(no subject)

[miko2]

Sports is so full of idiots that I'm never at a loss for a new story of stupidity. Right now, the big story is the Balco steroids case, in which Jason Giambi and others admitted before a grand jury that they'd used steroids for several years. But others, including Gary Sheffield and most notably Barry Bonds, denied knowingly taking any steroids. This despite the fact that they were being supplied by Bonds's personal trainer and lifelong friend, someone he's known since grade school. He admitted to using substances supplied by his trainer, but thought they were "flaxseed oil" and other herbal remedies. He even swore that he didn't recognize his longtime friend's handwriting, that he'd never seen it before.

Well anyway, Bonds isn't really an idiot per se. He's making 18 million a year and is not going to get caught. He denied everything, and there's really no way they can prove that he knowingly used steroids, although nobody is really fooled by his act.

But the real idiots of the week are Ricky Williams and the people in charge at Notre Dame. Ricky Williams. Where do I start? First of all, the New Orleans Saints traded away all of their other draft picks for the rights to draft Ricky Williams. Surely the move of a team without a brain. Part of the problem was that Williams had turned to a noted Rap music producer to be his sports agent, and other teams were terrified that he would be impossible to negotiate with. Not so. When Ricky signed his first contract, it was a massive multi-year deal with all sorts of incentives... basically he'd make incredible money if he was the top running back in the NFL.

But he wasn't, and by not meeting those incentives, he was pretty much paid the minimum NFL salary for two years.

After that he was traded to Miami, where he blossomed into the dangerous running back everyone expected him to be. Miami tore up his old contract and rewarded him with a new one that included a huge signing bonus.

And then, at the begining of training camp this year, Ricky announced that he was retiring from football. He wasn't the first high-profile running back to retire early, but the others had actually made some money first. Ricky said that he hated football and didn't have the heart to play anymore, and felt a great relief now that he'd come to his decision. And, as it turned out, he'd flunked the NFL drug test for the second time, so he was facing a four game suspension and a third offense would bring a lifetime ban. Ricky admitted that he liked smoking marijuana and wasn't about to give it up.

Only one problem. Most of the money in his pockets came from his huge signing bonus. But since he wasn't going to honour the bulk of his contract, Miami rightfully wanted the bulk of his signing bonus back.

Ooops

As this season went on, Ricky and his agent tried to patch things up. Maybe he did want to play football after all. Could he unretire? Finally this week all sides involved came to an agreement that would allow Ricky Williams to be reinstated. He'd have to serve his four game suspension, and (naturally) he'd have to re-enter the NFL's drug treatment program.

Well, that was too much for Ricky Williams. He refused to sign and walked away from football, apparently forever.

Now let's think this through a second. The money Miami wants back from him is 8.6 million dollars. The money they were paying him per year is 5 million dollars. That's a lot of money. I don't care what drug I'm addicted to, for 13 million dollars I can give it up for a year or two.

Anyway, Ricky is following his dreams of smoking marijuana, going bankrupt, and disappearing into oblivion. Godspeed, Ricky.

The Notre Dame story is almost as sad. They had a coach, Tyrone Willingham, who they hired three years ago when he was considered one of the top coaches to be had in the country. He's done a good job overall. They've won more games than they've lost, they've gone to two bowl games. Perhaps more importantly, his kids attend class, get great grades, are model student atheletes. Tyrone is a sharp guy, an upstanding coach who runs a tight and efficient ship. He's also one of the very few black coaches in the country, and considering how few of them there are (only two at the moment), it's certainly worth noting when one of them coaches for your school.

But... Coach Willingham apparently didn't win quite enough. More importantly, there was this coach at Utah who was a Notre Dame alumni. Utah is undefeated this season, so their Coach Urban Meyer is suddenly the hottest coach in the land.

And so, Notre Dame fired Coach WIllingham. No offense, you did great, but you didn't win quite as many games as we'd like. More importantly, we have a shot at hiring a better coach in Urban Meyer.

The only problem here is that Notre Dame isn't what it once was. It's not one of the top football schools in the country. It has higher standards for its students, making recruiting football players tougher. It doesn't really have a regional base to draw on the way most schools do. It can't pay the kind of money other schools can pay. When Meyer looked at his options, he saw that he could have any open college football job he wanted. So he went to Florida, which is a national powerhouse, could pay him millions more than the Notre Dame job, and he could expect to win there right away. As he himself noted, these days in college football you aren't given a chance to build a program, you have to win immediately. And we can consider Tyrone Willingham's firing as exhibit #1 in support of that statement.

Basically, Notre Dame's arrogance is its downfall.

Notre Dame will be very lucky if they can find a coach as good as the one they just fired. But heck, what do I care? My own Washington Huskies are looking for a good coach, and Tyrone Willingham is suddenly at the top of their list. ^_^

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I listened to NPR's Science Friday last night (which, by a strange coincidence, was a Friday). Among other things, they listed books they considered great gifts for the Science-inclined. For once, I didn't just think, "What a great idea!" and then let it all slip from my head. I actually did something about it... I actually started my Christmas gift-buying season. I haven't really planned everything out yet, but at least I feel good that I've got a few things done already.

Today's goals include getting my car's oil changed, and perhaps buying materials to make a holiday chex mix or cookies. I've already bought more marshmallows and rice crispies after my disaster of last week. This time I expect success!