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King of all Media
October 31, 2007I consider myself a pretty low-profile guy and it's never been my goal to come off as some shallow, self-absorbed, egomaniac, jerk.
All of which probably sounds a little disingenuine from someone who works in the newspaper industry while dabbling in both television and radio on the side.
But, it's still true -- even though this particular blog's title is purely an attention-getter.
(What can I say? I'm a complex dude.)
Even with all that, it's still not an ego-gratifying thing for me. It's just fun.
I just feel really lucky to have the chance to communicate with all of you across all forms of media -- that I know of.
Everything that I say isn't gospel, but I sure try to make sure that it makes sense. And that's the best that any of us can hope to do.
And to be accurate, Howard Stern is the self-proclaimed "King of all Media."
Me? I'm just having a good time.
Posted by Stephen Smith at 03:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Shopping at the Jerk Store
October 30, 2007People aren't always what they seem or what they say they are. So if you're not careful, you'll grab onto something you don't really need.
Talent isn't always an excuse either.
Sometimes, supposed talent blinds you so much to the impending explosion that you won't catch on until you find yourself saying, "What was that noise?"
Terrell Owens was supposed to be the NFL poster child for this kind of behavior, but lately, the spotlight has shifted toward Cincinnati's Chad Johnson as his 2-5 Bengals slip-slide their way into oblivion.
Yet, Johnson doesn't play defense. The Bengals' 211 points allowed through seven games trails only St. Louis (219) and Miami (244) as the blue ribbon standard for defensive ineptitude in the NFL.
It's very hard for me to believe that Johnson's touchdown celebrations or even his locker room behavior have doomed a team that's usually just a half-step in front of law enforcement.
Okay, that was harsh. After all, we're not talking about the whole team, but we're not talking about Johnson either -- he's never been in any trouble.
It's all the other questionable characters that doomed the Bengals and not flamboyant one.
But, somehow, this nugget of knowledge has escaped the very people who chose the questionable characters in the first place along with the old saying, "you get what you pay for."
Posted by Stephen Smith at 11:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Press Pass Blues
October 29, 2007Some people see a press pass as a golden ticket, of sorts.
It allows you to breeze through turnstiles, past stadium employees and into a good seat with a great vantage point.
Recently though, someone asked to use my golden ticket as their way into the annual Old High-Rider grudge fest. Naturally, since I love my job, I told them no.
Since becoming a sportswriter, I've gotten numerous requests for free tickets, season passes and autographs from athletes -- all of which I've had to refuse due to lack of access, professional integrity or the simple desire to remain employed.
The golden ticket may not be everything it's cracked up to be -- or rather what people think it's cracked up to be -- but it's mine.
And I think I'll hold on to it.
Posted by Stephen Smith at 09:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Rockies keep rolling on the contrary
October 23, 2007My television partner Johnny Burns calls me a contrarian -- as in "one who refuses to accept consensus conclusions" -- and I must admit that he's right.
I don't like the status quo. Never have, never will.
So, it would be easy to say that the Boston Red Sox should roll over the obviously inferior Colorado Rockies in the World Series, but I don't see it that way.
Three years ago, the Red Sox were the Rockies -- a loosey-goosey team just happy to be in the playoffs. Their team mascot could have easily been Mad Magazine's Alfred E. Neuman in a Red Sox hat and no one would have noticed.
But now the goofy look is on the other face and it's been worth an unprecedented 21 wins in the past 22 games.
So, I'm thinking Rockies in six games. But, remember, I'm a contrarian.
Posted by Stephen Smith at 10:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Getting lucky with the picks
October 20, 2007At one point - two weeks ago, in fact - I led the high school, college and pro football periscopes.
In fact, since coming to work here, I've won each of periscopes for the season.
It's a feat I jokingly refer to as the TRN slam.
And even though I'm leading two of the periscopes right now, I'm certainly no game-picking genius.
It's really all about guessing - looking at a match-up, remembering past history and sometimes, just going with a gut feeling. But what really complicates matters is the point spread.
Somewhere in a brightly-lit room on the Las Vegas strip, someone sits down and decides who will most likely win which game and by how many points.
So, it's easy to pick the winning team straight up.
But, if they were a four-point favorite and win by three - you lose.
That's why you run into some people who are still upset when their favorite team wins. It's because their team probably didn't win or lose by enough points...and they were crazy enough to put money on it.
Don't me wrong, I like being the dude leading the picks every week. But, I like keeping money in my pockets a little more.
Posted by Stephen Smith at 11:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
It really wasn't the end of the world
October 19, 2007Boston's Manny Ramirez said that it wouldn't be the end of the world if the Red Sox failed to extend the American League Championship Series Thursday night -- and he was right.
But people questioned his commitment anyway.
The Red Sox stayed alive with a 7-1 win in Cleveland that shifts the series back to Boston Saturday night and Ramirez went 2-for-4 with an RBI, so that should satisfy anyone who felt the enigmatic slugger wasn't trying.
Look, it is important for your team or mine to win every time out -- especially in the playoffs. But, I think Manny was trying to say that it's not life and death either literally or figuratively. That's the difference between watching from the stands and playing on the field.
We stopped using words like "shootout," "war" and "skirmish" in sports stories out of respect to those who really are fighting a war overseas.
By the same token, it's now time to remember that we're all fans and not frustrated professional athletes -- people who are also known as fanatics.
Posted by Stephen Smith at 11:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
New faces, different places
October 18, 2007If you believe in upholding the status quo and that tradition trumps all, then this hasn't been your year for college football.
But, new and different teams occupying lofty places in the polls isn't bad for the game, it's just confusing for the casual fan.
I've even heard arguments that if this big name school or that traditional power (which has already lost a game) wins, then it should vault ahead of that "no-name" school -- even though it's still undefeated.
Nonsense. You can't have it both ways.
Your name and reputation are only as good as your play on the field from week to week, but the bottom line is that you have to win.
If you can't do that - USC, LSU, Oklahoma, California, West Virginia, etc. - then how can anyone complain?
Ultimately, if you have a problem with the South Floridas, Kentuckys, South Carolinas and Hawaiis of the college football world, all you have to do is beat them.
But that isn't as easy as it used to be, now is it?
Posted by Stephen Smith at 08:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Big Red Hand writing on the wall
October 17, 2007This Saturday's Texas A&M vs. Nebraska contest is a great opportunity to see two lame-duck coaches face off against in each other in a Big 12 game for the first and last time.
That is, if it was actually being televised -- a clear indication of how far the mighty have fallen.
Bill Callahan, whose Huskers surrendered at least 40 points in the four of the past five games, and Dennis Franchione, who guided his Aggies to their seventh straight loss at Texas Tech last Saturday in the midst of his website controversy won't be there the next time the teams meet.
With Tom Osborne back on the Nebraska campus as the interim athletic director -- whatever interim means in the case of a coaching legend -- Callahan's days of mediocrity are numbered.
Meanwhile, across the field on Saturday, Franchione had a clue about his ultimate fate weeks earlier when the Coach Fran.com fiasco broke. And as entitled as Aggies fans and administrators may outwardly appear, there's no way they'll go down with Franchione's sinking, non-BCS ship.
Catch the highlights wherever you can because change is a' coming.
Posted by Stephen Smith at 10:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Hating on the 'Cats
October 16, 2007The NFL has not only influenced college football coaching styles and well...coaches, but now the No Fun League aura is seeping over as well.
Just two days after its 43-37 overtime win over former No. 1 LSU, the Southeastern Conference hit the University of Kentucky with a $50,000 fine for failing to prevent fans from rushing the field to celebrate the win.
Huh?
I thought storming the field after a big win was one of things that made college football special. And it wasn't about some safety issue with the goal posts either -- they were lowered by team personnel before the first Wildcat fan hit the Commonwealth Stadium turf.
And exactly how do you restrain a crowd watching something that hadn't happened in 43 years from storming the field anyway?
Armed guards with pepper spray?
An electrified fence around the field?
Maybe there's a point to this fine, but I sure don't see it.
Posted by Stephen Smith at 10:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Fashion cop gets busted
October 15, 2007Remember Merton Hanks? You know, the turkey-necked former defensive back from the San Francisco 49ers who did that "Funky Chicken Dance" after interceptions?
Well, after Hanks retired he became the head of the NFL fashion police -- specifically, the league's watchdog for uniform compliance.
Not to go all Mr. Blackwell on anyone, but I saw something yesterday that confused me.
Ironically, as the still turkey-necked Hanks walked into the New England Patriots post-game press conference -- obviously on the lookout for some fashion faux pas -- I noticed that his own jacket was on the small side. And I'm talking your little brother's Sunday suit jacket "small."
Though my girlfriend says I'm a fashion fuddy-duddy (i.e. I have a lot of blue and black suits), even I know better than that.
In all fairness though, perhaps wearing itty bitty, tight jackets is the next wave in men's fashion.
I'll never know.
Posted by Stephen Smith at 08:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Pilers-on are Vicktorious
October 10, 2007Poor, poor Michael Vick.
His former team and now even students at Texas Tech are all out to either take money from him or make it at his expense.
First, the Atlanta Falcons won the first round in their battle to disassociate themselves from the defrocked superstar.
An arbiter declared Tuesday that they were due back almost $20 million in signing bonus money from the 10-year, $130 million deal Vick signed in December 2004.
Then, at about the same time, we learned of an enterprising student in Lubbock and his "Vick 'Em" t-shirts being sold on the Tech campus for the Red Raiders' Saturday showdown with Texas A&M.
The t-shirts depict a caricature of Vick hanging Aggies' mascot Reveille -- which might be just a bit over the top -- and were later banned by the school administrators.
Since we've already gone down the "do you feel sorry for him?" road before with Vick, there's no need to revisit that line of thinking.
But, with state charges still pending for basically the same dog fighting allegations he already plead guilty to in federal court, things aren't looking good.
And while Vick only has himself to blame for all his troubles, at this point, one can only wonder where the next person with their hand out will pop in from.
Posted by Stephen Smith at 10:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Almost as good as being there
October 09, 2007When 41-point underdog Stanford upset former No.1 USC at the Los Angeles Coliseum Saturday night, I was there -- sort of.
I actuality, I was somewhere on Highway 287 North.
But, thanks to the magic of XM Satellite radio's Pac-10 channel, I heard everything from the winning play to what time I needed to be at Maples Pavilion on the Stanford University campus to greet the conquering Cardinal when the team got back home.
Sure, I sound like a shill for XM, but I don't care.
I know it's not an absolute necessity, but if you do any kind of traveling whatsoever, you know there's nothing better than a radio station that doesn't fade out after you've gone a certain distance down the road.
If it's within your budget, check it out at either Audio Connections or Best Buy and you can be there too.
Posted by Stephen Smith at 08:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Billy and the Magical Double-Digit Point Spread
October 06, 2007Double-digit point spreads aren't very common in the NFL, or at least they weren't until Bill Belichick's New England Patriots began making them that way.
Usually as soon as I see a team favored by more 10, I immediately pick the underdog. But the Patriots are changing the rules for me.
Already 4-0 against the number this season, New England easily covered a 16-point spread versus Buffalo (38-7) and are a good bet to do the same this week despite being a 14-and-a-half point favorite over the improving Cleveland Browns.
Coach Cam or no Coach Cam, that's not too shabby.
I blew the Buffalo pick earlier this season based on the old way of thinking, but I won't make the same mistake twice.
All of this is for entertainment purposes only, of course.
The only thing on the line for me when making NFL picks is pride.
Posted by Stephen Smith at 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Marion Jones finally comes "clear"
October 05, 2007It took almost three years for it to happen, but after many steadfast denials, Marion Jones finally told the truth -- she used steriods.
Unlike most, I'm not a bit surprised.
All you have to do is follow the trail.
Victor Conte, who founded BALCO said he personally delivered the "clear" (later determined to be tetrahydrogestrinone - THG - the endurance-boosting drug EPO and insulin) to Jones and instructed her on how to inject it.
And her ex-husband, C.J. Hunter, said she used steroids before during and after the 2000 Olympics.
Now keep in mind that Conte served four months in prison for conspiracy to distribute steroids and money-laundering while Hunter tested positive for the steroid nandrolone four times before the 2000 Sydney Olympics.
So maybe that affects their credibility.
Let's say it does.
Consider also that her child's father, former sprinter Tim Montgomery, used the same drug Jones did and got a two-year ban from the sport. Montgomery retired and then got caught up in a money-laundering scheme that has him facing prison time.
Now that's a whole lot of coincidences, don't you think?
But all that information was available three years ago when I followed the same trail for a column I wrote -- three years ago.
It looks Jones finally agrees with me too.
Posted by Stephen Smith at 01:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
