by Joey Durant
Last weekend, the MLB saw an extreme case of retaliation and temperament in one of their generally calm baseball games. The Oakland Athletics and the Kansas City Royals played a in a very heated matchup on April 19th, which ended with five ejections. The teams were already tense after Brett Lawrie, of the A's, slid hard into second base and collided with Royals' shortstop Alcides Escobar the day before. Lawrie was hit in the elbow by a pitch later in that game from Yordano Ventura, who was ejected immediately. Late in the Saturday game, Brett Lawrie was targeted again, this time by Kelvin Herrera. Herrera flung a 100 mph fastball past Lawrie's head, leading to another ejection. As he was leaving the field, Herrera pointed towards his head and was seen shouting something to Lawrie who had walked to first base (SI Wire, 2015). The pitch was viewed as a clearly intentional action, meaning to hit Lawrie in the head with what would have been a brutal pitch in retaliation for Lawrie injuring Escobar the day before. A's reliever Sean Doolittle took to Twitter to voice his opinions of the incident, calling Herrera's actions "bush league" and "hot garbage" in reference to the pitch and to Herrera pointing at his head (SI Wire, 2015; para. 4).
Retaliation like this is not new to baseball, but the fact that Herrera aimed for the head of Lawrie with a 100 mph pitch is disturbing. Getting hit with a baseball at any speed can be dangerous, but that type of intent could legitimately end a players career. Pitchers typically will pitch inside on a batter that they want to send a message to, and will usually pitch to their abdomen area. That retaliation may not be right, but at least it won't send a guy to the hospital. Herrera, in my opinion, acted with malice and a true intent to injure Lawrie. He used the baseball as a weapon, aimed at Lawrie's head and luckily missed. Herrera should be suspended for his actions, but even then I don't think he should be put in against the A's in the future in order to avoid any similar incidents.
Do you think that Herrera should be punished by the league, either in the form of a suspension or fine? What ethical considerations are in play when a pitcher decides to retaliate against an opposing batter? Is there a difference in intentionally throwing at a batters body, rather than their head? Should intentional throws like Herrera's be more strictly policed by the MLB?
References
SI Wire. (2015, April 19). Five Royals ejected in win over Athletics. Retrieved from http://www.si.com/mlb/2015/04/19/kansas-city-royals-ejections-oakland-athletics-kelvin-herrera-brett-lawrie
Monday, April 27, 2015
Jameis Winston Incident cont.
More Crab
talk..
“A little more than a year ago, then-Florida State
quarterback Jameis Winston was issued a civil citation in Tallahassee for
shoplifting $32.72 worth of crab legs from a Publix.” (TBO, 2015, para.1) We
thought that this incident was long and over with but now there is a “part two”
to this story. The funny story about a
big time FSU quarterback stealing crab legs has grown into a bigger joke.
Now, Jameis claims those crab legs came as part of a deal he
had with a Publix employee who swore to hook him up with free food whenever he
stepped foot into his store. Being a
student-athlete at a Division school accepting free food goes against NCAA’s
compliance rules. Not only is free food
illegal but so are “hook-ups”, upgrades, discounts any of these will result in
a violation.
Winston was given a citation last year for stealing crab legs from
a Tallahassee Publix, though he said last week it was a misunderstanding and he
was "hooked up" with crab legs for free. Either way he was wrong in the crab leg
incident because whether he stole them or got them for free, it’s an NCAA
violation.
According to the Tampa Bay Times, “Winston is considered the
likely choice by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers with the No. 1 overall pick in the
NFL draft on April 30. If the former Florida State quarterback is selected by
the Bucs in Thursday's NFL draft, Skipper's Smokehouse will give him free crab
legs for as long as he's with the team.” (Perez, 2015)
What are your thoughts on Jameis Winston?
How do you feel about this place giving Winston free crab
legs for as long as he’s on the team?
Is it okay to just
make a big joke out of this situation?
Jasmine Matthews
Cummings, R. (2015, April 22). Winston says crab legs were
given to him, not stolen. Retrieved April 27, 2015, from
http://tbo.com/sports/bucs/winston-says-crab-legs-were-given-to-him-not-stolen-20150422/
Perez, A. (2015). Tampa's Skipper's 'hooks up' Jameis Winston
with crab legs. Retrieved April 27, 2015, from
http://www.tampabay.com/sports/football/bucs/tampas-skippers-hooks-up-jameis-winston-with-crab-legs/2227163
Mayweather Domestic Violence Aligations
Floyd Mayweather vs. Manny Pacquiao on May 2nd. Everyone will be tuning in to see this long awaited matchup. Going back as far as 2001 there have been several allegations towards Floyd Mayweather. All of these cases involve domestic violence towards women. One of these incidences resulted in a 90 day jail sentence. Please watch the video below
http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=espn:12758110
My biggest reaction after watching the video is: what is the purpose of the boxing commission? I find it fairly obvious that the boxing commission has slept on this case due to the high profile of both boxers, and the implications of this fight. Now domestic violence in sports is nothing new, as we have seen this semester. The NFL is starting to crack down on domestic violence and in an attempt to change its image. Does the violence of boxing change peoples reaction to the nature of Mayweather's alleged crimes? We have to keep in mind that he has only been convicted of one of these allegations. Even so, why do you think the boxing commission issued him a license? As the short film stated, people have had their licenses revoked for minor crimes. Do you think that some of these people on the commission are motivated by money? This will arguably go down as one of the best boxing matchups in history. I have to say that I am excited for this fight. I wonder if we will see anything legal issues are brought up after the fight to challenge the commission's decision.
Matthias E. Reiber
Rick Carlisle received a $25,000 fine
April 25, 2015, the head coach of Dallas Mavericks Rick
Carlisle received a $25,000 fine from the league for his inappropriate comments
after Game 3 (Pollakoff, 2015, para. 1).
Last Friday, the Mavericks lost their fist home field game
to the Rockets with 128-130, after the Game 3, the Mavericks put themselves in
an inferior position in this series (Pollakoff, 2015, para. 2). During the
game, Carlisle felt angry with the referee’s penalty, so he expressed his anger
to the referees after the game. “My hope is that in Game 4 – the one play
that’s kind of an image stuck in my mind, and I just looked at it six times on
the film, is the first play of the fourth quarter”(Pollakoff, 2015,
para. 3)
Carlisle especially mentioned Dwight Howard’s cross-line behavior. “We’re scrambling like hell defensively,
and Devin Harris is going to get
the ball, and Dwight Howard throws him into our bench. He takes the ball, skips
it over the top and Ariza gets a wide-open three.”(Pollakoff,
2015, para. 3)
After
watching the Game 3, I found it interesting that the boss of the Mavericks Mark
Cuban did not say anything after the game, but previously he received fines
from the league several times because of his inappropriate comments. The
practice of getting fines from leagues is an interesting ethical topic. The
highest bill comes from the Rockets’ ex-coach Stan Van Gundy, he once queried
referee’s penalty 10 years ago; then he received a $100,000 fine from the league
(Aron, 2005, para. 1). From my perspective, I think Carlisle could exert
pressure to referees during the game, he should fight for his team and his
players, but he should not have criticized the referees after a game. Playoffs
are intensive and furious, as a head coach of the Mavericks, Carlisle should
watch his mouth carefully.
My
questions are: What do you think of the league’s penalty to Carlisle? Do you
think Carlisle should fight for his players? Why or why not?
References:
Aron, J. (2005, May 5). Van Gundy fined $100,000 for comments about refs,
Cuban. USA TODAY. Retrieved from:
http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/sports/basketball/nba/rockets/2005-05-02-van-gundy_x.htm
Pollakoff, B. (2015, April 25). Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle fined $25K
for publicity criticizing officials after Game 3 loss to Rockets. NBC Sports. Retrieved from:
http://probasketballtalk.nbcsports.com/2015/04/25/mavericks-coach-rick-carlisle-fined-25k-for-publicly-criticizing-officials-after-game-3-loss-to-rockets/
---Veeco Zheng
Aggressive or Dirty?
It’s playoff basketball time in the
NBA. In the first round of the 2015 NBA Playoffs, the Cleveland
Cavilers swept the Boston Celtics in 4 straight games. The 4th and final game of the
series resulted in injuries for both teams. It is often said that athlete’s
aggression levels increase during the playoffs, but when does that aggression
cross the line?
During game
4, Kelly Olynyk and Kevin Love were battling for a rebound; their arms got tied
up. Once their arms unlocked Kevin Love
ran directly to the locker room area. Love’s shoulder was dislocated during the tussle. The video replay is graphic and you can see the pain and agony expressed in Love's face.
Love’s injury will more than likely cause him to miss some playoff
action. Olynyk was called for a foul on the play. Olynk's Foul on Love
Jae Crowder
was also injured in Game 4. J.R. Smith
and Crowder were battling for position for a rebound. As Crowder and Smith aggressively battled for
position, J.R. swung his arm back and hit Crowder with his closed fist. Crowder fell to the ground and had to be
helped off the court. Smith was awarded
a flagrant foul 2 and was ejected from the game. Smith's Foul on Crowder
A similar
situation occurred when Metta World Peace and James Harden collided a couple
years ago. World Peace was suspended
for 7 games, due to his elbow to the head of Harden. David Stern was the commissioner
at the time and he said,
The concussion suffered by James Harden demonstrates
the danger posed by violent acts of this kind, particularly when they are
directed at the head area...We remain committed to taking necessary measures to
protect the safety of NBA players, including the imposition of appropriate
penalties for players with a history of on-court altercations. (Gaines, 2012,
para. 4)
Were these incidents examples of aggressive or dirty
plays? Should Olynyk and/or Smith be
suspended? If so, how many games? If not why? What
can the commissioner/NBA do to deter dirty/over aggressive plays in the NBA? In your opinion,
does the playoffs (any sport) increase aggression among players/coaches?
References
Gaines, C (2012, April 24)
The Athlete Formerly Known As Ron Artest Has Been Suspended For Throwing A
Vicious Elbow. BusinessInsdier.com. Retrieved from
http://www.businessinsider.com/metta-world-peace-ron-artest-suspended-for-throwing-a-vicious-elbow-2012-4
When
does ones journalist integrity questioned?
Bill O Reilly is a journalist who is one of the
highest paid in the business and is probably one of the most hated as well. With
his job once you do anything it is magnified because of the platform he is on. He
was clearly caught lying but nothing was done and I could go back and give you an example of another
news anchor that was caught lying as well. His name was Brian Williams, he was
accused of lying about seeing a dead body and Bill O’ Reilly was accused of
seeing a fire fight and also said he witnessed nuns being shot. These two men
were later caught in a lie where one was off the air and the other is still on.
I look and ask myself if the integrity of both of these guys are worth watching
because they will both lie to make themselves look better in the public eye. I don’t
personally watch Fox but to me a lie is a lie. So why would you tell such a lie
when you know you’re only going to be caught. I don’t think the crime fits the punishment
for either person but I can only ask someone in journalism if you feel this is
right and even if you’re not in the field what should have been done?
By Vincent Marshall
“Bill
O’Reilly Says Fox News Isn’t Conservative After He Is Accused Of
Lying.”
(2015, March 21). Retrieved April 27, 2015, from
http://www.inquisitr.com/1943053/bill-oreilly-says-fox-news-isnt-conservative-after-he-is-accused-of-lying/
Has Justice Ginsburg has already made up her mind on gay marriage?
The Supreme Court receives about 5,000 requests for hearings each year of these the Court will agree to hear fewer than 150. So when it comes to important cases right now in America gay marriage is one of the cases that could really transform America. The law in Indiana shows how important same sex marriage is. The fact that Justice Ginsburg is talking about it in the way she is for me is also surprising. I always felt that the Supreme Court is solely there to help a lower court with the final decision when one is not agreed upon. This doesn’t mean that the public will always agree with what is right but I have been looking closely into this because I feel everyone should be treated equally when it comes to all people and we have heard politicians talk about the gay community not being a very protected community or in some circles they are not welcomed but now I feel like the time is now to either show we have solidarity with the gay community or as politicians tell them how you really feel. Is it right to make a ruling or should we just allow this issue to continue to come up when we know we can help the situation?
https://www.yahoo.com/politics/as-arguments-near-justice-ginsburg-has-already-117280631046.html
Vincent Marshall
Goodwin, L. (2015, April 27). As arguments near, Justice Ginsburg has already made up her mind on gay marriage. Retrieved April 27, 2015, from https://www.yahoo.com/politics/as-arguments-near-justice-ginsburg-has-already-117280631046.html
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