Just The Tip - 8-23-10

Back by popular demand, or at the very least necessity, is another edition of Just The Tip, the experimental blog where we’ll try just about anything, just to see how it feels.

Of course the two most interesting sports stories of the week have been covered to death by every media outlet and two-bit blogger all around the web, but it goes without saying that something needs to be said about the inevitable return of Brett Favre to Minnesota and the indictment of Roger Clemens on perjury charges. But in the true spirit of Just The Tip, we’ll keep it short and sweet, so that’s why I’m going to let movie quotes handle it for me.

On Favre’s Return:

On Clemens’s indictment and subsequent continued denial:

“I would never lie. I willfully participate in a campaign of misinformation.”

-         Fox Mulder, The X-Files

Alright, now that we’ve got the given out of the way and dealt with the uncomfortable part, let’s move on.

-         The Red Sox and their fans are finally succumbing to the collapse of Theo Epstein’s “Bridge”. The team fought valiantly to stay in the race this season, but after having lost Dustin Pedroia (twice), Jacoby Ellsbury (thrice), Jason Varitek, Josh Beckett, Victor Martinez, Clay Bucholtz, Jed Lowrie, Hideki Okajima, and various other moving parts to the disabled list throughout the season, Boston finds itself 5.5 games out of a playoff spot with just over a month left to play on the season. It certainly doesn’t help that they are chasing the two teams in their own division that have the two best records in baseball, but still, it stings to know the season is just about over in New England.

-         Can someone please update me how it is that Ben Roethlisberger is practicing with the Steelers and appearing in pre-season games, despite being suspended for at minimum the first four games on the 2010 season? I may be wrong but it seems to me that neither Michael Vick or Pac-Man Jones were afforded such a luxury? This may be the largest double-standard since men were allowed to stand up to relieve themselves while women were forced to straddle the porcelain god. Last time I checked, a suspension entailed sitting out from any activity related the game you play. Enough said.

-         Has someone checked the water coolers in the Orioles dugout lately? Prior to hiring Buck Showalter as manager, the Orioles were sitting at 31-76 on the season. However, after the hiring of Showalter, the Birds are 13-4. This is a team that hasn’t changed any personnel, aside from releasing Garrett Atkins, and has been guided by not one but two different managers prior to bringing Buck aboard. Maybe Peter Angelos should have made a move earlier, but it is doubtful that their position would have improved much given the division they play in. Still, at least fans can remove the paper bags right?

-         The United States Basketball team is again struggling in international competition, having barely survived in two warm-up matches against Lithuania and now Spain. Maybe it has to do with the players that populate team, who are not the same as the ones that lead the U.S. to the gold medal at the Olympic Games, or maybe it is actually the beginning of a bigger picture. In a game dominated by the United States in the past, the international competition showed in 2008 and again in this year’s games that they are closing the gap. American players may still be able to outjump anyone on the floor, but what really lands home is just home much more fundamentally sound the European teams are. American players spend so much time skipping college and learning to play on the playground than they do learning the fundamentals of the game, and that’s why they struggle to maintain their superiority.

Originally published on YouGabSports.com!