Brett Favre: Sportsman of the Year

Last December, Sports Illustrated named Brett Favre their 2007 Sportsman of the Year. He was awarded this honor for his dedication to the people of Green Bay and for his leadership. When interviewed about the award, Favre described leadership as "somehow getting 52 other guys to raise their level of play. To get them to believe in what we're trying to do. You do that by setting an example, by doing things the right way. I've always shown up, I've always been prepared, I practice every day. I practice hard. I study. No matter what happens on the field, I never point blame at anybody else. Everything I do comes back to leadership, the example I want to set."

"No matter what happens on the field, I never point blame at anybody else. Everything I do comes back to leadership, the example I want to set."

Is it too late to get an asterisk on this award?

As the Globe and Mail's Mark Healy outlined in his most recent article, the past six weeks has seen Brett Favre become the poster boy for classlessness.

Favre announced his retirement from the NFL at the conclusion of the 2007/2008 season to much fanfare and publicity. The Green Bay Packers, in preparation for the 2008 entry draft, made a point of repeatedly asking Favre if he might change his mind and come back. They made it clear that this was a point of no return. He confirmed that he was staying retired, and so they drafted a quarterback in the draft and announced that they were making Aaron Rodgers, Favre's back-up for the past three years, their guy.

Suddenly, Favre was asking to be the starter again, or for his unconditional release, likely to play for NFC North Division rivals the Minnesota Vikings or the Chicago Bears.

After a prolonged soap opera of he-said-they-said, Favre was traded to the AFC East New York Jets for conditional draft picks.

In my mind, this forever tarnishes Favre's legacy, starting with his Sportsman of the Year honors. His actions in the past six week totally negate what was said in the glowing ten page article about Favre's character and career.

Donald Driver, a wide receiver with the Packers for the past nine seasons said of Favre ""He means everything to these people. He's not only our leader -- he's the symbol of the franchise, of the whole town. There's a generation of fans in Green Bay who don't know this team ever existed without Brett."

Who'd have though that just nine months later the team would be without Favre, and would be glad for it.

Book Review: Living on the Black by John Feinstein

Book Review: Living on the Black by John Feinstein

In a post-Mitchell Report world, baseball has to place emphasis on the finesse and strategy of the sport. John Feinstein's Living on the Black does just that, focusing on control and location pitchers Tom Glavine and Mike Mussina for the entirety of the 2007 season.  Feinstein provides knowledge and insight to an aspect of the game that had long been ignored by Bud Selig and the powers that be in Major League Baseball, namely pitching.

In the 2007 season, veteran pitchers Mike Mussina and Tom Glavine were nearing important milestones in their careers. Mussina was seeking 250 wins, while Glavine was trying to achieve his 300th win, and an almost guaranteed place in Cooperstown. However, neither pitcher has ever really been a power thrower, with Glavine in particular having to rely on breaking balls and careful ball location over the plate.

The title of the book says it all: Living on the Black refers to home plate and the one inch of black rubber that serves as its border. A control pitcher wants his pitches to  brush that inch of black so that umpires have to call the strike, but hitters are loathe to take a swing. The book details the intricate art of pitching and the amount of skill a pitcher must have to excel in the majors.

John Feinstein is considered one of the leading sports journalists in North America today. His articles are regularly published in the Washington Post's impressively well written sports section, and he has written over twenty-three books. Living on the Black was my introduction to him and his writing, and it was an impressively solid read.

More importantly, it is a well timed book. Although he'd been planning this project for nearly six years (originally with the Yankees' David Cone as the subject), he could not have picked a better year then 2007. Mussina did make his 250 wins. Glavine did make his 300 wins, possibly the last man to ever accomplish the feat. Most importantly, it preceded the Mitchell Report and serves as a harbinger of the new style of baseball that is going to be championed by Major League Baseball: small ball.

In fact, just this week Jose Mota had an article on what he calls "National League-style baseball" which emphasizes aggressive base-running, solid defense and generating runs. A rose by any other name is small ball. I expect that this is the tip of the iceberg. Soon many members of the baseball intelligentsia will be singing the praises of small ball and the importance of starting pitcher. Although I doubt this was Feinstein's intention, his well researched and interesting book Living on the Black will likely be the first major piece in this new wave of baseball thought. I recommend you give it a read and beat the curve.

New School Rivalry

My first encounter with the National Basketball Association was, unfortunately, when Magic Johnson revealed that he had tested positive for HIV. My NBA world revolved around Michael Jordan and the Bulls, Shaquille O'Neal, and later the Toronto Raptors. Although I'm aware of the historic rivalry between the Lakers and the Celtics, I've never seen one of their historic match-ups.

But watching old games on ESPN Classic, seeing writers and journalists and other commentators talk about the match-up between East and West, white and black, Bird and Johnson, has made me feel that tension. It's a rivalry that echoes beyond just a simple sports rivalry and reflects societal values and issues. Like Glasgow Rangers and Celtic, Real Madrid and FC Barcelona, Montreal Canadiens and Toronto Maple Leafs, the Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers have a rivalry that resonates with people on a deeper cultural frequency and reverberates with economic, political, and racial tensions that define America.

The Celtics were white, with an old school game that focused on fundamentals and had a large following not just in Boston, but in rural middle America, thanks largely to the presence of "The Hick from French Lick, Indiana's own Larry Bird. The Lakers were flashy, urban, and black and under the leadership of Earvin "Magic" Johnson earned the nickname "The Showtime Lakers". Their clash of styles and personalities played out as a microcosm of the politics of the United States.

But today, America and the NBA are both very different. Yahoo! Sports' Adrian Wojnarowski recently wrote that this is exactly what David Stern needed to revitalize the embattled NBA - - an old school, big market rivalry after the disastrous draft that saw the top picks go to small markets like Seattle, Portland and Memphis. "Even a seething Stern couldn’t have conceived that a wayward lottery would’ve triggered the events that led to his sport’s wildest dream – the Los Angeles Lakers-Boston Celtics NBA Finals," Wojnarowski correctly focuses on the impact of big media markets getting the finals after the Tim Donaghy scandal, Kobe Bryant's temper tantrums, and the disaster of the New Ball.

But there's more to it then that. Ignoring all the controversy surrounding the NBA, this is an opportunity for the new stars of the league like Kobe Bryant and Kevin Garnett to at last step out of the shadows of their predecessors like Michael Jordan and Bill Russell and make their own mark on the sport. Just like baseball's real turning point in the 20th century was when Roger Maris surpassed Babe Ruth, basketball needs its stars to step up and surpass the legends of yesterday.

Of course, with the Celtics jumping out to a two-nothing lead in the series, the surprise is who that superstar has turned out to be -- not reigning NBA MVP Kobe Bryant, but quiet Eastern Conference all-star Paul "The Truth" Pierce. Although only three teams have come back from such a deficit in the NBA Finals, there are still a lot of games to be played in this series, and a whole new generation of fans to impress.

Where the Lakers and Celtics of the 1970s and 1980s defined the NBA and served as a reflection of the social tensions of the time, this New School rivalry could not just serve as a reflection of new societal values, but a catalyst to help further change.

Ken Griffey Jr.'s fading milestone

Growing up, I wasn't really into hockey, which is odd for a kid from a hockey obsessed town like Toronto. I was disinterested in it because I was (and am) a terrible skater. But baseball? Baseball I loved. After all, I was nine and ten years old when the Jays won their World Series, it was before the strike season, and dammit, I was good at baseball.

My favourite player was, easily, Ken Griffey Jr. He was classy but competitive, and tall and thin just like me. I used to stand in my driveway and practice swinging my bat, trying to emulate his swing. I now realize that I could not have chosen a better role model for my swing. It's picture perfect: full of grace and power, efficiently slicing through the air. Griffey's swing can put the ball anywhere on the field, or, if he chooses, past the outfield fences.

That's why I was saddened to read Tim Brown's article on Griffey and the Silent 600, which highlights something that I had also noticed: although Ken Griffey Jr. is approaching the impressive milestone of 600 career home runs, there is little fanfare or media coverage. Even the hometown Reds fans aren't excited about this milestone.

Of all the home run hitters in the modern era, he, along with Frank Thomas, are some of the few to have escaped without getting caught up in the steroid madness. Griffey's body doesn't fit the stereotypical HGHers mold, and there is no doubt that a lot of his success comes from the sweetness of his swing, not of a syringe.

For me, the defining moment of Griffey's career wasn't on the field, but instead at the end of his tenure with the Mariners. His teammate Alex Rodriguez had signed on with the Texas Rangers for the largest baseball contract of all time, and the New York Yankees were approaching Griffey with a similarly bloated offer. Instead, he chose to go to his hometown Cincinnati Reds for considerably less. Although this did nothing to stem the tide of outrageous contracts in the late 1990s, I still admired Griffey's priorities.

Similarly, Griffey is an iconoclast today. A man who's reached a milestone through all natural means, but gets no attention for it, unlike last years cavalcade of shame while Barry Bonds approached the all-time record.

Ultimately, I think this is going to be the aftermath of the post-strike steroid era. The public's trust has been broken, and the honest, hard working and clean ball players will suffer because they don't get the credit they deserve, while the puffed up home run heroes like Jason Giambi attract all the media coverage for apologies where they do not actually say what they're apologizing for.

But for me, I still have my Reds cap, and my Ken Griffey Jr. unauthorized biography comic book, and I can't wait for him to hit his 600th homerun and truly earn his way into Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, because he was, and is, one of my baseball heroes.

Book Review: A Fighter's Heart

One of the fastest growing sub-genres in sports writing is that of Martial Arts, particularly, Mixed Martial Arts. Thanks to television shows like the Ultimate Fighter and feature films like Redbelt. There are books on how to roll, how to train, the importance of a good striking game, and, of course, the biographies of fighters like Chuck Liddell and Matt Hughes.

However, the book that stands head and shoulders above the rest is A Fighter's Heart by Sam Sheridan.

A Fighter's Heart is a memoir that details Sheridan's involvement and growing understanding of professional fighting. His story begins in Australia, where he takes up Muay Thai kickboxing as a way of staying fit and spending his considerable savings earned from being a ship's mate aboard a private yacht. He moves from Australia to the fabled Fairtex gym in Thailand, and then on to training with Pat Miletich in the American Midwest, he practices Brazilian Jiu-Jitsiu with Brazilian Top Team in Rio, trains with an Olympic boxer in Oakland, tries tai chi in New York City with a master and even goes to Myanmar to see dog and cock fighting; throughout the journey he reflects on fighting and why it fascinates us.

It is these reflections that make the book. There are already countless books on how to train, how to fight, which strategies are the best, all of that. Sheridan's book covers some of that, but really, it explores why we fight. Of particular interest is the concept of "gameness". Our fascination with the ability to keep fighting, past the thresholds of pain and logic. It's a fascinating concept, and Sheridan does a great job of exploring it.

Honestly, I didn't know what to expect when I began reading this book, but after skimming the first chapter while at the World's Biggest Bookstore, I was intrigued. Sheridan's writing is engaging, and definitely a page-turner, a rarity in the world of fighter's autobiographies that are too often ghost-written and/or uninspired. He drew me in with his story, and his reflections on the value of gameness have stuck with me.

This is a book that would appeal to fight fans and novices alike. Highly recommended.

The Mysteries of Baseball Management

I love the sport of baseball. Although it definitely takes athletic prowess and skill, it really is a game that hinges on tactics and strategies. It takes a keen mind to conceive and execute a successful plan of attack in baseball.

With that in mind, I can see no method to the madness of JP Ricciardi, the brains behind the Toronto Blue Jays.

Two seasons ago, the Blue Jays finished in second place in the American League East. Their biggest gaps were at shortstop where John McDonald had played brilliant defense but struggled at the plate; middle relief that often put the game out of reach; and a dependable second or third starting pitcher, preferably a left-hander.

Ricciardi responded by signing aging slugger Frank Thomas to be the team's new designated hitter, even though they'd been one of the more offensively gifted clubs the year before. He made some other additions, but the Thomas acquisition was Ricciardi's biggest move.

In no way did this address any of the team's needs. Admittedly, Frank Thomas proved to be a considerable asset, leading the Jays last year in home runs and RBI. He also made the Jays a more difficult team to pitch against. Pitching around him only added to the bases for solid hitters Alex Rios, Matt Stairs and Vernon Wells. It also took alot of pressure of those hitters, and other players in the Jays' line-up.

Unfortunately, the Big Hurt is a notoriously slow starter, and he was struggling at the start of this season. After some heated exchanges between John Gibbons and Thomas, Thomas was given his release. Shortly afterwards, he was picked up by the Oakland Athletics, with the Blue Jays picking up his $7 million tab.

Maybe Thomas was a problem in the locker room. Maybe, as speculated in much of the press, it was a cost cutting measure. Even if both of those issues contributed to his release, the move still doesn't make sense.

In both cases, Ricciardi should have moved him in the offseason, either for some draft picks or, better yet, some farm hands. It would have reduced the media attention and also meant that the Jays would have gotten something in return for Thomas. Instead of getting some bench depth, the Jays are now paying Frank Thomas to jack home runs for the competition, with literally nothing in return.

This is madness.

Alex the Great

Unfortunately, the Philadelphia Flyers downed the Washington Captials 3-2 in overtime, winning game seven of their playoff series. The Capitals could not match the physicality and veteran experience of the Flyers who were able to push their way into the next round.

But with the completion of Alexander Ovechkin's third season, we have seen the beginning of the new National Hockey League. We have seen him become the league's clear-cut MVP, with an electrifying brand of hockey that can excite even the most casual fan.

What I like best about Ovechkin isn't just his incendiary offense but how solid his overall play is. He doesn't just lead the Caps in goals and assists, he leads them in hits and plus/minus, showing that he has a well-rounded game that includes defensive prowess as well.

He has been the cornerstone of a revitalized Washington Capitals, and has helped carve out a niche for the Caps in the DC market. Really, a remarkable feat given that beyond the Redskins, the number one sport in Washington is in Congress.

There is, of course, the comparisons to Canada's own, Sidney Crosby. Where Crosby is taciturn with the media, underscoring years of practice having been under the spotlight since being an adolescent in Nova Scotia, Ovechkin is exuberant and goofy in front of the camera. Where Ovechkin plays up his awkward mastery of English and fools around with his teammates, Crosby is careful to say all the right things about the right people.

For years to come we're going to be treated to seeing Ovechkin grow, mature, and become an even more dominant force on the ice. What'll be interesting is if he can maintain his fun-loving zest for life. But if this post-season is any indication, he'll not only perform, he'll thrive under the increased spotlight.