by Nick Brower | Mar 6, 2018 | SPORTS
The Arizona Diamondbacks will be bringing back a piece of baseball history this season. They will become the first team to use a bullpen cart since 1995. That’s right, pitchers will be driven from the bullpen to the infield this season at Chase Field. This is a tradition that dates back quite some time in our nation’s pastime. The Indians were the first team to use a bullpen vehicle in 1950 and the majority of the league followed suit by the mid 1960s. They were full blown cars back then. Golf carts took over around 1980 and the Brewers actually used a Harley Davidson and had pitchers sit in a side car in 1995. The carts were outfitted with ridiculous ball caps or baseball designs and it was all great fun. The Diamondbacks believe it is time to bring them back and hope it will receive a warm welcome. They almost jokingly commented that it might help speed up pace of play as well. The only rule on the books regarding the bullpen carts is that it must be made equally available to both home and visiting pitchers and may not allow pitchers any extra warmup time. The choice of whether or not to use it will be left completely up to the individual pitchers. It will be interesting to see how many players take advantage of the cart and how many continue to jog out to the mound. Either way it should be a somewhat fun but very silly addition to the game this season. Its completely unnecessary, these are professional athletes I think they can manage to jog a couple hundred feet. I do think it is fun for the fans in the stadium as it will add to the excitement of being in the ballpark. This will serve as a test for the rest of the league, lets see how far this gets.
by Nick Brower | Mar 6, 2018 | SPORTS
The Warriors’ head coach Steve Kerr continued the dialogue about the NCAA on Monday. Kerr stated that he thinks players who declare for the draft but go undrafted should be allowed to return to their college teams. Kerr told reporters, “Don’t keep this ruse going. We all know what’s going on. Let’s do what’s best for the kid and give them some options, and work together between the NBA and NCAA to find the right system. I think it’s entirely doable if you people just open their eyes.” Currently, players who declare and hire an agent cannot return the NCAA, but those do not acquire an agent can. I’m 100% with Kerr on this one. Where is the harm in a kid returning to college in he isn’t drafted? The only person harmed is the player. There is no reason the declaring should force you to give up your remaining eligibility. There obviously has to be a balance here. I don’t think players should be able to flip flop on their draft eligibility and I don’t think players should be able to return to college just because they aren’t happy with who drafted them. But if a player goes unselected there is no reason why they shouldn’t be allowed to return to college and continue to play and develop. The NBA and NCAA need to put money aside for once and start thinking about what is best for these young men.
by Nick Brower | Mar 6, 2018 | SPORTS
The Pittsburgh Steelers will place the franchise tag on star running back Le’Veon Bell for the second straight season. This tag will pay Bell $14.5 million this season, the average yearly salary of a running back in today’s league. Bell has previously said he will contemplate retirement if he was tagged again this season and has not backed down from this statement. Bell told ESPN on Monday, “I’m playing for strictly my value to the team. That’s what I’m asking. I don’t think I should settle for anything less than what I’m valued at”. Le’Veon clearly thinks he is worth more than the average back and he has the numbers to back it up. Bell is hands-down one of the most explosive players in the league, let alone at running back, and wants to be compensated as such. I don’t blame him, especially after playing under the tag last year. Bell says he will wait to make his decision on whether or not to play at all and would also consider joining the team during Week 10, which would give him just enough time to qualify for a season accrued. Long-term contract talks continue to stall as the Steelers have not produced a number that Bell believes is big enough. This confused me last year and really blows my mind this year. Pittsburgh, PAY THE DAMN MAN! Bell is the type of player you build championships around and I would want him as happy as possible. You just made Antonio Brown the highest paid receiver in the league last year, now cut the check for his teammate. Lock Le’Veon in and you basically guarantee a top five offense for the rest of their deals. I really hope the Steelers smarten up and get a deal done because I think Bell is serious about sitting out and he is a player that people all over the country look forward to watching on Sundays, including myself.
by Nick Brower | Mar 6, 2018 | SPORTS
Kevin Love has had quite a tough season so far. Unexplained exits from games, teammates placing blame on him for team issues, and most recently a broken hand. Love came forward this morning in an essay published through the Players’ Tribune to answer some questions. Love revealed that it was in fact a panic attack that forced him out of the November 5th loss to the Hawks and into a hospital. While he did not speak of it in this essay, sources close to the situation have reported that it was another panic attack that forced him out of the Oklahoma City game as well. This was the game that led to the team meeting in which there was plenty of finger-pointing, with a lot of them aimed at Love. Love writes in the essay about the first episode, “It came out of nowhere. I’d never had one before. I didn’t even know if they were real. But it was real — as real a broken hand or a sprained ankle. Since that day, almost everything about the way I think about my mental health has changed.” Love has started to see a therapist a few times a month and has looked to other NBA players for advice and comfort. Toronto’s DeMar DeRozan recently acknowledged publicly that he struggles with depression, and Love cited this as a big part of his inspiration to come forward about his own struggles. Love also used the essay to encourage others to be strong with their own mental struggles. He wrote, “So if you’re reading this and you’re having a hard time, no matter how big or small it seems to you, I want to remind you that you’re not weird or different for sharing what you’re going through”. Mental health has become an important topic in today’s society and is finally starting to be understood more. It is not something to be ignored and it not something to be ashamed of. Everyone has their inner battles and everyone copes with them differently. The important part is to be accepting of both yourself and others. Having mental struggles does not take away from who you are as a person. If you need help, seek it. If you can help someone, then do it. We are all in this thing called life together and we all need someone to lean on now and then. I applaud Kevin Love for coming forward to discuss his personal struggles and using his platform to inspire others. I wish him all the best and will continue to root for him going forward.
by Nick Brower | Mar 6, 2018 | SPORTS
Did anyone actually think retirement would stop Kobe from winning? The soon to be hall of famer added to his legacy this weekend at the Oscars. Bryant took home the Oscar for “Best Animated Short” for his writing role in “Dear Basketball”. A shiny new Oscar will now find its home on Kobe’s mantel next to his five NBA Championships, a season MVP, a pair of Finals’ MVPs and four All-Star Game MVPs just to name a few. Disney animator Glen Keane shared the award as he brought Kobe’s poem to life. The poem was written in 2015 and served as part of Kobe’s retirement announcement. The poem tells the story of Bryant’s love affair with the game and the struggle to let it go. One line reads, “This season is all I have left to give. My heart can take the pounding, my mind can handle the grind. But my body knows it’s time to say goodbye.” Kobe cites his 11 year old daughter Gianna as one of the driving forces behind turning the poem into a film. She told him, “Dad, you always tell us to go after our dreams, so man up”. Bryant seems to be settling into retirement just fine as he has found a new passion in writing. He is currently working on a series of novels and said, “I wake up in the morning, I can’t wait to write, I can’t wait to get to the studio”. People doubted him at first but he said that this Oscar was just the validation he needed to dive head first into his second career. And if Kobe brings the same passion and obsession we saw in his basketball life to writing, I see nothing but success in his future.
Others were not so thrilled with Kobe’s win. Hollywood is going through a transformative period in which sexual harassment and assault is being brought to light and hopefully eliminated from the industry. Bryant is infamous for an incident in June of 2003 when a 19 year old hotel employee accused Bryant of raping her. The case never made it to court after a whirlwind of media attention led the woman to decide not to testify. This Oscar win for Kobe seems to fly directly in the face of movements like Time’s Up and #MeToo. While I do not condone or encourage such behavior, I just do not see the connection to this film. What Kobe did was wrong, and he has since apologized and settled the case in civil court. This incident was almost 15 years ago and has nothing to do with the film being recognized. While this definitely wasn’t a win for the anti-sexual harassment movements, I wouldn’t call it a loss either. These movements are focused on making workplaces and life in general safer for women and free of discrimination and abuse. Tarnishing a film for something that happened and was publicly acknowledged 15 years ago does not help accomplish these goals. Should we forget what Kobe did and what happened to the woman involved? Absolutely not. But we also should not let a single event define an entire lifetime.
by Nick Brower | Mar 2, 2018 | SPORTS
Brandon Williams becomes the third player to decommit from the Wildcats’ program this week in the wake of the Sean Miller scandal. This leaves the school with zero commitments for the next season. Williams joins Jahvon Quinerly and Shareef O’Neal (Shaq’s son) who have now decided to play for Villanova and UCLA respectfully. FBI reports of a wiretap surfaced last week that allegedly have head coach Sean Miller discussing a $100,000 payment to secure the commitment of former recruit Deandre Ayton. Miller has told the media that he has not “knowingly” violated any NCAA rules and will continue to coach. The scandal seems to be scaring recruits away as they don’t want to get caught up in the possible storm coming. I can’t really blame them. There are plenty of high quality programs around the country where these players can shine and try to avoid the mess of corruption. That might prove harder than we think though, who knows how comprehensive this FBI report is going to be and just how many programs will be implemented.
