Let's face it, the television rules how we live.
We watch TV to be informed. We watch TV to be entertained. Sometimes we watch and get both at the same time.
Even if the online world is taking over, YouTube is nothing more than millions of TV channels. Whatever it is, the box is the big cheese of American society.
So that's why I don't understand the NFL sometimes.
It's the most powerful sports league in the world and has TV in its back pocket, but every week it threatens home teams that it will black out the game if the stadium does not sell out.
That logic doesn't make any sense. Why potentially spoil the game for hundreds of thousands of viewers for the sake of selling a few thousand nosebleed seats? I know it's all about money, but there has to be some room for common sense, too.
An NFL game is a very different experience when it's seen live versus on the tube. At Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego, it's all about the pregame tailgate. There's nothing better than grilling burgers and tossing back a few beers with 60,000 of your closest friends.
Once inside, though, your view turns into tunnel vision and the game quickly becomes very small. Take away the crowds, the cheerleaders and the music, and it's nothing more than a pickup game with fancy uniforms. There's no expert analysis of plays or play selection, unless you count the drunk guy next to you who curses the Chargers for being predictable and never passing on first down.
TV is different.
The pregame festivities may consist of a beer or two, but your only friend may be the lawn mower, or whatever household appliance you agreed to pick up in exchange for your wife allowing you to watch the game.
But once that game starts, it's magic. The announcers come in and do their thing, dissecting every play from scratch. The instant replays go backward and forward. The DVR kicks in so I can take a bathroom break whenever I want. And the refrigerator is only a few feet away.
The best part? When the game is over, I'm on the couch watching the next game, not sitting in a parking lot 20 miles from home wondering why I spent a week's paycheck just to watch the Chargers lose.
You gotta love TV.
In a perfect world, blackout rules just don't apply.
Saturday, August 21, 2010
Saturday, March 20, 2010
Be grateful pigeons don't have ears
Seeing scrawny Dustin Diamond from “Saved by the Bell” in boxing gloves was weird. So was watching Warren Sapp on “Dancing with the Stars.” Simon Cowell’s chest hair is starting to get creepy too.
But this whole Mike Tyson pigeon racing thing is off the charts weird. We have all come to expect oddities from Tyson, but facial tattoos and ear chomping doesn’t seem so bizarre anymore when you compare it to his latest endeavor.
The former heavyweight boxing champion and tiger enthusiast is also an amateur pigeon racer and will star in a new TV series on Animal Planet called, “Taking on Tyson,” that will showcase Tyson against seasoned competitors.
No joke. Pigeon racing is a sport----sort of. The American Racing Pigeon Union Web site, www.pigeon.org, calls it a hobby. Whatever you call it, there are plenty of pigeon racers out there----and it’s growing.
According to the organization, the American Racing Pigeon Union has about 10,000 members and is attracting approximately 100 new members every month. Sorry PETA.
With Tyson on board, there’s no telling where this thing will go. And if Don King gets involved, it could be the next big thing on Pay-Per-View.
Pigeons, let’s get to ready to ruuuuuumble!
The Web site calls pigeons the thoroughbreds of the sky. Indeed, these creatures sure do fly fast, but what I marvel is how accurate they are when they have to go to the bathroom. How is it possible that of all the millions of miles of open space they have to do their thing after a hearty lunch, they seem to always find the top of my head or the tip of my shoes? Talk about accuracy.
I heard the NFL Network will soon debut a show about field-goal kicking with paper footballs. Stay tuned.
But this whole Mike Tyson pigeon racing thing is off the charts weird. We have all come to expect oddities from Tyson, but facial tattoos and ear chomping doesn’t seem so bizarre anymore when you compare it to his latest endeavor.
The former heavyweight boxing champion and tiger enthusiast is also an amateur pigeon racer and will star in a new TV series on Animal Planet called, “Taking on Tyson,” that will showcase Tyson against seasoned competitors.
No joke. Pigeon racing is a sport----sort of. The American Racing Pigeon Union Web site, www.pigeon.org, calls it a hobby. Whatever you call it, there are plenty of pigeon racers out there----and it’s growing.
According to the organization, the American Racing Pigeon Union has about 10,000 members and is attracting approximately 100 new members every month. Sorry PETA.
With Tyson on board, there’s no telling where this thing will go. And if Don King gets involved, it could be the next big thing on Pay-Per-View.
Pigeons, let’s get to ready to ruuuuuumble!
The Web site calls pigeons the thoroughbreds of the sky. Indeed, these creatures sure do fly fast, but what I marvel is how accurate they are when they have to go to the bathroom. How is it possible that of all the millions of miles of open space they have to do their thing after a hearty lunch, they seem to always find the top of my head or the tip of my shoes? Talk about accuracy.
I heard the NFL Network will soon debut a show about field-goal kicking with paper footballs. Stay tuned.
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Life as a professional golfer
Ever wonder what it's like to be a golfer on the PGA Tour, playing alongside stars like Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson?
I recently had the opportunity to interview tour player John Mallinger, who has been on the PGA Tour for the last three years.
Check out what he says in this North County Times Q&A:
http://www.nctimes.com/sports/golf/article_79f22afc-3448-5045-a0a7-1d3a4c02d2a6.html
I recently had the opportunity to interview tour player John Mallinger, who has been on the PGA Tour for the last three years.
Check out what he says in this North County Times Q&A:
http://www.nctimes.com/sports/golf/article_79f22afc-3448-5045-a0a7-1d3a4c02d2a6.html
Monday, September 21, 2009
Who has the most ungraceful exit in sports?
Mike Tyson
It doesn’t get any better than ear-biting, facial tattoos and public statements of wanting to duke it out with women. That was the behavior of Mike Tyson during his exit dance out of the boxing world.
It was more disgraceful than anything else. For “Iron” Mike, ungraceful was just the beginning.
For a time in the late 1980s, Tyson had it all. Pound for pound, he was the best fighter on the planet. He still remains the youngest man ever to win the WBC, WBA and IBF world heavyweight titles.
No one could stop him. Anyone got in his way, they paid the price.
But then in 1990, an undefeated Tyson met James “Buster” Douglas.
No one before that fateful night in Tokyo gave Douglas a chance, of course.
Tyson was such a huge favorite that only one Las Vegas casino even held odds on the fight.
But somehow, some way, Douglas got the best of Tyson, knocking him out in the 10th round and dazing him so much that Tyson tried to put in his mouthpiece sideways.
It was one of the most shocking moments in sports history, one that changed the boxing world forever.
Tyson was never the same either.
After going to prison two years later for sexual assault, he did attempt a series of comebacks, but it was all for naught when he chomped off part of Evander Holyfield’s ear in their 1997 rematch.
That was it really. Not much room for forgiveness when you take a bite out of someone’s ear.
Tyson, who had earned more than $300 million in his career, declared bankruptcy in 2003 and eventually retired from competitive boxing in 2005 after getting knocked out by two cream puffs.
Talk about an ungraceful exit.
It doesn’t get any better than ear-biting, facial tattoos and public statements of wanting to duke it out with women. That was the behavior of Mike Tyson during his exit dance out of the boxing world.
It was more disgraceful than anything else. For “Iron” Mike, ungraceful was just the beginning.
For a time in the late 1980s, Tyson had it all. Pound for pound, he was the best fighter on the planet. He still remains the youngest man ever to win the WBC, WBA and IBF world heavyweight titles.
No one could stop him. Anyone got in his way, they paid the price.
But then in 1990, an undefeated Tyson met James “Buster” Douglas.
No one before that fateful night in Tokyo gave Douglas a chance, of course.
Tyson was such a huge favorite that only one Las Vegas casino even held odds on the fight.
But somehow, some way, Douglas got the best of Tyson, knocking him out in the 10th round and dazing him so much that Tyson tried to put in his mouthpiece sideways.
It was one of the most shocking moments in sports history, one that changed the boxing world forever.
Tyson was never the same either.
After going to prison two years later for sexual assault, he did attempt a series of comebacks, but it was all for naught when he chomped off part of Evander Holyfield’s ear in their 1997 rematch.
That was it really. Not much room for forgiveness when you take a bite out of someone’s ear.
Tyson, who had earned more than $300 million in his career, declared bankruptcy in 2003 and eventually retired from competitive boxing in 2005 after getting knocked out by two cream puffs.
Talk about an ungraceful exit.
Saturday, September 12, 2009
Twitter and athletes
All this talk of restriction and oversight is driving me bonkers.
The more I earn the more the government takes away.
Everyone looks at me in shame when I drive my gas-guzzling SUV to the corner bar, and then lectures me saying I should buy a more energy efficient, world-saving clown car that gets 50 miles to the gallon and has the head room built for Danny DeVito.
Soon the oversight police will be telling me what doctor to go to, what treatments I’m entitled to, and what line to stand in when the flu bug comes around--by the way a line so long I’ll probably be dead by the time I reach the front anyway. Healthcare DMW style. Brilliant.
Now there’s this ridiculous debate about restricting athletes’ use of Twitter.
I can’t take it anymore. Everyone it seems has a say in my life, everyone except me of course.
This is America isn’t it? You know, land of the free, home of the brave. I do have the right to say what I want, where I want and when I want, right?
Maybe not for long.
The Chargers recently fined Antonio Cromartie $2,500 for using Twitter to criticize the team’s chow line. The Chargers didn’t get the joke obviously.
But what the Chargers fail to see in all this is that fans hunger for insight into these players, insight that cliché-laden press conferences and formulaic media reports just can’t provide.
Social media is how people are communicating these days. It’s a forum where players are mano-a-mano with their fans----online anyway.
When Stewart Cink, a big Twitter user with more than 675,000 followers, won the British Open, he posted a picture of himself pouring Guiness into the Claret Jug. Now that’s insight.
Stuff like that shouldn’t be restricted.
The more I earn the more the government takes away.
Everyone looks at me in shame when I drive my gas-guzzling SUV to the corner bar, and then lectures me saying I should buy a more energy efficient, world-saving clown car that gets 50 miles to the gallon and has the head room built for Danny DeVito.
Soon the oversight police will be telling me what doctor to go to, what treatments I’m entitled to, and what line to stand in when the flu bug comes around--by the way a line so long I’ll probably be dead by the time I reach the front anyway. Healthcare DMW style. Brilliant.
Now there’s this ridiculous debate about restricting athletes’ use of Twitter.
I can’t take it anymore. Everyone it seems has a say in my life, everyone except me of course.
This is America isn’t it? You know, land of the free, home of the brave. I do have the right to say what I want, where I want and when I want, right?
Maybe not for long.
The Chargers recently fined Antonio Cromartie $2,500 for using Twitter to criticize the team’s chow line. The Chargers didn’t get the joke obviously.
But what the Chargers fail to see in all this is that fans hunger for insight into these players, insight that cliché-laden press conferences and formulaic media reports just can’t provide.
Social media is how people are communicating these days. It’s a forum where players are mano-a-mano with their fans----online anyway.
When Stewart Cink, a big Twitter user with more than 675,000 followers, won the British Open, he posted a picture of himself pouring Guiness into the Claret Jug. Now that’s insight.
Stuff like that shouldn’t be restricted.
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