Holdouts...Who Does It Hurt More The Player, The Team or The Game???
How Holding Out affects the "game" Written by Tino Wallace for http://www.blacksportsonline.com Email Tino Wallace
The world of professional sports has vastly evolved over the years. Back in the 60’s pro football players had 2nd jobs just to support themselves. Now simply having your name on a pro roster alone can net you hundreds of thousands of dollars per year even if you don’t see a single minute of game time the entire season. Sports these days are just more than a pastime they are an Event. They can pour millions of dollars into a small or large market city. Professional leagues such as the NBA, MLB, and the NFL are starting to broaden their marketing approach by selling anything from jerseys, to bobble heads; to music playing can openers in order to promote their team. Professional sports are now making more money than ever but of course with more money, as said by the late Notorious B.I.G., comes more problems.
Hello McFly? Jason Giambi The Real Steroid Villain
Hello McFly? Jason Giambi The Real Steroid Villain Written by Robert Littal Email Robert Littal
I admit sometimes I am a little slow. Sometimes I see things that make perfect sense to me, but no one else seems to notice, so if I am wrong about what I am about to talk about, please let me know.
Am I the only one who thinks it is strange that the United States Government is ready to put Greg Anderson (Barry Bonds trainer) in jail for not talking about something he has already talked about? Speaking of Bonds isn’t it a little crazy he is being hunted down like an animal by the FBI, IRS, MLB, BBD, TLC, 3LW and whatever other organization out just because he is an ass to the media and his head is 10 times larger that it was in 83? Isn’t weird that Mark McGwire is in hiding, Sammy Sosa is Awol, Rafael Palmerio can’t show his face, Jose Canseco is playing in a geezer league and Jason Grimsley was trying to be turned in Sammy The Bull? While all this has happen one player who is worst than all the others has been able to overcome scorn and actually be praised. Who is that person you may ask?
It looks like the walls may be finally closing around Barry Bonds; amid rampant allegations and assumptions of steroid use, he is likely to be indicted by a federal grand jury for income tax evasion. So now you can add Al Capone to the list of people you can compare Bonds with; like Capone, the powers that be had to settle for nailing him on tax evasion because they weren’t able to get anything else to stick. Of course, Barry has not been suspected of running a bootlegging operation or putting hits out on his competitors, so he and Capone really don’t have much of anything in common. But as always, that hasn’t stopped the usual suspects in the media from making this comparison. The assault on Bonds has been in full swing since the BALCO investigations became public, and doesn’t show any sign of letting up now. The talking heads have already rendered their verdict on Barry, despite there being no failed drug tests to substantiate any accusations, and have found him guilty as charged. Listen to some of the commentary about him, and you can sense the disdain in the voices of the writers, broadcasters, and even fans doing the talking. People hate this man, and that hatred has led them to convict him of crimes he has not officially been found guilty of, and to practically root for his possible imprisonment on tax evasion charges. They call into sports talk radio, write letters to newspapers, and send emails with their vitriol. No one gets people riled up like Bonds does.
Playahata- The Top 10 Most Hated On Athletes: By Robert Littal Email Robert Littal
To my understanding the term “PlayaHata” was termed by Bay Area rapper E-40 (if this is incorrect please email me). There are certain characteristics that make them easy to spot. First they are extremely jealous, secondly they never give credit when credit is due and lastly it is always personal. That is the big difference between a critic and a hater. A critic has valid reasoning for their criticisms where as a hater just speaks out of emotion with no rational thought behind it. Lets once again use Dwyane Wade as a subject and here is an example of a critic and a hater.
Critic- To help complete his game Dwyane Wade needs to continue to improve his 3-point shooting. Right now that is a weakness in his game that opponents can exploit. If you can force him outside of his comfort range of 17-18 feet he becomes a hesitant shooter.
Hater- This cat Wade can’t shoot, he be bricking shots all over the building, and if he didn’t have Shaq he wouldn’t anything. I tell you one thing, he is nowhere near Lebron’s level, he can’t touch Lebron, and personally I don’t think he is a Top 10 player in the league. If we drafted players right now, I would take Paul Gasol over his non-shooting, turnover prone ass.
Now that you have a better idea of what we are talking about, let’s take a look at the Top 10 Hated on players in sports.
STAN: The Top 10 Most Stanned Athletes In Professional Sports
Stan: The 10 Most Stanned Athletes Written by Robert Littal Email Robert Littal
Most of you should be familiar with the Eminem song “Stan” (If you haven't just play the video above). If you are not basically it is about a fan who becomes a stalker (i.e. Stan). In the world of sports a “Stan” is someone who universally supports an athlete and refuses to see any faults in the athlete regardless of how obvious those faults are. Lets use Dwyane Wade as an example of the difference between a fan and a “Stan”.
Fan- Wade is an excellent all around player. He makes the Heat go, he was the main reason why they won the Finals. He has to be considered one of the top 5 players in the game right now.
Stan- Wade is crushing all those kids; he is 10 times better than Kobe and 100 times better than Lebron. He could score 100 points in a game if he wanted to, but see Wade he is a team player, I mean he carried those scrubs Walker and Peyton to a championship. They should kiss his feet really. If I was his teammate I would call him everyday thanking him for getting me a ring. He is the truth.
Without further ado here are the 10 most “Stanned” athletes in the world of sports:
Exposed: Confessions of a Groupie Part 3 of 3, The Athlete's Perspective
Exposed: Confessions of a Groupie Part 3 Written by Robert Littal Email Robert Littal
The hardest part of this three part expose’ was finding an athlete willing to talk on the record. Because of my connections with The Ohio State University (I am an alum) and my site, I have access to many professional athletes from various leagues and while a number of them answered my emails and calls for information, none of them wanted to be a part of the actual story except one. The only way he would do the interview is if I didn’t mention what sport that he played, if he was married or single, what race he was, used a fake name for him that had to be generic and I had to sign a fax agreement that I would never revealed his name to anyone. After agreeing to his terms here is the interview as followed.
ESPN is clearly not what it once was when it comes to being a quality network. Once the gold standard for sports television journalism, it has now become a mockery of itself for a number of reasons. While we could probably make a list of twenty or more things that are wrong with the network today, there are seven that really stand out to me. Here they are, ESPN’s seven deadly sins, the infractions that make it more like MTV than a sports network.
In part 2 of our expose’ on the lives of athletes in relation to groupies, we speak to the wives and girlfriends to get their perspective. Similar to part 1, I conducted 5 separate interviews with 5 different women. Some of the questions were for all of them others were specific to their situation. I think you will be very surprised, as I was at some of their responses.
Since the mid-90’s the National Basketball Association and the mainstream sports media have tried to anoint various young stars as the next Michael Jordan. Starting with Harold Minor on down to Dwayne Wade this year during his team’s, the Miami Heat, championship run, the cognoscenti have searched for that rare player who combines a Madison Ave Q-rating, street credibility, and stellar ability on the court that leads to championship rings just as His Airness did seemingly from Day One during his three tours of duty in the Association. I’m numb to that pretty much because I know there will never be another player exactly like Jordan no matter how much people like David Stern, Kobe Bryant, and Stuart Scott wish it were so. No, I pay more attention to who will be the next great white American player in the NBA. The next Larry Bird, the next Larry Legend so to speak who will remind the public that white guys still have game..........
Make no mistake, Ben Wallace signing a four-year, $60 million contract with the Chicago Bulls will prove to be the best free agent acquisition in the franchise’s history. The Heat better get another one next year, because this deal signifies a huge swing in power in the NBA’s Eastern Conference in the long run........
The Grass Isn't Always Greener: My Life With A Professional Athlete
The Grass Isn't Always Greener Written by Sidney Gracen
Have you ever wondered what it must be like to be a involved with a professional athlete? Sidney Gracen has and she would like to share her story with you.
One of the perks of being a baller is normally you have your choice of the finest women on the planet. We present to you the 28 finest NBA wives and girlfriends. How does your significant other stack up?
We admit it, we left out some very attractive Wifeys on our last list, but we have corrected the problem, by listing the Top 50 Sexiest Athletes Wives and girlfriends we missed the first time around, so sit back, relax and enjoy.
I love Darth Kobe. I liked Kobe Skywalker but I have been waiting to see Darth Kobe for a long time. And when I say a long time, I mean for 10 years I knew this day would come. It wasn’t a matter of if, just when. I knew Bean had it in him to become Darth Kobe one day and the signs were there from the beginning. At 17 he told his high school girlfriend he wasn’t taken her to prom because he was going with R&B singer Brandy. Think about that for a minute from the young lady’s perspective. You are the girlfriend of the most popular guy in school and prom is supposed to be your crowning day and he dumps you for basically a photo opportunity. That is cold and only someone with the darkside inside him could do that to someone.
Sports are defined by good guys and bad guys. The fans makes those divisions under the heavily influence of the media. With the advent of the Internet, sports talk radio and 24-hour sports coverage on cable power influence this at its highest point. A man can break his ankle ignore all of his doctors orders, come back to help his team make it to the Super Bowl and still be branded as selfish (see Terrell Owens). Meanwhile a teammate breaks the cardinal rule of discussing another player’s contract to the media and is praised as being a great teammate (see Brett Favre). The majority of fans are followers; they are sheep incapable of making their own conclusions when it comes to celebrities. Their ignorance is blinded by the premise that athletes and celebrities in general are somehow better than the common man or woman. They allow people who are no more knowledgeable than themselves to influence their opinions. The only difference between me and the person reading this is that my thoughts are published for thousands to see.
Are you hearing the whispers? At the water cooler, on the message boards, sports talk radio, in the papers and all over the streets. They are saying Darth quit. Kobe Bean Bryant the Ted Bundy of the NBA pulled a “Pippen” or a “Duran” depending on how old you are in Game 7 against the Phoenix Suns. How is this possible? How does the most competitive player in the NBA give up, admits defeat and fails to get off on his stool in the 12th round? How can perception change so much in a couple of days? From comparisons to MJ to comparisons to 50 Cent when real thugs are around. Is it possible that Bean is a studio gangsta? Did this really happen?
You can smell them coming a mile away. A hint of Issey Miyake perfume blowing in the wind with each step of their Jimmy Choo sling backs, and you know they are looking for their next prey. It's open season on every basketball court from here to Toronto and girls looking for the ultimate "catch" have sharpened their acrylic claws and are on the loose.
For decades the NBA has been looking for the next Michael Jordan, but I say it is time to let MJ RIP. Click the link below to understand why Michael Jordan is dead.
With the NBA and NHL Finals finally over and the baseball season dragging along, there is only one thing to look forward to and that is the upcoming NFL season. It is too early to start breaking down teams, but it is never too early to talk about fantasy football. Here is a break down of the Top 40 Fantasy Football Players for the 2006 season.
Over the past 2 months Robert Littal has interviewed over 50 women in regards to their relationships with professional athletes. They range from professional groupies to Wives who have been with athletes for more than a decade. In part 1 of this 3 part series, Robert Littal interviews groupies who tell us how does it feel to always be the other woman.
