I was in as much awe as anyone after seeing ESPN’s tabloid turn with the provocatively titled “What If Michael Vick Were White?” article in ESPN the Magazine and on its website, written by noted music observer and journalist, Touré.
Archive | August, 2011
HOT TOPICS: Coaching Legend Summitt Diagnosed with Dementia
24 Aug
HOT SCALE (1-10): 10
We were very sad to hear about the news that University of Tennessee Lady Volunteers basketball coach Pat Summitt – one of the best who ever did it or will do it again, male or female – was diagnosed with early onset dementia. (Read ESPN’s Mechelle Voepel’s thoughtful piece on Coach Summitt here.)
Just the other night, we watched the movie “Friends with Benefits” (SPOILER ALERT: do not continue reading if you don’t like to know non-essential plot points in movies you haven’t seen before), in which the father of Justin Timberlake’s character suffered from Alzheimer’s disease, a type of dementia. While it was dealt with in a loving, humorous way in the movie, it made us reflect on how difficult it must be to realize you are not in control of your own mind and how agonizing watching someone suffer from this disease can be to the family and friend’s of those afflicted. (Thankfully, while there is no known cure for dementia at this time, there are treatments out there that can alleviate some of its symptoms.)
Dementia picked one of the toughest foes it might ever face in choosing Summitt. Given the many lives she has touched throughout her illustrious career, she will likely do for dementia research what Jimmy V did for cancer research. We think even Geno Auriemma, coach of the Lady Vols’ rival University of Connecticut Huskies, will be rooting for her this upcoming season.
God speed, Coach.
(Kudos to the Tennessee Journalist for the pic.)
HOT TOPICS: The 28th Best Player in the U.S. Open?
23 Aug
HOT SCORE (1-10): 5
The U.S. Open made the terrible decision to seed Serena Williams according to her ranking, which means some poor, higher-seeded girl is going home early with less money than she should have when Serena smacks her in the early rounds of play. We get that she has not played in a while, so it wouldn’t be fair to the other players to seed her too high, but No. 28 is barely a seed. (Click here for the full list of seeds in the women’s draw. Matchups will be announced on August 25th.)
Because, you know, it’s not like Serena just beat Top 10 players – including #7 Maria Sharapova – on her way to her first tournament victory in over a year, or beat another Top 10 player en route to her second title in as many weeks or anything. Man, she is really struggling these days…
We get it, U.S. Open officials: Stick with the rankings, not past performances, so the exceptions don’t swallow the rule. But there’s a slight problem with such a rigid rule when you’re applying it to a person who has won your tournament five times (3 singles, 2 doubles championships) and who is walking over the Top 10 players in the world like their the 28th seeds.
Chrissy Evert agrees with us:
“It hurts the field, is what it does. It really doesn’t hurt Serena as much as it hurts the other players. One of the top seeds will get her in the third round,” said Evert, who will call U.S. Open matches for ESPN2. “I think they could have made a much better judgment call.”
We are certain when the draw comes out, whoever is in Serena’s bracket is not going to be a happy camper. We have to wait two days for the brackets to come out, too, but we’re looking at you, Sharapova.
The First Ladies of Sports!
19 AugWe shot the pilot. We’re adding content to the blog. We’re coming soon. Stay tuned…
