The Management Mythbuster

Now I am a "Witness" too

LeBron James hit the sports scene in 2002 as a so-called basketball phenom right here in my hometown of Akron.  He went to St. Vincent St Mary High School and his high school games were televised by ESPN.  Despite being only seven miles way, I never saw him play.  Then our local NBA team, the Cleveland Cavaliers literally won the lottery and LeBron was drafted number 1 by the team in 2003.  He is now in his sixth season with the team but until Sunday night I had not seen him play for them either.  I have seen him riding around on his bike and driving by in his Hummer - his house is about two miles down the road from mine - not quite neighbours but close enough.

Watching him play in real life is even more impressive than on television. I'm no expert but even I can tell he's in a different class.  He also seems to be a different class of person - this guy is a good role model.  Anyway the game against the Detroit Pistons was over by halftime - the Pistons exhibited many of the characteristics of their automotive brethren - firing on a single cylinder. 

Of course this being Cleveland it is highly unlikely the Cavs will win it all and if they don't the speculation about LBJ heading off for the bright lights of New York will only intensify.  While discussing this possibility with my daughter yesterday she bemoaned how all Cleveland's best players leave town for big money elsewhere.  Her suggestion was that LeBron should head for another small town where he can turn around their fortunes and be a hero - her recommendation was Kansas City.  I gently pointed out that there was no NBA team in Kansas City.  Her response?  "Even better, LeBron can build his own team."  Now there's an interesting idea...

SORRY FOR THE INTERRUPTION…but there was a flag on that play - Eleanor strikes again

Back by popular demand - 15-year old Eleanor rants again.

So, I reached boiling point about two weeks ago, on a Saturday morning after a really big football game the night before. The Akron Beacon Journal plastered a picture of a Warrior (our opponent), tackling our punter, Pat, on the front page of the sports section. And not only that, but every single picture was of a Warrior tacking a Knight. Oh, FYI, we won!!! That’s right, us, the Knights, won the game, 38-21! And the best the Beacon Journal can do is have pictures of  Warriors tackling us!

Also, on the front page of the paper (the real front page) up at the top there was a picture of a Warrior! If that was not enough, the writer of the game report provided an explanation similar to this for the (total upset) game: “The Warriors had a bad game.” Sure, we were the underdogs, and just a few days earlier three reporters for the Journal all predicted that the Warriors would win, one even said they would win 50-0 (or something like that)! But we WON! And the article that was written did not do us justice at all, our players played their butts off, and our fans cheered their butts off, me included. The least they could do is write a cheerful article about “David slaying Golith”, so to speak (the Warriors were #1 in the league and we were something like #13). But no, instead we get an article about how terrible it was that the Warriors lost, and us, the Knights won.

After that, things returned to normal, for the most part. I went to school on Monday and ran up and down the stairs between every period. Then an article was published in our school newspaper, regarding the aforementioned events. It was very well written and expressed the thoughts of the entire student body, in a much more polite and professional way than my rant above. So, we all got pscyhed up for Spirit Week the next week.

So, Spirit Week has come and gone and now it is 11:30pm after yet another football game. This one was against our archrivals, the Fighting Irish, now I’m boiling over!

 I arrived at the end of the first quarter, after debating with my friends as to whether or not to go… we made the wrong choice. Yes, we wanted to cheer on our team, but the game was a total fix. At half-time we were up 12-0, after then it just went downhill. We scored two more touchdowns (incredible ones where the guy runs half the field to score), which were both disallowed for reasons that the referee’s avoided explaining. It seemed that on every single play there was a YELLOW FLAG thrown and a penalty called against us (once again, most of the time the reason not mentioned). So naturally the score become 13-12, we were down. We got the ball. We were so close to getting within field goal range, scoring and winnig the game… SORRY FOR THE INTERRUPTION, but there was a flag on that play. And wanna guess who it was on… us. The Irish get the ball back and score to win.

Now you’re probably sitting there going, “Well, of course she would say the game was fixed, her team lost.” And I would have to agree with you, except for the following reasons:

1.    The same referee threw the yellow flag every time (he was a line judge)
2.    It got to the point where a flag was thrown and the entire Knights side said in unison (parents, students, and friends alike): “Oh look, a yellow flag!” with an impeccable sarcastic tone
3.    My friends dad, a total football fanatic, left the game saying that he “couldn’t watch because it was so unfair”
4.    It got to the point where a senior said: “Even if all the flags were against the Irish, I would still be angry because it just gets so (beep) annoying!”

We should have won; and yes, I’m a little biased because my team lost, but I’m almost 100% sure that if you were at the game you would feel the same way. Our players played their hearts out, our fans screamed until they lost their voices, and for what, a totally unfair game. Don’t get me wrong, the Irish played an awesome game as well, they put up a good fight, but that win belonged to us.

So, I call for a rematch, a totally blank slate, reset the scoreboard to 0-0 and redo. I don’t care if it doesn’t change the official standings or records; I want a fair game. And to make sure it’s fair, I say that we fly in officials from Oklahoma, who have never even heard of the Knights or the Irish before, so there is no possible way for bias.

So get decked out in your Blue and Gold,

SORRY FOR THE INTERRUPTION, but there was a flag on the play.

It's tough being a sports fan in Cleveland

Thankfully, I am not passionate about American sports but it's a little tough living in the Cleveland area and watching all the region's team's implode on a regular basis.  In the 90's the Indians made it to two World Series and lost both; the second one against a team that didn't exist five years previously. Then the old Browns leave town, rename themselves the Ravens and promptly win the Super Bowl.  The Cavs have given some reason to dream the impossible dream since the arrival of LeBron but deep down there is the suspicion that they can't really afford the second great player that is so often needed to win the title and that the LeBron brand will seek a more attractive market in a couple of years anyway.

Things aren't improving either.  Last year the Indians were one game away from the World Series, this year they are a mere 10.5 games away from first place and then yesterday the Browns easily met expectations by losing 28-10 to Dallas. 

Of course the biggest travesty this weekend was Lewis Hamilton being robbed of a monumental win in the Belgian Grand Prix by the whiny Italians at Ferrari.  Just because they can't drive in the wet they seek any excuse - usually by bullying the stewards - to secure a fake win. 

Still there's hope, Andy Murray will try and become the first British man to win a Grand Slam tennis tournament since 1936 - that's a record of futility that even the Browns and Indians can't match - although they are both working on it!.

What defines a winner? Well it depands on where you live

So far no athlete has been seen lying on the ground coughing their guts up, at least not as a result of the air quality in Beijing; although I suspect there are a few who have done so as a result of a strange "choking" reflex!  China has certainly made an impressive (and expensive) entrance onto the world sports stage. Not sure how London can follow.  Maybe the best option is to adopt the WalMart approach - cheap and cheerful. Alternatively we can just roll out the Royals and parade them around a bit.  After all, we are quite good at that. 

Beyond all the incredible athletic performances - not Phelps or the basketball team but those from athletes who have toiled in obscurity for years and will not be signing multi-million dollar endorsement contracts on their return home - the best story for me has been America's redefinition of winning.  Unlike the rest of the world who construct a medals table that places gold medals as the standard of excellence and ranks teams on the list by the gold medals won, the US insists on using the total medals approach.  This leads to the daft representation that shows the US on top with 33 gold medals while China languishes in second with a meager total of 49 (as of 10.40am EST on 23/8/08). America wins because it has more losers!  America has given the world 76 losers who tried and just failed while China could only muster 47 such gallant losers.  For a comparison check out the table on the BBC and that at NBC. Note that in both tables the mighty Brits rank fourth with a superb 19 golds, more than at any games since 1908 in London when in many events Brits were the only entrants - now there's a way to win more medals!

To me this is the ultimate irony, we have America, where winning is part of the national-DNA celebrating gallant losers where as my homeland where gallantly losing has been a national sport since 1066 truly focuses on real winners.  Does this provide yet another marker of the decline and fall of America.  I mean if this continues Bob Costas will be opining that its not the winning that matters but simply taking part!

Is any one else competing in Beijing?

So yet another American athlete has overcome terrible adversity (in-growing toenail at 11, bad hair day at 15) to rise to the top in the Olympics. With a background of uplifting techno-rock music, a breathless voice-over tells the star's story as photos of early morning beach runs or evening workouts play on the screen.  As the piece ends, Bob Costas intones with gravitas that the culmination of years of effort and sacrifice are just minutes away.  After a word from the many sponsors we are treated to a smooth talking commentator and over-excited has-been athlete turned analyst who assures us that America is set to dominate the forthcoming event. 

We are then treated to a one second shot of the only two other competitors who could possibly have the audacity to challenge American supremacy as the ticker at the bottom of the screen counts down the minutes to Michael Phelps next swim and his attempt to win a twenty-third gold medal at these games.  Finally the action starts and the isolation camera captures every muscle spasm as Chuck or Mary-Lou surges onto gold or a heartbreaking fourth place finish.  As the event concludes passing mention is made of the other medalists and then the camera cuts to pictures of weeping Mum or Dad and their tear-stained offspring and then its off to the next heart-rending human interest story...

You gotta love the Olympics on NBC...

The pain and the glory

Last Wednesday at the age of 46 I made my debut as an American Football player.  The occasion was a Dad's versus Lads game of touch football at my son's scout camp.  Of course, brains and experience triumphed over youth and speed as we cruised to a 21-0 victory.  We did steal one player from the opposition who just happened to be an incredibly fit and very large high school senior to be, but the real revelation was the performance of yours truly.  In a game for the ages, your humble correspondent scored all three touchdowns with a series of ever more spectacular receptions of which Jerry Rice would have been proud.  I also effortlessly nabbed two interceptions, one of which was converted into a touchdown.  Did I hear the words MVP?  

Of course all this goes to show is what a ridiculously easy game American Football is, when an overweight ex-rugby player can so thoroughly dominate on his first outing. Best of all my son was actually quite impressed by his father's performance; my darling wife failed to see my heroics as after a few minutes she could watch no more for fear my heart would give out!  

At the game's conclusion it was high-fives and chest bumps all round as sweat oozed from my every pore.  Its been a long time since I felt an adrenalin rush like that.  Of course there was a price to pay and for the last two days I have been barely able to walk as my left knee decided to expand in size and ice became my constant companion.  At least I now have something in common with Tiger Woods. Like Tiger I think I should also shut it down for the year. In fact I think I will call it a career in gridiron and retire with my gaudy statistics in tact.  With numbers like these, it should all but guarantee me enshrinement just down the road in Canton...

R U bored yet?

Waiting for the Pennsylvania primary to finally take place has been akin to anticipating an upcoming root canal. Never have so many meaningless words been directed at so few.

Since when has 3am in the morning become the most important time of the day? If it is, I've been missing something for the last 46 years except for a few days in college and I can't really remember what happened then anyway - something about a late curry and a few cans of Special Brew I think.

Why does it seem ironic to me that a very rich white woman who was educated at the best schools and has been moving amongst the country's upper echelons for almost two decades can call a black guy an elitist? And why is that a bad thing? I suspect many of Obama's ancestors, at least on one side of his family, would be proud of such a supposed insult.

I know Iraq and healthcare are big issues but where's the plan on rising gas prices and food prices. Which candidate has the best strategy beyond taxing oil companies more, maybe they will start taxing Chavez and Putin/Medvedev, after all they have far more oil than all the oil companies put together.

Of course all this politics has obscured the most important issue of the day. Will Stoke City hold on to a promotion spot in the English Football Championship and thereby secure passage to the vaunted Premier League? With two games to go they are three points clear of the third place team with the top two assured of promotion. Only Leicester and Colchester stand in their way. I can barely contain myself ... watch this space for the real news of the day.

Obsessive hypocrisy or just the usual sports stuff

This morning George Thomas, a sportswriter for the Akron Beacon Journal (link), wrote a piece complaining about the excessive coverage of the retirement of Brett Favre, the now former quarterback of the Green Bay Packers. Apparently the numerous 24-hour sports networks afforded coverage of the event akin to that of, say, a Presidential primary election in New Hampshire. Thomas lamented the sorry state of the world where we escape from real issues (i.e. war, a plunging economy) and retreat to the fantasyland of professional sports.

He makes some good points but I thought this to be a little disingenuous. After all George makes his living as a journalist - not a news journalist - but one who covers sports. In fact, most of his columns seem to not be about sports but about sports on television. Now there's a potent role don't you think - just what we want from our insightful, informed media.

For months now he has breathlessly kept us informed about a titanic struggle between something called the Big Ten Network (apparently an all-sports television station devoted solely to the exploits of teams representing the Big Ten college sports conference which of course has eleven members – this is America after all) and the cable television companies who refuse to show the channel thereby depriving fans of watching Purdue battle it out with Iowa. Clearly this ranks right up there with Darfur and the sorry state of the education system in the league table of hot issues of the day.

I think George needs to insert his tongue very firmly in his cheek the next time he laments the obsession with sports - after all it pays his wages. Interestingly, George used to be the film critic for the Beacon Journal (I always enjoyed his reviews particularly when his young son offered his own opinion as well). I wonder if he considers his sports role to be more or less relevant to society than his film role? One change I noted is that his picture changed from him in shirt and tie to him in a hoodie, which at least proves that the movies win the sartorial contest.

So here we have a journalist who makes his living commenting not on sport but on television coverage of sport complaining that his subjects spend too much time on meaningless things. Let me think about that for a few minutes...

Of course I have spent the last few paragraphs ranting about his hypocrisy, which in of itself probably justifies his existence and makes you question my own!

Have a great weekend. Tomorrow I head to Shanghai where no doubt the front page will be dominated by updates on the status of Yao, the big Chinese basketball player, whose dodgy ankle is apparently putting the whole Beijing Olympics in jeopardy.

Dribbling, bunting or is it blocking while Rome burns?

Nero only fiddled while Rome burned, we embrace a whole host of meaningless pursuits!

On Sunday, I was right about the Indians so now the whole greater Cleveland area is in collective mourning and the odd Red Sox fan, namely the headmaster of my son's school, is quietly gloating. Not surprising after all the stick he took last week as the Tribe vaulted to a 3-1 lead. It's always good when sport becomes a substitute for real life.

This all follows last weeks revelation that Ohio State University's athletics budget is $109m; this equates to $110,000 for each athlete; roughly triple what the university spends on each academic student and we wonder why American competitiveness is under threat. We invest more money helping kids learn to excel at sports that no one else in the world plays than we spend in equipping the majority of our less athletically gifted youth to compete in the modern world. Have we really got our priorities straight? Don't get me wrong its great when someone can capitalize on their god given talents - but is it the place of our academic institutions to subsidize such pursuits? Of course, this is heresy to most who use college sports as an escape from real life. Can someone tune up the violin please the flames are being nicely fanned and not just in southern California.

What a shambles!

Not a good weekend for my sporting choices. First England failed to retain the Rugby World Cup (the biggest sporting event of the weekend by far. Take note all you Cowboys, Indians or Ohio State fans); losing to South Africa. Still given we are English we lost in style - cliches rolled off our tongues, "just making the final was an achievement," "we went down fighting" and "the better team won" were all trotted out. And we did stuff the Aussies in the quarter-finals and the French in the semi's.

Shortly after surrendering our trophy, my home town football team (soccer to most of you) managed to snap a nine game unbeaten streak by conceding two goals in the last five minutes to lose 4-2. The day just kept getting better as my daughter's high school football team continued the losing trend and then of course Saturday night was rounded off by our Indians getting destroyed by the Red Sox in game six of something called the ALCS which to me means the semi-finals.

Sunday dawned bright and sunny - a spectacular day here is Ohio, but no sporting improvement was forthcoming, as Lewis Hamilton managed to blow the Formula 1 World Championship and thereby missed becoming the first black world champion in his rookie season. This does not auger well for the Indians in game 7 tonight so I will make no effort to watch game thereby making me the only person in NE Ohio to avoid the inevitable humiliation that will occur. Thankfully the Browns didn't lose, although this was only because they have a week off. The only good news was that I did win $5 playing golf yesterday morning although most of the credit must go to my partner. Still its the only win I got to celebrate this weekend.