Author Archives: Kaleb Page

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About Kaleb Page

Kaleb is a Senior, sport management major with a minor in journalism at Bowling Green State University. Including his involvement in the Maxwell Project, Kaleb is also an active member of the Sport Management Alliance and the Bowling Green Radio Sports Organization. He enjoys watching all types of sports competition from the traditional forms of basketball and football to the emerging areas like mixed martial arts. His favorite teams are the Pittsburgh Steelers, Tottenham Hotspur FC, Cincinnati Reds, Ohio State Buckeyes (football &basketball) and Columbus Crew SC.

The Fault in Our Fields

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By Kaleb Page

For many playing football, lacrosse, soccer, or even field hockey it meant playing on a grass surface. With more advancements over the years synthetic turf started to take over as the better alternative to grass. For one the maintenance is relatively cheaper than a sod or natural grass field, and to the eye these fields look great. However, these fields could have a major fault in them that could have a massive impact.

Turf fields, as many would know that have played on them, have tons of small black pellets spread across the entire field.  These pellets are called “crumb rubber” because like the name states, are the leftovers from ground up tires and any other ground up rubber product that can be recycled. Seems like a good idea right? Grind up rubber and re-purpose it to have a second life instead of ending up in landfills compounding that problem we have even further in this country. It is definitely a good idea but at what price?

While it would be a mistake to automatically jump to the conclusion that synthetic turf is causing cancer; the signs are all pointing that direction. As the old adage would say “where there is smoke, there is fire.” The evidence billowing out like smoke all across the country is pointing directly to the fire, the fire so many children and professional athletes play on.

This issue is in the forefront now, but in actuality it has been a growing concern for years. In 2008 synthetic turf fields at Thomas Jefferson Park in Manhattan, NY were found to have high levels of lead in them (eventually those fields were removed). Soccer coach Amy Griffin in an interview with NBC, said that even in 2009 she had suspicions over the black dots when two goalkeepers she was coaching were diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. In the video below the interview with Amy, which aired earlier this October, chronicled what she experienced along with other startling points as more people are searching for answers now.

It is surprising to look at this topic because I never thought that the playing field put in my hometown could potential be somewhat of a ‘cancer field.’ It is estimated that there are over 4,500 synthetic turf fields across the country and nobody has even let it sink in what the cost could be of playing on this type of surface. The EPA even has a list which states the chemicals that are in tires and other rubber products. What are those chemicals you ask? Well a good part of those chemicals are carcinogens which are contributors to cancer. The EPA is hesitating to make a full judgement, and they stand behind their own studies saying the effect of turf pellets are proven to be insufficient. However, they do admit that there should be more testing done.

It will be interesting to see where this develops and what else can be done to fix this problem. It cannot be ignored anymore and for all the technology we have there should be a way to find a middle ground. One that allows those who are proponents of having turf to keep their turf, while at the same time giving parents, coaches, and players the peace of mind that they aren’t playing on something which could give them cancer someday.

Who knows what the future may hold and what we could see happen. One thing is that we could find ourselves looking back on doing synthetic turf and scratch our heads in amazement. Amazement at the major fault we let go for so long, letting countless players come down with cancer before we even took any action.

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College Football Playoff Committee: Lose-Lose Situation

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By Kaleb Page

This Tuesday night the College Football Playoff Committee releases their highly anticipated playoff rankings (to this point). These rankings will be the first set of the year done by this class of committee members. With these rankings however there is certain to be a high amount of scrutiny, and it is only the first one.

That is why I beg the question: Is this committee in a lose-lose situation? Already I am reading an article with the headline “What the College Football Playoff Committee is already getting wrong.” To think the BCS had people going bonkers, could pale in comparison to what people might do after Tuesday nights reveal and even later on when the final four is set in place.

To some and to Dan Wetzel of Yahoo Sports who wrote the article above, a committee releasing rankings at this point is a bad idea. I think that rankings should not be released anywhere in the beginning of the season even for the AP Poll or the Coach’s Poll. Seems ridiculous to me to make out where you see a team ranked even before they hit the field. However, I think that right now in this point of the season you know what you are getting from teams, and a good barometer of where you stand in the playoff hunt is a good thing to know. This may be one small victory in my mind for the College Playoff Committee, in waiting awhile to get a sense of the whole picture before making a judgement.

When it all comes down to it though, this committee of 12 individuals is probably fighting a battle they can’t win. They can try to justify their procedures and processes for seeding and eventual selection for the playoff, but they will never be right.

Right now if you take a look at the landscape of college football you probably could not tell me one team that is complete, lock-down, or dominate on both sides of the ball. Yeah we may have two undefeated teams in Mississippi St. and Florida St., but they are not untouchable by any means and could topple over in coming weeks. When looking at the records of the top 25 at the moment, there are 15 teams out of the 25 with only one loss and a legitimate chance of becoming an option to be in the playoff. Then by the end of the year there could be no undefeated teams which makes things even harder. Then when looking at how the SEC and PAC-12 are valued higher, what happens when a two loss team in either conference has an impressive resume and is still sitting behind a one-loss Ohio State or Michigan St.; what will they do then?

Think about that or better yet place yourself in the board room right now as the committee. Feel the pressure? Knowing that you have to somehow dwindle down a list as long as Santa’s to just a mere four teams. Oh and I forgot no matter what you pick to have in your playoff, you will have somebody (or fan-base) out there screaming for your head on a platter.

This group of members has a lot of homework to do and will obviously have a lot of explaining after their release Tuesday night. With this little sample being thrown our way, it will have (for me at least) a big deal of excitement. This will ultimately have me on the edge of my seat even more as this college football season starts to wind down toward the playoff.

As for the teams with a one out of a million shot to make it in the playoff like East Carolina, Marshall, and Duke; keep the mindset of a wise guy by the name of Lloyd Christmas and say, “So you’re telling me there’s a chance?!” Maybe just maybe this committee will select you guys to join the party at the end of the year.

Either way, have fun College Football Playoff Committee becoming the new BCS and something a majority of people love to hate.

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Punk’d: Cowboys Edition

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By Kaleb Page

Remember the show on MTV where Ashton Kutcher would pull pranks on celebrities or essentially ‘punk’ them. It is safe to say that this year many Cowboys fans are sitting back thinking where and when are the cameras (along with Ashton)  going to come out and say gotcha on what so far has been a great start to the season.

Right now the Dallas Cowboys are sitting with the lead over the NFC East and have a 6-1 record. In comparison to years past where at this point they would be 4-3 (2013), 3-4 (2012), and 3-4 (2011); this start is something to look at in optimism. Especially when to begin this season the buzz around this Cowboys team was one of downright despair.

Before this season started there were question marks all over this team and what they could even do in all three phases of the game (offense, defense, special teams). It centered around the engine of this team Tony Romo, who at the time was still recovering from back surgery after injuring his back last season. Without really receiving any big hits or preparation on the season beating that most quarterbacks take, many wondered if he could even last through the season and what the team would do if he went down.

Another big question that had people thinking the Cowboys were canoeing upstream without a paddle, was the defense that lacked much talent or big names. When you think of the Dallas Cowboys you think of a team Jerry Jones assembled with big names up and down the roster. Defenses’ of old had Deion Sanders, Darren Woodson, Ed “Too Tall” Jones, DeMarcus Ware, and the list goes on. With today’s group it is hard to off the top of your head go about naming any one big name on that defensive unit (unless you look it up or have some close tie to the team).

Even though these question marks were there and with good reason, the reality is this team is playing hard and inspired football. The offense is playing at a high level, ranking 14th in the league in passing and 1st in rushing with DeMarco Murray on pace to break all sorts of rushing records. The defense that is a thrown together bunch with little name power and mid-range talent, is ranked 12th in passing yards allowed and 16th in rushing yards allowed. A lot of what the defense is doing can been credited to the defensive mind of Rod Marinelli the team’s defensive coordinator. A man who has been credited with doing more with defenses than what he is given.

The stats are nice but the eye test of actually watching this team shows that the potential is there to go farther than anyone expected. Beating teams like the Saints, Giants, and Seahawks (on the road) is quite impressive when considering that, when this schedule was printed out, many people would go against the Cowboys nine times out of ten in those games. Now sitting at 6-1 these Cowboys can control their destiny. Especially when the next three games they play before their bye week are all winnable games (Washington, Arizona, Jacksonville).

If you are a Cowboys fan you might look around and ask “what’s the catch?” When is the heart going to be torn out after these Cowboys epic fail once again, like they have done almost year in year out for the past several seasons. Possibly this is a change of season and this team is actually for real. Deep down though, if we know anything about the show Punk’d from the past, the best sketches have the real unexpected events still to unfold. So for this Cowboys team to be just another episode of Punk’d playing out before us, be ready for an epic unexpected serious of events to end this Cowboys season. For the Cowboys fans reading, be ready to have that prank happen to you and your team and a guy in a trucker hat coming out yelling “You’ve been Punk’d!”

For your sake though Cowboys fans, lets hope that doesn’t happen.

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Thon Maker: The Next Phenom of Basketball?

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by Kaleb Page

Every decade or even few years in the game of basketball, there comes along a talent that people look to in amazement and classify as the next big thing. It looks like the high school basketball class of 2015 or 2016 has what could be that once ever-so-often talent.

This talented player is named Thon Maker, a 7 ft. 210 lb. forward/center who is playing in Ontario Canada for the Athlete Institute (prep basketball team). Born in the Sudan and eventually moving to Australia and to the United States, Thon is now a sought after basketball talent with skills that are almost unmatched when paired with the physical tools he was born with.

For having a natural big man frame, Maker is not your typical big man. He runs the open floor like a guard half his size. He can rip down a rebound and within seconds be flying down the court with the ball, head up and looking to be a threat. From my experience playing with big men in basketball, their ability to dribble effectively on the break and look up the court is hard for them to do. That is why when you watch a guy like Thon, it blows you away with how fluid he moves on the court and the ability he has to pass, dribble, and shoot. He has the mid-range jump shot that is as smooth a motion you will see from a big man, and it almost reminds you of the days when Kevin Garnett would stop, face-up and take a 15-20 foot jumper. It can be seen in videos as well, that he can be effective from three-point range as well. Also defensively, his rim protecting skills place him in a special category for a young post player.

It almost seemed natural for Thon upon coming to the United States to make the jump from regular high school basketball to a prep academy. This would take him to an even higher level of basketball in order to prepare for the next step. From what can be seen so far, coaches across the country have to be salivating over what they could land in the recruiting process.

With two years of eligibility left, Thon could forgo his senior year of high school and go to college in 2015 instead of waiting for 2016. Either way he will be the number one player still in ESPN’s recruiting rankings. He has received offers from the power programs of college basketball: Arizona, Duke, Florida, Kentucky, Louisville, Kansas, etc. The choice on where he will go is still to be seen.

With that said there is room for the big man to improve, as any player in the game should do in order to maximize on the potential they have. Defensively, even though Thon is a great rim protector, he can have his troubles in the paint with big men who are bigger and can out muscle him at the point of attack. Definitely at his basketball academy they will look to boost his strength and add to his 210 lb. frame, so he can handle strong players in the paint. His finishing ability at the rim could take some polishing when it comes to receiving contact from defenders, but that will come with more practice and coaching.  Like with all great players Thon still needs some development, but with what he has shown already the potential to do something special has to be kept in mind.

Comparisons have been tossed around that he is the next Kevin Garnett, the next Kevin Durant, the next Magic Johnson or even the next Hakeem Olajuwon. While it may happen that he becomes this 7 ft. guard/forward/center combo that combines all of those great players talents; I say let the anointed ‘phenom’ of the time blossom. He is only 17 years old and needs to have time to grow and fill out his potential. It is important while we sit back in amazement at what we see in the highlights, we also look to let this naturally happen instead of forcing the issue. If we force this too much we could turn Thon Maker into a basketball player who had all this potential, but crumbled in the end because he could never live up to the impossible image we all created as to what he should be.

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Ronda Rousey and the Quest for an Undefeated Lifetime Record

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By Kaleb Page

In a sport world like MMA where men dominate the scene, the baddest person on the planet, no matter the division, is actually a woman.

Ronda Rousey has earned her nickname “Rowdy” convincingly throughout her fighting career that began in 2011. Another nickname I think is fitting and should be considered is “the arm collector” due to this statistic: 8 of the 10 victories Ronda has, come by way of submission due to armbar. Even though people know what is coming it seems like she has her way with them, which unanimously led to her becoming the number one pound-for-pound female fighter in the world.

It can be said that the fire behind what Ronda is doing in the women’s bantamweight division in the UFC, is fueled by her competition in Judo as a representative of the United States. Her success of winning three gold’s, two silver, and two bronze medals over various competitions came with their fair share of losses as well. Ronda had a thought during Judo that ultimately led to her crossover into the MMA scene. In an interview with Jim Rome this week Ronda said, “I did all my losing in Judo, which is a lot of the reason why I wanted to do MMA so much because no one ever beat me in Judo that I couldn’t beat in a fight.” This quote so far has been proven time and time again, with Ronda convincingly winning every fight she has been in on her way to a 10-0 record.

Another thing that separates Ronda from any other fighter in her division is her win or die attitude. In the same interview she recalled a fight against Liz Carmouche and feeling like she could die in that fight. Liz put Ronda in a tight neck crank and dislocated Ronda’s jaw in the process. However, unlike some fighters who by that point would be tapping out, Ronda’s mindset was, “I would rather break my neck than lose this fight.” She did live up to her word and defeated Liz Carmouche with her trademark armbar later in the first round.

Ronda is a female icon in the world of sports that needs more attention than she is already receiving. Her ultimate goal of course it to end her UFC career in a fashion nobody at the highest level on the women’s side has done: retire undefeated. Her next opponent is rumored to be Cat Zingano, which is in the works to take place early 2015. Another stout test for Ronda with this opponent being undefeated as well.

If I had to put money on any athlete in a competitive sport like this to go undefeated, it would be “Rowdy” Ronda Rousey. Just by the way she carries herself alone, puts her on a whole different level than any of her counterparts. Her relentless attitude and training are world-class in part to her time training as an Olympian. Even though in the world of MMA it only takes one punch, kick, or submission to end this dominating run; I just don’t see it happening. Especially when you have such a driven fighter who has only seen the second round once in her entire career; an insane number in MMA, and in the best fight league worldwide the UFC.

As to anyone else who has doubts as to why I am on the Rousey Bandwagon or as to why she could end up retiring undefeated, Ronda has a message for you: “All the ones (opponents) they bring are legitimate; I work and prepare so hard that there’s nothing they can do about it.” So if you got a challenge to bring Ronda’s way suit yourself, but don’t say I didn’t warn you already about what you are going up against.

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Famous Jameis: Where is this Star Heading and the Dark Cloud Circling Florida State Football

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By Kaleb Page

Nobody can deny the talent they have seen from game to game by Jameis Winston over his short time at Florida State. On the field his precision passing, passion for the game and command of the team has those at the next level drooling at what they could get. However, the star that is Jameis Winston could be on a collision course with a fate that nobody expected when he burst on the scene.

It all started on December 7th, 2012 when a female student was allegedly a victim of sexual assault by a male the morning after going to a local night club in Tallahassee, Florida. It took 34 days for the police to identify the man who did this and it was the victim who identified who it was, not police; the man identified was Jameis Winston. Prosecutors then waited another two weeks to contact Jameis about this, and then went on to do an even bigger baffling move. Without even interviewing witnesses or getting a DNA sample from Jameis, the case was closed on February 11th, 2013. But wait there is more. After letting nine months pass, on November 14th, 2013 investigators finally took interviews and a DNA sample from Winston. Ultimately leading to a ruling by the local prosecutor to not prosecute Jameis due to lack of evidence.

This whole thing from the start reeked of fishy methods and things done not in the sake of justice and truth but rather in the best interest of the school and its athletics. This event also brought into question the character of Jameis and how could he possibly do something like that or even put himself in that situation. This event is getting more press of late due to a report issued by The New York Times on October 10th, 2014. This report had shocking evidence as to how bad the university and law enforcement handled this situation. The school and law enforcement should be ashamed of how this all was handled and is still being played out. This made me think of a big question that could be added into this situation: How far will schools go to keep their star talent on the field?

Even though that event is the most serious and needs more attention, that was just the beginning of things that left people around the country wondering: What is Jameis thinking?

The same year of the alleged sexual assault (2012), Jameis and teammates had a BB gun fight in their apartment causing damages up in the area of $4,000.  Then in April of this year, Jameis went to a local grocery store and was caught stealing crab legs. He went on to make an apology and said “he forgot.” Then in the student union of Florida State he was seen on top of a table screaming an explicit phrase that got him suspended for the entire game against Clemson.

The straw that could break the camel’s back might be on its way. Recent developments are showing that the compliance department within Florida State athletics is investigating more than 950 autographed items by Winston found on the same site as Georgia’s suspended running back Todd Gurley, who had 500 items on the site. With this being a relatively new development it will be interesting if Winston will receive the same punishment as Gurley and be suspended for the rest of the season, thus possibly ending his Florida State football career.

Will the punishment happen though? From the track record of little to nothing done to discipline Jameis for his actions, my answer to that question would be no. Now Jameis may be a good person deep down and since I don’t know him maybe I should step back on my judgment. However with that said, it is hard to look at the list of bad judgment that follows him and not make a judgment of my own about the person he is. I wish Jameis for all his talent he had on the field, had just the equal amount of talent to think before he acts.

As for the big storm cloud building by the day around not only Jameis but around Florida State athletics and Tallahassee law enforcement, only time will tell the implications of their actions. It will most certainly get worse before it is all over, and for all that Florida State has built in the past years that made them into a premiere place to be, it all could come tumbling down. The investigators and prosecutor as well could see their credibility and reputation tarnished. But this all circles back to one person: Jameis Winston. Now is the time for this star to either wake up and become something better on and off the field, or continue on this path.

It is either he goes on to shine like so many of us believed when he just began, or this star will become like so many stars before it and implode on itself, turning into a black hole full of mystery. Mystery as to what could have been of Jameis Winston.

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Concussions: Why the World and Soccer Should Listen

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By Kaleb Page

When it comes to the topic of concussions in sports the main sport in question is football. Rarely do you find discussion on concussions in any other sport and one rarely finds criticism thrown at other sports like one does with football. The time has come to look at the sport of soccer or fútbol, as a concerning area for concussions.

Recently in a match between Arsenal and Chelsea, Thibaut Courtois, who is a rising star at goalkeeper for Chelsea, fell victim to a blow that left him unconscious on the pitch. This blow resulted after a ball came in the box towards forward Alexis Sánchez of Arsenal and Courtois slid in to recover the ball before Sánchez could get a boot on the ball. The scene was a car- crash-like pile on the pitch that left Sánchez looking over a knocked out Courtois.

Doctors and training staff members came on to check out the star keeper and run what was said to be the Premier League’s standard for head injuries. Even though the guidelines were ran, there is one disturbing fact about what happened following this severe head injury.

For 14 minutes after the injury and testing, Courtois was allowed to play on. Yes, you read that right. The guy who was just lying on the ground unconscious after receiving a knee to the head was allowed to get up and play like nothing even happened. He was eventually taken out of the game, but that was after the fact that he played on for 14 minutes. Now if this happened in the game of football the uproar would be astounding and would almost guaranteed be the talk of sports for weeks on end. Yet when you turn on the television to SportsCenter, Fox Sports Tonight or even NBC Sports Network do you see the same outcry as if it was a sport like football? The resounding answer is no.

Taylor Twellman, who contributes on ESPN broadcasts for soccer, is a very outspoken member of the soccer community who has had his own battle with concussions in soccer. His own professional career was cut short by the mishandling of a concussion he received while playing. He recently looked at the mishandling of this concussion and the concussions in this sport over the years.

Even if you trace back to the World Cup this summer, Twellman was angered by the handling of concussions on the world’s biggest stage for soccer. Several players received concussions in various games, and yet they played on, or attempted to at least. This prompted a response from Twellman saying that, “It’s barbaric. The way FIFA has turned an eye to head injuries, it’s 1950s-ish.”

I could not agree more with Twellman and some of the others in the soccer community who have concern with the treatment and handling of head trauma in soccer. In this most recent development with a rising star like Courtois, it brings this issue to the forefront where it belongs just like it does with football concussions. In the end the question needs to be asked to FIFA and the respective leagues around the World: Do you care about your athletes’ well-being or are you going to continue to pretend like you care?

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Media Rushes to The Panic Button Over New England Patriots

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By Kaleb Page

In week five of the NFL season, the New England Patriots beat the Cincinnati Bengals to the score of 43 to 17. However, if you flash back to the week leading up to the game you would find that the story surrounding the Patriots was not one of triumph but rather one of panic.

In week four the Patriots went into Arrowhead Stadium to face off with the Kansas City Chiefs in a Monday night clash. What ensued was a thorough demolition of the Patriots at the hands of the Chiefs, with the final score being 14 to 41. This demolition came as a big surprise due to how lackluster of a performance was put forth by Tom Brady and the rest of the team.

After the game was over it seemed like all of the sports media outlets from ESPN to FOX had developed the “Chicken Little” mentality that the sky was falling for the Patriots. Immediately after the game Trent Dilfer of ESPN went on to say, “The New England Patriots, let’s face it, they’re not good anymore.” Even Stephen A. Smith on First Take went on to say that “They (Patriots) are in a world of trouble.” For much of the week following the game, speculation loomed all around the team even going as far to ask: Is it time for a quarterback change from Tom Brady to Jimmy Garoppolo?

Step back into the now and it seems like that horrible game in Arrowhead is a thing of the past. Tom Brady went out and handled his business, the Patriots defense showed up stopping an emerging Cincinnati offense, and the sounds of madness surrounding the team seemed to fade away.

I think that this just shows, as anyone should do when looking at any sport early in the season, is to in the words of Aaron Rodgers “R-E-L-A-X.” It is early in the NFL season and to write off the football minds of Tom Brady and Bill Belichick probably is not the smart move to make. Especially when this AFC East division is still there for the taking, and the Patriots have had such success winning division titles (11 of the last 13 divisional titles dating back to 2001).

It also should go to show that from time to time we all just need to step back and give credit where credit is due. The Chiefs played a great game that night and were just the better of two good teams that came out to play. The NFL is always evolving week to week and sometimes a bad game is bound to happen, which in the case of the Patriots came in the prime-time slot Monday night where they were the only game on television.

It is easy to freak out when the consistent franchises like the Patriots do terrible on the big stage. However, you should look to step back and realize that it will take time and things will shift back to where they have been. So before this week comes and a new opportunity presents itself to press the panic button, don’t do it!

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