James Loney wins for LA Dodgers

James Loney, Los Angeles Dodgers first baseman, hit a 13th inning homer to push the Dodgers to a 7-6 win over the San Diego Padres this past Sunday. I think we’ll be seeing more power and dominance from this Texas-born consistent player. Currently, the Dodgers stand at the top of the National League, and we should be expecting a great season from them. Plus, Manny Ramirez is back.

Off the field, James Loney is also a superstar. Loney was the 2008 nominee from the Dodgers for the Roberto Clemente Award. This award honors the baseball player who sets a great example in the sport, has outstanding community involvement, and is a significant  team contributor.

Last week, after the Dodgers beat the Rockies, Loney was at the stadium hosting 40 kids from the RBI Los Angeles program (Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities). Loney bats and throws left, but everything is right about his heart. His community involvement group called Loney’s Lounge regularly hosts the RBI Los Angeles kids, treating them to a game and a video-game party. Here’s what Loney has to say about the events:

We definitely enjoy hosting the kids from the RBI program, and it’s become something I look forward to doing. It’s also nice to relax after a game and just hang out with the kids, play Wii and talk about anything they want to talk about.

Keep up the good work, James Loney. Go Dodgers!

Endearing sports story

A blind kid is a designated free throw shooter.

Bush attends historic Army-Navy Game

 

Bush tosses coin to start the Army-Navy rivalry

The historic Army-Navy showdown ended yesterday with a 34-0 Navy victory. President Bush just wanted “the guys in uniform” to win, so I’m sure our Commander-in-Chief was happy with the outcome.

Yesterday’s game was Bush’s third visit to the Army-Navy intense rivalry, his final as President and Commander of the armed forces. This game marked the 109th meeting between the service academies, and Bush divided his time in the stands with first the Army, sitting with wounded soldiers, then with the Navy side.

Navy has now won seven in a row over Army, but as President Bush likes to say, The United States of America is the team that should win, and in this case, as the crowd erupted into chants of “USA, USA,” that is exactly what happened.

Vladimir Guerrero: from life in the Dominican Republic to the Angels

Growing up in the Dominican Republic, Vladimir Guerrero spent his young days herding cattle and milking cows with his grandfather. Guerrero attributes his gloveless batting to all that bare-handed cattle work of his youth. He’s not used to wearing gloves, and isn’t about to start now.

Guerrero hit a home run in the sixth inning to lead the Los Angeles Angels over the Chicago White Sox 2-0 Saturday. He is predicted to go down in the Hall of Fame before the end of his career. He was voted the American League Most Valuable Player in 2004, and received the American League Silver Slugger Award in 2007, among other honors. He previously played for the Montreal Expos.

Vladimir Guerrero is a man of great faith and strong family. He carries his Bible with him everywhere and says “You have to try to deal with whatever God puts in front of you.” His grandfather, who mostly raised him, had 22 children. Guerrero has provided in many ways for his great big family, with both financial assistance and job creation in his homeland.

The LA Times ran a nice article on Guerrero several months back, and highlighted one of the purposes behind Vladimir’s lucrative baseball career:

That somewhere else probably would be Bani, a dusty provincial capital of 62,000 near the Dominican’s southwestern coast. Guerrero and his brother Wilton, a former major leaguer, own more than half a dozen small businesses there, ranging from a construction company and concrete-block factory to a small grocery and a hardware store across the street from the house where they grew up. None of the businesses make much money, Guerrero confirms with another hearty laugh and flash of his megawatt smile. But that’s not the point.

The point is they provide hundreds of jobs and necessary services. Many of the employees are family – and those who aren’t are made to feel as if they are.

“We hope God continues blessing us so we can keep supporting our family. And also the people that work for us,” Guerrero says.

You can next see Guerrero in action when the Detroit Tigers play at Los Angeles tonight, 9 p.m. ET.

Office Humor: Is it just sports fans?

Here are 10 rather humorous situations from the office that have kept me on my toes, sometimes driven me to insanity, sometimes made me laugh, sometimes made me want to hit someone.

1. A St. Louis Cardinals car magnet, which is, um, magnetic, will not stick to your plastic golf cart that you’ll be driving around your Florida retirement village. Yes, I’ll send you a Returns Form, but I won’t refund for senior moments, er, shipping.

2. We don’t ship to Canada. I’m sorry, I can’t just “sneak your province in there;” somehow our American-only credit card processing system knows that Manitoba is not part of the United States.

3. Why are you shocked that I have no control over the snowstorm, the flooding, the golf-ball sized hail, the incompetent UPS driver, and the wrong address you listed, that delayed your package?

4. Sir, you received a New York Yankees large women’s tank top because you ordered a New York Yankees large women’s tank top. Men, I know you’re not used to shopping, have your wife or girlfriend place the order next time.

5. Our “standard” size tire covers are not appropriate for your monster truck. Did you know that plastic vinyl doesn’t stretch? Unless you’re a redneck, “monster size” is not the same as “standard size.”

6. Instead of spitting nails that I can’t ship you a Notre Dame key chain, because the manufacturer no longer has a license to produce Notre Dame products made in China, maybe you should be thankful that your favorite team has chosen to make a difficult economic decision in order to voice a political concern.

7. Pewter emblems will eventually fall off your drinkware if run through the dishwasher one too many times. Read. The. Warning.

8. You are very special. Your alma mater was a lovely place to attend school, I am sure. But can you understand the economics of why we don’t carry a full product line for the North Dakota State Bison?

9. Instead of filing a claim against us with your credit card company, perhaps you should have a heart-to-heart with your grandson who stole your credit card and used it to buy a Steelers watch.

10. I’m just taking orders, ma’am. I’m not responsible for the Indian head being removed from the University of Illinois logo (we can’t all be birds and wild cats, would you just leave the Indian mascots alone, people), it’s not my fault that Dale Jr. is no longer #8, and please don’t hate me because I ran out of Boston Celtics stuff – who knew they’d be so hot this season.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m very thankful for the family business. It’s just that some days, I don’t understand people…is it just sports fans?

Environmental group threatens demonstrations if MLB player doesn’t quit his hunting hobby

Florida Marlins relief pitcher Logan Kensing enjoys hunting on his family’s property from a helicopter. What he does during the offseason – a legal sport, and to control an invasive species (wild pigs) – should be no one’s business. So why is the Palm Beach County Environmental Coalition up in arms? This organization is threatening the Florida Marlins, saying “We want the Marlins to make him agree to stop.”

And what the Palm Beach County Environmental Coalition has done is tantamount to blackmail, in my opinion, and they should be the ones who are worried. Here’s part of the letter received by Florida Marlin’s team owner Jeffrey Loria:

They have 10 days from Monday to reprimand the player for behavior that isn’t one of a role model. If they don’t, we will be persistent. We’ll infiltrate the fans and pull out signs. We’ll picket. If we’re willing to have 27 people arrested, it’s obvious we’re committed.

Here in Oregon, it’s always open season on feral pigs. They “destroy everything,” as Kensing said.

What Went Wrong at Duke

- More than three dozen current and former Duke lacrosse players filed a lawsuit Thursday claiming they suffered emotional distress during the furor over the now-discredited rape case against three of their teammates. A.P. Report.

This new lawsuit comes after the three players wrongfully charged (and later declared innocent) with raping a woman at a team party in March 2006, sued Durham County District Attorney Mike Nifong, the city of Durham, and the police detectives who handled the case. Those three players reached an undisclosed financial settlement with the university in June.

The current lawsuit was filed on behalf of 38 unindicted players and nine members of their families. It seeks unspecified damages for invasion of privacy, emotional distress and other injuries. The lawsuit accuses Duke University, the City of Durham and several school and police officials of fraud, abuse and breach of duty for supporting the prosecution of the case.

The entire team did, indeed, suffer, so I see merit in this case. The University canceled the season of the highly ranked lacrosse team, certainly implying guilt. The facts of the case against the three players are so egregious that perhaps this second lawsuit will send a clear message to Duke University, the city, the police, and the District Attorney’s office:

Do not ignore or suppress evidence. Do not fabricate evidence. Do not idly and callously stand by while students enrolled in your school are harrassed and abused on campus and off. Pay attention to the accuser’s changing story, mental instability and drug-dependence. Assume nothing.

Patriots Spy Tapes: Why is the Government Involved?

Senior Republican Senator Arlen Specter (PA) wrote a letter yesterday to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell wanting to know why the NFL destroyed the tapes of the New England Patriots spying on the New York Jets’ coaching signals.

There has been suspicion of the New England Patriots spy/surveillance tactics for some time, including taping hand signals and interfering with wireless communications between the opposing coach and quarterback. This is against NFL rules and is considered cheating. The spy games ended in September 2007, when Jets coach Eric Mangini, a former assistant under Patriots coach Bill Belichick, tipped off NFL security at the Jets-Patriots game, and a tape was confiscated with clear evidence of the cheating.

And now, apparently, six tapes have been destroyed by the NFL, from the 2007 preseason and 2006. The explanation from football Commissioner Goodell, given today in a new conference from Phoenix, just two days before the Super Bowl:

I am more than willing to speak with the senator. There are very good explanations why the tapes were destroyed by our staff — there was no purpose for them. We wanted to take and destroy that information. They may have collected it within the rules, but we couldn’t determine that. So we felt that it should be destroyed.

Arlen Specter said that explanation “didn’t make any sense at all.” I agree, it didn’t make sense to me either. But what also didn’t make sense to me was why Congress would care about NFL spy tapes. It seems like the NFL took care of the situation with the biggest fine ever imposed on a coach in team history. Goodell fined Belichick $500,000 and docked the team $250,000 and a first-round draft pick. But here’s the explanation for the involvement of Congress: antitrust exemption. As Specter explained his reasoning today, he inevitably brought up a sore subject:

The matter may not compare to the CIA’s destruction of interrogation tapes, but I do believe that it is a matter of importance. It’s not going to displace the stimulus package or the Iraq war, but I think the integrity of football is very important, and I think the National Football League has a special duty to the American people — and further the Congress — because they have an antitrust exemption.

What that seems to mean is that because the NFL has been given an exception by the government, it is subject to the government. To understand an exception to antitrust, it’s helpful to know what antitrust means. Basically, its purpose is to ensure a competitive free market system unrestrained by monopolies, and dates back to the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890. The purpose of the Act, according to Wikipedia:

Despite its name, the Act has fairly little to do with “trusts”. Around the world, what U.S. lawmakers and attorneys call “Antitrust” is more commonly known as “competition law.” The purpose of the act was opposition combinations of entities that could potentially harm competition, such as monopolies or cartels. Its reference to trusts today is anachronism. At the time of its passage, the trust was synonymous with monopolistic practice, because the trust was a popular way for monopolists to hold their businesses, and a way for cartel participants to create enforceable agreements.

The Sherman Act was not specifically intended to prevent the dominance of an industry by a specific company, despite misconceptions to the contrary. According to Senator George Hoar, an author of the bill, any company that “got the whole business because nobody could do it as well as he could” would not be in violation of the act. The law attempts to prevent the artificial raising of prices by restriction of trade or supply. In other words, innocent monopoly, or monopoly achieved solely by merit, is perfectly legal, but acts by a monopolist to artifically preserve his status, or nefarious dealings to create a monopoly, are.

It’s interesting that a year ago, in December 2006, Specter wanted to introduce legislation to eliminate the NFL’s exemption from antitrust laws. So the New England Patriots cheating scandal is just one more reason for him to push that view, not the reason for his view. The issue Specter cited back in 2006 was the NFL’s ability to negotiate exclusive sports packages, such as DirecTV’s Sunday Ticket, a programming package that allows TV viewers to watch out-of-market football games. There seems to be a consumer fairness issue here, and a definite monopoly.

Should the NFL’s antitrust status be changed? The NFL has only a limited exemption from antitrust laws, and it was granted this exception under the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961, which allowed teams to pool their national broadcast rights for exclusive TV network contracts. This leaves a lot of viewers in the dark if they don’t subscribe to certain networks, and that has made for millions of angry football fans as well as legislators pushing to overturn the antitrust exception. However…

Mr. Specter should explain again exactly what the NFL exclusive network contracts have to do with destroying spy tapes. The antitrust issue doesn’t really seem relevant to Belichick’s tricky tactics. I don’t like the fact that the Patriots’ coach would resort to cheating, but to drag the government into this?

Patriots, Giants: Who Will Make History? Eli Manning.

Patriots v. Giants. The Perfect Patriots, 18-0, head to the Super Bowl XLII on February 3, 2008 in Glendale, Arizona. The only other team to complete an undefeated season was the 1972 Miami Dolphins. I’d say the Patriots have the odds against them, actually, even though they are widely predicted to win. The New York Giants (13-6) have quarterback Eli Manning. I think Peyton’s little brother will make history. The Giants have won 10 straight games on the road, and Eli Manning has been flawless in the postseason. Although the Las Vegas oddsmakers have made the Patriots a 13.5 point favorite, the younger Manning is getting hot at just the right time.

This is not the Manning that most fans expected to see in the Super Bowl this year. The reigning Indianapolis Colts, led by quarterback Peyton Manning, was the expected star. However, after the Colts lost to the San Diego Chargers in the divisional playoffs, the focus eventually shifted to the other Manning.

The Chicago Tribune commented today on Eli Manning:

He has thrown 85 passes in these playoffs without an interception and showed more mettle and better concentration in outplaying Brett Favre in the NFC championship game.

The author did acknowledge that Manning is a young quarterback, possibly still on his way up, possibly not going any higher. However, Eli Manning certainly seems to have hit his stride. The New York Times reported today about a conversation Manning had with his brother, Peyton.

“He told me we were past the point of him giving me advice and that it might be the other way around,” Manning said. “I don’t know if I believe that, but it was good to hear him say that. He congratulated me and said he was proud of me.”

Aside from being an outstanding football player, Eli Manning promotes charitable work and giving. This past October, he led the USA Weekend’s Make a Difference Day, and had this to say:

My Dad, Archie, was an NFL quarterback who always gave back to the community, sending autographed pictures to charities, hosting an annual golf event for cystic fibrosis and helping dozens of organizations, from the Boy Scouts to the American Cancer Society.

He never said that my brothers, Cooper and Peyton, and I had to do anything, but that if we did, we should do it for the right reasons. Because if you’re not excited about what you’re doing, it’s not going to do much good.

I enjoy working with kids. I’m helping to raise $2.5 million for a state-of-the-art clinic at the Blair E. Batson Children’s Hospital in Jackson, Miss., a part of the University of Mississippi, where I went to college.

You can get that same great feeling on Make A Difference Day by helping people in your path. Join a food drive, take your family to clean a park, ask your club or office to team up to paint a homeless shelter. Whatever you do, like my dad said, “Do it for the right reasons,” and you’ll do good.

And have you heard of trading for charity? This is a unique idea, and perfect for New York, famous for Wall Street. Several months ago, Eli Manning and a fellow player were involved in a Global Charity Day:

With the growing movement to turn the anniversary of September 11, 2001 into a day of charity work and community service, Giants offensive lineman Grey Ruegamer and quarterback Eli Manning joined the trend by participating in BGC Partners Third Annual Global Charity Day which raised over $6 million dollars for charity.

BGC Partners, a worldwide inter-dealer brokerage firm, pledged that 100% of revenues generated through trading on September 11th would be donated to a number of charities around the world, including the United States, United Kingdom, Europe, Asia and Australia. In the US, the receiving charities included The Cancer Research Institute, Books for Kids Project FIND, Wounded Warrior Project, Blythedale Children’s Hospital, and NARSAD.

Grey and Eli were not just casual visitors to BGC’s offices; they were an integral part of the day’s activity. It was a hectic scene as the whole office was busy with transactions, and after greeting employees and receiving a tutorial on what each group in the company handled, Grey and Eli quickly found themselves joining in on the action.

Both Grey and Eli spent time on the phone with other brokers encouraging them to complete trades on that day in order to raise money for the six charities represented. The office was a different atmosphere than what the players are most used to, but the cheers they received when a trade was finalized was similar to one heard during a game, and represented yet another donation for the six deserving charities.

For now, sports fans just get to prepare their Super Bowl parties, watch ESPN highlights and interviews, and wait for the big day.

Washington Redskins to move on without Joe Gibbs

Joe Gibbs announced today that he is stepping down as coach of the Washington Redskins, for the second time. He retired as coach and president of the Redskins, but will remain as special advisor to owner Dan Snyder. The 67-year-old Gibbs will be discussing his retirement this afternoon at Redskins Park.

Joe Gibbs had his first stint as coach of the Washington Redskins from 1981-1992, earning three Superbowl wins and four NFC championships. This outstanding performance led to his induction into the Hall of Fame in 1996. Joe Gibbs was the only coach to win three Super Bowls with three different quarterbacks and three different starting running backs. It’s clear where the winning came from.

The first retirement was so Gibbs could focus on his NASCAR team, Joe Gibbs Racing, winner of three NASCAR Sprint Cup Championships. At that time he also cited health problems and a desire for more time with his family. Gibbs had no plans of returning to coaching, but Snyder got him back in 2004-07, to revive a Redskins team that was again floundering. Gibbs’ second tenure as head of the Washington Redskins was not as stellar as the first, but he still took the team to the postseason in two of the four seasons. And his firm leadership-style coaching this season, no matter the win-loss record, will surely go down in football history as something only a Hall of Fame coach could accomplish.

Gibbs’ contract extended for another season, however, various difficulties seem to have combined to cut this short. Possibly the death of safety Sean Taylor on November 27, 2007, was a factor. Following Taylor’s funeral, the Redskins came back from a mediocre season to win the final four games of the regular season, winning a place in the NFC playoffs. However, that emotional winning streak ended Saturday, with the Redskins loss to the Seattle Seahawks. On Monday, Gibbs commented:

It was the toughest [season] for me. When you go through a season like that, for a while it’s kind of hard to regrasp reality.

A family crisis has also been on Gibbs’ mind. Last January, his two-year-old grandson, Taylor, was diagnosed with leukemia. Joe Gibbs loves his grandbabies, and this medical trauma has taken its toll. I’m sure Gibbs will reveal more details of his retirement in the coming days, but surely his long, hard hours on the field, the emotional toll of it all, and the pull of his family have finally called him away.

Joe Gibbs is known as a hard working man of faith, both on and off the field. An outspoken Christian, he has mentored hundreds of players in more than just field plays, but life itself. His passion for providing a strong foundation for young people led Gibbs to found the Youth For Tomorrow center in nearby Manassas, Virginia, a “residential program combining character rehabilitation, quality education, personal faith, and life skills,” according to the mission statement. Since opening in 1986, Youth for Tomorrow has served 800 young people. The campus includes several specialized schools, a library, gymnasium, computer labs, auditorium, and more.

Photo Credits: Getty Images