Thoughts of the Day 1/10/2013

Time for the DSO’s first 2013 edition of Thoughts of the Day! We have a lot to get to today, so let’s get right down to business!

The Los Angeles Lakers lost again last night to drop down to a miserable 15-20 record on the season. Unlike most everyone else, I do not think this is a huge reason for concern. Have the Lakers been bad? Yes. Does it mean they’ll be bad the entire season? Absolutely not. Remember, this is a team that has hardly had any time with their actual starting five due to injury. Nash went down almost immediately, and now Dwight Howard is out for a while. I think with their starting five on the court, this can still be a playoff team; they’ll turn it around and Kobe will start hitting clutch shots again down the stretch. The Celtics are in the same boat when it comes to underperforming, but they shouldn’t worry either. Old teams find a way to win when it counts, the second half of the season. But the Lakers need to snap this five-game losing streak.

The fallout from the national title game has been about everything but the actual game. ESPN has released a statement apologizing for some of the commentary from play-by-play man Brent Musburger during Monday’s game. The camera shots zoomed in on Katherine Webb, Miss Alabama USA and the girlfriend of Alabama quarterback A.J. McCarron. As the cameras focused on Webb, Musburger and partner Kirk Herbstreit kept commenting about how attractive she is. Musberger said, “Wow, I’m telling you quarterbacks: You get all the good-looking women,” and “If you’re a young boy in Alabama start throwing around the football in the back yard, wow!” ESPN has released a statement saying that the commentary “went too far” and Musburger “understands that.” Webb responded on the Today Show by saying Musberger’s comments were not offensive because they were “nothing but flattering comments,” and that an apology was not needed. Everyone seemed to chime in on Twitter about this, and Webb gained over 140,000 followers. First of all, did Musberger go over the line? Absolutely. When you’re 50 years older (Musberger is 73, Webb is 23) it absolutely goes over the line to carry on about a young college student like this. I’ve never liked the shots of girlfriends/wives during big games or key moments because I feel that it detracts from the moment and the actual athlete. But if said shot does occur, you can comment and say “There’s A.J. McCarron’s girlfriend in the crowd here tonight, a very pretty young girl,” and make that the end of it. It was unprofessional and unnecessary to carry on that much, and Brent ended up looking like one of those people who can’t stop thinking dirty thoughts about someone much younger than them. It was just gross, and I think a statement was needed not just by ESPN but Musberger himself.

In case you didn’t hear, the lockout is over and the NHL is back. There will be a 48-game condensed regular season and fans will be happy to see hockey back. Let me make one suggestion that I think is necessary for the NHL teams and owners: For at least one game this season, you will make tickets either free or $1. You make the tickets free because your greediness has caused a lot of frustration and sadness from the fans who love the game of hockey. You have disgraced millions of fans across not only the United States or Canada but the entire world; the least you can do is let fans in for free to enjoy a game of hockey again. Ticket prices should also be reduced for the entire season because each team only gets 24 at home. Season ticket holders have been ripped off like never before because of the owners and players and their selfishness, so the owners are not allowed to be selfish any longer, case closed. As for the season, my preview will be out sometime next week but I think the young teams will benefit more from this than old teams. This will be interesting for sure.

Thoughts? Comments? Drop a comment below or tweet me @chuckiemaggio.

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