It Pays to be the Bad Guy

2010 has become the year of the bad guy and I'm not talking about Mel Gibson or Charlie Sheen. This year, unlike any other has been filled with stories of redemption in sport. Numerous players in 2010 have risen from the ashes to super stardom.

Since we are in the middle of the NFL season, the most glaring example is Michael Vick. Just 6 months ago, Vick was appearing on Pros vs. Joes to work on his football skills and showcase his talents. With only one year left on his contract and the starting QB situation in Philadelphia already handed to Kevin Kolb, it looked like another year of restitution for Vick. Then Kolb was hurt early in the season, Vick stepped in and won games, didn't make any mistakes (fumbles or interceptions) and was dedicated to the game of football like he had never been (watching game tape in preparation for the next opponent). This led to him winning the starting QB job and winning games for the Philadelphia Eagles. The whole time this is happening, Vick is also doing his community service and giving speeches for the Humane Society against dog fighting.

Vick's name has been on the lips of the sports media recently as a possible MVP candidate as the Eagles have rallied around their new starter. It seems his comeback is complete and although his past will be brought up every time he plays, fans are starting to appreciate his talents on the field again.

Another player who fought with demons recently, did win the MVP award. Josh Hamilton of the Texas Rangers was the MVP of the American League this year. For a number of years Hamilton had lots of potential but was caught up with drug and alcohol problems. Even as recently as the 2009 season, he relapsed and was caught on camera drinking with some young ladies at a bar after swearing off booze. Although Hamilton might not have affected or reached as many people with his problem as Vick did, he didn't exactly set a good example for young fans and now that he is an MVP, he is either the best case scenario for rehab or just another screwed up athlete who gets away with with abusing his body, but somehow still succeeds.

If drinking and street drugs weren't enough, what about steroids? The number of players in professional and amateur sports that have been caught using performance enhancing drugs is now too long to list. Many of them never get caught, but those that do sit out their suspension, but still collect their millions of dollars in salary. Although most players will recover from these indiscretions, Barry Bonds did not. He was run out of baseball, and although he is the all-time home run king he will likely never be enshrined into the hall of fame in Cooperstown because he embodied the steroid era and someone has to take the fall (Mark McGwire is joining him in this). Although most of the baseball world holds a grudge against him, Bonds was welcomed back with open arms by the San Francisco Giants fans this summer and fall. When the Giants made the fall classic this year they brought out Bonds to thunderous applause, but in any other stadium he would have been booed.

Another baseball player that made a come back this summer after being banned for life for his actions was Pete Rose. Rose famously bet on baseball and was banned for life. Major League Baseball gave him a one day exception so he could participate in an on-field ceremony this summer commemorating the anniversary of his record breaking base hit. Rose was bad, but compared to some of the issues that today's players have brought into the media, it doesn't seem so wrong. Rose has apologized for his behaviour and continues to try to mend his public image.

Other players doing wrong pop-up on an almost daily basis. The website profootballtalk.com has a ticker on their page that counts "days since last arrest" for NFL players. Whether it is a DUI charge, domestic battery or an assault charge for punching a taxi driver (Patrick Kane), it seems like professional athletes cannot stay out of trouble. Troubled or clean, fans still adore them.

The Heat Fizzle

So the Heat dynasty has officially come to an end and it only took 15 games. After a summer of hype about the big three of LeBron, Wade and Bosh, a potential run at the season win record of 72 and how the NBA should just hand them the Larry O'Brien trophy in October has been shattered.

An opening day loss to the Celtics wasn't a huge surprise, but losses to the Jazz, Hornets, Grizzlies and now the Pacers are a bit surprising. The team has been hit with injury which could be somewhat to blame. The Heat have lost 3pt shooting specialist Mike Miller for the first half of the season and now Udonis Haslem for the whole year has surely been difficult on team chemistry. Chris Bosh has been a huge disappointment, not rebounding or scoring with any consistency. Wade and LeBron haven't been able to share the floor and when your two best players can't be on the floor at the same time, that it is a problem.

So how do the Heat become hot again. There are a couple rumours already flying around south beach. The first is fire Erik Spolstra. The Heat coach is under the watchful eye of the former jedi master coach Pat Riley and Lakers coach Phil Jackson even said today that Bosh and LeBron will talk to Riley about taking over the team. Riley would bring some cache to the bench and hopefully the most out of players that would rather "chill" than work on off days.

The other idea is that it is already time to trade Chris Bosh. Was he really worth the $110 million? Of course not, any Raptors fan could tell you that, but the thought was he could compliment Wade and James. Since Bosh isn't a typical big man who rebounds and plays in the paint, he really doesn't add anything for this Heat team who need the presence in the middle. The Heat are missing depth. At the moment they are 3 deep when they need to be 8-9 deep as a team. One way to help that would be to trade Bosh and get 3 pieces that better compliment Wade and James.

Could the Heat actually do either move suggested above. They could probably get away away with firing Spolstra and have Riley replace him. Everyone has predicted this since Riley had his hand in convincing James and Bosh to sign in Miami. As for trading Bosh, it won't happen yet. The move would stink of desperation, plus the Miami Heat team store still has tons of Bosh jerseys in stock (seriously, if you had the choice of Bosh, Wade or LeBron, whose jersey you buying?).

The Heat have a bit of an easier schedule in the next week to hopefully get some wins and momentum under their belt before the biggest game of the year, no not versus the Lakers, but a road game in Cleveland. Welcome back...

Down Goes Favre!

On Sunday afternoon the Green Bay Packers put the nail in the coffin of another team (dropping the Vikings to 3-7) and coach (Wade Phillips and now Brad Childress). The bigger question is if they were able to put an end to the career of a player - Brett Favre.

Favre threw one interception on Sunday to bring his season total to 17 and looked pretty awful in the process. Favre was booed by the hometown Vikings fans (would probably have been cheered for his efforts in Wisconsin) and Rodney Harrison of NBC thought that coach Childress should have pulled Favre for Tavaris Jackson. Childress didn't have the guts to do it, so that ended his tenure as Vikings coach on Monday morning.

Favre said after the game that he will need to "re-evaluate" his football future. Many people have taken this to mean that he might call it quits mid-season. If this happens it would only be a mild shock to the NFL and Vikings since Favre has been such an attention seeking media whore the last three seasons.

Everyone knows that Favre will retire either after week 12 with an "injury" or after the season, so the biggest question won't be if he goes into the Hall of Fame or not, but it will be if Green Bay Packers fans can forgive the gunslinger that gave the team 16 mighty seasons. The answer will be yes - eventually. No cheese head can forget the Super Bowl trophy, consecutive game streak, passing records, and the list goes on...

Favre sullied his reputation by leaving Green Bay in a huff for the NY Jets. Then, it got worse when he went to play for the rival Vikings. With all his indecision and flip flopping, Packers fans resented their former franchise player. That resentment was partially due to the fact that he was still good. Now that his career is winding down on a sour note, Packers fans don't have to resent him anymore, we can just remember the good times when number 4 was behind center.

By the time Favre puts on the mustard colored jacket on the Canton stage, my guess is that the crowd will be filled with Packers fans cheering him on.

Got Beef? Popstars

After watching the American Music Awards last night it dawned on me that I really loathe popstars. During last nights telecast it became quite evident that those in charge of entertaining us musically are lacking in musically ability. Katy Perry, Justin Beiber, and Usher all struggled on stage. Between lip syncing, missing words in their own songs and then being out of breath half way through the songs, the performances were a flop. In the case of Usher, he was dancing around and apparently that was more important to his performance than singing, so he twirled and slid around the stage while the track blared over the speaker system.

So, if popstars can't sing, at least they look good doing it.

Parity vs. Dynasty

Half way through the NFL season and there are still no clear cut favorites to win the Super Bowl. Five teams are listed as the favorites to win the Super Bowl and no team has been able to establish itself as the front runner. This isn't the first time the NFL has had this happen during the last decade, so it begs the question, do we really need dynasties, or as fans do we prefer the parity?

In the NFL during the '70's, '80's and '90's there were dominant teams. These dominant teams held the power and when the dynasties collided great games ensued. For example As fans, we can always argue about which teams were the best out of the 3 1990's Cowboy teams that won Super Bowls, but it is also fun to compare them to the Steelers teams in the '70's.

The last decade has provided some great individual champions in the NFL, but no real dynasties have been formed. This makes each season interesting because you never know where the champion is going to come from. Going into this season some prognosticators felt that the Dallas Cowboys could contend for the crown. They had the individual talent to win games, but as the first 8 games have shown, apparently the individual talent didn't translate into team victories.

Football hasn't been the only sport where parity has reigned supreme. Major League Baseball has also had 9 different champions in the past 11 seasons. Although we seem to get a new champion each season, we do talk about the same teams making the playoffs every season. If it isn't the Yankees and Red Sox, it is the Braves and Cardinals who get a shot at the trophy every October.

As a fan, I think I prefer the dynasty case. Whether it is my team or not, it is good to know who is going to be good and we can use them as a measuring stick. Also familiarity allows even the casual fan to be invested come the championship season. The dynasty team doesn't have to win every season, but if they are there it makes all the more fun.

It's Over Ladies and Gentleman, It's Over...

Well the major league baseball season is done, we have crowned a new champion, the President has called the team and the ticker tape has fallen. Now what? The off season can be cruel to fans, no games to follow, no daily news on the team, what is a guy supposed to do?

Well there was an argument on the local sports talk radio the other day that baseball does the off season the best. By that they meant they were able to keep the fans involved in the league, even if there was no games by creating news. The examples of naming the managers of the year, Cy Young award winners, Rookie of the Year and Most Valuable Players after the season then the start of free agency in December and once the holidays are done, you wake up and its March and the season starts again. Not a bad argument.

For more of an argument, let's look at the other sports. The NHL has a glitzy award show to present its awards, then free agency and the owners meetings seem to get alot of attention every year for how they might decide to change the game. Nothing ever really changes, but the Canadian sports channels take the opportunity for an 8 man panel show.

The NBA had one of its best off seasons ever because of the intrigue of free agency and where 3 of the top 15 players in the league would play the following season. This years free agency created 3 years of hype, but next summer the same won't be true because the players aren't as high profile. The NBA draft is always a good show in particular because it is only two rounds and that means basketball fans know most of the players being taken, unlike the other major sports which extend over multiple days.

Then we come to the new national pastime, the NFL. In my mind this is the league that has made its league a 12 month phenomenon. There isn't an off season anymore if you are a football fan. The NFL has created events around all of its activities that make it as popular as it is. Once the Super Bowl is played in February, there is the Pro Bowl the week after. Then the draftniks start making appearances to promote the April draft weekend. This year, the NFL moved its first round to Friday night in prime time, then continued the draft for the next two days. The whole draft is televised on its own network. After the draft, there is rookie camps, optional training activities (OTA) for players (which aren't really optional), then training camp starts in August and 3 weeks later the season starts again.

Which league can't you live without for 12 months and which league does it best in keeping you interested all year?