Mishmash

I want to make only one comment about the death of Medina Spirit – the Kentucky Derby winner back in May of this year – at Santa Anita earlier this week.  After the horse collapsed, vets took samples of hair, blood and urine to assist in the determination of the cause of death.  Please recall that blood samples – and presumably urine samples too – were taken back in May after the Derby and those tests showed positive results for betamethasone which is a banned substance.  The retesting of a separate sample and the adjudication of that matter remains “a work in progress”.  Please do not hold your breath until there is a result of this postmortem and if you want to be suspicious about the findings, go with it; the horseracing stewards have given you ample latitude for skepticism.

Antonio Brown – along with teammate Mike Edwards – has been suspended for 3 games by the NFL for acquiring and presenting a false vaccination record to the team and the league.  The players are not going to appeal the suspensions and the NFLPA was part of the investigation/adjudication processes.  I read one report that said that a forgery of a record that included the seal of the CDC was a Federal crime; I have no idea if that is correct, but it does seem reasonable.  On the assumption that is correct:

• Antonio Brown and Mike Edwards get 3 games off (without pay) for endangering the health of others, lying to league officials and possibly violating Federal law.
• Tom Brady got 4 games off (without pay) for allegedly underinflating a football.
• Got that…?

A week or so ago Vikings’ DE, Everson Griffen was in an armed standoff with police in Minnesota at his home.  He said someone was in his house trying to kill him; he was armed and ready to defend himself.  Police found no evidence of any intruder and after a lengthy standoff, Griffen was taken into custody and taken for a psych evaluation.  The results of that evaluation are in; Everson Griffen suffers from bipolar syndrome.  Taking his statement regarding the results of the evaluation at face value, Griffen may be on a path to managing his condition:

“It’s true; I am bipolar.  I will embrace it and I will be an advocate for mental health.  I been running from it a long time. I’m not ashamed of it anymore. It all started when my mother passed away. Went into a dark place, thought I was great for many years. I promise this time I will do everything the experts say and my wife. I love my family and I miss my friends. Thank you for all the love and support, but most of all thank you for all the prayers.”

Griffen is on the “reserve/non-football illness list” at the moment with no reports as to when he might return to the Vikings active roster.  The Vikings can use his presence and his pass-rushing skills as they scramble for a wildcard slot in the NFC playoffs.  He is not the first defensive end associated with the Vikings to suffer from bipolar disorder.

About 20 years ago, the Vikes drafted Dimitrius Underwood, a DE from Michigan State in the first round of the draft.  Underwood walked out of training camp a day or so after signing his rookie contract and said that he could not play football and be true to his Christian faith.  Later that year, he cut his throat and was running down the street when apprehended by police and put into protective custody; he too was diagnosed with bipolar syndrome.  Underwood has been in and out of jail and/or hospitalization since he left pro football.  I hope that Everson Griffen deals more positively with his affliction than Dimitrius Underwood did.

In recent years, the NBA faced the issue of “load management” for players; many fans felt they were victims of “bait and switch” when they paid premium prices for tix to see top-shelf stars when they came to their town to play the locals and then the top-shelf stars simply showed up in street clothes and sat on the bench.  Load management is still happening, but it seems to have become sufficiently mainstream that fans are not as exercised over it as before.  However, there is a new NBA phenomenon this year:

• Healthy star players who never play for their teams by mutual consent.

Ben Simmons does not want to play for the Sixers and the Sixers seem not overly anxious to find a way to get him to want to play for the team.  The team has suspended him and fined him; his salary is in escrow until he returns to action – – whatever that might mean in this circumstance.  Fans who go to see the Sixers – – in Philly or elsewhere – – will not see Ben Simmons in a Sixers’ uniform even sitting at the end of the bench.

John Wall wants to be traded from the Rockets and the Rockets want to trade him.  That seems like a solvable situation, no?  Well, Wall’s super-max contract along with the fact that he is still recovering from a devastating leg injury gives other teams sufficient pause when it comes to handing over a bounty to the Rockets.  (Wall will make $44M this year and $47M next year on that deal.)  And the Rockets are not interested in giving Wall away for a bag of beans.  So, when fans go to see the Rockets play, they get to see John Wall in street clothes sitting on or very near the team bench so as not to risk any sort of reinjury to that damaged leg.

Those situations are not a good image for the NBA nor is this a brand-new phenomenon.  Last year, the Thunder sat Al Horford down at the end of the bench and did not use him late in the season with the clear intention of trading him once the season was over.  Horford went to the Celtics in the off-season but fans who paid full price for a Thunder ticket late last year did not get to see the best team the Thunder could put on the floor.

I do not know what the solution is here, but it does seem to me that teams like the Rockets this year and the Thunder last year are not trying to win games as a priority and that tarnishes “the integrity of the game”.  This is a problem for the NBA and the NBPA to address and resolve.

Finally, a definition from The Official Dictionary of Sarcasm:

“Ikea:  A retail furniture warehouse whose motto is ‘Here you freakin’ build it.’”

But don’t get me wrong, I love sports………