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Winning - Not the Story at the Derby
Justin Morneau was the winner of the 2008 Homerun Derby, but hardly the story in Yankee Stadium. This year’s homerun derby felt a lot like the Super Bowl. The media calling the contest were overwhelmingly biased for one competitor to win. Granted, Josh Hamilton put on a show for all, but he didn’t win. Many times in the history of the derby we’ve seen guys put on a show and lose. The key is to entertain the fans, but it probably would be nice to win. Justin Morneau pulled a New York Giants and ruined the great story that could have come out of Yankee Stadium Monday night. He just did exactly what I said he would do, win.
The story of Josh Hamilton is a great one of redemption. Hamilton’s story is like that of Jeff Hardy. Hardy had troubles along the way and had his climb to the top, pre-maturely peaking at the Royal Rumble. Hardy, unlike Hamilton could not right the ship and slipped up in the biggest push of his career. Hamilton has come a long way since being addicted to drugs and alcohol, but admittedly has a long way to go.
The sports media are probably more guilty of bias than any other media. When you watch a nationally televised game, many times you can tell who the announcers are cheering to win. The media has become overly obsessed with the big story and are stealing an idea from the world of wrestling. When you watch a match like Triple H and John Cena from WrestleMania 22, Jim Ross is putting over what you need to know as fans and possibly evoking an emotion in the fan during the match. A sports commentator calling a legit contest should call the action and educate the viewer without bias.
Don’t tell me who should win. I don’t care who should win. I care who wins. The New York Giants weren‘t supposed to win. Boston College wasn‘t supposed to beat Miami, but Doug Flutie and Eli Manning didn‘t care that they shouldn‘t win. That’s why the games are played, and America watches, to see who wins. The art of impartiality is definitely dying.
Raw Thoughts
The brawling between Jericho and HBK was really well done to open Raw. It felt like one of those wrestling moments that grabbed the fans immediately. When brawls open the show at ringside and that is the first visual seen from the show, it gives wrestling a more legit feel. Jericho/HBK has been the best feud of 2008 in any company, and I don’t feel like that is a reach.
The build between these two has been phenomenal and old school. When these two are brawling or in the vicinity of one another, it feels like they want to kill each other. Young talent need to focus on this feud and take notes how Jericho and Michaels work on the mic together and just period. WWE also deserves some credit for actually pushing a feud the proper way. With that said, I’m glad Paul London got on television this week.
Speaking of younger talent, how good are Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase? I feel like Rhodes was just running in place until his heel turn. Now, Cody is entertaining. He and Ted DiBiase are evoking emotion and just seem to be natural heels. When they ran down Old Man Duggan, I felt the venom of future great heels. It might be a stretch to say they will be better than their fathers, but it is a natural way to get heat for a third generation heel.
Santino Marella is hilarious. After always being a proponent of technical wrestling and not really any comedy, I have seen the light. My kind of comedy does not involve the shenanigans of Hornswoggle or the bathroom humor creative tries to get John Cena to get over. However, I do love midgets, but Hornswoggle being around means Finlay not being the rough, snug veteran that we have grown to love.
Santino’s delivery is just comedy gold. From his antics with Stone Cold to Roddy the Piper and his latest involving Rey Mastrio. I think Santino would correctly name Piper and Rey if they weren’t on the Buddy Rose Blow Away Diet. WWE needs to give Santino a live segment each week, an extension of Santino’s Casa from WWE.com. As far as his match with Beth Phoenix, Santino doesn’t get hurt losing matches as long as he runs his mouth before.
Kofi Kingston coming out to make the save for Mickie James made sense if they are going to put him in a feud with Paul Burchill. Did you see Burchill laughing when Kofi’s pants fell down? The match between Kofi and Burchill was pretty good. These two have a good contrast in styles and should have a pretty decent feud if they keep it going. This could be the Raw equivalent of Kofi’s feud with Shelton Benjamin.
Kane going nuts seems interesting to me. The angle is intriguing because of the possibilities. Intriguing but also disheartening because WWE could squander a chance to do something cool, like bring Paul Bearer back. They could end up doing something horrible like the McMahon paternity angle ending with Hornswoggle or Katie Vick.
The six-man to close the show was better than expected. It was wise to keep Cena and JBL out of the ring, not only to build their feud but because they tend to be boring. Cryme Tyme and Rhodes/DiBiase definitely came to work. The psychology in the match, with the baby face team getting beat up the whole match was refreshing. The building to get Cena the hot tag was great considering the garbage these companies feed us sometimes.
The final angle or the “Great American Crash” as dubbed by WWE.com, was half-witted. The way WWE is avid about their camera shots and cutting away with certain angles for this seemed hokey. Are we really supposed to believe that JBL wants to kill Cena? Not only kill him but have national television evidence?
There are moments in wrestling, like the Jericho/HBK angle, where I’m proud to be a wrestling fan. On the other end of the spectrum, angles like the car crash that closed Raw just make me question how dumb does WWE think we are as wrestling fans?
Uggla makes 3 errors in NL 4-3 loss in 15 innings
For a diehard baseball fan like myself, the Mid-Summer Classic was just that, classic. The 2008 All-Star Game was Major League Baseball bidding the baseball gem, Yankee Stadium, farewell. Outside of the glory and tradition of “The House That Ruth Built,“ the story of the night was the good pitching shutting down the good hitting. The media had harped on how great the bullpens were going to do for both sides, but the starting pitching was pretty dominant as well.
The game was more exciting than in years past with home runs, extra innings and big rookie hits. Rockies’ Matt Holliday and Red Sox’s J.D. Drew both hit bombs and Rays’ rookie sensation, Evan Longoria had an RBI double to tie the game in the bottom of the eighth. I was disappointed by the Reds’ Edison Volquez because he gave up two runs in one inning of work. He is starting to fall off and has not been impressive in his last couple starts either.
In extra innings, the Marlins’ Dan Uggla grounded into a double play to end the top of the 10th. Uggla’s woes did not end there. Uggla made three errors after coming in the game in the sixth, the most by any player in All-Star Game history. Uggla also went 0 for 4, striking out three times, effectively gaining the strikeout “hat trick.” The AL squandered a couple of chances to win the game in extras. On bright side for Uggla, at least none of his errors cost the NL the game.
In the bottom of the 15th, Michael Young hit a sacrifice fly to right field driving in homerun derby winner Justin Morneau giving the American League their 11th straight decision (Game ended in tie in 2002). Corey Hart fielded Young’s fly ball cleanly and the throw was close by Morneau just edged it out. The game was four hours and fifty minutes.
The problem with the All-Star Game this year was pitchers pitching on short rest. I think the only answer is to extend the roster size to accommodate an extra inning possibility. Guys don’t need to put their season in jeopardy for ultimately an exhibition game.
My column here is an extension of the topics I cover on my radio show on WEGL 91.1 FM on the campus of Auburn University in Auburn, Ala. You can listen to the show “Handoffs and Headlocks” online at www.wegl91.com by clicking streaming and selecting a media player. The show airs during the summer on Monday at 1-3 p.m., Tuesday 1-2 p.m. and Thursday 1-3 p.m. (Note: All times are Central Standard Time).
Thank you for reading and if you would like to give feedback please send me an email at handoffsandheadlocks@gmail.com or DudleyAU@aol.com. You can also contact me on Facebook on my name in the Auburn network.
Handoffs and Headlocks: No Hype Necessary, Just That Damn Good
