Vick

More than cheering on the home team, booing the opponent or throwing a $10.75 beer at a player, something that we non-athletes tend to excel in is jumping to conclusions. And so the news of the Philadelphia Eagles’ signing of Michael Vick led to plenty of speculation; some founded and based on logic and the nature of the NFL while the rest was based on sheer hate, stupidity and “Philly being Philly”*.

Because no active athlete other than Kobe Bryant has been more scrutinized in this decade than Vick (arguably even more than the Los Angeles Lakers star), this signing gains attention that neither the NFL or its associated fans and media have ever encountered. You’ve seen enough analysis from beat reporters, former players and coaches, fantasy experts, legal experts, etc. This post has been edited so much that most of the analysis seems to be redundant and pointless to throw into the pot. Yet, there are a few things that we should consider.

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For starters, let this be said in regards to those who are protesting and representing animal rights groups. Most of the Vick supporters are dismissing your message not just because of some hierarchy of justice or an outrage towards the lack of venom towards other prominent individuals who have and continue to commit crimes. They look at the methods – or lack thereof – to make the issue known.

Coming up in the Bronx in the eighties and up until the mid-nineties, there was a fairly-known dogfighting and cockfighting ring in my old neighborhood. Never saw PETA or the Humane Society or anyone representing the interest of the animals involved. Never saw law enforcement come around to bust this thing up. There were, however, plenty of people who walked around the blocks with pit bulls, Rottweilers and other breeds that were used for fighting. So when Vick said that “it’s part of our culture” statement was an excuse to justify his actions, the reality is that these groups are so far removed from where the actions take place that the statement has validity.

Maybe PETA didn’t feel like coming around the projects, but the shotgun approach that its executive board takes DOES NOT WORK in an era where people have become desensitized to their tactics. Waiting for some fashion show to disrupt or hoping that some celebrity wants to pose nude for a magazine ad to make a statement has done little to actually educate people on the seriousness of animal cruelty.

So, instead of protesting and boycotting the Eagles, why don’t you get down to the grassroots level and go to the communities to educate people on the perils. Vick’s crime brought this to light more than any other event in history,

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The other manner of protest that I found rather interesting comes from fans who have claimed they will essentially disown the Eagles by not purchasing merchandise or not watching a game until he is gone from the team. The latter makes far more sense if this was a losing team, but as sports always proves, everyone loves a winner. To not watch games lowers ratings and can convince advertising partners to shrink their investments with the team.

However, do people really update their team gear annually or even semi-annually? I could understand buying a new hat or adding some team paraphernalia like signed balls and Super Bowl DVDs every few years. Yet, the folks who say that they won’t buy another team thread again were probably are better off not grabbing the new Eagles jacket since they barely broke in the jacket from last season.

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On the field, no one knows what kind of player they will get in Vick nor how exactly he will be used. However, something that we should keep in mind is that just because the Wildcat has become the new craze of the NFL, it doesn’t mean that he was signed for that purpose. Vick amazed the football world before the Wildcat and if the Miami Dolphins didn’t take the New England Patriots to the woodshed with that formation last season, Vick would have still been a prized commodity.

Analysts on television and online have spent years picking apart his passing abilities, dismissing him as a less-than-spectacular passer who just happens to run. Yet, let me remind you that Rex Grossman played in the Super Bowl. If Jay Cutler did not fight his way out of Denver (and not that the City of Broad Shoulders was exactly behind Kyle Orton), Bears fans would have been jumping on the Vick bandwagon. Vick didn’t remind anyone of Dan Marino and certainly isn’t in the realm of Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, Drew Brees or even his new teammate, Donovan McNabb as a passer. Yet, just as those quarterbacks, coaches placed enough faith in his abilities that he could win games by any means necessary.

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Finally, “Philly being Philly” is akin to the infamous and clichéd “Manny being Manny”. What I mean here is that those of us with a vested interest in sports – no matter what’s the game – have come to expect fans from there to display a level of obnoxiousness and crudeness that is leaps and bounds above anywhere else. This isn’t said to disrespect or dismiss passions in the city nor does it make other places seem like homes for monks ('Duk at Big League Stew rightfully points at some in Wrigleyville because of that classless act on Wednesday). However, there is good chunk there that does embrace the unfortunate history of crass behavior, continuing to perpetuate the perception of it being a poor sports town.

Depression

Catching this article while watching the Denver Nuggets host the Dallas Mavericks for Game 5 of their Western Semis series, it’s hard to not say something.

In an article from Jeré Longman of the New York Times, Philadelphia Eagles offensive lineman Shawn Andrews delves into an ongoing personal battle with depression. When you hear about NFL players suffering from this affliction these days, there are two cabinets where those stories are typically filed. Either the player may be suffering the effects of almost a lifetime of blows to the head from tackles and hits or the player may be depressed from life after the adulation and media attention.

As you read Andrews’ account, you’d find that his depression is as complex as Rubik’s cube, yet some of the roots are very easy to trace.

This is fascinating for two reasons. For starters, to even get ready to play a game takes a ton of work, let alone for someone whose emotions can dip so drastically. It’s beyond preparing for the physical toll that the body will take, but the mental focus that is necessary to perform at least adequately enough to stay on the field. When Andrews mentioned his lack of interest in watching games that he’s not playing in, it made me wonder what it has to take for him to sit through game film in his career, even if it’s a major part of his job. Also, if there’s no aggression to channel into brute force – something that seems like a requirement for anyone that plays along the offensive or defensive lines – then what does Andrews do to make up for it?

Secondly, considering how serious depression is, I wonder how prevalent this may be in locker rooms around the league. Longman made a comment saying that the football culture is unforgiving towards something that can be perceived as a weakness, such as battling some emotional problems. Yet, American society is far more open discussing clinical issues than one would think. Awareness of depression, ADHD and social anxiety disorder (as discussed recently by Zack Greinke of the Kansas City Royals) increased thanks in part to countless media reports, medical studies and a few people brave enough to publicly disclose their conditions. I doubt that Andrews’ reveal will start a wave of mass confessions, but at least it can allow for players in any sport to not feel any stigma or fear backlash for opening up.

Virus

There is probably no more undervalued component of business than organizational behavior, save for ethics. When managers, executives and owners set out to add (or sadly these days, subtract) personnel, the core objective is to find the most capable performers of tasks possible. No matter how much we believe in being über-talented individuals with über-reserves of awesomeness, the reality is that talent > awesomeness.

Now there’s no disputing the importance of emotional intelligence in the workplace, in fact, this Scribe certainly admits to having a laughably higher EQ than IQ. Emotional intelligence shifts morale for better or worse, allowing or discouraging employees to utilize their full skill sets. However, nothing will cost an employer, regardless of size and scope more revenue, profits, prestige and clients than incompetence or negligence of duties.

Constantly, there’s chatter about teams bringing in ‘players of good character’, ‘savvy veterans’, ‘lockerroom guys’ and my favorites, ‘winners’ and ‘leaders’. You’d be led to believe that every team is like the scene in Kindergarten Cop as ‘Ah-nold’… err, John Kimble has to give discipline to a classroom full of rambunctious four and five year olds.

Yet, for those of us who have been around these teams in some capacity, this isn’t the case, at least while on the job. Despite the singular focus of becoming an elite athlete that they all exhibit and the transgressions that a few carry with them, there are such diverse personalities throughout every roster that the irascible tend to be offset, if not overwhelmed by the affable, reserved and cautious.

That’s the intrigue of Terrell Owens’ fourth stop in his eventual Hall of Fame career. In one of the most surprising acquisitions in recent NFL history, the Buffalo Bills signed the wideout to a one-year deal this weekend. Surprising not in that he was signed or as ensuing details emerge that his agent Drew Rosenhaus may have been 100% right about the interest around the league, but in that T.O. is actually in Buffalo.

Much has been made about his previous stops and deservingly so. His feuds with team personnel are NFL parables on the relationships between coaches and players, between teammates and between players and management. Yet, as many have and will continue to write about until the end of time, the tantalizing talents he possesses, no matter how much of a pain in the ass he may be, are hard for any struggling team to pass up. It’s akin to what most of us go through in our professional and/or academic lives.

When a company brings in ‘that guy’ or has to deal with the affectionately-labeled Dragon Lady in order to jumpstart productivity, the immediate reaction may be moans and groans. This person’s well-chronicled history – be it through news of him or her being a change agent at other firms or word of mouth of interactions with industry colleagues – will present challenges to the current employees. How will this person screw up our lives may be the initial thought, but will this person bring us to the promised land – greater profits, improved quality of work, revamped company culture, stability, etc. – is the fundamental issue that all will consider in some degree.

And so like many others for the next few months, we’ll ask if Ralph Wilson made the right move for his team by bringing in someone considered a locker-room leper in San Francisco, jaded and jealous in Philadelphia and a distrustful distraction in Dallas. We’ll wonder if the mercenary-like one year deal will remind T.O. how much of a precarious position he is now in because of his controversies over the course of his career; that a team will rather use him for short-term gains and force his combative persona to earn a long-term commitment.

We’ll wonder not only about his relationship with Trent Edwards (and for argument’s sake, current backup J.P. Losman), but with Lee Evans, Marshawn Lynch and the rest of his new teammates.

We’ll wonder if Owens’ arrival really helps the Bills supplant AFC East division champion Miami, the defensively-retooled New York Jets and a Patriots team with Tom Brady’s imminent return to the gridiron.

We’ll wonder if Wilson and head coach Dick Jauron can convince him that at least for 2009 that he can trust them to deal with him fairly.

Most of all, we’ll wonder if Owens – despite having a few good years of elite play at the age of 35 – finally gets it or is truly a virus that can cripple the structure and identity of a franchise, as was the case in the past.

Say What?!?!: An interesting take from Jason Cole from Yahoo! Sports.

Excellente

Watching the NFL's conference championship games from Cancun was an experience to behold.

I have not attempted to learn and speak another language since senior year of high school; that was after four years of strictly French. Despite having grown up with a good bit of exposure to Spanish (come on, it's New York City), it was not a language that flowed from the tip of the tongue. And so, for those of you who know, give us a little translation beyond my multilingual excellence.

The video that was originally uploaded and intended to live here was deleted, but it will be re-edited for proper use.

What was interesting about the Spanish telecast is how much the networks went out of the way to (for the lack of a better phrase) de-Americanize their presentations. First of all, the in-studio teams (apparently) are handling the announcing of games. Just as many international competitions may employ the same Throughout both conference title games, they did not show either FOX's or CBS's announcers and sideline reporters (or they were in view of the players in post-game comments coming off the field). Also, because these games were telecasted by Spanish-language networks, they were not laden with cross promotions of other programming, a definitive and maddening American staple.

However, just as FOX Stateside, SKY Sports (Rupert Murdoch's international telecaster) does show just five commercials over and over and over again. Azteca Deportes (the telecaster for the CBS game) interspliced the CBS broadcast with clips from the NFL Network.

And is you must know, even in Cancun, you can't get the NFL Network.

Beat

For those who are not near the NYC area or just want to see a preview of this week's version of the New York Beacon, here's a paragraph from this week's forthcoming Giants article.

As much as much of the media wanted to pin this loss to being distracted by the (Plaxico) Burress saga, the players and head coach Tom Coughlin didn’t bite. While Coughlin was quick to say that there was no mental lapse because of the off-field drama, defensive end Justin Tuck was more direct. “We got beat”, said the fourth-year player from Notre Dame before getting a few chuckles about how serious he was. In their struggles to try to get to (Donovan) McNabb, Tuck added that what didn’t work for them “was that (the Eagles) had 8-man, 7-man protections. I think they respected this (defensive) line and how we get pressure on the quarterback and they did things to stop us from doing it.”

While looking for his player page on the Giants' website, I did find Tuck's website (which I imagine will be updated rather soon).
Depending on some prior committments, I'll likely take on the New Jersey Nets beat at some time in the next few weeks. This will mean that I won't have the time off between the end of the Giants season and the start of the Yankee. However, I haven't covered an NBA game since I started working for the Beacon in 2005. More information to come.
In the meantime, if you see the paper on Thursday, just spare 75 cents... that is after you blew most of your cash on thirty copies of The Dark Knight.

Outrage?

Despite the obvious swipes taken at the event that is our Presidential election, Scribe usually strays from non-sports topics because for many, sports are a diversion along with a big business. With that said, this Gawker link was sent to me this morning and to describe what CNBC's Mad Money host Jim Cramer says here is the absolute truth is an understatement. Gawker is far from my cup of tea, but they get props for this.

No matter how much speculation there is about how Black Monday on Wall Street will affect every single American, there's not a shred of doubt that we are quicker to rail on DeSean Jackson than Richard S. Fuld. So regardless on your personal opinion on Cramer - a former sports writer, mind you (that had to have been interesting) - just watch.

It's unfortunate that I cannot post the video itself into Scribe, but if anyone knows how to (since it's not YouTube), please assist.