Mailbag - August Edition
Quick notes for Fantasy Football people: Chad Johnson's partial labrum tear. Brandon Marshall's suspension.
On to the mailbag!
Q: So there are a lot of weird sports in the Olympics...they're always taking out sports and adding new ones but I turned on the other morning and they had horse show-jumping!! Seriously?? Does the rider or the horse get the medals? There have to be better sports than horse show jumping!! (Michael from Los Angeles, CA)
A: Mike, there are sports better than horse show jumping. Have you seen the 10m Air Rifle Competition?! It's like darts on crack. As to your other question, I watched a lot of random sports during the Olympics and enjoyed most of them. Badminton, Team Handball and Water Polo to name a few. Equestrian, which sounds like a swimming event, was not one of the sports I got hooked on or even watched more than a second of. How did it get an NBC time slot and not get stuck on MSNBC at 4 a.m. where it belonged? The outfits alone should disqualify it as a sport. Golfers look cooler than equestrian participants. They should split the medal between the horse and the rider. At least when a horse wins the Kentucky Derby it gets some roses and a wreath. Good thing they're getting rid of baseball. Because that's way more boring than horse show-jumping.
Q: What did you think of the IOC Chairman coming down on Usain Bolt? (John from Santa Monica, CA)
A: I thought it was absolutely ridiculous that IOC Chairman Jacques Rogge came down on Usain Bolt for a "lack of respect" being shown to his competitors. Here's the list of items Rogge should have been concerned about regarding the XXIX Olympics, in order.
1. China's relationship with Sudan and the effect on Darfur.
2. China's rule in Tibet.
3. Civil liberties in China.
4. Former Olympian Joey Cheek being denied access to China for being outspoken on Darfur.
5. Chinese government detaining 10 foreigners for protesting, 8 of whom were Americans.
6. The "beautification" of China.
7. The "judging" in the Olympics.
.
.
.
.
.
.
21. The French. Always on the list. "Smash the Americans." Are you kidding me? I don't want any anti-American sentiment next time I go to France or else I'm wearing a Lance Armstrong jersey everywhere I go there.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
476. Eric Rudin's overuse of "quotes" in this mailbag thus far.
477. Usain Bolt's being happy and having fun at the Olympics. Makes sense to me.
Q: Do you think Osi Umenyiora's injury makes the Giants still a playoff team? (D.J. from the Valley, CA)
A: First off, how do you live in the valley? My friend Marcus lives there and wonders why none of us go to visit him during the summer. I went to visit him when he had his baby daughter and he said, "hmm, 95 today, not that bad." That just gives you an idea of what the valley's like. Add to that the abundance of liquor stores, strip clubs, smog, gangs, people who claim to live in L.A. but actually hate it, etc. and you get the picture. As to the Giants, they're still a playoff team. Strahan may come back (for the money), even though as I sit here watching Sportscenter he claims he's not, again. As with Favre, wake me up when this is over, in five years. The Giants offense is still in place and Eli Manning may actually turn out to be a good NFL QB. In Week 4 I may retract the previous sentence, but the guy does have a Super Bowl ring. Then again, so does Trent Dilfer. Basically, Tom Coughlin won't let this team have a Super Bowl hangover. Dallas and Philly should be strong, but the NFC in general is not exactly at its peak. The Giants will be a playoff team by default if nothing else.
Q: I read something on ESPN comparing the Dream Team to the Redeem Team. The Redeem Team was good, but the Dream Team was dominant. Is there any comparison? (Tom from San Diego, CA)
A: There is more of a comparison than people think, but nowhere near enough to mention the two teams in the same breath. Let me clarify. Nobody can really think that the Redeem Team is as good as the Dream Team. The Redeem Team let Spain almost win the gold. The Dream Team would never have let that happen. However, the Redeem Team played against much better competition, which people are not mentioning. Basketball has become much more of a global game since 1992. I was watching the gold medal game at midnight in a sports bar and I was standing next to these two guys from Madrid. You'd have thought that this was the Euro Cup. The only difference is that they knew that Spain would never win. Point being, in 1992, these guys would have been at a club in Hollywood during this game, not a sports bar in Santa Monica.
Getting down to the debate, the Redeem Team did play against better competition. The Dream Team would not have blown Spain out by 60 in the gold medal game. However, the Dream Team was far superior to the Redeem Team. First off, the Redeem Team had no legitimate big men. Dwight Howard was getting blocked by opposing swingmen. Chris Bosh is really a 4. Compare that to David Robinson and Patrick Ewing. Next, look to each team's best player. Kobe vs. Michael (note: LeBron was not the team's best player. Don't make me do the LeBron vs. Kobe analysis). Good thing we never have to have the Kobe vs. Michael debate after Kobe no-showed in the Finals against the Celtics last season. Finally, look at the rest of the rosters. The Dream Team had Charles Barkley, Karl Malone, John Stockton, Scottie Pippen, not to mention older Larry Bird and Magic Johnson. Do you really want to do the comparison with the rest of the Redeem Team? I didn't think so.
Q: Eric, you're still fat. When are you going to lose some weight? (Elyse from Los Angeles, CA)
A: Tomorrow. Thanks again Mom.
Q: How much to the Dodgers blow? I can't stand it. They're terrible! (Everybody in Los Angeles, CA)
A: Yup, it's that time of year again Dodgers fans. Thankfully we were distracted by the Olympics. Now, if you're like me, you like watching your one tennis tournament of the year, the U.S. Open. Monday night's 5-setter between Young and Blake was amazing. And of course, there's that little thing called football starting this week with the college season and next week with the pros. If you really want to talk Dodgers, we have no hitting, even with Manny and Saito's injury is having more of an effect than we would have thought. Broxton is not getting it done. If Furcal would come back, things might change and after this road trip things may get a little better, but don't get your hopes up. If you're a Dodgers fan, you won't get your hopes up because you've been down this road before.
Q: You said there was an argument for Adrian Peterson as the #1 pick in fantasy. I got the first pick in my draft. Should I take him? (Jesse from Los Angeles, CA)
A: My fault. NO! YOU MUST TAKE LADAINIAN! This is what happens when I don't proofread. LaDainian is the clear number 1 in fantasy. You don't take a flier with the first pick in the draft. LaDainian is guaranteed the most touches in football and he's not half bad when he gets his hands on the ball. Plus, you think he's pissed with the press he got after last season's playoff game? You don't take a second year RB over LaDainian who has a proven track record and the most undeniable production since Bo Jackson in original Tecmo Bowl. You take Purple Jesus at #2 because Jackson, Westbrook, and Addai aren't sure things. Peterson is running behind an awesome O-Line, and even if he misses a game or two, will still likely out-produce guys 3-5. LaDainian is far more likely to out-produce everyone. Put it this way, if you had $15 million riding on your league, whom would you take first? That's how you should approach it. By the way, I know you like the proper use of "whom" there.
Q: I don't get the scoring in the Olympics for boxing. It didn't make sense to me. How does it work? (Derek from Riverside, CA)
A: Don't worry, it doesn't make sense to anybody who watches boxing, or the general population really. The actual answer is that the white portion of the gloves has to score in the front of the head or the upper torso with the full force of the shoulder behind the blow. That makes sense. Don't count the body shots that every boxing expert will tell you are crucial to the sport of boxing. Not only that, you have judges and only 3 out of 5 have to score a blow for it to count. There was ZERO consistency in the scoring and add to that the refs who decided to try and take over the fights by scolding the fighters every 4 seconds on something nobody could understand. Olympic boxing made a total mockery of the sport. They need to switch to a version closer to professional scoring where the rounds are judged on the quality of the blows landed, ring control, defense, etc.
Q: Who do you think will win the Super Bowl? (James from Torrance, CA)
A: I will be doing my Power Rankings next week so I don't want to spoil who my #1 will be, but I can tell you this. The NFC is trrble as Chuck Barkley would say. Just trrble. People forget how bad it was last season because the Giants pulled off the upset, but think about how everybody thought about the playoffs after Dallas lost. Well, this year will be no different. There is a plethora of solid teams in the AFC. The NFC, not so much. If the season goes as I predict, I'll be decapitalizing the NFC and it will thus become the "nfc." I shall call him mini-me. Sorry that it doesn't answer your question. I needed to plug my Power Rankings column for the money that I don't make on viewership.
Q: Do you follow golf's playoffs? I don't really get it. (Tom from Los Angeles, CA)
A: You thought Olympic boxing scoring was tough to follow, try the FedEx points. x=-b+/- the square root of b2 -4ac/2a. It's a stupid system. They should have a March Madnessesque Match Play event at the end of the season if they want a playoff. I know we have the match play events earlier in the year, but if you make it worth $10 million to the winner, I'd bet people would watch and then you eliminate the problem of people skipping out on events. At least make it that way from 64 or 32 people on in. It's much more fan friendly than needing a college multivariable calculus professor to understand what's going on.
Q: Why aren't there as many articles as before? You getting lazy on us? (Jared from Burbank, CA)
A: Law school. Not fun. I don't advise it.
To quote Verbal Kint, "and like that, he's gone."
On to the mailbag!
Q: So there are a lot of weird sports in the Olympics...they're always taking out sports and adding new ones but I turned on the other morning and they had horse show-jumping!! Seriously?? Does the rider or the horse get the medals? There have to be better sports than horse show jumping!! (Michael from Los Angeles, CA)
A: Mike, there are sports better than horse show jumping. Have you seen the 10m Air Rifle Competition?! It's like darts on crack. As to your other question, I watched a lot of random sports during the Olympics and enjoyed most of them. Badminton, Team Handball and Water Polo to name a few. Equestrian, which sounds like a swimming event, was not one of the sports I got hooked on or even watched more than a second of. How did it get an NBC time slot and not get stuck on MSNBC at 4 a.m. where it belonged? The outfits alone should disqualify it as a sport. Golfers look cooler than equestrian participants. They should split the medal between the horse and the rider. At least when a horse wins the Kentucky Derby it gets some roses and a wreath. Good thing they're getting rid of baseball. Because that's way more boring than horse show-jumping.
Q: What did you think of the IOC Chairman coming down on Usain Bolt? (John from Santa Monica, CA)
A: I thought it was absolutely ridiculous that IOC Chairman Jacques Rogge came down on Usain Bolt for a "lack of respect" being shown to his competitors. Here's the list of items Rogge should have been concerned about regarding the XXIX Olympics, in order.
1. China's relationship with Sudan and the effect on Darfur.
2. China's rule in Tibet.
3. Civil liberties in China.
4. Former Olympian Joey Cheek being denied access to China for being outspoken on Darfur.
5. Chinese government detaining 10 foreigners for protesting, 8 of whom were Americans.
6. The "beautification" of China.
7. The "judging" in the Olympics.
.
.
.
.
.
.
21. The French. Always on the list. "Smash the Americans." Are you kidding me? I don't want any anti-American sentiment next time I go to France or else I'm wearing a Lance Armstrong jersey everywhere I go there.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
476. Eric Rudin's overuse of "quotes" in this mailbag thus far.
477. Usain Bolt's being happy and having fun at the Olympics. Makes sense to me.
Q: Do you think Osi Umenyiora's injury makes the Giants still a playoff team? (D.J. from the Valley, CA)
A: First off, how do you live in the valley? My friend Marcus lives there and wonders why none of us go to visit him during the summer. I went to visit him when he had his baby daughter and he said, "hmm, 95 today, not that bad." That just gives you an idea of what the valley's like. Add to that the abundance of liquor stores, strip clubs, smog, gangs, people who claim to live in L.A. but actually hate it, etc. and you get the picture. As to the Giants, they're still a playoff team. Strahan may come back (for the money), even though as I sit here watching Sportscenter he claims he's not, again. As with Favre, wake me up when this is over, in five years. The Giants offense is still in place and Eli Manning may actually turn out to be a good NFL QB. In Week 4 I may retract the previous sentence, but the guy does have a Super Bowl ring. Then again, so does Trent Dilfer. Basically, Tom Coughlin won't let this team have a Super Bowl hangover. Dallas and Philly should be strong, but the NFC in general is not exactly at its peak. The Giants will be a playoff team by default if nothing else.
Q: I read something on ESPN comparing the Dream Team to the Redeem Team. The Redeem Team was good, but the Dream Team was dominant. Is there any comparison? (Tom from San Diego, CA)
A: There is more of a comparison than people think, but nowhere near enough to mention the two teams in the same breath. Let me clarify. Nobody can really think that the Redeem Team is as good as the Dream Team. The Redeem Team let Spain almost win the gold. The Dream Team would never have let that happen. However, the Redeem Team played against much better competition, which people are not mentioning. Basketball has become much more of a global game since 1992. I was watching the gold medal game at midnight in a sports bar and I was standing next to these two guys from Madrid. You'd have thought that this was the Euro Cup. The only difference is that they knew that Spain would never win. Point being, in 1992, these guys would have been at a club in Hollywood during this game, not a sports bar in Santa Monica.
Getting down to the debate, the Redeem Team did play against better competition. The Dream Team would not have blown Spain out by 60 in the gold medal game. However, the Dream Team was far superior to the Redeem Team. First off, the Redeem Team had no legitimate big men. Dwight Howard was getting blocked by opposing swingmen. Chris Bosh is really a 4. Compare that to David Robinson and Patrick Ewing. Next, look to each team's best player. Kobe vs. Michael (note: LeBron was not the team's best player. Don't make me do the LeBron vs. Kobe analysis). Good thing we never have to have the Kobe vs. Michael debate after Kobe no-showed in the Finals against the Celtics last season. Finally, look at the rest of the rosters. The Dream Team had Charles Barkley, Karl Malone, John Stockton, Scottie Pippen, not to mention older Larry Bird and Magic Johnson. Do you really want to do the comparison with the rest of the Redeem Team? I didn't think so.
Q: Eric, you're still fat. When are you going to lose some weight? (Elyse from Los Angeles, CA)
A: Tomorrow. Thanks again Mom.
Q: How much to the Dodgers blow? I can't stand it. They're terrible! (Everybody in Los Angeles, CA)
A: Yup, it's that time of year again Dodgers fans. Thankfully we were distracted by the Olympics. Now, if you're like me, you like watching your one tennis tournament of the year, the U.S. Open. Monday night's 5-setter between Young and Blake was amazing. And of course, there's that little thing called football starting this week with the college season and next week with the pros. If you really want to talk Dodgers, we have no hitting, even with Manny and Saito's injury is having more of an effect than we would have thought. Broxton is not getting it done. If Furcal would come back, things might change and after this road trip things may get a little better, but don't get your hopes up. If you're a Dodgers fan, you won't get your hopes up because you've been down this road before.
Q: You said there was an argument for Adrian Peterson as the #1 pick in fantasy. I got the first pick in my draft. Should I take him? (Jesse from Los Angeles, CA)
A: My fault. NO! YOU MUST TAKE LADAINIAN! This is what happens when I don't proofread. LaDainian is the clear number 1 in fantasy. You don't take a flier with the first pick in the draft. LaDainian is guaranteed the most touches in football and he's not half bad when he gets his hands on the ball. Plus, you think he's pissed with the press he got after last season's playoff game? You don't take a second year RB over LaDainian who has a proven track record and the most undeniable production since Bo Jackson in original Tecmo Bowl. You take Purple Jesus at #2 because Jackson, Westbrook, and Addai aren't sure things. Peterson is running behind an awesome O-Line, and even if he misses a game or two, will still likely out-produce guys 3-5. LaDainian is far more likely to out-produce everyone. Put it this way, if you had $15 million riding on your league, whom would you take first? That's how you should approach it. By the way, I know you like the proper use of "whom" there.
Q: I don't get the scoring in the Olympics for boxing. It didn't make sense to me. How does it work? (Derek from Riverside, CA)
A: Don't worry, it doesn't make sense to anybody who watches boxing, or the general population really. The actual answer is that the white portion of the gloves has to score in the front of the head or the upper torso with the full force of the shoulder behind the blow. That makes sense. Don't count the body shots that every boxing expert will tell you are crucial to the sport of boxing. Not only that, you have judges and only 3 out of 5 have to score a blow for it to count. There was ZERO consistency in the scoring and add to that the refs who decided to try and take over the fights by scolding the fighters every 4 seconds on something nobody could understand. Olympic boxing made a total mockery of the sport. They need to switch to a version closer to professional scoring where the rounds are judged on the quality of the blows landed, ring control, defense, etc.
Q: Who do you think will win the Super Bowl? (James from Torrance, CA)
A: I will be doing my Power Rankings next week so I don't want to spoil who my #1 will be, but I can tell you this. The NFC is trrble as Chuck Barkley would say. Just trrble. People forget how bad it was last season because the Giants pulled off the upset, but think about how everybody thought about the playoffs after Dallas lost. Well, this year will be no different. There is a plethora of solid teams in the AFC. The NFC, not so much. If the season goes as I predict, I'll be decapitalizing the NFC and it will thus become the "nfc." I shall call him mini-me. Sorry that it doesn't answer your question. I needed to plug my Power Rankings column for the money that I don't make on viewership.
Q: Do you follow golf's playoffs? I don't really get it. (Tom from Los Angeles, CA)
A: You thought Olympic boxing scoring was tough to follow, try the FedEx points. x=-b+/- the square root of b2 -4ac/2a. It's a stupid system. They should have a March Madnessesque Match Play event at the end of the season if they want a playoff. I know we have the match play events earlier in the year, but if you make it worth $10 million to the winner, I'd bet people would watch and then you eliminate the problem of people skipping out on events. At least make it that way from 64 or 32 people on in. It's much more fan friendly than needing a college multivariable calculus professor to understand what's going on.
Q: Why aren't there as many articles as before? You getting lazy on us? (Jared from Burbank, CA)
A: Law school. Not fun. I don't advise it.
To quote Verbal Kint, "and like that, he's gone."
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