Perpetual Posting & Photo-ing

A few things:

There's going to be a lot of me this week on The Perpetual Post starting today. Another Week in Review for the NFL (not as many games on my end) and quick thoughts on the Joakim Noah contract from the Chicago Bulls. While I wasn't exactly enamored with the former Florida Gator coming into the NBA, he's turned out to be a lot better than I thought. His wardrobe, however... his attire at the 2007 Draft is burned to memory.

Tomorrow for TPP, I'm throwing out words for a NHL preview, though the season has started and proving to people that Todd Collins did not retire in 1998. The latter may be a moot point for the Chicago Bears if Jay Cutler comes around completely from the concussion suffered against the New York Giants.

If you haven't read it yet or ever before, do check out the chock full o'goodness from October's Norman Einstein's Magazine. Though I did not contribute this month, I will for November.

Next, because cell phones are fantastic these days. here's a photo that was taken on 125th Street last week. For those soccer afficionados, yes, the New York Cosmos are coming back... so I think.

Finally, later today, there will be a new poll on Scribe within the next two days. Keep an eye out for it.

Falling

The ‘best of’, ‘worst of’ and those highly-pretentious ‘most important’ lists will come in droves over the coming weeks. Being that these are the final days of an interesting, surprise-filled, sense-jolting, reality-checking, sometimes depressing, but consistently intriguing year in sports, it seems as if every blog should participate in the fun. Yet, being a bit different, something else came to mind about sports in 2007.

While watching the Houston Rockets take on the Miami Heat on the night after Thanksgiving, a graphic came up on the screen that showed how mighty the 2005-06 NBA Champions had fallen. In the season-plus since bringing the NBA title to Miami, the Heat have garnered a record of 48-48 in the regular season (46-47 at the time of the game), were swept by the Chicago Bulls in the first round of the ’06-’07 playoffs and even lost all seven preseason games. Yikes! There’s an unofficial statistic of note that will come up later, but along with the above, these numbers signifies a drastic change of titlists and title contenders in the major sports this year. Three teams experienced tremendous falls from grace after playing for the championships of their sports not long ago; the aforementioned Heat in the NBA, baseball’s Detroit Tigers, and the NFL’s Chicago Bears*. This isn’t an exhaustive list as other sports have had their shares of teams and players that have made complete 180 turn, yet with the high expectations after stellar seasons, it’s just amazing how these three sports witnessed these collapses all at once.

Miami Heat: Pat Riley – love him or hate him – is arguably the best coach of the past thirty years in the NBA. Sure, it’s very easy to say Phil Jackson because of his nine titles with two superstar-driven franchises and Gregg Popovich gets no love, considering the Spurs imprint on basketball in the last nine years. Yet, Riley has been able to take three different teams of three different styles and blends of talent to the NBA Finals. From the Showtime era of Magic Johnson, James Worthy and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to the defensive-minded Knicks of the nineties to a veteran-laden Heat led by Dwayne Wade, Riley had been able to exert the best of his team’s strengths to the max and tested the conditioning of his players throughout his years as coach.

Something happened, however, after the Heat snatched the NBA title away from the Dallas Mavericks in June 2005. The team got old, unathletic and tired despite little roster turnover in the following season. Shaquille O’Neal got hurt. Wade got hurt. Even Riley got hurt. Outside of those three, there was little else to fear regarding this team. Other than the maddeningly streaky Antoine Walker, who was shipped out to Minnesota before this season for Ricky Davis, there was little offense to buoy the team to another 50-win season. Wade missed 23 games last season for a dislocated shoulder, O’Neal sat for over thirty. Add Riley’s hip and knee ailments and you have a group that, to date, has only shared the same arena floor an astonishing fourteen times since winning the title. Was it really a surprise that the Bulls swept them in the first round of the playoffs back in May? To many who feel that having Shaq and Wade on the floor at the time, yes. So how would they respond to their current 4-10 record?

The Heat can only hope that the Orlando Magic lose grip of the Southeast Division and the Washington Wizards begin to struggle offensively without Gilbert Arenas. It’s unfortunate to say that both of their stars are injuries waiting to happen, but until O’Neal and Wade can prove otherwise, this is not a playoff team. What hurts them is the lack of perimeter shooters and someone other than Ricky Davis that can create offense on his own. Even losing Jason Kapono to the Toronto Raptors has left a sting for a team that will need to battle for wins in an improved Eastern Conference.

Detroit Tigers: When the Chicago White Sox won the World Series in 2005, they won with a deep rotation, timely hitting and a sick defense. Their addition of Jim Thome in the following offseason was supposed to signal a new era of dominance in the American League as they added more offense to an already potent lineup with Jermaine Dye, Paul Konerko and Joe Crede. No one really talked about the Southsiders’ chances to contend in ’05, but trading for Thome meant that this was a team you wouldn’t forget by any means. Yet, in 2006, the pitching fell apart and they lost ground in what was a competitive AL Central Division. What does this have to do with the Tigers? Pretty much everything. Detroit crept up in a similar manner. You knew that the team had to be better than the 2003 model that lost 103 games as management decided to put their young players through the fire of losing in order to come out stronger in the future. They made incremental improvements, but with baseball fans affixed to the AL East, it was hard for people to appreciate what was happening in Motown. Over the last few years, the Tigers added the right veterans to bolster the roster; Ivan Rodriguez, Kenny Rogers, Sean Casey, Gary Sheffield and as of early November, Edgar Renteria. As the White Sox slid down the Central ranks following their title run, Detroit and the Minnesota Twins battled for the division crown until the final weekend. Both played saluchi the lead, but the Tigers would enter the playoffs as the wild card… and as the New York Yankees learned, Detroit was a dangerous wild card. The Tigers rode momentum all the way to the World Series before being defeated by Mother Nature and the St. Louis Cardinals.

Unlike those Cardinals, you knew this team would be back in 2007 to contend. Sheffield’s addition was likened to when Thome joined Chicago the season before. The team wasn’t bad offensively at all, led by MVP runner-up Magglio Ordonez. Yet, Sheffield started slow and also got hurt. Rogers didn’t rejoin the rotation until mid-June. Power reliever Joel Zumaya missed three months (and will miss time again in 2008). Outside of Ordonez, the team couldn’t muster enough offense to get past eventual division winner Cleveland.

So far, the Tigers have addressed a need at shortstop when they traded two prospects to the Atlanta Braves for Renteria. Not only is this a defensive upgrade, but offensively, he’s one of the best 2-spot hitters in the game. This allows them to keep switch-hitter Carlos Guillen by moving him to first base in hopes of getting production from a consistent sore spot.

Chicago Bears: If people thought that Common and Kanye West’s Super Bowl song was a bit premature, at least they didn’t make a song this season about returning to the grand finale this year. If there was a mighty fall this year in sports, it involves these Bears. They had a defense that suffocated any team that wanted to run the ball. They have an electric return man in Devin Hester. They have an incredible home-field advantage in Soldier Field. And last season, they had the luxury of playing there in the brutal cold and snow that blankets the Midwest in January. They dispatched the New Orleans Saints’ highly-potent offense and feel-good story to reach their first Super Bowl since the famed ’85 Bears used the same blueprint to impose their will the mid-80s NFL. Yes, they feasted from a poor division (just as the Philadelphia Eagles had done during their NFC dominance) and were able to get by with frustrating play from Rex Grossman. No matter their apparent flaws, Chicago boasted a top-five defense that created turnovers and converted them into points.

Then Dennis Green was fired in Arizona. Bill Cowher resigned from Pittsburgh. Bill Parcells retired for the umpteenth time. Marty Schottenheimer got axed in San Diego. This led to Ron Rivera, who had been the Bears’ defensive coordinator, interviewing for or at least becoming a candidate for those positions. Negotiations between him and the Bears for a contract extension fell through after all of those jobs filled up. Maybe in hindsight, this has a greater effect on the defense than originally thought, but at the time, pigskin pundits felt that there was still enough in the Bears’ favor to return to at least the NFC Championship Game. Add the Lance Briggs’ franchise-tag near-disaster. Add the debate over the quarterback position between Grossman, Brian Griese and Philadelphia’s Donovan McNabb. Add Tank Johnson’s woes. Add the decision to go with high-priced 2005 draftee Cedric Benson over Thomas Jones. Add the injuries to the defensive front seven along with cornerback Nathan Vasher. Maybe this was too much for a team coming off of the best season in twenty-one seasons.

Standing at 5-6, the only way that the Bears can make the playoffs is by help. As possible as it is that the Detroit Lions or New York Giants fall flat, don’t bank on it. There are more issues going beyond getting a wild-card spot in January for this team. For one, will Briggs return after this franchise-tag season? The weakside linebacker is guaranteed to make at least the $7.2 million per year figure based on what he’s bringing home this year and with several teams likely to pursue his services, this season’s finish just might make the decision for him. Middle linebacker Brian Urlacher won’t be pleased with losing his defensive coordinator, talented-but-troubled nose tackle (Johnson) and his ‘Will’ within a year of playing in the Super Bowl. Will the team pry McNabb out of Philly as it has been constantly rumored for about two years? What will the team look for through the 2008 Draft? A return to form is already difficult in the NFL if you’re not New England or Indianapolis, but the problem is exasperated when such drastic changes occur moments after nearing the pinnacle of the sport.

Say What?!?!: Hey, if anyone has NFL Network, could you give us poor saps with cable a play-by-play on the Packers-Cowboys game?

Goal

Note: This was written on January 22, shortly after the AFC and NFC Conference Championships when both Tony Dungy (Colts) and Lovie Smith (Bears) became the first black head coaches to lead their teams to the Super Bowl.





For the first time, not only will there be a black head coach in the Super Bowl, but there will be two. And guess what?

I wish we didn't have to point it out.

Save your "Uncle Tom" and "hater" references for someone else. I'm not your typical sportswriter or fan. In fact, I'm probably a little more aware of the history of sports than most people. Aware that first and foremost, there is much more I can learn about the games and the world off the field, whether it was the days of Fritz Pollard or the rumblings of fleet-footed Maurice Jones-Drew. For anyone to call themselves a true fan and a true scribe, they must acknowledge what has existed before you, with you and what will come after you. I am also aware of the slow progress of fellow minorities in this business as well as society at large. Being the lightweight, lightskinned, black kid from Castle Hill projects that 'talked white' forced me to be a little more keen and studious of the history of the world; doing a bit more than pondering how the hell I ended up in the projects in the first place. I digress…

Until I got to high school, I never gave a thought about coaches in sports. The only coaches I knew about were the ones that coached my favorite teams. Walsh & Seifert, Riley & Van Gundy, Cox, Keenan for a couple of years. Great or at least good coaches in their own right who knew what it took to win championships through building a team that believed in the unified goal of winning (or trying to win) the final postseason games. As each person who is writing or thinking about the historic accomplishment, I was a kid who despite knowing that minorities were not holding the majority of management and coaching positions, only cared about the men and women playing the games I loved. However, when Lovie Smith and Tony Dungy (very good friends off the field) coached their teams into Super Bowl XLI, the prevailing thought I had was not "this is unbelievable".

I thought about a recent job interview.

I was asked by the interviewer questions that I thought were a bit pervasive. Nothing illegal or illicit, but questions I never expected to be asked in order to get a job. While I am an alumnus of the Bronx High School of Science, I am proud to be an alumnus of Babson College. Top faculty, intensive academics, proximity to Boston and for the most part, I have been blessed to have lived and worked with good-natured people despite the competitiveness of the business world. Yet, as pointed out by some white friends of mine, Babson is quite possibly the whitest college in the land. WASP-y, phenomenally affluent and as many bastions of education, slowly building an ethnically diverse student body. Very slowly, but trying to do so, nonetheless. The interviewer asked me why I didn't consider attending a historically black college (HBCU). I recall arguing with a few folks from high school about not applying to one, saying that while there are some top-notch schools such as Morehouse in the ranks, the most important factors for my choice had absolutely nothing to do with my skin color. As naïve as that sounds to folks, it's the truth to this day. I told the gentleman the truth; I wanted to go to a school not too far from home and I wanted to go to what is the true source of power in this country. While minorities are certainly capable of wielding economic power equal to our white brethren, the reality is that this is yet to be the case. Having been a football player in his youth, my dad gave me a nugget of wisdom; before you change the game, you have to know how to play it first. That last line was the reason why I chose Babson. It's why I have taken this winding road towards my professional career, personal happiness and the overall benefit for those that stand with me.

What does that have to do with Smith and Dungy? The same that is has to do with Herm Edwards, Romeo Crennel, Marvin Lewis and now, Mike Tomlin. The same for Ozzie Newsome, Rick Smith and now Jerry Reese. Each man wanted to be judged by their merits, having been through the trenches as former players. Each man wanted to be respected for their prowess as their coaching, teaching, scouting and managing records have shown to their peers and players. Each man wanted as fair of a shot as the next man. I would argue as many of us minorities participating in society that at the end of the day, these men did not want to be acknowledged as a black coach or general manager. Even the controversial Bob Johnson may rather be recognized as a businessman and the owner of the Charlotte Bobcats as opposed to being the first black majority owner in North American sports history. The same goes for Arte Moreno (Anaheim Angels); to be more than the first Latino majority owner. Each of these men climbed the ranks in sports being well aware of the barriers on management and ownership. They could play, but they can't run the business? Just plain retarded. How did they respond? They hustled. They observed. They waited patiently, but never rested on their laurels or waited for an uproar. They kept hustling and observing. They believed that eventually, they would be taken for their merit, even if they had to politick. They knew that whether asked or not, they were carrying a mantle for those to follow and those who are watching. They wanted to be their own men, not having been denoted as the 'first'. Period. And just as in my own life, they knew that not every white person would stiff-arm them from their goal. My dad would have said they learned how to play the game. Just as one of the few regular black sportswriters in New York City is trying to do.

In his press conference after toppling the Saints, Smith said, "it would feel even better to be the first African-American coach to hold up the world championship trophy." While this is guaranteed come February 4th, I'm going to continue to wait for the first day that we don't have to recognize anything but our merit.