Torture? That’s not torture. THIS is torture.

Remember.

Free Opinions, and Worth Every Penny

Phil Simms has long been one of my favorite color analysts on football, and it’s because of plain-spoken common sense like this (on the criticism of Jay Cutler last week by Jim Mora, Sr., and Mike Martz):

“The critical comments, the overanalyzation of everything, Week 1, there is no other way to describe it except that it is out of control. That’s all I can say. All I am reading is body language, `I can see this,’ or `I can see that,’ ‘I can just tell.’ I’m telling you, I wish I could go on and do the game today and do commentary on that because it is absurd.”

“Out of control” and “absurd” are exactly right.

What is it with people today? Everybody’s a critic.

I hadn’t realized that ex-football-coaches have enough expertise in reading body language to cast public criticism at players for not showing us the right post-game moves that send out the recommended degree of contrition.

Seriously, this is the stupidest thing I’ve heard since the idea of our government fining people thousands of dollars for not having health insurance. And that is a pretty high bar to clear.

More Simms:

“The players don’t listen don’t listen to all the talk radio, read all the articles and watch ESPN around the clock where we have 40 guys analyzing every throw Jay Cutler makes,” Simms said. “If I have to hear one more time, `Oh, you don’t throw across the field.’ That’s another cliche that needs to be blown up because Jay Cutler has thrown across his body 300 times already in his career and he has hit about 100 big plays out of it. Is he going to make mistakes? Sure.

“Someone could say, `Well, hey, he could have a bad day again today.’ No kidding. It is the Pittsburgh Steelers. It won’t be a walk in the park. I’ll make judgment after about eight weeks, maybe at the end of the season. I feel pretty secure in saying his talent and who he is will come through. His talent is tremendous, absolutely one of the top five most talented quarterbacks in the NFL.”

Phil Simms won’t suffer fools gladly, and I love that about him. Especially in comparison to so many TV and media “personalities” who are both too impressed with themselves, and afraid of their own shadows.

“I’m a Man! I’m 40!” as Great Recruiting Tool

Yes it was funny, but more importantly, it was valid and true

College football fans may remember the famous “I’m a man! I’m 40!” rant by Oklahoma St. coach Mike Gundy from a couple of years ago.

He thought a sportswriter was picking on one of his players, and saw himself duty-bound to address it.

I thought it was awesome. And, it turns out, so do many of his potential recruits:

“If I had it to do all over again, I would not have changed anything I did. I felt we had a player that was treated unfairly, and it was my responsibility as the head coach to stand up for that player. I have three sons of my own, and if they ever went and played ball or did anything with their career and there was someone responsible for them (who) didn’t try to stand up for them, it would disappoint me as a parent.

When it first came out, lots of folks had a laugh, and the rant does seem a little over the top in a couple of parts. But lost in all the laughing and the making fun of his “I’m a man! I’m 40!” line is this: he was exactly right.

His larger point was that we’ve forgotten that college athletes are amateurs. Or, “student-athletes”, if we want to be extremely generous and take the NCAA at their word on that terminology.

We all know that some of these amateurs aren’t as good at their chosen sport as some others. But then, as “student-athletes”, they have lots of responsibilities off the field as well. Where is the media attention for that? Oh, right, there isn’t any.

College athletes have amateur standing for a reason. That’s what we’re told, anyway. But take a look around, at the huge TV contracts, the shoe deals, the under-the-table payola from connected alumni and prominent boosters. Look at the big money coaching contracts, and all the advertising revenue that flows to the NCAA and then to the big conferences and member schools.

Money just flying into and out of everybody’s pockets except the players.

Does that sound like amateur athletics to you? Me neither.

Yet, despite all that money flying all around them, the players themselves are still expected to lead the monastic life of an amateur athlete. Sure, OK, if the NCAA says so.

And as money has invaded college sports, so has the focus on individual stars. ESPN puts you on SportsCenter if you make outrageous plays, or act like an idiot after scoring touchdowns. What’s the difference, any more? It’s all about celebrity more than athletics, and it has been like that for years..

So I think Mike Gundy is here to remind us that we should respect our student-athletes, our amateurs, for being good people and working hard and doing their best. That’s all we can really ask of our young people.

Take care of your business the right way off the field, too. That’s really what Gundy is saying here. Watch for yourself:

He has a very good point, and it doesn’t get made often enough: we’ve completely lost our minds about what is important with the student-athlete today.

As fans, we hitch our hopes and dreams on the backs of kids so that we can feel a little better about ourselves and our pathetic, empty lives. I know that’s harsh and maybe a little hyperbolic, but when you really back away from it, and shine a bright light on what is going on there, isn’t that pretty close to the truth?

As parents and boosters, we lie to ourselves and to our kids when we ignore the most honorable among us, the kids who probably aren’t going pro, but still study hard and show up at practice and contribute to the team in any way they can. Instead, many of us promote harmful ideals like celebrity and glorifying the individual.

We did a much better job preparing our young people for life after college when we took the “student” part of “student-athlete” seriously. Today, we cater to the needs of the top .1% who might become professionals someday, for a couple of years.

Speaking as a parent of a college age son, with two more to follow in a few years, I think I can speak with confidence when I say that most parents of college athletes want to know one thing, just one thing above all others: who is going to advocate for my kid’s interests while he/she is away at school?

If you can’t be there to provide parental guidance day-to-day, you want somebody you can trust to take over that role. Especially in the shark-infested waters of big-time athletics.

So when a coach like Mike Gundy takes on great risk to stand up for what is right, and to stand up for a kid on the team who does everything right, even if he is not the most talented on the team, that tells a recruit’s parent just about everything they need to know.

And unlike the sordid tale of another coach recently, I’m pretty sure Mike Gundy won’t be caught doing some random gold-digger on a restaurant table, paying for her abortion, and then getting sued six years later. Some coaches are more about celebrity; some are more about leading young people.

So, all in all, I’d be honored to have a fine man like Mike Gundy watch after one of my kids. Even if he does say funny things on Youtube videos when he’s angry.

Intellectuals and Thinkers

I invite every reader who views him or herself as an intellectual, or a thinker, to read this interesting and morally substantial essay “Wanted: American Intellectuals Thinkers” by a man named Larrey Anderson at AmericanThinker.com.

The two terms are not synonymous, as he explains. Intellectuals probably won’t like his analysis, but that doesn’t mean he’s wrong.

In fact, that might strengthen his case.

The essay is well worth reading, in any case.

Darrell “Shifty” Powers, R.I.P.

Click on over to Blackfive and read about the heroic life of one Darrell “Shifty” Powers, a genuine WWII hero who died a few weeks ago to almost no fanfare.

He served in Easy Company, 101st Airborne Division as a paratrooper, along with Major Dick Winters and the other guys from the 101st who were featured in “Band of Brothers”. An excellent series, by the way, and if you’ve never seen it, it’s well worth watching. You feel like you know these guys after it’s done.

He landed at Normandy on D-Day. He jumped at Arnhem in Operation Market Garden. He fought in the Battle of the Bulge.

But when he died recently, the media yawned. They don’t have time for men like him any more. They create other types of heroes that we’re expected to worship, built on image and appearance and never having done an honest day’s work in their lives. Polar opposites, in other words, of a man like Shifty Powers.

There’s a great story embedded in an email at the Backfive post, some of which I’ve copied here:

I met Shifty in the Philadelphia airport several years ago. I didn’t know who he was at the time. I just saw an elderly gentleman having trouble reading his ticket. I offered to help, assured him that he was at the right gate, and noticed the “Screaming Eagle”, the symbol of the 101st Airborne, on his hat.

Making conversation, I asked him if he’d been in the 101st Airborne or if his son was serving. He said quietly that he had been in the 101st. I thanked him for his service, then asked him when he served, and how many jumps he made.

Quietly and humbly, he said “Well, I guess I signed up in 1941 or so, and was in until sometime in 1945 . . . ” at which point my heart skipped.

At that point, again, very humbly, he said “I made the 5 training jumps at Toccoa, and then jumped into Normandy . . . . do you know where Normandy is?” At this point my heart stopped.

I told him yes, I know exactly where Normandy was, and I know what D-Day was. At that point he said “I also made a second jump into Holland, into Arnhem.” I was standing with a genuine war hero . . . . and then I realized that it was June, just after the anniversary of D-Day.

I asked Shifty if he was on his way back from France, and he said “Yes. And it’s real sad because these days so few of the guys are left, and those that are, lots of them can’t make the trip.” My heart was in my throat and I didn’t know what to say.

I helped Shifty get onto the plane and then realized he was back in Coach, while I was in First Class. I sent the flight attendant back to get him and said that I wanted to switch seats. When Shifty came forward, I got up out of the seat and told him I wanted him to have it, that I’d take his in coach.

He said “No, son, you enjoy that seat. Just knowing that there are still some who remember what we did and still care is enough to make an old man very happy.” His eyes were filling up as he said it. And mine are brimming up now as I write this.

Mine too, as I read it.

Real heroes are humble, and always deflect attempts to label them as such. In fact, that seems to be a pretty reliable way to separate real heroes from the loudmouth types who crave publicity about their alleged wartime medals and heroism, and are nearly always found to be lying about all of it.

And all these WWII vets ask is that we remember. That’s all. Just remember.

Because remembering is a form of honor. The cheapest form of honor, in terms of the price we have to pay, but still a form of honor.

“Just knowing that there are still some who remember what we did and still care is enough to make an old man very happy.”

Oh, but he was more than just an old man. He was a symbol of a time when attitudes were different, when people accepted epic responsibilities at terribly young ages so that we could be free today.

Are we thankful enough? You tell me.

I’ll remember, and I’ll teach my kids to remember, and I’ll ask family and friends to remember. It is the very least, the absolute least, we can do.

May he rest in peace.

More Restrictive Rules of Engagement in Afghanistan

Sounds to me like this another way of saying “we don’t want to win”:

GIs Told Not to Risk Civilian Lives

KABUL — Beginning today, American Soldiers in Afghanistan will be under orders to back down when they’re chasing Taliban fighters whenever they think that civilians might be at risk.

Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the top commander in Afghanistan, will issue the directive as part of an effort to cut down on civilian casualties, which have enraged the Afghan government and residents. Instead of calling in air support or firing into civilian homes where Taliban fighters have sought refuge, commanders will be instructed to reach out to tribal elders or undertake other efforts to dislodge the fighters.

The order is consistent with what national security adviser James L. Jones told McClatchy Newspapers in Washington Wednesday was President Barack Obama’s concern about civilian casualties in Afghanistan.

“General McChrystal has been given instructions when he left here that, in all military operations, that we redouble our efforts to make sure that innocent loss of life is minimized, with zero being the goal,” Jones said, noting that, “In one mishap you can create thousands more terrorists than you had before the mishap.”

Nobody wants civilian casualties, obviously. It is a PR problem, it kills people who may or may not be innocent, and it stirs up local anger.

But we aren’t fighting uniformed fighters on a battlefield with tanks and planes. We are fighting insurgents, who use the fact they blend into the scenery as a tactical advantage. You could even call it a strategic advantage, especially now, with these new rules. In that world, you have to be willing to accept civilian casualties, or you might as well throw your weapons down and go home.

Plus, what is a civilian, anyway, when the local population supports the insurgency, as in a place like Waziristan? It is, essentially, Taliban-istan.

Whose interests are served by pretending there is a bright line to be drawn between civilian and militant in such a place?

We’d better be pretty careful with this question, because it will be used to our opponent’s advantage, and it will hurt our chances of success. It is perceived as weakness during a fight, because that’s exactly what it is. And in a more general sense, it has already affected our perception of who has the moral high ground, in a war against terrorists who blow up children running for candy.

We were already fighting under too-restrictive Rules of Engagement, and now we’ve gone even further in the wrong direction. Supposedly, Obama wants to win in Afghanistan. This is not how you do that.

And don’t be surprised when terrorists play us for suckers by dressing up like women in order to escape confrontation. Hey look, they already did.

Tiger Woods Gives Back Quite a Bit, In Fact

Recently Jim Brown called out Tiger Woods for not giving back enough.

Well, Jim Brown can just suck it, because Tiger Woods gives back plenty to military families, who deserve it more than most: Tiger Offers Troops a ‘Fore!’ of July.

How about 30,000 free tickets to active-duty military and reservists? Allowing two wounded veterans with prosthetic arms to tee off with Tiger, and devoting a large section of the seating at the first tee to a group from Walter Reed Army Medical Center?

What the hell has Jim Brown done for anybody lately? Maybe I missed his big benefit for those who risk life and limb to defend our freedoms, and our “right” to lead cushy lives.

May God bless Tiger Woods and all he does for our military and their loved ones. They surely deserve all that, and more. And he deserves the credit for providing the leadership to make it all happen.

Best Use of Government Money EVER

Iranian protesters avoid censorship with Navy technology

Iranians seeking to share videos and other eyewitness accounts of the demonstrations that have roiled their country since disputed elections two weeks ago are using an Internet encryption program originally developed by and for the U.S. Navy.

Designed a decade ago to secure Internet communications between U.S. ships at sea, The Onion Router, or TOR, has become one of the most important proxies in Iran for gaining access to Web sites such as Twitter, YouTube and Facebook.

The system of proxy servers that disguise a user’s Internet traffic is now operated by a nonprofit, the Tor Project, that is independent from the U.S. government and military and is used all over the world.

According to the Tor Project, connections to TOR have gone up by 600 percent since mass protests erupted after the June 12 vote, which gave a purported landslide victory to incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

“Over the past two weeks, we have seen a doubling to tripling of new client connections,” Andrew Lewman, executive director of the Tor Project, told The Washington Times Thursday. “We are up to a thousand new clients a day.”

Read the whole thing.

The Internet is good for lots of things. And, it has a downside or two, as well.

But the fact that it allows development of advanced technology like this, which can then be leveraged to fight oppression by freedom-seeking people, is the best part of all.

I supported Bush’s war in Iraq, because I knew that a primary goal was to establish freedom in the Middle East in order to put pressure on the oppressive governments in Iran and Saudi Arabia, in particular. Maybe, looking back, a project like this would have been just as effective, without the downsides of fighting a war. Iraq was considered the low-hanging fruit, although that assessment proved to be incorrect.

In any case, kudos to us for exporting technology to fight oppression. We do lots of things right, but rarely get any credit for doing anything right.

Via one of my newest daily reads, Danger Room.

Letterman Finally Offers Real Apology to Palins

Good for Dave. He seems to understand why this was a problem for many people, and he also seems contrite about it. And it’s been accepted, so we can all move on now.

Frankly, I always thought he was better than this, better than the raging loon we’ve been seeing on TV these last eight years or so. Maybe he’s been sucked in by all the other raging loons that inhabit that strange city.

But I’m still not sure people “get” what this is all about.

I think the accepted storyline in the eyes of at least some people is “Letterman made fun of touchy conservatives who then threatened a boycott like a bunch of spoiled children, so he finally had to give in and apologize”.

In truth, the takeaway from this is that Letterman made a joke about conservatives that he would never make about liberals, and he did this because conservatives aren’t viewed as fully human in the eyes of the media establishment, so you can get away with it. They aren’t real people, so who cares?

It’s pandering to the audience they clearly prefer, and nothing more.

“Tolerance: It’s Just a Word We Like to Throw Around!”

The climate that allows it to happen in the first place has to change. And until it does, nothing is really changed.

My earlier post is here: So . . . This is Where We Are Today? Really?

Some People Aim Higher Than Others

Every once in a while, we hear about a young person who digs down deep and shows us that all those negative stereotypes we think we know about young people can be wrong.

Way, way wrong.

My latest column at The Love of Sports is about one such young man.

Ryan Paxson is the 20-year-old son of John Paxson, former NBA star and current GM of the Chicago Bulls. Ryan was the son of privilege, and he knew it. Last year, instead of continuing down that easier path of life, he chose to become a US Marine.

Here is my treatment: Off the Field … With Ryan Paxson.

The original version is on my Essays page: Off the Field with Ryan Paxson, USMC.

New Sheriff in Town, NFC

49ers coach Mike Singletary is building a big hill right next to the team practice facility, for running sprints. He’s calling it “Mt. Pain”.

Uh-oh. New sheriff in town, NFC!

Here’s Coach Singletary:

Singletary was pleased that the players who fared best in the drills also happen to be team leaders, citing [Vernon] Davis, Frank Gore, Shaun Hill and Alex Smith.

Near the end of Friday’s session, for example, Singletary considered ending the drills early. But “Vernon was the first one to say, ‘No, we’re going to finish this,’ and everybody else chimed in,” Singletary said. “I think that says a lot about our team.”

It also says a lot about the coach, and value of the drill.

Hello, Coach Lovie Smith?  Giving you any ideas at all?  Anyone? Bueller?  Anyone?

Both Jerry Rice and Walter Payton trained by running hills. Both had kinda OK careers.

It’s a lot like the old saying: you’re not done with football practice until you’re puking. Or maybe I just made that up … not really sure. Sounds like an old saying.

(via Game On!)

Rememberin’ Stormin’ Norman

Norm Van Lier 1947-2009

Norm Van Lier was born and raised in western Pennsylvania, but during his playing career in Chicago with the Bulls, he was welcomed as one of our own.

He passed away last Thursday at 61.

“Stormin’ Norm” played in the NBA for 10 years, from 1969-1979, for three teams: Cincinnati (two years), Chicago (seven years), and Milwaukee (one year).

Over his NBA career, Norm Van Lier averaged about 12 points, seven assists, and five rebounds. His career assist-to-turnover ratio is over 3-1.  He made all-defensive team eight times in those ten years. He also led the NBA in assists in the 1970-71 season.

But those are just stats.  Stats are a dime a dozen.  Basketball fans remember more about his intangibles:  intense, hardworking, competitive, and tenacious, physical defense.  And together with Jerry Sloan, a physical and intimidating presence.  For the opposing guards, a game against the Bulls meant a street fight, more or less.

Norm Van Lier gave 110%, every single play, of every game.  For that, Bulls fans loved him, and opposing fans probably hated him.

There really haven’t been many players in the NBA like him:  the skills of a point guard, and the attitude of a junkyard dog.

His first coach was Bob Cousy, the legendary former Celtics’ point guard. About Norm, Cousy offered offered this very high praise: “I have never coached or been around a player who could sustain the intensity that Norm did. He had basically double the intensity of almost anyone else out on the floor.”

After two seasons with Cincinnati, the Bulls re-acquired Stormin’ Norman (they had drafted him and then traded him during training camp).

Those Bulls teams were among the best in the NBA.  They won 50 games back when it wasn’t easy, and you had to play the Lakers, Knicks, Bucks, and Celtics many times per season.

But they weren’t quite good enough to do much damage. They lost to the Lakers in the first round three years in a row (1971-3), stretching them to seven games twice.  Then, when they finally made it to the Western Conference Finals, they lost both times, losing to the Bucks in 1974 and the Warriors in 1975.

Those failures weren’t due to weakness at the point guard position, I can assure you.

Some years after his playing career was over, Norm became a studio analyst for Bulls games, and he brought the same passion and intensity to those telecasts.  He was funny, too.  You never knew what was going to come out of his mouth.  Check out this youtube video of his classic comparison of the Bulls’ heart to a mustard seed, from just last season.

As a kid, I knew him as a great player who gave everything to win.  Later, via TV, I knew him as funny, down-to-earth, just a regular guy.  You knew that if you saw him on the street and yelled “Hey Norm!”, he’d smile and yell right back “Hey! How ya doin’!”.

Finally, a couple of quotes that sum up everything we need to know about Norm Van Lier.

First, John Jackson, a columnist for the Chicago Sun-times:  “I didn’t like being around Kerr and Van Lier because they were former great players. I liked them because they were fun people to be around.”

And Norm himself, about his love of music and his pre-game ritual:  “For me, it had to be the Stones or Zeppelin or even Steppenwolf back then. Something to send me into the Stadium with attitude. Aht-ti-toode, my friend.”

That’s Stormin’ Norman: “aht-ti-toode, my friend”.

He is already missed.

Moving On Quickly … For Whose Benefit?

I like some of these points, about the steroids scandal in baseball, and I do agree that we should move on.  Fixating on scandal is no way to live.

But I do not agree that “cheating is cheating” and because of that alone, we have a good reason to shrug our shoulders and pretend the whole thing never happened.

And besides, it’s too soon: first, let’s allow some time for the victims here, the fans, to heal.  Here’s three reasons why.

Cheating vs. Gamesmanship

The word “cheating” covers a lot of ground.  One form, more commonly known as gamesmanship, has a long and storied role in baseball, even though technically it could be considered cheating.  Throwing a spitball, corking your bat, catchers moving their gloves a tiny bit to frame the pitch … these are examples of gamesmanship. And the players themselves begrudgingly accept it.  They admire those who can get away with it, because it is commonly considered acceptable behavior.  Barely acceptable, yes, but acceptable, nonetheless.

Changing your body’s hormonal balance by taking illegal drugs is not gamesmanship. It’s cheating in track, in swimming, in cycling, and yes, in baseball.

Obviously, not everybody will see a big bright line separating those two categories, but I sure do.

For one, public opinion would consider it cheating.  You can argue definitions all night long, but when public opinion goes against you, it’s a rough road.

Also, it is pretty clear that taking a substance that shrivels your acorns and causes depression and homicidal rages because it screws with your hormones is way, way beyond weight training and basic nutrition.

Don’t Lie to Us

But even beyond that, there is another issue, and for many fans I think, a bigger issue:  don’t lie to us.  Many fans don’t like to be taken for fools, and Sosa, Bonds, the whole lot of them, have been treating fans like chumps for years now.  Millions of us don’t care for it.  And some of us would now like to see certain players taken down a peg or two as a punitive measure.

Truth matters. The fans’ opinion matters. Image matters. Goodwill matters. Public perception matters. The history and integrity of the game matters; baseball, unlike any other sport, is the grand old game that it is because of the accumulated history behind it.

Object Lessons and Role Models

In fact, I would go even further here:  I think object lessons in cheating, and more importantly, how you handle yourself when you get caught, have a sizable impact on society and culture in general.  Especially young people.

This impact is impossible to measure, but it’s there.  And it can be bad, or good, or a mixture.  So it would seem to be in our best interests right now to hear some mea culpas and some truth-telling (finally).  Maybe even a little groveling. It’s cathartic, and that’s worth something to the fans, and therefore, to the game itself.

Here’s a truism:  what people do matters a lot more than what they say.

And whether they seek it out or not, athletes are role models, and have responsibilities to our youth.  You want fame?  OK, but in exchange, you get to help mold young people.  It’s just the way it works.  Even Charles Barkley, who famously shrugged off his role model status many years ago, has come around to understand the power of the famous athlete to shape behavior in young people.

So while I understand and advocate the desire to move on, and not focus too much on the seamy side of baseball and sports in general, and I most definitely agree that the media in general is exploiting all this for ratings, I still think there is value in players being held accountable.  Tremendous value, in fact, to the fans, to the game, and even, in some ways, to our society.

Sportsmanship 101

Take some time out from a busy day and read an inspiring story about a young man, his mom, and how his life’s circumstances affected a basketball game. You’ll be glad you did.

There isn’t much more I can add, except that the coaches and kids at both high schools — Dekalb (Ill.) High School and Milwaukee Madison (Wis.) High School — have a lot to be proud of here. It sounds like everybody acted exactly the way we’d want them to, if it were us in that position.

Derrick Rose is Old School

Basketball fans around the country probably haven’t seen much of Chicago Bulls rookie Derrick Rose yet. And they don’t know what they’re missing.

The first thing you notice is his court sense and basketball IQ.  He thinks “pass first”, like any point guard should, and he sees the floor well, and gets the ball to open teammates, usually with a bullet pass.  He has to be prodded to shoot, although he is taking more shots now, and making them, which forces the defense to start making choices they don’t want to make. 

Then you notice his athleticism.  He can jump.  Real high.  And he has a rare combination of both speed and quickness that make it difficult for most defenders to guard him.  On the break, he often runs faster than every other defender, while dribbling and looking for openings.  But he seems to hide all this well, with an efficient, almost “sleepy” style of play.  He doesn’t waste a single motion, and looks like he isn’t going anywhere, and then, WHOOSH!, he flies by his defender, and the next one, and another one, for a dunk.

Dear Steve: The Team is Doing Great Without You. Not Missing You At All. Love, the Dallas Stars

After the Dallas Stars more-or-less fired Steve Avery in December, they have gone 14-7-3 for 31 points in 24 games.  Before the firing, they were 8-11-4 for 20 points (23 games).  Well over 1 point per game after, vs. well under that before.

Another example, it appears, of addition by subtraction. But there are plenty of people who don’t seem to understand how a team could ever be better off by removing a problem player. Even, it seems, people who sit all day in offices that say “Coach”, “GM”, or “President” on the door.

Some people, unfortunately, are just “toxic”.  By their very presence on a team, they bring a loss of productivity, due to various drains on the emotional energy of the team.  Drama rarely enhances anything, except the status of the instigator. And it doesn’t matter that much what their star power is, or how often they’ve been on SportsCenter Top Ten Plays, or how valuable they are in fantasy leagues.

The Chicago Blackhawks are Back, and So Are Their Fans

In September 2007, “Dollar Bill” Wirtz, owner of the Chicago Blackhawks, died of cancer at 77.

Some owners of Chicago sports teams have been revered, over the years, and deservedly so:  both George Halas, who pretty much invented the NFL, and Bill Veeck, who was probably the most innovative owner in any sport, spring immediately to mind.

But in this case, I’m sure most Hawks fans were really pretty happy. While most of us didn’t know the man, and while I’m pretty sure he didn’t steal lunch money from orphans or beat little old ladies with their canes, he was still a lousy team owner, and that’s all we care about. That’s all we, as fans, should care about.

The legacy of Bill Wirtz, for those who don’t know it, is this: he wasn’t just a bad owner of a hockey club, he was a really, really bad owner of an Original Six NHL franchise with a rabid, loyal, dedicated fan base.  And he nearly destroyed both the team and its fan base with his cheap, controlling, clueless ways.

I’m sure he was a very smart man — you have to be smart to be as rich as he was — but in the history of sports I doubt there was ever a bigger misunderstanding, by one owner, for so long, of the value of P.R. via TV coverage, and the dedication of your own fan base.

But that is all changed now: with his passing, and the welcome leadership of his son, Rocky Wirtz, the team has rekindled the flame of Hawks fans everywhere, by doing all the little things that say “we love our fans”.  Being 25-12-8 at the All-Star break doesn’t hurt, either.

Blackhawks fans are, quite simply, among the most fanatical, dedicated fans in all of sports.

Rod Marinelli Ready to Bring “30 Minutes of Hell”

This sounds like excellent news for all Bears fans:

And how does Marinelli plan to make the Bears’ line better? It starts with ”a lot of drill work,” he said. Marinelli believes that the tempo of practice is extremely important and that players develop habits by how they perform on a daily basis. As a line coach, he always has pushed his players hard during the position time in practice. Former Buccaneers star Warren Sapp calls it ”30 minutes of hell” and said it soon will separate the men from the boys. You find out who is committed to their livelihood by the way they respond in practice.

That’s Rod Marinelli, the new defensive line coach and assistant head coach of the Bears.

Key phrases that make me feel all warm and special inside:

• “tempo of practice is extremely important”
• “players develop habits by how they perform on a daily basis”
• “pushed his players hard”
• “30 minutes of hell”
• “separate men from the boys”
• “committed to their liveliehood by the way they respond in practice”

OK, pretty much the whole paragraph. Sorry, got a little carried away there.  But it’s just really nice to read that conditioning and mental toughness and drillwork is making a comeback, because the last few years of watching Bears football sure didn’t give that impression.  Quite the opposite, in fact.

I’ve long wondered about the overall conditioning of the entire defense, but the line is especially important; a tired defense in the 4th quarter means the opposing offense can run any given play more effectively than they could in the 1st or 2nd quarter.  This is hardly news; why, then, did the Bears seem to think conditioning was unimportant?

Two of the greatest coaches in the history of any sport are Vince Lombardi and John Wooden; both were fanatics for conditioning, on the theory that it would win you many games late, by being in better shape physically, and therefore mentally tougher.  It’s all connected; the harder you work players physically, and the more you demand of them conditioning-wise, the more they are trained to tolerate mentally challenging situations and fatigue.

Seemed to work out pretty well for them.

“Taking Chance”

“Taking Chance” has been made into a movie.

If you don’t already know about it, please, click that link and set aside 15 minutes to read the amazing, moving, true story, about the journey across the country, back to Wyoming, to deliver the body of PFC Chance Phelps to his family and bury him in his hometown. The original version of this story is a letter written by Lt. Col. Strobl and published at blackfive.net in April 2004. It is, truly, one of the most moving tales I have ever read.

All along the route, every single person that LTC Strobl encounters, from pilots to flight attendants to cargo crew to hearse drivers, go out of their way to pay respect in simple yet moving ways. They do this with no glare of camera lights, and no journalists scribbling notes. LTC Strobl asks for nothing, yet they all do it, because it is so right, and natural; they can’t imagine not doing it.

It’s a story that captures the real America, the one that shows humility, and honor, and respect for the sacrifices of others on its behalf. It’s the America that, sadly, Hollywood prefers to mostly ignore, by not telling any of the reaffirming stories these last few years. Maybe they’ll get this one right. All they have to do is tell a great human story with deferential respect; just get out of the way and let the story tell itself.

Like I wrote in my comment at Dirty Harry’s Place:

I really, really hope the film version of “Taking Chance” tells this story straight without embellishing it in any way. It sure doesn’t need any; the story is powerful and moving exactly as originally posted at blackfive.net, where I read it in 2004.

The fact that Kevin Bacon is in it seems like a good sign to me. I’ve never gotten any kind of anti-military vibe from him, and he played a JAG in “A Few Honest Men”, straight up. He seems like good people.

I think we owe it to the memory of Chance Phelps, and LTC Strobl, to give it a fair shot.

IF this movie is done right — and that’s a big IF — it has a chance to resonate, and maybe even to be a big hit, because there is lots of pent-up demand for movies that do not spit in the face of the military by marginalizing the value of honor, valor, and sacrifice. What a concept!

The movie trailer looks very promising. It airs on HBO in February, and at Sundance later this month.

Chicago Blackhawks Supporting the Troops

Among the many, many things I have to be thankful for this Christmas season — more to come on that later — I’ll add a couple more to the list: Operation Homefront, and Chicago Blackhawks like Brent Sopel, who hosted 20 families at his home on Monday.

The Blackhawks chose Operation Homefront Illinois as their designated charity this year.

Other Blackhawks to help the cause: Jonathan Toews, Duncan Keith, and Colin Fraser.

To all of them, and to all the rest of our military, God Bless, and Merry Christmas.