I am watching the Wimbledon match between Amelie Mauresmo and Ashley Harkleroad. ESPN Commentators Mary Carillo and Mary Joe Fernandez brought up the fact that Harkleroad posed for the August issue of Playboy Magazine. What I really take issue with is how Carillo brought it up, snickered about it, and criticized her for posing for the magazine. While bringing up the fact that Harkleroad posed for Playboy is fine, but I think criticizing and almost making fun of the fact, that she did it, is way off base. Carillo proceeded to go on and on about it. To her broadcast partner, Fernandez's credit, she brought up a comment that Harkleroad made about other athletes like swimmer Amanda Beard, and former volleyball player, Gabrielle Reece, have both posed and it's more of a celebration of the female athletic form than anything.
Carillo has been a tennis commentator for a long time and she should know better than to let her personal opinions of get in the way of her tennis commentary. I think she needs to apologize to Ashley Harkleroad for the comments and be reprimanded by ESPN.
Note: Other female athletes who have posed for Playboy...Figure Skater - Katarina Witt, Boxer - Mia St. John, Track and Field Athlete - Amy Acuff, among others.
Monday, June 23, 2008
The Great George Carlin
George Carlin, the first ever host of Saturday Night Live and the author of the "Seven Words You Can Never Say On Television", has died at the age of 71. He checked into a Santa Monica, CA, hospital on Sunday complaining of chest pains and subsequently died later that evening. He had a history of heart trouble.
Carlin is probably best known for his "Seven Words" routine that actually led to a Supreme Court ruling that said the government has oversight to fine broadcasters that broadcast offensive material during hours when children could be listening.
He was the first host of Saturday Night Live which debuted in 1975. He produced almost two dozen comedy albums, was on the Tonight Show over a hundred times, had several HBO specials and acted in numerous movies as well.
Carlin was born May 12, 1937. He is survived by his second wife, a daughter, son-in-law, brother, and sister-in-law.
Here are a couple of clips of George Carlin's stand-up material. Predictably it contains explicit language. Enjoy. RIP George Carlin...
Seven Words...
Baseball and Football
Carlin is probably best known for his "Seven Words" routine that actually led to a Supreme Court ruling that said the government has oversight to fine broadcasters that broadcast offensive material during hours when children could be listening.
He was the first host of Saturday Night Live which debuted in 1975. He produced almost two dozen comedy albums, was on the Tonight Show over a hundred times, had several HBO specials and acted in numerous movies as well.
Carlin was born May 12, 1937. He is survived by his second wife, a daughter, son-in-law, brother, and sister-in-law.
Here are a couple of clips of George Carlin's stand-up material. Predictably it contains explicit language. Enjoy. RIP George Carlin...
Seven Words...
Baseball and Football
Friday, June 13, 2008
Tim Russert of NBC News Dies Suddenly
Meet the Press Moderator and NBC News Washington Bureau Chief, Tim Russert, died suddenly this afternoon, while working in the NBC Washington Bureau. He was 58. He was conscious on the way to the hospital, but later passed away. Cause is unknown at this time.
Here is the video from the Breaking News that interrupted NBC programming. Nobody can say it better than Tom Brokaw...
Here is the video from the Breaking News that interrupted NBC programming. Nobody can say it better than Tom Brokaw...
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Junior Griffey 600
Last night in Miami, Florida, against the Florida Marlins, Ken Griffey Jr. of the Cincinnati Reds, hit career homerun number 600. The milestone homerun came off of Marlins' pitcher, Mark Hendrickson. Junior is the 6th player in the history of the game to reach the 600 career homerun milestone (can you name the other 5? answer below...).
For 12 of the first 13 years of his career, Griffey was putting together, perhaps, the greatest career anyone has ever had in the history of the game. Excluding 1995 (where he only played 72 games), he hit 443 homeruns, knocked in 1293 runs, scored over 100 runs 6 times, had an On Base Percentage (OBP) of around .375, slugged (SLG) around .580, was a 11-time All-Star, 1-time MVP, 7-time Silver Slugger winner, and 10-time Gold Glover (every year of the '90s). He was named player of the decade for the 1990s and was also named to the All-Century team. To put it simply, Junior was well on his way to being the greatest player of my generation....
Injuries started to mount up on Griffey after his trade from Seattle to Cincinnati. He had a couple of injuries in 1994 and 95 with the Mariners, limiting him to 111 and 72 games respectively. After one fairly healthy season with the Reds, the next 7 have been close to a nightmare. Between 2002-2004, he never played more than 83 games. His last few years, while playing over 100 games, have still ended with various leg injuries. Just think, if Griffey was healthy, he would probably have been the one chasing Hank Aaron first, not Barry Bonds.
Those are the "what if's" though...The question is now, where do you put Griffey among the greatest to ever play the game? There is no doubt, he is a first ballot Hall-of-Famer. In his prime, was he better than Bonds? Better than Mays? Better than Mantle? That's the real debate right now. I find it hard to compare players of different eras. I find it almost more difficult to compare players from this era, due to the rampant use of Performance Enhancing Drugs. We will probably never know (unless they confess), how many players truly used these drugs. One thing is for sure, there has never been any rumors tying Griffey with any drug use. That's what makes this debate intriguing. Bonds was a comparable player to Griffey, both offensively and defensively. If you look at Bonds' numbers, just in the 90s, he hit 361 homeruns, compared to Junior's 382. Bonds drove in 1076 runs to Junior's 1011. The most interesting stats are the OBP and SLG averages. Bonds OBP is well over .400 and his SLG is well over .600. Griffey's OBP is around .370 and SLG around .575. Bonds' also stole a lot more bases as well.
So who was the most complete player during that period? Just going by numbers, you'd have to say Bonds' has a slight edge. Bonds' numbers in the 2000s are up for debate with steroid allegations hanging heavy over his head. It is believed, he didn't use any during his time with Pittsburgh and his first couple of years in San Francisco. A lot of people would probably choose Griffey though as the better player, simply because, he never had any questions surrounding how he compiled his numbers. What is a shame is, that injuries took such a toll on this great player. We will never know hat his numbers could have amounted to. One thing I will always remember though, is that he was as complete a player as the game has ever seen. His homeruns were sometimes outshined by his amazing plays defensively. If you ask me, he is the greatest defensive outfielder I have ever seen.
Congratulations Junior on number 600. Enjoy the moment. I certainly have enjoyed your career.
Trivia question answer: Sosa (609), Mays (660), Ruth (714), Aaron (755), Bonds (762).
For 12 of the first 13 years of his career, Griffey was putting together, perhaps, the greatest career anyone has ever had in the history of the game. Excluding 1995 (where he only played 72 games), he hit 443 homeruns, knocked in 1293 runs, scored over 100 runs 6 times, had an On Base Percentage (OBP) of around .375, slugged (SLG) around .580, was a 11-time All-Star, 1-time MVP, 7-time Silver Slugger winner, and 10-time Gold Glover (every year of the '90s). He was named player of the decade for the 1990s and was also named to the All-Century team. To put it simply, Junior was well on his way to being the greatest player of my generation....
Injuries started to mount up on Griffey after his trade from Seattle to Cincinnati. He had a couple of injuries in 1994 and 95 with the Mariners, limiting him to 111 and 72 games respectively. After one fairly healthy season with the Reds, the next 7 have been close to a nightmare. Between 2002-2004, he never played more than 83 games. His last few years, while playing over 100 games, have still ended with various leg injuries. Just think, if Griffey was healthy, he would probably have been the one chasing Hank Aaron first, not Barry Bonds.
Those are the "what if's" though...The question is now, where do you put Griffey among the greatest to ever play the game? There is no doubt, he is a first ballot Hall-of-Famer. In his prime, was he better than Bonds? Better than Mays? Better than Mantle? That's the real debate right now. I find it hard to compare players of different eras. I find it almost more difficult to compare players from this era, due to the rampant use of Performance Enhancing Drugs. We will probably never know (unless they confess), how many players truly used these drugs. One thing is for sure, there has never been any rumors tying Griffey with any drug use. That's what makes this debate intriguing. Bonds was a comparable player to Griffey, both offensively and defensively. If you look at Bonds' numbers, just in the 90s, he hit 361 homeruns, compared to Junior's 382. Bonds drove in 1076 runs to Junior's 1011. The most interesting stats are the OBP and SLG averages. Bonds OBP is well over .400 and his SLG is well over .600. Griffey's OBP is around .370 and SLG around .575. Bonds' also stole a lot more bases as well.
So who was the most complete player during that period? Just going by numbers, you'd have to say Bonds' has a slight edge. Bonds' numbers in the 2000s are up for debate with steroid allegations hanging heavy over his head. It is believed, he didn't use any during his time with Pittsburgh and his first couple of years in San Francisco. A lot of people would probably choose Griffey though as the better player, simply because, he never had any questions surrounding how he compiled his numbers. What is a shame is, that injuries took such a toll on this great player. We will never know hat his numbers could have amounted to. One thing I will always remember though, is that he was as complete a player as the game has ever seen. His homeruns were sometimes outshined by his amazing plays defensively. If you ask me, he is the greatest defensive outfielder I have ever seen.
Congratulations Junior on number 600. Enjoy the moment. I certainly have enjoyed your career.
Trivia question answer: Sosa (609), Mays (660), Ruth (714), Aaron (755), Bonds (762).
Saturday, June 7, 2008
Jim McKay
Not too many people from our generation may know Jim McKay. He was a legend in the world of Sports broadcasting and most known for hosting the Olympics and Wide World of Sports for ABC. McKay, 86, passed away this morning, from natural causes.
For 60 years, McKay WAS the face of ABC Sports. He hosted Wide World of Sports for since it's inception in 1961, until it was discontinued in 1997. The series took him around the globe. He was the first sports network reporter to visit mainland China. He even interviewed Fidel Castro, in Cuba, in 1991. The opening of Wide World contained the great line of "The thrill of victory, and the agony of defeat."
McKay hosted 12 Olympics for ABC, and was "loaned" to NBC for their Winter Olympic coverage in 2002. Perhaps his defining moment came at the XX Summer Olympic games, in Munich, Germany, in 1972. Palestinian terrorists took 11 Israeli athletes and coaches hostage in the Olympic village. After a long standoff, and a dramatic shootout at an air base, the hostages were all shot dead. After 16 straight hours on the air, and getting confirmation from the German government, McKay said, perhaps, the words that defined his career:
"When I was a kid my father used to say our greatest hopes and our worst fears are seldom realized. Our worst fears have been realized tonight. They have now said there were eleven hostages; two were killed in their rooms yesterday morning, nine were killed at the airport tonight. They're all gone."
He covered many other events during his career besides the Olympics and the numerous sports Wide World took him to. He covered the Indianapolis 500, golf events such as the British Open (which he loved), and horse racing's Kentucky Derby, another event in which he enjoyed.
McKay WAS the face of ABC Sports for more than 40 years. He was a master writer and story teller, that helped paint the picture to many historical moments.
This morning on ESPN's SportsCenter, McKay colleagues, Brent Musberger, Keith Jackson, and Don Ohlmeyer has remembered him. I think Musberger said it best though when he said (paraphrasing), "I just wish he could have seen one more Triple Crown winner (horse racing) today. He would have really gotten a kick out of that."
Jim McKay, a titan of Sports Broadcasting, and Broadcasting in general, gone at the age of 86...
For 60 years, McKay WAS the face of ABC Sports. He hosted Wide World of Sports for since it's inception in 1961, until it was discontinued in 1997. The series took him around the globe. He was the first sports network reporter to visit mainland China. He even interviewed Fidel Castro, in Cuba, in 1991. The opening of Wide World contained the great line of "The thrill of victory, and the agony of defeat."
McKay hosted 12 Olympics for ABC, and was "loaned" to NBC for their Winter Olympic coverage in 2002. Perhaps his defining moment came at the XX Summer Olympic games, in Munich, Germany, in 1972. Palestinian terrorists took 11 Israeli athletes and coaches hostage in the Olympic village. After a long standoff, and a dramatic shootout at an air base, the hostages were all shot dead. After 16 straight hours on the air, and getting confirmation from the German government, McKay said, perhaps, the words that defined his career:
"When I was a kid my father used to say our greatest hopes and our worst fears are seldom realized. Our worst fears have been realized tonight. They have now said there were eleven hostages; two were killed in their rooms yesterday morning, nine were killed at the airport tonight. They're all gone."
He covered many other events during his career besides the Olympics and the numerous sports Wide World took him to. He covered the Indianapolis 500, golf events such as the British Open (which he loved), and horse racing's Kentucky Derby, another event in which he enjoyed.
McKay WAS the face of ABC Sports for more than 40 years. He was a master writer and story teller, that helped paint the picture to many historical moments.
This morning on ESPN's SportsCenter, McKay colleagues, Brent Musberger, Keith Jackson, and Don Ohlmeyer has remembered him. I think Musberger said it best though when he said (paraphrasing), "I just wish he could have seen one more Triple Crown winner (horse racing) today. He would have really gotten a kick out of that."
Jim McKay, a titan of Sports Broadcasting, and Broadcasting in general, gone at the age of 86...
Introduction
I have started this blog to basically express my opinions on several things. Could be sports, politics, or anything really. Rarely will it be about myself on a personal level. This will be a forum for me to express my opinions on current events and anything else of my choosing. It could be controversial, could be funny, could be anything, that's why I have called it, "Uncensored". Although I don't usually use expletives too much, depending on the subject, I may.
Whatever I may blog about, I hope it catches some people's interest. Feel free to post responses, questions, opinions, on anything I may write about.
I hope this is enjoyable to the people who may read it.
Thanks and enjoy...
Whatever I may blog about, I hope it catches some people's interest. Feel free to post responses, questions, opinions, on anything I may write about.
I hope this is enjoyable to the people who may read it.
Thanks and enjoy...
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