We all know who Jeremy Lin is by now. He’s that 23-year-old Chinese American New York Knicks point guard that launched them to a 7-game winning streak, even dunking on Kobe Bryant and the Lakers. He’s the Harvard-educated kid no team wanted and came out raging with what he’s worth. All in all, it’s a feel-good story.

Great story for the Knicks, great for Asian Americans, definitely great for selling papers and getting hits. But here comes that nasty little bug again — blatant racism.

Strike one: Fox Sports columnist Jason Whitlock tweets about Lin’s privates, referring to a stereotype that Asian males are sexually inept. (Because we really care how good he is in bed?)

Strike two: MSG network posts a fortune cookie graphic with Lin’s face popping out. (Original.)

Strike three: ESPN posts the headline “Chink in the Armor” after the Knicks lose to the Hornets. (Are you kidding me?)

Those are just three of the most highlighted incidents. The list, believe me, goes on far longer.

If any of this surprises you, you’re likely not an Asian American or a minority.

For us, this is the norm. We grew up being taunted in schools, being called “chink” and other racial slurs. While this type of racist sentiment comes out into the public eye and may be surprising to most of America, Asian Americans ask the question, ‘What’s new?’

It’s unfortunate that all of this prejudice comes juxtaposed with Lin’s 5 minutes of glory (too soon to tell if he’ll be a hall of famer). More than likely, he’s already brushed it off his shoulders. But for the media, and for America as a whole, the issue goes on whether we like it or not. People continue to drive at Lin’s race with negativity.

What’s most interesting to see is how the angle has turned. The conversation spotlighted now is not Lin’s race, but the regrettable reaction to Lin’s race.

When will America stop embarrassing itself, if ever? Lin is out there doing his thing, killing it game after game and soaking up the opportunity he’s waited for. Then there’s America sitting on the sidelines making jokes about slanty eyes and fortune cookies. So who’s the one who’s laughing?

If you or someone you know may have interest in contributing at NFB, please contact me at AntonMatye@notfrombristol.com

Herein lays the question:  If you are a professional athlete and you intentionally use an aspect of your sport to injure another athlete, should you be held legally accountable for damages?

The common and unwritten rule in Major League Baseball seems to be if a pitcher on the opposing team hits your player with a ball and it is seemingly intentional, the natural reaction is for your pitcher to do the same.  Retaliation such as this is common in every sport and can be seen on almost every level from childhood all the way through the professional ranks.  More often than not, retaliation is blatantly obvious.  In the NHL, when a star player gets laid out making a rush towards the net you almost expect to see the team “goon” chasing down the player who administered the hit with the intentions of fighting or doing something to inflict pain.

Sometimes, however, these intentional and “justified” reactions can lead to injuries that could be detrimental to one’s health and even career.  The case between Steve Moore and Todd Bertuzzi has lasted for years and was initiated when Bertuzzi went above and beyond the scope of the game to pull Moore from behind and punch cheap shot him from behind. The blow left Moore with many lingering post-concussion symptoms and, in turn, ruined his career.

Although I do not feel that athletes should have to register their abilities or appendages based solely on their training, I do feel that governing bodies should handle cases where injuries stem from professional athletes just as if they would any type of assault case.  I also feel that more “intent to injure” plays should be further analyzed by law officials.  More often than not, the professional sports league reviews the play and slaps the wrist of the player who intentionally caused damage by fines or suspensions.  If I hit someone with a hockey stick randomly but with the intention of harming the person…I’m going to get a slightly stricter punishment than holding back my next paycheck.

Jason Smith – 6 years, $33 million guaranteed

Mark Sanchez – 5 years, $26 million guaranteed

Darrius Heyward-Bey – 5 years, $23.5 million guaranteed

Brian Orakpo – 5 years, $12.1 million guaranteed

Although this is only a sample size of the 2009 NFL draft class, one thing ties all of these rookies together: grossly overinflated contracts.

Imagine the following scenario:

You’ve just entered your senior year of college. You’re going to school for some random business major because it was one of the easier majors at your school and you’re anxiously awaiting the chance to be top dog within the party scene. You party your heart out, make many temporary girlfriends, and spend most of the school year drowning in Natty Ice and the bong water. May rolls around and companies start looking to pick off talent from your school by sending out recruiters to gauge/express interest. Super Huge Corp. Inc. decides they like you and, before even spending a day on the job, the company offers you employment in a sales position that pays more than the 10 year veteran that has been making huge money for the company and has continually contributed on a high level. You take the job, obviously, and head out after graduation in hopes that you can survive your first day knowing that each of your fellow employees are well aware that you’re making sick money without even closing one deal. You’re excited but what are the chances that you instantly make it into the good graces of all the supporting people that are supposed to harness and develop your potential?

This scenario happens on an annual basis in the NFL. I personally feel there is no way that Matthew Stafford, the party boy fresh out of an average senior year playing in the NCAA, should be making millions of dollars more than a seasoned veteran that has paid their dues regardless if they have made it to the Super Bowl. Granted, the Detroit Lions have a significant amount of salary cap space available despite having high draft picks every year, but with that kind of guaranteed money what kind of pressure to be successful does Stafford really feels? He can just look back to piano master Joey Harrington to see how well being crappy behind the center worked out in the long run.

Once the contract is up and negations begin between the NFLPA and NFL, I feel the first issue to tackle has to be a rookie salary cap. Show appreciation for the veteran players who have built your league to the monster it is currently. Normally I find it hard to side with team management, but this is one example where I am on their side.

Don’t be fooled though; what may have looked like a going-out-of-business sale was really just the Pirates front office finally getting down to business. It is very rare when the “selling” team on multiple trades comes out ahead, but that has been the case with almost every trade the Bucs have made.

Here’s a quick rundown of the trades that Pittsburgh has made:

• Sent Nate McClouth to the Atlanta Braves for outfielder Gorkys Hernandez and pitchers Charlie Morton and Jeff Locke
• Sent Nyjer Morgan and Sean Burnett to the Washington Nationals for outfielder Lastings Milledge and Joel Hanrahan
• Sent Eric Hinske to the New York Yankees for outfielder Eric Fryer and pitcher Casey Erickson
• Sent Adam LaRoche to the Boston Red Sox for shortstop Argenis Diaz and pitcher Hunter Strickland
• Sent Jack Wilson and Ian Snell to the Seattle Mariners for infielders Jeff Clement and Ronny Cedeno and pitchers Aaron Pribanic, Brett Lorin and Nathan Adcock
• Sent Freddie Sanchez to the San Francisco Giants for pitcher Tim Alderson
• Sent John Grabow and Tom Gorzelanny to the Chicago Cubs for infielder Josh Harrison and pitchers Kevin Hart and Jose Ascanio

Phew. That’s a hectic trading season. If just listing the transactions off doesn’t quite hammer home how active the team has been, take a look at the Pirates’ lineup from June 1 against the Mets:

1. Morgan, LF
2. Sanchez, 2B
3. McClouth, CF
4. Ad. LaRoche, 1B
5. Hinske, RF
6. An. LaRoche, 3B
7. Jaramillo, C
8. Wilson, SS
9. Snell, P

And the relief pitchers used included both Burnett and Gorzelanny. That’s 9 players used in one game that got traded within the next two months. The major league squad has seen almost a complete turnover. This is all the makings of the most egregious salary dump of all time. Until you look a little more closely at what GM Neal Huntington got in return for these players.

The crown jewel of the Pirates’ haul is Alderson, one of the top pitching prospects in all of baseball. He’s a future ace, and makes the rest of their pitching prospects look that much better with less pressure on them. He can join Zach Duke, Paul Malholm, Charlie Morton and Kevin Hart/Daniel McCutchen/Brad Lincoln to form a very formidable rotation.

If Lastings Milledge ever decides he wants to pan out, then an outfield with him, Andrew McCutchen, Gorkys Hernandez, Jose Tabata and Steven Pearce could be one of the best in baseball. The infield is looking pretty solid, as well. Clement was a top ten prospect as recently as the beginning of last year. If he can cut down the strikeouts without sacrificing the power, he’d be a huge asset either behind the plate or at first base. Ronny Cedeno and Diaz are basically clones of Freddie Sanchez and Jack Wilson, but younger and cheaper. And the Pirates already had the best third base prospect around in Pedro Alvarez, yet still added another good player at the hot corner in Harrison.

The Pirates have the unfortunate appearance of giving up (which, to be fair, they are for now), but I think that this is the start of resurgence of baseball in the Steel City, and fans should be excited to see these young players in action in the next few years.

The biggest story stemming from Final Four weekend, however, has to be the significance of hosting arguably the second most important sporting event in the US within the city of Detroit during a time when the city and the state are being continually slammed by hardships.

Being from the Metropolitan Detroit area, one could hardly avoid seeing the impact Final Four had on the surrounding cities.  I personally did not spend much time in Detroit over the weekend, but I assuredly maintained correspondence with all of my MSU friends that packed into low capacity bars with their fellow Spartans to watch the games.

Overall, the weekend turned out to be a great success on multiple levels.  Aside from a few minor problems here and there, I feel that the general consensus by the local crowd and the teams involved was that everything turned out fantastic.  Sure, there were a few media outlets that felt the need to bash on Detroit because…well…it is Detroit. Unfortunately, there is little the city can do to get around negative sentiments held by outsiders that rarely visit the state led alone the city.  Financially, crowds visiting establishments’ downtown generated sales figures in roughly the $30-40 million range. Most importantly, I feel that another successful weekend hosting a major sporting event (see also: Super Bowl XL) considerably amplifies the possibility of Detroit gaining an opportunity to get into the mix for future major events.

So do I think that the Final Four weekend will ultimately be the booster shot needed to kick start the State of Michigan?  No, not really.  The reality is that everything will be back to normal in the next month and, unless you are a bitter Spartan fan, the memory will be faded by a shift in focus onto the miserable Detroit Tigers or Lions.  Do I think that Tom Izzo put a lot of unnecessary pressure on his team by insinuating the game was important on a higher level than just a National Championship?  No, I do not.  I feel that almost every college coach (cough John Calapari) has a deep seeded desire to shape the minds of their players and turn them into successful and productive human beings.  Izzo legitimately felt that telling his players they were playing with the happiness of each unemployed worker, each MSU alumni, every failed business owner, and every person tied into the automobile industry on their shoulders would light a spark inside and push them in the direction of victory.

“Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in the grey twilight that knows not victory nor defeat.” (Theodore Roosevelt)

The better team won on Monday.  Regardless, the heart shown by players from both sides accomplished just what everyone had hoped to see.  For a brief moment in time, the game of basketball was able to bring together a city in shambles and give the people something to be proud about.

I was not alive when Joe Namath was in the National Football League.  Being a sports fan, however, I cannot get away from the lasting legacy that Namath has left on the game of football.  The truth is that Joe Namath was the first media superstar to be exposed in the NFL.  Until Namath, every professional football player was built from the same mold.  The players were rugged, hard working, team oriented, Johnny Unitas military-types that drew appeal to the game because many people returning from the military could relate to the image.  Essentially, football had no sex appeal whatsoever (unless buzz cuts and high waist lines were your thing of course).

Fans were different then as well.  When I look back on TV shows, NFL films, or even talk to my father I realize how closely sports fans held their team to their heart in “the old days”. I know that I will never come close to that level of fandom for any one professional team.  Love/hate rivalries amongst fans have lasted for decades on every level of sports and are exhibited wholeheartedly by the team’s fan base.  Free agency, trades, and rapidly changing rosters just do not give me time to fall in love with a current team.  I can appreciate a team from my hometown and their tradition, but everything is so saturated today.

Despite his mediocre career statistics, his propensity to wear lavish furs, and strug-gl-ing through sideline interviews, Joe Namath brought to the forefront a media explosion that made people realize, “Hey. This person touches the football for half the game and his game play has a direct correlation to how well our team plays.”  Fortunately for Namath, the ramifications from his antics went to the wayside when he started racking up Pro Bowl births, MVP’s, and had his legendary “We’ll win the game. I guarantee you.” Super Bowl 3 performance.

Balance ultimately prevails and, as the rest of the country started to realize how important the quarterback position was becoming, the “scapegoat” was born.  Headline worthy failures by quarterbacks became just as glorified successful performances in big games.

Today, the criticizing of quarterbacks spans well beyond the focus of sports media.  Every oversaturated medium wants a piece of the action.  The Tom Brady’s and Tony Romo’s of the world cannot help but be thrust into the limelight based on something as simplistic as who they chose to date.

At the end of the day, all the drama and media attention that accompanies the NFL quarterback position comes down to one thing: can you win the big game?  Many of the legendary quarterbacks throughout the history of the NFL had mediocre statistics.  Regardless of their on field statistical production, almost every single quarterback can say that they were part of a championship winning team in their career and this fact is what matters the most. Aside from championships, the Hall of Fame worthy quarterbacks have an underlying factor that many people disregard while attempting to find more pictures of Kyle Orton wasted.  All of these legendary quarterbacks have pulled themselves away from the flash-in-the-pan superstar status by showing signs of the rugged, hard working, team oriented, Johnny Unitas-military-type of personality that made people fall in love with football from the start.

A widely debated part of the talent assessment involves a common test used by the human resource departments in companies to determine mental fitness.  The test, produced by Wonderlic, Inc., is a test designed to assess aptitude by giving the potential employee 50 learning/problem solving questions to be completed within 12 minutes.  Wonderlic develops test relevant to the occupation.  The most publicized use of Wonderlic testing happens in the month of March when all potential NFL draftees take the test.  Despite their better efforts, the NFL continually fails to thwart “leaks” of individual player scores to the public and the ensuing discussions that prevail upon release can get a bit out of hand.  After reviewing the “100% factually accurate because it’s on the Internet” Wikipedia page for Wonderlic testing, the page displays a list of score ranges associated with individual positions and written by Paul Zimmerman (author of The New Thinking Man’s Guide to Pro Football).  The scores out of a possible 50 correct answers are as follows:

Offensive tackle – 26

Center – 25

Quarterback – 24

Guard – 23

Tight end – 22

Safety – 19

Linebacker – 19

Cornerback – 18

Wide receiver – 17

Fullback – 17

Halfback – 16

Immediately after listing NFL scores, the page puts into perspective Joe Schmoe’s average scores based on job title:

Chemist – 31

Programmer – 29

Journalist – 26

Sales – 24

Bank teller – 22

Clerical worker – 21

Security guard – 17

Warehouse – 15

So how does a league full of players that went to college and obviously have varying levels of intelligent determine the value of a player based on an IQ test?  According to an ESPN Page 2 article, the loose bar established is a score of 10 when discussing the “literacy” of individuals; anyone scoring above a 10 is considered to be literate by Wonderlic.

I find the concept of the test to be quite interesting.  Especially considering that the NFL takes pride in trying to maintain the utmost in individual player quality on and off the field, constantly making strides to maintain integrity in the eyes of the general public.  Singling out individuals based on an IQ test that can easily be prepared for is a questionable method of determining value.  Although a level of “Hey Ma! Look! I’m smarter than Andre Smith! I could probably play in the NFL!” comes with the annual Wonderlic score leaks; I still feel that allowing scores to go public can be a detriment.

Suppose you’re a 21 year old potential first round pick that just so happens to score low on the test.  The news, local sports fans of the team that inevitably drafts you and every analyst discussing you during/after the draft is going to completely rake you over the coals by consistently calling you an idiot.  Some players, like Adam “Pac Man” Jones may prove to be so naïve that a continual intelligence bashing does not have much affect.  On the other hand, the nation discovered what can happen when a young professional athlete is forced to cope with outside pressure and allows it to break them down.  Vince Young scored poorly on the test and the score still haunts him because they bring up his low score every time his mental stability and ability to play quarterback comes into question.

In the end, I feel that the league should be more protective of intelligence scoring if they continue to evaluate talent based on an IQ test.  I also feel that implementing an EQ test could prove to be more beneficial than assessing whether or not Percy Harvin can tell the difference between an alligator and a crocodile.  I think all team owners and Roger Goodell really need to know is if he can run like the wind, hold onto the football, and that he will not have a propensity to “make it rain”.

I would be lying if I said that I watched the Portland State, Binghamton, or Cornell basketball programs closely this year. I must say that as a sports fan, however, I do love rolling into March knowing that people will undoubtedly be putting their theories together.   I actually enjoy hearing how people have the Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks magically making it to the Elite 8 and how Danny Kaspar is the second coming of Dean Smith.

With that said, I have decided to make a list of 8 teams currently seeded within the 64* (pending the play-in game) I feel will make a legitimate run OR…experience an epic fail.

Top 4 Busts

1. Utah – Do not let the Mountain West title and 5^th seed in the Midwest fool you. The Utes football team should have battled for the National Championship last year, but their basketball team is terribly overrated and should have been seeded way lower. Crushing Air Force does not make up for losing to Southwest Baptist.

2. Purdue – If I had to pick a conference that I follow closest, I would have to say the Big Ten takes the cake. With this said, you must understand that I go into every March expecting at least half of the Big Ten teams to get into the dance and for ALL of the teams to get crushed by a nobody. Although Purdue had a few big wins this year including a throttling of Michigan State at home, we must not forget that Purdue lost their only two of three non-conference games against ranked teams. Also, the Big Ten has a tendency to be the team that faces a Cinderella team and loses. Go Mississippi State!

3. Marquette – I have heard nothing but great things about the Marquette Golden Eagles. Their coaching staff, their players, and all of their fans seem like really great people. Unfortunately, losing Dominic James and going into the tournament winning 1/5 games (including 4 consecutive loses to ranked teams) leads me to believe that Marquette’s nice story will reach an early demise. Look for the sexy Missouri Tigers to knock off the Golden Eagles.

4. Duke – Duke won the ACC crown this year and, just like seemingly every year this decade, the Blue Devils have been ranked as a very high seed. I don’t know if I would consider an early season loss to Michigan as a huge disappointment, but losses at Wake Forest, North Carolina, and being annihilated at Clemson all give me reason to believe that 2009 will be yet another year that Duke comes in as the sexy pick and faces another earlier-than-expected demise. I’m sorry, Coach K. Maybe next year?

Top 4 Teams to Watch

1. Oklahoma – BOOMER! Oklahoma finished with a record similar to the other top seeded teams within the tournament. The difference maker? Player of the year Blake “I could probably dunk from half court if I really wanted to” Griffin. Aside from the fact that all of their losses were within 10 points, Griffin missed the games against Texas and Kansas. Having Griffin against both teams would have made a huge difference and, now that he is healthy, I am riding the Sooners to Detroit.

2. Villanova – Villanova’s last loss came to the hands of Rick Pitino and the white hot Louisville Cardinals. Despite this loss, Villanova had huge victories in the last month and a half of the season including the destruction of Pittsburgh (Ranked 3), Syracuse (Ranked 20), and Marquette (Ranked 10). The East is the weakest conference as far as I’m concerned and I don’t know if any teams will be able to defend their outside game.

3. Wake Forest – Ranked as a 4^th seed in the Midwest, Wake Forest’s high powered offense may not face a legitimate threat until Louisville. After reviewing their win/loss record, Wake Forest won 5/6 games against ranked teams including North Carolina (Ranked 3) and Duke (Ranked 1). Wake Forest loves to knock off the big dogs so the Cardinals better be on the look out.

4. Missouri – Missouri upset Oklahoma (Ranked 4) and officially capped a perfect home record by doing so. The Tigers also won their first Big 12 tournament last Saturday against Baylor. Missouri has experienced tons of success in both Men’s Basketball and Football in recent years and should continue to be a threat for awhile.