Video Replays may not be the Problem

    The match between New Zealand and Mexico in the Confederation tournament in Russia was an ugly match. As a person who resides in the CONCACAF region I tend to follow the Mexican national team quite closely. Monitor their moves on a weekly basis. It was an awful game from El Tri. Not sure if it was due to the line up changes or the team didn't have much respect for their opponents. The all whites came out in all black today, but they played organized and were dangerous on the long balls which caught the Mexican defense out of position on more than one occasion. That is just an ugly game, no one can really change that. Blame the Mexican head coach? sure, but he isn't the first and the only one who has tinkered with his line up when facing a "weaker" side. The ugly part came later on.
   The center referee had quite a handful on his plate therefore I wont use his name. We are human and mistakes are a given. What is special about the 2017 Confederations Cup in Russia is that it will be the first international tournament that will use video assisting replay. Or VAR. Which is a big deal for multiple reasons. One being some are strongly against it because it will ruin the beautiful game. A game that is run by an organization that is accused of bribes, tax fraud, and money laundry but the line is drawn on technological advancements. To be fair the proper argument that those who are against VAR make a fair point. That the referee checking video replays will halt or slow the game down. Which is true, but I will counter that wasting game time isn't new. When a player gets sent off or a penalty awarded it can take up to three minutes just to resume play. That is why there is stoppage time added at the end of each half. The center referee had quite a few mistakes, but it wasn't because of the VAR. They were due to human error. Diego Reyes and Rafael Marquez were not awarded yellow cards when they purposely committed a foul to stop play. Now both of those were not dangerous plays and both occasions the players pulled and yanked on their opponents shirts. It can be seen as more tactical than dirty, but both merit a yellow card for it. Most fans, if not all, were aware of that. The referee had to use the VAR to give Diego Reyes the yellow card which should have already been given! There was no if, and, or buts here. That led to a scuffle where a shoving match arose and potential red card offenses could have been committed. THAT is when VAR should come in to productive use. Not to give a yellow that should have been given. That was just awful. That being said I will give credit for the center referee for actually going to the sideline and watching the video himself. The prior two incidents when referees used VAR they trusted the men upstairs. Which is not wrong, but the image it portrays is a negative one. The center referee is putting a lot of trust in others when he has the capability to check himself and receive upstairs information when it is HE or SHE that will be attacked and blame for any little blunder.
  That being said the referee's error was not VAR, even though I strongly believe the VAR was not used properly, driven. I was human error and poor officiating. That being said, this shouldn't be the death sentence to end VAR. It will take time for refs to know how to properly and effectively use it. This match should not define the use of VAR. It was an ugly match that shouldn't be watched as a replay in the first place.      

Let the Bats Fly

   Baseball, America's past time, a sport that is engraved in the nation's DNA is still alive and well. It wont die out anytime soon.Now I must admit as a child baseball was not my first choice, but as time continued to move forward and I matured just a bit, baseball has become a lot more interesting to me. It did help that a professor that I looked up to assigned the college class baseball related assignments. I appreciate and respect the sport. As a younger little person I enjoyed playing the game, yet watching the major league games was dreadful to my short attention spanned mind. Now I can watch the occasional regular season game and stay tuned in for the most part. There have been a few incidents in the past few weeks that has brought up the debate about baseball's unspoken rules. Plenty of sports writers and pundits have given their two cents on the topic. The incidents that has given 24 hour sports news outlets material is accredited to major league pitchers intentionally hitting the opposing team's batter. There a few circumstances that merit a batter from receiving a "deserving" fastball to the body.
   One incident could be if a player, say like Manny Machado, who slid into second with his cleats up hitting and in this instance hurting the field player on the opposing team. The opposing team's pitcher who is looking out for his teammate here throws a 90 mph fastball to Machado when its he is up to bat. Machado takes the hit and walks to first. It was expected. Now this particular series between the Baltimore Orioles and Boston Red Sox was intense from the start. Multiple factors played into this series turning into an emotional fiery exchange between two AL East teams. Chris Sale decided to join in on he fun and aim for Manny Machado's back side the following game. Machado did not take to kindly to Sale's self imposed unwritten rule regulator.
  A second incident for a major league player to be hit by a pitch is if they flip their bat. To clarify, if a batter hits a home run and flips his bat, the pitcher can take that as show boating, offensive, and even somehow disrespecting the game. The next time that same batter is up at the plate fans, players, coaches and even the umpires know what's going to happen.
   There are a few more unspoken rules in baseball that can lead the discussion to continue on for days, but the issue is not about the unspoken rules. Sports in general have a variety of certain rules or etiquette that are followed in that particular sport. The issue I take part with baseball is how it allows players to solve these issues on their own in a very dangerous manner. I question whether certain sports fans or people in general lack a basic understanding in fundamental physics. This is a hard spherical object that is being launched at 90 miles per hour at a human body. I am not sure what else is needed to explain that getting hit by anything tends to hurt especially if it's coming at you at such a high speed.
   The league tends to no get involved nor implements any rules or policies to prevent pitchers from intentionally hitting a batter. The occasional home plate umpire might read the situation and throw out the pitcher, but no suspension or fine will follow. My solution, have batters throw their bats at the pitchers that intentionally hit them. This way it becomes like a western stand off, a duel, but instead of it being bullets it can be replaced by a bat and baseball. This solution works out great for two reasons. First reason is that if batters throw their bats at pitchers, the pitcher might think a bit longer before he acts on throwing a baseball 90 mph at a person with a bat. Second reason, the entertainment value will dramatically increase! Move over UFC and WWE baseball is here with some real action. Or, just bare with me here, pitchers can stop throwing fastballs at batters and learn to control their temper tantrums a bit more. I prefer the former, but like I mentioned before baseball isn't my first choice go to sport. I haven't watched enough to gauge a better feel for the game. But I do know stupid when I see it.

The Good Ol Days.....

    The world of sports experienced a familiar reminiscent dose of racism this past week. Two players in particular were at the receiving end of the abuse. Sulley Muntari and Adam Jones.

   

   Sulley Muntari, the 32 year old Ghanaian midfielder plays for Pescara in Italy's Series A. On 30 April 2017, Pescara visited Cagliari. The score ended 1-0 in favor of the home team, but the interesting aspect of this particular game was the incident that occurred towards the end of the match. Sulley Muntari heard fans chant racial slurs that were directed towards him. Muntari went up to the referee to let him know what he had heard. In Italy, due to the level of visible racism in the soccer stadiums the league has intended to combat this by implementing procedures to eradicate this buffoonery. The first step is that the referee states a warning over the stadium's speaker system. If the racist chants have not stopped the match is stopped. If needed the match can be abandoned. On Sunday none of these counter measurements were implemented by Daniele Minelli, the center referee for the match. Muntari was booked for complaining to the referee about what he heard. Muntari ended up walking of the pitch before disappearing into the players tunnel he looked into the stands slapping his forearm with his opposite hand to indicate that This is me, This is my color. For his humanistic response to such vile abuse Muntari was shown a second yellow card, therefore receiving a red for walking off the pitch without permission. Indicating that he will be suspended for the next game. Daniele Minelli, "the altruist", thought it would be fitting to have Muntari suspended and to sit out the next game in order to avoid being racially abuse for a second consecutive week. As of today at this time the Series A disciplinary committee has overturned Muntari's suspension. That same committee cannot punish the fans or the home team due to it's own rules, only 10 people were involved and therefore not reaching the minimum 1% of the fans needed to be racist in the stadium in order to act on a disciplinary action. 

  Without missing a beat, the day after, across the pond where baseball is played, in the civil rights proud ground breaking the color barrier America's historical past time, descended into the twilight zone. The Boston Red Sox hosted the Baltimore Orioles. Adam Jones, Baltimore's center fielder, witnessed fans shouting racial slurs and targeted by a peanut tosser. The next day Adam Jones was given a standing ovation by the Boston crowd during his first at bat. The Red Sox's front office came out in defense and support for Adam Jones and condemned anyone who used racial slurs in Fenway park, threatening that they will be banned for life (Which they stood by, a few fans have been band). I believe that the Red Sox organization handled the situation as best as possible. The troubling aspect of this was not the Red Sox organization or the league, but what one former baseball analyst said. Curt Schilling said that Adam Jones created a situation. That he needed proof in order to believe that Jones was being targeted with racial abuse. Schilling's defended his outrageous claim by citing that he has heard his black teammates use the N-word 100 million times and went on twitter to some how demonstrate proof that based on the artist and music a person listen's to is an indicator of what should or shouldn't be offensive to them.

   The troubling aspect in these two similar events isn't the big leagues or the front office of the teams, however, I do believe the Italian FA did act in a molasses manner towards a situation that should have been resolved the next day. What is worrisome is the individuals with certain power and authority are yielding towards inaction rather than any action. As I mentioned before the the leagues and front office of the teams did their part in a swift, respectful and not over reaching manner. No one was unfairly punished. Muntari had his suspension over turned and the Red Sox organization warned their fans or any other visitor about their zero tolerance racial abuse policy (and kept true to their threat). So what astonishes me the most is that men like Curt Schilling demand proof for such horrendous acts. Why? As a self-proclaimed person of science I believe that facts should be observed and results questioned and analyzed. But, in this situation what is the purpose of questioning and demanding proof from Adam Jones? To call him a liar and diva seeking attention because racism doesn't exist in sports and in particularly baseball? I am curious to why then stadiums across the United States honor the number 42. As for the Italian referee, Daniele Minelli, what if Muntari was lying? Would announcing over the stadium's speaker system to remind the fans that racism has no place in the soccer world cause such a PR uproar? Minells's inaction and Schilling's support for inaction unless someone personally provides proof to him directly is an indication that there is plenty of work needed to be done to combat racism in sports and in our communities. There have been great strides across the global sporting community to eliminate those with racist mentalities from barring into stadiums to spew their filth onto others. Yet, we need to vigilante amongst our own sporting communities that particular individuals are not fueling racism with inaction and denial.                           

Then there were 48....

It will rain cats and dogs. The Earth will crash and burn into the sun if a huge meteor doesn't strike it first. FIFA did it again. FIFA members voted to expand the number of teams in the world cup from 32 to 48 starting in 2026. Those greedy FIFA leaders. The first or the main reason to my belief is that FIFA expanded the number of participants in the world cup is due to money. That is no secret. But, please everyone brace oneself. No, not because I am about to agree with most US soccer writers and claim that FIFA has just destroyed and ruined the world cup. I will state right here and now, this might be a good thing FIFA has done. 

  

For starters the purpose of FIFA is to govern the sport of football worldwide. Their purpose is to serve all the nations not just a few. One of the goals for FIFA is to make football/soccer accessible to as many people as possible. There are 211 nations under FIFA, by increasing the number to 48 that means that around 25% of the football participating nations will be able to take part in the tournament. Let's address the cons first, the quality of play will be lower. That is true. But, I see that as an initial problem. In 1998 the number of teams participating in the summer spectacle increased from 24 to 32. In 1994 the United States was in the tournament due to the fact that they were the host. The increase of teams allowed for the United States to qualify for the trip to France in 1998. One could argue that the United States soccer team did not belong at all. They lost all three matches, easily the worst team among the 32 teams. I am not here to critique the quality of the United States. One doesn't have to be a fan to acknowledge the improvement and growth of the national team since then. In fact, if the United States team does not qualify for the 2018 world cup it will be seen as a huge failure. The point is that increasing the amount of teams will allow for other under developed footballing nations to have the opportunity to grow. How will other nations grow their national programs? Money. Each nation that makes it to the world cup is rewarded prize money. In 2014, the 16 nations that did not make the knockout stage were rewarded $8 million dollars. What FIFA is proposing is to award all participating members at least $5 million for making it to the tournament. That means that around 25% of the nations will be awarded. Nations like Jamaica, China, Panama, Honduras, and multiple nations from Africa and Asia would benefit from the money to improve their national soccer programs. Which is in fact the best part in all of this. When fans around the world sit to watch the world cup most of them know who to bet on. The Germanys, Spains, Brazils, Argentinas, Frances, and Italys of the world will be pretty safe bets on winning the whole thing. The format of 32 teams is great and I personally enjoy it. However, it does seem to be a bit redundant. Especially most of the third games in the group stage. Most of them are boring spectacles where the group is pretty much set and teams throw out their B team. I would enjoy more knockout rounds in the FIFA proposed 16 groups of 3 teams where two teams advance from each group. These single knockout matches raise the stake instantly compared to a third group game that feels forced.

These are still what ifs. A lot of what ifs. All FIFA did was vote on increasing the number of participating teams from 32 to 48. They now have the task of assigning the number of births each confederation will receive and the actual format of the tournament is still not set in place either. As I mentioned earlier this can benefit a lot of nations. However, FIFA still needs to be transparent in their dealings as well as enforce the national federations to be held accountable for the money they receive and how it will be used. There are other problems that FIFA still needs to take into consideration and work out befor the 2026 world cup. Yet, to all the dooms day and apocalyptic voices I say, hold on. Step back and lets see how FIFA moves on from here. Change is uncomfortable and scary at times, but it's FIFA. This can go in ANY direction. FIFA has a BILLION dollars in reserves, I see it as a benefit if that money is spent on more nations to improve their national footballing programs than having it sit in a Swiss bank account.     

 

College Bowls Don't Matter

The amount of bowl games for college football is ridiculous. This year alone there will have been over 40 bowl games played. Six of those bowl games are prestigious enough to win and truly savor the victory, but due to the college football playoffs there are only two bowl games that have any real significance. Based on the rotating of the six prestigious bowl games (Capitol One Orange Bowl, Chick-fil-A Peach bowl, PlayStation Fiesta Bowl, Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic, Rose Bowl, and Allstate Sugar Bowl) two of these bowl games are host to the semi-final games for the CFP depending on the year. The NCAA has halted for any new bowl games starting up for the time being, till 2019 to be exact. The college football playoffs started in 2014, it was designed and intended to demonstrate to the entire nation which college football program is the best one in the country. And of course along with excitement for the fans and extra cash flow from sponsors to the executives. It is still too early to accurately predict what will be the result of the college playoff system, but a safe bet is that it will diminish the importance of bowl games. To be fair, the bowl games were already losing value do to the increase of more bowl games appearing left and right causing inflation of quality and importance. It's simple. 

Bowl games already feel pointless. This year the Rose Bowl was a consolation prize between Penn State and USC. It was quite the spectacle. Last second field goal to win the game. However, with the college playoffs in the picture all USC really won was a bowl game with history. While the PlayStation Fiesta Bowl victory earned the winning participant a spot in the college football playoff national championship. Making the Rose Bowl almost as meaningless as the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl this year. Now the Rose Bowl will have some more meaning reinstated when it will host the semi-final for the college playoffs. As one may catch on, these bowls have quite the Mickey Mouse names. Even the prestigious college bowls are not safe from being re-branded, I mean renamed. A person can search up the list of all the bowl games that are held and will catch on to the pattern in the naming of these football bowls. College football bowls do not matter any more. The College Football Playoffs has already pushed it to the back seat on this cash generating vehicle. However, these college bowls will not vanish any time soon. As long as these bowls continue to be named after corporations, the NCAA will gladly accept the money on behalf of the players. Due to their amateur status NCAA athletes are not allowed to receive any form of payment. I would like to clarify, the bowl games do not matter to most fans, the importance rest on the money being generated for a non-profit organization. 

   

The UEFA Champions league....Cash Cow.

   This weekend is the start of the footballing season across Europe. A few leagues such as the Premier league (England) and Ligue 1(French) have already had their inauguration games. A couple of games in then that vexatious international break never fails to arrive. All that being said not far away is the champions league is about to begin! To be more specific, the UEFA Champions league group stage is about to begin. Which is where the issue seems to be dormant for the time being. The group stage is probably the worst part of the whole tournament, coming a close second is the economic result of the Continental tournament heavily favoring the pockets of the big clubs. The new fixture for the 2018-2019 is a sign on how much negotiation power the bigger clubs have. (Gab Marcotti from espn does a great job at describing the new decisions made by UEFA   http://www.espnfc.com/blog/marcottis-musings/62/post/2930404/uefa-champions-league-structural-changes-as-explained-by-gab-marcotti). Aside from the money and redundant group stage with similar teams and soon to be common teams the champions league is a fantastic tournament. The best players, managers, and play is displayed for the world to see in champions league. But, the group stages are getting me fed up and just boring. ( I am aware of reasons behind the group stage commercial and sporting wise) The entertainment is just not cutting it for me. The excitement doesn't begin for me until January when the group stage is over and the knockout phase begins. It is a bit of a rant, but as a fan of the game I can and will complain about the games structure. Now I understand the game cannot go back to the Di Stefano days where only the first place team from the league is given entry to the tournament. Barcelona and Real Madrid, if one of those teams misses out it would be a huge commercial and financial lost for a lot of people. But wouldn't it be more exciting if Manchester City had a home and away knockout game vs AJAX or Porto vs Real Madrid in the same knockout format? there would have to be stages as well to compensate the bigger teams. Which is done in the knock out cups in most leagues anyways such as the Copa Del Rey. Where the weaker teams play each other in a knockout stage before they reach the round of 32 in which that is where the first division teams are seeded. I will continue to watch the champions league it is a fantastic and entertaining tournament to watch. I just feel that the hiccups that is the group stage went from okay it happens to now it is just annoying stage. I understand that the champions league is a cash cow, but no matter how rich that cow gets, it is still a cow and not very fun to watch for 7 months.

Let there be drugs at the Olympics

   The 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio is finally here! The opening ceremony commences tonight. The excitement of the games will be displayed on television for the world to watch. Who wins gold, silver, or bronze. Which country can boast the most medals. How many Olympic records were broken and by who? The excitement of the games are amplified with these questions at the fore front of our minds while we watch phenomenal athletes compete. Every four years we are entertained and fascinated. Yet, it feels like after, during, and even before the games start there is a scandal that reveals the cheaters and breaks the hearts of the many fans. We weren't let down this year, Russia made sure of that. Impressive I must admit. A systemic method in place to beat the test for doping. I confess that I believe that performance enhancing drugs should not play a part in any sporting event. Especially something as traditional and historic as the Olympics. Why? They work. EPO, AA-steroids and HGH are a few drugs used by athletes to get that competitive edge. Now I am on the side of the playing field should be leveled and fair, but it is not. And the drug testing police are failing miserably. 

   There is a lot of money that goes into these programs that require expert scientist in their respected fields along with lab equipment to police the many athletes that compete in the games. There is a debate in that alone, whether enough money is being distributed to these programs to work or are they just a waste of money and time. I read an article from VICE sports that from all the testing that is done on these athletes only 1% are ever caught. That number seems really low, which in favor of the test state is a great sign. Athletes are cheating less. However, that is a bit naive to think considering athletes are always willing to push the limits and are risk takers by their natural characteristics. In that same article there was a survey taken by athletes in an anonymous fashion that revealed that over 40% of athletes were on some PED and over 80% have used PEDs at least once. Those results are pretty shocking given the fact that only 1% of athletes that take PEDs are caught. In fact, most of if not all of the big PED scandals has come from a whistler blower. BALCO and biogenesis and so on have all been due to a person going to the press. To this day Lance Armstrong has not tested positive on any drug test he has taken. My professor who taught sports philosophy and ethics showed us a calendar from a cyclist he knows very well. That calendar had all the big cycling events he was going to compete in, as well as when to inject or draw out blood during his training regiment. This cyclist no Lance Armstrong, yet he still is doping just to get that competitive edge. He is ranked 170 in the world at the time I was in class. I did not get a name so I do not know whether he improved, did worse, or got caught. 

   With that being said and shun a bright light on, I can't ignore the fact that these athletes are not only good at beating each other in competition, but are pros at beating these drug tests. The real threat to these athletes is the drugs they take. These are not FDA approved drugs, in fact who know what else is added to the PED in order to "mask" them from being detected. Those who provide these drugs are not doctors, they are "some guy from the gym or streets" which is terrifying. Simple answer is for athletes to not take them. Which is easier said than done, when Olympic glory is on the line and there is only a 1% chance of getting caught those odds are really great odds in favor of the athlete.    

   My solution would be to let the drugs flow at the Olympics. Those athletes taking PEDs would still be able to compete as long as they reported what they were using and remain under doctor supervision throughout the year. The athletes who prefer not to take PEDs wont have to feel forced to because they will know who is on them and who isn't. The drug testing will still take place for ALL athletes in competition. However, this time if an athlete is caught there is no punishment. It will be a notification and a reporting on what supplements are being taken. That would hopefully eliminate any other criminal activity that is associated with doping. As for the competition itself both types of athletes should compete side by side. The fascination and awe of a PED free athlete beating an athlete on steroids would cause more of a positive outlook on the sport than the gold medalist being stripped of his or her medal due to a positive drug test. Now that being said there would have to be two forms of earning a medal in an event. A set for non doping athletes and another set for the doping athletes. But for now we shall enjoy and watch the games with fascination and skepticism.