I am sure you have read about Sean “Diddy” Combs’ arrest in California on charges that he assaulted an assistant UCLA football coach with a kettlebell at a practice there. Evidently, the coach had been yelling at Diddy’s son who is a DB on the team and things escalated from there. Diddy is out on bail and his PR folks released a statement saying that Diddy was merely trying to defend himself in the matter. This is a tempest in a teapot but it does boil itself down to a very simple question:
Diddy do it – – or not?
My apologies, I will go and sit in the corner for five minutes…
A friend and former colleague spent a lot of time as a youth baseball coach and one of his protégés went on to college and was recently taken in the third round of the MLB Draft by the Arizona D-Backs. His first assignment will be in Hillsboro, OR pitching for the Hillsboro Hops in the Northwest League. That sent me to check out the MLB Draft – something I never do in any detail – and that led me to some interesting player names:
Skye Bolt was drafted by the A’s. It seems to me that he ought to play Thor in the next Avengers movie.
Bowden Derby was also drafted by the A’s. His name sounds like a horse race for 3-year olds.
Icezack Flemming was drafted by the Yankees. His name sounds like a cure for a respiratory infection.
Bucket Goldby was drafted by the Marlins. Do you think Bucket has a list?
Tucker Tubbs was drafted by the Red Sox. If his baseball career does not pan out, he should be a natural for NASCAR.
Ever since folks have used Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 to provide women’s sports a sort of equal footing with men’s sports in college, one of the long-range goals was to have professional athletic opportunities available for women similar to those of men. That is not in the law of course, but it has been a tacit objective. To date that has not come to pass here in the US. However, Bob Molinaro had this observation in the Hampton Roads Virginian-Pilot recently:
“Controversy: It’s a gross understatement to call U.S. women’s soccer goalie Hope Solo a polarizing figure. From the New York Times to ESPN’s Keith Olbermann, she’s being portrayed as unfit – or at the very least, an uncomfortable fit – to represent her country in the World Cup after her arrest last June on domestic violence charges. There’s plenty to read about that on the Internet, and Olbermann’s video pulls no punches. But whatever your take on Solo, there’s no denying her abilities in goal, where her presence strongly suggests that women’s sports are becoming more like the men’s, in which talent trumps character.”
The matter involving Hope Solo and the alleged domestic violence remains in medias res. I agree with Professor Molinaro that this is not the way folks envisioned women’s sports becoming akin to men’s sports – but it may indeed be one of the leading similarities for the moment. I suspect that it will not be long into the future when I choose to put Hope Solo into my Just Go Away Club. In that club, talent does not trump character; the major criterion that gets one there is the achievement of sustained annoyance to the general public. I see the potential to achieve sustained annoyance in Hope Solo…
I ran across this item from Brad Rock of the Deseret News from a time when I was on my road trip:
“Miami Dolphins kicker Caleb Sturgis was injured last week during a team-endorsed kickball game. He’ll be sidelined at least four weeks.
“Sources say the Dolphins are compiling a list of other risky activities they plan to ban, including Twister, hopscotch and door-crasher sales on Black Friday.”
Just a quick Google search for what this is all about reveals that the kickball game was part of the Dolphins’ OTAs and that Sturgis’ injury was a pulled quadriceps muscle. If he pulled that muscle trying to kick the ball in the kickball game, the Dolphins need to worry; kicking a ball is what they pay Caleb Sturgis to do. It would be of much lesser concern if he pulled the muscle jumping to catch a ball someone else had kicked…
One of the trade-rumor stories that has filled a lot of space in a lot of newspapers recently is the Kings’ possibly trading Demarcus Cousins. Of course, they deny that he will be traded and he swears that he is committed to staying in Sacramento; without those elements the story would not have legs. The latest rumor has the Kings in discussion with the Lakers with regard to such a trade. I have exactly no insight into what is ongoing here but I do want to make an observation:
I have difficulty imagining a smooth working relationship between Cousins and Kobe Bryant. They are very different kinds of people with regard to the way they approach the game. There is certainly room for both men in the NBA based on talent, but I seriously wonder if they will be an effective pairing.
We shall see…
Finally, since I mentioned Hope Solo above, here is an observation from Jimmy Kimmel regarding the Women’s World Cup:
“The Women’s World Cup is under way again. Soccer, of course, is the sport in which you’re only allowed to use your hands if you’re the goalie or taking a bribe.”
But don’t get me wrong, I love sports………
I have no reason to defend Hope Solo, but the charges against her were dropped (or dismissed) when the “victims” declined to testify against her. I remember that the prosecution appealed that decision, but she remains innocent until proven otherwise. Given how many times domestic violence charges are dismissed, I do not think there is any reason the US team or her pro team should sanction her. Certainly that could change if the appeal is decided in the prosecutions favor.
Doug:
Agree she is innocent until proven guilty. What she did that set off a lot of people is that after the charges were dismissed on a legal technicality, she declared that she had been found not guilty and the charges were moot. Those are not nearly the same thing. In any event, I think she will someday be in my Just Go Away Club.