It’s All Fun and Games Until …

  

Admit it, when it comes to the NFL’s replacement officials, you probably fall into one of four categories:

• You mock them, laughing hysterically at some of the boneheaded calls from the preseason (that’s a touchback … the 4-yard line!).  
• You are freaked out, fearing the day they blow a big, game-changing call against your favorite team.
• You, like many NFL fans, think you could do a better job. Of course, you felt that way with the “real” refs, too. (One inexplicable call a game isn’t looking so bad in comparison, huh?)
• Your only concern is how this is going to affect your fantasy team.

But what happens when one of the less-experienced officials allows an illegal, season-ending hit on Dez Bryant, Randy Moss, Larry Fitzgerald or another defenseless receiver?

How will you feel, Ravens or Jets fans, when Steelers linebacker James Harrison comes flying, unimpeded, at Joe Flacco or Mark Sanchez with a helmet-first tackle that knocks the air out of your QB but doesn’t draw a flag?

And Vikings fans, how will you feel when AP’s banged-up knee is reinjured because less-experienced officials let a gang-tackle continue long after the play should have been blown dead?

While many fans have found preseason officiating alternately funny and frustrating, what really concerns me is the safety factor.  In a league where two of its biggest headlines—touchdowns and concussions—often appear in the same news stories, the NFL needs to avoid a situation where its bone headedness could have a negative impact on the health of its players.

Over the past decade, the NFL has created a lot of good will in making its product safer for its players. What’s more, many of the league’s more experienced officials have been heavily involved in the process and can be partly credited with keeping the NFL’s biggest asset—its players—safe. It is a goal in which both sides are heavily invested.

While it has become sport to make fun of the replacement officials, we must remember two important things: First, the replacements are doing the best they can, considering the circumstances. In most cases, officials start out at a lower level, moving up and gaining experience along the way. But these people took an express train to the NFL, bypassing a handful of stops. Can you imagine getting a job in the mailroom one day and then getting an opportunity to step in as president a short time later? There would be a bit of a learning curve, to say the least. These officials did more than just yell at the TV from the couch, like most fans do. They were offered a chance of a lifetime, and they took it. 

Secondly, let’s be clear—this is a mistake on the NFL’s part (i.e., the league should be the butt of the jokes, not the officials). If the underlying issue is partly about money, the NFL has the most to lose. In the long run, ensuring the safety of the game is worth far more than the NFL could ever concede to the referee’s union.

Serena, the Tennis Player!

There’s Serena the designer.

There’s Serena the celebrity dater.

Serena the actress and Serena the pitchwoman.

There’s Serena the nail technician and there’s Serena with the great, athletic body, donning a two-piece at the beach.

Then there’s Serena the tennis player. And, boy, can she play. With all the other things she’s evolved into, growing from a little girl with braids and multicolor beads in her hair into the lovely woman we see before us today, we sometimes forget that her bread and butter is her tennis game.

She truly is a “personality” in every sense of the word, but tennis is what put her on the map. As I watched “Breakfast at Wimbledon” on Saturday morning, I was reminded of just how great a player she is as she captured her fifth Wimbledon and 14th Grand Slam title. The power, the shot placement, the aces, the backhand, the baseline play and the emotions—they’ve all played a critical role in her success.

As I watched Wimbledon, the announcer reminded the audience that the Williams Sisters—both Serena and Venus—have dominated tennis for nearly two decades. (Really, has it been that long?) During a time when American tennis has struggled from a lack of recent dominance on the men’s side, the American women’s side has been strong and secure for a while—a remarkable feat considering the wealth of global talent.

Serena has come a long way to get back to this point, overcoming serious illness, injuries and, yes, non-tennis distractions.

But when it counted most, on Saturday morning at Centre Court, she shined as Serena, the tennis player. And what a treat it is to be able to sit in witness as her legacy continues to flourish.

Bring Back Wide World of Sports

I really miss ABC’s Wide World of Sports. Remember that Saturday afternoon block of television where you would find a hodgepodge of so-called “fringe” sports, everything from javelin tossing to bowling, from water skiing to ski jumping, from curling to badminton. And who didn’t love the show’s affable, long-serving host, Jim McKay. You didn’t tune in looking for basketball, football, hockey or baseball—it wasn’t about them, at least not the big leagues, which made it perfect. Wide World of Sports was where the lesser-known sports from around the globe were given a chance at the spotlight, and I loved every minute of it.

These past few weeks of sports television viewing has reminded me of a Saturday afternoon spent on the couch watching ABC as a child. With the NHL and NBA coming to a close, I’ve been able to watch so many of the other sports I enjoy. I’ve tuned in for several innings of both college baseball and softball. I spent a good chunk of Memorial Day weekend watching college lacrosse, and as a proud Marylander, it was exciting to see Loyola of Maryland and the Maryland Terrapins battle in the championship game. I can’t get enough of men’s and women’s gymnastics and track and field; this is a truly exciting time as both sports gear up for this summer’s Olympics in London. One restless night, at about 3 a.m., I was mindlessly flipping channels and stumbled upon darts. I watched for 40 minutes and proudly posted a status update on Facebook. (And don’t get me started on curling. Years ago, during a trip to Toronto, I came across curling, and I couldn’t pull myself away from the hotel TV.)

If you haven’t done so already, I encourage all sports fans to broaden their horizons and tune into some of these sports. If you have cable TV or a dish, you probably can find these programs on any number of channels.

My final plea is to ABC, or any network, really. Please bring back Wide World of Sports, ASAP. After all, I’d hate to think that I would have to wait until the winter Olympics before I am able to get my next curling fix.

A Letter to Bobby Valentine

Dear Bobby V:


Congratulations on the new job. Wow, managing the Boston Red Sox—what a gig!

I couldn’t help but notice that April has been a little rough for you. Like many of us, I’m sure your first days at a new job are filled with jitters. There’s a lot to figure out. You have to learn people’s names, figure out how to work the copier and find the little boy’s room. All of this can be intimidating in a new environment.

But, boy, what an opportunity! After all, you’re replacing Terry Francona, a guy who started out strong for the Red Sox. In 2004, he even brought the city its first World Series title since 1918, that’s a long, long time. And he added another in 2007. But many of us watching the Red Sox last year agree that he went out with a whimper. The late-season collapse, including a stretch where the Red Sox went 7-20 in September, is still a sore subject for many Boston fans. To find out later that Francona had lost control of the team, at least from a disciplinary point of view, brought both laughs and grief. Players eating fried chicken, drinking beer and playing video games in the clubhouse instead of supporting their teammates during games? C’mon. Clearly, it was time for him to go. Anybody is a step up from that. Enter you, Bobby.

Sure, you’ve had a couple of missteps as most people are wont to do during their first days at a new job, but throwing Kevin Youkilis under the bus, in front of the media, what was that all about? Telling the media that Youkilis wasn’t bringing his A-game, and creating a situation where your Red Sox players took an “us vs. you” stance? Ouch! That’s a rough week at the office.

So, you got off to a bumpy start. It happens. I thought you would make it up when your Red Sox faced their hated rival this weekend, the New York Yankees. To add to the festivities—and the pressure—your Red Sox are celebrating Fenway Park’s 100th anniversary this weekend. I know it’s only April, but this series is a must-win for your team.

Game 1 in the series did not go as planned. It was Fenway’s birthday, but the Yankees were the ones celebrating, beating your Red Sox, 6-2, in the opener of a three-game series. OK, so you took it on the chin in Game 1. That’s why they play series, right?

But on Saturday, your Red Sox simply imploded. Seriously. Racing out to a 9-0 lead, your Red Sox got comfortable, so comfortable that when they woke up from their snooze, they were trailing 15-9. To make matters worse, with each of your visits to the mound, in a fruitless effort to stop the bleeding, you were booed mercilessly by your Red Sox faithful.

It’s only April, that’s the good news. Already you have to dig yourself out of a hole with the fans, your players and the AL East standings—that’s the bad news.

Who knows, maybe managing in the bigs has changed since you last held the job. After all, spending a couple of years talking baseball in front of ESPN’s cameras isn’t the same as managing. Of course, I’m not discounting your efforts in Japan, but Major League Baseball is really the standard by which you are measured. Who knows, maybe you’ve lost a step.

That’s not to say that you are to blame for all of your team’s woes. After all, if things were going so well in Boston, you wouldn’t be there in the first place. Terry Francona would still be at the helm.

Before I go, I wanted to let you know that I’m coming to town for Memorial Day, and I was hoping to see a game. I know that’s only a month from now, but I hope to see you still sporting your No. 25 jersey and manning the dugout when I arrive.

Sincerely,


A concerned baseball fan

Title IX: Debunking the Myths

This year marks the 40th anniversary of Title IX. And while many of us are familiar with the legislation through its connection to sports, it may come as a surprise to some that Title IX was created to level the educational playing field at the college level.

Yes, it’s true. The legislation was passed with the intention of preventing sexual discrimination in higher education, says lawyer Judith Lichtman in the 2012 issue of Washington Lawyer. “People often think about Title IX in the athletic opportunity context for women. God knows that’s a very important context, but [while] often less recognized, the importance of Title IX in prohibiting sex discrimination in education was much broader,”

Lichtman, a senior advisor at the National Partnership for Women & Families, has fought to implement Title IX legislation. In the article, she goes on to say that the legislation shaped curricula at colleges and universities across the country, and that it also provided young women with role models in both academics and athletics.

Title IX not only benefits women by providing more opportunities for them to excel in college, it also benefits men. It’s a fact that as women’s athletic opportunities increase, so do the opportunities afforded to men. What’s more, men’s opportunities still outpace women’s, even with Title IX legislation in place.

So while it’s important for young women to have greater athletic opportunities, just like their male counterparts, having an academic setting that includes women is an even greater accomplishment.

Peyton, Payton and Payton

If your name is Peyton or Payton, this past week has been one of great excitement, great shock and great sadness.

At the beginning of the week, quarterback Peyton Manning chose to bring his talents to Colorado when he agreed to sign with the Denver Broncos. This decision put to rest weeks of speculation as well as a year of whether Peyton would play football again. He will play football again, but not in Indy. Now the only thing left to speculate is whether he can return to his old form. We will need a few months before we will know the answer.

And just when we thought NFL news couldn’t get any bigger than Peyton Manning choosing a team, NFL fans received a real surprise by midweek. Commissioner Roger Goodell handed out punishment in the so-called “bounty” scandal. Effective April 1, New Orleans Saints head coach Sean Payton will be suspended for one year because of his involvement in and knowledge of the scandal. Sheriff Goodell didn’t stop there. Saints general manager Mickey Loomis was suspended for eight games, and Saints assistant head coach Joe Vitt was suspended for six games—all suspensions are without pay. Gregg Williams, the alleged mastermind behind the scandal, was suspended indefinitely. Williams was the Saints’ defensive coordinator from 2009 to 2011 and now holds the same position with the St. Louis Rams.

These suspensions now leave the Saints in upheaval. Before this scandal hit, the big off-season news out of New Orleans was the fact that the team was struggling to ink a deal with quarterback Drew Brees. Although the news of signing Brees becomes back-burner in comparison, the urgency of signing him is even more important if the Saints want to salvage any type of competitive season.

Finally, in a third story pertaining to Payton, the legal community lost a legend last week when lawyer John Payton, president and director–counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, died on March 22 after a brief illness. Payton was a fierce advocate for civil rights and a leader in the legal community, working on such high-profile items as the University of Michigan’s admissions case.

RGIII: Talk About Real QB Pressure

Full disclosure: I am a lifelong Washington Redskins fan. I’ve supported the team in good times and bad, with the latter being the most recent and most daunting, and I will continue to support this team.

Still, I was a little hesitant when team owner Dan Snyder and the Redskins made a deal with St. Louis last week to move up in the draft, trading three first-round and a second-round pick to the Rams to get a shot at drafting Baylor quarterback Robert Griffin III with the second overall pick.

Much of the talk on local sports radio has been “RGIII had better pan out or else,” or “Look at all the Redskins gave up for him, he’d better be a stud right away.” In other words, the pressure is on RGIII to perform immediately.

I took another tact. My immediate thoughts were: “That poor kid. We’re going to ruin him!” (For that very same reason, I am equally happy that we didn’t get a chance to tarnish Peyton Manning.)

Naturally, it makes more sense to build through the draft instead of chasing after other teams’ discards. In recent years, the Redskins have done a lot of the latter, without a lot of success to show for it.   

Washington of late is where football careers come to die. Furthermore, from a PR point of view, the Redskins have not been the most prudent or honest organization in recent years.

Just ask Donovan McNabb who went from starter to second string to third string to gone in the span of a very bizarre year, which included an inexplicable benching for Rex Grossman that later turned into a PR nightmare when head coach Mike Shanahan tried to explain his decision. Depending on which reason you believe, both of which were put forth by Shanahan, Donovan either did not understand the mechanics of the offense or was too out of shape to run the offense.

You also can ask quarterback Jason Campbell who was bashed for being inconsistent even though he played under two coaches and two offensive systems in four years with the Redskins. He’s now a Raider.

Or ask Rex Grossman and John Beck who handled the under center follies this past season. According to one veteran NFL scout, neither QB is qualified to start in the league—nor should Beck be playing at this level at all.

I know it’s easy to dismiss a former player’s unkind words as bitterness, but some of the stories we’ve heard from former Redskins have been echoed in this community for years. Cornerback Carlos Rogers, who spent his first six seasons with the Redskins before landing with the 49ers, didn’t mince words during a Sirius XM NFL Radio show in November. In discussing the Redskins’ dysfunction, Rogers said, “There’s so much drama, so much outside stuff. You give up a play, you give up a touchdown, you’ve got to worry about whether you’re starting this week or if it’s the next corner up. It’s things like that.”

In that same interview, Rogers also said that instead of building through the draft and taking care of their own, the Redskins would seek out high-priced free agents, many of whom never worked out.

“They brought in so many guys and gave them all the money and lifted them up and let guys go that they drafted and had been there…. Of course, you’re going to need free agents and some spots you need to fill. But you need to take care of your guys. Take care of home and not let them go. That’s how you build,” Rogers said.

And I haven’t even gotten to former Redskins defensive coordinator Gregg Williams and his alleged “pay’em to slay’em” system.   

Need further proof of the craziness that is the Redskins? To read an A to Z guide on the Redskins and some of their not-so-fabulous moves, check out Dave McKenna’s 2010 City Paper article The Cranky Redskins Fan’s Guide to Dan Snyder. From a PR point of view, the Redskins are still trying to live down this story.

What’s challenging for RGIII is the fact that he is coming into a quarterback situation that has been unsettled since the early 1990s and the days of Mark Rypien, the Redskins’ last Super Bowl quarterback. There has been a steady rotation of quarterbacks since then, including the likes of Mark Brunell, Shane Matthews, Heath Shuler, Gus Frerotte, Brad Johnson and a handful of others I can’t remember. In other words, Redskins fans are thirsty and we need relief now.

RGIII appears to be a good kid with a good head on his shoulders. If for some reason he doesn’t reach his full potential in Washington, I wouldn’t be so quick to blame it on a lack of arm strength, accuracy or skill at playing the position. I believe it would require deeper investigation, starting with the Redskins organization itself.