Bloggolalia: Game Respects Game

I wanted to thank some sites that have linked to me in the last few months. I’m terrible at linking, partly because I didn’t know how for the first month or so of having the blog (go back and laugh at my typed-out links), and partly because I usually have so little time to blog that I don't feel I can afford links. But I don’t wish to appear unthankful; I appreciate you all. Here’s my list of major league gamers who have linked to me in the past: dear reader, please visit them too when you can.

Babes Love Baseball : I don’t cover baseball, but Sooze was a huge, huge inspiration in starting this blog with her witty comments on my old blog. A tip of the hat as well for her now-retired collaborator, The Critic, who helped me get started. Lizzy’s sweet too.

The Starting Five : They let me come off the bench for perhaps my best serious post ever (I got 50+ comments, which of course I really appreciated), and probably have the most intelligent comment section in sportsblog land (due respect to Free Darko as well on that point). Also, thanks to Mind Pinball, whose thoughtful comments on a related issue helped inspire the post in the first place. He's relatively unknown but another skilled blogger.

The Big Lead : I criticized them pretty hard once, and yet they still linked to me three different times. Those guys are not afraid of controversy, and are a must-read whether you agree with them or not. Due respect to The Comission and Leave The Man Alone, who were the guest bloggers letting me in twice.

Cobra Brigade : Some think the Cobra rambles in his posts, but I think he slithers and strikes. Check out his Chicago-centric lair, now complete with blog allies!

The Extrapolater : Thoughtful and a progenitor too! Eric’s blog chronicles rising stars before they shoot across your horizon. Check it out.

A Price Above Bip Roberts : Ted guest-blogged about Roy Hibbert around NCAA Finals time, and it was great. He has the right idea in guest-blogging for other sites to get the word out about his considerable talent; keep your eye on this blogger.

Pacifist Viking : Fear the rabbit! Those may be bunny ears, not horns, but the Pacifist Viking’s rhetoric should be respected by any blogger older than five-and-twenty. His historical takes on the NBA is particularly enjoyable. Put Artis Gilmore in the Hall!

The Serious Tip : Jordi is shattering stereotypes left and right by having more female than male comments on his Myspace. Jordi, we’re supposed to be social recluses! Stop raising expectations, or my parents will raise the rent again! He and I also had some great e-mail conversations about a blogger’s vocation that you’ll be seeing somewhere sometime soon.

If I Ran... : These managerial wanna-bes were fooled into accepting two articles from my absolute power-loving self. Of course, that may be (IS!) because I am their only reader who wants to run the WNBA and the National Spelling Bee, but I'll still take it. Thanks to Sam and Eric!

Yaysports: I know I’m in the minority, but I like Brian’s words even more than his pictures nowadays. The man is a hilarious, schizophrenic mix of hater love (just ask Lebron), and the later the post time, the crazier the analysis. If he (and his attractive sis…err, just kidding, taller and stronger than me Brian!) are not part of your upscale lifestyle, you’ve got several stories to go to get to the penthouse, my friend.

Deadspin : An argument with a fellow commenter in the comment section is my sole deadspin.com link, but that link was vital in starting to amass a core of consistent readers. Taught me a valuable lesson that very little Internet controversy is truly bad controversy, as long as you truly believe in what you’re arguing about and will say sorry when you’re wrong.

And finally, bring in the NOIS, bring in the FUNK! Err, so I'm a decade behind on my Broadway shows. Those bow-tie wearing bloggers will never link to my white, Judeo-Christian self, but my respect for their haterade game transcends any fatwas on me. (kidding) Look, sometimes they overdo it (intentionally mostly, but not always) in trying to fix perceived racism in sports coverage, but their A-game would get them into any Ivy League school, err, Historically Black College, of their choosing. Seriously, go read their Duke lacrosse post NOW NOW NOW.

SportsBlabbery: Are Athletes Smarter than Average?

I decided the good old Bloggolalia tag didn't fit such situations, so thus, SportsBlabbery. I'm going to leave up this post for a while if I can help it, so peek underneath it for new posts.

I got into a conversation with someone about this last week (who was very gracious, by the way, thank you), and it made me think about it. Rather than reprint my e-mail, I wanted to hear from you. Do you think athletes are smarter than average? of average intelligence? or less intelligent than average?

Now, immediately we have semantic issues, which I will ever so graciously attempt to resolve. Let's say professional and Olympian athletes only; some high schools are so small that everyone plays sports, while attending college itself may interfere with our results.

What do you think? I'll repost this with my opinion once you post your opinions; I know you have them.

Guest Blogs Plus Alison the Pole-Vaulter Update

I have guest posts on how I would run the WNBA and National Spelling Bee up on ifiran.blogspot.com.

This Alison the Pole-Vaulter mess is getting weirder by the day, so thus I drag myself back into the muck (splash!). The Wednesday post withleather put up was ridiculous. They're posting more pictures as some sort of warped revenge because Alison spoke out? So if we were under Sharia law, you're basically telling me we'd have stoned Alison, then, for complaining publicly? Crazy! I know withleather's Matt gets paid to be an edgy "insert expletive here", and he's doing his job. But I certainly feel no responsibility to defend any sports blogger "just because." I wouldn't throw family under the bus, but as for another guy with a keyboard who's making his fellow sports bloggers look sleazy? "Bump bump!" my friend, as the wheels of the bus go round and round.
However, withleather does have an interesting point in their most recent excuse to post more pictures, err, defend themselves. Alison's dad is a defense lawyer who has defended some real weirdos over the years and has appeared on Fox News as a commentator. So Alison's family is not quite Middle-Class Midwesternia either. There's a chance, admittedly, that her dad could have enough influence and contacts to get the WaPo to do an article or get them on Fox News, or is doing this to advertise the law practice. I was not aware of this in my initial post on the situation, and thought it fair to inform you of that.
We're rapidly running out of heroes here, folks, but before you judge Alison's dad too quickly with fat-cat lawyer stereotypes, here's a picture of the family. (Thanks to this high school track site). Yes, I decided Alison looked better in black, ha. Anyway, if her parents are uptight rich folks starving for attention, they're certainly hiding it pretty well in that picture...

Drew Gooden is Making it Rain

After the game, Drew Gooden was asked what he says when he shoots foul shots, and he said "Make it rain!" Drew also told the crowd he loved them to death, and finished his little interview with a scream, Howard Dean style. Please please please someone have the video of this.

I've been riding Drew Gooden pretty hard, but the man stood up for himself tonight against Rasheed and found his game. Love it when a man decides he won't take it anymore. That "Property of Rasheed Wallace" t-shirt I've been joking that he is wearing was ripped to shreds tonight; not even enough scraps left to make a title belt out of. Also, Daniel Gibson: 12-12 from the free throw line. 12-12! Unbelievable. Both those guys certainly surprised me and made my analysis look bad.

And Larry Hughes, often mocked for being soft, limped his way onto the court for 16 minutes: again, these players have something to prove. Finally, Donyell Marshall gave the Cavs 7 points on >50% shooting; very important. I've been harping on the need for Donyell to have good games, and he had a decent one.

All this said, though, I still have doubts that the Cavs can win this series. The Cavs are asking Sasha Pavlovic and Daniel Gibson to outscore Richard Hamilton and Chauncey Billups. That makes me nervous.

However, I would add that Detroit's veteran team is breaking down and getting tired! Perhaps the reason the Pistons come out so strong at the beginning of games and in the 3rd quarter because they get a chance to rest? It kind of makes sense to me.
Three starters over 40 minutes again for Detroit. Flip has to play Flip Murray and Jason Maxiell more, and I still am lobbying for Carlos Delfino.

Anyway, I'll cease my bias long enough to tell you that you need to read a new blog covering this series, http://mindofboney.wordpress.com. "Boney" is a Pistons fan and an acid-tongued, witty commenter on Yaysports who finally decided to give us some blog posts too. Naturally, Cavs fans are hoping that he and erstwhile Nets blogger Becky are stuck consoling each other after their teams have both lost to the Cavs, ha.

Alison the Pole Vaulter Controversy, Personal Reaction I

By now, most of you have seen the recent deadspin.com coverage of the controversy surrounding Alison, the high school girl whose skills in the pole vault have earned her a scholarship at Berkeley. The controversy exists because Alison's pictures are being ogled at while she is still in high school.

When I first saw the pictures on withleather.com and thebiglead.com, Alison reminded me of a good friend of mine in high school. I became nostalgic, remembering the old friendship and good times. I'm sure if I were her age and in high school, I would have embarrassed myself with IM's to her like this:

NerdyMCBias (8:23 PM): Hey Alison
NerdyMCBias (8:25 PM): Good job in that competition yesterday. First place again!
AlisonPV (8:25 PM): Hey
AlisonPV (8:25 PM): Thx
NerdyMCBias (8:29 PM): Well, I don't want to hold you up too much.
NerdyMCBias (8:30 PM): Studying for English tomorrow?
AlisonPV (8:30 PM): Yep. Got to stay eligible!
NerdyMCBias (8:30 PM): Let me know if you need any help!
AlisonPV (8:31 PM): Sure. :-) Later.
NerdyMCBias (8:32 PM): Bye

NerdyMCBias to self (8:33 PM): Wow! I got an exclamation point AND a smiley-face this time! Yes! Definitely making progress!

AlisonPV to self (8:33 PM): I'd block him, but he's too shy to do anything worth blocking him over. Only 4 more months before Berkeley, Alison, and you can leave his kind behind. No weirdos there! Oh, wait...

Oh, those were the days. "LOL" AIM is a dangerous instrument in the hands of a socially awkward teenager. (And for the record, no, I wasn't that bad in high school (WORSE!)).

Because this post got so gigundilicious, I split it into three parts; continue reading below. And yes, I wrote most of these posts (except for part 3) a month ago, but stopped because I thought the controversy was going to go away and didn't want to start it back up. Um, so much for that.

Alison the Pole Vaulter Controversy: Personal Reaction II

BUT! sadly, dear reader, you've been set up if you think I'm going to agree with an Alison obsession being at all admirable. Sure, she’s cute at first glance, but notice the key words in my sentence above. If I WERE her age and WERE in high school, which I'm not. No Random Sports Crush for Alison coming from me.

Some athletes exude confidence and style beyond their years. Alison is not one of them. She looks just like what she is, a high school girl, who looks younger than 18. And unlike Kournikova, Sharapova, etc., she hasn't been marketed in any way or shown any willingness to gain the limelight. (Please, you can't count the YouTube video. That's someone interviewing her, not her filming herself. Not even close! Same with Myspace pictures; you do know, guys, that women do not post their Myspace pictures solely for your sensual pleasure, correct?). That's the big difference for me here.

Men, there are millions of attractive 20-something women who'd love to have 1/100 of the attention being currently wasted on Alison. Pick one and make her day instead of ruining some teenager's senior year. Believe it or not, not every woman in the world wants your sex! I know this is earth-shattering that not every woman out there dreams of taking off her clothes for men’s magazines and being ogled by 40-somethings at the mall. It appears that Alison is yet another one of those odd women who doesn’t yet dream of the day that she can rush down to the local Walgreen’s and pick up 50 copies of the laddie magazine she’s in so that grandpa and grandma have enough copies for their friends at the nursing homes. Perhaps she will do that sort of thing one day. But that day has obviously not yet come, and that should be respected.

And as to proof that Alison doesn't want your attention, some relevant quotes from the Washington Post article:

“A had tired of constant phone calls, of relentless Internet attention, of interview requests from Boston to Brazil.”

"I just want to find some way to get this all under control," A told her coach.”
“She is recognized -- and stared at -- in coffee shops. She locks her doors and tries not to leave the house alone. Her father, Allan, comes home from his job as a lawyer and searches the Internet. He reads message boards and tries to pick out potential stalkers.”

"We're keeping a watchful eye," Allan said. "We have to be smart and deal with it the best we can. It's not something that you can just make go away."

“A read on message boards that dozens of anonymous strangers had turned her picture into the background image on their computers. She felt violated. It was like becoming the victim of a crime, A said.”

“Back on the ground, her vault accomplished, A smiled and took in the scene around her. In the stands and on the field, she was surrounded by cameras. And for a second A wondered: What, exactly, had they captured? And where, exactly, would it go?”

Alison the Pole-Vaulter Controversy: Media Commentary

As for the role of withleather.com in posting the pictures…look, it’s too easy to bash the messenger in this situation. I’m being hypocritical if I don’t also point out that I find the site ridiculously funny sometimes, such as this post about murderous San Antonio Spurs players. And as withleather.com commenter Hale shrewdly pointed out, why is the Washington Post including yet another picture of Alison, taken especially for this article, if they are really so concerned about the young lady? I completely agree. So acting as if withleather is solely responsible is ridiculous; plenty of smaller sites and forums were already starting to talk about her. If not WL, then some other site that gets their kicks by intersecting sex and sports, such as SportsbyBrooks, would have posted about it.

I am annoyed, though, by Matt’s quote in the Washington Post that “…Every week, there's somebody who takes offense to something, but that's part of being a comedy writer. If nobody is complaining, it probably wasn't funny. You are hoping for some kind of feedback." Look, all of us bloggers like feedback. But I want to believe that I can get feedback from my readers without provoking them to nasty e-mails and comments. Naïve of me, I know. If that quote describes what Matt truly believes, he’s eventually going to offend a good portion of his readers.

I’m more upset at the deadspin.com post about this. Just read this and the comments, now that you’ve read pieces of the article above. Really, Will, Alison’s father is “screaming out his lungs about it” when his daughter had to bring it to his attention, and there’s ONE quote from him in the article? And do you really think that Alison’s father would call the Washington Post, a paper some 3000 miles away, and ask to be interviewed, instead of the other way around? Highly unlikely to me; if so, why not the LA Times? Doesn't sound right. Maybe next time, instead of mostly cutting and pasting text from, say, Ufford’s e-mail about the situation, Deadspin writers could read the article the post is about. I see that Will finally admitted that the dad really wasn't screaming, but I'm still disappointed that deadspin.com apparently was that sloppy with the story. (Realizes that this section may push back date of first Deadspin or withleather.com link to blog from 07/01/2011 to 07/01/2015, shrugs).