Hey Tony.  I read your column about EA Sports. I’m a stickler for EA Sports games, getting the games you don’t get (Madden NFL, NBA Live, NCAA Football, Tiger Woods PGA Tour, even NCAA MVP Baseball once, and Arena Football once) and not getting the games you get (NHL). Looking at the end, of your article, saying “PSP owners, you’re not important”, you’re about half right.  People aren’t really important to EA Sports (I’ll be surprised if they replied to your e-mail). When it comes to the games I get, I usually get the PS2 versions since there’s different modes that aren’t in the PS3 versions. While they are working on the next-gen versions of a few games, they usually shelve (or put zero effort into) all the current-gen versions, meaning the PSP version, if it gets any thought of being made,  gets shelved, and in turn, those versions are usually crappy. The sad thing about EA Sports is the fact that the quality of a few games have been crappy since around 2000, maybe 2002. This is before EA almost monopolized the sporting world with their exclusivity deals (which I don’t get) and well before the next-gen systems hit the market. They’re all about money with crappy results, and their effort and priorities speak volumes in recent stories about EA looking to acquire Take-Two Interactive, the company responsible for one of the biggest and controversial games of the year, Grand Theft Auto IV, and additionally preventing EA from monopolizing the sports world by getting MLB exclusivity rights. Just to give you an idea how much they pay attention to people, many people year in, year out wish that EA Sports takes care of the glitches in their NBA Live games (i.e. people dunking through the very back of the backboard, much smaller players blocking much bigger players), as well complaints in regards to the numerical rating of certain (Greg Oden’s rating of 79 in NBA Live 08) Unfortunately, they never listened to anyone’s complaints, and now I’m having second thoughts about picking up this game again. So, honestly, instead of “EA Sports – It’s In The Game“, it should be “EA Sports – We Don’t Give A ****)

I guess Tiger Woods fount something to do while rehabilitating his injured knee. It was announced today that Woods’ wife Erin is expecting their second child. As someone who is expecting his own second baby, I congratulate them and hope that all goes well.
So, I’m sure does the PGA. It’s no wonder that Tiger posted on his web site a week or two ago that his schedule for 2009 may be “limited.” The PGA and the networks I’m sure, want him back sooner rather than later.

I really should go into the talent evaluation business. I could have saved the University of Pittsburgh a ton of money, not to mention many losses and embarrassments by telling them three years ago that Dave Wannstedt was a terrible football head coach. I know he’s an alum and was an NFL coordinator and head football coach, but it’s time to face facts: Wannie is a terrible head coach.
Wannstedt burst onto the scene as Dallas’ defensive coordinator under Jimmy Johnson and winning three Super Bowls made the coaches and coordinators prime candidates for promotion. Wannstedt came to the Chicago Bears, replacing icon Mike Ditka. It was time for a change; Ditka led the Bears to its only Super Bowl championship, but his “tough guy” act had played out, and admittedly, for a team built on great defense, Wannstedt was the logical choice.
The Bears responded, making the playoffs in Wannstedt’s rookie season, but then, the offense got worse and it was too much for the defense to overcome. The final blow was giving up a top first round draft choice to Seattle for quarterback Rick Mirer. Mirer was just like his last head coach – came out of Notre Dame and played well, but the league caught up with him and exposed his weaknesses.
Wannstedt left, but hooked up with Johnson again when he left the television booth and returned to the sidelines with his hometown Miami Dolphins, replacing another legend, Don Shula. But Johnson didn’t have the drive to be a coach anymore, so Wannstedt ended up as head coach of the Dolphins. This began what has turned into a game of musical chairs in South Florida – since Shula held the job for two decades, I believe that there have been five or six men to act as head coach since then.
Although there were no NFL teams calling, Wannstedt wasn’t out of work long – he was hired by his alma mater as head football coach. I said to all that would listen, that Wannstedt would be an even worse college coach than pro coach because Wannstedt isn’t a teacher – no one ever improved their performance on his Bear and Dolphin units and I was right. Wannstedt’s Pitt teams have gone 16-19, and the program that was once the home of Ditka, Dan Marino, Tony Dorsett, the late Craig “Ironhead” Heyward, or even Chris Doleman or current Arizona Cardinals standout wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald, is now an afterthought.
I don’t know what the collective sportswriters of the nation were thinking because they rated Pitt number 25th in the AP preseason poll (but the coaches knew better – Pitt was unranked in their poll). Maybe they thought that Marino had some eligibility left, because I knew it was only a matter of time before Wannie’s team would blow it. Who knew it would be on the first weekend? Pitt came into last Saturday’s game against Bowling Green a 13½-point favorite but lost 27-17 and Pitt has won just five of its last 18 games under Wannstedt, forcing the school’s Athletic Director, Steve Pederson to issue a public vote of confidence. “In these situations, nobody’s more disappointed than Dave and our team at the results of the game,” athletic director Steve Pederson said, according to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. “But I also know there isn’t any group that’s going to work harder to get us back on track than Dave and his coaches and the team. For Dave, this isn’t really a job, this is a passion. He’s dedicated to building a winning program here and he has all of our support as he works at that.”
You can work as hard as you like, but we can’t build an atom smasher. I at least, don’t have the knowledge. In other words, I would be inept at that job. The same thing applies here – Wannstedt is inept as a coach. I have a close friend who once owned a car dealership who became very close to Wannstedt in his Bear tenure, and he says that Wannstedt is a nice guy. Well, you know where nice guys finish.

In a surprise move (at least publicly) my least favorite sportswriter, Jay Mariotti resigned from the Chicago Sun-Times yesterday. He reportedly said that when he saw the number of reporters covering the Olympics for Internet outlets, he realized that the print newspaper is dead and he will be looking to write for these outlets. (Unfortunately, Mariotti is not giving up his television jobs.)
This shows the kind of stupid logic that this little man brought to his column every day. Yes, newspapers are in serious trouble; all one has to do is look at the layoffs coming from media conglomerates, particularly the rival Chicago Tribune. But, how much money does he think is out there for the writers? The ones that have both an internet and print following make money, but most bloggers do so for little money; for the love of sport, the need to be heard, and potentially making money like the big blog sites do (like yours truly).
For the wind-sock, who hardly ever attended a live game, just sat on his ass and made up inflammatory columns, often contradicting the previous day’s column/opinion, who does he think will pay money to read his feeble meanderings? (And I promise you, Gentle Reader, that he would have to pay me a sum close to the Gross National Product of the U.S. to post on my site.)
I remember when Skip Bayless left his Dallas paper and was going to write on his own blog site that people would subscribe to; before too long, he was back writing for newspapers, and reporting on ESPN. Maybe one of the major sites will want to pick up Mariotti’s column, but more likely, he will just fade back into the shadows, the print version of a sports shock jock whose station just changed its format to Country and Western. In other words, I won’t miss him, and the Sun-Times just became a classier paper overnight.

Golf doesn’t have the greatest history of being inclusive, but usually, it’s the men’s game that is primarily known for excluding people for race, religion and gender. But, in this equal-opportunity 21st Century world, the women are showing that they can be as exclusive and short-sighted as anyone.
On the same day that the Republican Party platform committee announced that one plank in the platform would be for English to be established as this country’s official language, the LPGA announced that it will require players to speak English starting in 2009. Players who already have had their tour cards for two years face suspension if they can’t pass an oral evaluation of English skills, and the rule is effective immediately for new players.
“Why now? Athletes now have more responsibilities and we want to help their professional development,” deputy commissioner Libba Galloway told The Associated Press. “There are more fans, more media and more sponsors. We want to help our athletes as best we can succeed off the golf course as well as on it.”
Yeah, right. It really makes a lot of difference which language you speak while hitting a little white ball with a stick to drive it into a little cup. There are 121 international players from 26 countries on the LPGA Tour, including 45 players from South Korea who are particularly worried despite attending a mandatory meeting last Wednesday. The South Koreans are worried that rather than being suspended, failure to pass the English test will mean that the LPGA will take away their cards.
Angela Park, born in Brazil of South Korean heritage and raised in the United States, said the policy is fair and good for the tour and its international players. “A lot of Korean players think they are being targeted, but it’s just because there are so many of them,” Park reportedly told Golf Magazine.
Seon-Hwa Lee, the only Asian with multiple victories this year, works with an English tutor to improve her English. She is quoted as saying “The economy is bad, and we are losing sponsors,” Lee said. “Everybody understands.” However, the LPGA has not officially given a reason for the new policy. Ms. Galloway denied that the move was based on sponsors and said interest in the tour has never been stronger.
So, which is it? Is the LPGA worried about losing sponsors, or is it just bigoted and racist? Should it matter what language a person speaks as long as they can play the game? Basketball has learned this lesson. Baseball has certainly learned. Why can’t golf?

Get over it! Hillary Clinton ran a sloppy, unorganized campaign for president this year and lost to a better organized Barrack Obama. And yet, all I hear are polls saying that only 50% of Clinton supporters are ready to back the Democratic nominee, with 21 % defecting to McCain and the rest undecided.
Talk about cutting off your nose to spite your face! Senator McCain has a 0 rating from proponents of reproductive freedom, and today the Republican National Committee released its platform which takes an even harder line on abortion than before. Senator Obama has high marks from pro-choice groups; has openly supported gender equity in pay and benefits. This is much more that Senator McCain or any Republican has ever done, but many of the Clinton supporters, many of them women, are ready to support a man who clearly doesn’t have their best interests at heart or worse, sit out the election entirely because they are in the midst of a hissy fit.
Obama won the nomination, and he chose Senator Joe Biden. I’ve always liked Biden, but I’ve always felt that he was too honest for the electorate. But he has more foreign policy experience than McCain (truth be told), and helps make Obama more palatable to working class white families. Too many of them dislike Mrs. Clinton, and after the way the Clintons’ not-so-subtly played the race card when it was obvious that she was losing the race, I don’t trust her. One of the things that make Senator Obama so appealing is the prospect of real change in Washington. Sen. Clinton is too entrenched in the old way of doing things, that I don’t think she would be an agent of real change. Some say the same of Sen. Biden, but I think he can change much more easily than Mrs. Clinton.
So, Senator Clinton takes the stage tonight at the Democratic National Convention, and many pundits are saying that her speech will make a big difference on how her supporters vote in November. Well, I hope it’s one helluva speech, but realistically, if Hillary’s supporters are that shallow, the country’s in deeper s@$t than we think. People are saying that we Obama supporters are blinded by the cult of personality, but if the roles were reversed, most of Sen. Obama’s supporters would back Mrs. Clinton because she is more progressive in her views than Old Man McCain.
So, like a small child, let’s end our tantrum and support and vote for the person who has our best interests at heart. If they don’t do that; I have a feeling that Susan B. Anthony is going to be twirling in her grave.

No matter who it is, there are always good and bad things that can be said when someone dies. Most of the time, we push back the bad and accentuate the good, if nothing else than as respect for the deceased and his/her family. However, I guess that this is much more difficult when the person in question has had a large and profound impact on something. That is certainly the case with Gene Upshaw.
Upshaw died this morning as a result on pancreatic cancer at the age of 63, and it can truly be said that he had an impact on football on and off-the-field. He truly lived in a time of great change: he graduated from Texas A&I and was drafted by the Oakland Raiders with its first round pick in the first combined AFL-NFL draft. Upshaw anchored the Raiders’ offensive line at guard from 1967 until his retirement in 1981. Along with tackle Art Shell, Upshaw protected Raider QBs all those years, from Daryl “The Mad Bomber” Lamonica and George Blanda to Ken Stabler and Jim Plunkett. Raider teams with Upshaw went to three Super Bowls, winning two of them, and once his career ended, he was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1987.
But it was off the field where his shadow was greatest. Upshaw took a keen interest in the business of the sport, participating as a member of the bargaining committee for the NFLPA throughout his playing days. After his retirement, he took over as NFLPA executive director in June 1983. Upshaw led the players union through a strike in 1987 and years of anti-trust litigation against the league, including a brief period in which the NFLPA became a professional association rather than a union. The union eventually accepted a salary cap in return for free agency. Ultimately, the Union got a bigger share of league revenues because of the deal.
In fact, the deal was so good that the owners opted out of the deal last season, and the coming labor strife was a rare black cloud over the NFL. Over the next 16 months, the union and the league had some very serious negotiation to do, a situation that will be hampered by the loss of Upshaw.
However, Upshaw has been under fire for some time with some 325 retired players from the AFL and NFL came forward with accounts of being given minimal disability benefits. Chicago legend Mike Ditka was one of the leaders in trying to get the NFLPA and league to provide more support to former players, but Upshaw, despite being a former player himself, copped out, saying that the former players weren’t his constituency sine they no longer had voting power within the union. In light of this and concern for the future negotiations, Baltimore Ravens kicker Matt Stover had been leading an effort to oust Upshaw as the NFLPA executive director, even e-mailing a plan last April to fellow player representatives to have a new union boss in place by March 2009.
How does one look upon such a man at the end of his life? A man who took his talent off the field, and parlayed it into a position of authority in the game itself. Here is a man who helped the NFL grow into the monopolistic, multi-billion dollar cash machine that it is today, and the players have benefited to multi-million dollar salaries. But, on the other hand, here is a man who may have willfully neglected those same players once their playing days were over.
Gene Upshaw was a multifaceted man who lived and impacted the events in a turbulent era. We certainly will not see his like again: good or bad.