Lance Armstrong: Disgraced, But Still Meaningful.

What is greatness? How do we, as a culture today define it, and how do we achieve it? Greatness means different things to different people, but one thing that people could agree on a few years ago, is that Lance Armstrong embodied greatness. A man who was stricken by cancer just as his career was getting started. A man who, despite having a long fight with that cancer did not give up. A man who fought back after he beat cancer to reach the mountain top (literally and figuratively) of cycling, culminating in an unprecedented 7 straight Tour De France titles. A man who brought America’s attention to France, and cycling, every year for almost a decade. This, was a man who was greatness.

Then, he wasn’t. Evidence has come to light that Lance Armstrong had been using illegal performance enhancing drugs during his time with the US Postal service racing team and his wins in the Tour De France. Nike has dropped him, he has stepped down as the chairman of his cancer foundation Livestrong. His name and his record is in the process of being dragged through the mud. And deservedly so.

Here though, is where my questions of what makes greatness come in. Does he lose his title of great because we find out that to get to the top of his sport, he took illegal substances? Do we consider that cycling consistently has the worst record of any sport when it comes to doping (despite the sport claiming it is clean). Does it matter that he used the drugs? Yes, of course it does. He cheated, but does this negate greatness? Apple has stolen ideas from Google, and Google from Apple, cheating each other, but do we consider either of those companies great? I do.

Lance Armstrong had cancer, and when he beat cancer he hopped back on his bike. He rode his bike to the top of the cycling world, and stayed there for seven years, after having cancer. I keep going back to the fact that he had cancer because this is what I think makes him “great”. Should he have cheated. No. Should it matter that every other one of his teammates, and more than likely most cyclists in the world, were cheating? No. Should we not consider him great because he was determined to get to the top of his profession and did what it took to get there? Morally, yes, we should. He did cheat, and he did disappoint a lot of American’s in doing so.

But, he also beat cancer. He was, and still should be, an inspiration for all who have had cancer, have cancer and to families of people who are fighting it. He is proof that cancer, if it doesn’t kill you, can make you stronger. He didn’t have to get back on his bike, but he did. He didn’t have to be determined to be the greatest cyclist who ever lived, but he was. He cheated to get there, but he got there.

Disgraced? Yes I think Lance Armstrong should be disgraced. But I think that we should still look to him for inspiration. He fought through a disease that a lot of people fight everyday. And after he made it through cancer, and found his fame in cycling, he made sure that he remembered the cancer and that other people are fighting the fight that he did. Do I think Lance Armstrong is a good person? Not really. But do I think he should be looked to for inspiration? Yes, I do. And not just for people who are fighting cancer, but for anyone who is fighting through tough things in their lives. Lance Armstrong is proof that if you win your battle, you can march on to bigger and better things.

Greatness means different things to different people. But for me, Lance Armstrong is still great. He is not a great human. He is not a great leader. But he is a great inspiration. And while titles and sponsorship’s can be taken away, the fact that he beat cancer and made his way to the top of the cycling world cannot.

The NHL’s Great Mistake

We have now past the scheduled start of the NHL season, and again, for the second time in 8 years we are without professional hockey. The NHL, which locked itself out of the entire 2004-05 season, had just started to really gain some traction again in America when, once again, it has locked itself out.

The NHL was on the verge of becoming a sport to watch in America again, after teams from LA and the New York Area (New Jersey Devils) played in the Stanley Cup finals. Finals which, in a city such as LA, which hasn’t cared much for hockey since The Great One left, were being watch widely. In fact, the clinching game of the finals received a 13.6 household rating in LA, which is the best there since 1976.

The point of all of this is that the NHL was starting to be paid attention by American sports fans. But alas, this lockout, if it last the entire season, could be the beginning of a long and ugly demise for the the league in America. One of my best friends is a hockey fan above all other sports, and says that if they do indeed lockout for the entire season, it is going to take him years to forgive them at this point.

The issue is that they just simply isn’t the level of money to go around in hockey as there is in the other professional sports in America. Some clubs simply are not making the profits that they need to make in order to stay competitive.

I have a few ideas for how the league could improve and give itself a better chance with American Sports fans. I feel that the NHL should cut six teams and go down to 24. They should stay in their strongest markets. And they should explore new markets without major winter sports teams already established there.

Dropping down to 24 teams would help for a few reason. I think you would take some of the failing teams out of the equation, meaning that there would be higher profit ratios across the league. Another issue with the NHL to me is that the talent is very diluted. Fourth lines at this point are no more than filler players who are getting 5 minutes of ice time a game. With 6 less teams there would be more talent for less teams making the hockey better in general. Better, more exciting hockey would bring more fans. And, staying with me here, fans bring money.

It is clear that ESPN and the NHL have not been getting along lately, as ESPN has spend 100 times the amount of time talking about Tim Tebow as they have talking about the lockout. However, ESPN is clearly not opposed to putting hockey on their networks. Just recently, the start of the KHL (Russian Hockey League) was shown of ESPN2 and ESPN3. To me, this seems like they are just rubbing the NHL’s face in the fact that the NHL has been yet unable to get hockey back on ESPN since the lockout in 2004-05.  I do think though that the NHL may have been on it’s way back to at least getting a spot at the negotiating table with ESPN before this lockout. I cannot see, however, it happening anytime in the near future now.

The NHL owners have made a grave mistake in locking the league out. Lockouts are about money, and the owners think the players are receiving too much of their profits. The issue now is that even if the players agree to take less percentage of the profits, there are going to be less profits than there would have been with no lockout. The league has a long contract with NBC to broadcast games, but if they had continued to let the momentum build as it was, they would have been able, at the end of this contract to look outside of NBC. Now, as viewership is going to fall, as it always does with a lockout, there is going to be less options for the league to look for a new and more profitable TV contract. And, TV contracts are where a large portion of the income comes from for professional sports teams.

Locking out not only hurts the players and owners as neither of them make money during this time period. It most of all hurts the fan base of the NHL. It was not a large fan base to begin with, and I am here to tell you that I have already lost interest in whatever is left of this season. If that is anything.

Arsenal’s Summer: Part 2

In Part 1 of Arsenal’s Summer I looked at who I thought the team should be shipping out this summer. Now it is time for me to take a look at who I think should be brought in. Now that we know 3rd place is secure and there seems to be a little money to spend, this should be a bit easier.

Lukas Podolski: Podolski has been secured for months now, even if the club announced it only weeks ago. He is an attacking player who can play attacking mid from the left side and up the middle, also able to play out-and-out striker. He has been secured from Koln for around 10 million pounds, give or take a few hundred thousand. With 18 league goals this year he will hopefully bring some added fire power to Robin Van Persie (if he stays, of course) and should step into the starting lineup. Podolski is a fast player with a cannon of a shot and should add a player willing to shoot from the wing as it seems Theo has become more accustom to passing.

Yann M’Vila: M’Vila is a talented defensive midfielder who is disciplined and has the ability to get the move going again after breaking up the play. Scouts seem to love this young man, and he is a fixture in the French midfield whenever there is a National Team game. He would give Arsenal cover in front of the back four that they haven’t had since the days of Vieira. Alex Song has proven this season, with 12 assists, to be more than a player who will just sit in front of the defense. His passing has becoming impressive, and I have no issue with moving him to a more box to box position. Bringing in M’Vila would allow there to be a better rotation in the squad, using him when there is an attacking team and song when a team is more likely to sit back. Could cost up to 20 million pounds. And that, with this being Arsenal, could be an issue. There are many reports that he is on the verge of Arsenal, and many that he is not close to the Gunners at all. Time to play the waiting game with this one.

Shinji Kagawa: Kagawa plays for Dortmund (BVB) in Germany and was a major player in their campaign this year, which saw them win the league and the German Cup. He is a player that has clearly been on Arsene Wegner’s radar, but he is also talking to Manchester United. It is said that both clubs have had bids accepted and it is now up to the player. Wegner has ties with japan, and that could help but it seems to most that Kagawa is leaning toward Manchester. Kagawa had 13 goals and 17 assists in all competitions this year. He lines up on the wing, but charts show that he typically likes to drift central and dictate play from that area. Arsenal are in need of a creative player centrally, and he could fill the void.

Jan Vertonghen: Vertonghen is a center back for Ajax in Holland and was just named the leagues Player of the Year. He has been watched by Arsenal from some time, but has stated that Tottenham is his desired destination. Though he has talked up a move to Tottenham, because of the chance to player right away and all of the time, Spurs seem to be reluctant about making as large of a bid as Ajax see fit. Not sure what is going to happen here, but this is at least worth keeping an eye on as the defense is always an area that could use improvement.

Olivier Giroud: Giroud is an all around striker that plays for Montpellier scoring 25 goals and having 8 assists in all competitions this season. Here is an article by the great Jamie Sanderson (@younggunsblog on Twitter) on what type of player Giroud is. He seems to only be an option for Arsenal if Van Persie decides to head for the exit door. At around 15 million pounds, his price tag is a bit steep, but it would be nice to see Arsenal go for him in spite of that.

Junior Hoilett: Hoilett is a Canadian who plays for Blackburn. He suits up as a winger and  is talented. Last season he finished with 7 goals and 7 assists. He is available on a “free” this summer, but being so young and owned by just Blackburn so far there would be a fee required. That fee is not determined yet. This would be a smart move to add talented depth to the roster sheet.

For now this is all of the players I am going to talk about. But as the rumors about players become more serious, and my interest in Arsenal signing certain people becomes larger I will add people to the list. Arsenal needs to strengthen most areas of the squad and could use some quality depth too. 5 or more signings are probably needed this summer, though I don’t see that happening.

Arsenal’s Summer: Part 1

This is part 1 of 2 of my look at the moves that I think Arsenal should be making this summer. I am writing this the day before the massive West Brom game, and since that is the case I am going to only talk about the players going out. Can’t really discuss who should be brought in until we know if the champions league money will be available.

Players on their way out:

Nick Bendtner:

This is a player that I have been going back and forth on for a couple of years now. Now, with Podolski already secured I am ready to let Bendtner move on. I have always been an admirer of his talent. Sadly, not as much of an admirer as he is. I think as long as Arsenal is able to move him along for 5 million pounds it will be a good move for Arsenal.

Carlos Vela:

Vela has really had a nice season this year playing for Real Sociedad contributing 12 goals and 8 assists. I, again, have always enjoyed Vela as a player and think he has plenty of talent. But again, it is time for him to move on. He has told the media that he doesn’t want to be at Arsenal any longer, and really there isn’t a place for him at the Emirates. He should move for around 4-5 million pounds as well. Think he will end up in Spain and be an important player for a team there.

Denilson:

I don’t think Denilson is as bad as some Arsenal fans consider him to be, but he is not good enough to play in the Arsenal midfield. Unfortunately for Arsenal other teams have noticed that he is an average player on an above average player’s salary. It is going to be hard to move him for good, and to be honest I see him going out on loan again. I think as long as Arsenal can have another team pick up at least half of his wages it is a help.

Manuel Almunia:

Almunia has been on his way out for a long time at Arsenal. I am pretty sure a lot of people don’t even know he is around anymore. I am thankful to him for the services he provided, but was never good enough to be the number 1 at Arsenal. Will be allowed to leave on a free this summer.

Lukasz Fabianski:

Fabianski, or Flappyhandski as he was known for a time at Arsenal, is another back up keeper who needs to move on. Now, I actually think he is a solid keeper and a capable back up, but I think to be fair to him Arsenal should let him move on. He is the understudy for Szczesny for Arsenal and for Poland, and that cannot be fun for him. He is good enough to start for a smaller club, and should bring in some kind of small fee.

Andrei Arshavin:

Arshavin went back to Zenit St. Petersburg on loan this winter and brought home a league title. It is time for him to move back to Russia and play out the rest of his time in a country that truly, and rightfully, adores him. He was brilliant in his first season with the club, but I feel that he never found that magic again after being asked to play as center forward for the better part of a season. I am wearing his jersey as I write this, and will never forget that special moment when he scored four at Anfield. Hope to get 5-7 million pounds for him and thank him for his service to the club.

Sebsastien Squillaci:

Goodbye, for free.

Now for the ones that I am up in the air about.

Marouane Chamakh:

Chamakh came to the club on a free and was great in his first few months here. It was clear that he wanted to play the style of football that Arsenal employs, plus he brought them something in the air. He was a breathe of fresh air. He went through a bad run of form though, and found himself of the bench more often than not. Probably more due to the fact that Rovin Van Persie began his run of brilliance as bad for him Chamakh. He has not climbed off the bench since, and RVP’s form has not dipped, but he has been bright in his substitute appearances as of late. Think that if there is a good fee offered for him it would not be the end of the world to move him on. But, if no one is offering good money, he should stay and fight for time. There is still talent there.

Park Chu-Young:

If I am honest I have not liked the way we have treated Park. He has scored in the games for the reserves that he has played and I think he should have been given more of a chance in the first team. Not sure why he was bought if he was just going to sit on the bench. I think it is only fair to move him along to somewhere where he will have an actual chance to play. Problem is, his lack of playing time may have ruined any chance of getting a decent fee for him.

Andre Santos:

I know people are probably going to hate me for this. I think if there is an opportunity to sign a more solid defender at left back to be the back up to Gibbs it should be done. And if that is the case then Andre Santos should be moved along. Don’t get me wrong, I understand the love for the guy. He is always happy, and has a great attitude, but plays a little too much left wing and not enough left back for my taste.

After the West Brom game tomorrow, I will write another piece discussing who I feel should be brought in this summer.

Josh Hamilton Trade

Josh Hamilton played all of 90 games for the Reds, but over the past few years has been regarded by the fan base as “the one that got away”. Well, that may not be completely accurate. It’s more like: “the one we should have never traded for a pitcher we no longer have”. In the Winter between the 2007 season and the 2008 season Josh Hamilton was traded from the Reds to the Texas Rangers in exchange for Edinson Volquez (and Danny Harrera).

In 2007 the Reds finished 7th in the NL in runs scored, which is the top half of the league. They had players like Griffey Jr., Adam Dunn, Joey Votto, Edwin Encarnacion and Brandon Phillips (who wasn’t nearly as good on offense then as 2011) on the team. All players that were capable of producing at the plate, along with Josh Hamilton. The Reds in 2007 were tied for 15th (last) in the NL in team ERA. This, to me, clearly meant that a move needed to be made.

The move was made and Volquez walked into the top half of the rotation for the Reds, while Josh Hamilton walked into a starting outfield spot for the Rangers. And after 2008 was all over it seemed like this was going to work out to be a pretty good trade for both sides involved. Hamilton finished the 2008 season with a 5.3 WAR (wins above replacement http://www.baseball-reference.com/about/war_explained.shtml) and Volquez finished with a 4.5 WAR. It pretty well all went down hill for the Reds side of the trade from there. For the Reds in the next three seasons Volquez was a -.7 WAR while Hamilton for the Rangers has been a 14.7 WAR with an MVP during his time in Texas.

To Reds fans, as Josh Hamilton tears up the AL this season so far, this trade is creeping up on the worst in Reds history. I know they feel this way, Twitter has told me so. Now, let’s be clear right away, this is not near as bad as the Frank Robinson trade. Okay, now that we have that out of the way, this is turning out to be a bad trade for the Reds. Volquez has been moved, along with three others players, to acquire another young starter whereas Josh Hamilton is tearing up the AL and people are talking about a triple crown.

What we have to understand though is that this was the correct move for the Reds at the time. It is clear that there was something to like in Volquez as he was brilliant in his first season with the Reds. An issue though is that the Reds fell to 12th in the NL in runs in 2008 while they only found their way up to 13th in the NL in ERA. While this trade may have been what the team needed at the time, it didn’t make the team enough better to justify the trade.

Other things that I feel need to be accounted for are Hamilton’s history and his injury issues. He only played 90 games for the Reds and has only played over 130 twice in his career. He also almost ruined his career through drug and alcohol addiction. An alcohol addiction in which he has relapsed into twice. I feel that in the end it is clearly turning out to be a bad trade for the Reds. But it is a trade that you could not argue with at the time. They gave up offense, which they had a lot of. And got pitching, which they had very little of. You are always going to be able to look back on things like trades and analyze them and decide that your team screwed up, or screwed another team over. But you also have to look at the trade at the time. And for me, this trade made sense, at the time.

Soccer’s Bad Governing

There are many things in soccer that strike me as backward and hurtful to the game. This sport, the most popular in the world, must feel that they are able to continue doing whatever they want and have nothing happen because so many people love the sport. There are many examples of the different governing bodies of the different soccer leagues making strange decisions that seem to make no sense.

The English FA has been in the news a lot over the past couple of years because they cannot seem to stay consistent with what warrants punishment and what does not. Just in the past couple of months there has been two major things that have stood out, both involving Wayne Rooney. Rooney, while playing Wigan, threw an elbow into the back of a Wigan player’s head in the middle of the field. Now, the ball was no where around them, but the ref was. The ref, seeing that there was contact, blew the whistle for a foul on Rooney. But all he called was a foul when it was a clear red card. The FA, which is the governing body of English soccer, looked at the incident and decided that the ref dealt with it on the field. Now this would be okay, if there was not a precedent set that merited a three game suspension for Rooney. Rooney more recently played a game against West Ham where he scored a penalty to complete his hat trick. Upon doing so, a camera was stuck in his face and he happened to yell a pretty nasty word into the camera. This, while not being okay, was not dangerous to any other players on the field. This, the FA decided, was worth a 2 game suspension.

Blurry picture of Rooney's unpunished elbow.

More on the English FA, they don’t have much of a system for what happens when Referees continue to make bad calls that impact the games. Referees are not dropped or even questioned when they make awful calls. And when managers try to question the referees, they are suspended. I don’t want to keep talking about Manchester United, but they are the ones in this spotlight right now. Sir Alex Ferguson, the legendary manager of Man Utd, is serving a five game touch-line ban right now for being too critical of refs in his post-game press conferences. Not only this, but the FA is making the rules about criticizing referees even tighter next year.

FIFA has been urged from before the World Cup, but increasingly after it to look into using goal line technology to determine when the ball crosses the line. They are refusing to do this, and they are being pretty blatant about it. There is no excuse for not doing everything in their power to get it right, and they are not doing that. Every other major sport has some kind of technology that helps to ensure that the correct calls are being made, so why is the most popular sport in the world content with getting it wrong?

One of the Arsenal players being choked.

For me UEFA, who is the governing body for European soccer, is the one who I am questioning right now. It is only because there were some issues with my favorite team, Arsenal, when they played Barcelona in the UEFA Champions League. Arsenal played very well in the first leg against Barcelona and went to the Camp Nou with a 2-1 lead looking to hold on. Well from there the game became a little rough and not once, not twice, but three times did Barcelona players end up with their hands around the throats of Arsenal players. Any violent action such as this in a soccer match is means for being red carded and sent off the field, but this did not happen. The only player sent off the field in the game was an Arsenal player, who was flagged for being offsides and shot the ball after the whistle blew. People have counted, it was about a second after the whistle blew, blown by an official 30 yards from the player in a stadium of 90,000+ screaming fans. The player claimed to not hear the whistle, and it was clear he was shooting with intent to score, not kicking the ball away out of frustration, but this did not matter to the ref, who issued the player his second yellow card and sent him off.

After the game one Arsenal player, who had a hand around this throat on two separate occasions said some things to the referees, which got him a fine from UEFA. So, of course, after the game UEFA looked a the tapes, saw that there were Barcelona players choking Arsenal player right in front of the referee. They did the only logical thing and dropped the referee from big games and suspended the Barcelona players for multiple games. Actually, that’s what would have happened in a logical world. None of this happened, but Arsenal managed to get one player suspended and another player and the manager fined after that game. Now, it’s not that UEFA won’t go back and look at tapes. They did when De Rossi from Roma threw an elbow into the face so Shakhtar’s Srna, and suspended De Rossi for 3 games after the fact. So UEFA is willing to go back and look at tapes, but will not do it when a big money-maker like Barcelona is in question.

Soccer, you are the biggest and most loved sport in the world, you owe it to the hundreds of millions of fans that you have to be getting these calls right. It’s time to realize how many issues there are in the game and work out a way to get the calls right. It’s time to have referees be accountable for not being good at their jobs. And is time for player to feel protected on the field, no matter what team they are playing. It is time for me to be able to look at my friends who do not like soccer and say “look, soccer governing is not a complete joke”. I can’t say that right now, but I would love to be able to. It is time to give the fans what they deserve.

I do want to add that soccer is not the only sport with a questionable governing body. We should also mention the NCAA, which over sees all of college sports. It is a seemingly very corrupt association. Here is a great article I read the other day highlighting this: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/09/opinion/09nocera.html?_r=1

The Masters: I Actually Watched.

So this year I actually watched a good amount of the Masters on Saturday and almost all of it on Sunday. I have to say that Sunday was very enlightening to me about the excitement of watching golf. I have always thought that golf was one boring sport to watch on TV, and frankly, a bit boring to play as well. I was not bored at all on Sunday. It had me on the edge of my seat almost the whole day.

I will admit that I am a Tiger Woods fan. I am not a fan of him personally and don’t agree with what he was doing off of the golf course. What I do agree with is watching Tiger Woods be Tiger Woods. The man on a golf course can be magic, and that is how he started out today. Magic. Watching Tiger come out of the gate the way he did with a couple of birdies right away I thought that we could be in for an interesting day.

Rory McIlroy started the day comfortably in the lead being 4 strokes up on his closest competitors, and a whole 7 strokes up on Tiger Woods. I feel that part of the downfall of McIlroy was the fact that Tiger played four holes, and played them very well before McIlroy stepped foot on the course Sunday. McIlroy is, after all, just 21 years old. And being 21 years old and going into the final day of the Masters with the lead cannot be an easy thing to do under any circumstances. In addition, Tiger is playing golf like it is 2004 again and I could see a break down in the future of this youngster.

A breakdown there was, and it was a painful one. McIlroy had a bogey on the first hole and hit into two separate sand traps on the second though somehow managed to save par. It looked bad from the beginning, and Tiger continued his charge. By the time Woods finished the front nine he was 10 under par (5 under for the day) and tied with McIlroy for the lead.  All of the sudden we had what was shaping up to be one of the most exciting finished to the Masters in a long time. From there Tiger played par, McIlroy played well above it and players came from all over the field to challenge for the lead.

Eventually coming out on top, finishing with four birdies in a row, was Charl Schwartzel. This South African had a great start to the round by chipping in on the first and putting one in the hole (yes, that’s what she said) from about 150 out for an eagle on the third. He went on to close out as well as Mariano Rivera and win his first Green Jacket.

Schwartzel after making the final put to take the Green Jacket.

This was fun and exciting, but Rory McIlroy did his best to break the heart of everyone watching. He folded, and he did it in an epic fashion. The young man managed just a plus 8 on the day, dropping him from 1st all the to tied for 15th and from making about $1.4 million to making $128,000. I love the man’s spirit though, saying that this was “character building, I hope”. Pure and utter class from a 21-year-old. That is something that I don’t know that I could say in the situation that he is in. He has to be heartbroken, and beside himself. He went out, and it seemed that nothing would go right. Puts wouldn’t fall, the ball loved the bunker. It was just simply not his day, and all I can hope is that one day, it is. I hope that Rory McIlroy is able to put on the Green Jacket at some point in his career because for the first three days of this tournament, he was about the only one who deserved to.

McIlroy in the sand, where he found himself all too much on the final day.

The back half of the last day of the Masters was about as exciting as golf can get. There was no indication until the last hole or two who was going to win it all. But for me, it would have been much more exciting if Tiger was able to gain a couple of more strokes when he played the back. Tiger played about as well as he has in two or three years on the front nine, but the back he managed 7 pars, 1 birdie and 1 bogey. This pretty much, sadly, took him out of contention as he went to the clubhouse. It took away a bit of the excitement for me, because honestly, he was who I wanted to win.

Tiger looking a bit frustrated.

None the less, the Masters was an exciting time for my while I actually took the time to watch the final couple of days. I have never been a fan of watching golf on TV, but there was something about this tournament that was truly mesmerizing. I will be viewing again next year, and if Tiger is close, I am expecting to watch the final round of all of the Majors this year. So, here’s to you PGA, I enjoyed your sport, even though I am really bad at it.