Posts Tagged ‘sports’

#Rampage Defends Pro Wrestling’s Honor

Posted: February 12, 2014 in Anarchy Journal Constitutional
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potatoshooterlogosportsrollby @anarchyroll
2/21/2014

Quinton “Rampage” Jackson is one of the greatest mixed martial artist of all time. Undeniably one of the greatest knockout artists the sport has ever seen even if his place in the overall pantheon is questioned. Jackson is also a lifelong fan of professional wrestling. Jackson recently defended pro wrestling’s legitimacy from its haters.

Calling pro wrestling fake is outdated. The correct term is pre determined. The correct term is wrestling is live entertainment like theater or exhibition stunt shows. Theater actors get injured on stage, stunt people get injured on movie sets, and neither group works three hundred plus days a year like professional wrestlers do. If they do, they’re not getting their bodies thrown onto plywood covered by insulation padding and canvas.

Rampage isn’t the only highly successful mixed martial artist to defend the legitimacy of pro wrestling and pro wrestlers. On episode four of The Steve Austin Show, Chael Sonnen talked about how when he needed to get serious about his cardio, he went and trained with pro wrestlers.

No wrestling fan over the age of ten thinks that they are seeing a sporting event. But last I checked, plenty of people go and see concerts to hear songs they already know the lyrics to, pack movie theaters to see fictional events played out in spectacular fashion, and Photoshop the hell out of realistic photos to make them more pleasing to the eye.

Pro wrestling is entertainment, it is a simulated, exhibition combat sporting event with a predetermined winner. It’s where the NFL meets Broadway. A synergy of live sports and live theater. But those bumps and high spots you see that make you pop hurt. Those muscled up bodies you see taking said bumps take years of discipline and dedication in gyms to form. Those larger than life characters and emotionally gripping verbal exchanges take lifetimes of preparation to execute to perfection.

So have some fucking respect. Pro athletes from the NFL, NHL, NBA habitually talk about how pro wrestlers are the best athletes on the planet because they don’t have an offseason. 300 plus days a year on the road. A band that literally never stops touring except if they get physically injured beyond what band aids and pain killers can mask.

Still think pro wrestlers can’t hold a lick to real fighters. Then I’ve got two words for ya,  Brock Lesnar.

#NFL Fantasy Football Redisctricting

Posted: February 9, 2014 in Anarchy Journal Constitutional
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sportsroll

by @anarchyroll
2/9/2014

It’s the first Sunday with no football in almost seven months and I’m frightened. What am I supposed to do, interact with the outside world? Yikes. Next thing you know, you’ll be saying I should read a book and exercise instead of binge watching stuff I’ve already seen on Netflix and YouTube. HA! Good luck with that, now pass the deep fried Twinkies, pessimism, and self loathing. I gots some imagining to do.

With that spirit in mind, someone on Reddit came up with a way for the NFL to realign its divisions to be more, logical and efficient.  For a league always looking to increase revenues, this would be a way to do so by reducing costs. Think of how much time, money, and resources would be saved by not having the teams in the NFC East travel to and from Dallas, Texas.

Think of how much more intense rivalries would become with all three teams in the states of California, Florida, and New York playing each other twice a year. Attendance, ratings, and local bar revenues would surely go up.

I’m from Chicago, my division (NFC North) wouldn’t change at all because it’s the only one laid out logically in the present alignment. Though I may have added the Colts to the North and moved the Lions to the East in the same vein of what the NHL did to the Red Wings.

If only the NFL hadn’t redistricted in the last ten years, this well laid out plan by someone with too much free time and not enough priorities on their hands might be plausible to be enacted. I fully endorse this redistricting and so should trade organizations and lobbyists for bars, restaurants, memorabilia makers, and local television providers. Because the NFL is all about dollars and cents. There is plenty more of both to be made with the divisions laid out above and action should be taken accordingly for the good of the fans, and of course the pocket books of those in power.

End of #NFL Season, End #NFL Tax Exempt Status?

Posted: February 4, 2014 in Excess and Algorithms
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sportsrolleanda logo
by @anarchyroll
2/4/2014

Did you know the NFL makes $9 billion in net profits each year and pays ZERO dollars in taxes?  How? They are classified as a 501(c)(6) trade organization, which enables tax exempt status.  When did they get this sweet hart deal? Back in the 60s. Were the politicians who enabled this high on dope like the hippies? No, just corrupt as hell.  The NFL spends $1.5 billion each year lobbying to maintain their tax exempt status.

Why was this allowed? The NFL was allowed to act as a monopoly in terms of their trade organization status, television contract negotiations, and stadium funding negotiations in exchange for not running games against high school and college games.

What is being done about this? The Properly Reducing Overexemptions For Sports Act has been introduced to the United States Congress. Who? Republican Senator Thomas Coburn of Oklahoma and Independent Senator Angus King are cosponsoring the bill. The bill is presently sitting in the Senate Finance Committee, where it has been since September of last year (2013).

The concept of the NFL not paying any taxes is of course, bullshit. The bill that gave them this status was given no name in order to keep it secret. Individual teams already get tax breaks to build their stadiums and get sweetheart deals to avoid property taxes on them as well as their practice facilities.  The only exemption that may allowed to remain would be the Green Bay Packers, who are publically owned by the town/city.

$9 billion a year annually means they can afford to pay a nominal tax rate. No need to go crazy socialist on the league.  1-5% per individual team in addition to off the top of the league as a whole will be more than sufficient to start. Now, should a back taxes penalty be paid? Considering all the charitable contributions of the league makes each year, that might not be necessary.

But when a Republican United States Senator is proposing a bill that raises taxes, I think we can all agree that the time has come for the NFL to pay their fair share of revenue and help state and federal governments build roads, schools, firehouses, police stations, and libraries.

Click here to sign online petition to revoke the NFL’s tax exempt status.

Luol #Deng, Gone but Misremembered

Posted: January 28, 2014 in Anarchy Journal Constitutional
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sportsrollby @anarchyroll
1/27/2014

I recently heard that Luol Deng had the third longest tenure in Bulls history behind Michael Jordan and Scotty Pippen.  He was certainly paid as if he had the talent of those two.  The problem is he never produced like he was paid to do.  The Chicago Bulls recently traded Luol Deng to get his contract off of their books.  The 2013-2014 season is already over for the Bulls. Hopefully Joakim Noah doesn’t injure himself playing his heart out like he does every night.  The season is a wash, that makes two in a row

Deng was only traded because of the Derrick Rose injury situations.  The team is headed for rebuilding whether they want to acknowledge it or use that word or not.  They need to dump as much salary as possible.  They need to get as many draft picks as possible.  They need to build the team around Jimmy Butler and Derrick Rose.  Joakim Noah is my personal favorite basketball player since Michael Jordan (besides Tim Duncan) but even he probably needs to be traded for draft picks. I wouldn’t pull the trigger on that trade myself, but it is for the best in the long run.

Luol Deng is a nice guy and an even better ambassador for the Bulls, the city of Chicago, and basketball in general.  The media has been using that to remember Luol Deng fondly and highlight his many positives on his way out the door.  He played very good defense, was a textbook team player, was coachable, humble, and hardworking.  What Luol Deng was not however, was a superstar NBA player despite being paid like one.  His contract numbers indicated he was a top player at his position, he is not and was not.  Deng is the third or fourth piece of a championship team, never forget that.

If he was better than that, wouldn’t the Chicago Bulls have won an NBA Championship or at least gotten to the NBA Finals? Deng was supposed to be the number two, and although he was able to guard LeBron James, he couldn’t mount half the offensive numbers needed in clutch situations OR series’ to warrant his pay range or more than two all star appearances in almost a decade in the league.

Luol Deng is a nice guy but he should have been traded years ago. If Derrick Rose’s decision making and Carlos Boozer’s defense (lack thereof) didn’t occupy the ire of Chicago sports fans, Deng would have been in the crosshairs much sooner. Luckily for him, he got out before things got really bad.  Although I don’t know how lucky one can be going to Cleveland for any reason.

Hopefully Deng realizes before he’s too old he needs to take less money to play for a contender while he still can be a starter with some lead in his pencil.  He is a great regular season player, but vanishes in the playoffs on the offensive end every single time.  That is likely due to the incredible effort he gives defensively night in and night out against the league’s best.  That would be an acceptable excuse at half the base salary he’s been taking home for his last two contracts.  Kobe Bryant once wanted to be traded to Chicago to play with Luol Deng, seems like another dimension and a long time ago.

Luol Deng is a nice guy who plays damn good defense. That is good enough to be a number three or four, unfortunately he was paid like a number one or two. For that reason the Bulls made the right call in trading him and getting what they could in return to look towards the future.

#ChiBears Cutler Contract & Coaching Conundrum

Posted: January 17, 2014 in Anarchy Journal Constitutional
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sportsroll

by @anarchyroll
1/17/2014

I’m a Chicago resident and the Bears are always in the news, mostly because the two baseball teams (Cubs, White Sox) are perpetually in the shitter due to both bad management and even worse scouting.  The basketball team (Bulls) had a historic run for a decade over a decade and a half ago. The hockey team (Blackhawks) finally started acting like a major market franchise when the cheapskate geriatric owner died and his son took over and ipso facto, they’ve won two titles in four years.

The Chicago Bears are the Chicago team. They crammed a century’s worth of success into one season (1985) and that white hot fire has evolved into a searing hot coal of football passion ever since. How else does Ditka still have a job at ESPN after falling asleep on air?  How is Dan Hampton allowed to be an analyst when he clearly has never even taken a community college public speaking class? Why did Walter Payton get a SI cover story in 2011 when he died in 1999? Because the Bears have that aura. They are the original NFL franchise, and are treated as such both locally and nationally.

The items keeping the Bears in the current news cycle is the contract extension of Jay Cutler and the defensive coaching shuffle.  In my opinion, both actions the Bears took are indicators of poor management decisions, that of an organization running on gravitas and reputation rather than intellectual talent and experienced decision makers.

There is NO reason Jay Cutler needed a contract extension for $50 million in guaranteed money.  Not with one playoff win anyway.  Firing defensive coaches after their first season in which four starting defensive players went down with season ending injuries does nothing to make a team better.  Jay Cutler needed to be rented with the franchise tag for one more season, and the defensive position coaches needed to be given a chance to coach all of their players for one full season before being given their walking papers.

The franchise tag is not a cheap option, I’m aware. In fact, it is an expensive option, that is why the concept was agreed to in collective bargaining back in the day.  But Cutler DID NOT and HAS NOT earned $50 million in guaranteed money, yet. He can, I believe he can, he has shown flashes of being able to prove he can, but he is a poster of inconsistency and being injury prone.  Those are not characteristics of someone you give a huge contract extension to, when you have the ability to franchise tag them and make them earn it for another year.

The Bears fans don’t want to rebuild, no Chicago fan ever wants to hear that word.  But if the Bears gave Cutler a year to prove himself of the contract he has just been given, that would have been the last year for a bunch of defensive veterans to know whether they are going to contend for a title in Chicago, or latch on to a contender elsewhere.  The Bears could have drafted a QB this year, made Cutler perform under the franchise tag next year, and by this time in 2015 we would know if he’s our guy or if it is rebuilding time.  Instead we get more high priced instability, let’s hope this gamble pays off.

As for the coaches that got fired. Lance Briggs, Henry Melton, Charles Tillman, Kelvin Hayden, Shea McClellin, and Patrick Mannelly all were injured for part or the bulk of the season. How can you fire coaches based on that? I know the Bears finished the season as one of the worst defensive teams, but that happens when the injury bug bites.  The winning franchises are pictures of stability and the Bears look unstable everywhere except at wide receiver as a team on Soldier Field and an organization at Halas Hall.

But it’s not all doom and gloom, we finished one win short of the playoffs two years in a row. A bummer yes, a sign to blow it all up and start over? No, not yet. Another year, with another coaching staff however means it’s time for the wrecking ball.

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