The World Peace Elbow

On Sunday, April 22nd, the Oklahoma City Thunder played the Los Angeles Lakers in a game with large playoff implications.  Tempers and emotion were high the entire game, and Metta World Peace got caught up in the fervor.  After a particularly invigorating dunk, World Peace celebrated--extra hard.  He "accidentally" caught James Harden in the side of the head with an elbow that could easily have been a knockout blow in an MMA fight.  Harden was taken to the locker room and has been diagnosed with a concussion.  His availability is uncertain for now.  After the game, World Peace claimed that he did not see Harden, and apologized.  I, for one, do not believe World Peace, as the elbow was just too vicious.  The only question that remains is if World Peace will be suspended, and for how long.  In my opinion, he should be out for at least the first playoff series, if not more.  There is no room for that type of play in the NBA, and David Stern needs to make sure that is clear.

Bounty Out

Head coach of the New Orleans Saints, Sean Payton, along with defensive coordinator Gregg Williams, have been recently punished for running a bounty program against opposing players in 2009.  One aspect of sporting deviance is violence.  This bounty program offers a clear example of violence in football.  The extent to which the NFL went to punish those involved with this program shows their desire to eliminate unnecessary violence from the game.  Sean Payton was suspended for one year without pay, while Williams has been suspended indefinitely.  In addition, the Saints organization has been fined $500,000 and has had two second round draft picks taken away.  The severity of these punishments hopefully will lead to the reduction of deviant violence in football.

Overturned!

In October, reigning National League MVP Ryan Braun tested positive for elevated testosterone levels. After a long a drawn out arbitration process, the results of the test have been eliminated due to errors in testing protocol. The left fielder for the Milwaukee Brewers claims that "the truth is on my side" and that he never took performance enhancing drugs, or PED's.

The reason the results were overturned lie in the details of the process. According to the contract signed by both the MLB and the players' union, once a urine sample is taken it must be immediately delivered to Federal Express for delivery to the testing center. Braun's sample was taken on October 1st, but was not delivered until October 3rd, according to reports. Braun claims he does not know what happened to the sample for these two days, but contests that is the period when the sample became tainted.

Throughout arbitration, Braun never questioned the science of the testing nor the results of the test. To him, the issue was that the proper process was not followed, leading to a faulty accusation. Arbitration agreed with Braun.

This is a result that means a great deal to the MLB, as it is the first time a PED appeal has led to a victory on the side of a player. This was a long process, but it ended justly and the truth came out. This has to be the model for all future investigations and should be followed by any major sporting league. When it comes to PED's, the truth is all that matters.

A Losing Tradition

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania is one of the most successful sports towns in the country.  Every year, the area produces great football, baseball, and other sports stars.  The city's professional teams have won two super bowls and one Stanley Cup in the past decade.  The Steelers and Penguins are two of the more consistently successful organizations in professional sport.  Among all of this success, the Pittsburgh Pirates have managed to foster a losing atmosphere that has resulted in a string of nineteen losing seasons.  This is the longest such streak of any organization in the four major sports leagues in the US.

The Pirates organization has failed to live up to the expectation that Pittsburgh sports fans have grown to be accustomed to.  Despite having a low budget and payroll, fans from Pittsburgh expect to see at least a competitive product, and rightfully so.  In recent years, the MLB has seen other small market teams succeed, such as the Twins, Rays, Marlins, and Brewers.  These teams have succeeded in various ways including:  good scouting, coaching, drafting, and, in general, good management.  The Pirates have proven to fail in all of these areas.

The most frustrating aspect of this losing culture to most Pittsburgh fans is the fact that the organization has produced quality players.  Names such as Jason Bay, Nate McClouth, and Jose Bautista have all come up through the Pirates organization in recent years.  However, management has failed to retain these quality players and they have all gone on the become All-Stars on different teams.

In spite of all of this, the organization continues to turn a profit every year.  There are a number of possible reasons as to why this happens, but one possibility seems to be more likely.  The organization was given a brand new stadium, paid for by the city's taxpayers.  This stadium is considered by most fans of baseball to be one of the best five in baseball.  Not a dollar came from the organization.  However, the Pirates take advantage of this by not making an effort to produce a competitive product and instead, place a mediocre team on the field.  People still come to the games because of the beautiful ballpark, and the organization makes a profit.  For this reason, I believe the culture will not change until Pittsburgh fans show their discontent by not going to games, not purchasing merchandise, and not giving the organization any incentive to continue its ways.  This is the only reason they would have to change, it will not happen otherwise.

My Take On Linsanity

Linsanity is sweeping the nation in a similar fashion to the Tebow mania we experienced during the NFL season. Lin, an undrafted point guard from Harvard, is doing things that the NBA has never seen in its history. In his first five starts, he has accomplished feats that the greats of the game could not even reach. Not Kareem. Not Jordan. Not Magic or Bird or Lebron. Quite simply, Jeremy Lin has had a better start to his NBA career than any other player in history. The only question is-can he keep it up? My opinion is that he can-to an extent. Once his high profile teammates Amare Stoudamire and Carmelo Anthony return to game action, Lin's current rate of 19-20 shot attempts per game is bound to decrease. This obviously will result in a reduction of his point totals, however, points are not the only statistical indicators of a players relevance. It is completely conceivable that once Amare and Melo return, Lin's assist numbers will see an uptick. At the same time, the defensive attention that must be paid to the other two players will likely open up wider lanes for Lin, which could lead to higher shooting percentages and more free throw attempts. In my opinion, the only thing standing in this player's way is Carmelo's playstyle, which is a ball-stopping isolation game. This condenses the playing court and takes the ball out of Lin's hands. He excels because his team spreads the floor, opens space, and runs the pick-and-roll to perfection. It is Carmelo's responsibility to adapt his playstyle to allow his point guard-and his team-to play to its strengths and win game. Let the Linsanity continue.

New Sport Technology

My partner for the paper will be Nick Conroy.  Our career interest area is athletic director.