Off The Press

Off the Press, I don't have much time to dilly dally.  My main man, Jerome "J-Solo" Solomon, is doing a chat, Draft talk with lunch, on the Boston Globe's website at noon, and I don't want to miss him. 

For die-hard football fans, the upcoming weekend is like heaven.  Groups of guys around the country will gather together or sit by themselves and watch every round of the NFL Draft.  I've done it several times (I even blogged the draft last year), and let me tell you it's a grueling exercise.  The keys to surviving the process is having proper rest, enough fluids, a laptop and an understanding spouse or significant other (I've had relationships end over a lost draft weekend).

Sports fans can't dodge this draft, writes Mike Freeman of the Florida Times-Union.  It appears, like me, Freeman is a hard core fan/watcher of the draft. Though, he might be a little bit more into it than I.  An example, Freeman writes:

We love this time of year because we can play NFL general manager. With our Web site browsing and obsessive-compulsive ingestion of every available nugget, draft dorks believe they know as much as the real personnel men who spend their lives evaluating college talent.

"Vertical leap," "motor," "reps on the bench," "good first step" and "jumps through the roof" are just some of the phrases used by draft dorks. After I hear some of those lovely words, I want to smoke a cigarette. Because it's draft time.

Joakim Noah said winning the national championship was better than sex.

He was wrong about that.

The draft is.

And this is how much of a draft degenerate I am

Someone needs to intervene with that brother..

Not everyone feels like Freeman about the draft, just check out what Dallas News columnist Kevin Blackistone says about the draft and the nerds who watch it.  Blackistone writes:

Enough already!

This whole draft thing has reached a point of ad nauseam with me that I'd consider voting for a politician simply because the candidate's platform included a moratorium on draft talk, or, better still, criminalizing such chitchat more than a week before the overhyped "event."

For there is nothing in sports that is more unworthy of so much hyperbole than this annual kabuki dance performed by NFL general managers, coaches and troupes of scouts. It's so over the top that it's driven me to adapt a thought from the character Howard Beale in Network: "I can't take this anymore!"

That man really can't stand it, eh? 

My last item for you is a great piece, Winning Equation, by Jerome Solomon from today's Globe on what makes distinguishes "football intelligence" from the kind captured by Wonderlic tests.  Solomon is a mentor of Vince Young and gets some great quotes and observations from Young on the topic.  Also check my mock draft out on Black Voices Sports.

out.

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Off the Press, my man Ricky won't be playing for the Dolphins in the upcoming 2006-7 NFL season.  Even though I'm a rabid Patriots fan, the fact that Ricky won't be playing this year saddens me.  I have always liked Ricky Williams.  Way back to his days at the University of Texas, thru the cringe-inducing dreadlock wig picture with Mike Ditka, I've been a Ricky Williams fan.  From the first minute I saw him play, I thought he was the most natural running back I'd ever seen. 

Ricky combined incredible vision, speed and power with the ability to change directions on a dime.  His love of football was tempered by his curiosity, intelligence and his desire to follow his bliss. 

A lot of guys who play sports never really understand the game they play.  Ricky was and is a pure football player.  No one ever questioned his effort on the field or his commitment to training off it.  His perpetual existential angst turned a lot of writers off and made him enemies.  People hold grudges.  There's no more misunderstood creature in America than a highly intelligent black man who doesn't conform to whatever trope of the Black man America tries to force him into.  Ricky .  My fantasy team is devastated once again.  The Dolphins will survive, and so will Ricky.

Run Ricky run!!

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Off the Press, the Clippers are up 2-0 in a playoff series.   Doesn't that just sound crazy?  The Clippers pummeled the Denver Nuggets, 98-87, last night.  Sportsline's Tony Meija has some reflections on the Clippers game and the rest of last night's playoff action. On the Clippers, USA Today David Leon Moore, writes:

It's the Clippers, so humiliation can be expected. Only, not like this. Not with the Clippers doing the humiliating.

That's the way it is, though, in this revised L.A. story, with the historically pathetic Clippers playing large and in charge of their first-round playoff series against the Denver Nuggets.

The Clippers steamrolled the Nuggets 98-87 Monday night to take a 2-0 playoff lead for the first time in franchise history.

This is shocking, momentous news. 

J.A. Adande, of the L.A Times, was at the game.  His column, It's a blast considering their past, reflects his incredulity at the Clippers reversal of  fortune.  Adande writes a good column on the game itself, sprinkling great quotes from broadcaster Doug Collins in to liven and embellish his account.  However, one gets the sense that Adande can't quit believe it's the Clippers he's writing about.  He wraps up his article with a twist, writing:

One of Dunleavy's challenges will be reining in the enthusiasm of his players, since it's too early to start celebrating. He tried to set the tone at halftime, when a jubilant Cuttino Mobley tried to chest-bump him after banking in a half-court shot at the buzzer. Dunleavy simply patted Mobley on the side.

But essentially his job is to get them to keep playing Clipper basketball. That's now a good thing, not a punch line

True dat!! 

Adande has been on a tear lately.  While his columns have been excellent, Adande's blog, overtime, has been where he's done his best work.  Adande is one of the few working journalists who is as good of a blogger as he is a columnist.  Somehow, most columnists are lame bloggers, they never seem to get the rhythm right.  Adande is the exception.  His blog entries are all 'must read,' and the comments they elicit are..well...peep this excerpt from responses to an Adande column which asserted Steve Nash deserves the MVP award over Kobe:

Hey, J.A., are you sure you're a brother?  I've never seen  such an "Uncle
Tom" attitude!.  I know you hate, Kobe, but come on brother, show some
integrity.   Stop kissing up to the white man.  Nash is the MVP because of
his "substandard" play of his teammates.  What the hell do you think the
Lakers would be without Kobe, you idiot?

I love it.  I always get emails from folks questioning my Blackness because of some item I wrote that they don't agree with.  It's nice to know that I'm not the only one that gets the treatment.

On the Kobe/Nash MVP question, I'll say that Kobe is the best player in the league, but Nash is the most valuable player to his team.  The Lakers could win almost as much without Kobe, Phil Jackson's coaching would find a way to use Odom as a linchpin for a Kobe-less Lakers team.  However, the Suns would be lost without Nash -completely.  That's my two cents.  I will admit though, that Kobe can't catch a break.  The whole "damned if you do, etc"  thing applies to him - in spades. 

A couple of days ago, I think I mentioned that you should ignore all the rumors coming out of the NFL regarding the draft, right?  Well, let me take the opportunity to beg an exception.  It appears that the Houston Texans are seriously considering drafting defensive end Mario Williams over Reggie Bush (and Vince Young).  Before you start screaming, ESPN's Michael Smith outlines why Williams should be the Texans' choice over Reggie Bush.  Good DEs have more long-term impact than RBs, argues Smith.  Smith presents his case:

The Texans should take Williams because he plays the position with more impact, D-end. Good running backs come in all sizes, shapes and rounds. Great pass rushers are rare. That's why backs don't get paid what ends do. Look, money talks: The highest franchise and transition numbers (the average salaries of, respectively, the top five and 10 highest-paid players at each position) belong to quarterbacks, followed by ends, linebackers, offensive linemen, wide receivers and then running backs. You might even argue that cornerbacks have more value than running backs. Two years ago, Denver dealt two-time 1,500-yard rusher Clinton Portis (a second-round pick, by the way) to Washington for corner Champ Bailey. Running backs, which have the shortest career span of any position, seem to come and go, often because teams decide to let them. New Texans coach Gary Kubiak knows this, having served as offensive coordinator in Denver, where the system -- the same one he's brought with him to Houston -- has produced five different 1,000-yard running backs (and a few yards short of two more last year) in Mike Shanahan's 11 years as head coach. None of those backs was a first-rounder. So Kubiak should be able to get plenty of production, if not the home runs, out of Domanick Davis (3,195 yards in three seasons), Vernand Morency, or whomever.

The man makes a good point..

NFL.com expert Pat Kirwan, former Jets GM, release his latest mock draft.  Pat Kirwan is the E.F.Hutton of NFL draft experts.  When he says something, it's either because he knows or he has reliable information from someone who knows.  His access to GMs is total and he has the ability to sift truth from rumor because of his experience in the league.  He's given some credence to the Texans mulling over taking Mario Williams.  That's enough for me. 

Kirwan also has the Pats taking OSU LB Bobby Carpenter.  I've been convinced that the Pats will pick a corner with their first pick.  However, they do need linebackers and Carpenter is a workout buddy and protégé of the Pats' Mike Vrabel.  Jerome Solomon, of the Boston Globe, also writes that the Pats like Carpenter.  Solomon writes a feature on the OSU linebacker in today's Globe.  Carpenter is built to last. Solomon writes, "Word is, Ohio State linebacker Bobby Carpenter is a Bill Belichick kind of guy."

We'll see come Sunday.

out.

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Off the Press, it's the playoffs, y'all!!  Get ready for the funk!!  There's nothing quite like the NBA playoffs.  The sheer athleticism, the personal battles, the big shots, the nasty dunks, the Laker Girls, bring it all on!  I'm ready.  To paraphrase Gil Scott-Heron, the NBA playoffs got more drama than Hollywood's got stars and Beverly got Hills. 

Watch for Suns and stars, advises Michael Wilbon in the Washington Post.  Wilbon offers up a preview essay on the NBA playoffs.  After a perfunctory nod to the plethora of great first round playoff matches, Wilbon gets down to his real subject, praise-singing for the Phoenix Suns.  I haven't seen Wilbon this ecstatic since the last time Tiger Woods won the Masters.  Wilbon writes:

The Pistons and Spurs, winners of the last two championships, are great teams by any reasonable present-day definition. Whether they thrill people, which the truly memorable teams do, is another story. What the league really needs is a team everybody wants to watch, a team that reflects not just skill, professionalism and unselfishness at the highest level, but a team that leaves you at game's end with a sense that something joyous has just occurred.

The Phoenix Suns should be that team this year. Watching the Suns, when they're really on, makes you feel like you're watching a great band live, at its very best. It ought to be theater, the way it was when Jordan's Bulls, Bird's Celtics and Magic's Lakers played. The Suns don't have a player as great as any of those three, but they do have the reigning MVP in Steve Nash who enables them to play the way kids dream of playing, which is to say fast and daring . . . of sinking long shots and throwing pinpoint passes on the fly. The Suns are like a great hockey team on a power play; they always seem to have an extra man ready to shoot, somebody completely unaccounted for by the defense.

The Spurs are polite applause. The Pistons are a foot stomp. The Suns are a shrill scream and a leap from the seats. Phoenix is exactly what the NBA needs forfour rounds, right through the NBA Finals.

Wilbon is feeling the Suns, but his affection is grounded in reality.  He has the Suns advancing no further than the Western Conference Finals. 

Speaking of the West, Sportsline's Tony Meija delivers a preview and a prediction on the Western Conference.  Look for one first round 'upset,' Meija forecasts a Clipper upset victory in their series against Denver.  Did I just write that?  The Clippers in the playoffs (a bettor's choice, no less)...man, that hasn't happen since I was in high school.  Wow!! Clippers in the playoffs, and Karl Rove on his way out!  Man!!  This must be some kind of sign.

A lot of people are feeling L.A.  Both the Lakers and Clippers are surging.  L.A has two stories this postseason, notes USA Today's David Leon Moore. Some folks even like Kobe's Lakers to take the Suns in the first round.  USA Today's David DuPree writes, league's top scorer set for playoffs' top scoring team.  While beating Phoenix will be extremely difficult, one can't rule out a Laker upset. A win over Steve Nash in the playoffs (and probably in the MVP race also) is just too much for Kobe's ego to resist.  Expect a classic!!  USA Today has playoff capsules of all the first round series. Check 'em out.

Another interesting first round matchup will feature the San Antonio Spurs versus Ron Artest's Sacramento Kings.  The matchup between Artest and Bruce Bowen alone should be worth the price of admission.  Artest has been behaving (for Ron Artest) in Sacramento.  Perhaps it's the laid back environment or perhaps the proximity to Humboldt county's finest, for whatever reason one might infer, Artest has been a model citizen with the Kings.  The Denver Post's Marc J. Spears reports, Artest lifting Kings to higher level, playoffs.  Spears writes:

This a new Artest, an exile from Indiana who has in three months built a new reputation in Sacramento. He's become the king of the Kings, comfortable with media and the fans, and back to all-star form.

"You got to give Ron a lot of credit," Kings president of basketball operations Geoff Petrie said. "To me, it's really a great story to have the type of impact he's had."

The Kings were 18-24 and all but out of the playoff picture before acquiring Artest in a trade with the Pacers. Now they are in the playoffs at 44-38, having grabbed the last spot in the West following a late-season surge. They face No. 1 seed San Antonio in the first round

"My, my, my!," like Johnny Gill would say.  Is this really Ron Artest?  Man (what did I say about signs and portent?)!!  Just to let you know Artest has not left his bizarro universe completely behind, The AP's Greg Beacham reports Artest is predicting a series victory over the Spurs.  "No. 1. They're No. 1 now, but I think we'll leave No. 1,"  Artest stated.

Gotta love that Ron Artest!

We're about one week away from the NFL Draft and the dis-information campaigns of all 32 NFL teams are working overtime.  Believe nothing you hear between now and next Friday!  Trust me, I speak from experience.  I used to plant rumors on team fan sites and messageboards just to see how far they'd go. To glean any information from official NFL team sources would tax the capabilities of the CIA, and if President Bush really wanted to hire a solid replacement for Scott McClellan, he should consider Bill Belichick (not that Belichick would ever consider the job).  Belchick would give the Sphinx a run for its money.  Not only does he say nothing, he does it in the most dry, most monotonous drone.

Check out these two stories, the first, no clues to this mystery, by Jerome Solomon of the Boston Globe, is a report on Belichick's pre-draft press conference with the media. "When the coach of the Patriots spoke to local media yesterday for the first time since his squad was bounced from the playoffs by the Denver Broncos, there was little expectation he would divulge inside information, and Belichick delivered. Or didn't," reads Solomon's account. 

Jason Whitlock, of the Kansas City Star, reports on Herman Edwards' first pre-draft press conference as head coach of the Chiefs.  Personality wise, Edwards is as different from Belichick as I am from Whitlock, however like Whitlock and I share an affinity for Ty Law, Edwards and Belichick are both masters of saying much without divulging anything.  Edwards is just a lot more entertaining than Belichick. 

As for Whitlock and I?

Whitlock reports, Herm knows what he's doing when it comes to cornerbacks.  The crux of Whitlock's report is, the cornerback-needy Chiefs will not be drafting a cornerback in the first round of this year's draft.  I'm saying that the Patriots will draft a corner with their first pick of the draft.  It may be Anotonio Cormartie of FSU or Ashton Youbouty of OSU, or neither.  The Pats will take a corner No. 1.  Which prediction will come true, mine or Jason's? 

We'll see.

out.

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Off the Press, I'm a day late and a dollar short giving Pedro Martinez props for reaching the 200-win mark.  I'm sure he won't mind.  I saw a blurb somewhere on the web (the problem with reading so many pieces is one often forgets where one saw a certain thing) referring to Pedro as one of the best Latin pitchers of all-time.  "What are they talking about?" I remember myself thinking, Pedro Martinez is one of the best pitchers of all-time - period.  Check out his numbers!

Not only is he one of the best pitchers ever, but Pedro Martinez is probably the smartest pitcher working in the game today.  Folks always talk about Greg Maddux and how smart he is.  I'll give it up, Maddox is smart, but Pedro Martizen is a freaking genius.  I got to see Pedro in his prime with the Red Sox.  I've never seen a cat with so much concentration, poise and verve on the mound. 

Pedro's strength, other than his fastball and his placement, is his ability as a strategic thinker.  Pedro just doesn't pitch, he orchestrates.  When he's on, he's unhittable - intimidating.  Lately, Pedro has lost a little bit off his game.  He's more prone to injury and his pitch count has to be monitored like the stock market.  However, Pedro is still a big time player, which the Mets, to their delight, are finding out. As Shuan Powell points out in, Hot start fuels coolest fantasy, a good piece on the Mets' 10-2 start. 

Yesterday, Kansas City Star columnist Jason Whitlock wrote, Sports journalism relevancy at issue.  Whitlock discusses the future of sports journalism, riffing after returning from a conference at the Poynter Institute, a journalism think tank.  Anyway, the newspaper business is in crisis and the siege mentality has spurred a debate amongst sports writers on how to revitalize the genre.  At this point I should come clean, last year I participated in a similar forum at the Harvard's Nieman Foundation's Conference on Narrative Journalism.  I believe that narrative has a place in sports writing, Whitlock does not.  Neither of us is right or wrong, the joy of writing is in the freedom of expression.  Anyway, here's Whitlock's view:

There seemed to be two groups: one advocated going back to the future and claimed that newspaper and magazine sports writing could be saved by further embracing the kind of descriptive, narrative writing that made John Lardner the envy of all sports writers in the 1930s and 1940s; the other group pushed for more opinion, analysis, information and entertainment, a combination of Bill Simmons the “Sports Guy” and Andy Katz, two writers for ESPN’s Web site.

I, of course, was in the latter group. I’ve never seen an industry rejuvenate itself by holding onto outdated ideas. Just about all sports news, unlike other forms of news, is televised. Traditional game stories and narrative writing off of televised sporting events are a waste. Save the narrative for a murder or a real news event. 

Different strokes for different folks, I guess.  I read for information and enjoyment.  There's nothing like reading a great piece about a game one has already seen.  Good writing enhances and transports.  A well-written piece is like a painting.  It's not about verisimilitude, it's about emotion - it's love - the reason we got into sports in the first place.  For example, Mike Lupica, of the New York Daily News, wrote this great piece, Something extra is what he always gives, about Pedro Martinez.  Peep this:

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Off the Press, this Duke Lax rape case is coming to a head.  Ames Alexander, Sharif Durhams and David Perlmutt, all of the Charlotte Observer, report, 2 Duke Lacrosse players arrested. With the formal indictment of two members of the Duke Lacrosse team, we can get ready for the real craziness to begin.  As Hunter S. Thompson quipped, "when the going gets tough, the weird turn pro."  Already Jesse Jackson, Sr has been spotted preening around the Raleigh-Durham area.  Stephen A. Smith, of the Philadelphia Inquirer, writes, Jesse Jackson needs to butt out of the Duke situation.

True dat!

Mind you, as crazy as things will get, it won't come close to the epic circus of the O.J. Simpson trial. 

"Why  not?" My sense of justice cries out!

Going back to the source, I found my answer in Los Angeles.  Los Angeles Times columnist J.A.Adande tackles the question in a post in his blog, overtime.  In an entry, Lacrosse examination,  Adande blogs about an article by Erin Texeira in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.  Texereira places the Duke case as the latest example of the sexual objectification of Black women by White men which extends back into the days of slavery.  Responding to a criticism of the article by  radio host Tom Leykis, Adande seconds Texeira's assertion.  Adande writes:

Leykis dismissed the notion. I usually agree with him, but in this case I didn't. I've seen this dynamic at work before. One example that pops to mind was my trip to Mardi Gras in New Orleans during college. When white women removed their tops and flashed the mostly white crowd on Bourbon Street, people were respectful and didn't touch. But when a black woman lifted up her shirt men immediately began grabbing her breasts. All of a sudden it was all right. It's okay, we're entitled to this. The double standard was apparent to me immediately and still resonates today.

So it's easy to believe that the white members of the Duke lacrosse team made racially disparaging remarks to the African American women they hired to strip for them at their party -- especially because a neighbor said he heard some insults when the women were outside. The men were in their castle, the women their subjects.

Adande points are reasonable, but some of the comments in response to his entry are off the hook. The sheer ignorance on display is staggering: 

Maybe the stripper is trying to emulate Cynthia McKinney, another black woman making false accusations and crying racism. There really isn't any difference between them. One sells her body, the other sells her soul.

Oh, come on! Those women were voluntarily participating in an activity that you are calling demaeaning. What, they were forced at gunpoint to strip

One VERY relevant fact you left out is that the DA is up for re-election in a few weeks. Making his posturing all the more suspect.

And on and on..ad nausem.  It's a crying shame; here we are in the 21st century and we are still as backward as ever. 

Orlando Sentinel columnist Jemele Hill, herself a Black woman, writes, Duke case shows the dichotomy of public perception.  Eschewing a race-based approach to the case, Hill tackles the issues raise by the Duke rape case from a gender-based perspective.  She writes:

But there is a playbook for these rape trials that involve athletes, and it is well followed. No matter how much evidence a woman might have to support her claim, she can forget about any jury believing her.

If you're not familiar with the playbook, here it is: Hire powerful lawyers. Make sure what really winds up being on trial is the woman's actions, sexual history and profession. Crystallize that only women from a certain background, who wear a certain type of clothing, do a certain thing for a living and come from a certain part of town are worthy of justice.

Which is to say, very few.

"It definitely speaks to the fact that how a lot of people view victims is negative," said Jenna Cawley, president of the Orlando chapter of the National Organization for Women. "They think if they have any type of sexual history, it should be exploited. Women that speak up at all, even when it's to report a sexual crime, they're treated very poorly. It's a cultural sickness."

Predictably, the Duke case will come down to whose word means more -- a lacrosse player with an expensive attorney or a stripper?

And the lacrosse player will win that every single time.

Sad, but usually true.

out.

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Off the Press, I'm sick - heart sick, home sick and just plain sick.  However, with Richard Seymour resigning with the Patriots, I'm starting to feel a little better again.  As important as Tom Brady is to the New England Patriot offense, Richard Seymour is the rock upon which Bill Belichick has built his defense.  Seymour's value was manifested last year when the defense really lagged when he was out with minor injuries.  With Seymour in the fold, the Patriots can realistically count on being one of the top teams in the competitive AFC. 

The current Patriot dynasty was launched with two drafts picks, Tom Brady in the sixth round in 2000 and Richard Seymour in the first round in 2001.  In the age of the salary cap, the draft (especially now with only seven rounds) has become crucial to maintaining a competitive edge.  While it's still important to hit with one's first day picks, the latter rounds (4th - 7th) have become the litmus test for what separates a winning franchise from a perennial loser. Teams like Cleveland, Buffalo and St.Louis have all paid the price for lackluster drafts.  As a result, regime change has visited all of those locales in the last few years.

This year's draft promises to be a pivotal one.  However, who will go where is still a mystery. Clifton Brown, of the New York Times, writes, Uncertainty is No.1 as NFL draft nears.   "Though the Texans are expected to take running back Reggie Bush of Southern California with the No. 1 pick, every thing else remains uncertain, with two weeks remaining," notes Brown.  He uses his piece to address the question of who will be picked second after Bush.  Will it be Texas' Vince Young or USC's Matt Leinart?  Brown writes:

The quarterback debate is contentious also because the top prospects are not flawless.

Leinart may be the most prepared for immediate success, having played in a pro-style offense. But his arm is not especially strong, and he played on the most talented college team, so it is difficult to gauge how much he was responsible for the Trojans' dynamic offense.

Young is a superior athlete, but he has an unorthodox throwing motion and he took most of his snaps from the shotgun. He may have the biggest challenge adapting to a typical N.F.L. offense, but his running ability would add a new dimension to any team's attack. Cutler has a strong arm, but Vanderbilt never had a winning record, and he played in few high-profile games, unlike Leinart and Young.

Speaking of Vince Young, USA Today's Jarrett Bell writes, Young getting restless amid pre-draftstorm.  After being picked apart on everything from his intelligence quotient and his throwing motion, Vince Young is understandably a little prickly waiting for the draft to arrive.  Bell reports on Young's mood and on who might be trading up to get him.  Bell writes:

"You hear so much; it's something different every day," Young said in the midst of a whirlwind NFL tour that had him visiting the Miami Dolphins, picking 16th. "I don't feed into it a lot. You never know what's going to happen."

Of course, Young doesn't expect to be sitting in that backstage green room when the 16th pick comes around.

"Hey," he said, "Miami might trade up and snatch me up quick."

Hmmm!

Why trade for Daunte Culpepper?  Is this a smokescreen, or is Miami really serious? 

For confirmation of that rumor, yeah or nay, Armando Salguero, of the Miami Herald, offers this headline, Pick no. 16 will be sweet indeed if Young falls into the Dolphins lap.  According to Salguero, Nick Saban has been a Vince Young fan since Young was a 14 year-old wunderkind in Houston (Jerome Solomon of the Boston Globe would testify to that).  Salguero writes:

Saban recruited Young, and the player picked Texas over LSU in what sources close to Young say was a very difficult decision. The Dolphins are among the handful of teams Young has visited leading up to the April 29-30 draft.

Miami hopes Young might fall to No. 16 or that vicinity, which is one reason coaches spent time with him this week. The Dolphins have needs at backup quarterback, outside linebacker, cornerback, nose tackle and perhaps receiver.

But even if Young might not fill the immediate need for an experienced backup quarterback, Saban sees Young, or practically any talented young quarterback, as a player who can be dealt later for multiple draft picks that would be valuable for the team.

If I didn't know Saban was a Belichick clone I would take that account less than seriously.  However, knowing Saban is a Belichick disciple gives the story some plausibility.  After all, the Belichick philosophy places value above all else.  It was Belichick who drafted super stud TE Ben Watson in the first round in 2004, a mere two years after having drafted Colorado TE Dan Graham in the first round.  Saban is no different.  If he sees Young as a value pick (if he slips), count on the Dolphins making a move.  With the dodgy nature of Culpepper's injured knee, who knows?

Truth be told, though, it is highly unlikely Vince Young will slip lower than the Raiders pick at number seven.  In fact, Yahoo's Charles Robinson has Vince Young going to the Titans at number three in his latest mock draft. Also on the Yahoo football page, the Sporting News' Paul Attner has a terrific story on the harrowing path Penn State's Tamba Hali (my compatriot) took from the killing fields of Liberia to being a potential NFL first round pick.  "By the grace of God, I'm alive," is the story's title and Hali's view on surviving the civil war that extinguished over a quarter-million Liberian lives. As a Liberian, I can't convey to you how surreal even writing that is - tragic!!

Surrealism forms an oblique sub-theme in the unfolding Duke Lax rape case.  I'm loathe to comment without being well-versed on the facts, but whatever the truth is, you can bet that it will be sordid in the extreme.  David Zirin (whom I believe is one of the smartest people writing sports today) looks at the Duke rape case in a powerful article, privilege meets protest at Duke University, available on znet. Zirin co-authors the article with Kevin Prosen a freelance writer from Durham.  It is some potent stuff.  Here's an excerpt:

The case in question is by now widely known; Lacrosse players at an elite campus hired two young African- American women as exotic dancers, one a student at NCCU. While details aren't yet clear, the woman has injuries consistent with being raped and sodomized. Lawyers for the team have gone on a remorseless counter-offensive. A new well-heeled booster club called the Committee for Fairness to Duke Families hired the ultimate authority in smearing women who "cry rape": Bill Clinton's former attorney Bob Bennett. Bennett has already begun, saying, "A lot of innocent young people and the families are being hurt, and unfortunately this situation is being abused by people with separate agendas. It is grossly unfair, and cool heads must prevail."

Bennett and his team have also released personal details about the assault victim. This gets the spotlight off the confirmed squalidness of the case. 911 calls report racist epithets being screamed by men in the party house. Ryan McFayden, a sophomore on the Lacrosse squad, sent an e-mail dated the night of the party describing in morbid detail his fantasy of torturing the exotic dancers, saying, "I plan on killing the bitches as soon as they walk in and proceeding to cut their skin off while cumming in my Duke issue spandex." The same McFayden had the unholy arrogance to show up at the Take Back the Night Rally on campus and while sexual assault survivors gathered in a circle, he stood on the sidelines giving interviews with the Chronicle, Duke's odious student paper.

The racial climate on campus is utterly appalling and this isn't isolated in the world of Lacrosse. Others on campus have noted parties with vile themes, like the "Viva Mexico" bash where students handed out "Green Cards" for invitations.  Danielle Terrazas Williams, a grad student at Duke, told the Independent, a local weekly "This [the rape] is not a different experience for us [African-Americans] here at Duke University. We go to class with racist classmates, we go to gym with people who are racists. That's not special for us." Commenting on the persistent sexual harassment faced by black women at Duke, Williams continued, "[it's] as if they're re-enacting a rap video or something. As if we're there to be their video ho..."

Many students, at least the ones that speak from the conservative Chronicle's pulpit, don't seem to grasp what the fuss is about. A screed by Duke junior Stephen Miller is typical: "...we are Durham's main attraction. Every time we set foot off-campus, we're actually leaving the best thing the city has to offer- and in turn, entering some of the most violent neighborhoods in the state. Duke is Durham's lifeblood, plain and simple. So if we want to stay on campus or to limit our interaction with Durham...then we have nothing to apologize for. If anything, the insistence on interacting with Durham locals is condescending to the town residents. Durham isn't a petting zoo. The residents won't get lonely or irritable if we don't play with them."

This is what we're up against - a cabal of spoiled jerks with temerity and zero common sense or compassion. Welcome to Amerikkka!!  Disgusting!!

Happy Easter folks!!

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Off the Press, both the Red Sox and the Yankees won their home openers yesterday.  Yesterday also marked the first time, in a decade, that I've missed being in Boston for the Red Sox home opener.  I'm not a huge baseball fan (somehow I keep saying that, but I write seem to write volumes about the game), but there is something magical about opening day.  I remember, in high school, sneaking out of Boston Latin to creep down to the ballpark and catching teachers who had snuck down there too.  Good times.

Full plate of home cooking a delicious feast to savor, reports Bob Bradley of the Cape Cod Times.  The Red Sox have blazed out of the gate, 6-1, to begin the season, and with 60 degree temperatures in Boston, this is as close to Nirvana has a native New Englander can experience in April.  However, whatever goes on in Boston, it's done with an eye focused 190 miles south on the New York Yankees.  Bradley notes:

So far in this young season, it's as close to Boston baseball utopia as one can get.

OK, so there are 155 games still to be played, and we haven't yet seen that vaunted New York Yankees lineup, the one that scorched the Kansas City Royals for five eighth-inning runs to win its home opener in the Bronx yesterday. And the Jays are expected to be Boston's other competition in the East this year, spending lavishly in the offseason to close the gap. The Jays, of course, get the Red Sox 17 more times before it's all said and done.

And the Sox lost another outfielder in Trot Nixon, who strained a groin muscle after slipping going for a fly ball early in the game. His status is day-to-day, but he likely won't play for at least the next couple of games.

Injuries happen, slumps happen, and other unforeseen forces can wreak havoc on the sense of invincibility the Red Sox feel this morning. Yet this team has depth all around, and an infusion of fresh blood hungry for success.

As much as the Sox are watching the Yankees, the Yankees are watching the Sox.  In their endless quest for domination over each other, the Yankees and Red Sox (and their partisans) are unitedby their mono-maniacal obsession with one another.  It is a truism that the New York and Boston media outlets devote almost as much time to covering the enemy as they spend on their home team.  For example, in today's Times, Lee Jenkins writes, Red Sox new starter already a familiar presence. Writing a story on the Sox's new ace, Josh Beckett, Jenkins compares him to Curt Schilling who has become a figure of some controversy in Red Sox Nation for being outspoken and for being a Red Stater on the ultimate Blue State team.  Jenkins writes:

Beckett and Schilling may be best received from at least 60 feet away. While Schilling has been known to alienate some teammates with his outspoken opinions, Beckett has made enemies of opponents. The latest on his list is Toronto's Shea Hillenbrand, who started toward first base Tuesday on a pitch he assumed was ball four and then had to retreat when the pitch was called a strike.

"I'm kind of about playing the game right," Beckett said. "I didn't appreciate that very much."

This is a common refrain from Beckett, who once yelled at Kenny Lofton for flipping his bat after a walk and chastised the Mets' Victor Diaz for trotting after he hit a ball to the fence. In spring training, when Philadelphia's Ryan Howard also broke into a trot after a fly ball, Beckett taunted him from the dugout the next inning, nearly starting a brawl.

Beckett's fiery persona can help him and hurt him, sometimes in the same day. He walked three batters in the first inning Tuesday, threw 36 pitches, and escaped only after he became irritated with Hillenbrand. On the next pitch, Beckett induced a double play from Hillenbrand, then berated himself as he walked to the dugout.

Watching from the top step, Schilling beamed. At 39, he is not as outwardly emotional as Beckett, but he is also unafraid to let the world watch him bleed on the field. While Schilling provided the enduring image of the 2004 season with his virtuoso performance in Game 6 of the American League Championship Series at Yankee Stadium, Beckett capped the 2003 season in similar fashion: a shutout in Game 6 of the World Series at Yankee Stadium.

"He wants to be great," Schilling said. "He wants to be something special. We can help each other."

Beckett and Schilling, apprentice and mentor..kinda like Mike Tyson meets Don King, or Wynton Marsalis meets Stanley Crouch.  Things will be interesting in Boston this year.

Before I forget, I've been meaning to post a little bit about the upcoming NFL draft.  Finding good reliable information regarding the draft oftentimes can be like trying to find a honest rug merchant in Izmir - lots of hype, very little honesty.  Check out the Colin Lindsay's Great Blue North Draft report, I find it to be the best source for NFL Draft news and their links page is outstanding.  Check it out and let me know what you think.

out. 

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Off the Press, a quick question:  What does iconic Red Sox slugger David 'Big Papi' Ortiz have that Tom Delay and George Bush wish they had?  Answer: Four more years!!

Quelling a budding insurgency within the ranks of Red Sox Nation, the Boston Red Sox (Theo Epstein) signed their talisman, David Ortiz, to a four year $52 million dollar contract extension. Resigning Ortiz is crucial to keeping the team in contention and Ortiz has become as valuable to the Red Sox for his metaphysical leadership qualities as much as for his bat.  In the wake of recent losses of clubhouse leaders Johnny Damon, Nomar and Pedro Martinez, the Red Sox could ill afford to lose the man the call 'Big Papi.'  Combine with the regional loss of local hero Adam Vinatieri to the hated Colts, most New Englanders slept better last night with the knowledge, Papi will be there.

MLB.com has coverage of Ortiz's press conference and Chris Snow, of the Boston Globe, writes one of the better articles, Safe, Sox lock up Ortiz's services with a four year extension, on the signing.  The MLB.com story catches Papi in full bloom, charismatic and capable of bringing the funk out of the most staid situations:

When Theo Epstein was asked Monday afternoon why now was a good time to sign David Ortiz to a four-year contract extension with an option for 2011, his slugging designated hitter came through again in the clutch.

"Because I'm hisboy," blurted Ortiz, causing everyone, including Epstein, to break out in laughter.

Not missing a beat, Epstein responded.

"He's my boy, he's made me look good. I had to give it up for him," he said.

Word!!

I stopped being a Red Sox fan when they ran Mo Vaughn out of town.  However, the new regime (Theo Epstein) has shown that they're committed to winning, and let me say this, "it makes a huge difference!" 

Stay tuned...still trying to wait for the Duke story to flesh out.

out.

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