(Insert Japanese Drums in This Post Here)

Here's another example of the term that I love to hate--sports entertainment.

Now that I'm done gagging, I am going to talk about something that you wouldn't think I would ever talk about in a sports blog: reality television. No, really, I am. You would be shocked to see what most critics and writers are considering 'sports' in the world of reality television. In this post, I'm going to talk about an underground sensation that nerds and freerunners all over the country are absolutely gaga about.

 

This structure is known as Mount Midoriyama, a mountain that only the strongest and most determined of competitors have scaled.

This is the passion of the people that take part in what Americans call "Ninja Warrior." Known as SASUKE in Japan, it's a semi-annual competition in which 100 men (sometimes women) attempt to complete three obstacle courses in a specific time to reach Mt. Midoriyama and scale it to become champion. It started about fifteen years ago and began American broadcasts on the G4 network a couple of years ago.

Since the beginning of the American broadcasts, it has gained a following among different American athletes. Even U.S. Olympic gymnasts Paul and Morgan Hamm have taken part in the competition. In the past three years, numerous American freerunners (those parkour guys) have taken the competition by storm, impressing even the big guys known as the "SASUKE All Stars" of the competition. Now, a newer "Mt. Midoriyama" has been built...for American competitors in Las Vegas called American Ninja Warrior.

How do I know this?

It was on NBC this week, all with cheesy music, graphics, and an even cheesier announce team.

The kicker among all of this is when I haven't seen an ounce of advertising for it. I stumbled across the darned thing by accident. That's how much I think NBC Universal actually cares about it. Remember the revamp of American Gladiators? I'm surprised that lasted as long as it did, brother! Basically, they have four regions in which competitors do a full obstacle course, and the top fifteen competitors go to Vegas to compete for $500,000 and the title of American Ninja Warrior.

But anyway, to my point....

Japan is definitely known for having a crazy niche of having some crazy ideas that have a tendency to work in American markets. (NINTENDO. That is all.) The world of reality television has indeed taken a priority in American markets over the past fifteen years, as most are cheaper in budget as opposed to sitcoms, and most have a particular draw: ridiculous concepts that people will actually subject themselves to in order to get money and fame. Shows like Survivor and The Amazing Race have been on television for years and years and years because of their uniqueness and their capability to draw people to see different sides of humanity when it comes to survival (and the reward of money, of course).

In the case of SASUKE, it's an athletic competition that not only gets the draw from seeing physical feats, but watching people from comedians and celebrities, to fishermen, college students, and law enforcement officers take part in this.

That's pretty much the only place where the similarities are: the draws.

The main difference in which something like this won't fly in the United States is that athletic/survival competitions are really a thing of the past. The only reality TV shows that exist on American sets (aside from game shows like Jeopardy and The Price is Right) now have to do with either dancing, singing, fashion, weddings, New Jersey, or Kim Kardashian. Japan is a smaller country in which they enjoy competition in their programming, especially when it involves an Average Joe doing some hidden talent for all of their people to see.

It's sad that I don't think that American Ninja Warrior will do well as far as ratings go, but like I just said, the concept is kind of old and it's been dying a slow and painful death for several years. Plus, the advertising hasn't been great at all. Do I think something like this is a cool concept? Definitely yes. The reason being is that it's something different for people from different academic and athletic fields to come and show off their hidden talents and athleticism. Heck, maybe stuff like this would aid in the obesity problem because people would go: "I wanna do that" or something else. It would also make the audience appreciate the people who do lower-class jobs a lot more. I just don't think this is what America wants right now, which is sad.

Seriously guys, YouTube some of the SASUKE competitions or watch it on G4. This stuff is surprisingly fun to watch.

Makoto Nagano, a fisherman who won in 2006. Mad respect for this guy.

It's entertaining, and since it requires some sort of athleticism, it is considered a sport in it's own respect. Too bad most Americans have turned a blind eye to it so far.

--AZ

Red Whines: "Old School" is on Life Support

This post is dedicated to Cole Hamels' utter stupidity.

Alright, you want to make a statement? Are you trying to do something totally illegal and get away with it? 

Okay....just make sure that you play the role.
Somebody obviously didn't get that memo.
Hi, Cole Hamels.

The story began in the first inning of the Phillies/Nationals game on Sunday night. Mister Hamels plunked the angst-y teenager Bryce Harper in the back, attempting to make a statement--what kind of statement, nobody is really sure of at this time. Here's the moment that I'd like to call the "facepalm moment." After the game, Hamels' said this (per phillyburbs.com):

"I was trying to hit him," Hamels said. "I'm not going to deny it. I'm not trying to injure the guy. They're probably not going to like me for it, but I'm not going to say I wasn't trying to do it. I think they understood the message, and they threw it right back. That's the way, and I respect it."

What.

 

That was one of the quotes where you just wanted to step through the television as soon as you hear the quote and just smack the person silly. Yes, I'm a self-professed Phillies fan, but in a neutral state of mind, I still wanted to beat the living crap out of him for admitting that. Because of his "manliness--"err, stupidity, MLB slammed a five-game suspension on his pretty-boy behind. You know it's bad when the rest of the team has a hard time backing him up and skipper Charlie Manuel admitted that saying that was the absolute dumbest thing possible.

You see, there's that unspoken rule where you just pretend that the ball somehow left your hand and just happened to hit somebody. You know...an accident? That's like me when I play Duck Hunt and just happen to shoot that stupid annoying dog and just explain to everyone around me that I just happen to have terrible aim and hit the dogs instead of the ducks. Anyway, you just don't talk about that stuff, most especially if it's on the record. There's no such thing as being a "tough guy" when it comes to that stuff; you just look like a tool. Yes, I said it. A TOOL.

(This is where the post title kicks in, in case you were wondering.)

He (somewhere in the media) stated something about "bringing back the old school" in what he did. Apparently everybody did that back then. Really? Everybody? I didn't know that Jackie Robinson was still attempting to break the color barrier there, Cole. This is a different age. From what I know, "old school" sports have been in hospice care and on life support since the birth of social networking. Back then, you only really knew what you read in the papers or saw on the television or what you heard on the radio. Now, you don't have that barrier to really cloak the mystery and pure talent that those gentlemen had in years past. Today, I could probably tweet to Jimmy Rollins saying that he's still a fast son-of-a-gun and have him respond back with a "thank you" or something. Twenty years ago, I would just marvel at it and wish to be him. Back in the day, tough guys were tough guys--no questions asked. Today, you hear a lot of "athletes" whine and complain on Twitter over their team or their wives cheating on them (Hey Lito and Jabar, how ya' doin'?) and they just seem like equals, or--if you're classier--completely foolish individuals. This "tough guy" line is blurred, and the "old school" is in this vegetative state that will eventually die when the generations that aren't technologically illiterate die out. Frankly, because we know a lot of the personal lives of athletes, they don't have that mysterious allure to them that the "old school" had. Believe me, I would love to see the old school ways come back, but it's never going to happen. People are a little too public in this global village nowadays.

In my view, there is nothing "old school" about purposely hitting someone. In fact, it's classless and it makes the team (let alone the city) look worse than it actually is. This could actually be the reason why all national broadcasters hate the city of Philadelphia to begin with. One little thing can really screw things up for a team/city/franchise. And "making a statement" like that will put that extra nail in the coffin. That's not cool, guys. It really isn't.

In conclusion, Cole Hamels wasn't exactly smart about this, and now he's paying the price for his stupidity. Hopefully this teaches all of the idiots out there a lesson to keep their mouths shut, yes?

--AZ

Saint: The Bounty Hunter

Saints Head Coach Sean Payton has been suspended without pay during the 2012-2013 season, starting today.

...and Bountygate continues!

To be honest, I really wasn't thinking about writing about the whole New Orleans Saints-bounty paying controversy, but this one fell in my lap for a few reasons:
1) It's like the Black Sox, but with a different spin on it.
2) It reminded me of Mr. T.
3) How did something as awkward as this slip through the system?

We'll explore each one of those points--well, #2 not so much because well, you can't explain that--in relatively brief statements.

I'm hoping that most of you have heard about the Black Sox controversy at some point in your life. If not, Wikipedia can help you. At that point, sports were a pretty clean slate, and there wasn't anything involving betting on or fixing the game to change the outcome. This scandal really set the bar for betting in sports and showing how incredibly nasty betting could be when it isn't monitored. The result of the scandal eventually led to eight men (actually more men outside of the team were suspended because they had knowledge of this) being banned from baseball forever because of accepting these actions. After knowing what happened here, do you think that the upcoming suspensions of coaches, team owners, and players could lead to something more serious?

After much though, I think I might actually go into number 2. The whole 'pain' thing? That's sort of what this is all about. The players were actually paid to go out and seriously injure the other team. That's a huge no-no in my book and in many other people's books. I bet if they did stuff like that for young girls' sports teams, I wouldn't be alive right now. That's just inappropriate and unacceptable. The main reason why the NFL actually found out about this whole bounty thing is that Gregg Williams, the Saints' former defensive coordinator, was the man involved in an audio leak mentioning this whole debacle. Since the NFL voluntary workouts begin today, people are beginning to wonder whether players will begin suffering the penalties as well. Usually the release of the season schedule (which occurs around this time) will bring out the "new law," as it were, from Goodie himself.

Finally, how on earth did this go on unnoticed as long as it did? This actually doesn't beat the heck out of me. When you think about it, all defensive players go out on the field looking like they're ready to kill the quarterback. That's why the alleged "targeting" of Brett Favre looked normal in the NFC Championship game in 2010. That's why the other alleged targeting looked normal too. This case isn't a question of who was involved with the actual bounty or not, since this was going on with the uninvolved party having knowledge that this was going on behind the scenes. In fact, there have been allegations beginning in the 2009 season. Holy. Crap. Goodie was obviously not in a good mood after hearing about this and how long it's been going on, because he not only suspended Sean Payton for the 2012-2013 season, but he has suspended Williams (who has moved on from the Saints) indefinitely, and even suspended their interim coach (Joe Vitt) for several games next season....

The Saints had to surrender draft picks starting after the first round.

WHOAAAAA

Yes. This could only get worse, my friends. And it could start this week. The fact that this stuff is worse that anything we have ever seen--most notably on the professional level--will mean that we are going to be seeing punishments and penalties never seen before. Is is safe to say I'm looking forward to it in the curious way? I'd hate to see some people get punished even though they weren't directly involved with it, but this is a case where you need to know the consequences for any kind of infraction.

Enjoy your week...for now.

--AZ

Red Whines: Why Filters are Always Necessary

(Per ESPN.com: Miami Marlins head coach Ozzie Guillen has been suspended for five games, effective immediately.)

This, and another topic have brought me out of school-induced hiatus. Both involve massive amounts of stupidity. However, I think this one takes the cake as far as stupidity goes.

For those who follow baseball, people already know about Ozzie Guillen. He's a open guy, and he will definitely speak his mind if you give him that inch. Heck, you should know enough of that if you follow him on Twitter.

With that said, if he as a head coach was traded, then you know that there's some sort of catch to this smelly fish. He's been infamous for saying loopy things in the past, especially to the point where co-workers even get pale in the face out of embarrassment. Our newest embarrassing comments include none other than Cuban ex-dictator Fidel Castro.

"I bullcrap, therefore, I am." -- He never said that, but c'mon...

Okay, he just stepped into a pile of Communism.

Paraphrased, what Guillen basically said that he praised Fidel Castro for his work as a leader.

WHAT.

Okay. He REALLY stepped in it this time.

Seriously? I understand that we're a free country and everything, but you also have to realize that Communism is still somewhat taboo all around the world--ESPECIALLY in the United States. Here's another sucker: WELCOME TO THE STATE OF FLORIDA: A REGION WITH A HUGE HISPANIC AND CUBAN PPOPULATION. Wow. You cannot blame senility on this one, Señor Guillen. It's time to buy a filter.

There are just times (in my honest opinion) where apologizing isn't going to do much good. Especially when it involves you being in a sport that is played by a lot of Cubans. Those Cubans were at one time or another a part of that Castro era of Communism. It's almost as if you're pointing a finger or two at them for letting Castro wreak his havoc on the island. It also doesn't help matters when Cuba has the capability of inducing chemical warfare. Okay, I might have taken that a bit too far, but still, it was pretty darned stupid to say something like that.

Was the suspension right? Yeah, from a media standpoint it definitely was. For the average layperson, it's either a suspension or a fine that will bring "justice." However, this never really stopped him from saying else incredibly inappropriate or harebrained. That's where buying the filter comes in. We understand the need for honesty in some cases, but when it comes to taboo, please, for the love of Peter, no. I understand that Twitter can be used for the people that just have the small comment to make on something small on TV. But like...the lack of filter even shows on there. It doesn't look good either if you're a well-known name. You just keep digging that hole for yourself and then nobody feels like dealing with you.

"I'm very sorry."
Oh...I guess that'll make it all better. YouTube and ESPN and everyone else will have to erase everything they've said and posted about you.

Ugh. Silly people saying silly things.

--AZ

Tebowhipping Boy

Oh man. You have no idea how mad I am right now. I could possibly call John Elway every name in the book right now but I won't do that because I'm a lady and I'm super classy.

Even though Andrew considers me a "Tim Tebow hater," that's untrue in every way. I respect the heck out of the guy. I also have a ton respect for him taking this Peyton Manning thing so well. As you all know Peyton Manning just received a #18 jersey in blue and orange today, and he also got a big fat contract to boot.

Oh yeah, he must be taking this reeeeeeal well.
Or isn't he?
As far as we know, he's a pretty humble and modest guy. But seriously, how would one feel when your job as a starting quarterback was just taken from you and gift-wrapped to some guy that wasn't wanted by his old team because of a nagging injury?

We would expect to be like this:

PEYYYYYYTOOOOOOONNNNN!!!!!

Here is the next question for him: Now what?
There has been a great deal of speculation of Tebow possibly going elsewhere among these times of what you would call the "Julius Caesar treatment." [F'real, Elway, you were five days late.] There have been rumors of calls from Green Bay, Jacksonville, Miami, and New York for the man already, and well...I can't say that I blame them. After making such a great showing last year with the Broncos--a team that doesn't have any big names except on defense--you could get a pretty strong showing and quite a pretty penny out of this guy.

With that said, the 'pretty penny' might also be a bad thing that would not work in Tebow's favor in the least bit. If we played the game "What Would John Elway Do," there could be a team that would get him in a trade and then trade him again for other fun-looking players that are available. This philosophy is exactly what I thought of when I saw Green Bay flashing interest in the QB. I thought, "What? They have Aaron Rodgers, for Goodell's sake--oh wait...bait." Oh yes, the 'ole bait and switch technique that many nerds will use in their card game tournaments. Sure, it's gonna make the traded guy look crappy, but look at the team! No. No no no no. Seventeen more no's. If you're doing that stuff to a guy who had a pristine college career, excellent showings at combines and training camps as well as in the regular NFL season, you're obviously doing it wrong.

This form of technical warfare is really making people scratch their heads. They had a quarterback, and why did they go for the older, but injury-ridden man? You could say that people were somewhat asking this when Brett Favre made his second and third comebacks in years past. Okay, I know that Brett had his best year at the age of 40, but this is completely different. Peyton has had neck problems for over a year now. If you had to choose to replace one quarterback to get a veteran to improve on the team, who would it be: Tim Tebow or Chad Pennington? Answer that question yourself.

The most fascinating thing among all of this is that Tebow is nowhere to be found amid all of the progression of this saga. Really. I mean, I felt absolutely bad for Manning when he couldn't play last year, and I really wanted him to go back to Indy to shut some people up, but when you walk into territory that was marked by someone else who was quoted (in my case paraphrased) as "someone who will be the starter next season," you get pulled on either end of the spectrum like you're Stretch Armstrong.

Here's John Elway's lovely quote [Thanks, ESPN!]:
"Tim Tebow's a great kid. If I want someone to marry my daughter, it's him," Elway said Tuesday. "Tim is a great football player, but with the opportunity that presented itself here, we had to take advantage of that." 


WHAT?! What opportunity? Tebow was practically flashing his rear end at you, and you just trashed him like you're in charge of a fantasy team that just absolutely blew last year! If I may add on to that outburst, he just trashed Tebow like he was a "n00b" because Peyton Manning is a bigger name. I shake my head in your general direction. That's just...foul.

Now that everything is said and done within the Broncos organization, I hope that Tebow finds a good team and has the opportunity to rough up the guys that let him go. I know certain kinds of revenge may be considered sinful, but all's fair in football and war. I mean, most of us expected this to happen in some way, and we knew just by the unsure disposition that the Broncos organization had had almost the whole time with Tebow in the lead, no faith existed in the front office. Personally, I knew Tebow was going to be Shanghaied, and people were going to get greedy. I know I'm an armchair analyst, but humor me on the fact that I saw it coming a month ago.

I'm looking forward to the next episode of a very special "Bronco," aren't you?

[Watch him go to the Eagles or something. That would be...interesting.]

--AZ

TERRIBLE TWOS - SNB TURNS TWO

On this fateful day back in 2010...

...I had the harebrained scheme of starting this thing. And I stuck with it. How did that happen? I don't know. Maybe it was meant to be or something.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SPORTS NUT BLOGS!

I hope this is Jewish Apple Cake. That's like, the best cake that's ever existed.

I'd like to thank all of the readers who have been coming in over the past two years (over 5,000 views, which is nice) and supporting the blog every step along the way. It's heartwarming and really therapeutic because when I have so much stuff to do for school, I end up writing about two posts in here or so. It's not a constant thing, but I have my reasons for not writing in here all the time--school takes top priority, and y'all can agree with me on that one.

Again, thanks for all of your support. Buying the pampers for this thing was not easy. Here's to another year of blogging excellence harebrained posts!

I am such a good mom.

--AZ

Hello, Media's Next Whipping Boy.

The NFL season is over. Tim Tebow is safe from ridiculous media rushes.

Unfortunately, this leaves more room for someone else to get this onslaught of treatment.

I'm talking to you, Jeremy Lin.

"....well, crap." (DISCLAIMER: He never said this...well, in this context.)

In what may be the biggest Cinderella story in this short NBA season, Lin has gone from undrafted, to signed yet inactive, to released, to signed and nearly released again, and then become a starter for a suffering Knicks team. Now, the Taiwanese Typhoon (I'M COINING THIS. I NEED MONEY.) is rocking the whole league with 'Linsanity.' He's been putting up massive numbers every game, and now he's been invited to the NBA All-Star Game for his efforts.

Good going, dude. If you're overshadowing Carmelo Anthony, then there's something going on with you.

Of course, there will be the cases in which media outlets are going to go past his career. Let's admit, this was bound to happen once the guy made a name for himself. He's a Haavad graduate (or Harvard in case if you don't get any kind of jokes), and... he's Christian and wants to become a pastor someday. Let the Tim Tebow comparisons and arguments commence, right? It's going to drive me nuts because it's a stupid thing to make news out of, if you know what I mean. If he wants to do that stuff, good for him, but the whole entire world doesn't have to know about it at this very time.
___________________________________________

It's as if once you're a prodigy at something, it's a no-holds-barred struggle to make you and your whole life a brand and complete public knowledge. Some athletes probably won't mind it and ultimately turn a blind eye to it, but it's that whole Big Brother thing rearing the ugly head at people that want to have a prominent career in something. The Internet is driving this, and well, I'm a poor example of it because I'm exploiting this poor guy on here. I'd like to say that I'm more or less "defending him" because he's a young guy with a potential to have an illustrious career, and he's getting smothered with this stuff now.
I'm not in this business [not yet anyway]...I'm allowed to express disgust, right?

All I really care about is watching Lin play. Everything about his personal life should be set aside once he steps foot on the court. Last time I checked, sports was all about talents, not about his home life and his religious denomination. That's just media slop at it's finest. But really, I need to watch him play a game. I've heard the name several times over the past two weeks and I need to experience this 'hype' firsthand.
____________________________________________

--AZ

(In other news, I'm awaiting to see if Andrew answers my question of whether Lin or Tebow would win in a fight to the death. Seriously, somebody book this for Wrestlemania. It would be bigger than John Cena vs. Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson).