Weekend Sports Tide with Stat Green…

Peace, fam. Yea, I know it’s been a while since I hollered at ya’ll. Truth be told, I’m about to be a father within a few days. This is big for me. I’ve been doing a lot of running around on the weekends, visiting the doctor’s office, buying and assembling baby cribs, and all that fun stuff. The time is near and I’m nervous, but that’s a good things. Nervousness means something important is about to occur.

Either way, I figured I’d log online real quick and breakdown some of the latest sports headline. It’s been a lot of funny stuff out there this week:

 

Shallow Water (news): Tiger Woods was fined and cited for his truck accident on Nov. 27 and refused to discuss the details with the public or police. He did issue an apology for the “transgressions, following a US Weekly report that he had been cheating on his wife for multiple years.”

Deep Waves (perspective): Are you surprised? Another superstar athlete caught cheating and wants to cover it up. What’s the news? I don’t exactly respect the fact that Tiger cheated on his wife, but I do respect the fact that he wanted to keep how they deal with this private. It’s never good when you let too many people into your bedroom.  A man and his wife should never have to discuss details of their relationship with anyone; point, blank, period.

Shallow Water: Lakers star Ron Artest told the media he used to drink Hennessey during halftime of games played earlier in his career.

Deep Waves: To be honest, the first I thing I did when I saw this was laugh. I laughed for a good two or three minutes. Ron is one of those players that you just can’t help but love, no matter what happens to him or from him. He’s always willing to grab your attention by doing or saying what no one else would normally do. I still laugh when I think about how he laid on the scorer’s table during the Palace brawl or when he told the world during a post game interview that he once saw a man spear another man in the heart with a table leg during a pickup basketball game. It’s a lot of things you can say about Ron Artest, and one of them would be that he’s easily one of the most entertaining players in NBA the past decade.

Shallow Water: NBA legend Allen Iverson has returned from his short retirement to sign a league minimum non-guaranteed deal with the Philadelphia 76ers.

Deep Waves:  If someone would have told me a few years ago that Allen Iverson was unwanted by two different teams within a year period, and had to take a bottom offer just to remain a player in the league, I probably wouldn’t have believed you. Iverson is undoubtedly one of the greatest players of my generation, but it appears his greatest gift is also is a haunted curse. A.I. has always been “the man,” when he was on the court, no matter whom else was balling with him. It’s a simple game plan with him: just give him the ball and watch him score like no other. But if you check the numbers, you’ll notice that his best scoring years came with him taking at least 10 more shot attempts than anyone else on the team, and when he was finally asked to take less shots and play a different role, he refused to adjust.  Maybe it’s just too late to try to change him now, even if change could help win a championship.  Maybe now that he’s back in Philly where he created his legacy, he can he can end it all just like he began it.

That’s all I have for ya’ll today. Let me get back to the family. For more Black sport snews, visit afro.com/sports.

Mid-Week Tide of Sports…

Peace, fam. The Tide of Sports came in a tad earlier than scheduled this week. But there’s still another tide expected to come in this weekend, so make sure you revisit in another couple of days. I’m actually thinking about updating the tide daily, just to ensure that our minds are fresh with the deeper perspective of sports. In the meantime, dive deep with me in some of the current headlines.   

Shallow Water (news):  Former NBA center Jayson Williams agreed to a plea deal that would sentence him up to three years in prison for the 2002 shooting his limousine driver.

Deep Waves (perspective):  If the truth matches what was actually said in court, then the only thing Jayson is guilty of is trying to cover up the accidental shooting of his own limo driver. So I take it three years of limited freedom will serve the victim justice and teach Williams a lesson. If that makes sense in the court of law, so be it. But in the court of my opinion, I say Williams has already received a punishment far greater than three years in the slammer. He had to look into the eyes of the family of the victim he murdered and sincerely apologize to them, and he also gave up a great portion of his earning to them. $2.5 million to be exact. Williams’ own concsious has sentenced him to  lifetime punishment long before  any trial jury could. His entire life has been turned up side down because of this tragedy, so much to the point that he tried to committ suicide out of deep depression. They say jail can break a man’s soul, but that won’t apply to Jayson; his soul was crushed the same day he accidentally murdered his own friend and driver.

Shallow Water: NFL receiver Dwayne Bowe has been suspended four games for violating the NFL’s policy on performance-enhancing substances.

Deep Waves:  Bowe’s team, the Kansas City Chiefs, hasn’t announced what substance he was suspended for but some sources say he may have been using a  diuretic to shed extra pounds. Bowe came into training camp this summer 30 pounds overweight. But diuretics are also used to mask other substances like marijuana or performance enhancement drugs. His suspension will serve as a headache to all his fantasy football owners, but it also serves as a sigh of relieve for Baltimore Ravens fans like myself. It was reported earlier this season that the Ravens were interested in trading for Bowe, a rising star in the league. But it appears as if they dodged a bullet on this one.

Shallow Water:  The New York Knicks are reported to be interested in signing 34-year-old NBA veteran star Allen Iverson.

Deep Waves: Allow me to use this moment to formally announce that I’m indeed a die-hard Knicks fan straight out of P.G. County, Md. I’ve watched the Knicks closely since the mid 90’s. With that said, I may qualify to tell you that signing Iverson could do no more harm to a team that has experienced worst of fortune throughout the past decade. Sure, the Knicks already said months ago they don’t want Iverson because he would take up too many minutes from starter Chris Duhon and backup Nate Robinson. But after a terrible start to the season, New York’s coaching staff may have had a change of heart. It seems like all Iverson wants is his right to remain in position where he can do what he does best and that’s score points, and that may be exactly what the Knicks need. If I was Knicks president Donnie Walsh, I would sign him for the remainder of the season, win a few games and at the same time fill a lot of seats in Madison Square Garden. Walsh just needs to make sure this move doesn’t hurt the team’s salary cap for the 2010 free agent market.

That’s all for today. But make sure you revisit in a couple of days for the weekend sports tide.

For more Black sports news, click the link and visit afro.com.   http://www.afro.com/Sports.aspx

Weekend Tide of Sports

Peace, fam. I know you’ll may have wondered where I been the past month. Let’s just say Stat Green has a new full-time job to add on to his sports journalim career. And the title of a father come with lots of time-consuming responsibilities. Nontheless, I’m here.. Still taking you from shallow waters and taking a dip into the deep waves of sports.    

Here’s what the tide washed in this early weekend.

Shallow Water (news):  Hornets fire Byron Scott, replace him with team GM, after New Orleans got off to a 3-6 start to the season. 

Deep Waves (perspective): Scott was already on the hot chair because the Hornets loss in the firts round of the 2009 playoffs, so it’s not suprising to see him fired after a slow start. But Byron is an excellent coach, and he’ll be picked up by another team in a heart beat.    

Shallow Water: Three Freshman Vols face armed robbery charges ; released on bond

Deep Waves: If the police report is accurate, I can only ask, why? Something doesnt make since for three high profile freshman football players to be robbing college students with pellet guns, and escaping in a marked Toyota Prius skunked out with weed.  Oh and by the way, the poor college victims didnt even have a dollar in their wallets to give them. What has the world come to? 

Shallow Water:  Mike Tyson faces jail if LAX clash is deemed violation of his probation.

Deep Waves:   From the Associated Press report, it appears as is the paparazzi photographer was following Tyson in the restroom, snapping pics, and was overaggressive as the paparazzi are infamous for. Everyone knows the man is emotionally unstable, so why would you attack the man with annoying flashes of a camera, especially with his wife and 10-month old baby by his side? Let the man be! I guarantee you wouldn’t hear from him hitting anyone if you did!

Shallow Water:   Browns’ Jamal Lewis said he’s frustrated by another losing season and believes coach Eric Mangini is pushing too hard.

Deep Waters:    I don’t blame Jamal; his team stinks and he knows it. The Browns’ front office is treating this game of football like a joke. Everytime they hire someone with some knowledge of how to run the football operations of a team, they undermind his decisions, make their own, then fire him, and repeat the process. They did this with former GM Phil Savage and former GM George Kokinis. You shouldnt be going through 3-4 general managers within a half-a-decade. That’s when players, like Jamal, feel like they have no proven leaders in the organization to look up to.

Want to read more Black sports news? visit AFRO sports at afro.com. Click the link:  http://www.afro.com/Sports.aspx

Weekend Sports Breakdown with Stat Green

The News: The Philadelphia Phillies have won the National League pennant of Major League Baseball for the second straight year and have a chance to become only the 4th team NL history ever to claim back-to-back World Series Championships.

Stat’s Take: African Americans aren’t dominating MLB in numbers, but there’s no denying that the most dominant team the past two seasons is led by a Black Man.  Ryan Howard led the Phillies to the championship last season and after tying Lou Gehrig’s record for the most consecutive postseason games with an RBI, Howard was named the NL Championship Series MVP award on October 21. Looks like the Philles may be repeating, thanks to strength of Black Power.

The News: Former NBA star and ex- New York Knicks president Isiah Thomas told the media he feels hurt and was blindsided by negative comments Magic Johnson made about him in a new book about his rivalry with Boston Celtics legend Larry Bird.

Stat’s Take: Word is Magic wrote in his book that no one on the 1992 US team liked Isiah Thomas, and the reason he’s finally letting it be known is because he’s upset about Thomas allegedly spreading rumors that Magic caught HIV via homosexual activity. Perhaps these two could settle things a lot smoother if they just talked to each other instead of talking about each other to others. Communication is the key, right? 

The News: The Washington Redskins have stripped second-year head coach Jim Zorn of his offensive play-calling duties, but will keep him as coach at least until the season ends. Sherman Lewis will take over as offensive coordinator; he was calling bingo-games just weeks ago before he received a call to join the Skins’ coaching staff.

Stat’s Take: Jim Zorn isn’t the problem behind the Skins’ woes. Neither is team owner Dan Snyder, who throws cash at every player he deems valuable to Washington’s chance at a winning season. The problem is the man who actually thought a 56-year-old quarterback coach would be the right man to lead a 53-man roster of new generation age athletes.  The Skins need a up-to-date football mind as general manager to properly assemble a winning team  in the NFL of today, and current VP of Football Operations Vinny Cerrato doesnt exactly qualify.

The News: The Baltimore Ravens (3-3) have a much needed bye week after suffering a three-game losing streak. They’ve dropped in NFL power rankings from first place to 11th.

Stat’s Take: Yea, sure the Ravens loss to the Patriots, Bengals and the Vikings. Big Deal! Truth is, this Ravens team is the real deal. They’re a good team on the verge of greatness. In each of the three games they loss, they blew the win in the final seconds on fixable mistakes. They loss by a combined 11 points in each of those games. I’m not making excuses for this team, I’m just stating the facts. And fact is, the Ravens are going to win a lot of football games before this season is over. 

The News: Baltimore Ravens tailback Ray Rice leads the NFL in total yards from scrimmage with 766 combined rushing and receiving yards.

Stat’s Take: I remember calling FOX 1360AM radio host Rob Long in 2006 and telling him that Ray Rice is the guy the Ravens need to replace workhorse back Jamal Lewis. Rob informed me that although Rice was sensational, he was only a sophomore at Rutgers and wouldnt be eligible for the draft. The Ravens went on to sign Willis McGahee, whom I’m now happy to say would agree that Rice has done a great job in doing exactly what I desired of him three years ago.

The News: One of the most anticipating NFL matchups for week 7 on Oct. 25  is the Minnesota Vikings @ the Pittsburgh Steelers, a possible preview of the 2010 Super Bowl.

Stat’s Take: The Vikings (6-0) are looking to remain undefeated, but this will be their toughest matchup so far this season. They have the tools to beat the Steelers, but they won’t do it tomorrow. The Vikings secondary has been giving up a lot of points and yards and Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger will take full advantage. If Pittsburgh gets off to a quick lead, Vikes quarterback Brett Favre will have to attack through the air and may force some passes into a stingy Steelers secondary. As much as I hate the Steelers as a Ravens fan, Pittsburgh wins, 23-10.

Enough about Limbaugh, Where are the Black NFL Owners?

There’s a lesson learned in just about every experience in life. It took a brave bid for the NFL owner’s box for conservative political commentator Rush Limbaugh to learn that that we often get out of life exactly what we invest into it. Limbaugh disrespected and insulted African-American athletes for years, only to have those same Black players now serve as a wall between him and his dream of becoming a NFL owner.

But that lesson belongs to Rush alone. What I learned from his well reported interest in buying the St. Louis Rams had almost nothing to do with Limbaugh, nor the group that now plans to continue their bid for Rams without him.

While researching this hot topic, I discovered that one of the six groups interested in buying the Rams is led by African-American businessman Donald Watkins.

Now, you may be wondering exactly who in the world is Donald Watkins? And though it would be convenient for me to act as if I’m this know-it-all guru who can easily provide the answer, I feel it’s my journalistic duty to be honest by telling you I didn’t even know the guy existed until I read his name in a ESPN article. 

But after a few flicks of the wrists and clicks of the mouse, I learned that Mr. Watkins is one of the wealthiest Black people in the country. Although he may not be as popular as Oprah or former BET owner Bob Johnson, Watkins is believed to have a net-worth of a few billion dollars. The Birmingham, Alabama native comes from a family of wealth in education; his father, Levi Watkins, Sr., served as a longtime president of Alabama State University, while his eldest brother, Levi, Jr., is an associate dean at Johns Hopkins University and world renowned heart surgeon who performed the world’s first human implantation of an automatic heart defibrillator in 1980.

But Donald isn’t short on achievements himself. After winning 40 of 41 lawsuits as a lawyer representing the City of Birmingham during the 1980s and 1990s, Watkins entered the entrepreneurial world, purchasing corporations in the energy technology industry. He also founded his own state-chartered, full-service bank in Alabama, and currently serves on the Board of Directors of State Mutual Insurance Company in Rome, Georgia.

In other words, the man has tons of money and just as much knowledge to manage it. And I’d be willing to bet all of his money that he wouldn’t think of any better way to manage it than to invest it in the purchase of an NFL franchise. According to USATODAY.com, as a native of Birmingham, Watkins attended the same church as legendary activist Martin Luther King, Jr. Watkins and King were close friends, so certainly Watkins is well familiar with the importance of taking leaps toward racial equality. There’s no doubt in my mind that Watkins is an ideal canidate to become the first Black majority owner of the NFL. He came close to becoming the first owner of a Major League Baseball team back in 2002 with interest in buying the Minnesota Twins. Watkins had big plans for the Twins, envisioning them to become the most dominate sports franchise of the future.

“The Twins will become America’s team,” Watkins told USATODAY in 2002. “We will market the team globally and dominate the sport…People think the Yankees dominate now? That’s nothing compared to the way we’ll dominate. Remember how John Wooden used to dominate with UCLA in the ’60s? Minnesota will experience that same euphoria. We’ll be the Tiger Woods of baseball.”

Yet according to the Birmingman Business Journal, Watkins passed on the opportunity of buying the Twins when his friend, Richard Scrushy, former CEO of HealthSouth Corp., faced a $2.7 billion fraud and conspiracy charge.

Scrushy was found not guilty, thanks to the lawyering of Watkins, but now it appears the 62-year-old is ready to continue pursuing his dreams of becoming a major American sports franchise owner. But the last time a Black man came close to becoming a NFL majority owner he ended up settling for less. According to AP, in 2005, African-American businessman Reggie Fowler had agreed to buy the Minnesota Vikings for$ 635 million, but had to settle as only a limited partner because he couldnt  provide adequate proof of his financial stake in the ownership group. German businessman Zygi Wilf became the majority owner of the group instead. Fowler took the role of limited parter to avoid  losing a $20 million deposit; he owns 20 percent of the Vikings, while Wilf owns 40 percent.

Fowler is a lot younger than Watkins, but with his history as a college and professional football player, he could have possibly been the right man for the job. But it seems the only thing that kept him from breaking down the color barriers of the owner’s box was his refusal to confirm his actual wealth. Like Fowler, Mr. Watkins doesn’t have a history of discussing his net value either.

I can only hope that he’ll provide a sneak peak at his bank account summary long enough to allow the Black race to take one step closer to full racial equality.