Normally I’d begin my parade through the past week in sports with a witty, erudite observation on what’s transpired over the past few days. I’d toss a bit of snark at something or someone unfortunate enough to attract my interest and fire up my sense of humor. I may still get there, but I find myself in a decidedly non-snarky state of mind at the outset.
Junior Seau’s senseless, tragic suicide has knocked me off my game. So many pundits have been working overtime to make his self-destruction primarily about football and/or concussions. No one can begin to understand the demons Seau fought with and ultimately lost to. Suicide is not a destination one arrives at for simple, easily understood reasons, so I won’t speculate. Lord knows there’s already been enough of that taking place.
What saddens me is that whatever demons were torturing Seau made suicide seem the best available option. A 43-year-old man, in what should have been the prime of his life, took his life, leaving those who loved him to wonder why.
Since the only person who could tell us exactly what went is gone, we’re left with little but conjecture and speculation. In the days and weeks to come, I suspect more information about Seau’s last days and his state of mind will come to light. That may or may not be a good thing, but it still won’t answer the biggest question: Why?
The one good thing to come out of this tragedy is that Seau’s family has decided to donate his brain to medical research, possibly to the Boston University Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy. They’re the folks studying the brains of deceased NFL players in an attempt to better understand Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE). Over the long term, this study may help the NFL find ways to better protect players from the life-altering effects of repeated concussions.
Let’s hope that Seau’s suicide will contribute something to the greater good.
As odd and difficult as it may seem, life does go on…and there were some good stories to come out of the past week. The first one that comes to mind involves….
Eric LeGrand. The Rutgers football player who was paralyzed during a game, LeGrand has finally achieved his dream of making it to the NFL. Sort of.
Greg Schiano, LeGrand’s coach at Rutgers, is now an assistant coach for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Schiano wanted to reward LeGrand, so he convinced the Bucs to sign LeGrand to their 90-man offseason roster. Classy doesn’t begin to describe it, eh?
While we’re on the subject of class, let’s throw in sportsmanship and talk about….
Omid Ebrahimi. There’s a lot of saber rattling being directed at Iran these days. Fear-mongering aside, Iran has much to offer us…if only we could see Iranians as people and not caricatures. Ebrahimi represents an example of true sportsmanship, the likes of which we seldom see on these shores.
It was a forgettable Asian Champions League soccer match (aren’t they all?) between the UAE’s al-Nasr and Iran’s Sepahan. The second half had just begun when an al-Nasr player went down with an injury. Seeing this, a teammate kicked the ball out of play so the injured player could be treated.
When play resumed, a Sepahan player turned the ball over, percustom, to an al-Nasr player on the throw. So far, so good, right? Except that this is where things went off the rails.
The al-Nasr player didn’t realize that the ball was live, and didn’t play it. A Sepahan player alertly pounced on the ball, one thing led to another, and all Hell broke loose. Play ended with al-Nasr’s goalkeeper being red-carded for a foul inside the 18-yard box. Because the foul occurred inside the box, Sepahan was awarded a penalty kick.
Players from both teams tried to explain to the referee that it was a misunderstanding and that the red card was unwarranted. The referee would have none of it, insisting that Sepahan take their penalty without delay. This is where our hero comes into the picture.
Ebrahimi took the penalty kick for Sepahan. Realizing that the red card was the result of a huge misunderstanding, Ebrahimi stepped up and…passed the ball softly to al-Nasr’s backup goalkeeper. The game carried on without further incident, and Sepahan won 3-0…but the outcome is almost an afterthought.
So many in this country attempt to demonize Iran in pursuit of whatever their political agenda might be. It took an Iranian player (and the rest of his team) to show the world what true sportsmanship is. If you think this would happen during an MLS game, you’re obviously not thinking clearly, much like….
Amar’e Stoudemire. It’s a story as old as sports. Player has bad game. Player gets frustrated. Player attempts to take out his frustration on inanimate object. Player discovers that inanimate doesn’t mean harmless.
Stoudemire had a bad game in the New York Knicks’ playoff series against the Miami Heat. In an epic display of poor anger management skills, Stoudemire punched a metal fire extinguisher case. And lost. Badly. After surgery on his left hand, Stoudemire learned that a millimeter was all that separated him from some serious (and perhaps permanent) nerve damage.
Metal fire extinguisher case prevails by TKO….
Dude, if you’re going to hit things, at least do it intelligently. Take a page from….
Floyd Mayweather. As much as I detest boxing (it’s pure, unadulterated barbarism, but that’s a story for another time), Mayweather should be applauded. He’ll take home $32 million from his latest fight. That’s not a typo.
One fight. $32 million. Nice work if you can get it, eh?
So many athletes make millions in a relatively short career and then proceed to piss it all way (See Walker, Antoine and Sapp, Warren). It’s refreshing to see Mayweather take advantage of his opportunity to make a bundle…and keep it. He’s smart, realizes the value of a dollar, and is blessed with solid business sense…something too few athletes can say these days.
While we’re on the subject of sense, I’m going to propose that we ban something completely nonsensical. That’s right; I’m suggesting that we immediately agree to ban….
Mock drafts. Is there ANYTHING sillier and more pointless than Mel Kiper or Todd McShay or Yahoo Serious pontificating about which teams will draft which players and why? For weeks leading up to the NFL draft, ESPN viewers were subjected to all manner of endless speculation about why a certain player would be best for a team to draft. The speculation did nothing but fill up airtime…and leave fans like myself feeling as if we could literally feel our brain cells committing seppuku.
If you spend any amount of time engaging in pondering mock draft scenarios, might I suggest you try doing something useful with your time? Hug your wife. Play with your kids. Split an atom. Cure cancer. I say this to provide notice; when I’m King of the World, anyone engaging in, or even discussing a mock draft will be summarily executed.
Don’t say you weren’t warned.
While we’re talking about being King of the World, allow me to turn my attention to someone who wishes he was still able to do something he values. I’m talking about….
Mariano Rivera. To refer to Rivera as merely the Yankees’ closer would be to do him an injustice. Rivera is arguably the greatest (and certainly the most durable) closer of all time. He’s undoubtedly the best closer to ever do the job with just one pitch. Somehow Rivera has defied the odds, the baseball gods, and Father Time, so I was saddened to learn that he tore his ACL while shagging fly balls before a game.
Rivera was doing was something he’s always done, something that’s always been part of his pregame routine. It was an unfortunate accident, but since he’s 42, we’re left to wonder whether we may have seen the last of Rivera in Yankee pinstripes. It would be a shame if, after all he’s accomplished, his career ends with a slip on the warning track and a torn ACL.
Rivera’s future may be in question, but I want to finish my sojourn by talking about a team that’s finally providing some answers. I’m referring, of course, to the….
Seattle Mariners. This year, unlike virtually every previous season, the Mariners are showing flashes of potential. They’ve been flirting with .500 for much of this season. That may not seem like much, but given the ineptitude so often displayed by the denizens of Safeco Field over the years, .500 is a step in the right direction.
Improved pitching and the performance of some of the Mariners’ young stars are at least giving fans reason to attend a game with justifiable optimism. Still, it’s only mid-May, so let’s hold off on ordering those playoff tickets, shall we?
Tune in next week, when I’ll be holding forth on why John Canzano really should be declared, if not Supreme Lord and Leader of the Free World, then at least a benevolent dictator. I suspect his first order of business would be to call Paul Allen out of his hermetically sealed Death Star to explain the long-running soap opera that’s the Trail Blazers front office. It’s about time someone did.
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