The Sports Academic

FIFA and Video Replay... NOT

2009-11-23T13:53:00.003-07:00

In the wake of the France-Ireland handball incident, FIFA officials are holding an emergency meeting to discuss a corruption scandal that has led to numerous arrests, the violence surrounding the Algeria-Egypt match-up last week, and... (drum roll)... NOT video replay. (See ESPN.com's article about the meeting.)

Instead, they will be discussing the possibility of adding extra officials behind each goal. Now that's progress...

The growing disconnect between the philosophy of FIFA executives and the sport they are charged to govern remains a mystery. While equipment, training, and technology have progressed, FIFA officials have opted to plant their heads firmly in the sand of a nostalgic soccer past that is more fictional than real.

FIFA officials maintain that by keeping video replay out of soccer they are preserving the integrity and respecting the history of the game. But the game has changed many times. Ironically, the first rule change in the sport (made to differentiate football from rugby) was to disallow touching the ball with the hands or arms. But more recent rule changes have altered the offside rule, increased the number of officials, and introduced penalties for simulation. In addition, technological advances have changed the way spectators experience the game. In other words, change is as much a part of the game as complaining about the referee.

Purists additionally maintain that the introduction of video replay would break up the flow of the game. Such a contention borders on the ridiculous since injuries, fouls, and goals already regularly interrupt the game. A video replay after each goal could be carried out by a replay official before the scoring team finishes their lengthy celebrations and returns to the center of the field. And a replay official could confirm or refute both fouls called within the penalty area and red cards in far less time than it currently takes the referee to deal with arguing players.

What's worse, instead of simply consulting a video screen (or a replay official), the referee will consult with the sideline official and now one positioned behind the goal and waste time discussing what they saw without the help of slow motion or multiple angles. This conference process may actually be slower and more disruptive than straight video replay.

But instead of acknowledging anachronistic deficiencies in their system, FIFA will likely once again remain several steps behind the game. At least this way there is no chance they will be offside...

Clash of the Multi-Level Elixirs: Xango v. Herbalife in MLS Cup

2009-11-19T08:00:00.003-07:00

"Are you interested in a business opportunity?" "We are looking for distributors in your area."

In this Sunday's Major League Soccer Cup final XanGo will square off against Herbalife in a winner-take-all battle of the pyramid scheme health supplement companies: XanGo* v. Herbalife.*

[For the uninitiated I must point out the Real Salt Lake's jersey is not red and blue, but claret and cobalt; we like our alliteration in Utah...]

To make matters worse, two Sports Academic authors are invested in the match. Not as distributors, but as fans of the two teams. I regularly attend Real Salt Lake matches and Bob Hudson, UCLA PhD that he is, is a fan of the LA Galaxy. In fact, we attended a match they played against each other earlier this season: a 2-2 draw. At the gate we were handed a small packet of XanGo. I drank it. My conclusion? It must be good for you since it tastes so bad.

I am not sure which is worse: sports like football and baseball with fairly subdued sponsorships on their jerseys (a small swoosh, for example); or sports like soccer where the primary sponsor takes up the place of the team name. The disadvantage of the latter is that my son, who loves his Real Salt Lake jersey, is now a walking billboard for XanGo and their mangosteen fruit's miraculous health properties (also available as a shampoo).* The advantage is that soccer games are not continually interrupted, like football, by two minute commercial spots between plays.

Whichever model is better, Bob and I still have a Sports Academic wager on this Sunday's final. What are we betting? The loser has to drink a glass of XanGo* or a Healthy Meal Herbalife Shake*.... if we can find a distributor in our area, that is.

*These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.

Sports and (Il-)literacy II: Athletes and tattoos

2009-11-18T09:41:00.005-07:00

A number of weeks ago, I lamented the lack of creativity in modern sports nicknames, reading this as an indicator of the diminishing literacy amongst not only athletes but also the media outlets responsible for marketing them. (OK, Nike did okay with "King James" for LeBron; but, "LBJ" is just weak--especially considering LeBron is one word.) A recent article by respected ESPN sports journalist Rick Reilly turns the focus back on the athletes themselves (and their tattoo artists) in a recent opinion piece that I link here: Athletes and tattoo culture.

Barracuda: Sarah Palin, Basketball Star

2009-11-18T08:30:00.000-07:00

Sarah Palin is back in the news with the release of her new book, Going Rogue. Here is a post from the Sports Academic archives, originally published Sep. 9, 2008:

(Daily News via girlsinshorts.blogspot.com)

Most bios of new VP candidate Sarah Palin include (and often begin with) the fact that she was once a basketball player and led her team to a state championship, earning the nickname Barracuda along the way. If her basketball experience is regularly brought up, it is because Palin and other Republicans (who played the song "Barracuda" by the group Heart at their convention) want it brought up. The following is from the Business Week election blog:

"Basketball was a major influence in her life, to tell by comments she’s made to reporters. 'I know this sounds hokey,' she told the Anchorage paper, 'but basketball was a life-changing experience for me,' and it taught her 'about setting a goal, about discipline, teamwork, and then success.' Voters just might get to hear about it again now; reported the newspaper in 2006: 'Palin has been telling interviewers about the 1982 state tournament at West High…for at least a decade, including the self-effacing line about its being hokey.'"

Nero certainly knew the political clout the title of champion could convey, so he bribed his way to a victory in the Olympic chariot race in AD 67. And Napoleon tried to prove his legitimacy by hunting in the manner of the old monarchs on more than one occasion (apparently he was terrible at it). Today sports have an even more powerful hold on the public imagination.

Because of the strong sports culture in America, the fact that Palin was a state champion will lead many to forgive a multitude of shortcomings. Who needs other credentials when "State Champ" is on the resume? Americans assume that those who are successful in sports can transpose that success into any other field, the examples of Pete Rose, Marion Jones, etc. notwithstanding. Unfortunately (and with due respect to Jack Kemp, Bill Bradley, and Steve Largent) as Murray Sperber notes in his book Beer and Circus, in the current era of specialization, such successful transitions are becoming more and more rare.

Beyond that, goal setting, teamwork and success may be easy to track in sports, but the world of politics is far more ambiguous and requires the ability to handle some gray. Dealing with Iran, Russia, or Venezuela will not be as clear cut as the pick and roll, and economic reform will demand more nuanced, analytical thinking than anything sports can teach. Being too goal driven may also lead politicians to surreptitiously fire anyone who impedes their agenda (e.g. police chiefs, state public safety commissioners, or federal prosecutors), thereby subverting the democratic process.

Sports metaphors are easy to understand and, by their very nature, populist. And we will certainly hear a lot of them before the end of this election season (from both Palin and Obama). But I can think of more athletes I would not want to see in office (President Bryant? Senator Rodman? Congressman Rocker? Governor Barkley?) than those I would.

The moral of the story: Beware of politicians who vaunt success on the court over political acumen.

Race in the New York Marathon and in Provo Politics

2009-11-11T09:26:00.005-07:00

As a follow up to my discussion of race and sport in previous posts, here is an article by Gina Kolata of the New York Times that discusses reactions to Meb Keflezighi's recent victory at the New York Marathon. Even though he has lived in the U.S. since age 12 and done all his training in the here, some argue he is not "really" an American because he was born in Africa... Kola writes:

The debate reveals what some academics say are common assumptions and stereotypes about race and sports and athletic achievement in the United States. Its dimensions, they add, go beyond the particulars of Keflezighi and bear on undercurrents of nationalism and racism that are not often voiced.

We just went through a mayoral and city-council election cycle here in ny home town of Provo. The winning candidates talked about working for a "safer" more "unified" Provo. In a city where crime rates are so low they barely register on a graph, there is no realistic way to make the city more safe. And the city is probably more homogeneous ("unified") than any city its size in the U.S. Instead, this rhetoric was a coded message that played on peoples' fears of a growing minority population. It leaves me wondering if the pro-"development" and "progress" people who have taken over city-hall will move for new zoning laws that would keep lower income, predominantly Mexican residents isolated or force them to move to neighboring communities. I hope not.

"Real America," "My America," "Safety," "Unity," "Anti-gang"

So much for post-racial America... Old attitudes linger but the code words have changed.

How Sports Changed the 2008 Presidential Election, Part 3

2009-11-09T05:45:00.000-07:00

The Tiger Factor
African American athletes have been successful as long as white Americans have been. But for decades they were seen as threatening. When Jack Johnson won the heavyweight boxing title in 1908, Jack London called for a "great white hope" to restore whites to their dominant position. Even Jesse Owens, after his triumph in Berlin in 1936, returned to the back of the bus and marginalization once home in America. It was not until after World War II that black athletes began to gain a measure of equality in the U.S. Jackie Robinson's successes paved the way for other competitors and, when America needed athletes to defeat the Russians during the Cold War, black athletes like Wilma Rudolph, draped in the flag, gained acceptance by helping save the day in Rome.

Even in these instances, however, black athletes remained primarily heroes for black America and they were still frequently under the authority of white managers and owners. Many who tried to jump from the playing field to the front office found the corridors of power closed to them. Others, like Muhammad Ali, Jim Brown, and Arthur Ashe (to name a few), who pushed for political change, were widely feared in white America--until they were too old or too sick to remain a threat.

Tiger Woods may be the first black (or, like Obama, part black) athlete to succeed at an elitist sport and to be broadly accepted as something of a pop culture icon. Americans of all colors follow his career, cheer for him, and play Tiger Woods Golf on their PlayStations and Xboxes. Without him in a tournament, TV audiences plummet. Tiger Woods is the best paid athlete in the world, and he dominates a sport that was reserved for white, upper-class men until only recently. Tiger entered the upper echelons of sport and in a very short time he became the first African American to win many of golf's major (and minor) tournaments. He garnered a following that cut across all races and social classes and became, in marketing terms, the most powerful athlete in the world. Tiger's unflappable (some might say dull) demeanor and reluctance to take sides in politically charged issues have made him imminently palatable.

Enter Barack Obama. Like Tiger Woods, he is of mixed race. Like Tiger he has been able to reach across racial and economic barriers and quickly enter and become an international icon and the most significant player within the corridors of power. During his campaign he largely avoided contentious topics and carefully negotiated the middle ground, remaining calm and determined with Tiger-esque focus. Americans may not have been willing to elect him without Tiger Woods, a "Cablinasian," having already prepared the way. Tiger's popularity made a black politician fractionally more acceptable in an election (the primary) that was won by a mere fraction.

Beijing and American Decline
At the same time as the Republican National Convention was taking place, Americans watched the Olympic games in China and saw their athletes slip to second place in the gold medal chase for the first time since the breakup of the Soviet block teams following the Barcelona Olympics. While bloggers complained about the age of Chinese gymnasts and human rights groups pushed for a boycott, sports fans saw America's hold on Olympic dominance slip away.

If America's difficulties in Iraq had fallen out of the spotlight and if its diplomatic failings in the Middle East were too abstract, the concrete results in Beijing made many Americans recognize that America's hegemonic hold on global politics was on the wane. Bush's detachment from political realities (he was smiling at the Opening Ceremonies as Russian tanks rolled into Georgia) implied that change at the top was necessary.

To further complicate matters for Republicans, media coverage around the games gave average American consumers a glimpse into the repressive practices of a country where so many of our products are made. Instead of serving as an international moral cleansing agent that would justify moving more American manufacturing to China, the Beijing Olympics instead raised consciousness of the political price we have been paying when we purchase $1 spatulas or $6 watches. This awareness, on some level, caused voters to look to the Obama-Biden ticket for a change in foreign and economic policy as well as a revalorization of American manufacturing.

Ultimately, while sports may have been only one factor among the many that led to Obama's victory, it was a determining one since sports served as a vector for racial, political, social, and economic issues that mattered deeply to voters. Where his opponents largely repeated sports cliches and depicted themselves as underdogs fighting to get back in the big game, Obama frequently spoke about his relationship with sports in original and nuanced ways, understanding the power sports held to shape both his own identity and public opinion. By associating himself with sports more effectively than his opponents, Obama came across as athletic and in control, as both a leader and a team player. His spontaneous three-pointer in front of cameras in Kuwait, like the election last November, hit nothing but net.

How Sports Changed the 2008 Presidential Election, Part 2

2009-11-04T05:43:00.000-07:00

John McCain: Sport as War
One's understanding of a sport's significance often depends more on who is drawing lessons from it than on the sport itself. If a cynical liberal sees football as a mirror of the overspecialization and narrow focus that led America to its latest financial crisis, a conservative patriot may consider it a symbol of American individualism and efficiency.

It is not surprising that Barack Obama would view basketball as a sport that taught him about compromise and unity. When asked by ESPN's Chris Berman what lessons he learned from sports, Obama responded that his coach had taught him, "It's not about you, it's about the team," a maxim that coincides precisely with his life experience and political philosophy.

John McCain, when asked the same question responded this way: "I had a football coach. . . who was in Patton's tank corps. . . he taught me lessons about life." McCain continued, "I think the most important lesson he told me was 'You've always got to do the honorable thing, even when nobody is looking.'" McCain, who also boxed and wrestled, views sports as an extension of the military, where virtues like personal honor are central to success.

McCain adds that political campaigns are like football in that one must keep struggling forward: "You gotta just push and slog one game at a time. In football it's one Sunday at a time, in politics it's one primary and then one aspect of a campaign and one election after another. And you've gotta put one foot ahead of the other one and not get discouraged." While Obama lives in the ethereal world of basketball, transcending the muck that football players must slog through, rising--like Dr. J for a dunk--over the unseemly morass below, McCain is a warrior, "slogging" through difficulty, getting his hands dirty, and hitting the opposition one play at a time.

Palin's Sports Complex
McCain's running mate, Sarah Palin, made sports a central narrative of her political identity. From the beginning she introduced herself as both an "average hockey mom" and as the "Barracuda"--a nickname earned when playing high-school basketball that points to her aggressive, predatory, even bellicose demeanor. Her experience as a sportscaster and her reputation as a moose hunter only reinforced this image. The McCain camp undoubtedly hoped that this basketball-playing moose hunter would earn the trust of voters who like their guns and who like the government to use theirs.

Conservatives were also drawn to Palin because of her reputation as a defender of small government. As mayor of Wasilla, Palin largely lived up to this conservative ideology by cutting taxes and reducing spending. There was, however, one glaring blemish on her conservative record: her spending on sports.

Wasilla records indicate that during Palin's tenure as mayor, in order to lower property taxes, she cut spending on the local museum by 16% and dismissed talks of enlarging the municipal library. Yet even with these cuts, Palin still managed to lengthen and redo the city's bike trails while at the same time encouraging Wasilla residents to vote in favor of a $14.7 million bond to build a multi-sports complex. To put this amount in context, city records indicate that in 2002, the year the bond was approved, the entire operating budget for the city was only $11.7 million.

Making sports central to her political identity proved successful in Alaska, but failed to resonate with the country as a whole, perhaps because Palin allowed sports to compromise political commitments to small government or because voters did not perceive enough political substance behind her sporting rhetoric.

More to come...

New Sport: Bobbing For Apples During Flu Season

2009-11-03T04:24:00.001-07:00

Bob's post on Rabelais' games inspired me to come up with a 21st-century addition to the list: I call it "bobbing for swine flu." It's an adrenaline-filled game of chance in which participants share their saliva and mucus with other autumnal revelers. Prizes include apples or a case of H1N1.

Or if you prefer, just keep looking for Rabelais' farthing...

“The Games of Gargantua”: A Cornucopia of Sport

2009-11-01T21:03:00.005-07:00

For my principal area of study, lyric poetry in France, the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries stand alone as singular periods of French poetic genius. Judging from his recent research on Brantôme and his book on 19th-century game treatises, Corry would probably grant me as much for his domain of sports & game theory. One case where our interests intersect is in Rabelais’ satirical 1534 masterpiece Gargantua, whose 22nd chapter presents a veritable cornucopia of some 230 games (some real, some bawdy literary invention). [Here is the Gutenberg Project link to the text in English for those interested: Rabelais, Gargantua, ch. XXII] As we sift farce from legitimate sport, Rabelais’ text offers us a unique window into the leisurely pursuits of fictional giants and privileged Frenchmen of the Renaissance alike.

Situating this abundant chapter between that of the adolescent giant’s useless education with Sophists (that of the Sorbonne)—where time is spent slothfully, eating copious amounts of sausage, belching, and memorizing the alphabet backwards—and one that describes the benefits of a humanistic formation—with its emphasis on physical education—is not without significance. In so doing, Rabelais seems to suggest that, as diversion and light-hearted endeavor, sport ennobles us as it invigorates us and prepares the mind for more formal instruction.

Examining, at random, various games from the list reveals games of chance (lottery, even-or-odd, coin toss, dice), games of strategy (Queens, tric-trac, chess, checkers), games of skill (rifle-shooting, nine pin, tip-and-hurl, billiards), athletic games (cricket, bob-and-hit, bush leap, archery), certain ribald overtly-sexual games—essential to understanding Renaissance humor (tickle-me-prickle-me, belly-to-belly, lusty brown boy, “cuckold”), childhood games (blind man’s bluff, bloody knuckles, twirly-whirlies, spitting contests, pinch without laughing, “au pet en guele”), nonsensical jokes (thrust out the harlot, cock and crank, hind the ploughman, the dying hog, lend me your sack), and various others. My favorite, however, as translated by M. A. Screech, does not appear clearly rendered on this list: “Hide the farthing in your bum”! Take a look for yourself—there is a treasure trove of laughs and learning.

While I have no definitive theories on how game theory enables us to better understand Rabelais, I remain convinced that this seemingly endless list offers us keys to unlocking the Renaissance world of sport.

How Sports Changed the 2008 Presidential Election, Part 1

2009-10-30T15:39:00.003-06:00

To mark the one year anniversary of Obama's election, here is my sports-centric take on last year's campaign (part 1 of 3):

Not since ancient Greece have sports played such a significant role in public life as they do today in the United States. In addition to being among the top ten American industrial forces, sports establish a common cultural language for most American men, and a growing number of American women. In a country divided by race, religion, and socio-economics, sports stand as a unifying lingua franca, creating a milieu where there truly are no blue states, no red states, but one country united in their love of sport. It is not surprising, then, that politicians tap into this sports ethos to improve their image and connect with voters.

Obama's Sports Schizophrenia
Given the tie between professional basketball and inner-city black culture, a well-established (if erroneous) stereotype links the NBA--indeed basketball at any level (when played by black men)--with gang violence. A black presidential candidate who also plays basketball triggers many of America's racial levers. It would be safer for a black candidate, trying to appeal to a broad middle-class electorate, to play football, baseball, tiddlywinks--even that nefarious socialist sport soccer—than to express an affinity for basketball. But somehow Obama rose above this. How?

In a speech delivered on Fathers' day in 2008, Obama told a Chicago audience, "We know that more than half of all black children live in single-parent households, a number that has doubled--doubled--since we were children." And on several occasions early in his campaign, Obama was quoted as saying, "I don't want to wake up four years from now and discover that we still have more young black men in prison than in college." Obama's claim, apparently false, was challenged by several reputable sources, but he repeated the claim anyway. Accusing Obama of lying--which many right-wing bloggers did, claiming he was perpetuating a myth of victimization--however, misses the point.

By repeating cliches that call into question inner-city black culture, Obama set himself apart from that world, and convinced voters that to him basketball was a genteel, Hoosier-esque way to remain fit. Careful to not appear too aggressive, whenever he is filmed playing basketball Obama sports a somewhat frumpy pair of sweats and resembles the quintessential suburbanite trying out for his high-school team.

In an interview with Bryant Gumbel, Obama acknowledged being a fan of both Walt Frazier and Dr. J, players who have proven to be successful spokesmen in the corporate world and who have broad appeal in the black and white communities. In addition, these athletes are safe: their exploits are confined to the past, sealed away in a nostalgic vault where they cannot ruffle any racial feathers today. Like his childhood role models, who moved from the black world of basketball to the white world of corporate sponsorship, Obama transitioned from the black basketball obsessed kid to a Harvard educated presidential candidate electable in mainstream America. It is not surprising that Obama's brother-in-law, Craig Robinson, told Gumbel that Obama "started out as a black player who played black and is now more of a black player who plays white."

And while he is known for basketball, football--the sport of JFK, Gerald Ford, and Ronald Regan--is the sport Obama chose to bookend his campaign. Just before declaring his intention to run for president, he made a now famous appearance on Monday Night Football and announced, "I am ready ... for the Bears to go all the way, baby!" And when he accepted his party's nomination he did so at Invesco field, a football stadium, home of the Denver Broncos.

At the end of his campaign, just one week before the election, the Obama campaign aired a half-hour long commercial that both laid out Obama's primary political objectives and presented viewers with an idyllic image of the candidate and his running-mate. At one point Obama asserts, "When manufacturing spread to towns across America it brought jobs and a way of life. Working-class families could buy their first home and a piece of the American dream." The words, "a piece of the American dream," are juxtaposed with a scene, filmed in black and white, of children playing baseball in a quiet neighborhood. Baseball is equated directly with America. And one of the commercial's primary messages was that Obama and Biden are good mainstream Americans. This was conveyed, unsurprisingly, by showing pictures of the two men as children: a two or three year-old Obama swinging a baseball bat and a slightly older Biden in his little league baseball uniform.

But Obama also sought to connect to middle-America by once again employing the currency of football, the American sport that is today what baseball once was. While describing the plight of the Johnston family, a family struggling to make ends meet in the face of rising costs of health care, gas, and groceries, filmmakers were careful to include scenes of the family's son playing football and being cheered on by his mother on the sidelines. A close-up of the ball being snapped and images of children running a play convey the message that this is a good salt-of-the-earth family and that, by extension, Obama is a salt-of-the-earth candidate who understands the struggles of the middle class. More powerful than the words used in the voice-over, the images of football connected Obama's message to America's core family values and established Obama as someone who could relate to problems of the white working class.

By associating his message with football, Barack Obama successfully cast himself as a populist and staved off the persistent "elitist" label that his poor performance when bowling in Western Pennsylvania had reinforced. Football has even served him since the election. In his first post-election interview, Obama repeated his challenge of the current arrangement of the Bowl Championship Series (the system that Joe Biden once called "unamerican"). Appearing on "60 Minutes," Obama said he would "throw [his] weight around" in order to push college football towards a playoff system. Of course, even a playoff would not guarantee a true national champion, but Obama is not really interested in reforming college football. By attacking the BCS, Obama is extending his popularity in the college-football-crazed-South, one of the few regions where he performed poorly on election night.

More to come...

On Running... or Off It?

2009-10-27T21:06:00.004-06:00

I recently read Christopher McDougall's Born to Run. It is far better than the typical running literature fare (a very entertaining read, in fact) and actually inspired me to get off my bike and jog. I thought I had better start slow so I did a short run, something just under three miles.

After about a half mile, I was suffering. By mile two, my calves were cramping up. By the end I needed to apply lotion to certain unmentionables.

I can live with all that. I could, I'm sure, even get used to it with enough practice.

But I'm not sure I will... the speed is the thing.

The speed of biking seems ideal for seeing enough terrain to keep things interesting without going too fast to not appreciate the surroundings. Even though I was slow, I don't think I could ever run quickly enough to satisfy my quest to see more and gobble up more miles. Perhaps I am too impatient to run. Perhaps too lazy. I also like the idea (put forth by more illustrious authors than I) of riding being like writing, leaving traces, an invisible cursive script on the road.

But I am willing to be convinced that running is the thing....

Doping in Cycling, 1894 Style...

2009-10-08T23:45:00.004-06:00

I came across a book in the French national library titled The Art of Winning on a Bike, published in 1894. In a chapter called "Advice from a Doctor," the book recommends that cyclists purge themselves the day before a big race (so they can stay on the bike as long as possible without breaking for natural needs) and that they take the following pills, six different times the night before and the day of the ride:

tannin 2 gr. 40.
extract of kola. 1 gr. 20
extract of quinquina. 1 gr. 20
extract of ratanhia. 1 gr. 20

While the fact doping was part of cycling culture in 1894 is noteworthy, I wonder if any readers can help by suggesting what, if any benefit, may be derived from the products listed. Kola is, I assume, a stimulant and quinquina may be a painkiller (?). But I'm only guessing. And the other two... well... as my daughter frequently reminds me: "Dad, you're not a real doctor...."

Any ideas?

image from http://museedusport.com/velocipede2.htm

From the "Iron Horse" to "T.O.": The Lack of Originality/Creativity in Today’s Sports Nicknames and American Literacy

2009-10-04T22:25:00.008-06:00

Twinkletoes, Crazy Legs, the Night Train, Cool Papa, Oil Can, Mr. October, the Babe, the Hammer, the Horse, the Big Dipper, Iron Head, Pudge, Primetime, Sweetness, Air, Magic… Much of the color and panache of professional sports comes from the long-standing tradition (“Cy” Young) of applying endearing (and often quite telling) nicknames to star players. A cleverly conceived nickname provides a player with a certain aura, mystique, and sense of familiarity that is hard to attain otherwise. There is often even an apocryphal myth of origin, knowledge of which ensures a fan’s status as an insider. What’s more, a nickname often showcases an element of a player’s game (speed, grace, power, agility) or physique (“Too tall”) that is as daunting to opponents as it is encouraging to the team’s faithful. However, où sont les sobriquets d’antan? Where are the good nicknames today?

Of course, there are a few solid pseudonyms in professional sports today: Kevin Garnett is the “Big Ticket,” David Ortiz is “Big Papi,” Randy Moss is “the Freak,” and, to leave the city of Boston, Jerome Bettis was, quite aptly, “the Bus” and Dwyane Wade is “Flash.” Kobe Bryant’s the “Black Mamba” is telling of his quickness and killer instinct but is, perhaps, too long, awkward, and off-putting for a successful nickname. At least, however, it is original. Shaquille O’Neal, one of my favorite players of all time in any sport (and inventor of Wade’s “Flash”), has a plethora of nicknames, some original (“Shaq Daddy”), some recycled (“The Diesel,” made famous by NFL hall-of-famer John Riggins), and some just absurd (“The Big Aristotle”) or transitory ("The Big Cactus" while in Phoenix). Early in his career, Shaq also adopted “Superman,” which brings me to one major complaint: the lack of creativity. Simply out of (self-)respect, you would think that Dwight Howard would avoid usurping the nickname “Superman” at least until Shaq retires, no?

Howard is, sadly, far from alone. There are multiple “Pudges,” a score of “Beasts,” quite a few “Kids,” and far too many baseball players capitalizing on Robert Redford’s “The Natural.” (Of course, it is not the players, but fans/sportscasters who are mainly to blame.) Worse, far too many players are lazily referenced by their initials—and even that is subject to copyright infringement! When you are Lawrence Taylor and the single greatest pass rusher in the history of the NFL, you can simply go by “L.T.” However, once claimed, initials should be off-limits. Fifteen years later, not even a former top running back (LaDanian Tomlinson) has a right to these initials—alas! What’s next, will we be gathered at the water cooler on Monday morning talking about L.T.’s amazing field goal against the Cowboys that propelled the Giants to victory—that being placekicker Lawrence Tynes?

Leaving K.G., K.B., D.T., T.O., L.B.J., C.D.R., etc., another mark of our lack of originality is the use of the cheap “First initial of given name + first syllable of surname” formula that has grown so popular. A-Rod (either Alex Rodriguez or Andy Roddick), T-Mac, D-Will, Q-Rich, etc. embody the sports-watching public’s laziness and lack of creativity. And, MeMo and CuJo are not much better. As a former athlete myself, I much preferred my nickname, “Big Truck,” offered by teammates, to the slightly-insulting B-Hud or B.H.

A larger, more significant question would be to ask whether or not this trend is due to society’s decreasing literacy—not necessarily that we can’t read, but rather we don’t read. Is txt-ing, tweeting, facebooking, etc. killing America’s literacy? “OMG, r u 4 real – LOL??????,” you may ask. Unfortunately, yes, I am. Upon originality, creativity, inventiveness, and initiative was America born. Hopefully, we are not squandering our heritage of American industry, celebrated by Whitman, for the eases and comforts provided by her modern technological bounty.

A-Bombs and PEDs

2009-10-04T02:42:00.003-06:00

Performance enhancing drugs have been used in professional sport since the nineteenth century (in other words, since the beginning of professional sports). For Claire Salomon-Bayet, professor emeritus at the Sorbonne, our perceptions of the use of drugs in sport changed after "the bombs of Hiroshima and Nagasaki" (1). The bombings caused humanity to realize that science had limits that needed to be considered and controlled.

This had obvious ramifications in the world of professional sport, where Amphetamines, cocaine, and steroids were widely used to improve performance. Did this scientific enhancement of human achievement also have its limits? The fact that doping became a criminal offense not many years after the war lends credence to Salomon-Bayet's theory.

Speaking of the limits of science, perhaps scientific training regimes, shoes designed in a laboratory, technologically advanced weight training machines, and wave-reducing pools should also be banned...

(1) Les Métamorphoses du sport du XXe au XXIe siècle: héritage, éthique et performances. Ed. Charles-Louis Foulon. Villeneuve d'Ascq, France: Presses Universitaires du Septentrion, 2005. P. 87

Run Like a Man: Gender and Physiology

2009-09-11T07:15:00.004-06:00

According to recent reports (here is one) tests done on Caster Semenya, winner of the the 800-meter world championship last month in Berlin, reveal that she is not physiologically entirely female. She has internal testes and therefore produces more testosterone than her 100% female competitors (for a complete explanation see the Science of Sport post on the topic).

Early reports indicate she may be forced out of competition, even though she did not break any rules. This is the way issues like this one were handled back in the early days of the Olympics (most of the first bans were not for doping but for gender related questions), though recently the Olympic testers have allowed women whose tests showed signs of a y-chromosome to compete.

If the reports of her condition are true, perhaps Semenya will have the internal testes removed and continue to compete as a woman. But my feeling on this is that her advantage is not much more than an advantage gained, for example, by a cyclist or distance runner with much better physiology than his or her opponents. Or by a taller basketball player. In other words, if Armstrong, whose physical make up is superior to almost all other cyclists, is allowed to compete, then why not Semenya? Are sex issues that much more significant than the other physiological factors (not to mention training) that determine an athlete's success in a given sport?

Left Handed Catchers (or the Lack Thereof)

2009-08-28T16:32:00.003-06:00

Stuart sends me a link to this post in The Monkey Cage about the dearth of left handed catchers in baseball. The conclusion is (essentially) that the lack of lefties stems more from tradition than anything else... Baseball is as ritualistic as any sport and many practices (from sacrifice bunts to spitting) come as much from convention and habit as from strategy... any thoughts here? Why no lefties behind the plate?

The Tour de France and International Politics

2009-08-18T16:14:00.004-06:00

A political scientist colleague sent me a link to this story by Stephen M. Walt in Foreign Policy about the intersection of sports and world politics. Walt, best known perhaps for his article "The Israel Lobby," here lists his top-ten "episodes where sporting events actually had an effect on world politics, or told us something about how the world was changing." Not surprisingly, seven of the ten are related to the Olympics or to the FIFA World Cup...

But none--not even the "also-rans"--are related to cycling and the Tour de France. Given that the Tour is the third largest global sporting event (in terms of media coverage) and the largest annual event it is strange that there have not been any huge "turning-point" moments to come out of it.

The only events that may come close were some of the strikes--notably the one led by Hinault, that may have led to more consiousness (in Europe, or more particularly, in France) about the situation of the working class--and the death of Tom Simpson that led to more scrutiny on doping in professional sports.

Yes, the Tour has significance for the way it reflects national and regional identity, it has played a key role in society's grappling with the limits of human performance, it has created some international icons, but it has not produced any key episodes of global importance that deserve being in any top-ten list. As a cycling fan, I hope you will please tell me I'm forgetting some...

More on Baseball and PED's

2009-08-17T13:01:00.002-06:00

Here is a good article by Elizabeth Finn in the Baseball Cooperative about performance enhancing drugs in baseball. She mentions some of the issues we've discussed here (the "steroid era," among others) and discusses why speculation about drug use and power surges by MLB players should be expected.

Cheating the Athletes

2009-08-03T06:17:00.001-06:00

Sven Wilson sends me the following:

When is it OK to tell lies everyone knows are lies (but for some reason it is socially acceptable to do so)? In sports, we have highly educated university presidents saying that the reason we shouldn’t have a playoff system in major college football is because it would be disruptive to the academic lives of student athletes. Now everyone knows that the whole concept of a “student-athlete” in a BCS conference (with maybe the rare exception of places like Vanderbilt [who would never be in the playoffs anyway]), is completely outlandish.

For a political example: When the party in charge in a state says “Our redistricting plan is not designed for partisan advantage; instead, it is designed to [fill in bogus reason here].” Everyone redistricts for partisan advantage and everyone knows it, but for some reason, politicians still say these ridiculous things. Why?

Apparently, there are some conditions where it is OK to tell a bald-faced lie without causing a scandal. Are some lies such obvious lies that it is OK to lie? How does one know the difference?

The Future of Baseball? Robots

2009-07-31T14:08:00.003-06:00

A video from Reuters shows a lab in Japan that is developing robots that can pitch and hit. We thought bio-engineering was the future of sport. Instead, it appears the machines will duke it out.

Upon further reflection, robo-pitchers may be an improvement over Roger Clemens.

Send a memo to Bud Selig.

Bodybuilders Run When Tester Arrives: Maybe Cyclists Should Do the Same

2009-07-30T16:50:00.002-06:00

Back in May, AP reported that at the Belgian bodybuilding championships, when a drug tester arrived, all the participants fled. Perhaps cyclists could reclaim their privacy by doing the same....

On a serious note, though, the fact that cycling has such a public reputation for doping may in part be because professional cyclists are tested very often and held to rigorous criteria. If bodybuilders or baseball players were tested as often and for as many things, would public perception change?

Doping v. Bribery: The Biggest Cheat?

2009-07-23T14:40:00.000-06:00

I have been told that I should not do any more posts on cycling until I throw in something on another sport. Thankfully, Bob stepped in with the nice Booing Beckham post (two words: "Manny! Manny!") so I can return to cycling....

Some of you know that I am currently researching cheating in many forms and in several sports, including cycling. Nicolas Roche, the current road champion from Ireland, has been writing about the Tour and last week described the stage ending in Besançon. He was in an early break but because his teammate had the yellow jersey he was under instructions not to help with the pace-setting.

Italy's Daniel Bennati of Liquigas and his Belgian teammate Frederik Willems gave me tons of abuse, as did the Italian, Daniele Righi of Lampre. They gave me so much abuse it was unbelievable. They called me every name under the sun because I didn't work in the break. The other 10 guys, though, knew they would be doing the same in my position and just got on with it.

Of course, by sitting in the back of the group, Roche would be fresh to make a break for it in the last kilometers and try to win the stage. Roche continues:

With 50 kms to go, Bennati came up to me and said: "You're going to have to pay me a lot of money if you want to win this stage or you will never win, because I will chase you down. There's no way you're going anywhere without me."

There is a long history of cyclists cutting deals and exchanging cash in order to win races. Willy Voet describes it in some detail in his book Breaking the Chain. But I thought in today's sport scene, and particularly in the Tour (given all the media focus), buying a race was simply not done.

It strikes me that buying and selling a stage victory may be more detrimental to the sport than doping in terms of undermining public trust. And yet the focus on doping continues (see today's article by Greg Lemond questioning Contador's accomplishments). Buying and selling victories nearly ruined baseball a century ago and cost Pete Rose a chance at the Hall of Fame. Yet it goes on in cycling on a regular basis and is simply accepted as par for the course. Granted, this may be in part because for breaks to form there has to be a strategic complicity on the part of the teams behind and riders will sometimes graciously allow a rival to win, but from there to asking for money to "allow" someone to win?

Which is worse: doping or buying a victory?

Thanks to Scott for the link to Lemond's article.

Booing Becks and Cheering Manny? A priority check in L.A.

2009-07-20T10:42:00.002-06:00

Feeling little need to either reiterate my stance on steroids and PEDs in baseball (and other sports) or profess my often blinding passion for L.A. sports, I was troubled by the public display of certain fans at the LA Galaxy/AC Milan friendly on Sunday. What should have been a positive for the MLS and US Soccer, inviting an elite European team to the States, was tarnished by the homemade banners and chants of certain fans towards superstar David Beckham. Booing as the PA announcer read his name and every time he touched the ball, calling the English phenom a “fraud,” claiming to be there “despite 23” and even bidding him to “Repent” (no joke), fans were ruthless, even when Becks angled a vintage Beckham corner kick towards the net leading to an equalizing goal against his other team AC Milan, leading to a 2-2 draw. So out-of-hand were the LA hecklers that the generally even-mannered Beckham jumped a barricade to confront a few fans and even extended a rejected handshake to one particularly belligerent party. Rather than responding with a rude gesture as he did in the Euro 2000, Beckham took the higher road, shrugged his shoulders and said: "It's to be expected. Sometimes it goes beyond it. The majority of the fans have been great.''

Still, I introduce the Beckham story with a mention of PEDs because when beloved Dodgers slugger Manny Ramirez, who was banned for 50 games for violation of the MLB drug policy, returned to the line-up earlier this month, he did so to a lustily cheering crowd. However, when another L.A. sports superstar returns to the team after what amounts to prolonged business negotiations, he’s received as a traitor. As one who was pleased to have both players back, two major contributors and offensive catalysts to help both squads who are in a playoffs push, I suggest that the boo-boys check their priorities. While neither suggesting that we condemn Manny nor that we simply ignore the angst caused by Beckham’s contract negotiations, I do say that we should cheer for L.A., the MLS, international friendlies, and a hard-fought draw against a Serie A powerhouse—and that we recognize Beckham as an integral part of recent success.

The Other Tour de France: Anti-Bobos Unite!

2009-07-16T23:22:00.003-06:00

A recent article in Le Figaro took stock of a bicycle public transport program in Paris. "Velib" lets users check out a bike in one part of town and return it to another for a minimal fee. The problem is that vandalism rates have been much higher in Paris than in other French cities where they have launched similar programs. Bikes end up in the River, hanging from street signs, painted, trashed, etc. etc. Some have even made it a point to do tricks on the fairly heavy Velib bikes and post it on youtube:

I see this as a way for people to stick it to the state and to the city; to take this imposition of state-sponsored exercise and transportation outside of the box. Are they bending the rules to make art? or just bending the rules? Are they making a political statement about the relative wealth of the high-minded socialists and greens who tend to use Velib? or are they merely putting on a show, organizing a teen-age prank?

Let "Le Soap Opera" Begin: The Tour de France and the Team Astana Rivalry

2009-07-07T22:13:00.003-06:00

If you have been watching the Tour de France this year, you know that the story surrounding the race is as good as the race itself. Lance Armstrong has recently jumped ahead of "team leader" Alberto Contador and now sits less than a second from the yellow jersey. When asked about his situation he said (approximately), "I don't want to get into the controversy about who is the team leader, but... I've won the Tour seven times, I think I deserve some respect." When asked why Contador was not in the front of the peloton when it split (a split that enabled Armstrong to overtake his "team leader") he responded, "Team Columbia was obviously going to try to break the peloton up. It didn't take a genius to figure out that when they went into that turn, they would try and create a split." In other words, Contador is no cycling genius.

I sometimes wonder if one reason doping scandals have not driven more fans away is because they represent just one more iteration of the entertaining dramas that have taken place in the margins of the Tour every year since its inception in 1903? The race is fun; but the speculation, the backstabbing rivalries, the metphoric nails on the road make the Tour one of the most compelling shows in sport.