out of our mouths, and then find a new word to replace it with. Underdog has lost it’s true value. The 2008 Fresno State Bulldogs were underdogs. The 2001 New England Patriots were underdogs. The 1983 N.C. State Wolfpack were underdogs.

These recent teams weren’t underdogs, they were merely under-valued. The Mavs have Dirk Nowitzki, arguably the greatest European player in NBA history, hardly a surprise he got a ring. The Cardinals had Albert Pujols, who could be not only this generations greatest hitter, but its all around best player. It’s no surprise he added another ring to his collection.

This years sports trend is far from being determined, but I’d like to throw my two cents in early. I declare this to be the Year of the Under-exagerated. Let’s not lose our minds when lowly Kansas City beats previously undefeated Green Bay, and instead remember that the Chiefs are a professional franchise with some of the highest quality athletic talent on Earth.

Realize that teams these days are burdened with talent. Gone are the days where the NBA had a dozen stars on 10 teams and acknowledge that, if the Minnesota Timberwolves of a top 10 player on their roster, they don’t get to be called underdogs.

Embrace the fact that watching the Carolina Panthers play the Seattle Seahawks isn’t bad. You will be on the edge of your seat waiting for Cam Newton to blow your mind like no rookie QB has done before, and wait for Marshawn Lynch to bulldoze a couple linebackers on his way to six points.

Embrace the burden sports fans, because we’ve never had it so good!

New posts are coming!

I know it’s been a while…over 3 months in fact, but I am going to start writing again. I took a longer break than expected once I graduated and while it has felt good to let my brain relax, it has gotten slow and uncreative. Writing can fix both of those things, so from now I plan to write at least one post per week, hopefully more though. This will start soon, I promise! Bear with me. Also, if there is ever anything you would like for me to talk about or if you disagree with me and want to challenge my views, please do so! I take no offense to a good debate, it makes everyone better and more knowledgeable. See ya next week with a new blog and a new point of view!

From jail time to playing time: Champions or not, Baylor is this year’s biggest winner.

When it comes to NCAA Tournament Cinderella’s, Baylor didn’t quite fit the mold. Baylor entered The Big Dance with a number three seed, and as the 19^th ranked team in the nation. What people forget about, is that seven years ago, the Bears were nearly booted out of the NCAA. The reason for this was playing time.

Not playing time in the sense that recruits were afraid they wouldn’t get any, but in the sense that too much playing time would get them murdered, because that’s what happened to junior forward Patrick Dennehy in the summer of 2003. Dennehy, and friend Carlton Dotson, had become increasingly worried about their safety after transferring to Baylor the year prior. Threats had been coming from the most unlikely place: Baylor squad teammates.

On June 14, Dennehy and Dotson voiced these concerns once again to a mutual friend, and then finished their conversation by mentioning a party they were planning on attending the next day. However, neither man showed up at the party that next night.

A few weeks later Dotson was taken into custody and charged with the murder of Dennehy. A cousin of Dotson’s told local police that he had overheard Dotson bragging about the shooting. On July 30, Dennehy’s body was found; gunshots to the head confirmed the police suspicions of homicide. Five days prior to his trial, Dotson plead guilty to the murder of his friend and teammate, citing playing time as his main motive.

Further investigation uncovered that then head coach Dave Bliss knew about the murder and instructed the rest of the team to lie to investigators about what had happened. He had been recorded as telling his team to tell investigators that Dennehy was a drug dealer on campus and that the shooting was an unfortunate consequence of a deal gone south. Bliss immediately resigned from his position after this was revealed, but received no criminal punishment.

In the immediate aftermath of this incident, the NCAA threatened not just to suspend the Baylor basketball program, but to scrap it all together. The NCAA found that extreme of a measure unnecessary but did impose sanctions due to the schools recently revealing of substance abuse and tuition violations concerning student-athletes.

Since this incident, many people had brushed Baylor under the rug, assuming they would never be heard from again. However, new head coach Scott Drew was not about to let that happen. Drew, a former college coach at Valparaiso, took the job with the intention of bringing Baylor basketball back. As seen in this year’s NCAA Tournament, Drew has accomplished that goal.

Since the murder seven years ago, Baylor has struggled in the area of performance, but the simple fact that they are performing is a feat in itself. They had every reason to drop their program and rid themselves of a potentially crippling stigma that would forever loom over them, but they chose not to fold. Drew, along with dedicated young men he has recruited, have brought Baylor back from the lowest of lows. They were not the normal definition of a Cinderella team, and even though they lost in the Elite Eight to the top seeded Duke, the Baylor Bears are sitting on campus right now in Texas, rightly holding their heads high. They know the amazing things they have overcome and accomplished, and for that, we should all be cheering for them still. Congratulations on the greatest comeback of all time Baylor. Go Bears!

I love college basketball, but 96 teams is just stupid.

Of all the things wrong with the NCAA, one would be inclined to think they would fix a problem like the BCS or USC player payroll before creating another, arguably bigger, problem. In the last month, more and more whispers are coming out of ESPN, CBS, Sports Illustrated and other credible sources who have in one way or another confirmed that the NCAA men’s basketball tournament will expand from 65 to 96 teams as soon as next season.

Though the logistics have yet to be worked out or just haven’t been released yet, this format makes no sense. I understand that the NCAA is a business and that this will draw in billions more in TV and sponsorship revenue, but think about the kids. With this expansion comes at least one, maybe two more meaningless games for future NBA superstars to get injured in.

Expanding the tournament would accomplish about as much as the NFL preseason does. Actually, it would accomplish less, because these college players still aren’t getting paid, but their coaches, Athletic Directors, and the NCAA are rolling in the dough.

Duke’s head coach Mike Krzyzewski (better known as Coach K) was heard on the Dan Patrick radio show on March 5 where he said he liked the idea because, “there are more good teams out there now.”

No, there isn’t! The good teams simply don’t pile up in the power conferences anymore. The days of the Big East Conference receiving nine automatic bids are over. Modern college basketball needs to understand that the Butlers, Western Kentucky’s, and St. Mary’s of the world are here to stay, even if that means that an underachieving Connecticut or North Carolina gets left out of The Dance.

I will admit that there is a slightly selfish reason behind my hatred of this idea. The thought of filling out a 96 team bracket sounds like it is as much fun as being the clean-up man in the elephant keep at the San Diego Zoo.

In retrospect, I’m not sure why I ever assumed the NCAA wouldn’t eventually expand the tournament. It’s one of the most illogical, misguided organizations in the land. Of course we should expect them to make the wrong decision.

On a side note, I challenge you, students, faculty, staff, all of you! I have created a Yahoo! Sports Tournament Pick ‘Em challenge for you to join. The group number is 19651 and the password is VanguardLions (no space, that’s important!). All my readers are welcome and encouraged to play. The overall winner will receive a $10 gift card to Chipotle and bragging rights for a year! Please be sure to make your team name your actual name so when it’s all said and done I can give the winner their prize!

Sideline Tweets

Mock it all you like, but Twitter is here to stay. Personally, I’ve loved it since the day I signed up, and 1,953 tweets later, I don’t see this relationship ending anytime soon.  The biggest argument against it is, “No one cares what you are doing,” but my 75 followers and counting would beg to differ. But for the most part, they’re right, no one cares what I’m doing, but millions of fans do care about athletes like Shaquille O’Neal (a.k.a. @THE_REAL_SHAQ), Charlie Villanueva (@CV31), and Jozy Altidore (@JozyAltidore17).

140 characters is slightly more than the average sentence contains, so it doesn’t take a lot of effort to get one’s point across. There is a tweeter out there for everyone. Whether you care about breaking news, secret sales, or new music being released today, no one is excluded for lack of interest.

Where I get the majority of my pleasure from does not come from commenting on a professor’s recent lecture, but rather hearing from NBA All-Star Kevin Durant (@KevinDurant35) about what it was like to play against a rejuvenated Tracy McGrady. Athletes hate talking to media people who notoriously misquote them, but Twitter gives athletes the opportunity to say what they want, how they want. Good or bad.

The Durant example was good. Anything Shaq, Dwight Howard, or Steve Nash tweets is good. However, there is a dark side to all of this. During the last off-season, the Minnesota Timberwolves fired then head coach Kevin McHale behind closed doors and planned to hold a press conference about it days later. Rookie forward Kevin Love didn’t know that.

“Today is a sad day … Kevin McHale will NOT be back as head coach this season.”

Love was fined a small amount for “Conduct detrimental to the team,” and has since stopped tweeting.

Though that was an unfortunate incident, more good comes from the little blue bird then does bad. Of the 22 athletes that I personally follow on Twitter, 11 of them wear a Vanguard uniform. Since I didn’t discuss this article with any of them I won’t mention their names, but thanks to them keeping up with scores, injuries, and game times is significantly easier. Not to mention that having some of this inside knowledge makes watching their games that much more entertaining.

Fans love getting as close to their sports idols as possible, and Twitter allows this to happen, at a safe distance. Just the other night I got to see what Ochocinco was eating for dinner. I didn’t really care, but athletes somehow always get built up to be some sort of super human race that doesn’t eat normal food. Let me tell you, Ochocinco eats McDonalds and loves it, and there is nothing more normal than that.

Twitter allows athletes to connect with their fans without really having to do anything about it. Kevin Durant will occasionally give away gift boxes, which is awesome, and guys like Chris Bosh will take and answer fan questions. What it comes down to the fans getting the “intimate” relationship they crave, while protecting the athletes from the crazies.

I’m a believer, and as long as there is even a possibility that Dwight Howard will talk to me, 140 characters or less, I’m going to keep coming back. Heck, Terrell Owens mentioned me (@SportsManDC) last year, why would I stop now?

The last 10 years were great, but the next 10 will be extraordinary!

Over Christmas break we were all barraged with TV and news lists of the top 10 whatever from the last year. For example: top 10 celebrity break-ups, top 10 new gadgets, top 10 movies, top 10 games, and so on.

Don’t get me wrong, we like taking trips down memory lane as much as the next person, especially if it includes a video of Mike Tyson biting body parts off from Evander Holyfield; but that’s boring, old news. What I really love is predictions. Not just who’s going to win the NBA Championship, because there is always some guy who is convinced that the Los Angeles Clippers have the perfect mix of talent, youth, and experience to make a serious run this year. They don’t, they haven’t, and they never will.

The predictions we’re talking about are bold. They are the types of predictions that get you remembered, like Babe Ruth calling his shot against the Cubs in the 1932 World Series, or Joe Namath predicting a win in the Super Bowl over the heavily favored Baltimore Colts. These are the kinds of things I like.

With sports and athletes advancing leaps and bounds everyday, it’s nearly impossible to make these types of predictions anymore, nothing surprises us anymore, but we’re going to try. These are the 10 predictions we are making for the next 10 years in sports that we wholeheartedly believe will happen.

1. Tim Tebow will make Ryan Leaf look like an MVP. Tebow will be a complete and utter bust in the NFL. I don’t care if he’s a “natural born winner” like all the experts say. Adam Morrison has a championship ring but that doesn’t make him a winner or good at what he does. Some athletes styles just don’t translate from college to pros. A prime example of this is Vince Young, but at best, the jury is still out on him.

2. The most compelling rivalry in sports will not be LeBron vs. Kobe, Yankees vs. Red Sox, or Tiger Woods vs. everyone. The best rivalry in sports will be Sydney Crosby vs. Alex Ovechkin. The NHL owners owe them their souls for keeping this sport even relatively popular. If half of the Stanley Cup finals of the next 10 years include either one of them, I’m watching.

3. The summer of 2010 will not be the mind blowing free agency season people think it will be. Let’s be honest, LeBron isn’t going anywhere people, and everyone else that is available is chopped liver compared to him. I’m not saying a team wouldn’t want Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh, or Joe Johnson, but they are role players compared to King James. Consolation prizes at best.

4. Baseball will implicate a salary cap. As the only sport currently without a salary cap, their time as big spenders is over. The salary and talent difference between Yankees and the Royals will finally have no direct effect on each other.

5. Vanguard will win two more National Championships. One of them will come from the winning machine that is women’s basketball. The other might surprise you. The work that tennis coach Mattias Johansson is doing with that program is astonishing, and there is far too little being said about it.

You can quote me on all of these things, that is, if you still know me in 10 years!

Intramural’s are for fun, so why am I not having any?

Maybe I’m just getting old, but playing games isn’t as fun as it used to be. Okay, so I’m not that old, but I do have bad knees and Senioritis, so I think that should count for something.

Intramurals used to be something I looked forward to, but not anymore. I have played intramural football and basketball every year that I have been at Vanguard, and the experience has only gotten worse. Trash talk is fine, but there is no excuse for lowering a shoulder on the football (baseball) field, or making a hard foul on the court just because your feelings got hurt.

During freshman year I do not remember fighting once. Then again my teams were terrible and other teams were too busy laughing to fight. That was the last time these games were any fun.

We can all list off at least five people we do not want to play against, but not because they are good and we can’t possibly win, but because they take the game way to seriously. I won’t say any names, but I’m sure, whether or not you play intramurals, you know who those guys are.

Sophomore year is when it all started to go down hill. Juniors and seniors then were significantly bigger than myself, and one particular basketball game remains clear in my mind. Again, no names, but this guy was over 6 feet and 225 pounds. I was not. He wanted to fight me just because I called traveling on him before he went up for a dunk. After all was said and done, I was the one who got kicked out of the game for “instigating.” That low level of maturity is hard to find in five-year-olds, but it is just down right sad to see in college students.

In these few months of my senior year, I have played in six intramural football games, and already had to break up three fights. I’m on the other end of my freshman year now, not just age wise, but because my team is finally good, and apparently other teams don’t like that. Personal fouls, obscene comments, pushing and shoving will not gain your team more points.

Also, a quick word to the fans: we greatly appreciate the love and support that you show us by cheering for us every week, but if something happens out on the field, and you’re not out there, stay out of it. It is not your place to hold anyone back or lecture players about “Christian expectations and standards.”

I’m not going to tell you I’ve never wanted to fight someone.The big guy my sophomore year was one challenge I was ready and willing to accept. I figured getting the snot beat out of me was worth it if I could get in one or two good punches first. He didn’t show up, and for that, I was thankful.

What it all comes down to is recognition. Recognize that this isn’t T-Ball anymore, and not everyone is a winner. Recognize that even though this is a competition, the champions don’t even get t-shirts anymore, so it’s not worth fighting over. Most importantly though, recognize that causing physical pain or injury will not make your ego feel any better.

 

So what if we didn’t get the Olympics? We have everything else!

Lets be honest, as American sports fans we get a little cocky sometimes and begin to just expect things to go our way. Last Friday, we got put in our place. The greatest country on Earth, didn’t get the greatest sporting event on Earth, and that’s ok.

Every fall, America’s past time turns it up a notch and shows us things that we swore we would never see. The Rockies World Series run of 2007 was the most improbable stretch of baseball the sports world has ever seen. To make it to the post season, the Rockies won 13 out of their last 14 games just to force a playoff with the San Diego Padres. After winning the one game playoff with the Padres in dramatic fashion, Colorado went on to sweep the Philies and the favored Diamondbacks to make it to the first World Series appearance in club history. Though the Rockies were then swept by the Red Sox, and outscored 29-10 in those four games, the means would forever overshadow the ends.

Every winter, America’s favorite sport brings us a level of anxiety normally reserved for action thriller movies and witnessing a car crash. The NFL never fails to supply us with enough action in one day, to keep us talking for the next six. NFL playoffs have been good, but the most recent Super Bowl’s have been even better. Undefeated teams have lost, underdogs have made unbelievable runs, former no-namers are now household names, and quarterbacks with more miles on then than a 1985 Honda Civic have proven that they still got game.

Every spring, America holds it’s collectively breath for an entire month thanks to March Madness. Office pools are never bigger and never more intense than they are in the days leading up to the play-in game in Dayton, Ohio. Cinderella’s are rare, but when the George Masons of the world come around, who doesn’t root for them? When the teams we love to hate lose in the first round to a 14 seed, who isn’t cheering? When the first round is over, and your bracket is in the trash rather than in a frame, who isn’t yanking their hair out?

Every summer, amazing happens. Unfortunately, the NBA playoffs may be the most predictable of all the major playoffs, but there are flashes of greatness no one can deny.  Last season, Kobe Bryant finally shut up (most of) his haters by winning a ring (sort of) on his own. And best of all, two years ago Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen, and Paul Pierce, who were childhood friends came together for one of the most inspirational seasons of all time to help each other win their first ring. It may not always be probable, but like KG said, “Anything is possible!”

Don’t get me wrong, as a track and field enthusiast, the Olympics are my theoretical Super Bowl, but almost no one reading this has ever attended a Super Bowl and we’re all still living. The Olympics are great, but also fleeting, and the feelings we get from March Madness, the Super Bowl and the World Series are unrivaled and have no end in sight. So we won’t see Michael Phelps break world records in Illinois, nor will we witness Dwyane Wade help USA basketball win another gold medal in his hometown, but that’s ok. I’m pretty sure that sports in America are more than sufficient enough to hold our interest come 2016.

Baptized in the (Red) River

Sports will never be the same after last weekend.

As a sports writer, I often think highly of my sports knowledge and experiences. I have made game-winning shots, met big names, and even attended several California State Championship football games that my high school was fortunate enough to play in. I thought I knew every feeling there was to feel both as an athlete and a fan.

That all changed last weekend when I took a trip to Texas. Of course I wanted to visit my old roommate Tyler Aljoe who transferred to the University of Oklahoma this year. But I also wanted to attend the football game of the year to cheer my Longhorns to victory in the Red River Rivalry. I figured I would fly in Thursday night, try to adjust to the time change, chill Friday, go to the game and Texas State Fair Saturday, and return home Sunday.

No.

Friday morning I was woken up at 7:30 a.m., which was 5:30 to me, to attend the homecoming pep rally at Tyler’s alma mater, Grapevine High School. I agreed to go because pep rallies are always fun. And I kind of had to.

I was blown away by the level of school spirit and passion these teenagers had for their team. A team that had won zero games the year before were now unbeaten in district play. Basically, they were a big deal.

The night started off with Tyler and I attending the volleyball game which included his talented sister, Tanna. After she and her team won easily, it was off to the football game. I highly underestimated Texas high school football. I thought the saying, “Texas is football,” was just some cliché that an over enthusiastic fan started. Not so much. These high school stadiums rival some college stadiums and are often packed with fans. Grapevine won, remained undefeated, and everyone could rest easy until next Friday night.

Saturday I woke again at 7:30 a.m. (my 5:30 a.m.), took my shower, threw on my Colt McCoy jersey and nearly gave Tyler’s mother a heart attack. Apparently Tyler forgot to tell her I was a Texas fan. His dad thought it was funny. Both of Tyler’s parents are Oklahoma alums, but more importantly, she was a cheerleader and he was on the football team. Thankfully they’re both far too nice of people to hold my choice against me.

Once we got into the Cotton Bowl, I found myself so far out of my element that I had trouble believing I was actually there. I was 16 rows away from the field, which is closer than I get at most VU soccer games. As amazing as our seats were, it didn’t make up for the fact that I was still a speck of Burnt Orange in a sea of Crimson and Cream. Yes, I was throughly heckled and mocked, but I stood strong, faithful, and hopeful.

I was watching last year’s Heisman Trophy winner, Sam Bradford, take practice snaps and Texas golden boy Colt McCoy lob practice throws. I was seeing my dreams come to fruition. Though I joked on my twitter that I had nearly wet myself four times, I was a little serious too.

Though I was obviously thrilled with the Texas win, I was disappointed with the anti-climatic ending, but it’s over now and onto the next game for both teams. For me it was time to head home, but with more than just an awesome T-shirt. I would returned to school with a new sense of fan-hood, and a hope to spread that on this campus.

Though Vanguard fans will probably never match the amount of intensity like those of a NCAA Division I school, we can match them in quality. Whether it’s starting a supportive chant, or trying to get into an opponent’s head with some well-timed heckling, the players notice. And all though Vanguard’s fine Athletics Administration will quickly ask you to cease the verbal taunts, the damage will be done, there’s no denying that. Just because we only bring 175 people to a game, doesn’t mean those 175 people can’t have as much of an effect on the game as the players out there competing.