The sports story of the year decade wasn’t even a goddamn sports story.
We all know what happened: Tiger Woods crashed his SUV. His wife “saved” him from the truck before the cops arrived, with a conveniently handy golf club.
Then the tabloids took control.
Tiger f*cked this chick. She denied it but no one really cared about her.
Hey, Tiger f*cked this one, too!
OK, Tiger definitely f*cked this broad — he even left her a voice mail with his name on it!! And on & on it went (goes?).
My intention when the story first hit America over its collective head was to not even write or comment about it — essentially this is a private, family situation (not that I wouldn’t write about one that so moved me, but this one didn’t — and doesn’t). No laws broken, no court dates, no criminal activity. And I think a large percentage of folks wouldn’t give a damn about it either had it not involved the highest net-worth athlete in the history of history.
What surprised me, but at the same time didn’t surprise me, was how so many people, both on TV and common folk (Tweeters and Facebookers, I’m looking at you), were so quick to jump on their high horses and talk down on Tiger Woods — just how disgusting and terrible a man he had been exposed to being.
The grass-must-be-green-over-there group: ‘If I had a Swedish model for a wife and a billion dollars, I’d be good and happy for life! What a fool!’
The appalled women group: ‘Why even get married if you’re gonna cheat??? Tiger is despicable. I hate him!’
The I’d-never-be-that-dumb male group: ‘This fool left his name on the voice mail. He ain’t have no hush money for these hoes?
And the most incredulous of them all — The self-righteous males who just couldn’t understand how Tiger could do such a thing: ‘Tiger needs to step away from golf and get his life together… He has disgraced his wife, kids parents and family!… The PGA should suspend him!… Why did Tiger’s friends not tell him not to do that???… Tiger has absolutely no respect for the holy sacrament of marriage!’
It is never smart, in my opinion, to get to spewing opinions on another person/ couple’s private situations, no matter how public they become. Even if it’s your job to do so — it is completely within your rights as a sports TV person (and you’ll keep your job) to say, “This is obviously a big story, but it’s really none of our business. Let the Enquirers and US Weeklys dig in. Let Tiger deal with his family, and we will jump right on it when he starts swinging golf clubs again.” There were a few talking heads who did take this route in their own way, notably Jason Whitlock of the KC Star.
All that aside, dammit, this was easily the sports story of the year — albeit with no points scored, no whistles blown, and no Gatorade bath at the final buzzer. Just trending topics, after-the-fact analysis, and a long off-season for a guy who rarely loses.
– Mr. Dre Baldwin www.DreAllDay.com Twitter.com/DreAllDay Facebook.com/DreBaldwin
Posted 8 months, 1 week ago at 7:47 PM. Add a comment
This is a review from my Favorite Books list; the link from which will be also on the Books Page.
***
“”That was supposed to go in,” he groaned. “How did that not go in?”
More than twenty-two years have passed since that night… And I still don’t have an answer for him. For everything else, I have answers.
I think.”
Bill Simmons is my favorite online author, favorite NBA writer/ observer, and I hope he watches me play someday and writes at least a paragraph about what he sees. With all that said, you must believe me in my saying that is completely without bias that if you are a fan of the NBA (whether it be from its beginnings or circa now), you MUST read this 700-page manifesto.
It took me 30 days and I did it in chunks. TBoB is one of those rare read-100-or-so-pages-in-one-sitting-and-not-even-notice books — something I don’t think I will be able to say about Obama’s Audacity Of Hope, which got bumped (for the fourth time!) when I received TBoB in the mail. Simmons tackles topics that bball fans love to discuss, such as who was better between Russel and Wilt, the definitive list of the best players of all time (in order), his ultimate hypothetical team, the Greatest Team of All Time, and much much more.
If you’re unsure and would like a risk-free trial reading of the man devoted enough to own the title of “The Sports Guy,” just go here to his online page at ESPN.com.
Posted 9 months, 3 weeks ago at 12:13 PM. Add a comment
I’m just now getting around to this, but I remember hearing how, a few weeks ago, ESPN’s Jim Rome trashed Terrell Owens about the “low ratings” of his TO Show on VH1. Alas, this blog entry shows that TO’s ratings actually out-performed Rome’s best showing of the 5 weekly episodes (along with the more popular Around The Horn and Pardon The Interruption) of Rome is Burning.
I am a fan of TO — the player and his TV show — and I also occasionally enjoy Jim Rome. There are things about both which can annoy me if I pay too close attention; like TO’s Twitter rants about Rome:
“FYI: jim rome talks bad about me b/c i wn’t do his show!! lmpo!! let him keep talkin, still wn’t do it, we’ll c whn i hv season 2!!”
“hey jimmy romeo! sorry u cn’t discouraged me or my show, i’m 2 strong 4 u & plus grandmama told me there r people n the world like u! ”
“so jimmy romeo! yo homes, smell u ltr!! keep the hatorade coming! “
TO is an attention hound that hasn’t quite mastered the cool way of doing it; he probably never will. That man can play the hell out of some football, though. And his brutal, matter-of-fact honesty is great for television, both on VH1 and the NFL Network.
Rome on the other hand, reminds me of one of the most vexatious (word of the day!) characters in the world of sports: the lifetime observer who seems to always be taking pot shots from the sidelines and seems to feel completely qualified to do so. I remember when Rome was the talk of the sports world, right before he came over to ESPN — probably for more money; I would have done the same. Rome seems to have lost the edge which made him so popular, though, ever since moving over to the Worldwide Leader.
If forced to choose, I would watch TO — playing football or hangin’ with Mo and Kita — over Rome’s show any day of the week. And you know what they say- those that can, do, and those who can’t, criticize.
The Dallas Cowboys’ practice facility collapsed three weeks ago during a heavy storm in the area, injuring some members of the Cowboys organization in the process. Whenever a situation like this happens, especially to a high-profile entity like a professional sports team in the highest revenue-generating sport in the USA, there is a political demand that someone take the blame for the situation.
While the investigation of the collapse is still ongoing, a report has surfaced that a former consultant of the company that built the facility had served jail time, falsified his resume and had an otherwise checkered past.
My question: What the hell does any of this have to do with the collapse of the facility (which, by the way, left an assistant coach paralyzed form the waist down)? The subject of the recent report, Jeffrey Lawrence Galland, was good enough at his job to have held the position he had at the time the facility was constructed. With all the background checking and Googling of everyone we meet these days, there is no way that nobody knew of Galland’s history before doing business with him.
So why does ESPN, or any other news source for that matter, even bother running this “story?” It’s not all their fault. The Get-It-Now culture we live in these days demands answers and information to accompany anything and everything that happens in our real-time world. News businesses bear the weight of this situation. But it also doesn’t mean these news companies should bend the principles of good, solid reporting of relevant news. There is nothing to be added to the facility story by revealing that Galland has had trouble with the law. Let that man live and work on finding the real answers to a life-altering story.
Posted 1 year, 3 months ago at 11:29 PM. Add a comment
So in England, there’s now a hotline concerned citizens can call if they feel one of their neighbors is showing too much money without having some obvious form of reputable income. So England is just now catching up to us by developing a snitchin’ hotline.
OJ Mayo, now with the Memphis Grizzlies, is the player in question. The man coming forward with the uncorroborated story, Louis Johnson, is a former member of Mayo’s inner circle, who worked as right-hand man to Rodney Guillory. Guillory is widely known to be a “runner ” for BDA Sports Agency; a person who acts as liaison between professional sports agents and the amateur athletes the agencies are forbidden to contact before the athlete officially makes a decision to turn pro.
Johnson was expelled from Mayo’s inner circle a year ago and came forward to ESPN to expose his “story.” When asked by ESPN why he came forward, Johnson basically appealed to being a concerned citizen that didn’t want to see this type of stuff happening.
Bullshit. Louis Johnson is a snitch, in every sense of the word. Mind you, he was part of the situation with Guillory in dealing with Mayo and receiving money for his work in Steering OJ to BDA. When Johnson was booted out of the loop, he went on record saying,
“Most of that stuff never really made it to O.J. OJ really saw a lot of the scraps. The fact of the matter is OJ has been pimped by Rodney.”
The details of the how and why of the entire probe into USC, Mayo, Guillory and the money can be found at the ESPN.com link above; whether OJ Mayo received illegal benefits is not of my concern. Plenty of amateur athletes receive benefits that they are not “allowed” to receive; more will in the future, and the NCAA will continue to be the ones doing the real “pimping.” I gave my opinion on all of that here.
The only reason we even know of Louis Johnson is because he was kicked off of the Mayo money train before it reached its destination (Johnson was out of the loop before Mayo was drafted last June). Johnson took the coward route from that point, reaching out to ESPN on his own, with designs on tattle telling on Mayo and Guillory. So Louis Johnson is a snitch. Was there any point during the time that Johnson was running around with Guillory (if Johnson’s story, in fact, is true) that Johnson stopped and thought, “Na, this aint right”? No, because he was gettin’ paid to do what he was doing. Soon as the faucet was turned off, he bitched up and snitched. Put himself on national TV to snitch, and looked damn proud doing it. And it’s downright disgusting.
Posted 1 year, 3 months ago at 6:08 PM. Add a comment
Firstly, a few orders of business…
This is a limited edition shirt that will probably not be available for public consumption. Maybe. We’ll see.
These Priority Mail packages represent DreAllDay.com t-shirts sent out to early responders. More are scheduled to be mailed!
Eating in a Tampa- area Miami Subs, I caught a glimpse (and photo) of ESPN Baseball analyst Peter Gammons (yes, that’s him. And yes, I’m a groupie for ESPN personalities. Not really.):
- I made a phone call to someone the other day, and I heard a statement that I hadn’t heard in years as I waited:
“Please wait while the Nextel subscriber you’re tyring to reach is located.”
**********
Now.
The vid I posted in my last blog entry (reposted here for clarity)
has stirred up a lot of interest, in the form of comments on Youtube. Some people have found it funny. Some say they appreciate the quality of the basketball. Some have applauded me for doing it. There are some folks who enjoy Wes and I trashing the victimized player.
And I love it all. I will respond, however, to the trivial few who feel I was out of line in making light of the kid I was playing against. A few points you should remember:
1. This is Youtube, whose slogan is “Broadcast yourself.” Meaning, whatever I choose to upload, as long as it’s within Youtube’s Terms Of Service, is my prerogative.
2. The kid KNEW we were filming the game!! Before the one on one took place, we had played a couple of games of 2 on 2, with me and the kid matched up. My team won both games, but the kid had made several jumpshots in the second game after it was out of reach for his team (think 14 to 3), and I felt his confidence was a bit too high (even after the two losses, the kid ran over to Wes- who was holding the camera- to watch himself). hence, the one on one game.
3. Some opinion-makers have said I shouldn’t talk shit about the kid since he “didn’t say anything about me.” Well, how would you know if he did? But that’s besides the point. My comment about his “parents being from Afghanistan” was a direct play on Wes’ blog entry about sub par players claiming to be pros. That is also besides the point. The point is, I called the kid “a garbage player.” Well, he was/ is. Calling a garbage player a Garbage Player isn’t talking shit, it’s merely a statement of fact.
4. A common refrain is, “You are a pro. Why are you playing against these bums to prove a point?” My answer: I am a man of the people. Even though I have achieved some level of success in basketball, I will never deny a player the chance to try their hand vs. Dre Baldwin. If you don’t like me beating up on bums, I’ll play YOU and post in on Youtube. email me at Dre@dreallday.com and we’ll set it up.
**********
Anyway, I’m not excited about the above topic as much as i just felt the need to have something of substance to write about today. As you were…
Posted 1 year, 11 months ago at 12:08 AM. Add a comment
Interesting to see that T.O. saved an ESPN writer after the writer was hit by a car at an ESPYs after party. I’ve always been a big fan of Terrell (he’s in unbelievable physical shape every season), so I’ll happily pass on the good press. USA Basketball’s Road To Redemption show comes on tonight with episode 2. After I missed the first episode 3 weeks ago and had to watch it on Youtube, I’ve got the DVR set up for this one.
Posted 2 years, 1 month ago at 11:37 AM. Add a comment
-the Big Bike Ride was postponed due to torrential downpour.
- as I got dressed in the LA Fitness locker room pre- workout, a guy who looked like PTI’s Michael Wilbon, minus 25 years, walked past me.
- I feel my foot quickness and reaction time returning with my bike riding and lighter- weight weight lifting.
- I played a few games of 21 (a game which we call “Rough House” in Philly where I’m from- we also play to 45) with a guy from California who asked me multiple times if I could dunk. I told him that I indeed could. He then tried to show me his ability to “throw it down.” He was unsuccesful.
- great story by Stephen A. Smith, via the new issue of ESPN Mag: before Game 4 of the NBA Finals, Spike Lee approached Lamar Odom of the Lakers:
Spike “Where are you from?
Odom “Brooklyn. ” (Stephen A. says Odom is actually from Queens)
Spike “Well dam! Act like it!”
(Odom went on to dominate the early stages of this game, which LA eventually lost. )
Posted 2 years, 2 months ago at 7:01 PM. Add a comment
I was sitting in the waiting room of an auto repair shop while my engine was being flushed. I had almost completed reading ESPN.com’s Bill Simmons’ 4-hour chat transcript when some guy walked in, immediately addressing the man behind the counter, concerning his car that had been being looked at.
Guy: “Please tell me there’s nothing wrong with it. ”
Employee: “There’s nothing wrong with it, but you have a problem. ”
***************
Phu and I were turned away from a strip-mall sushi restaurant because of my improper attire: a tee with the sleeves cut off. According to the hostess, this was not a “regular shirt.”
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Back in 2007, I “worked” (the quotations are for obvious reasons) as a “personal trainer” (because I have absolutely zero certification) for a few weeks at a (at the time) local LA Fitness. One day as I sat at a desk, attempting desperately to get an internet access signal on my BlackBerry, a middle aged Black dude came and took a seat across from me to talk.
(For a visual, this guy looked like Richard Pryor after 60 days sequestered on the Survivor Island. )
So let’s name this man Rich. Rich hadn’t approached me to talk about fitness or personal training packages. Being from Atlanta, Rich had approached the only Black guy working there (me) to get the scoop on where to find Black women to socialize with, both within and outside of LA Fitness. Being that I was not only not single, but with an Asian woman, I didn’t offer Rich much valuable information during our 25-minute talk (80% him, 20% me). Rich did, however, leave my presence determined to taste chocolate. Hell, Rich had even name- dropped a few local nightspots that he was at least 27 years too old to even think about going to.
On my way out of LA Fitness one recent afternoon, I saw an older Black guy entering the building with a Caucasian female companion. About 2 1/2 seconds later, I remembered who he was- but by then I was double-timing it to my car to avoid the possibility of conversation.
Guess Rich said, “Fuck it,” and joined the crowd.
***************
Whenever I see a Victoria’s Secret store in a mall, I imagine how often women get the who-is-this-creep-that-i-dont-know-that-is-probably-picturing-me-in-these-lace-panties-that-im-browsing-through feeling.
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Posted 2 years, 3 months ago at 8:22 PM. Add a comment
- February 3rd. I’ve experienced 26 of these??? Dam.
- my first road game with this team occurs this week. I’m interested to see how things are arranged.
[UPDATE: ill just bullet point my observations from the road trip:
* there are about 35 people on our bus, all told.
* what is it about putting a bunch of people on a bus that brings out so much immaturity? I’ve seen this amongst all walks of people: corporate employees, 30 something adults, athletes. Unnecessary yelling, obnoxious song singing, fart noises, you name it.
* there is a guy on the bus in the back row, about 2 rows behind me. I have met him, though I don’t recall his name; and seen him around the team a few times, though I can tell he is not a club employee. But he is a staunch enough supporter to have a spot in the travel party. You ever know a person that acts like what you’d expect from a drunk at a football game, but the person hasn’t had a drop of liquor? That’s this guy (will be referred to from now on as ‘Superfan’).
* it never ceases to amuse me when a less-than-intelligent person attempts to appear interested in the contents of a newspaper.
* the same teammate who loved 50 Cent’s movie was seated across from me on the trip, and offered me a section of a newspaper: “Dre, you want to read?” I decline while only half- acknowledging him, yet hilarity ensues.
* we stop at a cafe/ gas station for 25 minutes about 3 hours into the trip. Some teenager, who has been sitting up front and was one of the last to board the bus, offer me some of his bag of chips, which I decline. I ask the teammate sitting across from me (who can speak some English), “who is this kid?” my teammate looks, and responds with a smile, “I don’t know, I’m seeing him for the first time. ” I can do nothing but shake my head and laugh.
* apparently, broadcasting your favorite music via your cell phone speaker is the thing to do here. So the guy I clowned a couple weeks back for blasting G-Unit was just being normal.
* according to a teammate, when we win an away game, we stop at a restaurant and a member of management pays for the meals. But, when we lose a road game, the players are on their own when it comes to securing dinner (don’t worry, I laughed when I heard this, too). Well, we lost Saturday night (I really would like to tell you all about what is happening on the court, but I’m practicing great restraint until summer). I managed to have my dinner comped.
- I had a casual conversation with the register clerk at the local supermarket. After learning that I spoke little-to-none of the local language, she taught me a few basic words (which I don’t remember). I asked her name (don’t remember, even though I’m writing this 4.5 minutes after it occurred) and if she was from this town (yes). Then I asked what was there to do here for fun, a good time. She waved both hands in front of her, “Oh, no! I am (pointed the her wedding ring). ” so does this mean that married people don’t have fun or good times? Someone fill me in.
- Monday morning, I returned to my flat to find the power out in my place. After checking the lights outsuide to be sure it wasn’t some kind of Montenegrin mob scare tactic (it wasn’t), I spent the next hour reading ESPN the Magazine (thanks Phu) and listening to podcasts on my laptop as I watched its battery slowly drain to nothing. With no juice left, I got the warning message on my computer screen; and just as I clicked “Hibernate,” the power came back on.
- Monday night after training, we go into the restaurant to eat. The older waiter is working this time- a very well- groomed man in his 40s who always wears a suit. The restaurant’s radio began playing “Livin’ in America” by James Brown. The waiter turned the radio up near full- blast and danced for about 10 seconds.
- two teammates butted heads (literally) during a drill in practice Monday evening. One of them came say out the remainder of training with a small cut above his right eye. About 15 minutes after I had began eating, he entered the restaurant. I asked him about the condition of his face. With a proud grin, he pointed to the 1/2 inch cut and said, “Scarface!” (UPDATE: as a result of this scar, the player sat out training the next day. No comment. )
- Gatorade does not exist here.
- a friend of mine here is an older guy who has spent some time in the states, so he can translate some things when I speak with certain individuals. Whenever me and this guy are in the same place, and he sees an even mildly attractive female, he says, “Dre! (draws my attention to the mildly attractive female) Good pussy!”
- I happened to receive my 30,000th profile view on MySpace this week. Not sure what this means. Thanks for, um, looking.
- vocab: “idemo:” let’s go!
“dobro:” OK, good
- in the gym (weight room) Thursday morning, I challenged a 6’10″ teammate to a pull-up bar contest: most reps in one set. The teammate in question promptly declined, reasoning that “it’s harder for (the teammate) because your (Dre) arms are shorter. ” Is this a credible excuse?
(I’d like to hear your opinion, though I already have an answer: 1: NO excuse is credible; 2: if a 5’2″ guy challenged me {I’m 6’4″}, I’m in. )
- there’s a place here that makes 1/4 pound hamburgers for 1,5€. And they don’t even charge extra for cheese (vocab: “seer”. Not sure on the spelling; all these Serbian words are being spelled phonetically). Eat your heart out, McDonald’s.
- the restaurant we eat at closes at 10 PM, the kitchen shuts down around 9:15. On game nights, and nights we have practices that end late, the cooks there make us sandwiches with a couple pieces of thin sliced meat and lite mayonnaise. Compared to the meals we get when we sit down at the restaurant (always with soup, salad, and rolls), these sandwich meals are about 12% of the quality.
- it’s Friday night now, and I’m in the lobby of our sport hall; we just finished training. I’m going to descriptively tell you about the funniest thing that I have seen on a basketball court in 5 years:
Ok, so if you have ever seen the And1 Mixtape, or any streetball game or DVD, you probably have seen this: a short player (read: under 6 feet tall) gets a running start towards the basket with the ball in his hands. Another player (usually a big, tall guy at least 6’8″) is waiting for him under the basket. As the short guy gathers momentum, he jumps up as if to dunk, and the big, tall guy gives him a boost of sorts, grabbing and lifting the short guy by the waist and/ or hips. The short guy, now propelled high up in the air above the rim, dunks the ball.
So the funny part, you ask? Friday evening after training, there are about 7 players who have stuck around- shooting, dunking, playing 1-on-1, etc. Two of my teammates- one of them about 5’10″ (think Allen Iverson) and the other 6’8″ (think Deebo from the movie Friday- but less muscle and not as mean)- attempt to recreate the dunk described above. Only, the small guy eschews the running start and only takes 2 small steps to gather momentum, AND his big guy partner is not strong enough to make this work successfully. So you know what happens next, right?
Small guy (our point guard) jumps, gets a slight boost from big guy (power forward), but not nearly high enough. As he attempts to dunk, the ball meets the front of the rim and small guy goes crashing to the floor on his back. He rolls over on his stomach and writhes in pain for almost 3 minutes. I can see that he’s not seriously hurt, and I cannot control my hysterical laughter (and to keep it all the way real, I woulda laughed anyway).
This had to be the most I laughed about anything I witnessed on a court since 2003, when Me and a dude named Jay were playing against Wes and some White guy named Jim 2 on 2 in Altoona. It wasn’t even really a 2 on 2. See, Jim (Wes’ teammate in the 2 on 2) and Jay (my teammate) had a long- standing conflict over some comments Jim had made about a game both had played in a year or two before either had come to Altoona. So even though we were in the game, Wes & I became mere observers as Jay (a talented, Iverson-like player from the ‘hood) trash talked, cheap-shotted, and completely DESTROYED Jim (a spiked haired pretty boy from some Pennsylvania suburb) that afternoon, culminating in Jay (who goes about 5’9 1/2″) LeBron James- power- dunking on Jim so forcefully that I ran out of Adler Gym laughing and declared the game over (note: I don’t think Jim has played a competitive game of basketball since- I heard he became a model. If anyone sees Jim out there, tell him that his bball- playing days live on in my blog!)
Posted 2 years, 7 months ago at 5:01 PM. Add a comment
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