Monthly Archives: November 2014

Hockey Hall of Fame Being Globalized

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By Ellen Chlumecky

On Monday, November 17th, the Class of 2014 was ushered into the Hockey Hall of Fame. These four players from four different countries each played a major role in an important international game which is why they were being honored with this highly esteemed awards. The four former athletes were Peter Forsberg of team Sweden, Mike Modano of team United States, Dominik Hasek of team Czech Republic, and Rob Blake of team Canada.

Peter Forsberg helped team Sweden win gold at the 1994 Lillehammer Olympics. Mike Modano helped the United States team win the 1996 World Cup of Hockey. Dominik Hasek helped the Czech Republic team win gold at the 1998 Nagano Olympics while also earning tournament MVP honors. Rob Blake helped team Canada achieve a victory at the 2002 Salt Lake Olympics after receiving losses in the past three tournaments. These four athletes spent their entire careers working towards greatness and on Friday they were acknowledged not only for their individual team effort but for their international team effort as well.

Not only were these athletes recognized, but a special group of broadcast journalists as well. Pat Foley, of the Chicago Blackhawks, received the Foster Hewitt Memorial Award for outstanding contributions as a hockey broadcaster. Kevin Allen received the Elmer Ferguson Memorial Award for excellence in hockey journalism. Coach Pat Burns and referee Bill McCreary also received awards for their dedication to the sport and were inducted into their career category.

Not only is it a huge honor for the National Hockey League to have these amazing athletes in their organization, it is a huge advancement for hockey in general because of the coverage this special event received. The induction ceremony was broadcasted live not only throughout Canada but also through North America. While it was not broadcasted on every major sports channel in the US, it received an immense amount of coverage by the NHL Network.

This particular Hall of Fame class was immensely showed how the globalization of hockey has increased in the past few years. The athletes inducted were not just from the United States and Canada, but from the Czech Republic and Sweden as well. To have four players from four different countries has shown the importance that hockey is making on the world. This class of 2014 has shown the globalization of hockey is spreading even faster than we had originally thought.

I have said it before and I will say it again, hockey is an amazing sport that requires physical and mental toughness. It takes a great deal of skill, endurance, and passion to play hockey and these four men who received awards on Friday are just some of the few that we are so immensely proud of in the NHL. It makes me so happy to see the recognition of these athletes and broadcasters and it makes me even happier to see the diverse coverage of the Hockey Hall of Fame.

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More Than A Game

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By Kia Tyus

In many sports, the sole purpose is to win by all means necessary. Many athletes have gained a terrible reputation of being very conceded with others and have the mind-set that they are better.

In a sport like hockey, which I consider one of the most physically demanding sports, players are constantly getting slammed into the wall, taunting one another, and receiving multiple penalties throughout the game.

With many student athletes there seems to be a constant struggle to abide by disciplinary rules off the field. Well the media seems to portray this that way.

Greg Wyshynski wrote an emotional article about how Keving Shier, a freshman hockey player at Union College, helped save Timothy Neild.

Usually, when people see others having car trouble on the road, you rarely have people stop to see if it is okay. This isn’t just people being road but some people are in rushes and simply don’t think twice about a broken down car. Now if most people were to see a burning car on the side of the road, they would probably call the police and stay as far away from the car as possible; to refrain themselves from injury.

Well, Shier and his father were driving to Union College for a recruiting visit and noticed a burning car. Instead of panicking and calling the cops and waiting, they alertly went over to the car to see if anybody was in there. Shier and his father ended up pulling Neild out of the car. Shier stated, “We thought he was dead”. Because of this act of kindness, Shier and his father ended up saving Neild’s life.

It turns out that Neild is in fact a Captain in the armed forces. To pay his respect, Neild presented Shier the Medal of Valor one of the top medal to receive at the Union vs Princeton game. And in return, the Union team autographed a signed jersey for Neild and his family.

The way Wyshynski wrote this article allowed people to see that many college athletes both future and present have great hearts and do a lot of wonderful things off the courts that just never get said in the media because the media focuses more on negativity.

The editor edited this story in a way that allowed readers to connect and read about how the incident impacted everyone involved.

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UConn Falling Brings Early Attention to Women’s Basketball

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By Kate Roth

When I turned on SportsCenter this week and saw one of the headlines talking about women’s college basketball I had to check my calendar to make sure it was still November and not March. The only time Women’s basketball seems to get any media attention is during March Madness and particularly the Final Four. That changed this week when the media had no choice but to cover the story of the mighty UConn Huskies falling to the Stanford Cardinal.

The top ranked Huskies were coming off a perfect season from last year and riding a 48 game winning streak and seemed to be in total control to run the table again this season, that is until they stepped on the court and met the tough Stanford team who played as if they were there to prove a point that this year will be different.

The news of this loss came as very shocking to me as I’m sure it did for many others too. I was fully expecting UConn to go into the tournament undefeated, maybe not win the whole thing again, but definitely be one of the final four teams left. In all honesty I think that is what most sports fans, myself included, have come to expect from women’s college basketball. That is why I think the news of this loss came so shocking to us and deserved the media attention it got.

It is great to see the sport of Women’s Basketball finally get some early attention, but I am afraid of the consequences that may come from this early UConn loss.

As I said before, the only time we see women’s basketball in the media is during March Madness. Last year even more so on the just the UConn team as they went about the quest to finish off a perfect season. Women’s college basketball does not seem to be the number one choice for fans to watch unless they have the opportunity to see history be made like they did last season with Huskies.

The Huskies early loss could play a critical role in the media coverage the sport will receive throughout the rest of the season. I would like to see it spark the interest of more reporters and fans so now they can stop putting all their focus on just one team and see the talented players that many of the other teams in the NCAA have. Who knows, this could also be a great opportunity for another team like Stanford or Notre Dame to run the table and make history of their own.

All in all it is great to see this sport finally getting some early attention it deserves and I hope to see the media build off this early attention and continue coverage through the rest of the season and on into the tournament. This is the perfect time for the other teams in the NCAA to step up and show the fans that there is more to women’s college basketball than just the UConn Huskies.

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Sorry to sound like a broken record but…

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By Kaleb Page

Over this past college football weekend, games were tightly contested and full of excitement which we all came to expect with this college football weekend. With that said a lot of games were not only battles between teams, but the elements as well. One game in particular, Ohio State versus Minnesota, was just that case. Playing in blizzard like conditions with temperatures in the teens, made it a game within the game just to even move like you would without having these conditions.

The game ended in a 31-24 win by Ohio State that was deceiving due to the miscues by Ohio State that left opportunities for Minnesota. Now it must be given to Minnesota that they are a very hard team to beat and work hard in all phases of the game. Therefore a tough win by Ohio State in those conditions should have a gotten a better reception.

That same Saturday TCU traveled to Kansas to go collect their win in what seemed on paper a mismatch in favor of TCU. For much of the game that mismatch did not play out as Kansas led 27-17 in the third quarter. A valiant effort was put together by TCU to come out on top in the end with the score of 34-30.

Now when looking in comparison to these two games you could pull out some things just by doing the eye test of the two teams (OSU and TCU) in the running to finish in the playoff. For one thing, the eye test would show you that the respective opponents for OSU and TCU that day were on two different planets. Coming into the game Minnesota was ranked 25th and in contention to make it to the Big Ten title game. While Kansas with only three wins on the season has been a bottom feeder in the Big 12 for the past few years. When watching the OSU-Minnesota game it was easy to see OSU was dominating. If they didn’t have three costly turnovers, who knows how big a winning margin we would be talking about today. TCU on the other hand was on shaky ground the entire game but did show their heart in this game to come away with a win; nevertheless they should have been nowhere near that position.

When it came to coverage at the end of these two contests it was interesting to open my ESPN homepage and read two different headlines that left me thinking “Are you kidding me?” The headline for the TCU and Kansas game read “TCU Passes Test in Lawrence” while the OSU and Minnesota headline read “Ohio State Escapes Minnesota.” So my question is this, did the person who put these headlines up even watch the games?

I mean come on anybody who knows even the slightest bit of football, or even watched both games Saturday would know that Minnesota would dominate Kansas nine times out of ten with the tenth one about to be served up. That is why it frustrates me to no end to see one team squeak by when they should dominate and get a somewhat praising review (TCU), and then another team get a headline almost making their tough road win seem like nothing (OSU). It wouldn’t matter what team it was or sport for this fact to frustrate me. I know it is good to write the headline that grabs attention, but there is a difference between that and just being so far off base.

I don’t understand how you can’t have a similar tone from headline to headline when talking about these two games. This is not the first time I have seen this by ESPN to make a headline about respective college football games, and one will get a good perspective while the other one will not.

I don’t want to be the one crying out that there is a bias or sounding like a broken record in that regard, but it is a suggestion to ESPN to fix this. How about we think before we post and make sure to not be too pointed one way in our judgment of a performance and then pointed in the opposite direction toward another similar performance.

To some of you who have heard this argument before I’m sorry to be the broken record, but someone had to remind us again.

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Phil Kessel Shows No Love to the Media

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By Kate Roth

Phil Kessel of the Toronto Maple Leafs has been a man of few words when it comes to talking with the media. In fact after a 6-2 loss on Saturday against the Buffalo Sabres he became a man of no words.

Kessel refused to talk to the media following the game and even told one of the reporters, “Get away from me.” Kessel has never been one to go out of his way to speak to the media, but usually gives them at least a small response to make them happy.

Being the best player on the team and one of the leading scorers in the league, the media are always after Kessel. This is why his response or lack thereof to the media after the game on Saturday became such big news around the league. Often times it is almost expected for bench players to shrug off the media and ignore them as if they are not there, but for a player like Kessel who is supposed to be the leader of the team his actions came as a shock to many.

Yes we know that getting interviewed after a tough loss is not on the top of the priority list for players, but it is still something they are expected to do. As a professional athlete you are expected to show the media respect and give them a few comments before or after the game, it’s just how the system works.

The comments can be as simple as, “We didn’t get the job done” or “It just wasn’t our day”. No the media will not make headline stories with these comments, but as long as the athlete is there and willing to provide them they are satisfied.

When asked about the situation after the game and why he did not cooperate with the media Kessel responded by saying that his answers are not always great so he is not sure why the media really wants to talk to him in the first. I also did add that he does realize he needs to do a better job of communicating with the media, but does not want to have the media in his face every day.

Kessel may not view his own answers as great, but for those covering the team and getting the players responses the answers may be exactly what they are looking for. The reporters that cover these teams want to get opinions on the game from different guys each night and by getting Kessel’s “not so great” responses they feel they are doing their job.

I am glad that Kessel made it a point to mention that he needs to cooperate with the media more, no maybe not after every game, but more than he has been willing to in the past. We see this issue with players all over in the professional sports leagues so hopefully this is something other athletes can learn from.

Talking with the media after a game is not something that will kill you and the athletes need to realize this. The reporters are not out to hurt anyone, they are just trying to do their job and athletes can make that much easier just by quickly responding to their questions and then be on their way.

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Dirk Nowitzki Records 27,000th Career Point

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By Nick Muhl

Monday Night, in their game versus the Charlotte Hornets, Dallas Mavericks forward Dirk Nowitzki scored his 27,000th career point. Nowitzki achieved a huge career milestone in the Mavericks 107-80 win. He now becomes only the fourth player in NBA history, joining Kobe Bryant, Michael Jordan and Karl Malone, to score 27,000 points with one team.

In his 17th NBA season, the 36-year-old forward jumped over Hall of Famer Hakeem Olajuwon on the all time career scoring list. This is significant because until now Olajuwon, from Nigeria, has been revered as the greatest international basketball player to ever play on the NBA. Nowitzki, born and raised in Germany, now has surpassed Olajuwon’s scoring average and presents a valid argument as the best international player to ever play in the NBA.

In his 17 seasons, Nowitzki has quietly become one of the best players to ever play basketball. In an NBA era highlighted by superstars like Kobe Bryant, LeBron James and even Tim Duncan, Nowitzki continues to add to his hall of fame resume. The forward has been named to the NBA All Star team 12 times, won one NBA Championship and the second European player to ever win the NBA most valuable player award.

Michael Lee, writer for The Washington Post, highlighted in his Monday night article why it is so significant for an international player to have had such great success in the NBA.

“When Nowitzki entered the league during the lockout-shortened season in 1999, the NBA only had 38 international players and most 7-footers still played with their backs to the basket in an effort to dominate inside. This season, the league has a record 101 international players from 37 countries and territories and big men hovering around the perimeter is now commonplace.”

As Lee points out, Nowitzki has not only become such a great player, but opened the doors for more international basketball players to play in the NBA. The forward, in his moment of triumph and spotlight chose to thank the fans for his accomplishment,

“It was a really special moment to do it at home in front of the fans who have been with me through my 16-17 years here and they gave me a great standing ovation. At the next timeout they showed a video with moments from my career – that was really special and definitely I had some goosebumps. I was just thinking what an amazing ride it has been and how lucky I have been to really come here with an open mind and have people be great to me.”

Hopefully, as his final seasons quickly approach, the Dallas forward will receive more media attention as he continues to break career milestones. His accomplishments have not only opened the door for more international basketball players to join the NBA, but for their accomplishments to be more recognized by sports media.

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RG III: Holding The Entire Team Accountable

By Savannah Malnar

In the majority of NFL franchises, the quarterback can be identified as the primary leader of the team. Robert Griffin III of the Washington Redskins has been working hard to make his case for that position through a career riddled with injuries and bad seasons.

The current 2014-2015 NFL season has not treated the Redskins kindly; they are currently 3-7 and have been plagued with controversy regarding not only their quarterback situation but also the team name. Fans of the Redskins have put all their hope into Griffin since the team traded away a 6th, 2nd, and two 1st round draft picks to acquire the 2nd overall pick in the 2010 NFL Draft from the St. Louis Rams.

All professional athletes are told how to interact with media in press conferences, but Griffin said some things after a loss to the then 1-8 (now 2-8) Tampa Bay Buccaneers that he probably wishes he could take back.

Griffin started the post game press conference by saying multiple times that the multiple sacks and offensive issues were his own fault, and that he is doing everything he can to play better. He then continued to discuss how he hopes and believes that his teammates will do the same and work to make themselves better.

The sport media pulled one specific quote from Griffin’s press conference: “It takes 11 men. It doesn’t take one guy, and that’s proven. If you want to look at the good teams in this league and the great quarterbacks, the Peytons and the Aaron Rodgers, those guys don’t play well if their guys don’t play well. They don’t.”

On Monday almost all the headlines regarding Washington read something along the lines of “RGIII Throws Teammates Under Bus.” Unfortunately for Griffin, most of these articles in both national and local news took his words out of context for the sake of a story. The authors claimed that Griffin was comparing himself to the great quarterbacks of the era and blaming his teammates for the failure of the team.

If you have the patience, listen through Griffin’s press conference. He is humble in all of his answers, and certainly does not target his teammates at all. He does what a good teammate is supposed to do; he holds his fellow teammates accountable while still admitting his own mistakes. There was no blame placing, just a quarterback admitting that the entire team including himself needs improvement.

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DEA Stages Surprise Inspections of NFL Locker Rooms

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By Nick Muhl

Following a Sunday full of NFL football in mid-November, the sports sections of newspapers nationwide typically highlight the many games with playoff implications. This Monday’s NFL headlines highlighted three surprise DEA (Drug Enforcement Agency) raids of NFL lockers rooms, rather than the games themselves.

The three teams tested were the Seattle Seahawks, Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the San Francisco 49ers. The law enforcement officials for the DEA on site investigated and interviewed all three team doctors and trainers.

John Barr, an ESPN reporter for Outside The Lines, received confirmation from a law enforcement official , that the surprise investigations were linked back to a May 2014 lawsuit that rose concern of the three teams violating the Controlled Substances Act. All three teams fully cooperated with the DEA’s investigation.  According to Sally Jenkins for the Washington Post, the investigation may have had something to do with painkillers and the distribution of them by team physicians outside of their registered practice.

Here is an excerpt from Barr’s article, a statement made by Phil Closuis, one of the attorneys representing retired NFL players in their own lawsuit against the NFL:

“I think it’s great that the DEA is taking this seriously. We alleged back on May 20th that the NFL was issuing these controlled substances and prescription medicines in an illegal manner and nobody has really disputed the factual basis of that claim.”

The fact that many newspapers and other media outlets will lead their NFL coverage with this story is a huge step forward for the NFL and will hopefully improve public relations. It is no hidden fact that the NFL has remained under siege of the media, fans, and others concerning the safety of their athletes and the lawsuits and accusations being made by former NFL players. This investigation is directly related to the NFL changing its enforcement of the safety and health codes it has now put in place in hopes of preventing future lawsuits and keeping the players safe.

NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy commented on the DEA activities Sunday, “Our teams cooperated with the DEA today and we have no information to indicate that irregularities were found.” While the DEA may have surprised the NFL with its investigation of the three teams on Sunday, the NFL fully cooperated and that shows the NFL is continuing its effort to not only protect its players, but repair the league’s damaged image in the eyes of media outlets, and fans.

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Started from the Bottom Now We’re Here

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By Ellen Chlumecky

On Saturday night, Derrick Rose once again sat out against the Indiana Pacers because he was recovering from a strained left hamstring. Rose and Tom Thibodeau, the Bulls coach, are trying to give the injury time to heal and be patient with his recovery.

The Bulls ended up losing on Saturday to the Indiana Pacers 90 to 99. There was a player on the court that night who showed the United Center that the Bulls have a new star filling in for Rose. While the Bulls looked uninhabited on Saturday, this player gave life to the team. That player’s name is Jimmy Butler. While the team didn’t get the W, Butler scored a career high of 32 points.

This career high may be something new to Butler but the consistency of his point scoring has been unstoppable this season. Butler has shown his team that he can be a force to reckon with not only on defense, but recently on offense as well.

Kicked to the curb at the young age of 13, Butler had very little to look forward to in his life. After he was finally adopted by a kind family, Butler spent time playing for Tyler Junior College trying to get a college scout to notice him. He worked hard on the court and off the court academically and eventually received an offer to go to Marquette. Marquette’s coach, Buzz Williams, pushed him hard and saw the immense potential that Butler had. Working day in and day out at Marquette, Butler became the 30th pick overall by the Chicago Bulls. Now at only 25 years old, Butler is making a splash while star player Rose is out right now.

So working hard is nothing new for Jimmy Butler especially with his rough past. With Derrick Rose out, the entire team needs to step up in terms of point scorers and leadership. However, all the Chicago Tribune can talk about right now is how Derrick Rose is currently out.

I understand that Derrick Rose’s recovery is something that all Bulls’ fans are dying for right now, but when a rookie made a career high of 32 points it is something important to celebrate. I personally believe that Derrick Rose leads the Bulls effectively and efficiently but while he is out, players need to step up. And the fact that Butler is trying to, says a lot about his character as a player.

While NBA.com did not think Butler accomplished enough in the game because they didn’t win, just like Rose, it will not bring Butler down. Butler has overcome adversity in so many different ways. Nothing in his life came easy to him. I’m sure that losing a game to the Pacers doesn’t qualify as the worst thing that’s ever happened to him. Congratulations to Jimmy Butler, I look forward to seeing more from you and I cannot wait to see what you and Rose can do when he’s back.

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Melvin Gordon Breaks Record

By Matt Rogers

If by the off-chance you were a fan of college football and did not know of Melvin Gordon, before this past Saturday, you do now. Gordon, the all-everything running back of Wisconsin, broke the FBS record for rushing yards in a single game. Heading into the game the record stood at 406 yards, held by former TCU and NFL great, LaDainian Tomlinson. Gordon ended Saturday’s game against Nebraska with 408 yards. What was most impressive about Gordon’s accomplishment was that all of his yards came in the first three quarters. That’s right, he did not even play in the fourth quarter because the Wisconsin Badgers were blowing the Nebraska Cornhuskers out.

It should come as no surprise that it was Melvin Gordon who broke the record though, after the success that he has been enjoying this season. He was already the leading FBS in rushing yards heading into the game, averaging over eight yards per carry. With this game, Gordon now has a total of 1,909 yards on the season. Being that Wisconsin is in the driver’s seat to represent the West division in the Big Ten title game, the team has at least four more games this season. If Gordon were to play as well as he has through the first ten games, he has an outside shot at breaking the single season record for rushing yards, 2,628 held by NFL Hall of Famer Barry Sanders.

Not that he needed this performance to justify his status as a Heisman Memorial Trophy front-runner, but Gordon has all but punched his ticket to New York City in December as one of the finalists for the award.

Gordon has been receiving massive amounts of praise from various media outlets from the beginning of the season because he returned to Wisconsin for another season, after most draft experts considered him one of the very best running backs in last year’s draft class. The buzz about him as grown immensely as the season has progressed because of his unbelievable play on the field for the Badgers. Matt Miller, head NFL draft scout for Bleacher Report, has been evaluating Gordon’s play throughout the season, assessing him a second round grade (2nd overall among running backs) for the upcoming 2015 NFL Draft.

What Gordon has done to this point in the 2014 season has been nothing short of spectacular. It is very hard to believe that he is not done. It should be fun to see what sort of tricks Gordon has left up the sleeve of his #25 Wisconsin Badgers’ jersey for the last part of the season. Stay tuned.

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