Author Archives: Savannah Malnar

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About Savannah Malnar

Savannah Malnar is a freshman in the Sport Management program at Bowling Green State University. She is aspiring to work in the National Hockey League but enjoys watching all sports and analyzing them, especially statistically.

Cleveland’s Quarterback Dilemma

By Savannah Malnar

Johnny “Money” Manziel may have been the most hyped rookie coming to play in the NFL this season. The college star was drafted by the Cleveland Browns, and immediately there was speculation as to if he would start over last year’s starter Brian Hoyer. Despite the rumors, Manziel only saw the field once (on a trick play to catch a pass from Hoyer) until last Sunday. The Browns were down 20-3 to the Buffalo Bills, and Cleveland coach Mike Pettine had enough of Hoyer and gave Manziel the field with about 12 minutes left in the game. Manziel promptly drove the Browns down the field and ran in a 10-yard, marking the first rushing touchdown for Cleveland in four years.

The Browns still ended up falling to the Bills 26-10, but that didn’t stop the rush of people again calling for Manziel to start for the remainder of the year. Cleveland fans seemed to all be on the same side; the team should no longer be Hoyer’s.

Local and national media humanized the event a little more, highlighting Hoyer’s disappointment in being pulled. Hoyer spoke with reporters post-game, and the most common quote in each media account of the event is, “So I think you guys know from before, I’m never going to just hang my head and feel sorry for myself. We have four games left and whatever coach decides to do, I’ll be here to support this team and obviously I feel like this is my team and this is my job so we’ll see what happens moving forward.” Hoyer still believes the starting position should be his, especially after the strong start the team showcased early in the season.

One Browns beat writer, Mary Kay Cabot, focused on Manziel instead. Her article discussed his gratitude for the chance to play and also his humility and acknowledgement that he couldn’t have performed as well without the veterans on the Browns offense. Manziel felt lucky that his one fumble got overturned as an incomplete pass despite his opinion that his arm had not moved forward yet.

Cabot and most other sports writers seem to be under the same impression: Manziel is going to get his chance to start soon, if not in Week 14.

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The Greatest Catch in NFL History?

By Savannah Malnar

Amazing things happen in sport games every day. Records are set and highlights are made. Perhaps one of the most impressive highlights, well, ever, was made this Sunday during an NFL team.

Odell Beckham of the New York Giants made what seemed like an impossible catch. With three fingers. Watch here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Hn7ur1f30g

This catch made headlines around every media and social media outlet on the internet. Not only did it litter the front pages, but it also drew many comparisons to other impressive NFL plays. Yahoo! Sports writer Frank Schwab released an article that did just that; it compared Beckham’s catch to every other catch that could have been called the greatest in the NFL.

The catch was compared to historical plays such as “The Catch” by Dwight Clark in the ’81-’82 NFC Championship game, Santonio Holmes’ Super Bowl winning catch, and Calvin Johnson’s catch in triple coverage. Despite this impressive list of highlights, the only play that beat out Beckham’s was the “Helmet Catch” by David Tyree who played for the Giants as well.

There is something about the use of comparisons that make articles interesting to read. This technique can be found in many articles pertaining to impressive plays in every sports. It’s a highly effective form to draw in fans attention and not only expose them to the more recent top-10 worthy highlights, but also plays that will go down in history.

Perhaps the reason comparisons in sport media are so effective is because it allows the fan to decide for themselves. The writer in question may take a side, but sport media writers seem to always mention that their picks are open for interpretation and frequently ask for feedback from their readers.

When it comes to Beckham’s catch, I personally think that it cannot be called the greatest catch in NFL history without it holding any sort of playoff, conference championship or Super Bowl impact. While it was certainly impressive (well, practically impossible), the greatest and most well remembered catches always spawn from those pivotal games we as fans enjoy most.

What do you think?

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Athletes’ Families Steal Millions

By Savannah Malnar

Not much is worse than the feeling of being betrayed; an even worse feeling is being betrayed by family. Unfortunately two professional athletes in two different sports have been in the news the past few days for this reason.

On Wednesday, it was announced that Ryan Howard of the Philadelphia Phillies had finally settled the legal battle that was being waged between him and his family members. Howard had entrusted various family members, primarily his twin brother, to manage RJH Enterprises. After deciding to look more into his own finances Howard found that these family members had been taking advantage of his earnings; his mother had authorized payments of roughly $2.8 million to various family members without his knowledge. The suit was settled out of court and no details have been presented.

The day after that settlement was reached, news broke that Jack Johnson of the Columbus Blue Jackets had been forced to declare bankruptcy due to his own parents’ reckless spending of his money. Back in 2011, three years after firing his agent, Johnson signed $30.5 million contract with the Los Angeles Kings and gave power attorney to his mother. Since then, she borrowed roughly $15 million in very high-interest loans in Johnson’s name in order to apparently purchase a beach house and cars and to pay for their travel expenses. Johnson was not aware of these loans, even for the large house; he was told the money for the mortgage came out of the will of a recently deceased relative.These two stories are incredibly sad. The families certainly felt a sense of entitlement to the athlete’s earnings and went to extreme measures to get what they felt they deserved. The sport media has done an excellent job of remaining focused on the primary aspect of both these stories: the players were betrayed. A source close to Johnson said that he is hurt and confused, as we all would be when faced like something like this.

Some leagues, including the NHL, have information sessions for rookie athletes that warn them of working with uncredited agents or financial advisors. But Greg Wyshynski of Yahoo! Sports said it best in his article about Johnson: “But it’s one thing for a League to say “don’t trust predatory lenders.” It’s another thing for a player not to trust his own mother with his finances.”

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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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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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WNBA Star Brittney Griner Attacked in China

By Savannah Malnar

Random attacks on athletes are thankfully uncommon, but unfortunately on November 3rd WNBA star Brittney Griner was subject to one. Griner is currently playing for the Beijing Great Wall team who plays within the Women’s Chinese Basketball Association. It is her second season in that league. WNBA players commonly go to play for foreign leagues during the offseason to play to stay conditioned and to earn a higher salary.

Griner and her teammates were leaving practice at a gym located in a city called Shenyang where they had a game scheduled the following day. As they were walking towards the bus, a man who had been walking down the street yelling charged them with a knife. The women rushed to the bus but the man also managed to get into the bus and cornered them into the back. Griner said she did not understand anything he was saying, but later her teammates said he was shouting things about how they had supposedly hit his wife and how he was going to kill them. Without reason, the man eventually left the bus without causing any serious harm to the women and later the police apprehended him and took him to a mental institution.

Due to the lack of information immediately following the event, this created a lot of speculation as to the reason the man went after Griner and her teammates. Some people even suggested he was a fan who was outraged because Griner was taking a spot on the team that perhaps another Chinese-born player could have taken.

Griner soon utilized the sport media to eliminate any speculation about the event. She released a long statement giving the full story from her perspective through ESPNW and that allowed other media outlets to provide the public with a much more detailed account of the incident.

Griner’s team decided to play the game the next day and won. Grimer only suffered a very shallow cut on her elbow and her other teammate was sore due to the man attempting to stab her (the two jackets she was wearing protected her).

Through all of this, Griner remained optimistic and lighthearted. In her statement she even joked about how the man damaged her favorite Nike jacket. She also said “The thing I keep reminding myself is that the incident seemed to be random — we were just in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

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Toronto’s Carter Ashton Suspended for Illegal Substance Use

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By Savannah Malnar

Hockey is not a sport in which performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) have ever been a large problem. In fact, up until Thursday, only two players since 2006 had been suspended for violating the National Hockey League’s PED policy. That number is now three, thanks to Toronto Maple Leafs forward Carter Ashton. And it’s an unusual story why.

Ashton tested positive for the use of the illegal substance Clenbuterol. The substance was originally developed as an asthma treatment, but since has been banned for its overuse by athletes as a fat-burner and muscle-definer. But Ashton claims he was not even aware he was using a banned substance; instead, he puts the blame on a borrowed inhaler.

Ashton states that he experienced an asthma attack while exercising in preparation for the upcoming NHL season and borrowed his training partner’s inhaler to remedy it. He was not aware there was any kind of PED or banned drug in the inhaler. In a statement released through the NHLPA, Ashton admitted to using the borrowed inhaler one more time during training camp while still unaware of the contents. In this statement he also said, “Unfortunately, I incorrectly assumed that there were no problems associated with the use of this inhaler and I used it without checking to see whether its contents were permissible under the NHL/NHLPA Performance Enhancing Substances Program.”

It truly seems believable that Ashton had no idea he was doing anything wrong. The media sees this and in multiple outlets can be found questioning the automatic 20-game suspension that has been issued under the NHL’s strict drug policy while at the same time admitting he made a mistake in taking an unknown medication (twice).

Hockey fans and writers are swarming to twitter about this topic. Unfortunately, a lot of Toronto fans are joking about this event. Ashton had only played in 3 games for the Maple Leafs this season with no points. The fans and some bloggers have made comments such as “Ashton was on PEDs? He should get his money back.” And, from an esteemed baseball writer with over 26,000 twitter followers, “Carter Ashton also tested positive for cooties after using his friend’s inhaler.” While there is a time and place for everything, making these joke on the day of the questionable suspension is in bad taste.

The lesson to be learned by Ashton and other NHL players is to be careful about the medication they take. Nicklas Backstrom of the Washington Capitals was almost denied his Olympic silver medal due to a similar event with allergy medicine while in Sochi. The lesson learned here by the media and fans alike is to treat something as unlucky as this with more respect than jokes directed at the player’s performance.

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Rule 64: Eliminating Embellishment in the NHL

By Savannah Malnar

Toughness has always been an important attribute to any athlete no matter the sport. In hockey, this trait is so imbedded into the sport that it actually can dictate penalties. The NHL has always made calls against embellishment, but this season they decided they weren’t doing enough about it and instructed the officials to “crack down” on players who embellish or dive during a game under NHL Rule 64, which states that “any player who blatantly dives” or “embellishes a fall or a reaction” will get a 2 minute penalty.

What this rule is showing is basically the NHL saying, “Yeah, we understand you got hit, but because you’re being a wimp about it you’re going to get 2 minutes in the box too.”

That’s a bit of an exaggeration, but the NHL’s senior executive vice president, Colin Campbell, did say, “Embellishment in the game is a real problem today. We understand players are trying to draw penalties. We feel it’s out of control.”

Last season, the term “diving” was used for these calls; this season the term has changed to embellishment. The NHL saw this as a more fitting word as only three of the 52 diving penalties in the entirety of last season were for faking getting high sticked/tripped/illegally checked/etc. The referees have already started to call out embellishment early in the season, as of October 30th there were already 17 embellishment penalties called.

The hockey media may be a large part of the NHL deciding to encourage these penalties. As I referenced earlier, toughness is a large aspect of the sport. The media tends to portray hockey as a violent sport, littered with big hits and fights; but they don’t portray it as a bad thing. It’s easy to find articles online featuring the best hits of the week.

The media and fans practically worship players who get injured and continue playing. An example from last season would be Philadelphia Flyers center Brayden Schenn taking a skate to the stomach, getting a few repairs on the bench, and then continuing to play in the game and eventually scoring the game winning goal. Words like “impressive” and “amazing” were used to describe it.

Because of this culture, players who incorporate acting skills to draw penalties are not appreciated. But at the same time, referees cannot see everything. Fans and media call for consistent and accurate calls, but forget that the referees have an extremely different angle than those watching the game on television or from the stands. The players understand this, and may defend their embellishment as simply a way to aid the referees in catching penalties that may not be caught if the player was “tough” and didn’t react to a high-stick to the face.

Embellishment is a tricky penalty to be called but the NHL is right to tighten up on not allowing it. Whether it is right or not, hockey is known for the toughness of the sport and eliminating embellishment will help to keep it that way.

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The Return of A-Rod

By Savannah Malnar

Performance-enhancing drug use is a predominant issue in the MLB. It has tainted the names of many greats such as Joe Canseco, Barry Bonds, and most recently, Alex Rodriguez.

Last year the MLB suspended A-Rod for the entirety of the 2014 season for a scandal involving him taking performance-enhancing drugs and being connected to a medical clinic in Florida known to provide these drugs to players. This suspension was originally 211 games but was dropped to 162 games by an arbitrator; this is still the longest in MLB history for doping, and when it was issued there was plenty of debate as to the severity of the ruling by now-retiring MLB commissioner Bud Selig.

But as of the end of the 2014 World Series, A-Rod is back. Or at least he wants to be.

The suspension is in the past and the New York Yankees and A-Rod are working on their relationship. Both parties seem intent to get A-Rod, a historically great third baseman, back into starting shape. His age (he will be turning 40 during the 2015 season) and lack of conditioning from missing an entire season are a concern. If the Yankees were to drop his contract, it would force them to pay him the remaining $61 million salary.

This is a minor story that is being overshadowed by both the San Francisco Giants winning the World Series and Selig retiring; an ironic situation seeing how widely covered the story was covered when A-Rod was first suspended. The end of the suspension should be a bigger deal than it is.

The sport media needs to begin now in deciding how it will portray A-Rod. Will he be shown as a cheater, or someone to be admired for attempting to overcome all odds and recover his starting position? Already, writer Christian Red for The New York Daily News referred to him as a “steroid-tainted player.” Perhaps this is a preview of how the sport media will choose to label him.

I believe, if that is the case, it is the correct course of action. Too often, players who come back from suspension and do well are commended by the media and fans for their success in the face of “adversity.”

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Peyton Manning: Legendary Quarterback and Perfectionist

By Savannah Malnar

Peyton Manning has a reputation of being the sort of guy you would want to spend as much time with as possible. He’s known for his good heart and great arm as a quarterback. But on Thursday, he got a little angry at something that other quarterbacks may not be as worried about.

Manning and the Denver Broncos were up 14 points over Philip Rivers the San Diego Chargers as they were nearing the 2 minute mark in the 4th quarter. As expected, the fans were excited. The scoreboard operator did what people in his position usually are supposed to do: he got them more excited. And Manning didn’t like it.

The scoreboard operator was switching between showing opposing quarterback Rivers on San Diego’s sideline and Manning on offense, invoking a taunt/cheer reaction from the crowd in Denver. The problem? This was going on while Manning was trying to call plays and finish out the game.

Manning was obviously frustrated, making hand signals and attempting to quiet the crowd time (there’s even a video of him shouting an expletive at the crowd circling social media and professional media sites). But after the game, Manning insisted he wasn’t upset at the fans; it was the scoreboard operator he was frustrated with.

The fact that there was so much noise while he was trying to call out plays irked Manning, but he also had a problem with the scoreboard operator showing Rivers. “I don’t think we should be showing their quarterback on the sideline. I thought that was kind of disrespectful,” Manning said during the post-game press conference.

Interestingly enough, an article featured in local newspaper and sport media outlet The Denver Post agreed what the scoreboard operator did was wrong, but that Manning could have been more sensitive about the matter. All major sport media sites were fair and objective in relaying what Manning said; Mike Klis, author of the article in The Denver Post, was more subjective.

He called attention to Manning being a perfectionist and that being a good thing. Again, he believed Manning was in the right, but said, “He just should have been less serious. This would have been a time for Manning’s folksy humor that plays so well to a national audience.”

Is it fair to ask Peyton Manning, debatably the best quarterback in the NFL, to relax about something that may seem trivial? Or has he earned the right to be picky about his playing conditions?

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