Two people I despise are coming together to try and put a spin on one of the most disgraceful episodes in recent sports history. Oprah is advertising an “in depth, no holds barred” interview with disgraced cycler Lance Armstrong. I can only see all of the weeping that these two vainglorious shallow people put over the air (actually cable) on January 17th.
Media speculation is that, like Pete Rose did a few years ago, Armstrong will admit to doping in the hopes that this begins the redemption of his reputation in the court of public opinion. Some say that he wants to compete again, but would need to have his lifetime ban removed to cycle again, not to mention what other sport(s) Armstrong is eyeing. However, it would be like an embezzler admitting to his crime in a job interview to be a bank president.
I put Armstrong in the same category with Rose – both lied for decades about their inappropriate behavior: for Rose, it was gambling of course, and for Armstrong it is performance enhancing drugs. Rose finally confessed in an attempt to get into the Baseball Hall of Fame, and did so in a book; completely in character for the money hungry Rose. Again, I don’t know what Armstrong is aiming to get, but once again, it shows the narcissistic mind of the professional athlete (probably in the minds of Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, and Sammy Sosa today, who are probably deluded in thinking that the Baseball Writers Association of America will be calling them today to congratulate them on being elected to the Hall of Fame – won’t happen).
Unlike Rose, Armstrong’s offense impacted the competition. As I have said all along, I support Rose being in the Hall of Fame for two reasons: I haven’t heard of him making bets on baseball while he was amassing the most hits in baseball history; and more important, you can’t have a morals clause for the Hall of Fame when you have Ty Cobb not only in the Hall, but one of the first six men inducted. However, I also believe that Rose should never be fully reinstated into the game either. He should not be allowed to hold a job in the sport, but he does belong in the Hall of Fame.
Armstrong, to me, just is an attention whore. He needs to be in the spotlight, and now that he’s been fully busted, he needs to be back in the spotlight again. I think that if he had gone away for a few years; been the bicycling pariah, then perhaps done his public admission, maybe I would have been able to stomach it better. (Nah, I probably wouldn’t.)
So, we will soon have Lance Armstrong gushing crocodile tears in front of the all time Queen of crocodile tears – Oprah Winfrey. It’s enough to make me lose my breakfast. And yesterday’s dinner; and lunch. In fact, if I was to watch this, I might lose every meal I’ve had since Armstrong’s last Tour de France “victory.”
Oh well, I’d lose lots of weight that way.

I took some time off to spend with the Indignant Family and I meant to write some posts over the holiday, but it didn’t work out as planned. I hope that everyone had happy holidays.
When I left work on December 21st, I told co-workers that I wanted three things: a Northwestern bowl victory; an NHL season; and Alabama to beat the hell out of Notre Dame.
I got all three – I couldn’t be happier.

The oddsmakers obviously didn’t believe in Notre Dame as the number 1 team in the nation – Alabama was a 10-point favorite going into last night’s BCS Championship Game, but as we all know, the game wasn’t that close. I turned on the game when the girls had exhausted their television time, and it was 7-0 Alabama. I then watched them “roll” (pun intended) to a 28-0 halftime lead and decided that there wasn’t any reason to watch anymore.
The game of course ended 42-14 Alabama.
A friend, ND hater, and sometime participant in this column, Tom Watson, was arguing the positives of rooting against Alabama. Being tired of the SEC winning championships, was one reason; Alabama is one of the Reddest of Red States politically; the school doesn’t graduate football players (which isn’t true – they are supposed to graduate around 75% of their football players – now is that in something substantive, or in basket-weaving is another story); and Nick Saban is yet another highly paid nomad, moving from job to job, often with the NCAA in hot pursuit. Again, I have no argument.
But I’ll live with Saban’s sleaziness over the most obnoxious alums in the world – the Domers. I have no issue with the players, or even the coaches to a certain extent. It’s the alums who still believe that they should be in the national championship discussion every year as though be Divine Fiat. Never mind that the Knute Rockne days are long over, ND is supposed to be in a BCS bowl every year whether they deserve it or not.
Being a lifelong Chicagoan and South Sider, I have had to live with the South Side Irish, most of whom couldn’t get into Notre Dame if we asked them to spell it and gave them the Notre and the Dam_. The “fans” who are rabid only because of the name “Irish” and ignoring the fact that the team hasn’t been predominantly Irish since African-American players weren’t allowed to play major college sports. But here they are with their green clothes; dominating the Chicago newspapers. It’s always good to see them get stomped, and last night, they were.

It’s the end of the year and the year end Billboard magazine came out this week, and it was a fairly grim year for music if you just look at the charts. Adele’s “21” CD was first place in sales again for the second year in a row; the first time that feat has ever been achieved. It was a big year for Taylor Swift whose record company has done everything and more to make sure she is omnipresent in the public consciousness. The 20-somethig waif has turned her disastrous taste in men into a disastrously boring pop crossover CD, but despite not being very important to their readership, Rolling Stone Magazine put her on their cover; asked fans to vote on her best song, which had many readers answer with a resounding “none.” Even Walgreens has a Taylor Swift kiosk of useless crap.
Meanwhile, WXRT continues to push the semi-country acts like The Lumineers, On Monsters and Men, and Mumford and Sons. In the case of The Lumineers and On Monsters and Men, I actually liked their one hit to get played on the air the first million times I heard it, but now, I am so sick of the songs, I turn them off immediately when they come on. (For a station that reportedly is limited to playing a song no more often than 2 times per day, I seem to have the bad luck to be listening when these songs come on. Plus, I hate “sing-songy” songs, which the station has championed for a decade, and is yet another reason that WXRT is for people with no record collection and no need for variety.)
Worst to me are the banjo wielding Brits Mumford and Sons. While the songs have definite hooks, it sounds like pop vocals over Lester Flatt and Earn Scruggs bluegrass from three decades ago. How these Englishmen can about the pseudo-country sound would be interesting if I gave a damn about their music.
So then Tony, I hear you say, were your favorite records of 2012? I’m glad you asked, because I have the answers, and unlike the newspaper writers, I don’t feel the need to educate you on obscure records that they liked but sold 12 copies. Most of the CD’s here are from people you’ve heard of, but unfortunately, only sold 25 copies in most cases. And, due to a tie, there are actually 12 CDs listed here in my “Top 10,” but it’s my list and I can do what I want. In reverse order, here they are:

10. Soundgarden – King Animal: I admit to being excited about the first CD of new music by Soundgarden since 1996 because of their electrifying concert I attended in 2011, but while the heavy, brooding music was there, the hooks weren’t. There was only one song on the CD that I really loved and the rest of the CD was a bit disappointing. But, like I said earlier, it was a disappointing year in music, so it squeaked in at number 10.
9, The Shins – Port of Morrow: I really enjoyed this CD of mid-tempo songs. They weren’t groundbreaking by any means, but I did listen to them quite a bit this year.
8. Jellyfish – Live at Bogarts 1991: I know that I shouldn’t include a live CD from a defunct band released 21 years after the concert (which is why Led Zeppelin’s Celebration Day is not included), but Jellyfish was a California Band whose first CD “Bellybutton” is one of the great unsung power-pop masterpieces. The band broke up after its second CD “Spilt Milk” but I REALLY loved that first CD (I don’t even remember how I found out about them). WhenI heard a company was releasing a live CD from the Bellybutton tour, I needed to get it. They were a great band and the recording was excellent. And the story the band tells about Player trying to get royalties from Jellyfish for “Baby’s Coming Back” as opposed to the saccharine 70’s hit “Baby Come Back” is worth the price of admission.
7. Jack White – Blunderbuss: White’s inadvertent “solo” debut showed his wide selection of styles and influences. Not every song worked, but it was to his credit to take a chance and put them all on one CD.
6. Neil Young and Crazy Horse – America/Psychedelic Pill: once again, this is my list, and Neil Young released 2 different sets with his long time grunge band Crazy Horse. America was the band taking American classic songs and making them their own. Psychedelic Pill was 2 CDs of extended jams. Together, they were among the heaviest and most interesting CDs of the year.
5. Bob Mould – Silver Age: Bob Mould put the electronics away and got back to the heavy rock with hooks that have been his forte since disbanding Husker Du. This is another fine set of songs from one of the greats.
4. Joe Jackson – The Duke: Joe Jackson has always loved Ellington as covers he has recorded have shown, but this set of Ellington covers took awhile to grow on me. But it has; very different instrumentations and arrangements of standards lift this up from standard Ellington cover CDs that hold the old arrangements too sacred to change. (It didn’t hurt that Jackson put on one of the better concerts of the year at the Vic Theater as well.)
3. Bruce Springsteen – Wrecking Ball: Springsteen came up with the populist anthem CD of the year; once again putting the cares and issues of the common man center stage. Dealing with the death of saxophone partner Clarence Clemens, the Springsteen put out some terrific music this time.
2. Passion Pit – Gossamer: just in case you thought that this list would be entirely old acts, I have to admit that this CD snuck up on me. Nowhere have I heard such downbeat lyrics in such upbeat music. Most of the music centers around the battle against depression by Michael Angelakos, but it is disguised behind dance tempos. I took a chance on it due to the “Take A Walk” single, and when I dug deeper, I found it to be well worth it.
1. (tie) Smashing Pumpkins – Oceania and Graham Parker and the Rumour – Three Chords Good: early in the year, there was no CD I played more than Oceania, which is usually the standard I set for myself, but GP’s reunited Three Chords Good is getting as much play in a much shorter period. I admit to have not given up on the Pumpkins’ Billy Corgan, buying the Teagarden special releases, hoping for a return of the Mellon Collie era music. This time, Corgan and his rent-a-band delivered a CD full of the swelling melodies and low-high dichotomy that was in their best work in the 1990s. I loved it.
I admit that putting the GP CD this high on the list is not a surprise, and I admit that GP is a friend of mine. That doesn’t change the fact that the Rumour reunite to highlight more solid songs by GP. Even if he wasn’t my friend, this CD would be on my list for solid songwriting with the acerbic edge we expect from Graham; fine playing by the band (especially keyboardist Bob Andrews’ fills); and the joy in seeing this band together again after 31 years. It was a pleasure.

Well, that’s it for the year in music. I should mention that the only thing that kept M83’s excellent “Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming” off the list was that it was released in 2011. I’d be interested in your thoughts – feel free to contact me at tonyfed1@yahoo.com.

Three-time U.S. Olympian Suzy Favor Hamilton admitted to working as a Las Vegas escort for the past year, reportedly offering her services as recently as Dec. 5 in a secret life that she said only her husband had known about until now.
Ms. Hamilton, 44, who also runs a real estate brokerage firm in Wisconsin with her husband, was once featured in a Nike television commercial, a swimsuit calendar and had more recently been involved in promotional work with Disney. That apparently wasn’t enough – she worked as a call girl in Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Chicago and Houston and she was getting paid upwards of $600 per hour. According to the rates posted on the website of the company she charged $6,000 for a 24-hour period.
Ms. Hamilton, who has a seven-year-old daughter with her husband, competed in the Olympics in 1992, 1996 and 2000 but never medaled. She finished her career at the University of Wisconsin as the most decorated female track-and-field athlete in NCAA history; the Athlete of the Year award for the Big 10 Conference is currently named after her.
She reportedly worked under the name “Kelly Lundy” but she said she often revealed her true identity, including her past life as an Olympic mid-distance runner, to clients who she thought would keep it a secret, an assumption she is now calling “a huge mistake.” Ms. Hamilton says that she takes “full responsibility” for her mistakes:
Ms. Hamilton reportedly has said that depression led her to the world’s oldest profession, but there are so many questions that entered my mind when I read this. First, her husband knew? Was he pimping out his wife? Did the couple need money badly? Next, depression caused this – really? I don’t understand that at all. I know depression personally, and I can see how that would cause prostitution, but to do all of the work to set yourself as a $600/hour escort, I don’t get. Most depressives withdraw and want to disappear, not go out and find a pimping agency to sell yourself on.
I can understand how people would get off on being with a celebrated athlete, because the “hoochie-mamas” do it for much less with male athletes all the time, sometimes in the hope of getting married or pregnant and being set up monetarily. It’s funny, I was channel surfing a day or so ago and stumbled across the film “L.A. Confidential,” and a scene with Russell Crowe and Kim Basinger, who played a prostitute who looked like actress Veronica Lake. I can see men paying to have sex with women who resembled famous movie stars and athletes, but in this case, you get the actual one.
The fall out is coming, and you know it. How long will it take the Big Ten Conference to change the name of its Women’s Athlete of the Year Award? What else is going to happen as a result of this admission? Was Ms. Hamilton being blackmailed by a john who threatened to tell the world, so she came clean first? I still have to ask the family questions – what about the husband? Did they need the money? And, of course, the most important question as someone who also has a seven-year-old daughter, what does this do to her?

The only certainty to sports in the late 20th and early 21st Centuries has been that there will be labor strife. Major League Baseball was the first with labor problems, and for decades, player strikes and ownership lockouts were more the norm than the exception. Then the NBA joined in the “fun,” the NFL actually played most of a season with replacement players. So far, the NHL is the only league that has cancelled an entire season due to a lockout and failure for the owners and players to come to an agreement. (It should be noted however, that baseball, at one time the league with the most contentious labor/management relations has had 25 years of labor peace.)
This, however, is not another complaint about the NHL (although it is tied to it). It just seems to me after former NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue shot down the suspensions in the New Orleans Saints bounty case that the commissioners are becoming more autocratic and this is not necessarily a good thing.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell reportedly came to his own conclusion about the scandal, disregarding the players’ testimony and any conflicting evidence before rendering his decision. Goodell’s predecessor said that the prevailing attitude of the team management and coaches were ultimately at fault, and the players who were involved deserved to be fined, but not suspended, and one of the four players Goodell targeted was exonerated. The players did not serve any of the suspensions since they were appealing the suspensions. Now, even Head Coach Sean Payton, whose full year suspension was due to be reviewed for reinstatement after the Super Bowl, is having his case reviewed early. Goodell said that he disagreed with Tagliabue’s decision, but accepted it.
On top of Goodell’s “judge, jury, executioner” antics, we of course have Gary Bettman, the commissioner of the NHL. After presiding over three lockouts in his tenure, he still seems surprised that the hockey players won’t just roll over, take management’s proposal, and get down on their hands and knees thanking the owners for allowing them to play the game. Baseball’s Bug Selig, while failing on steroids and decisions like making the league that wins the All Star Game have home field advantage during the World Series, has brought the peace I alluded to earlier.
However, the worst offender may now be NBA commissioner David Stern. Stern has been the best commissioner of them all in terms of relative labor peace, growing the business and money, and promoting his sport. But for the past couple of seasons, Stern has been much more dictatorial when it comes to the players. He seems to me as though he is lecturing to the players, not talking to them. He couldn’t get away with that with Bird, Magic, or Jordan, but perhaps as the age gap between the commissioner and the average player has turned into a yawning chasm, Stern has been more like the crotchety grandfather who can’t fathom “what’s going on with kids these days.”
Commissioners are, of course, hired by each league’s owners, and therefore do the bidding of the owners or be fired. Baseball’s “for the betterment of the game clause” that stopped owner lockouts and nixed trades for competitive reasons are as quaint today as mustache cups. However, commissioners have to build ties with the players who are the ones after all that people pay to see. Acting as judgmental autocrats won’t cut it.

I had planned to post some of the stories that follow last Friday, but when word came out of the Newtown, Connecticut massacre, I lost my interest. As you probably know, the Indignant Daughters are 7 and 4 years old, which is the age range of the murdered children, and, like all of those with children, we saw our own worst nightmares come to life: a sick individual and lots of innocent victims.
I am not going to rehash my own gun control or need for improved mental heath arguments here – you can find them elsewhere on the site; there’s enough people doing that already and perhaps some common sense will be applied.
Even five days later as the kids, teachers, and administrators are being buried, I’m just too sad to get up the fighting arguments.