Daily Double - Hell is a Little Cold Edition

1. First topic, booing. Is booing your right as a fan? When is the acceptable time to boo? Is it okay to boo pro athletes? College athletes? High-school? Steve Kelley of the Seattle Times, presents his objections to the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association proposed Boo Ban.
   
   I generally agree with Steve in the fact that I believe the ban is directed at the playful-taunting booing that occurs at most high school sporting events. I can vividly remember being at many a high school basketball game as a teenager where I and my fellow students would hurl insults at the opposing team. It was not intended to be harmful or hurtful and often the insults weren’t even true. It was just funny and juvenile humor is the most beloved genre of humor around. I present the recent success of Wild Hogs as exhibit one in defense of my argument. Anyhow, I have no issue with Steve’s argument that playful taunting is part of the allure of sports and that legislating what can and can’t be said is a dangerous road to travel down.
   
   However, I do want to make an argument against another type of booing and insult-hurling. This generally comes not from peers of the athletes, but from others, usually male, who for some reason get upset with high-school athletes. Let me just say that if you are booing a high school athlete, you are a fairly low-level degenerate in my opinion. Sure I’m not for blowing sunshine up someone’s butt and telling them how great they are, but outright public embarrassment is another thing. And, no it’s not the same thing as booing a professional or even college athlete. A professional is being paid outright for his or her services and you, as a paying fan, are allowed to voice your opinion concerning the athlete’s performance. College athletes are not paid outright, but are given compensation for their services. For whatever reason, booing college athletes hasn’t quite caught on yet. It probably has something to do with the supporters of the university feeling some affiliation with the athletes, however vague it might be. The point to all this is that I have no issue with the regulation if it gives school administrators the right to remove patrons who are booing a high school athlete in an abusive manner. Of course, giving school administrators the right to do anything is a disaster waiting to happen. Probably the best recourse is to allow the fans to police themselves. So if you are at a high school sporting event and someone is being a complete ass, do the right thing, ask them to shut up or leave.
   
   
2. I’m about to write words that I swear upon the good Lord himself I never thought I would type. Bill Simmons and I agree on Scoop Jackson. Stop. Let that sink in for a minute. Yes, Bill Simmons. No, I’m not joking. No, it isn’t about the Red Sox. Bill essentially makes the same argument that I made in this space last Thursday.
   
   By the way, a pig just flew by my window.

Daily Double - Slow Day Edition

1. Dr. Elliot Pellman stepped down as the director of the NFL’s concussion committee yesterday. He will be replaced by Dr. Ira Casson, a neurologist from Nassau, N.Y., and Dr. David Viano, a biomechanical engineer from Wayne State University. Considering that Dr. Pellman is a rheumatologist, he wasn’t exactly qualified from the get go. Oh and he is also the team doctor for the Jets, so there is an apparent conflict of interest.
   
   So this is a good thing right? The NFL is finally taking this issue seriously, yes? Eh, we shall see. Yes, these two doctors are not affiliated with any team, but what compensation do they get from the league? This is the same league that is run by the team owners who have a conflict of interest when it comes to the availability of the players they employ.
   
   Now, my free-market mind recognizes that there are owners who make sure not to endanger their employees and they are probably rewarded by players wanting to stay with that team and other players wanting to come and play for said team. I’m also cool with the idea that the players are free to choose what team to play for and in fact whether they should play with injury or not. I also recognize that these players are compensated very well to play the sport. However, those assumptions are based on sound medical advice being given to the player in order to make a decision. And I question whether team or league doctors are in the position to give sound medical advice.
   
   
2. It’s kind of a slow day around here, so three quick blurbs and we are out for the weekend.
   
   File this one under the “It was just a joke” category with John Kerry’s plea to get an education. Evidently the Celtics are employing Archie Bunker as their color analyst.
   
   Splitting time between harassing Jewish kids and doing color for the Celtics
   
   

   Jake Plummer = Master Negotiator. Jake the Snake wants to come to Houston so badly that he probably spending time in the humidor at Coors Field to acclimatize.
   
   John Daly, the picture of fitness (not that I should be talking or anything) pulls a muscle trying to stop his backswing. Funny, normally when I have had a six-pack or two, the muscles are pretty loose.

Daily Double - Soapbox Edition

1. I’ll admit, I have had some other things going on this winter and haven’t been able to devote nearly enough time to watching college basketball. But, for anyone who tuned in last night, Texas A&M and Texas played one hell of a game. I have doubted the Aggies all season long and I’m still not 100 percent sold on them being in the Final Four. However, they are clearly one of the best teams in the country and I’m saying that after they lost last night. Both of these teams have enough talent to go deep into the tournament and that was certainly on display.
   
   
2. Scoop Jackson slams down the race card with authority on your ass. That’s right. It seems that the statistics don’t bear out that NBA All-Star Weekend was worse than any similar weekend in Vegas. Nope, it is all a bunch of white news columnists with their racist agendas making a mountain out of a mole-hill. I can’t imagine where they would have gotten ideas that the All-Star Weekend would be Hip-Hop Woodstock, Scoop. It just boggles the mind that anyone would think that the combination of the NBA All-Star Game and Las Vegas would get out of hand.
   
   I will agree that none of this behavior had anything to do with an actual NBA player. It is factually correct to say that not one NBA player was mentioned in the news reports of the mayhem and lawlessness. But isn’t it a little hypocritical of Scoop to bemoan the poor press coverage of the NBA’s All-Star Weekend when he himself, on the eve of the event, celebrated all the actions that were reported after the fact?
   
   But let's get past all that. To be completely honest, the thing that drives us insane about the point that Scoop is making is do we really want to celebrate or make excuses for the culture of lawlessness that seems to permeate professional basketball players? Is it reasonable to just accept that young, black men with money will associate themselves with people who act in ways that most of society doesn’t agree with? For Scoop, and others like him, this seems to be the case that he is making. Is that not, in and of itself, a racist attitude? Because most NBA players are black and have a lot of money, they can’t help themselves; they have to be surrounded by thugs and hoodlums. Are we reading into Scoop’s argument more than what is intended? Sure, but isn’t that he is doing with others’ accounts and opinions of All-Star Weekend?