The Blog

Kris LoPresto: House, Star Wars, Super Bowl and More Top This Week's Like/Dislike List!

2012-02-10T18:41:20Z

Like any of my Dislikes or vis versa? Let me know in the comments along with what made it onto your list or contact me on twitter @krislopresto

Like: Super Bowl XLVI

The first score of the game was a safety! The game ended on a hail mary pass being batted down in the end zone! This game had it all. I still can't believe the Giants are the Super Bowl champions. What a season! It feels like a dream. I've pretty much given up on dating. I just can't imagine sharing my time and figuring out where to have brunch each weekend and other couple-y crap. But it dawned on me this morning that my Sundays are WIDE open now that the NFL is over. I honestly have no idea what to do with myself. Although, I think my cat will freak out if I'm not there on the couch for hours at a time like I was during the season. Sure, she ignores me the entire time but I know she appreciates me being there. I dunno, maybe I'll go see all these Oscar movies I've been putting off seeing. Hugo in 3-D? Warhorse? Ugh, this feels like a chore. Maybe I'll just clean up my apartment and watch Netflix.

Dislike: Star Wars: Phantom Menace in 3-D

Speaking of 3-D movies! This pile of shit is invading movie theaters this week and no amount of Mike Ryan posts can get me excited for it. Somehow George Lucas has taken the Star Wars name and made it the most "meh" franchise since Die Hard. Well done, sir! While some franchises have taken the reboot route and been given a much needed breath of fresh air (Batman, Star Trek, Spiderman) Star Wars went the other way with re-releasing the same movies over and over again with new technology. This is going to sound harsh but this franchise won't be relevant again until after Lucas passes away and someone else can re-imagine these stories differently. Until then, Star Wars is just not interesting.

Dislike: The Bourne Legacy Trailer

I don't really get it. Am I missing something? This character Jeremy Renner is playing is not Jason Bourne yet Bourne is in the title. What is Renner's name in this movie? What's the point of this movie? Why do they talk about Jason Bourne? Is there a cameo by Matt Damon? How does Hollywood not have any original ideas? Renner is pulling a Dwayne Johnson by taking starring roles in already proven franchises. The Rock has inserted himself in the Fast and the Furious franchise, GI Joe and something called The Journey 2. Renner on the other hand is jumping in on the Mission Impossible franchise and now the Bourne series. It would be great to see The Rock and Renner costar in Transformers or some other wildly successful franchise together. I think they would make a great duo actually. They'd be up there with Will Smith and Martin Lawrence. Hmm, maybe they can all team up to do Bad Boys 3!

Like: The New York Football Giants Ticker Tape Parade and Highlight Video

Yeah, the Giants make it onto the list twice this week. It's not every week or even every year the team you root for wins the freaking Super Bowl!! This is so very awesome. I've had a stupid shit-eating grin on my face all week. Besides the speeches at City Hall and the sea of humanity who came out to cheer the champs, the most memorable (and coolest moment) was when the team made it back to Giants, err, Metlife Stadium and a highlight reel of the season played on the monitors. I wasn't there but I heard it on the radio. Nothing says 'Giants football' like Bob Papa and Carl Banks, by the way. My buddy Brendan forwarded me the video and I dare you not to get pumped after watching it. There were even some angles from games I've never seen before! I'm pumped after watching it over and over but then I'm sad. I realize there will be no football until September 6th. 7 months! At least we know that game will be in New Jersey with the world champs.

Like: House Ending This Season

I used to watch House when I had cable. I miss cable. Or more specifically: I miss my DVR. I had drinks last night with an old friend from back home and we were reminiscing and catching up and I started to get nervous I'd miss my Thursday night shows. I actually told him I was gonna head out; that was at 7:15. He had a surprised look on his face like we were on a date and it was going great and I just blurted out that I wasn't feeling it and I wanted to leave. I ended up having another beer and I'm happy I did. Besides, I told myself I could watch the shows online. I need to get a DVR again. Somehow I've gone backwards and have appointment television again. So yeah, House is ending. I used to love this show but how many times can you watch a show that has the same beats week after week? Patient gets sick, goes to hospital, House makes fun of people, they treat the patient, patient gets worse, everyone is confused and then House figures it out. Fin.

Dislike: Jersey Shore Spin-offs

Let me just say that I used to love Jersey Shore. So very much! My buddy Aysha and I would watch it and enjoy every stupid moment with glee. We couldn't get enough! Part of the reason we watched was because we grew up with people like this (we're from Staten Island) and enjoy seeing them make asses of themselves. However, as the seasons pile up and the same cast keeps coming back year after year, it's just played out. One can only watch the Jersey Shore gang go to Karma so many times. The best thing for this cast would be to go away for a while and then make a big comeback and maybe we will appreciate them. But no! They are never going away. EVER! Pauly D gets a spin-off and so do Snooki and J-Woww. Sigh, this used to be a wonderful guilty pleasure, but no more. Maybe I'm better off without cable after all.

Dr. Jeffrey H. Toney: Should I Sell My Car for NY Giants Season Tickets?

2012-02-10T16:00:35Z

MetLife Stadium: NY Giants vs. Washington Redskins, Dec. 18, 2011

This may be a sign of football withdrawal syndrome, but the day after the NY Giants won the Super Bowl I was searching for 2012 season tickets (more on that later.) I was reminiscing about last December when I took my son to his first professional football game at MetLife stadium. It was a bright, freezing cold day and the stadium was packed with more than 80,000 fans. The NY Giants were having a bad day battling the Washington Redskins; several times the announcer excitedly reported "Touchdown!" followed quickly by taking it away due to a penalty.

From USA Today:

On third down, Manning threw an apparent touchdown to D.J. Ware, but the call was overruled upon review, setting up a 4th-and-2. Then, Nicks' touchdown grab was nullified due to a holding penalty on David Diehl. On 4th-and-long, Manning was sacked, bringing to end the woeful series.

You can watch the highlights here.

Rex Grossman threw for a TD, and the Redskins put a hurt on the Giants and their playoff hopes with a 23-10 victory on Sunday.

By the third quarter, the score was NY Giants 3, Redskins 20. Despite dismal prospects for a win, my son and I were having a great time. For most fans, it was a different story; they were yelling insults at the NY Giants, and worse, almost our entire section emptied before the third quarter was over. I wonder how many of those same "fans" enjoyed the Super Bowl? At the end of the game, the Giant's record was 7 wins, 7 losses. Winning the Super Bowl after such an underwhelming record must be one of the great turnaround stories in sports! Woeful series, indeed.

Back to those season tickets -- not for mere mortals, it turns out. Being sentimental, I wanted to get the same seats. First, I would need to purchase two Personal Seat Licenses, at $12,500 each - $25,000 total, to support the construction of the new stadium at a cost of $1.6 billion. Then the price of the tickets are fixed at $500 each per home game. Since I am far from a "one percenter," that's not going to happen. I suppose I could sell my car -- who needs it, right? No wonder so many fans watch the games at home!

A version of this article was published at Dean's Corner at ScienceBlogs.

Scott M. Campbell: Long Trip, Short Week: NFL's Thursday Problem

2012-02-10T15:33:00Z

Seemingly lost amidst the Super Bowl hoopla over the last week was Roger Goodell's announcement of a scheduling shift that will significantly alter the NFL landscape beginning in the 2012 season. What began six years ago as a late-season treat will now be a routine occurrence -- Thursday games will be featured in all but the final two weeks of the regular season.

The big boost in NFL Network's Thursday Night Football offerings -- to 13 games, up from seven in 2011 -- was no surprise. But as the league eyes another TV ratings goldmine, it also needs to take important steps to level the Thursday playing field.

It's tough enough for teams to rest and prepare to compete again during a short week. But the NFL has shown a troubling willingness to make the visiting team travel across the country for a Thursday matchup, and that has created a competitive imbalance that threatens to become much more prevalent with the expansion of Thursday football.

Consider that the 49ers and Eagles each made a trek of at least 2,300 miles for a Thursday game in 2011, to Baltimore and Seattle, respectively. They lost by a combined 27 points. Perhaps even more unsettling, the Jets were tasked with playing in Denver (roughly 1,600 miles away) after playing on Sunday Night Football at home four days earlier. New York lost 17-13.

In the last four years, visiting teams logged at least a 1,300-mile journey to play on Thursday Night Football seven times. Those teams went a collective 0-7 and lost by an average of 13.3 points. The three teams in that span that endured a 2,000-plus mile trek lost by an average score of 32-13.

Even without extending Thursday games throughout the season, the lengthy travel in condensed weeks was something the NFL needed to promptly address. But now, with the need to schedule 16 Thursday games beginning in Week 2 (including three Thanksgiving games), travel has become a glaring equity issue. The league needn't look far for a viable solution. In 2006, NFL Network's debut season, the five Thursday Night Football games all were intradivision battles.

Simply put, the NFL needs to put a premium on scheduling regional matchups on Thursdays -- a decision that would lessen the competitive disadvantage for the visiting team. Divisional games would be a natural fit in many cases, although St. Louis, Dallas and Miami are among those geographically isolated from their divisional rivals.

Some pundits have suggested making a Thursday Night Football appearance follow a team's bye week to allow ample time for rest and preparation. But given that the bye weeks haven't started earlier than Week 4 or ended later than Week 11 in the last five years, that solution would require a drastic schedule overhaul.

The NFL has already created a tough enough scheduling challenge by guaranteeing that each team will make at least one prime-time appearance in 2012. But in order to avert a competitive inequity, the league needs to take care to eliminate strenuous travel so the Thursday visitor isn't fighting even more of an uphill battle.

Sally Gunnell: Giving Running a Healthy Boost

2012-02-10T00:00:00Z

Since winning gold in Barcelona, a huge part of my post-Olympics career has been dedicated to encouraging people to get more active in their day to day lives. And to tell the truth, it's a challenge that is considerably harder than being a competitive athlete.

Getting up come rain or shine to train, sticking to a rigorously enforced diet and forgoing nights out with friends are just some of the less glamorous aspects of international competition. But I was prepared to endure these hardships for purely selfish reasons - I wanted to win and wanted to be acknowledged as the best in my field.

That's a carrot you can't dangle in front of most people. Professional sportsmen and women might love their chosen path, but they know they have to put the work in like any other job. Getting others to take up sport for the fun of it is another matter entirely.

While the government has scaled back from its original goal of getting one million more adults engaged in regular sporting activity, instead focusing its efforts on encouraging young people to get off the sofa, it is probably right that the limited central funds concentrate on our young people, since a change of behavior now is likely to stand them in good stead through their lives.

But it is good to see that adults haven't been forgotten. I've just helped launch a new campaign spearheaded by Sport England and cruise line Royal Caribbean International to get more people involved in running.

The pilot scheme is starting in London and will hopefully roll out across the UK in the months to come. These new Royal Caribbean Runners groups will see individuals take part in a 12 week programme that I hope will improve health in a fun and supportive environment. There are some fantastic incentives to aid motivation and the groups are open to anyone regardless of ability.

Those involved in grassroots sport know how much of a thankless task it can be, and how finding funding can be a real battle. That's why I'm so happy to lend my support.
As a cruiseline Royal Caribbean has built much of its recent success on the sporting facilities aboard its ships (think rock climbing walls, ice rinks, state-of-the-art gyms and surf simulators). The company is digging deep - spending up to £250,000 - to fund the running initiative so there is no cost on the public purse.

How many other companies have got it in them to get involved in something similar? We hear lots from big brands about 'sustainability', but the most sustainable activity of all is making sure you have happy, healthy customers who can keep buying your products for many years to come.

If you are involved in a business that has a few quid to spare, maybe have a think about how you can encourage sporting activity. There is nothing better than seeing the difference you could make.

And if you've always wanted to get a bit fitter but been worried about taking that first step, give Royal Caribbean Runners some thought. All abilities and ages are welcome and you are sure to find people just like you. Who knows, the groups may even uncover some future Olympians...

If you're interested in finding out more information or want to see if there are already running groups where you live I encourage you to check out www.royalcaribbean.co.uk/runners and take the first step to healthy and active living.

Chi Tung: Linsanity: The Point God of Sports Memes

2012-02-09T21:11:55Z

Seeing as how Linsanity has reached the peak of its crescendo (for now), shall we set aside our newly minted "All I do is Lin" t-shirts and rose-tinted glasses (or for Knicks fans, your "homer" glasses) for just a minute? Put on our dunce caps and disapprovingly stare out from our hipster shades while uttering phrases like "regression to the mean" (translation: he'll come back down to earth) or "small sample size theater" (stat-geek parlance for blind dumb luck) in our best Bernie Bummer voices?

Or, if you're like me, proclaim that Linsanity is the best thing that's happened to sports fandom in quite some time, Tebowmania included.

That's not just a broad swipe at quarterback/golden deity Tim Tebow, either. Unless you're suffering from a rare form of color blindness, you've noticed that Jeremy Lin is not only Asian American (Taiwanese-American to be precise, but let's not confuse the issue just yet), but positively Tebow-like in his frequent and frequently effusive public declarations of faith. But whereas Tebowmania brings out the worst of our jingoistic, foam-finger-waving, faith-abusing tendencies as sports fans, Linsanity triggers a range of responses that treads lightly on the tightrope of rational fandom -- even in the face of globalization, quick-draw Internet memes, and the bully pulpit that is the comments section of most popular sports blogs.

A quick (though not entirely random) perusal of the interwebs lends credence to my case. At New York Magazine, former Deadspin editor and rabble-rouser Will Leitch mentions the bizarre ritual of Lin exchanging bows with his Knicks teammates, leading some commenters to indignantly trot out the "what, you think all Asians look alike?" chestnut while others gamely assume the role of race pacifiers. Rembert Browne at Grantland compiles two separate lists of Knicks announcer (and former floor general) Walt "Clyde" Frazier quotables from Lin's breakout performances, with superlatives ranging from the Confucian ("showing much sagacity") to the bumper-sticker-variety ("true. slick. shrewd."). A sign of respect or the ramblings of a dotty old man? Probably both. Later in the column, Browne suggests a string of nicknames for Lin, which to his credit, aren't racially loaded (yay), though that doesn't quite stop him from proposing that fellow Knicks fans bring violins to Madison Square Garden as a rallying cry (boo).

And then, there's blogger Timothy Dalrymple's well-meaning ruminations on the "soft bigotry of low expectations," which depending on who you ask in the comments section, argues that a) Lin's Asian-ness sets a low bar for how people perceive his success, or b) perpetuates new racial stereotypes by rejecting old ones (which is actually an age-old conundrum: think of Roger Ebert's now-legendary rant amidst a sea of screaming banshees at Sundance).

For Asian Americans like myself, it's easy to see the birth of Linsanity as some long-gestating version of karmic retribution: too many years spent as a long-suffering Clippers fan; too much time spent considering the brittle legacy of Yao Ming; too much pride spent feeling the sting that accompanies every reference to Yi Jianlian's private workouts with Le Chair. But now that Lin's arrived, in all his swaggering, blue-tongue-wagging glory, there's no long-simmering anxiety about his status as cultural milestone. For every ignoramus who brands him the "Yellow Tebow," there's a savvier fan willing to make the argument that Lin is part of a new breed of point guard: possessing a sneaky, rather than explosive, athleticism, a mastery of court angles, and an ability to mask his deficiencies (weak left hand, unreliable jumper) with an almost preternatural flair for the dramatic (otherwise known as the clutch gene). For every "to bow or not to bow " kerfuffle, there's a more meaningful conversation to be had about the role that blind stereotyping plays in defining and assessing talent. For every one of us eager to claim Lin in our racial draft, there's Lin himself, shrugging off the portentous hype because he's too busy making love to pressure to tangle with Asian American identity politics.

Tebowmania is dangerous because at its worst, it presents sports fandom as a false binary of sorts: either you believe he's the "chosen one" (whatever that means), or you're a hater whose "un-American" rooting interests reveal a hopeless "sin-icism." Not so for Linsanity. Instead we draw upon an endless scrap heap of perspectives, complete with the priceless .gifs that keep on giving, the Internet memes that keep on topping themselves, and the irrational joy that comes from claiming someone as family even if you've never even met them. Unlike Tebow's predetermined narrative, Lin's trajectory feels truly liberated from the polemical thinking of sports punditry and idolatry, making it all the easier to bask in the glow of his success.

That is, of course, unless he craps the bed against the Lakers on Friday night, prompting a demotion to the bench, and an eventual flame-out of the league altogether. What, didn't you know that all Chinese people are frontrunners?

Alan Black: Time for a 'Soccer Spring' Revolt!

2012-02-09T21:04:03Z

The Ultras tear up Egypt. How about tearing up the autocracies that run world soccer? The cabal of insiders who determine the structure of the world's game have never been accountable to fans. Start in England -- the home of the game -- run by an organization called the Football Association (FA), a dusty club of power blazers. On Wednesday, the England coach, Fabio Capello, resigned. The reasons can be found somewhere else. Immediately, the London bookmakers make odds on his replacement. Fans pump opinions into the void. The press reasons the best choice -- should he be English? Should he know how to tweet like Wayne Rooney?

And none of it matters. The FA has a finely polished tin ear going back centuries. The politburo of blazers decide. This is the age of revolution. Cue the Stones! Cue Street Fighting Man! Is it not time for the "Soccer Spring? " FIFA is a gang. Corruption pervades, money talks, the players live in ivory towers, ticket prices keep out the poor, the servants in Downton Abbey are treated better by their masters. Let the England coach be chosen by a referendum of the fans! The coach will know he has the full backing of the democratic process. How empowering! How can he lose! The blazers won't be telling him who to pick. Accountable to the mob. Off with his head if he fails the revolution. That will keep him focused on success and not his multimillion dollar contract.

How could it be arranged? Not by government, they can't organize a bus timetable. Let the tech guardians of democracy run it. The England Manager Referendum brought to you by Google -- they have the firewalls to prevent hackers although they won't be able to stop some nasty defenders from casting a vote. That is the point! Even the players will get to cast a ballot. Equal with the fans. Finally able to come down from the tower to participate in the "Soccer Spring." Who knows where the revolution will end up!?

There must be some tech-Lenin out there who can quickly organize and spread through the viral channels the election. The look on the faces of the blazers at the FA and FIFA when they see millions of fans voting would send shock waves through the game.

Quora: What's It Like to Play on the Same Basketball Team as Jeremy Lin?

2012-02-09T19:15:16Z

Drew Housman, Guard, Harvard Basketball, Class of 2009

Up until about halfway through the 08-09 season it was like having any other teammate. Then we played BC a few days after they had just upset North Carolina, the number one team in the country at the time. No one thought we had a chance. The last time I had played BC was my freshman year, and we got blasted by 30.

We showed up at BC feeling confident as a team, but I think Jeremy was feeling a little something extra. He torched them from start to finish. It felt like he stole every pass and hit every jumper. They simply had no answer for him. The team played well as a whole, but Jeremy was clearly the reason we won the game. We were chanting his name on the shuttle ride home, never imagining that a sold out Madison Square Garden would be doing the same thing a few years later.

He had been the best player on our team for a while, but that game was the first time he showed that he could have been the best player on an ACC team. That is kind of amazing for an Ivy League guy.

Overall he is the best teammate you could ask for. Humble, works hard and plays hard. I can't say I'm that surprised to see what he is doing in the league. His ability to rise to the occasion is uncanny. He did it in high school, winning the state championship over the favored Mater Dei by making big plays in the 4th, he did it in college whenever he played a BCS school (except for Stanford his sophomore year, but that was a disaster across the board) and he is now doing it at the highest level possible. He might have a rough night against Columbia, but against UConn on national TV? 30 points in a near upset. It is really impressive when someone raises his level of play every time the pressure mounts.

Also, I noticed in a game I watched the announcer kept saying that he looked exhausted in the 4th quarter. What he doesn't know is that Jeremy always looks like that. He would appear to be dead tired after 5 minutes of warm ups. No one really knew why, but no one really cared because he would always come out and put in work for 40 minutes.

Via Steven E. Johnston.

Cross-posted from Quora.

Jordan Schultz: Duke Upsets North Carolina, But Defensive Woes Haunt Blue Devils

2012-02-09T17:33:37Z

We can watch the clip of Austin Rivers sinking a game-winning bomb over Tyler Zeller all we want, but in playing its worst team defense of the past decade, Duke is still not a national title contender.

The staple of previous Mike Krzyzewski-coached teams has always been excellent defense. Even when it struggled and couldn't get past the second round just four years ago, Duke ranked at the top of the ACC and the country in most defensive categories. This season however, it has faltered, with average numbers in critical areas such as transition, pick-and-roll and dribble hand-off, according to Synergy Sports Technology. Entering the Carolina game, it ranked ninth in the conference in adjusted defensive efficiency, a number that certainly didn't improve after surrendering 84 points on 49 percent shooting.

As a result, Duke has essentially become a hyper-offensively focused team that excels in scoring the basketball. Per Synergy, the Devils rank in the 96th percentile of college basketball in the half-court and are very good in the up-tempo game, shooting a super healthy 60 percent from the floor. They are extremely effective against both man-to-man and zone defense, because Mason Plumlee has proven to be a good passer out of the high post. This is all fine and well, but with Tyler Thornton, Seth Curry, Andre Dawkins and Rivers anchoring the perimeter, they sorely lack a lockdown defender.

Because of its general lack of quickness, Duke struggles the most when trying to contain penetration off the bounce, where it has given up 226 points in 281 such opportunities -- putting the team close to the bottom fourth of college basketball. Krzyzewski is a mastermind when it comes to ball pressure and help defense, so there are several categories where the Blue Devils have remained more than adequate. They handle screens and bump cutters very well, continually guard the three, and as always, defend remarkably well out of timeouts. But the glaring weaknesses once opposing guards penetrate are what will likely prevent this team from being a true contender come March.

Once the opposing offense is able to penetrate in the lane, Duke begins to break down. Because it doesn't help defend particularly well and lacks a shot-blocking rim protector, 17-feet and in is where the team instantly becomes most vulnerable. Entering Wednesday, the Blue Devils had allowed 31.5 points in the paint per game, fifth-worst among power six conference schools. What is more surprising though, is its ineptitude in defending the pick-and-roll. Per Synergy, the team ranks in the bottom half of the nation, struggling most in guarding the roll man himself. More troublesome though, is the inability to high hedge and trap the screen, something this program has typically thrived in. Because it's been so poor, Krzyzewski has almost completely taken it out of his defensive arsenal, trapping screens only 12 times all season, a number so low it seems almost impossible.

Even with the impressive win over the Tar Heels and 20-4 overall record, this remains a Duke team that has lost two of its last three games at Cameron Indoor Stadium, and dropped multiple home games for the first time since going 15-4 there in 2006-07. Entering the UNC game, it was allowing 99.6 points per 100 possessions, which slots the team in the bottom half of all Division I schools. What's worse, according to ESPN Stats & Info, Duke is on track to finish outside the top 50 in that category for the first time since rankings were available in 2000.

Email me at jordan.schultz@huffingtonpost.com or ask me questions about anything sports-related @206Child for my upcoming mailbag.

Plus, check out my new HuffPost sports blog, The Schultz Report, for a fresh and daily outlook on all things sports and listen to my radio spot on 1280 The Zone every Friday night at 6:25 EST.

Tim Giago: Indians as Mascots for America's Fun and Games

2012-02-09T16:53:17Z

"The dogs may bark, but the caravan moves on," is an old Arab proverb.

I quoted this old saying more than 25 years ago when I first broached the subject of the use of Indians as mascots for America's fun and games. An article I wrote for Newsweek magazine in 1991, the year the Washington professional football team played in the Super Bowl in Minneapolis, Minn., brought a deluge of hate mail of the likes I have never experienced before.

This was before the Internet and email so the letters came to me as snail-mail and they weren't just letters because the page my article appeared on under the heading "I Hope the Redskin's Lose," was torn from the magazine and sent to me with big, red lettering that, in most cases, read "F--K you Giago." As I wrote many times since, I did not write that headline. It was like waving a red flag in the face of the Redskin football fanatics. Since then whenever I have to use the Redskin word I always refer to it as the "R-Word." And why should it not carry the same inference as the "N-Word"?

An article I wrote on the same topic several years later for the New York Times also brought an outpouring of similar hate mail. But it convinced me that there was no easy way to point out to America that most Native Americans do not appreciate their use as mascots especially in many of the extremely insensitive ways they are depicted.

The classic example I often use is the time a pig was painted red, a feathered war bonnet attached to its head, and then the painted pig was chased around the football field at half-time at a Washington "R-Word" game. Would the cheering fans have felt the same if a pig had been painted black and an Afro-wig attached to its head? Of course not, you say? Then kindly let me know what the difference is? One painted pig is clearly an Indian and the other an African American so which pig connotes racism?

The topic of Indians as mascots is on my mind because a die-hard group of fans at the University of North Dakota refuse to let their Fighting Sioux mascot rest in peace.

There is one tribe in North Dakota that approves of their use as mascots: the Spirit Lake Sioux Tribe. I wish members of this tribe would have accompanied me to the University of Illinois campus several years ago when I covered the Indians protesting the use of Chief Illiniwek as the school's mascot.

Two of the people leading the protest are now deceased; Vernon Bellecourt and Michael Haney. Protests across America have diminished tremendously since their passing. I was appalled to witness the hostility against the protesters at U of I that day. While the protestors marched to the stadium, passengers in passing cars flipped burning cigarettes at them while cursing them with the worst forms of profanity. Stadium police stopped a group of Illini fans from dumping a huge vat of water from the stadium wall as the protestors marched beneath it. Objects were hurled at the protestors as they marched. "Go home you dirty Indians" reverberated around the stadium.

And I wish the members of the Spirit Lake tribe who think being used as mascots is hunky dory, would have been standing next to us at the Super Bowl in Minneapolis in 1991. The police waded into the protesting Indians swinging their batons knocking Indian men and women to the ground. Charlene Teeters, one of this Nation's foremost leaders in the fight to quash the use of Indians as mascots, was knocked to the ground. Later she said, "I will never go to Minneapolis again. The police were absolutely brutal."

Yet, after all of this, the University of North Dakota, in the face of censorship by the NCAA, will bring back the Fighting Sioux mascot despite the restrictions that will be placed upon it by the NCAA and despite the protests of Native Americans everywhere. Is using this symbol of racism that important to an institution of higher learning?

I pray that the more intelligent and sensitive people at Spirit Lake and at UND prevail and convince those who still refuse to speak out against this travesty will let it be known that most Native Americans do not consider it an honor to be mimicked, insulted and demeaned by sports fans across America in the name of a high school, college or professional sports team mascot.

I would also remind those insistent upon denigrating Native Americans in the name of sports teams that the year is 2012 and racial epitaphs that rang across America for more than 500 years are now passé and in continuing this archaic practice, they are also denigrating themselves. And please try to understand that Native Americans are human beings and not mascots for America's fun and games.

So let the dogs keep barking because I and thousands of other Native Americans will be a caravan moving on to change bad things in America.

Tim Giago, an Oglala Lakota, is President of Unity South Dakota. He was a Nieman Fellow at Harvard with the Class of 1990. His weekly column won the H. L. Mencken Award in 1985. He was the founder of The Lakota Times, Indian Country Today, Lakota Journal and Native Sun News. He can be reached at UnitySoDak1@knology.net.

Dan Treadway: Why Jeremy Lin Is Important

2012-02-09T15:08:37Z

Whether you want to call it LinCredible, LinGenious or simply LinSane, the emergence of Jeremy Lin over the past three games for the New York Knicks has lit a fire underneath this NBA season in a very unique way.

If you haven't heard about Jeremy Lin yet, just turn on the TV, or if you're in New York, put your head out a window, because there's a very good chance that someone's talking about him right now.

Lin was a little used reserve player that had stints with the Golden State Warriors, Rockets and National Basketball Development League before finding a spot squarely at the end of the New York Knicks bench entering the 2011-12 season. Last Saturday, with Carmelo Anthony struggling and the team in the midst of a 2-11 slump, Knicks coach Mike D'Antoni decided to think outside of the box and called on Lin, who up to that point had mostly played in garbage time, to play point guard. The Harvard graduate responded by leading the team in scoring with 25 points while also dishing seven assists.

Good call, coach.

Lin followed up this performance by leading the Knicks in scoring in the next two games, both victories, notching 28 and 23 points respectively.

Not bad for a guy sleeping on his brother's couch.

Beyond having among the most pun-able last names in recent memory, Lin gives the NBA something that it has lacked in recent years: the unexpected.

Just about anybody could have guessed before the season began that Kobe Bryant, LeBron James and Kevin Durant would be among the league's three highest scorers. They also probably could have told you that the Bulls, Heat, Thunder and Spurs would have the best records in their respective conferences.

But nobody, probably not even Lin himself, would have predicted that a bench warmer would take the reigns of the team located in the world's biggest media market and re-energize the entire franchise.

In the wake of Lin's rise in popularity, the first person that the media wants to compare him to is, naturally, the hottest athlete at the moment: Tim Tebow. But for many reasons such a comparison is lazy. Tim Tebow was a first round draft pick. Jeremy Lin went undrafted. Tim Tebow was a Heisman Trophy winner. Jeremy Lin didn't receive one major college scholarship offer. Finally, and most importantly, there are no shortage of Caucasians with the ability to run that have played quarterback in the NFL, but there has never been an Asian American athlete that's excelled at this level in the NBA.

Even though Asians comprise almost five percent of America's population, Lin is only the fourth player of Asian American descent to play in the NBA -- and he might already be considered the best.

And for a league seemingly struggling to generate excitement following a bitter labor feud, Lin's arrival couldn't be better timed.

In the wake of Yao Ming retiring, the NBA has been desperate for an asian ambassador to carry forward the momentum that the league has built in China. And in the same vein, the younger segment of the Asian American community, many of whom are extremely avid basketball fans, have never had an athlete like Jeremy Lin to look up to. By virtue of succeeding in the NBA, Lin has the potential to breaks barriers in a way that even Michelle Kwan and Tiger Woods haven't.

To be clear, Lin's appeal isn't based on race, but rather nationality. Yao Ming was certainly a transcendent figure during his time in the NBA, but even he might not ultimately have possessed the potential -- both from a marketing and cultural perspective -- to shake things up in America that Lin does.

Unlike Yao, Lin wasn't bred by former professional basketball players and raised in an academy that taught him the intricacies of the game. He was born in Palo Alto, California, the son of two Taiwanese immigrants and has had to overcome extreme odds at every level in order to make it to where he is today. Now, quite improbably, he finds himself as one of the most talked about basketball players in America. His story isn't one of talent, but sweat, and that's probably why the country as a whole finds themselves drawn to him. To simplify it, Jeremy Lin is one of the best personifications of the American dream that the sports world has seen in many years.

In the short term, he is a great testament to what hard work and perseverance can lead to. But in the long term, if Lin is able to maintain his current level of success, he may very well have a hand in altering the way that we perceive race in this country.

"Compared with other racial groups, famous athletes of Asian descent are relatively few and participation in sport generally has been lower than other groups," wrote Dr. Ronald B. Woods in his book titled Social Issues In Sports. "The goal of becoming a doctor, lawyer, scientist, or other professional is instilled in their youth by their parents and culture rather than that of becoming a sports hero."

The commentary, while perhaps over-generalizing, is a mostly fair description of how most Americans would characterize Asian American culture and upbringing. But these sentiments are likely accepted without seriously considering the possibility that an Asian American in fact can become a sports hero in the National Basketball Association.

By bucking this assumption, and in turn forcing Americans to re-evaluate long held beliefs at what Asian Americans are capable of in this area, Jeremy Lin may in fact be nothing short of a pioneer.

"He loves the fact that he is who he is," Roger Montgomery, Lin's agent told The New York Times. "He loves the fact that he's Jeremy Lin. But I think he will be really excited when people can say, 'Man, Jeremy Lin can play.' Not, 'Oh the Asian guy -- he's pretty good, huh?'"

Jeremy Lin's influence, already magnified by New York media, will likely only grow from here on out, and from a sociological perspective, it's exciting to see where his dunks and assists will take us.

Just keep Linning, baby.

Corey Gaines: Inspire Yourself

2012-02-09T14:25:52Z

My dad is black and my mom is Japanese, so there is a lot of culture and history in my family, which gives us a lot to celebrate.

Black History Month was not something celebrated while I was growing up. The month is dedicated to remembering and honoring African American achievements. Growing up in a bi-racial home, I had a unique look at the impact minorities have had on our culture.

Both of my parents were cops, so we had a very disciplined home and there wasn't much I could get away with. I admire both of them for their hard work and support and still think about a valuable lesson my father taught me growing up. He said, "Don't look for someone to inspire you, inspire yourself."

There are a lot of people that believe the path is already set for them or they don't have options, but none of that is true. If you want something changed, change it yourself. Don't wait for someone else to come along. Only rely on yourself to get you to where you want to be.

That's exactly what the people we honor during Black History Month did. If they hadn't set their own path and fought for what they believed in, we would not be celebrating it.

It's also something that the WNBA is a perfect example of. There were previous professional basketball leagues for women that didn't succeed, but when the WNBA was formed, the players and coaches and executives didn't rely on someone else to make it happen. They each fought for it and we continue to fight for it. And thankfully, we have a lot of supporters that were in it from the beginning.

If the other leagues had not attempted to reach their dream, the WNBA wouldn't have known certain challenges to avoid or problems that could be resolved before they happened. We learned from the past and help it to pave our future.

Thanks to the support of our fans, the players are able to enjoy a game they love and younger girls playing sports are given the opportunity to dream big.

Be inspired by what you want to do, not by what others are doing.

Matthew Handley: Fabio Capello's England: An Obituary

2012-02-09T12:30:05Z

The record will show that Fabio Capello, with a win percentage of 66.7%, is one of England's most successful managers ever. For anyone who has followed the national side over the last four years, those figures serve to mask what has been a reign characterised by mismanagement, disappointment and controversy.

I'm glad he's gone. Taking the post in early 2008, Capello took England through that all too familiar parabola of expectation that precedes any major tournament; losing only one game in the qualification group for the 2010 World Cup, topping the scoring charts for the UEFA zone and with Wayne Rooney looking utterly unplayable, we started to believe. But there were always the doubts; most of the teams that 'Wazza' et al were tonking weren't exactly world-beaters, we couldn't be sure that the ingrained overwhelming fear of success that seems to plague our nation's footballers had been consigned to the past, and Emile Heskey was back in the squad.

Then the doubts started to transform into serious concerns, before manifesting themselves as a bona-fide footballing car-crash. First came the revelations that John Terry had been having an affair with the girlfriend of national and club teammate Wayne Bridge; the ensuing tabloid storm forcing the Italian's hand in stripping the Chelsea centre-back of the captaincy. Then came Terry's successor as captain, Rio Ferdinand, being injured in a training session, leading to him being ruled out of the World Cup. And Emile Heskey was STILL in the squad.

It's still too painful to talk about what happened in South Africa at length. As a nation, we're still somewhat traumatised. Rob Green fumbling a shot into his own goal in the opening match against the USA. Frank Lampard's disallowed goal against Germany. Emile Heskey being brought on as a last-ditch substitute when three goals were needed in that last 16 tie against Germany. England were unceremoniously dumped out, and with a collective shrug of the shoulders, we accepted that out expectations, once again, had been unfounded.

The Euro 2012 campaign started the same process again, now crushingly inevitable in its cyclical nature; with the emergence of the likes of Phil Jones and Jack Wilshere, and the growing prowess of Darren Bent at international level, perhaps, just perhaps, Fabio could find redemption and lead England to success in Poland and Ukraine before he stepped down with the expiration of his contract. Now England need to find a new man to lead the team out in June.

Capello was never the right fit. Post-McClaren, England needed a manager with passion. Instead they got one whose professorial attitude and statuesque manner on the touchline made him seem a million miles away from his players and fans. They needed a manager with the balls to shake things up. Instead they got one who almost religiously adhered to 4-4-2, and showed obstinacy when calls were made to give young players the chance to shine in crucial games. He was never the right fit, and not just because he wasn't English. He, if anything, was far too 'English', reinforcing the stagnancy that has plagued the side for the best part of two decades.

It would have been impossible for him to stay. The FA made the right call in stripping John Terry of the captain's armband; it would have been impossible for him to lead out the side at a major championship with the dark cloud of a racism trial hanging over his head, engulfing and overshadowing the entire team. The necessary side-product of that decision was the alienation and angering of Fabio Capello; he was unsurprisingly furious at the FA's decision to unilaterally remove Terry from the captaincy, but the national interest in ensuring that some semblance of integrity is maintained superseded the usual decision making hierarchies. Now he's gone. And England need a new manager, and fast.

Harry Redknapp, with his tax evasion trial behind him, seems the natural choice. Indeed, it seems hard to imagine anyone else being Capello's long-term successor. More important than the name of the manager though, is their character. A monumental task lies ahead; firstly, a new captain needs to be appointed, difficult given that the side contains few players whoa re guaranteed to start. Second, a replacement strategy must be generated to deal with the fact that Wayne Rooney will be banned for the first two games at Euros. And finally, the English mentality that I spoke about, the fear of winning, the mechanistic rise and fall of expectations and the obstinacy to change, needs to be consigned to history.
The parabola needs to be changed into an ever-increasing upward curve.

England are in possession of excellent young players, and the end of John Terry's period as captain gives a chance for a new start. So Harry Redknapp, I hereby issue you a challenge; you've got three years. Then I want another star to be added to the England shirt, and another World Cup trophy in Wembley Stadium. It can be done. Emile Heskey's even retired from international football. Clock's ticking 'Arry...

Carl Berman: Pitt's Woodall Heads NetScouts Basketball's Players of the Week

2012-02-09T03:58:47Z

NetScouts Basketball has selected Utah State forward Ashlee Brown as its Women's National Player of the Week for games ending the week of Sunday, Feb. 5.

Brown, a 6-0 senior from Chandler, AZ by way of UCSB, posted her sixth double-double of the season with game highs of 30 points and 14 rebounds in a 78-73 win over San Jose State. She helped erase as 12-point second-half deficit with five steals, three assists and two blocks. In a win over Hawaii (69-55), Brown scored 11 points and added five rebounds, three assists, two blocks and two steals in 29 minutes. For the week, she averaged 20.5 points, 9.5 rebounds, 3.5 steals, 3.0 assists and 2.0 blocks per game, all above her season averages.

Brown is the only player in the WAC to lead her squad in points, rebounds, steals, assists and blocks this season. She is tops in scoring (14.9 ppg) and rebounding (8.7 rpg). Despite being a forward, she is still first on the team in assists (2.4 apg) and steals (2.1 spg). Brown is the top shot blocker on the team (1.1 bpg).

Pittsburgh guard Tray Woodall is our Men's National Player of the Week. Woodall, a 5-11 junior from Brooklyn, N.Y., led the Panthers in scoring in victories at West Virginia and against Villanova. In the two games, he averaged 26.5 points, shot 62.5 percent from the floor, 54.5 percent from 3-point range and made all 17 of his free throw attempts.

In Sunday's 79-70 win against Villanova, he tallied a career-high 29 points, pulled down six rebounds and had five assists while going 12-of-12 from the foul line. Earlier in the week, his 24-point effort led the Panthers win to a 72-66 win at rival West Virginia. The Panthers have won four straight games since Woodall returned to the lineup after missing 11 of 12 games due to injury.

Washington State's Brock Motum is our International Player of the Week. Motum, a 6'10 junior from Brisbane, Australia averaged 25.5 points and 9.5 rebounds in a 1-1 week for the Cougars. In Washington State's 60-53 win over USC, Motum tallied 26 points on 9-of-11 shootng. He is now averaging 17.2 points on the season and 28.3 points over his past three games.

Alyssa Jung: Welcome, NFL 2012!

2012-02-09T01:34:14Z

The new season is officially here! As soon as I woke up on Monday after the Super Bowl, I rejoiced. NFL 2011, peace out. I'd say it's been nice but I'd be lying. It was kind of nice for a little bit and then it got really bad, really fast, and I still don't think I've fully recovered. I'm ready for a fresh start and positive change.

But all that is a long way off. A little more than a month until free agency chatter heats up, two months-ish until the draft, then three months-ish until preseason gets into full swing -- what to do until then?!

With few specifics to comment on yet, here are eight general things I'm looking forward to about NFL 2012.

1) Getting my favs back. I've seriously felt a deep sense of despair, heartache and gloom ever since Freddy J got injured. I'm not even being dramatic, I was devastated. I'm also pumped that Lindell will be back in action since he just signed a new multi-year contract; there was something so wrong about Moorman and him being separated. If Stevie Johnson re-signs, life will be right.

2) Seeing how Fitz progresses. He's already full of awesomeness and confidence and leadership and strength and everything you'd want in a quarterback, plus he has a great beard, and he can only get better. With the hiring of David Lee, who has a track record that speaks for itself (Tony Romo, Chad Pennington's injury recovery), I feel positive about this new relationship.

3) A former Bill, Pete Metzelaars, in the mix. As the newly hired tight ends coach, he'll be working with Scott Chandler (if he re-signs with Buffalo) and that can only mean good things. Chandler proved his worth early on in the season and the way he plays seems like it would work well with how Metzelaars used to play (I don't actually remember much of that). Strength at every offensive position is kind of a staple of Fitz's style.

4) Seeing if the offensive line gets strengthened. The O-line was, without a doubt, far better this season than the season before when I questioned if it was getting the correct kick-off time or perhaps was existing in a different time zone. Fitz had much more time in the pocket this season and Freddy J was able to produce some impressive runs. But in my opinion, that line can never be strong enough, so will a real playmaker join the ranks? Time shall tell.

5) Moving back to a 4-3 defense. When Chan Gailey was first hired he reverted to a 3-4 (remember the Bruce Smith years?) but we've seen how that's worked out. I think it's indicative of Gailey's devotion to making Buffalo a winning team that he's switching again. Whatever it takes!

6) Draft rumors. I don't pay THAT much attention to the draft because I hate being disappointed when A) The Bills miss out on a pick they were eyeing or B) A hyped up draftee doesn't live up to the hype, but I'm down to read through all the scenarios and speculation. Really, what else is there to do when you need your spring football fix?

7) New Bills apparel. The Victoria's Secret in Buffalo has to be coming out with new underwear designs sometime.

8) Football. I just want to watch good, quality, doesn't-break-your-heart-every-game I-can-act-like-a-fool-because-I'm-so-happy football. It'll happen.

GO BILLS!!!

Tom Murro: If You Can't Make the Super Bowl, Party With the Owners

2012-02-08T21:41:44Z

It goes without saying that everyone loves a good party, from President Obama, who has hosted dozens of celebrity-filled parties, all the way down to the guy who picks up my smelly garbage every week. It should come as no surprise then that many of the New York elite gathered on Feb. 1 at Michael's restaurant on 55th Street in NYC, for a pre-Super Bowl XLVI pep rally for the hometown New York Giants.

The men responsible for throwing this bash for the hometown team, Giants Owner Steve Tisch and legendary movie producer Harvey Weinstein, the man who is also responsible for producing many of your favorite movies and mine, to include The Artist and The Iron Lady, a man I initially didn't recognized until someone pointed him out to me.

The well-decorated room was alight with the star power of NYC from all aspects of life. I arrived at the party at the same time as former Giant and Kathy Lee's spouse, Frank Gifford, who isn't aging quite as well as his lovely and constantly smiling wife. Kathy Lee happily dined at a table with her husband, her former co-worker Regis Philbin, his wife Joy, and her current Today co-host, the beautiful Hoda Kotb.

Former N.Y. Gov. George Pataki was there and posed for a picture holding up Giants gear with a little bit of resistance because of his diehard fandom to the other New York football team, the Jets. Renowned television personality Montel Williams hung out drinking water and I couldn't help but notice a particular fragrance wafting off of him while we chatted, a scent I can only call Eau de Mary Jane. While sipping on my early afternoon cocktail, I witnessed Katie Couric audibly slap Brian Williams on his posterior as they took a picture together all without missing a beat; I was not fortunate enough to get the same treatment.

Harvey Weinstein and I chatted and laughed like two pals just hanging out at their favorite bar before taking some great pictures. His younger, Bob Weinstein, helped organize the party as well as sports media legend Dick Ebersol, Brian Williams, John McEnroe, and former Today Show anchor Matt Lauer. Lauer explained to me that he had been a Giants fan longer then he could remember and also noted having a full head of hair the last time the Giants won the Super Bowl.

Lauer eloquently delivered the feel good news of the whole fiesta by introducing Paulette Figoski, the widowed wife of Peter Figoski, the NYPD officer who was killed in the line of duty in Brooklyn in December 2011, leaving behind his wife and 4 daughters. Lauer announced that should they not have any plans, Figoski and her family were invited to go all expenses paid to the grandiose spectacle of the Super Bowl with Harvey Weinstein and friends on Sunday. Ms. Figoski graciously accepted the offer on the behalf of her and her two youngest daughters, Corrine and Caroline. Ms. Figoski's two eldest daughters are away at college and won't be able to make the big game, but were instead invited to the Oscars by Weinstein.

The party provided its guests with goodies from the NFC champion New York Giants including team hats and shirts to help everyone better show their support for their hometown team in the big game. Michael's prepared cookies with the NY Giants logo on them for all of the hungry guests, which lead to some hilarity when I handed a cookie to the outspoken Regis Philbin who thought it would be a good idea to put it in his pocket. Unfortunately, this idea failed and resulted in a handful of icing and a broken cookie as he reached for his coat check ticket. This also led to on his famous freakouts: "Everything has gone wrong! Joy, do you have my coat ticket? Forget it, I'll get it myself!"

Regis eventually stormed into the coat room to find his own coat and was followed out of the party by other guests like the Pied Piper of New York. Before that incident and all throughout the party, the former Who Wants To Be a Millionaire host was very gracious and playfully took a nostalgic picture with Kathy Lee and me. CBS This Morning's Gayle King asked around for help because she was having problems posting photos to her Twitter at the party, I was happy to give her a hand.

My friendly neighbor, retired Giant Shaun O'Hara, was also at the party cheering on his former team in their quest for the highly coveted Lombardi trophy on Sunday. He chatted with the Figoski girls about preparations for the big game, suggesting that they bring a lot of blue face paint and use it. The big center graciously allowed me to wear his Super Bowl ring and took a picture, which left me feeling like a world champion for the day.

All in all, it was a beautiful day to be a New Yorker, and in special company. Peggy Segal PR did a wonderful job setting up the guest list and arranging the tables given the celebrity packed roster. Sometimes you've got to remember, the only thing between us and them, is a good publicist.