Michael Jordan Gives Rare Exclusive Interview to Darren Rovell

By Matt Rogers

As a player, Michael Jordan is regarded by many as the best basketball player to ever play the game. As an NBA executive for the Charlotte Hornets, formerly the Bobcats, he is not regarded as highly. What Michael Jordan the player and Michael Jordan the owner have in common is the standoffish attitude toward the media in order to have control of his image.

This sense of image control and attitude toward the media have followed Jordan throughout his evolution from player into owner of an NBA franchise. In a recent interview with Darrell Rovell of ESPN, Jordan gave the reporter and viewers of ESPN a look inside the locker room of the Charlotte Hornets. He also gave insight on the team’s off-season acquisition of shooting guard Lance Stephenson, formerly of the Indiana Pacers. When asked how he managed to recruit Stephenson away from the Pacers and to the Hornets, Jordan said he told Stephenson that “we [the Hornets] need someone that could compete against LeBron, simple as that.”

This type of response from Jordan is not surprising given that he won 6 NBA titles in his career as an NBA player for the Chicago Bulls. It also is not surprising because it shows that Jordan understands and respects the caliber of player that LeBron James has grown into over his career, one that many media personalities and fans compare to Michael Jordan. This comment also shows that Jordan may see more in Stephenson as a player than just the antics that most casual viewers of the NBA witnessed during the NBA Eastern Conference Finals series last year against LeBron and the Miami Heat.

Not only has Jordan seemingly ventured away from his perceived comfort zone and given an exclusive, all-access interview with Rovell, he has also tried his hand in social media in recent days. This is substantial because Jordan has been anything but an advocate for social media sites, including Twitter and Facebook. It seem as though Jordan is retracting from this stance though because he has been using the Hornets’ official Twitter account to make announcements about the team. One thing that has caught the media’s eye that Jordan used the Hornets’ account to post is a response to a post from PGA tour golfer Keegan Bradley. Bradley posted “MJ how does it feel to get beat by me everyday at bears club?! .” Jordan responded by posting “Last time I looked, you were wearing MY shoes. You don’t see me wearing Air Keegans…”

These types of fun social media posts and exclusive interviews are a rarity from Michael Jordan. He will probably remain the guy that keeps most of his inner thoughts close to his chest because that is the way he has always been, as a player, and so far, as an owner.

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Michael Vick Gets the Start

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By Kia Tyus

Frank Schwab wrote a great article on the quarterback woes of the New York Jets.

Schwab started the article off by discussing how the play of Geno Smith simply isn’t cutting it. Schwab wrote that the Smith isn’t a valuable option for the Jets. Schwab picked apart Smith’s play and rightfully so since he opened the game this past Sunday versus the Buffalo Bills throwing three picks in the first quarter alone.

Schwab continued to rip apart Smith by using critical stats. As a starter, Smith has a miserable 19 touchdowns and pitiful 31 interceptions. Clearly, like Schwab stated, Smith has not learned from him rookie mistakes. Currently, the Jets have one of the worst records in the NFL sitting on a 1-7 record. Which promoted the quarterback change for the Jets.

Schwab shifted the article toward the coach decision. Rex Ryan is probably one of the most indecisive coaches in the league in my opinion. Schwab helped back up my thought by writing about how Ryan still has hope for Smith this season. How Ryan isn’t worried about any other game except for the one this week. How this isn’t a long–term deal for the Jets. Ryan has failed to realize that in the system the Jets run, Smith simply doesn’t pull through.

Michael Vick use to be an elite quarterback in the NFL for the Atlanta Falcons before his poor choices off the field interfered. The aging quarterback who will be turning 35 is now the starting quarterback for a team that needs a major confidence boost.

Schwab made good points when it came to Vick and the quarterback future of the Jets. Vick is an older quarterback who granted has had some remarkable moments since reentering the NFL, but he has failed to really show that he can consistently make those necessary plays for his team on a week-to-week basis when given the chance.

Schwab ended the article stating that Vick obviously is not the franchise quarterback but at this point in time starting Vick over Smith is the smart move and I agree.

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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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Chris Fowler Brings Drama to Gameday

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By Kate Roth

During ESPN’s College Gameday this past Saturday, there was a moment where I had to stop watching to check and make sure I hadn’t accidentally turned my TV to The View. The show which has become widely popular for the dramatic way that Lee Corso puts on the mascots headgear of the team he is picking to win the big game of day had some extra drama in this weekend’s show.

As the gang was getting set to start making their predictions for the day the main host of the show Chris Fowler decided to address the acquisitions of ESPN having an SEC bias, a topic that does not sit well with fans or ESPN.

We’re all used to seeing the calm and collected Chris Fowler comment his opinions on the matters at hand with very little emotion, so it was quite a shock to see how worked up he was over this topic.

Fowler wanted to make it known that ESPN does not feel they have an SEC bias nor do they want to see the SEC or any conference for that matter run the table and take up all of the spots in the new playoff system. While ranting about how tired he is of seeing these reports over and over again he even referred to them as “stupid”, not a terrible word for that matter, but a word that we would not expect to hear come out of Fowler’s mouth.

Fowler continued to make his case by saying that it would be much beneficial to ESPN for the teams that will make up the playoff to come from all different conferences covering the different regions of the country. This way fans from all over the country would be watching the games, not just fans from one area which would help ESPN gain more viewers from all over.

Although Fowler made many good points throughout his rant, the reports in which he claimed were “stupid” also make many great points as well.

It’s as though for the past few years that almost every time we turn on our TV’s on Saturday morning College Gameday is in SEC country, and if some reason they are not, they still spend the majority of the segment talking about the games within the South Eastern Conference for that day.

Yes the SEC does typically have very high ranked team’s week in and week out, but it often feels like ESPN has completely forgotten about the other conferences.

Take for instance the Big 10 Conference this past weekend. Ohio State who is one of the highest ranked teams in the nation and Big 10 Conference, played one of the toughest games on their schedule this season against Penn State. Even though Penn State is not an elite team this year, a Happy Valley white-out at night is one of the toughest environments for any team to play in. This game had the perfect set up for the College Gameday theme, but instead where did they end up again? The SEC.

Don’t get me wrong, the LSU/Ole’ Miss game was one of the most important games of the season let alone weekend, but when you are trying to defend yourself against this so called “SEC bias” it would have been a good idea to take the open opportunity to check out some of the B1G action.

It is clear that each side here has a very strong argument and will continue to defend their opinions throughout the rest of the season and possibly onto many more seasons to come. It will be interesting to see if there will be any more rants on College Gameday from Fowler or any of his colleagues, but for the time being let’s all just take a deep breath and leave the roundtable drama to the ladies of The View.

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What’s up with the Legion of Boom?

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By Nick Muhl

The defending Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks have been the topic of many headlines this season. Unlike last season, this year’s Seahawks have been the subject to trade rumors, locker room disputes and their mediocre start at 4-3.

The Seahawks’ serious issues began with the early headline noise that wide receiver Percy Harvin simply did not fit in to the team, both with coaches and his fellow peers in the locker room, since joining them late March 2013.

In a surprising move, the Seahawks traded Harvin to the New York Jets for what will most likely be a fourth round draft pick. The Seahawks gave up 3 draft picks including a first and third round pick to the Minnesota Vikings to acquire Harvin.

Following the trade, and a 28-26 loss to the 2-5 St. Louis Rams, more headlines were scattered of a divided locker room in the defending champions locker room. As we approach the trade deadline, Seattle’s All-Pro running back Marshawn Lynch has been subject to the new trade rumors, a week after Harvin’s trade. While a trade involving Lynch is unlikely to happen this season, reports say signs now point to the 29-year old running back not returning to Seattle next season.

In his article published on ESPN, NFL reporter Chris Mortenson cited the following reasons as to why he believes Seattle will move on from Lynch next season:

“The organization has grown tired of his ways, including pulling a no-show at the White House Super Bowl ceremony, his training camp holdout and his possible contribution to locker-room distractions.”

Later in the same article, Mortenson reported that Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson had known about the possibility of a Harvin trade a month prior to the actual trade. Earlier in the same week, ESPN also reported the quarterback Russell Wilson was shocked to hear Seattle decided to move on from Harvin, the day before their lose to the Rams.

Seattle’s cornerback denies the team has any discomfort in the locker room or concern regarding the team’s record , “If three losses were to ruin the season, then it would have ruined last year’s season, too, because we lost three then, too,” Sherman said following the press conference after the loss to the Rams.

However in many ways the NFL in recent years has been spoiled by multiple Super Bowl winners including the Pittsburgh Steelers, New England Patriots and New York Giants. in NFL history only 5 teams have started out 3-0 after winning the Super Bowl. There has also only been 7 NFL teams to ever repeat a Super Bowl championship the following year.

So why are so many headlines and fans shocked by the early mediocre record by the Seahawks? They do play in arguably the best division in the NFC, currently if the season ended today the San Francisco 49ers and Arizona Cardinals would make the playoffs over Seattle.

Don’t put much into media headlines and articles surrounding distress in Seattle’s locker room. The team still maintains a winning record and we are not even halfway through the season. Writer Ryan Gamble for The Examiner put in his article titled, “Marshawn Lynch trade rumors: ESPN causes a stir with Seattle Seahawks Fans, Gamble cited an article written by Greg Garber of ESPN to be the original source of the Lynch trade rumors that spread through headlines the next day.

Garber, an ESPN NFL Insider writer, hypothetically wrote that the San Diego Chargers would be a great place for the running back to land should Seattle ever choose to move on. Garber went into detail what he believed the Seahawks and Chargers would have to give up to make the trade happen. Shortly following the publishing of his article, Lynch trade rumors began through multiple sources of media.

However, Lynch just signed a new deal and is coming off another Pro Bowl season capped with a Super Bowl Championship. The “downslide in Seattle” is merely another case of the media taking a rumor and running with it. This is a great example of how every source needs to checked and follow through before reporting such rumors, especially in this case the defending champions.

Seattle’s remaining schedule includes 5 of their 6 total division games still. They are also coming off a win last week v. the Carolina Panthers 13-9. The Seahawks take on the winless 0-7 Oakland Raiders next week at home.

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Social Media and the firing of Ted Bishop

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The use of social media in sports is a breeding ground for controversy. Once you hit “send” in social media, someone will screenshot it and record it, for there is no telling how big of an issue it may become. Social media is also dangerous because there are different ways in which potentially controversial statements are worded. In the last two days, Ted Bishop, former President of the Professional Golfers Association (PGA) of America has been ousted because of social media. His comments were both controversial, and were taken in a negative light though he may have not meant it that way.

The issue at hand with Ted Bishop was a tweet that he sent out regarding Ian Poulter, an eccentric golfer from England. The tweet was in response to Poulter’s criticism of Ryder Cup Captains Tom Watson and Nick Faldo. The context of Poulter’s comments were that his Ryder Cup and major performances were superior of Faldo’s. Bishop responded through Twitter with “Yours v. His? Lil girl.” Basically, Bishop was belittling his comments and saying that his accusations were completely wrong. BBC Sport also pointed out there was a Facebook post written by Bishop saying: “Really? Sounds like a little school girl squealing during recess. C’MON MAN!” Bishop is American, and Poulter has been known to show his emotions, especially in Ryder and Presidents Cups. This may have been a result of mounting tensions after the American Ryder Cup loss just a month ago. Ultimately, tensions spilled over for Bishop, and is something that cost him his job.

The Golf Channel had a similar take on the situation as BBC Sport, however they emphasized that Twitter was a large factor in the situation escalating. Bishop was not the first prominent golf executive to misuse social media and cause significant damage to their career. A prominent Australian golfer, Steve Elkington, also had issues with social media. Regarding a helicopter crash in Australia, he joked that “there was no beer spilled on board.” His comments were extremely insensitive. He is now synonymous with this tweet, and there will always be a black eye on his reputation. Finally, they also emphasized the views of Poulter and other prominent golfers. 2010 Cup Captain Corey Pavin told his players to be careful with twitter, as he did not want any additional distractions for the team. There are so many forces that may be tempting to tweet or post something on Facebook, but these instances have made it a nightmare for both the PGA and Ted Bishop.

NHL Honors Canadian Soldiers

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By Ellen Chlumecky

October 22nd, 2014 is a date that will now live in infamy in the hearts of all Canadians. At 9:52 a.m. when Michael Zehaf-Bibeau entered the Canadian National War Memorial, everything changed. Zehaf-Bibeau fatally shot Corporal Nathan Cirillo and then attacked the members of the Canadian Parliament. Two days before, a terrorist attack occurred in Quebec which resulted in the killing of another Canadian soldier. This tragic week has hit Canada like a wrecking ball. Citizens of Canada’s lives were put on hold while they tried to absorb what happened. During this time, everyone tried to put activities on hold until people could grasp what had happened, notably they cancelled the Ottawa Senators and Toronto Maple Leafs game.

This Saturday, October 25th the same week of the tragic shootings, Canada held a commemorative night honoring the fallen soldiers at the Ottawa Senators and New Jersey Devils game.  In combined efforts with the Montreal Canadiens and the Toronto Maple Leafs, the Ottawa Senators and the New Jersey Devils organized the game at Canadian Tire Centre to be a night dedicated to the two Canadian soldiers who had fallen in order to protect others and their country. The ceremony honored not only them, but the Canadian soldiers who were first respondents to both of the shootings.

The Ottawa Senators and the New Jersey Devils stood shoulder to shoulder on the center ice circle for the ceremony. In the middle of center ice were representatives of the Canadian military. The anthem singer sang “O Canada,” which the crowd joined in singing loudly with him. The Senators also showed on the video board the Montreal and Toronto arenas pregame where the crowd sang the Canadian anthem as well.

While the shoulder to shoulder is not something you usually see in these types of ceremonies, it was conveyed a powerful message. That message was the unity of these players symbolized the unity of the players and the unity of America and Canada. This message of the ceremony was to honor the fallen soldiers who gave their lives to protect the lives of other citizens. However, the NHL was also trying to make the statement of unity through hockey.  Hockey holds great importance in Ottawa and Canada as a whole, and for the NHL to come together to show support towards Ottawa says a lot about the power of sports and the compassion that the NHL organization holds for these fallen soldiers, their families, and all that were affected.

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Mad Man At Courtside

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This is part of an ongoing series of guest posts by those in academia and in the professional world of sport. This week’s post is written Dr. Jacquelyn Cuneen, a retired Professor of Sport Management at Bowling Green State University. 

Viewers of the Emmy winning AMC series Mad Men are taken back to the 1960’s in America — an era of stringent social order when all individuals were branded by gender conformity. Even the most unattractive of males were able to swagger as if they were Frank Sinatra and even the brightest of females were expected to sashay as if they were Marilyn Monroe. Sport, of course, was the domain of males. Females were tolerated in certain “gender appropriate” activities (see Eleanor Metheny’s essay on Connotations of Movement in Sport), and women in some of those sports (e.g., golf, tennis, bowling) were starting to establish their place in athletics.

The Olympic Games provided the biggest stages for 1960’s athletes who happened to be female and some of the most visible athletes at both the summer and winter games were women from the former Soviet Bloc countries. The Soviet women were particularly dominant in track and field. They were highly trained, highly fit, very serious, and very muscular. Their appearances prompted the American media, particularly the print media, to focus more on the athletes’ bodies rather than their performances. Amid questions related to doping, chromosome testing, and sexuality, the Soviet athletes were chided for being too masculine. In other words, they were too good to be women. And, the collective Ministers of Sport from the Soviet countries were outraged over these insulting questions and accusations.

Fast-forward to half a century later when some of the best and most popular athletes in the world are skilled, strong, forceful, muscular women and the era of Mad Men is far behind — except perhaps in Russia, the principal country of the old Soviet Bloc. In October 2014, Russian tennis official Shamil Tarpischev appeared on his country’s late-night talk show Evening Urgant and, due either to unbelievable ignorance or a dim-witted attempt at comedy, referred to Venus and Serena Williams as The Williams brothers.

The Williams Brothers! Venus, who can walk a fashion runway to rival any Vogue model. Serena, so dazzling that she can walk on to the CBS Late Show set and render host David Letterman speechless. Brothers? What could prompt a coach to refer to such women as brothers? Could it be that, in his Mad Men mind, they are too good and too powerfully built to be women?

It is appalling that the Williams’ or any females who work to reach the top of their sport must hear such comments from their sports’ insiders. It is particularly disconcerting to hear such denigrating remarks from someone who has worked so closely with skilled women and ought to know their capabilities. A person such as Tarpischev, of all people, should know the success that comes to women who are accountable and committed to their sport and prepare themselves for excellence. He behaves like a mad man.

A final word to Shamil: Watch Mad Men and be happy you live in an era when you have accomplished women to coach. Then, get yourself off the talk show circuit, go back on court, leave social commentary to Gloria Steinem, leave comedy to Chelsea Handler, and start coaching better so some of your Russian players can come up to the Williams standard.

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The International Impact of the NFL

By Savannah Malnar

Soccer has always been a major sport in Europe but a different kind of football may invade that market soon enough. The NFL recently said that they are still on track with their plans to have an American football team placed in London, the capital of England, by 2022. With the upcoming Lions and Falcons game being played there this Sunday and the Cowboys and Jaguars playing there on November 9th, attention is again being drawn to the possibility of an international team.

This plan to expand the NFL internationally has been in the works since 2007, when they first started playing games overseas. NFL executive Mark Waller said in an interview with Reuters, “We’re at the midway point of that 15-year journey. I think we’re exactly on track.”

While the NFL seems exceedingly hopeful that they can relocate a team to London within the next 7 years, there are some drawbacks being highlighted by both American and English media.

The London Evening Standard projected the relationship of the NFL and the city to be very good. The Chancellor George Osborne is quoted saying that he believes bringing an NFL team to the city would “…cement London as a global sporting capital as well as a global financial and business and cultural capital.” Besides these benefits, some are concerned that the field in Wembley Stadium that is currently being used to host these games would not hold up well against the additional use; it is already used to host both soccer and rugby matches.

American media seems to be a little more hesitant about the possibility of relocation; many articles cite downsides including increased travel and time zone differences. There remains the possibility of, instead of stationing a team in London, playing roughly 8 games a year there. NFL teams selected would have to be okay with sacrificing a home game.

Despite these drawbacks, the games being in hosted in London have high attendance numbers and are gaining more popularity. The one concern I have is that if a team is relocated to London, it would not be a novelty anymore. Currently there are few games played there each season; if that became a normal event throughout the season, would the team still see the same attendance numbers of about 84,000 fans that they have?

Waller is convinced that American football is popular enough in the UK to thrive. We will see if this opinion stands true as the NFL attempts to grow its market throughout the next several seasons.

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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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