selfish teams

When athletes achieve goals that they’ve spent years (if not decades) working to meet… we always think it’s rude, disrespectful, and anti-climatic… when reporters inevitably ask — in the midst of celebration and within minutes of victory — if they intend to try to “do it again.”

Thankfully… we’re not reporters and we’re certainly not in Beijing inside the Olympic swimming facility where we might ask Michael Phelps what he intends to do next.

We do, though, wonder if Phelps might try to parlay his swimming skills (and fame) into other athletic domains.

For example, Jim Thorpe dominated Olympic events and then attempted to excel as a footballer.

Is there any position in the NFL that Phelps could imaginably play?

With his height (6′4″) and speed, it would seem like wide receiver might be the best available option.

Well, given that Phelps trains at the University of Michigan, we imagine that he’d be more than welcome to test out the idea in Ann Arbor (though we’re doubtful that he any eligibility left to enter into the college ranks).

Instead, there are reports that Phelps intends to remain in competitive swimming and compete in London in the 2012 Summer Olympics.

With all of the success that he’s earned, it might take four more years to put into proper context what he’s accomplished so far.

Between then and now, though, we can only imagine the various offers that he’ll receive to do this… or do that… and… we wouldn’t be shocked if some football prospectors attempt to get his attention to give the field a spin.

UPDATE (8/13): NBC reports tonight (while Phelps was winning a semifinal race in the 200 IM) that he plans to take a break from swimming until February 2009.  Hmmm….  Are we the only ones to recognize that February is when the NFL season will be over?

Forget Sports Illustrated. Forget ESPN The Magazine. Forget The New York Times.

If you want real sports reporting… sources like The Economist are the way to go.

In the most recent issue, they document the growing “globalization” of elite athletics.

Drawing on data from Major League Baseball (MLB), the National Football League (NFL), the National Hockey League (NHL), and the (European) Premier League (for soccer), they show a significant increase in the percentage of foreign-born players in each sport between 2000 and today.

In MLB and the NHL, The Economist reports that approximately 30% of the players are now foreign-born — an increase from approximately 20% only 10 years ago.

Why does this matter?

For one, it’s part of the reason that the Olympics will no longer be hosting a baseball competition since the best players from around the world are increasingly part of MLB, which isn’t going to interrupt the latter part of its season for an international tournament (that doesn’t directly yield profits).

MLB, of course, has made this elimination easier by agreeing — for now, at least — to organize the World Baseball Classic, which is designed to function like the World Cup does for the sport of soccer. The WBC is also designed — importantly — to avoid conflicts with the 162-game MLB season.

For the NHL results, it’s noteworthy that the 30% figure for “foreign-born” players does not include Canadians and instead it’s the total for players from Sweden, Russia, and — for any John McCain fans in the audience — “Czechoslovakia.”

For the NBA, the percentage of foreign-born players has increased from approximately 10% to the neighborhood of 20% over the past ten years (i.e., over the same period during which “Team USA” has found that it doesn’t necessarily dominate international contests).

For the soccer fans, we’re not so interested but apparently lots of people think it’s worth more attention.

We’re happy to count ourselves — along with Jim Rome and Jimmy Kimmel — as “not so much” fans of European edition of foot-ball.

Yeah, we’d rather watch ping pong — er, we mean table tennis.

With all of the “weather” that’s been happening lately… it got us to thinking that there are a decent number of sports teams named after different kinds of “weather.”

In fact, if you look at the Big Four of sporting leagues in the US, here’s what you find:

NBA: Miami cheers for the Heat.

NFL: San Diego roots for the Chargers and their lightning-bolt logos.

NHL: Carolina welcomes the Hurricanes. Tampa Bay more bluntly roots for the Lightning. And, because it’s sorta “weather,” we can note that Colorado prays for the Avalanche.

Oh, and Major League Baseball?

They don’t presently have teams named after “weather”; instead, baseball tends to go with birds (Blue Jays and Cardinals), characters (Yankees, Pirates, and Phillies), and geographical features (Rockies). Oh. And baseball also likes Red and White Socks (Boston and Chicago).

Now, if the NBA franchise that has been playing in Seattle for years ends up leaving the Northwest to relocate to Oklahoma City, they’ve already acknowledged that they’d likely create a new name (and leave Seattle with the shell of the SuperSonics in case there’d be interest to “revive” the name in the future).

If the NBA does leave Seattle, though… we’re doubtful that they’d pick the Oklahoma City Flood.

And we can’t think of any competitive sports teams that go by the name “Flood” even if there have been schools or franchises with “Wave” (Tulane), “Storm” (Seattle [WNBA]), and Cyclones (Iowa State).

With all of these names, though… we can’t help but wonder how much longer they’ll stick… as weather patterns continue to get more extreme and more hazardous for people.

We predict that “Hurricanes” will be the first to go… and we’ve noticed that the U. of Miami, at least, seems to be encouraging the nickname “Canes” more and more… presumably to help wean the school from a name whose days seem numbered.

Of course, people would have predicted that the Washington NFL franchise would have changed their name by now as well, but….

In the news today… the Government of Japan is taking action that’s intended to curb the costs of obesity on their healthcare system. Oh, and we suppose that they’re also interested in people actually living better and healthier lives.

Our first thought upon hearing the news from Japan, though, is… what about the NFL?

Remember? There was talk a couple years ago about the fact that most players in the NFL are, technically speaking, obese. Even if (many of them) are strong enough to move a parked car.

More seriously, we’re doubtful that Japan’s government has any intentions to ban the NFL; however, we can’t help but wonder how effective their plans to curb obesity will be when pro athletes, sumo wrestlers, etc… are praised on one hand… while big waists are challenged on the other.

Maybe one idea… would be to change the rules of football somehow to minimize the number of linemen.

We haven’t watched much (if any) Arena Football… but maybe that’s the ticket (for a world that’s more [properly] concerned with obesity and its related decreases in quality of life).

To Wisconsin?

As it’s being reported today, the St. Louis Rams are now planning to convene their Training Camp in a suburb of Milwaukee (WI) on the campus of Concordia University.

Why?

Well, a student newspaper at the University of Wisconsin at Oshkosh, which was a possible site for the Rams’ camp, reports that the relatively cool temperatures of Wisconsin during July and August was part of the pitch to get them up North.

In an article by Andrew Munger, the Advance-Titan quotes an Oshkosh administrator who played in the NFL as saying:

“We put together sort of a temperature grid, if you will, and showed them the average temperatures of the months they would be here versus St. Louis and there are significant differences there.”

Phew.

We know that global warming can contribute to the intensity of hurricanes, melt glaciers, and ruin ski seasons in the Lower 48 (to cite a few examples).

But it can make an NFL franchise decide to turn tail on their home state and run for the North?

Well, apparently, that’s part of the picture.

First, John Mellencamp told John McCain to keep his “small town” songs away from campaign podiums.

Then, the rock band Boston told Mike Huckabee to stop playing its music at campaign events.

Well, in our pursuit of predicting what’s next in the world of music and contemporary events… we anticipate that future headlines will revive the names of “Hall & Oates.” Yep, we predict that during the next NFL season, Hall & Oates will need to send letters to opponents of the New England Patriots so that they do not play the 1981 hit “Private Eyes.” You know, the song that goes: “…we’re watchin’ you.”

Uh. On second thought.

Maybe Hall & Oates should write letters to opponents of the Patriots asking them to play their song! After all, the duo are natives of Philadelphia — home to one of the Patriots’ Super Bowl victims and, uncoincidentally, home to the US Senator (Arlen Specter) who is leading the investigation into whether or not the Patriots have been “watching” (and taping) their opponents throughout the course of their “dynasty” years.

Either way, we say “hay” to any controversy that makes people think about “Hall & Oates.” And, uh, anything that contributes to ending the Patriots’ run at the top.

Later today, the NFL’s exhibition “Pro Bowl” game will be held in the lovely confines of Aloha Stadium in Honolulu, Hawai’i.

The game functions as a selling point for the players to win some bonus money in their current — and future contracts — while it serves the League and the networks as one more way to wring out revenue from the season before the carnival-like Draft is here.

Oh, and it’s supposed to be fun for us to watch the (supposedly) best of each conference (who think it’s worth playing in the game) play (touch) football.

All of this makes sense.

What doesn’t make sense is that… people gamble on the outcome of the Pro Bowl as if it were a regular game with actual teams and actual fates at stake.

Now… before you start with the line about “degenerate gamblers” at it again… don’t forget that in the days following the Giants’ upset of the Patriots… there were too many articles published by respectable business outlets that wondered why the stock market did not experience a rally this past week since the NFC team won the Big Game (i.e., that’s the historical tendency).

We’re doubtful that (m)any traders on Wall Street (who will keep their jobs) place any importance on such trends (”NFC stock market rallies”); however, we wouldn’t be shocked if some Wall Street traders are betting on today’s game.

If you compare New Year’s Day with the Super Bowl… you get some interesting results.

On New Year’s Day, people watch football. On Super Bowl Day, people watch football.

On New Year’s Eve, people drink and eat to excess. On Super Bowl Day, people drink and eat to excess.

On New Year’s Day, people recover from excessive drinking and eating. On Super Bowl Monday, people recover from excessive drinking and eating.

You get the picture.

Anyhow, every year around this time… it seems like increasing attention is given to the idea that “Super Bowl Monday” should be a national holiday (like, uh, Martin Luther King Jr. Day).

At one level, we think the idea is interesting. We even think that the famous New Year’s Eve song “auld lang syne” could be translated easily for a Super Bowl Holiday.

It could go something like this:

Should old foot-ball games be forgot

and never brought to mind?

Should old lost seasons be forgot

and auld lang syne?

And so on.

We also think that Super Bowl Monday is, for some, a lot like Chinese New Year is for some. It’s a “new year” event that doesn’t coincide with our January through December calendar. And, while it’s  a mystery for some, it’s an excuse for celebration for others.

As a bottom-line, though, we don’t think that Super Bowl Monday should be a national holiday for a few reasons.

We acknowledge that Americans work too many hours and that more days should be recognized as holidays (or paid vacations).

We’re reluctant, though, to yield the management of a national holiday to a for-profit cartel (i.e., the NFL) whose owners would have even more power. We expect that the NFL would be happy to continue without a national holiday, too, if it means less regulation from Senators intent on studying their treatment of cheating in the League.