Talking The Weekend That Was In Sports

Pretty interesting, for a variety of reasons. First off, let's talk what was once the most popular sport in America, if not the entire world. Floyd Mayweather knocked down his latest tomato can, Canelo Alvarez. To me the most interesting thing I took from it was that despite every media report saying that Mayweather utterly dominated his opponent, one of the fight's judges scored it a draw. Do we need any more reason to believe know that boxing is utterly corrupt?

And Mayweather himself is no better. He ducked Manny Pacquiao just long enough for Pacquiao's skills to erode, using every excuse he can think of to avoid what would've been the biggest fight in a generation or more. And if you paid for "The One", you're to blame as well, because you plunked down $75 to watch Mayweather bob and weave, and every once in a while hit a man whose nickname means cinnamon. I wouldn't dare question Mayweather's skills, and I'll be more than happy to agree with the boxing cognoscenti that Mayweather is easily the best pound-for-pound boxer in the world. But this is a guy who chose to 'fight' The Big Show over Manny Pacquiao - can you really take him seriously?

Two of my favorite punching bags intersected as fans of the hapless Jacksonville Jaguars held a rally in the parking lot of their stadium to demand the team sign  the equally hapless Tim Tebow. Twenty people showed up, while thirty people were there to cover the 'event'. This proves two things. The first bieng that America loves the NFL just that much, and the second being that Jacksonville doesn't love the NFL just that much. Which is also why the Jags will probably be playing their home games in Los Angeles or London in the very near future.

There might be more later, but I'd rather go kill Orcs and Khajiit in Skyrim.

Talking Tebow

I don't really know why I've neglected this blog for so long, there's just so much for me to talk about. But with the beginning of a new season in the NFL, I find interest in the plight - if that's what you want to call it - of the most popular football player not suiting up for an NFL team this season, your friend and mine Tim Tebow. Unless you've been under a rock for the last few months, our boy Teebs was cut from the New England Patriots on the last day of the preseason. Staying positive, Teebs tweeted that he'd remain in 'relentless pursuit' of his dream to be an NFL quarterback. But since his release, nobody's really been a-knocking at his door - at least not with the offer he wants. According to ESPN, several NFL clubs have offered him contracts that hinged upon him changing position from quarterback to say, tight end or fullback. He's been pursued by the Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football League. He even received a contract from the Los Angeles KISS (yes, Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley are part-owners) of the Arena Football League. And most intriguingly, USA Rugby CEO Nigel Melville tweeted that Tebow should consider the oval ball over the pointed one, though no formal offer was actually made to him.

So what do we have here? Here's the facts. He's an amazing physical specimen. He's a proven winner. He's a man of unimpeachable character. But he also lacks the proper throwing mechanics and decision-making ability that an NFL quarterback absolutely must have, and this has been proven beyond any doubt. But as gifted an athlete as he is, he can learn. But if he truly wants the job he desires, as the old saying goes how does he get experience without a job, and how does he get a job without experience? He could take any of the offers that have been presented to him. He could switch positions. He could play in a lesser league. He could even switch codes and play the game that's the ancestor to American Football. So why not?

Because it's not what he wants, that's why. That whole 'relentless pursuit' thing. But when does relentless pursuit become a quest to assuage wounded pride, or to justify arrogance? What we do know about his brief NFL career is that when he had the chance, he did lead the Denver Broncos to the playoffs, even managed  to win a playoff game in dramatic fashion. But he did it with a hastily retooled offense that played to his strengths as a runner, with few pass plays that didn't involve some sort of play-action to keep defenses close to the line of scrimmage. It's ironic that the read-option offense he ran in college is coming into vogue in the NFL, albeit run by quarterbacks like Colin Kaepernick and Russell Wilson, guys with far better passing and decision-making skills than Tebow possesses.

So what should he do? Where should he go? Since he won't switch positions, he probably won't be suiting up for an NFL team any time this season. The CFL's regular season is almost over, so I doubt he'll be making reservations at Joe Beef any time soon. And I really doubt that he'd even want to be in the same room as KISS - he probably thinks they're Satan worshipers. Which is a joke, because the only thing KISS worships is money.

And that leaves the offer not yet made, to represent his country as an Eagle of USA Rugby. And there is some precedent for a move like that. This winter the rugby world was fairly turned on its ear by a former Division III college running back-turned-Olympic sprinter named Carlin Isles, widely considered the fastest man to ever play rugby. Former Ohio State standout (and spectacular NFL flameout) Maurice Clarett is currently learning the intricacies of the oval-ball game with the Tiger Rugby Academy in Ohio with an eye towards playing for the USA in rugby's return to the Olympics in 2016. There have even been discussions between the NFL and Premier Rugby Ltd. (the company that operates England's top rugby competition, the Aviva Premiership) about the idea of training NFL washouts in rugby, with the goal being developing talent for a possible American professional rugby league. I think Tebow would make one hell of a scrumhalf.

What do you think?

Pro Bowl Blahs

Sorry that I've been neglecting this blog for so long. I need this blog for my thoughts that aren't necessarily music or band-related. And now that I have my very own laptop, I can blog pretty much anytime, anywhere. So here's some random blathering that I typed up a few hours ago:

I'm watching the NFL's Pro Bowl today, and while I'm glad that the league decided to return their annual all-star game to Aloha Stadium in Honolulu, Hawai'i, it still doesn't seem all that big a draw for the local audience from what the TV cameras show. Hell, the only reason a lot of those players are even there is because the League is compelling them to be there, by not excusing players from skipping the Pro Bowl for any other reason than injury, legitimate emergency, or for playing in the Super Bowl the following week.

The problem I see with the Pro Bowl is that for the most part, it's the same guys playing the same game at the same time every year. With the system in place for choosing players (a combination of fan and player balloting), it sets it up that once a player reaches the level of being one of the best two or three at their position, inclusion to the Pro Bowl becomes almost automatic for the remainder of that player's career. And after a while, going to Hawai'i right after the conclusion of the season may – as crazy as it seems – get boring for them. So what I think the NFL needs to do to spice up the experience for the players is quite simple: take the Pro Bowl on the road.

So where would you take the Pro Bowl to? Last year, the NFL moved the game to the site of that season's Super Bowl (Miami-Dade, FL), where the response was..... well, it was kinda meh. Let's face it, while Miami is a great place, it's just another NFL city to the players. So here's my thoughts on where the Pro Bowl should go: ANYWHERE BUT AMERICA. Here's some ideas:

First off, Canada makes a good place to start. With large domed stadia in Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal, the game would be pretty much weatherproof. Other pluses to having a Pro Bowl in Canada would be adding the Canadian Football League's All-Star Game to the Pro Bowl festivities, and having the game in Toronto would also help gauge that area's support for a possible NFL franchise in Hogtowne, be it either an expansion franchise or an existing franchise (with the Buffalo Bills the most likely candidate). The downside would be well, going to Canada in the dead of winter – probably not most players' idea of fun.

The next idea would be Europe, specifically the cities with past association to the NFL's World League of American Football (WLAF)/NFL Europa, with those cities being London, Glasgow, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Dusseldorf, Cologne, Hamburg, Frankfurt am Main, and Berlin. Taking the Pro Bowl to Europe would bring a whole new level of excitement to American Football fans in Europe. Oh, you don't think there are NFL fans in Europe? Then why was it that any time I saw Dusseldorf's Rhein Fire playing at home (that being either Dusseldorf's Waldstadion or the aufSchalke Arena in the suburb of Schalke), there was always a huge, and most importantly local crowd there to support the home team? More over, staging Pro Bowls in Europe would give the NFL a barometer towards future expansion in Europe.

But in my opinion, the best route for the Pro Bowl would be taking it Down Under. If you're going to send these players someplace, why not send them someplace they've really never been to? And it wouldn't hurt to have the game in a Southern Hemisphere summer. Why not Melbourne or Sydney? Why not Auckland, New Zealand, or Cape Town or Johannesburg in South Africa? Hell, why not go completely off the proverbial grid and stage a Pro Bowl in Rio? Sao Paulo? Buenos Aires? Why not Tokyo, Beijing, or even Dubai? The NFL has long stated a desire to become a truly global entity, so why not take that next step, and take the Pro Bowl truly global? Why not create a continental rotation, where the 2013 game would be in Melbourne, then the following year in London, Cape Town the year after that, and so on?

Who Wants To Move To LA?

Another story I came across just in the last few minutes: The Anschutz Entertainment Group claims to have been in contact with five NFL teams about the possibility of moving to their proposed stadium in Los Angeles. For the record, those teams are Minnesota, San Diego, Oakland, St. Louis, and Jacksonville. AEG CEO Tim Leiweke went so far as to suggest that AEG would go so far as to buy a majority stake in a particular NFL franchise and buy out their existing stadium lease in order to facilitate the move.

AEG, and in particular its founder Phil Anschutz, they do have a small place in my heart. AEG was part of the original investment group that founded Major League Soccer, and to this day they own the LA Galaxy and maintain 50% ownership of the Houston Dynamo. At one point in time AEG maintained four MLS clubs, and the league may not have survived if not for Anschutz's largess. Their myriad of sports-related investments includes outright ownership of the NHL's Los Angeles Kings (and its entire minor-league system), several hockey clubs in Europe, and several arenas and stadia in Europe, and interests in the LA Lakers and Sparks as well as the UFL's Hartford Colonials and Danish soccer club Hammarby IF. So they know what they're doing when it comes to running pro-sports teams, and I'm pretty sure they'd make whatever NFL franchise they owned or otherwise persuaded to move to La-La Land a success.

But AEG isn't the only entity trying to bring the NFL back to LA. While AEG plans to build a 72,000-seat stadium in downtown LA as part of its 'campus' (which also includes the Staples Center arena), a rival development is in the works fifteen miles east of LA, in the City of Industry. There, warehouse magnate Ed Roski leads a group attempting to build a 75,000-seat stadium for a prospective NFL franchise. To me, this group seems a little..... quixotic, as they probably don't have the sheer financial muscle AEG has to not only build the stadium, but to also purchase a franchise to inhabit such a stadium.

But let's focus on AEG right now. They say they've spoken with five different NFL franchises, but which would be the best fit for them? Let's start with the teams that actually have history there first:

St. Louis Rams: This actually came as a surprise to me, that they'd actually want to move back to LA, which wasn't even the team's birthplace (the Cleveland Rams moved to LA in 1946) to begin with. The Rams won a Super Bowl in St. Louis, and while their current stadium (the Edward Jones Dome) isn't the newest thing in town any more, but it's been kept up nicely over the years and remains a good NFL-caliber stadium. I'd have to rate the possibility of the Rams returning to LA as 'doubtful'.

San Diego Chargers: This club actually started out as the Los Angeles Chargers of the old American Football League before moving down the coast to San Diego, and while the Spanos family have bitched and moaned about Qualcomm (formerly Jack Murphy) Stadium, and publicly pondered moving back to LA, they have no interest in selling any part of the club to anyone, so I'll rate this one as 'doubtful' as well.

Oakland Raiders: Two words - no, three: Al Fucking Davis. Who would be crazy enough to deal with a guy who looks more and more like Emperor Palpatine with each passing day? I've spoken to a lot of Raider Nation types over the years and even the craziest, most hardcore Halloween-on-Sundays Raiders fan has said to me that they can't wait for Davis to kick the bucket so somebody with a fully-functioning brain can run the team. And considering that last I heard, Davis' lawsuit against the NFL for trying to block the team's move back to Oakland from LA is still ongoing - for over a decade now - you'd have to be out of your gourd to deal with them. Rating: "oh, hell no". Let's just hope that Davis doesn't try to issue Order 66 on NFL commissioner Roger Goodell.....

Minnesota Vikings: As of this moment, the current lockout of the players by the NFL had better not end soon, because if it did, the Vikes might not have a stadium to play in. I'm pretty sure you've all seen the rather dramatic video of the Minneapolis Metrodome's roof collapsing under the weight of several feet of snow. They're still working on fixing that roof even as we speak. The Vikings wound up finishing their home schedule at the University of Minnesota's TCF Bank Stadium, which is not only smaller than the Metrodome, but outdoors as well. But while Vikings owner Zygi Wilf has been pondering relocating the Vikings for years, it turns out that TCF Bank Stadium was designed to be easily expandable to a capacity suitable for the needs of the Vikings. And considering that domed stadiums are slowly going the way of the dinosaur, I foresee outdoor football in Minneapolis on Sundays as well as Saturdays. This one gets a 'doubtful' rating. Which leaves us with.....

Jacksonville Jaguars: I've always been struck by one thing about Jacksonville: how the hell did they ever get a team in the first place? I'm sure Jacksonville is a fine place, and they've always had a big-ass stadium there in the Gator Bowl, but they never struck me as the stereotypical NFL market. While Jacksonville isn't the smallest city to have an NFL franchise (Green Bay has a population barely over 100k), it is most certainly one of the smallest markets in the NFL in terms of total metropolitan population (excluding Green Bay, natch). And Jacksonville is surrounded by other NFL teams within a reasonable drive (Atlanta, Tampa Bay, Miami), not to mention surrounded by traditional-power college teams (Florida, Florida State, Georgia and Georgia Tech). Jacksonville has been the traditional host of the annual Georgia - Florida football game ("The World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party") as part and parcel of the city's passion for college football. And attendance for Jags games has steadily declined in recent years as the team has been stuck in mediocrity for several seasons. And like Minnesota and San Diego, Jags owner Wayne Weaver has publicly stated that moving the club is a distinct possibility. And with no other real options in sight for the club......

I'd say the best bet for moving to LA would be the Jaguars. San Diego's ownership won't sell, St. Louis' situation is nowhere near as bad as it may or may not seem, Minnesota has better options available, and who in their right mind would deal with Al Davis? The only issues left are timing, and who would own the team. Would AEG convince Weaver to move, or just buy the Jags outright? Would they move the team immediately, and have the Jags play in the Rose Bowl (also owned by AEG) until the new stadium is complete, or leave the Jags in limbo for a few seasons while the new stadium is under construction. I would think the best situation would be to move the Jags ASAP and put them in the Rose Bowl until a new stadium is ready, because I seriously doubt Jacksonville fans would pay for Jags tickets fully knowing that the team wouldn't be staying for much longer. Not to mention that any remaining difficulties AEG might be having getting the permits and clearances to build their new stadium would likely vanish once a tenant has been confirmed for it.

There is one last variable to bring into consideration when it comes to bringing the NFL back to the LA metro, though: the fans themselves. Fact is, LA was never all that excited about the NFL for most of the time. Sure, the Raiders were kinda.... fashionable during their stay in LA, but since then there just hasn't been that overwhelming clamor to bring the NFL back to LA since the Raiders and Rams left. In fact, when real-estate mogul Ken Behring attempted (and briefly succeeded) to move the Seattle Seahawks to Anaheim, the response from LA sports fans was overwhelmingly.... meh. The Los Angeles Times ran a poll on fan excitement of various LA Metro teams shortly after the Seahawks moved, and they finished eleventh, if I remember correctly.

So the only certainty in all this is uncertainty. But I think there's enough information floating around that I'll make this prediction: in 2015, there will be NFL football in Los Angeles. And it'll probably be the Jacksonville Jaguars moving to LA. Sorry, Jacksonville. It sucks losing a team - I'm still bitter about the Sonics being stolen off to Oklahoma City, and there are probably a few old-timers that are still pissed off about losing the Seattle Pilots to Milwaukee. Seattle fans are expert in dealing with this issue. But look at the bright side - the Gators, Seminoles, Bulldogs, Yellow Jackets - they'll never move.