Weekend Wanderings By Norman Rey
June 19, 2010 – By Norman Rey
It’s not like it took Jim Joyce for us to question the role of referees in the outcome of games. The “human element” has been at work longer than anyone can remember. Thursday night’s NBA Final was full of it. A four point game and refs seeing things that aren’t there. Koman Coulibaly /strong> of Mali is the latest, costing the U.S. soccer team two points by disallowing a late goal. So Armando Gallaraga didn’t pitch a perfect game, the Lakers are NBA champs and the U.S. soccer team tied Slovenia. Slo-mo replays show errors in every game. So its not the calls that bother me, its the defense of the bad calls. David Stern and Bud Selig lead the way. When is someone going to realize that people aren’t dumb and telling us the way to see it doesn’t work? President Obama is practicing the same strategy with BP….Sportswriter Mike Lupica is also a children’s book author. He has a popular series of sportsy teen tales that follow the genre of the Chip Hilton series authored by basketball coaching legend Clair Bee. For sports people who have witnessed Lupica’s personal act for over 25 years, the idea of him being a moral influence to teens is kind of weird. Not that Lupica is a felon, but he’s famous for a Napoleonic personality that has buzzed through press boxes, lockerrooms and television studios in a very arrogant and negative way throughout his career. Archrival New York Post printed a list of his media failures after ESPN announced the shuttering of the ESPN Zone bar/restaurant in Times Square where Lupica has taped ESPN’s “The Sports Reporters” for some time. Included on Lupica’s failure list were “The National,” and several versions of “The Mike Lupica Show,” on both radio and TV….Before someone tries to tell me again that the bad thing about a winterized Super Bowl is about the quality of the game itself or the sports media not being able to bask in the sun, think a little. The only real negative factor to the idea of hosting in a northern-based city like New York with an open-air stadium, is to the fans in attendance. Funny how Roger Goodell has all the answers for all of the other factors but exposing his well-to-do “partners” to the elements isn’t something he really cares about. Afterall, Roger will be up in a suite, warm and fuzzy, watching on TV with a toddy in his hand….Tom Watson is 60 and playing in the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach. Announcers are bending over backward with “the tribute to an all-time great” act. Could have something to do with his pairing with Japan and Britain’s young bucks, or that there’s a tribute documentary film out about his late caddy Bruce Edwards. The thing about Watson, is that once-upon-a-time he was a drinker, he was stubborn and obstinate about his positions and he told you, you couldn’t tell him. He had a weird divorce, married a fellow player’s ex-wife shortly after his wife filed, had a long feud with his dad, accused Gary Player of cheating, rebuffed fellow Ryder Cup captain Sam Torrance and is the guy responsible for Gary McCord not working The Masters, and this is the guy who comes out critical of Tiger Woods? Today, you couldn’t find a more decent guy than Tom Watson, but this thing about bowing down to the game’s royalty at Bay Hill, Muirfield Village and now at Pebble, is a bit too much. It’s good to pay homage to your greats, but the golfing media has never gotten it. There always seems to be a bit of an edge of resentment from the old guys toward the new guys and the platitudes the media weaves into its coverage irritates the point….While I’m at it, aren’t the greens at Pebble Beach looking a bit blotchy? Kick aside the criticism from players after round one about the poa annua greens being bumpy and over-rolled. There’s something strange going on that is making the “greens” look more like “browns and greens,” and there hasn’t been a word said about it….While Rutgers sits in a bit of a catbird’s seat telling everyone how great the Big East is and how happy they are to be there, they quietly realize that they are a quality possibility for the Big Ten and any other conference trying to compete with the “conference power struggle” that may go on for months. Meanwhile, Rutgers is the only major football team in the world’s largest media market, it has an impeccable academic reputation dating back to an alleged invitation to be an Ivy League member, they are a nationally accredited research institution and is a state school that factors into business, law, engineering, research and agricultural significance for the state of New Jersey. They are also the nation’s best at graduating and keeping their athlete’s on a progressive rate of retaining passing grades. Rutgers finished with a record score of 992 out of 1,000 to top the Academic Progress Rate rankings ahead of national academy Air Force (988) and three private schools, Rice (987) Northwestern (986, take that, Wilbon!) and Duke (983)….Greg Schiano deserves a lot of credit for Rutgers’ progress, not only as a football team but as a destination college. 2010 lines up the Scarlet Knights as a team outside the pre-season Top 25. The string of five straight bowl games should not be broken this season, but this team has some markings to make an impression this season and bode well for Rutgers’ courtship by others and Schiano’s coaching prospects. Sophomore QB Tom Savage is not being mentioned with the nation’s best so far but he has a chance to become a name. Sophomore WR/RB Mohammad Sanu will likely be the Knights next NFL darling and freshmen DB Rashad Knight and WR Brandon Coleman could follow Savage and Sanu as first year wonders to go with solid returnees in every area except offensive line where 49ers first round Anthony Davis has left as well as NFL candidates Kevin Haslam and Ryan Blaszczyk….Let’s take book on who would win head-to-head, Tom Izzo coaching the 2010-11 Michigan State team or Tom Izzo coaching the 2010-11 Cleveland Cavaliers without LeBron James?
