Athletes and Guns

The self inflicted gunshot wound of New York Giants Wide Reciever, Plaxico Burress, has brought the issue of guns and professional athletes to the forefront of the media. This is certainly an interesting dynamic in the world of pro sports in 2008, and raises the question "Why do athletes need to carry a gun?" As far as I am concerned, I feel pro athletes in many cases do indeed need to carry a firearm for their protection. The key word is protection. Not as an accessory...protection. Pro athletes are targets, that is a fact, and why shouldn't they protect themselves? For those who don't feel comfortable handling a firearm, they hire bodyguards who will handle the firearm for them. Many pro athletes have guns, and they have them registered. Whoa, there is a noble concept, register your gun. The reason they have gun, is they understand they are a target. There have been several incidents of Pro Athletes being victims of violent crimes over the years, some fatal, some non-fatal, and some walk away and continue their careers.
Boston Celtics Forward, Paul Pierce, was stabbed as many as 11 times around the neck in 2000 during a night club altercation. Pierce miraculously somehow someway, did not suffer life threatening injuries and was able to recover both his health and his career. Pierce's former teammate in Boston, Antoine Walker, twice has been a victim of a robbery at gunpoint. Both happened in Chicago, Walker's hometown. The first happened in July 2000 when Walker and fellow NBA baller Nazr Mohammed were held up at gunpoint while waiting for a restaurant to open. The second may have been a bit more scary for Walker who was held up and bound at gunpoint at his home in Chicago. I think the common thread is the most obvious one, they are pro athletes with absurd payrolls compared to the common man.
Pierce and Walker were lucky to get out of those situations with their life, and careers, not all athletes can say that. Last season, Washington Redskins Safety Sean Taylor was fatally shot in his Miami home where Taylor was the victim of a burglary. The trial in the death of Taylor has been suspended until early next year.
September 2, 2008, Jacksonville Jaguars Offensive Tackle Richard Collier was shot and critically wounded while sitting in a Cadillac Escalade. Luckily Collier survived, but his career didn't. Collier is now paralyzed from the waist down, and had his left leg amputated. Granted this is a retaliation for an altercation which had taken place earlier in a club.
These are situations where firearms are warranted, and who knows how different the outcomes may have been. There have been too many situations where other athletes carry pieces to remain true to their roots, maintain their street cred. Who cares about street cred. These guys are getting paid millions of dollars to play, what are in most American's eyes, a kids game, when these same Americans are concerned about losing their jobs, and these guys are out dropping G-notes at clubs, blinding people with their obnoxious bling, up at the DJ booths spinning the wax, but in case that isn't enough we see a handufl of them waiving their Smith and Wesson from side to side (some actually keep it in their belt just some people can see it)?
I have a simple solution and words of wisdom for the Plaxico Burress' of the world...DON'T PUT YOURSELF IN THESE FRIGGIN SITUATIONS!! Look, as an athlete you are going to always be a mark. Have we learned nothing from Pacman Jones, Sebastian Telfair, and now Plaxico Burress? If you feel you are a mark(which again as a pro athlete you always will be), and you feel you are going to be in danger, the US Constitution allows you the right to bear arms...it doesn't allow you the right to arm yourself and act like an ass. As fans we need to understand these guys are people first, Fathers, Sons, Brothers, Uncles, and Friends, and they should protect themselves, but enough is enough. The rest of these guys who carry a gun for the solidiciation of their testicular fortitude, ENOUGH!

Franchise Cassel?

Matt Cassel's performances over the past 2 games have been historic, well to the Patriots at the very least. Two consecutive games of over 400 yards passing, and people are already talking about a QB controversy in New England. Gone and forgotten is Tom Brady. Yes folks, the same Tom Brady who led this team to 3 Super Bowl Championships in 4 tries, a perfect regular season, and who led the Patriots from obscurity. Remember him kids? Remember Giselle and the little dog? Remember the Saturday Night Live performance? Or more importantly the Tuck Rule Game? The battles with the Colts? His MVP season last season? How the heck have we forgotten Tom Brady already?
Now with Cassel's success of late and the uncertainty of Brady's rehab from knee surgery, the Patriots fellowship is already named Matt Cassel the successor to Brady, please allow me to point out the flaws in this line of thought.

1. Financially: The only way the Pats are keeping Cassel is to franchise him, and in order to do that they are going to have pay him a salary equal to the average of the top 5 QB's in the NFL. The Pats typically do not shell out that kind of moolah for superstars, let alone at a position to potentially back up one of the best QB's of all-time...again
2. Logically: Have we seen or heard anything to believe Brady is done for next season? And please don't start in on the Bledsoe/Brady argument. Two different scenarios. Granted Bledsoe put this franchise back on the map, but isn't close to the QB Brady IS. See what I did there? I said IS and specifically didn't say was. Brady is going to be back, and just as good as he was when he left. Will he have a season like he did in 2007? Not likely. But I like him throwing to the likes of Welker, Moss, and...well anyone in a Patriots uniform.
3. Idiots: The people who are talking about franchising Cassel are the same idiots who were trying to run him out of town from the first pre-season game until the second half of the first quarter of the first game of the season. Typical fair weather, uneducated New England sports fans, who have taken over the majority from us...the people who lived and died with the Red Sox, Pats, and Celtics during the championship drought from 1986 until 2002 when the Pats won their first Super Bowl. Granted, the way Cassel played in that span, those sentiments were warranted, but don't sit there and tell me Cassel is the QB you want running your franchise.
4. Really: Do you really think Cassel wants to be here next year? He knows what is going on. As much as every completion gets the Patriots one step closer to the Playoffs, it is also adding another zero to his next contract, which is going to be bigger than he ever imagined. There is already talk and rumblings of a McDaniel/Cassel package where both youngsters are in for a considerable pay raise.
   

Look, I like the job Cassel has done thus far, and it is great to see Cassel mature in role. He seems to be improving each week, but if you can sit there and say that every time Cassel starts to run out of the pocket or throws that ball deep down field and you don't still cringe just a little bit..you are a better man than I. Granted, those cringes tend to be coming less and less, but they are still there. Don't mistake where I am coming from right now, this is not a Cassel bash, but more of a reminder that somewhere in a hot tub is "Tom Terrific," and there is no controversy, the starting Quarterback of the New England Patriots IS Tom Brady, and will be Tom Brady for the foreseeable future.

Lucic, just what the NHL needs....

When was the last time Boston was excited about regular season Bruins game? When was the last time Bruins fans have been energized by one player? When was the last time there was Bruins talk on WEEI? When was the last time people cared about the Bruins? Well none of this matters right now, because tonight the Bruins take on the Montreal Canadiens, the NHL's answer to the Red Sox and Yankees, the Celtics and Lakers, and the Patriots and Colts. The names have changed, the style of play has changed...back, the rivalry hasn't changed, the Habs are still the hated. But tonight another chapter will be added...Lucic vs the Canadiens.
Milan Lucic has brought back the type of intensity the Bruins have lacked since Cam Neely retired in 1996, and now he has a dance partner north of the border in George Laraque. Laraque was brought in to be the answer to the Habs Mike Komisarek, who has been wanting a piece of Lucic going back to last season. Things hit the boiling point during the meeing in Boston on November 13th when Lucic destroyed Komisarek in a Cam Neeley/Chris Nyland style brawl. Laraque tried to goade Lucic into a fight earlier in that game, but Lucic was smart and didn't want to disrupt the momentum the Bruins had built, so then Laraque moved down the line to Shawn Thornton, who had the same mindset. There has been some talk from Laraque over the past day or two, but Lucic acts like he has been here before. Throughout the first period the Habs have been going after Lucic, but Lucic has kept his composure despite the chants of "Lucic, Lucic, Lucic" blanketing the Belle Centre in Montreal. Lucic has kept quiet, played his game, and has been somewhat of a non-factor through the first period, but like in Rocky II when Rocky learned to fight righty, everyone was waiting for him to unleash the left, I have a feeling Claude Julien will be playing the part of Mickey tonight.
To use another Rocky analagy, to the casual observer it would appear Lucic is getting crushed everytime he comes withing sight of the puck, but I think back to Rocky III when Appollo looks at Paulie and says Rocky is getting killed out there, and Paulie looks at Appollo and says, no "he's getting mad." I can't wait for Lucic to get mad, Bruins Den can't wait for Lucic to get mad, and the NHL can't wait for Lucic to get mad. It may say 2008 on the calendar, but it feels like 1978. GO LUCIC!

Lowell Connector to Tex

A couple of weeks back, David Ortiz inadvertently told a reporter, the Red Sox need another 30 Homerun guy, there was speculation he was talking about Teixiera, and all of a sudden the Sox are the front runners in the Mark Teixeira sweepstakes, something I definately think is the right move for this team to stay competitive. Aside from keeping if not setting the pace in the AL this move would allow the Sox to get younger, Tex is still not even 28 and about to enter his prime, and their is no better place for him to do that than in Fenway.
Certainly there is something to be said about the juggling that would have to be done in order to get Tex down to Fenway Park, which most likely is going to involve the Trade of Red Sox Nation favorite and 2007 World Series MVP, Mike Lowell. Some fans tend to think that Lowell is untradable. Why? His Contract? Nope. His age? Come on no agism here kids. The reason, his clubhouse presence. Clubhouse presence. Really? That's it. Not that fact he is overpaid, injury prone, 34 years old, and no body knows how he is going to respond to off season surgery. There is certainly some prudence to those sentiments, but haven't we been down this road before? The Red Sox have taken the Godfather approach business not personal when trading Nomar Garciaparra, letting Pedro Martinez and Johnny Damon walk and things seemed to have worked out alright.
Now that we have that out of the way, we can look at how the 2009 Red Sox line-up may look.
CF-Jacoby Ellsbury
2B-Dustin Pedroia
DH-David Ortiz
1B- Mark Teixiera
3B- Kevin Youkillis
LF- Jason Bay
RF- JD Drew
C- Jason Varitek (yup, he will be back, just a predicition)
SS- Jed Lowrie

Stay tuned for a third World Series title since 2004...

The Next generation of the Evil Empire

Last summer I found myself deeply enjoying the ESPN original mini-series "The Bronx is Burning." It focused on the 1977 New York Yankees and really focused on the relationship between owner George Steinbrenner, Manager Billy Martin, team captain and catcher Thurman Munson, and the first major free agent superstar Reggie Jackson. It gave in interesting take into the mind of George Steinbrenner, and I had to work hard to eliminate my disdain for the man, as I am a born and bred Red Sox fan, but once I was able to really look at what it was that made the man tick...the more I was able to appreciate the sheer genius of the man. Genius usually comes at a price, and Steinbrenner's, in my opinion, was his passion. He was never very good at seperating personal feelings from business, but that is what made the Red Sox/Yankees dynamic so interesting, explosive, and infurriating at the same time. Over the last 3 years Steinbrenner's health has been in steady decline, and as a by product so has the rivalry. The Yankees haven't been a factor to Red Sox Nation since Boston completed the great comeback in 2004. A rivalry dead?
Not so much my friends, just on hyatis. With Papa Bear Steinbrenner not healty enough to run the Evil Empire, and the Yankees in a situation where they are in a salary dump scenario, enter Baby Bear, Hank Steinbrenner. Hank is poised to be a re-incarnation of his Father from 31 years ago, and you are already seeing that in this off-season. He has already made an obnoxious offer to C.C. Sabathia as well as they are looking into offering ridiculous money to both Derek Lowe and AJ Burnett. What about Manny Ramirez? Hanky Boy has already said the Yankees are ready to explore all options. Of course you have to assume that means they are going to at somepoint if nothing else explore the Manny Ramirez possibility.
If this early course continues to take the hapes it is forging, we are going to be in for another decade of great baseball in the American League East.