Kevin Blackistone FanHouse

Beautiful Game Ruined by Ugliness

Kevin Blackistone — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 23:45:00 EST

Filed under: Soccer

The World Cup is fixed.

But in the outrage from the illegal handball seen 'round the world (but not by the referees) Wednesday by France's superstar Thierry Henry, which earned the French team a plane ride to South Africa over Ireland for next summer's global soccer scrum, the small fact about the manner in which world soccer's governing body has arranged its grand quadrennial championship has been overlooked.

That is understandable given the implications of the missed call for as blatant a touching of the ball with a hand -- the ultimate no-no in futbol -- that has been witnessed in a major soccer match in sometime. Thierry, who all of us on this side of the pond know from his Gillette commercials with Tiger Woods and Roger Federer, not only touched the ball once with his hand, but twice.

Beautiful Game Ruined by Ugliness originally appeared on Kevin Blackistone FanHouse on Thu, 19 Nov 2009 23:45:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Dear Redskins, Do the Right Thing

Kevin Blackistone — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 22:46:00 EST

by Kevin Blackistone

Filed under: NFL

In July 1965, my father composed and mailed a letter (a letter was this thing you wrote longhand, or at a typewriter, which was this thing ... oh, never mind) to Edward Bennett Williams, who at the time was acting president of the football team for which dad owned season tickets, the Washington Redskins. Dad wanted to bring to the franchise's attention what he felt was a slight to its black ticket-holders.

Dad and other black ticket-holders were offended by the inclusion of "Dixie" in the Redskins band's game-day repertoire, as well as the flying of the Confederate flag in the stands.

"Let's make the Negro patron feel really welcome in 1965 and not accept his $6.00 admission fee and then publicly insult him," Dad wrote.

Williams replied later that month: "I agree with your suggestion and will see that it is carried out."

Dear Redskins, Do the Right Thing originally appeared on Kevin Blackistone FanHouse on Tue, 17 Nov 2009 22:46:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Hey, NFL: I Won't Get Fooled Again

Kevin Blackistone — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 11:34:00 EST

by Kevin Blackistone

Filed under: NFL

This is the way I spent the intermission of last season's Super Bowl at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, when Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, and what seemed like a million people, poured on to the football field to perform a medley of The Boss' best hits: I departed my press seat in the stands with some friends to seek a cup of coffee on the concourse and wound up missing the entire halftime show.

I couldn't have cared less, either.

I don't go to concerts to see football games and I don't go to football games to see concerts.

So it was greatly underwhelming to me on Thursday when Jimmy Traina of Sports Illustrated's Hot Clicks, citing unnamed sources, reported that what's left of The Who -- the Beatles' era rock band that lots of rock heads will tell you is the greatest rock band ever -- had been chosen to play at this season's Super Bowl halftime show in Miami.

It struck me as anything but surprising, too.

Hey, NFL: I Won't Get Fooled Again originally appeared on Kevin Blackistone FanHouse on Fri, 13 Nov 2009 11:34:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Introducing an Athlete of the Rarest Kind

Kevin Blackistone — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 13:30:00 EST

by Kevin Blackistone

Filed under: NFL

Madieu Williams hasn't changed his surname to reflect his Minnesota Vikings jersey number, 20. He doesn't star in a reality television show circling around his life. He doesn't even tweet.

He is the anti-Ochocinco, the mirror opposite of T.O., the quietude in the cacophonous world of the modern professional athlete.

But Williams' refreshing persona is not what is most remarkable about him. Instead, it is that he is a pro athlete -- no, make that member of the human race rather than sell him so short -- who actually has something worth sharing about his life, from which all of us can learn and our neighbors can prosper, and chooses not to pound his chest to the world.

To be sure, this is how Williams spent the Vikings' bye week last week:

Introducing an Athlete of the Rarest Kind originally appeared on Kevin Blackistone FanHouse on Wed, 11 Nov 2009 13:30:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Older, Wiser Tony Romo Leads Key Win

Kevin Blackistone — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 02:20:00 EST

by Kevin Blackistone

Filed under: NFL, NFL Analysis

PHILADELPHIA -- In the wee hours of Monday morning, with a blue Cowboys' baseball cap pulled down snug on his noggin and a short sleeve T-shirt worn over a long sleeve one, Tony Romo looked like the boyish character we've come to see him as. He looked more like some guy who just finished playing a pick-up football game between fraternities rather than the multimillion dollar NFL quarterback for Jerry Jones' Cowboys that he's been for a number of years now.

But when Romo started to talk about what he'd accomplished, he sounded wise beyond his appearance.

"If you keep the mental discipline ..." Romo explained in a quite deliberate and thoughtful delivery, "keep getting better, keep learning what they're doing ... you can do some good things."

More NFL Coverage: Still Perfect: Colts | Saints
Contenders in Trouble | Fantasy Wrap

Older, Wiser Tony Romo Leads Key Win originally appeared on Kevin Blackistone FanHouse on Mon, 09 Nov 2009 02:20:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Suspending Cable Good for Everyone, Including Him

Kevin Blackistone — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 10:00:00 EST

by Kevin Blackistone

Filed under: NFL

Tom Cable has been, pun intended, cooling off this week. He shouldn't have been no matter this being his Raiders' bye week on the NFL schedule.

Instead, Cable should've been in New York at a particular building on Park Avenue sweating in the most magnificent office in the joint -- the NFL commissioner's suite. He should've been there explaining to NFL boss Roger Goodell exactly how his assistant Randy Hanson wound up with a broken jaw after a team meeting last August that a district attorney concluded was the result of "some type of physical contact that happened between Mr. Cable and Mr. Hanson when [Hanson] went down." And he should've been explaining how police wound up asking him about a woman who wound up being thrown out of his home last January.

Suspending Cable Good for Everyone, Including Him originally appeared on Kevin Blackistone FanHouse on Fri, 06 Nov 2009 10:00:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Florida Turns Blind Eye to Eye-Gouge

Kevin Blackistone — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 23:59:00 EST

by Kevin Blackistone

Filed under: NCAA Football

Among the things the folks at Human Rights Watch keep track of are places on the globe that employ particularly cruel forms of punishment, like, for example, eye gouging. The good news is that for quite some time the list of governments employing such barbarism has been shortening. In fact, it was down to just two, Iran and Saudi Arabia.

Monday, however, that list apparently expanded with an announcement from the Florida Gators' football office that suggested it appeared to embrace the barbaric penalty.

What else can be drawn from Gators coach Urban Meyer's disciplining of his linebacker Brandon Spikes for gouging the eyes of Georgia running back Washaun Ealey in the third quarter of last Saturday's game?

Florida Turns Blind Eye to Eye-Gouge originally appeared on Kevin Blackistone FanHouse on Mon, 02 Nov 2009 23:59:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Ravens Expose Broncos as Pretenders

Kevin Blackistone — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 19:40:00 EST

by Kevin Blackistone

Filed under: NFL

BALTIMORE -- Bill Parcells is famous for assessing his team and the other guy's with a simple review of wins and losses, and an even simpler summation from that evidence: "You are what you are."

But even Parcells would've been hard-pressed to so easily judge undefeated Denver and .500 Baltimore before they met Sunday at Baltimore's M&T Bank Stadium. And he certainly couldn't have done so after their contest was complete.

To be sure, the Ravens proved what many of us suspected after they beat down the Broncos 30-7. The Broncos weren't as good as their spotless record through their first six games suggested, and the Ravens were a lot better than their lukewarm 3-3 mark alluded.

Ravens Expose Broncos as Pretenders originally appeared on Kevin Blackistone FanHouse on Sun, 01 Nov 2009 19:40:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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In NFL, It's Either Shape Up or Fade Out

Kevin Blackistone — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 01:50:00 EST

by Kevin Blackistone

Filed under: NFL

Sylvester Stallone has Hollywood all a twitter (the old school use of the word) right now over an action flick he is producing called The Expendables. Reason is, it stars a bunch of guys' guys including Jason Statham, Jet Li, Julia Roberts' brother Eric and Mickey Rourke, who back in the day I thought Bruce Willis was a cheap imitation of. The movie is about a team of mercenaries who go to some South American country to overthrow a dictator.

Silly me. I heard the title and thought it was about NFL players and wondered who was going to play Kansas City running back Larry Johnson (he was still employed by K.C. as I wrote this) or exiled NFL cornerback Adam "Pacman" Jones.

After all, other than the food service workers chronicled by investigative writer Eric Schlosser in his best-selling 2002 tome Fast Food Nation, what laborers are more expendable than highly compensated NFL players?

More Coverage: Agent Says Chiefs, L.J. Reach Agreement

In NFL, It's Either Shape Up or Fade Out originally appeared on Kevin Blackistone FanHouse on Sun, 01 Nov 2009 01:50:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sign of the Times: Repressive Redskins

Kevin Blackistone — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 21:15:00 EST

by Kevin Blackistone

Filed under: NFL

Barack Obama and his family probably didn't meet the longtime neighbor of their new crib at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. William "Doubting" Thomas was in the hospital by the time the Obamas moved in Jan. 20. He died three days later from pulmonary disease. He was just 61.

But Thomas lived by day across the street from the White House -- 1601 Pennsylvania Avenue, or Lafayette Square -- under a makeshift shell of umbrellas and tarps. He decorated his digs with signs that read "Wanted: Wisdom and Honesty," "Ban All Nuclear Weapons or Have a Nice Doomsday," and "Live By the Bomb, Die By the Bomb."

Thomas (his real name was William Thomas Hallenback Jr.) was a protester. And the White House, our government -- ever respectful of our First Amendment right to free speech -- allowed Thomas to protest pretty much uninhibited from the moment he first plopped down in Lafayette Square on June 3, 1981, until he was hospitalized for the last time almost 28 years later.

More Coverage: Redskins Ban Signs From FedEx Field

Sign of the Times: Repressive Redskins originally appeared on Kevin Blackistone FanHouse on Wed, 28 Oct 2009 21:15:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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A Legacy to Some, Painful Reminders of Loss for One

Kevin Blackistone — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 14:35:00 EST

by Kevin Blackistone

Filed under: Boxing

LAS VEGAS -- In a curio cabinet in the living room rests a huge red, white and blue ornamental belt adorned with a massive gold buckle from The Ring magazine proclaiming the late Eddie Futch the greatest boxing trainer of the last century. In the bedroom is a bookcase still reserved for his precious books of poetry, some so worn and old they are bound by a staple of Eddie's corner man's box: tape.

In the garage are white cardboard file boxes, each labeled with sticky notes, stacked neatly on plastic shelving all from floor to ceiling filled with the training logs, contracts and correspondence of each prizefighter Eddie made a champion: Arguello, Berbick, Bowe, Norton, Spinks, Holmes and, of course, Frazier.

A Legacy to Some, Painful Reminders of Loss for One originally appeared on Kevin Blackistone FanHouse on Sat, 24 Oct 2009 14:35:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Video Killed the Officiating Star

Kevin Blackistone — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 00:30:00 EST

by Kevin Blackistone

Filed under: MLB

The best thing that ever happened to sports was television -- unless you officiate sports.

Ask the umpiring team that is handling the American League Championship Series and blew two calls in Game 4 on Tuesday night. Ask the SEC football officials who were suspended on Wednesday. The crew was punished after the conference determined the crew was mistaken on Saturday in flagging an Arkansas player for a late hit on a Florida player. The call allowed Florida to continue its final touchdown drive in a game it won 23-20.

Video Killed the Officiating Star originally appeared on Kevin Blackistone FanHouse on Thu, 22 Oct 2009 00:30:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Fail to the Redskins: Worst-Run Franchise on the Planet

Kevin Blackistone — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 15:23:00 EST

by Kevin Blackistone

Filed under: NFL

They play in the largest stadium, FedEx Field in Landover, Md., in the richest sports league in the world, the NFL. Just a few years ago, they became the first team in the United States to eclipse the $1 billion mark in value. Each of the last three seasons they've paid out more than $100 million in players' salaries, including in 2007 when they topped the league with a $123 million payroll.

But the most Washington's NFL team has to show for its riches since Daniel Snyder bought it 10 years ago is a 2-3 playoff record. That is if you don't count the unprecedented ignominy it achieved last Sunday in losing 14-6 at home to the Kansas City Chiefs, which left Washington with just a 2-4 record over the first six weeks of this NFL season despite having played a winless team each outing -- believed to be a first such stretch against abject wretchedness in NFL history.

Fail to the Redskins: Worst-Run Franchise on the Planet originally appeared on Kevin Blackistone FanHouse on Mon, 19 Oct 2009 15:23:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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A Gift for Ron: Teammates Bound By Football and Life

Kevin Blackistone — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 15:14:00 EST

by Kevin Blackistone

Filed under: NFL, FanHouse Exclusive

Until about three years ago, Everson Walls (right) was best known for what he took away: passes intended for receivers. Since then, he's become more known for what he's given: a kidney. After years of watching his one-time teammate and longtime friend Ron Springs being whittled away by diabetes, and losing hope in the wait for a life-saving kidney transplant, Walls, a former Pro Bowl cornerback, donated his to Springs early in 2007.

In A Gift for Ron, a memoir scheduled for release Nov. 3 from Lyons Press, Walls described to me in detail the moving story of how he shed selfishness as a star athlete to become a selfless organ donor. In doing so, Walls became the first pro athlete to donate an organ to a teammate. With Springs, he co-founded The Ron Springs and Everson Walls Gift for Life Foundation.

A Gift for Ron: Teammates Bound By Football and Life originally appeared on Kevin Blackistone FanHouse on Fri, 16 Oct 2009 15:14:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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NFL Should Punt Rush Limbaugh's Ownership Bid

Kevin Blackistone — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 21:30:00 EST

by Kevin Blackistone

Filed under: NFL

Six years ago, ESPN's NFL Countdown crew sat silent as a new addition to its show, the bombastic right-wing commentator Rush Limbaugh, suggested Eagles black quarterback Donovan McNabb was overrated by a sports media concerned about looking politically correct. ESPN pulled the plug on Limbaugh a few days later and the Countdown crew the next weekend apologized for having abdicated its responsibility to address Limbaugh's outrageousness.

On Tuesday, it was reported that Limbaugh was part of St. Louis Blues owner Dave Checketts' group that wants to buy the city's NFL team, the Rams. I can't sit idly by like the Countdown crew did so regrettably.

The NFL indirectly dismissed Limbaugh before. It shouldn't accept him back unless he wants to buy a ticket. After all, this is a man who said:

NFL Should Punt Rush Limbaugh's Ownership Bid originally appeared on Kevin Blackistone FanHouse on Wed, 07 Oct 2009 21:30:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Curt Flood Belongs in the Hall of Fame

Kevin Blackistone — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 11:54:00 EST

by Kevin Blackistone

Filed under: MLB

There was a portrait of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. that hung in the living room of his widow, Coretta Scott King. It was painted by Curt Flood. There was a proposal introduced by Rep. John Conyers Jr., the Democrat from Detroit, to remove baseball's controversial antitrust exemption. It was numbered HR 21 after the Cardinals' jersey Curt Flood wore for a dozen of his big league seasons.

So Flood, as I've pointed out before, has been remembered by the widow of a Nobel Peace Prize winner and in legislation proposed on Capitol Hill. He doesn't need the Baseball Hall of Fame to validate his contributions to greater society or the mere game.

Curt Flood Belongs in the Hall of Fame originally appeared on Kevin Blackistone FanHouse on Tue, 06 Oct 2009 11:54:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Blount Learned His Lesson -- And That's What College Is All About

Kevin Blackistone — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 22:31:00 EST

by Kevin Blackistone

Filed under: NCAA Football

In the immediate wake of that ugly scene that ended the kickoff of this college football season in Boise, Idaho, Oregon running back LeGarrette Blount somehow regained his wits and apologized profusely for having punched out Boise State defensive end Byron Hout -- and having to be restrained by authorities -- after Hout taunted him.

Within a day or two, Blount and his coach, Chip Kelly, called Hout and Boise State coach Chris Petersen to apologize again.

And the other day Blount wrote a letter of apology to all concerned that was published in a newspaper and spread all over the Web.

Blount Learned His Lesson -- And That's What College Is All About originally appeared on Kevin Blackistone FanHouse on Fri, 02 Oct 2009 22:31:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Extra Caution for Concussions Needed

Kevin Blackistone — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 21:00:00 EST

by Kevin Blackistone

Filed under: NCAA Football

If the NCAA was the World Boxing Council, and Tim Tebow wasn't a Heisman trophy-winning quarterback but the owner of a world championship belt, there would be no handwringing over Tebow's status for his next scheduled contest. He'd be out. End of story.

That is how seriously boxing now takes the brain injury known as a concussion, which is what No. 1-ranked Florida's quarterback suffered last weekend against Kentucky. A boxer who is knocked out can't fight again for at least two months.

It is, of course, the aim of boxing to discombobulate the opponent before he discombobulates you. By discombobulating, I mean scrambling the brain.

Extra Caution for Concussions Needed originally appeared on Kevin Blackistone FanHouse on Wed, 30 Sep 2009 21:00:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Obama's Olympics Pitch Is Ill-Timed

Kevin Blackistone — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 00:40:00 EST

by Kevin BlackistoneGen. Stanley A. McChrystal said last week that he needs as many as 40,000 new troops in Afghanistan if that increasingly deadly war -- of which House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said further ramping up will face rebellion in the House -- can have a chance of being won.

The Obama administration's first major legislative effort, an attempt to reform and expand health care coverage, is in dire straits as the president's office has been forced to retreat on its desire for a public option for health care and is continuing to fail to get bipartisan support for what is left of its grand plan.

And it is expected that the next monthly unemployment report scheduled to be released at the end of this week will show our national jobless rate risen to a quarter-of-a-century high of 9.8 percent for September.

Obama's Olympics Pitch Is Ill-Timed originally appeared on Kevin Blackistone FanHouse on Tue, 29 Sep 2009 00:40:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Virginia Tech Rains on Miami's Parade

Kevin Blackistone — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 21:29:00 EST

by Kevin Blackistone

Filed under: NCAA Football

BLACKSBURG, Va. -- Late in the second quarter Saturday at Virginia Tech's Lane Stadium, Miami quarterback Jacory Harris threw a quick strike over the middle just as official's yellow flag darted through the air toward one of Harris' blockers. Harris put his hands on his hips. His chest heaved with a deep breath. His head rocked back.

Harris was having one of those Murphy's Law moments, and for good reason.

He'd already fumbled, which Virginia Tech turned into a touchdown in little time. A teammate on defense, Chavez Grant, lost his footing on the slip 'n' slide disguised as a football field and got beat on a 48-yard touchdown catch by Hokies receiver Jarrett Boykin. Now a holding call was about to derail some desperately needed momentum for Harris and his Hurricanes as they stared at a 21-0 deficit.

Virginia Tech Rains on Miami's Parade originally appeared on Kevin Blackistone FanHouse on Sat, 26 Sep 2009 21:29:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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