Monthly Archives: November 2014

Jozy Altidore’s Tweeting Mishaps

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By Alex O’Connor

Jozy Altidore is currently dealing with a Twitter dilemma following several rumors of Altidore potentially leaving his current team. Altidore currently plays for Sunderland A.F.C., which is an English professional soccer team that plays in the English Premier League. Altidore’s career path has taken him on several pit stops in his young twenty-five year-old life. He has played for the New York Red Bulls, Villareal CF, Hull City, Bursaspor, AZ Alkmaar and Sunderland. This boils down to six teams in his young eight year career. On Saturday, rumors of Altidore leaving Sunderland for the MLS and The Los Angeles Galaxy were clarified on Twitter. However, the manner in which it was clarified was not in the best light. Altidore tweeted: “@LAGalaxy really? Stop blowing up my agents phone then. No means no.” There has been some consideration among media that Altidore was not the person behind the tweet, and would be the absolute wrong way to conduct a formal transaction of this nature.

Twitter is never the way to convey a message that is usually secret and professional. Though TheGuardian.com has acknowledged that Altidore may be leaving Sunderland this past January, this tweet harshly quieted those rumors. In an already hectic career for Altidore, it seems strange that he would personally latch out publically to the entire Galaxy organization and in such a manner as Twitter. The Galaxy organization also may have simply tried too hard to lure Altidore away from Sunderland. Altidore is known for being a generous and kind athlete, as he has aided citizens of the 2010 Haiti Earthquake. In addition, in honor of the twenty-six Sandy Hook victims, he wrote their initials on his cleats in a game against FC Twente on December 21, 2012.

However, this tweet comes only days after Team U.S.A. lost to Columbia by a score of 2-1. There could be an underlying factor of bitterness that carried over to his message. In another opinion, NBCSports.com’s Kyle Bonn questions whether or not Altidore sent out the tweet himself. Athletes simply do not negotiate with other organizations over social media. Bonn connected the “no means no” excerpt of the tweet to the recent incident of Colt McCoy’s post-game interview on Monday Night Football after his win against the Cowboys. A PR employee with the Redskins refused an interview request by yelling “no means no” to ESPN reporter John Sutcliffe. Though the two instances are not related it is interesting to see two distinct media connections using the exact same phrasing.

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Mark Hunt: The Underdog of Underdogs

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By Kaleb Page

In the sport world no matter what the venue, there comes along a story, team or player that we look to as an underdog and pull for. This Saturday night at UFC 180 the story of an underdog begins another chapter.

Mark Hunt, also known as the “Super Samoan,” stands at 5’10” and weighs in at 265 lbs. For a man his height to be in the heavyweight division, it makes him undersized when you look at some of the giants in the division standing from 6’3″ to 6’4″ (even one fighter at 6’11”). However, Hunt has shown time and time again he is not afraid to step in and mix it up with those who are much larger. Also at the age of 40, Hunt is at the end of the road or at least getting there because MMA is evolving and as time passes it shows how much of a “young man’s” game it truly is.

Prior to becoming a UFC fighter, Hunt was a member of PRIDE a very famous fight league in Japan that was eventually bought out by the UFC. In Pride fights Hunt was recognized as a huge force with undeniable power in either hand. Even though he was almost uncontrollable with his power, people found a way around it by getting him on the ground and neutralizing his power. After going on a streak of winning five fights the big man went cold.

Coming into the UFC Hunt found himself on the losing end of six consecutive fights all in convincing fashion either by KO/TKO or Submission. In an interview with news.com.au, UFC President Dana White said that after the buyout he really didn’t want to bring Hunt along. Even going as far to pay Hunt the money left on his contract just to walk away. Since then Hunt has proven him wrong leaving White to say, “I’ll never count Mark Hunt out ever again.”

Since the days of doubt Hunt has posted a record of 5 wins, 2 losses and 1 draw; including a streak of four wins. In nearly all of those fights Hunt was the underdog, since he is old and people doubt his ability anymore. Yet who has risen to the occasion winning those fights and doing it in convincing fashion (4 of the 5 wins by KO/TKO): Mark Hunt. Even though he has proven a lot of doubters wrong as his career starts to come to an end, there still is another task to complete.

UFC 180 this Saturday was supposed to be a huge heavyweight title fight between Cain Velasquez and Fabricio Werdum in Mexico City, Mexico. With Velasquez falling victim to a knee injury the UFC needed a short notice replacement, and the underdog answered the call. Facing Werdum could be the biggest challenge that Hunt has had, mainly because Werdum is possibly the best heavyweight submission artist ever to step in the octagon. As mentioned before the ground game is one that Hunt had trouble with, so if he plans to escape with another underdog win he might want to stay out of Werdum’s world.

On Bleacher Report and the news.com.au websites they cover this story very well and give how this story is one that any underdog lover should pay attention to. This is something I wish bigger outlets like ESPN would do more of; instead of looking to the traditional sports for underdogs, they can look to MMA or other non-traditional sports just as easily to find inspirational underdog stories.

On Saturday possibly one of the biggest underdog stories and upsets could happen in the UFC. If Hunt does get the win, he will be the interim heavyweight champion and next in line to face the champion Cain Velasquez. As a fan of the sport and someone who watches UFC events, I hope Hunt can continue the dream and get to the title fight. Either way, Hunt should be proud of where he has come from at such a late stage in his career and know he did it his way.

Saturday night take a break from the college football madness and take a look at what will happen in this fight. I know I will, and I will be rooting for the underdog.

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The Poor Decisions of the Los Angeles Lakers

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By Kia Tyus

Kelly Dwyer wrote a compelling article about the Los Angeles Lakers recent poor decisions in recent years; most notably their signing of Kobe Bryant to a two-year $48.5 million.

Dwyer brought on the point that just about everyone thought that the Lakers made a ridiculously poor decision. Everyone except the Buss family and Bryant has a firm understanding that Bryant is by no means able to play at the level of a $48.5 million contract.

Dwyer also points out that the Lakers organization is very careless with their money because they know that they have the money to spend.

On of the best comparisons that was made in the article was how Tim Duncan and Dirk Nowitzki took pay cuts to make sure that there respective organizations had money to spend on free agency without going over the luxury tax. Dwyer also noted that Duncan and Nowitzki respective teams got a good bargain with their recent contract extinctions.

The Lakers are clearly in a different market that most National Basketball Association teams. I like how Dwyer stated facts like the San Antonio Spurs aren’t getting $2 billion dollar TV deals. And that even with Bryant’s recent contract the Lakers still have plenty of cap space to sign free agents.

Which brings Dwyer’s next point in the recent Laker’s poor spending habits. The Lakers should have never hired Mike Brown. The Lakers were looking at whom Brown was coaching instead of his actual coaching ability. Second, the Lakers spent a large sum of money when they acquired Dwight Howard and Steve Nash. This was a huge waist of money because Howard lasted a year and played terribly and Nash has yet to have a healthy season with the Lakers.

Dwyer also helped his claim when he stated that they shouldn’t have hired Mike D’Antoni because they didn’t have the offensive weapons to run a D’Antoni offense and Byrant under his new contract has yet to play a full season and is in is 19th NBA season coming off of two major injuries on both legs.

Dwyer wrote a great article about the Lakers poor choices over the last few years. He stated multiple facts and gave great examples about how their poor choices have done nothing but harm the team. In fact, the Lakers have started the 2014-15 season 1-7.

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Brandon Marshall Challenges Rival Fan to a Fight

By Savannah Malnar

Professional athletes are always expected to have professional interactions with fans of the sport. Whenever an athlete makes gestures or even yells at fans during a game, that gets media attention. But wide receiver Brandon Marshall of the Chicago Bears took interacting negatively with a fan to a whole new level on Thursday.

Many athletes run their own twitters and interact with fans through that social media outlet; it provides an environment for them to respond to fans’ questions and criticism publicly. This can be both good and bad, depending on the athlete’s composure on the site. Marshall lost his, actually challenging a Detroit Lions’ fan to a fight.

The fan tweeted at Marshall a screen shot of his own comments on an Instagram photo Marshall had recently posted. The fan, in these comments, said “Remember when you called Detroit the little brother?”, referencing a comment made by Marshall last season, and then two more comments highlighted with expletives and a personal insult to Marshall’s mother.

Now, Marshall could have ignored the tweet like many athletes often do to rude fans. Some athletes even reply with sarcastic or funny remarks if they feel the need to actually interact with the fan. But Marshall decided to reply with an “offer,” telling the fan that he would give him $5,000 to “get in a ring” with him. He then upped the ante, saying that if he (Marshall) lost, he would pay the fan an additional $10,000. If the fan lost, Marshall wanted him to do 100 hours of community service.

The fan replied asking him to raise the bid to $25,000. Marshall shockingly replied yes, and tweeted shortly after “And you have to apologize to my mom.” The fan never replied, and Marshall tweeted again saying “Deal or no deal bro? This is your chance to back up your talk and make 25k.”

Now, there may be differing opinions by fans on whether this is acceptable behavior by an athlete. But the media’s opinions need to be looked at.

First, both national and local Detroit (where the fan is from) media took it surprisingly lightly. The reports of the words exchanged were written in almost a humorous tone. What was most interesting was the local Chicago sport media. NBC Chicago published a short article on it, and in it was this statement: “There’s no word on whether or not the fight will happen, but in a time when the Bears’ locker room is already suffering from divisions, a lack of leadership, and a coach who is trying to hold it all together, something like this isn’t exactly a welcome distraction.”

Whether the fan knew what he was doing or not, he definitely hit a sensitive spot with Marshall. The underperforming Bears are 3-6 going into Week 11 of the NFL season compared to the Lions surprising record of 7-2.

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Landon Donovan Goes Unnoticed

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By Kate Roth

Unless you are a follower of soccer you are probably unaware that the Major League Soccer playoffs here in the United States are in full go. If that is true, I would also be willing to bet that you had no idea a player in the Western Conference semi-final scored a hat trick for the first time in a playoff game since 1999. The name of the player you ask? Well none other than Landon Donovan of course.

When I read the headline on Major League Soccer’s homepage and found out this news TWO DAYS after the actual game, I felt the same way I’m sure most felt upon hearing the news, “How did I not hear about this already?” Landon Donovan has become known as one of the most iconic figures in United States Soccer history and it is quite shocking to me that the media is paying so little attention to him as he makes his last run before retirement.

Soccer may not be the most popular sport in the United States, but it is certainly on the rise and the media needs to take notice of this. By covering Donovan’s final games throughout the rest of the MLS Playoffs the media could help spread the popularity of the sport around the country and help soccer gain the respect it gets in other countries throughout the world.

It seems that the only time we hear or see ESPN or any of the other major sports reports talk about soccer is when the FIFA World Cup is on or there is some sort of controversy to cover.

Just think back to a few months ago right before the World Cup was set to begin and the United States coach decided that Donovan was not fit for his team. The media could not get enough of this story and seemed to be interviewing Donovan everyday with his thoughts on the matter. The media sure seemed to care about Donovan then, but where are they now.

The media makes it seem like without controversy they have nothing to report on, but that is not the case. The man who has helped shape the United States Men’s National Soccer Team into what it is today is on his final tour and so far, going out in style. He scored 3 goals and had an assist in a conference-semi final game which could have easily been the last game he ever played. Landon Donovan is going out in the way we dream of legendary players leaving the field for the last time. Accomplishing things that haven’t been done in over a decade and leading his team to victory.

Landon Donovan has been one of the most exciting players to watch play the sport of soccer for the United States and deserves more respect from the media. Even though the media may not think they need to pay any attention to soccer, this is different. Landon Donovan changed the way we look at soccer in the United States. He plays every game with more passion than you will see more athletes show throughout their entire careers, and for that we need to thank him and support him as he plays in his final games.

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“You can’t worry about failure” – Bryant Makes All-time NBA Mark for Missed Field Goals

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By Ellen Chlumecky

On Tuesday in Memphis, Kobe Bryant made history by setting the NBA record for missed field goals. The Los Angeles Lakers played the Memphis Grizzlies on Tuesday and Bryant set the mark with 6:22 left in the fourth quarter of a 107-102 loss. He missed a 14-foot fade away jumper from the left side. This miss gave him his 13, 418 career missed field goal. He made history by becoming the player with the most missed field goals by beating Boston Celtics John Havlicek by one shot. Also, in this same game, Bryant scored a game high of 28 points on 10-of-26 shooting.

After the game, Bryant was asked if he knew about the record. Kobe Bryant let it roll off his shoulders and commented on how he did not follow records or statistics like that. When asked how he managed to make the mark, he laughed and said, “Well, I’m a shooting guard that’s played 19 years – ‘shooting’ guard, 19th year.” Bryant said, “I don’t care about it, to be honest with you. It is what it is. I remember when I was a kid and I watched Michael shoot 49 times in an NBA Finals game. Can you imagine if I did that and lost? Puts thing in perspective.”

Kobe Bryant did not seem to be concerned about the major milestone in his career. He is among the ranks of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Michael Jordan, Allen Iverson, Elvin Hayes, Karl Malone, and other greats of the NBA. All of these players worked their butts off every game to become greats.

ESPN, The New York Daily News, and NBC Sports all seemed to press on Bryant, asking him if he knew about the record and what he thought and if it bothered him. Even after all these people kept pushing to get some sort of anger or regret from him, Kobe Bryant chose to rise above it. He said, “You’ve got to step up and play, man. You can’t worry about criticism. You can’t worry about failure. You really can’t worry about that stuff.”

“You can’t worry about failure.” While I am not the biggest fan of Kobe Bryant, I have utter respect for him for understanding that this landmark in NBA history isn’t a failure. It is just a moment showing that Kobe Bryant has been working his butt off every game this season and every game of previous seasons as well. While most reporters are looking for a reason to tear him down, Bryant consistently tries to improve himself by working harder every day in every game.

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College Football Committee

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By Kia Tyus

Dan Wetzel wrote an article on whether the College Football Playoff Committee is making fair choices, and if their choices are influenced by outside behavior.

Wetzel made a host of great points throughout the article, one of them being whether or not there is there a point in the Top 25 poll? Wetzel made suggestions that there is no longer a point in the Top 25 polls because of the recently new playoffs. With the new playoffs, the top four teams in the nation make it. Therefore, if I chose to agree with this thought, I would suggest maybe that the NCAA should start doing a top seven-team poll. That way the nation would have an idea of who would be the first four teams in and the next two teams out.

Another suggestion Wetzel had was criticizing how fair it would be if there were three to four Southeastern Conference (SEC) teams to make the playoffs. Wetzel stated that the teams that should make the playoffs should deserve to be there. My question to challenge this would be to think about the other undefeated teams in the nation. Many teams can’t help the conference that they play in.

I feel personally that the committee recycles the top seven or eight teams until they have two or more losses. Which isn’t fair to the few teams that continue to win games week in and week out.

Wetzel suggested that the committee might be influenced by the outrage that pours in each week. I feel like he may have a point because in a scenario of a low-level team matching up with a team with the skill level of Alabama, it wouldn’t be as entertaining for fans to watch. While there is a slight chance that the public influences the committee, it is still a thought to think about.

The final point that Wetzel made was the fact that the ranking system will probably not be changed in the near future. I completely agree with Wetzel with this. In reality, the top 25 ranking system gets college football fans talking every week. More and more people tune in every week to watch college football and every Tuesday to see who is ranked in the top four.

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Unbelievable Finsh to the WGC-HSBC Championship

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By Alex O’Connor

Last Sunday, the World Golf Championship concluded with a spectacular ending. Bubba Watson, winner of this year’s Masters, was down by two strokes going into the last hole. The hole was a Par 5 and Watson went for the green in two shots. He missed the green, went into the bunker and was forced to make his next shot. Watson did just that, and chipped in to force a sudden death playoff. On the first hole of the playoff versus Tim Clark, Watson sunk a 20-foot birdie putt to win the tournament. This tournament being a non-major, it had many golf analysts wondering how big of an impact a finish like this would have on the sport as well as where it rates among other great finishes from the year. Historically, the non-major tournaments receive significantly less media attention on the National and International stage. In addition, the Ryder and President’s Cups have the intense rivalry built up by American media between the U.S. and Europe. Now that we have seen a finish of this magnitude from a high-caliber player, this may be the turning point for large-scale media to give more attention to the non-major tournaments.

Ryan Lavner, writer for GolfChannel.com made the case that this tournament had the best finish to any tournament this year. Lavner created a off-hand check sheet of great viewing qualities of a gold tournament. He listed: jitters, clutch shooting and a sigh of relief at the end. All were answered with a yes. In addition, GolfChannel.com writer Will Gray pointed out the statistical nature that gave him the conclusion as the best finish of 2014. Five players had a shot to win the tournament on the last hole, and Watson was the most unlikely. Though the tournament was held in China, it was brought to national attention minutes after Watson sunk the last putt.

Due to Watson’s remarkable win, there may have been a turning point in the golf industry. The average sports fan who now turns on SportsCenter will see Watson’s victory and may remember the tournament he played in. If that person does, this will enhance the popularity of the game solely based on a players’ performance over the course of two holes. In addition, that fan may become a Watson fan after the performance and follow the sport to a larger degree. This past performance was not only good for Watson, but for the sport itself.

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NHL’s Team’s Tweet Gives Insight Into Growing Social Media Interaction

By McKenzie Whiteman

The world is commonly shaped by the words and opinions that social media platforms post for millions of viewers to comprehend. Whether it’s celebrity drama, natural disasters, or political updates, you can find information on literally anything without having to turn a page of a newspaper or type into a search engine. Because of the influence these sites have, some posts produce certain emotions. The quick response…a combative post. Twitter proved to be a platform for this kind of interaction when ESPN’s post rubbed the Columbus Blue Jackets’ media team the wrong way.

After the Blue Jackets’ 4-7 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning, ESPN’s Twitter account read “Hey Columbus. Think you’re the best fans in the world? Prove it.” Below it read, “Apply now to the #FanHallofFame” and listed a link. It seems as if ESPN’s simply trying to promote some type of fan promotion. The Blue Jackets, however, didn’t see it as so. They responded by tweeting to ESPN with, “@espn Who is this?”. Some believe this is in reference to the television series, Seinfeld, and it’s popular bit in which its main character, Jerry, replies to phone calls with “Who is this?” in response to ridiculous comments stated by the caller. Whether or not this is true, the Jackets were obviously upset enough to tweet in attempt to show they care very little about what ESPN had to say.

While this may not be the biggest Twitter battle society has seen between major sport organizations, it’s certainly one of the most recent. Media is beginning to mean more than television broadcasts and radio reports. The public is beginning to gain insight on news on a more personal level through the use of social media. Because of the growing popularity of these sites, any post that is related to your particular organization is handled thoroughly or defended aggressively…thus these growing Twitter battles.

No matter if it’s on a large or small scale, teams are beginning to take a particular interest in what their social media accounts say about their organization. If an account posts something negative in regards to your organization and your account doesn’t counteract, your organization is deemed passive. If your respond with an overly aggressive post, your organization is seen as ruthless. How you post gives followers insight on how you conduct business.

This particular example between ESPN and the Blue Jackets gives off the assumption that the Jackets don’t particularly care about what the media has to say about their fans, (whether it was in regards to a promotion or not). It may not be the most aggressive social media battle the world has been exposed to, however it does provide an example of how organizations are interacting through social media. As social media is beginning to become the public’s main source of news and information, it’ll be interesting to see how sport organizations define themselves through their accounts.

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The Curse of the Biebs

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By Kaleb Page

Do you believe in curses? Are you one to be superstitious with how certain things have to be? Well in the world of sport, a lot of people and players could say yes to those questions above. This past Sunday a curse possibility was found and yet it has been around for a while.

The Curse of Justin Bieber is something produced by the fan bases who have fallen to the pop star’s black veil cast upon their respective team(s). No different was it in Week 10 of the NFL season where the Steelers fell to the 1-8 Jets 13 to 20. Prompting many Steelers fans to blame the “Bieber Curse” for the loss to what on paper was an inferior opponent. If you didn’t see it Saturday, then now would be the time to fill you in as to how this loss ties in to the “Bieber Curse.”

On Saturday prior to the game the Steelers had a bible study, and guess who just so happened to come along in time to join. For those of you keeping track at home, it would be the one and only Justin Bieber. At the time a lot of Steelers players were happy to have him there as numerous pictures were taken with smiling players next to Bieber. As I saw the pictures on my timeline I let out a huge “nooooooooo” (as a Steelers fan it left me thinking why?; since I know of the curse). Little did they know the curse was planted for it to play out on Sunday.

As the game ended many outlets from CBS Sports, Sporting News, ESPN, etc. were asking is the new victim in the long line of “Bieber Curse” victims the Steelers? Those who covered this topic were quite thorough in their assessment and quite funny as well. Jason La Canfora called it an “ambush” and would be “hard to shake” on the part of the Steelers for the rest of the season. Sporting News did a nice chronological look at the curse so far this year leading up to this past Sunday, showing Bieber was at the Knicks home opener Oct. 29th (Knicks lost) and then the following night he was at the Cavaliers home opener (Cavs lost). Even though these cases are more recent the curse has a line going even further back.

SportsNation sent out a tweet showing a collection of the past victims to the Bieber curse. Like the Chicago Blackhawks who fell victim when Bieber came into their locker room in 2013 to see their Stanley Cup and stood on the teams’ logo taking a picture. Then it could be possible the Heat losing to the Spurs in the 2014 finals had to do with Bieber being court-side at Heat home games wearing Heat gear. Following those pictures, might have been the biggest case of the “Bieber Curse;” Bieber holding a Spain national team jersey. This really had the “Bieber Curse” brewing over this past summer when the previous World Cup champion Spain was destroyed in the 2014 World Cup.

It is interesting to see how people have put this correlation together and make this almost a cult like following to see where the “Bieber Curse” will strike again. For one thing there are those, who after this most recent correlation between the Biebs and the steelers loss, that want to ban the Biebs from their team.

However, undefeated Floyd Mayweather has had Bieber at his past two fights and yet he hasn’t lost. Maybe his time will come too, but for now he is having no effects of the curse.

As to the numerous fans out there nervous to when the “Bieber Curse” will strike their team, don’t look now but he is already visiting your team as we speak.

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