Category Archives: Sports news

Sports news

Masters exerts ‘prior restraint’?

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The third round of the Masters Tournament is about to end and I want to comment on something that has stuck in my craw for the past several years.

CBS Sports has been broadcasting this professional golf “major” for as long as I can remember. Some years back, CBS hired a smart aleck announcer named Gary McCord to broadcast golf on the network.

McCord played on the PGA tour. He didn’t win any tournaments. But he fancies himself as a comedian. I don’t find him funny.

Neither do the snotty souls who belong to Augusta (Ga.) National Golf Club, where they play the Masters every year.

What did these ultra-rich guys do some years back? They ordered CBS to pull McCord off its broadcast team for the Masters.

Why did this stick in my craw? It kind of smacks of a form of “prior restraint,” with an exclusive, private country club dictating to a major media outlet how it can do its job.

This brings to mind a question I wish I would have asked the corporate owner of the Amarillo Globe-News, where I worked for nearly 18 years until Aug. 31, 2012. William Morris III is chairman of Morris Communications, which owns the G-N. It is based in Augusta, Ga. Morris is a member of Augusta National, an outfit filled with members who are “invited” to join; one doesn’t apply for membership, mind you. The blue-noses at the country club have to ask you to join.

As near as I can tell, the predominant qualifier for membership has something to do with the size of one’s bank account.

The question I wish I would have asked Billy Morris? Why do you people at Augusta National take yourselves so damn seriously?

Sports news

Act, Texas lawmakers, to make texting while driving illegal!

A tragedy in Uvalde County, Texas ought to spur the state’s Legislature to do something it needs to do with utmost urgency.

Here comes my rant.

The Legislature needs to enact a bill that’s pending to ban motorists from doing anything behind the wheel of a motor vehicle that doesn’t involve driving the damn thing.

It needs to ban texting while driving and using a handheld telephone while driving. It needs to send the bill to Gov. Greg Abbott’s desk and the governor needs to sign it into law immediately.

Jody Kuchler is a hero in my book. He was driving along a highway near Garner State Park when he witnessed a vehicle swerving dramatically in front of him. He dialed 9-1-1 and pleaded with authorities to “get this guy” off the highway. He told dispatchers he was certain the driver would get himself killed or, worse, kill someone else.

He proved to be tragically prescient.

The pickup truck slammed head-on into a bus carrying members of a Baptist church in New Braunfels. Twelve passengers died at the scene. The driver of the pickup — 20-year-old Jack Dillon Young — admitted to police he was texting while driving.

Ban this activity

Would a law have prevented this person from committing this act of sheer idiocy — allegedly? Probably not.

But — dammit to hell! — there needs to be serious penalties attached to someone committing this kind of outrageous behavior.

There have been judges in Texas who have been unafraid to assess creative sentences to people who commit egregious crimes that result in death or serious injury.

My wife today came up with an idea: sentencing the perpetrator to community service — in addition to jail time — that includes speaking to high school students about the dangers of doing what he has done.

This story sickens and saddens me to my core. It also enrages me that the state of Texas hasn’t yet declared texting while driving important enough to make it illegal across our vast state.

I don’t blame the Legislature so much for this failure. The 2011 Legislature placed such a bill on Gov. Rick Perry’s desk. Perry vetoed it for the most stupid reason imaginable: He labeled it a form of government overreach.

I am hoping fervently that Gov. Abbott sees it differently.

Sports news

Pulling for a comeback from Tiger

Call me strange.

But I do enjoy watching pro golf on TV more than pro football. Pro basketball, too, except when the Portland Trail Blazers are on the tube.

Accordingly, I keep hoping for a comeback from a young man named Eldrick “Tiger” Woods, who announced this week he is going to skip next week’s Masters Tournament, an event he has won four times.

Tiger’s back is acting up. He can’t rehab it sufficiently to allow him to play at a competitive level. So, he’s sitting out an event that the great Jack Nicklaus once said he’d win more Masters green jackets than he and the late Arnold Palmer did combined; Jack won six of ’em, Arnie won four.

I’m not entirely sure why I remain drawn to Tiger Woods, the golfer. Tiger the husband turned out to be pretty much of a dirt bag, as he cheated wildly on his gorgeous then-wife, Elin.

It pretty much went to hell after that for Tiger.

Tiger remains on the injured list

He hurt his back. His major championship total stands at 14; he says he wants to surpass the 18 majors owned by Nicklaus.

I don’t know what pro golf’s TV ratings have done since Tiger hit the skids. I’m guessing many TV watchers are like me: They’d prefer to watch Tiger on the course than nearly anyone else.

I want the young man to make a full comeback. Do I care if he breaks the all-time major championship record? Not really. Jack Nicklaus, by all rights, should stand as the greatest of all time.

Tiger Woods belongs on the golf course — and on my TV screen.

Sports news

Las Vegas Raiders? Oh, puh-leeeeze!

Media coverage of major professional sports these days seems to focus on salary caps, contract disputes, major stars’ holding out … and the relocation of franchises.

It’s the last item that troubles me today.

The San Diego Chargers are moving up the highway to Los Angeles; the St. Louis Rams already have returned to LA, from where they departed for St. Louis all those years ago. In fact, now that I think about it, the Chargers joined the old American Football League as the LA Chargers.

Oh, I know. There have been others: The Arizona Cardinals once played in Chicago, then St. Louis, now in suburban Phoenix; the Kansas City Chiefs once were known as the Dallas Texans; the Tennessee Titans moved from Houston, where they were the Oilers.

Now it’s the Oakland Raiders moving — of all places — to Las Vegas.

The Raiders’ move hurts a little more than the others.

As a teenager, I was a huge Raiders fan. My interest in the team goes back to the era of Daryle “The Mad Bomber” Lamonica and moved forward to the time of Kenny “The Snake” Stabler, Warren Wells, Fred Biletnikoff, Jim Otto (yes, I cheered the center, too), Ben Davidson … and a bunch of other guys.

Now the Raiders are moving to Sin City. Might they return — eventually — to the east side of San Francisco Bay? They did it once before; they moved to LA, played there for a time — won a Super Bowl while playing as the LA Raiders — and then returned to Oakland.

Ugh! I hate the idea of them moving yet again. They are stiffing their loyal fans, much in the manner that the old Cleveland Browns did when they moved to Baltimore, or when the Baltimore Colts moved to Indianapolis (in the middle of the night, I should add).

Pro sports doesn’t reward loyalty. It rises and falls on money.

I’m an angry Oakland Raiders fan today. I just cannot wrap my arms around the idea of the Las Vegas Raiders — or whatever they’re going to call the team.

Sports news

Final Four matchup converts a college hoops agnostic

I am entitled in this blog to acknowledge that I spoke a bit too soon about March Madness, that annual rite involving the college men’s basketball tournament.

I tweeted something the other day about not giving a damn about March Madness. In the moment, I didn’t care.

Then a member of my family reminded me that the University of Oregon Ducks were taking part in the tournament.

Fine. I’ll care about the men’s tournament as long as the Ducks are in it. I’m allowed, given that I’m an Oregon native. So what if my view of March Madness has evolved. Sue me if you wish, OK?

Here we are. The Ducks not only are “in it,” they’re one of four teams that will gather in Glendale, Ariz., to play for the national men’s basketball championship. As I’m writing this blog, the final team in that foursome has yet to be determined; it’ll be either North Carolina or Kentucky, two programs with plenty of Final Four experience. The winner of that game will play the Ducks in the semi-final round in Glendale.

The Ducks were there once before, in 1939, the first year of the NCAA men’s tournament. Oregon went on that year to win the championship. They were called the Tall Firs. They remain a legendary presence in Oregon sports annals.

They haven’t been back since. Until now!

The other two are little ol’ Gonzaga, that school in Spokane, Wash., and the University of South Carolina. They’re both going to the Big Show for the first time in their history.

There you go. The Ducks, the Zags, the Gamecocks; still waiting for the Tar Heels and the Wildcats to finish their game.

Do I care now about the Final Four? Uh, yeah! Go Ducks!

Sports news

Feeling so-o-o-o busted

A friend of mine outed me this morning after I wrote a blog post criticizing the FBI for spending public money to look for quarterback Tom Brady’s stolen jersey.

I wrote that the feds didn’t have a role to play in looking for a damn shirt worn by Brady the day he led the New England Patriots to their stunning Super Bowl victory over the Atlanta Falcons.

My friend responded with this query: How would I feel if the trunks that Muhammad Ali wore the night he defeated Joe Frazier in Manila had been stolen?

Oh, my goodness! I was so very busted by my friend, to whom I responded “knows me too well.” He must know how I feel about The Champ. How I revered him for so many years as he fought with such power, speed and grace. And how he became such a huge civil rights voice during the time he was exiled from professional boxing because he stood up in protest of the Vietnam War.

My response to my friend was that I would feel differently. I joked that I would have mobilized the armed forces to find Muhammad Ali’s stolen trunks.

Actually, I wouldn’t do such a thing.

Although …

My friend clearly decked me with that question. He gave me pause.

The FBI has been in the news a good bit of late for reasons that speak directly to its mission. Looking for a quarterback’s stolen jersey just doesn’t seem to fit that bill.

https://highplainsblogger.com/2017/03/good-job-fbi-in-helping-find-a-shirt/

Sports news

Good job, FBI, in helping find a shirt

I am a big admirer of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

It does great work on a whole host of serious matters: they include counterterrorism and pursuing those who break federal law.

Seriously, I love the FBI. I watched “The Untouchables” as a kid and cheered for Elliot Ness to catch the bad guys every week.

However, the FBI didn’t need to spend a single one of my tax dollars — or yours, for that matter — to help locate a damn shirt! It happened to the jersey worn by New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady during that Super Bowl game this past month, the one in which Brady led the Pats to that amazing comeback victory over the Atlanta Falcons.

I get that the shirt is worth a lot of money. I also get that the FBI felt it was justified in assisting in finding it.

Look at this way: Brady is worth a few hundred million bucks; the team for which he plays has even more dough in the bank. They could have paid top dollar to the greatest private investigative firms on the planet to find the shirt.

The FBI, however, got involved.

No thanks. I ain’t cheering this one.

The Patriots ought to reimburse the Treasury for every nickel spent in the hunt for a shirt.

local news, Sports news

‘We are the champions!’

Queen’s classic rock hit is likely going to ring in the halls of four Texas Panhandle high schools this week … maybe longer.

Four terms of girls won state titles for their respective high schools.

The champs hail from Canyon, Panhandle, Canadian and Nazareth high schools. Why is this a big deal?

It is for a couple of key reasons.

One is that the champions all play on high school girls basketball teams. Title IX brought extra visibility and status to girls athletics across the nation. Back in the Dark Ages, when I attended high school, there was no such thing as girls’ team athletics. We didn’t have girls volleyball, basketball, wrestling or softball competition.

Girls competed in track and field and if memory serves, that was about it.

It’s a different — and better — era these days for girls athletics.

The second reason is that these four championship teams hail from the Texas Panhandle, which arguably might be the forgotten region of our vast state.

We see our power diminished politically as population grows more rapidly in other parts of Texas. The Legislature is forced to redraw legislative and congressional districts every decade and the trend is the same: the districts grow in geographical size because the state’s population is becoming increasingly clustered in places like Austin, Dallas/Fort Worth, San Antonio, Houston and the Valley.

But our athletic “power” and prowess remain intact.

I should take particular note that Canyon High won yet another state title. Coach Joe Lombard’s won-lost percentage is astronomical in the extreme. I cannot remember precisely what it is, but the man has coached his teams to many times more victories than losses.

The CHS trophy case must be getting terribly crammed with state championship trophies.

Four state champs in a single weekend for this outpost region called the Panhandle of Texas? Not bad at all.

Congratulations, young ladies.

Cue the music. “We-e-e-e are the champions … “

Sports news

Thanks for reminding me, Fox Sports

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Joel Embiid was supposed to be the next big thing to take Philadelphia by storm.

The 76ers drafted him high in the draft. Then he appears to be breaking down. He’s out for the rest of the 2016-17 season with a meniscus injury that appears to be worse than the doctors first feared.

Then Fox Sports, in a report posted online, took note of the following. “Now, the soon-to-be 23-year-old is staring into the abyss — as the ghosts of Greg Oden, Yao Ming, Sam Bowie, Bill Walton and the like stare right back.”

More than a few of us out here took particular note of three of the four men mentioned: Greg Oden, Sam Bowie and Bill Walton.

What do these young men have in common?

They all were first-round picks of the Portland Trail Blazers, my hometown NBA team.

Ugghh!

Oden and Bowie never made the grade in the pros. They broke down. I guess I should fess up that the Blazers picked Bowie over another up-and-comer, a young man out of North Carolina named Michael “Air” Jordan.

Walton was injury-prone from the start, although he did put together two great seasons for the Blazers, leading them to the NBA title in 1977 and winning the league’s most valuable player award the following season; he then suffered yet another serious injury — and sued the Blazers for medical malpractice.

Oh, the memories. Some of them I’d rather forget.

national news, Sports news

Muhammad Ali’s son detained at airport … for real!

Put yourself in the place of an airport customs/security agent for a moment.

A young man comes off an airplane that’s just traveled to the United States from a foreign airport. He presents his passport to you and it has the name “Muhammad Ali Jr.” on it.

What do you ask the young man?

If it were me — and I was allowed under customs protocol — I would ask: “Are you the son of The Greatest of All Time? Was your late, legendary father really The Champ, the baddest, prettiest, greatest heavyweight boxer in history?”

If he said “yes,” I’d stamp his passport, tell him how much I admired his dad and let him through.

That didn’t happen recently at Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood (Fla.) International Airport. Muhammad Ali Jr. arrived there on a flight from Jamaica. He was detained. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement officials say he wasn’t detained because he is a Muslim. They offered vague reasons for acting as they did.

Ali was profiled, according to an Ali family lawyer. The officials asked him if he is Muslim and asked him where he got his name. As USA Today reported: “Customs spokesman Daniel Hetlage declined to provide details of the incident, citing policies that protect travelers’ privacy, but he wrote in an email that the agency does not discriminate on the basis of religion, race, ethnicity or sexual orientation.

“‘We treat all travelers with respect and sensitivity,’ he said. ‘Integrity is our cornerstone. We are guided by the highest ethical and moral principles.'”

Young Ali, who’s 44, is blessed — or cursed, perhaps, depending on the circumstance — with having arguably the most famous name on the planet. It also is the name of world’s most beloved Muslim.

Part of me wants to ridicule the officer who stopped Ali Jr. Another part of me, though, suggests the officer was just doing his job.