Super Bowl: Heroes, Villains

Yes, I still want to keep this blog thing going, believe it or not.

Every time one of the major sports is about to decide its champion, and there's no Philadelphia team involved, I have to figure out which team I want to root for. In general, I like to root for the underdog, or David over Goliath. Teams that haven't won before or cities that haven't won in a long time, whose fans seem deserving of the success. Players I like (or dislike). So, no rooting for New York teams, the Dallas Cowboys, etc.

More and more there's a problem, though. Between the general arrogance and surly attitudes of many modern-day players and the rise of performance-enhancing substance usage and, in recent years, the outspokenness of players on gay issues and teams' participation in projects like You Can Play or It Gets Better, it's increasingly impossible to decide which team to support.

For Super Bowl XLVII (and boy, isn't it going to be weird when it's just Super Bowl L in three years), featuring the Baltimore Ravens and the San Francisco 49ers, there's been particular attention paid to gay stuff. On one hand, the Ravens' Brendan Ayanbadejo is an major supporter of equality, speaking out and helping same-sex equality become law in Maryland. On the other hand, his teammate Matt Birk holds anti-gay views based on his religious beliefs. Point: the 49ers' Chris Culliver made stupid anti-gay remarks this week. Counterpoint: the 49ers repudiated his remarks and his coach and some of his teammates spoke out against them. Plus: the 49ers are the only NFL team to release an It Gets Better video. Minus: Two 49ers who were in the video denied being in it, until they were shown the video featuring them, and the video's now been pulled from the It Gets Better website. It seems possible the 49ers were unclear or misled their players about the video's purpose.

Kaepernick

And that's not even getting into the media's canonization of Saint Ray Lewis, playing his last game, conveniently sweeping under the rug his involvement in the murders of two men, men whose murderers have gone unpunished thanks to the actions of Lewis. Oh, and there's that whole deer-antler-spray thing (getting back to performance-enhancers).

I suppose, with all the pro-gay and anti-gay stuff kind of canceling each other out, the Lewis factor would push me toward the 49ers. But the 49ers have already won five Super Bowls, and the Giants have two World Series wins in three years. So that pushes me back towards Baltimore.

See what I mean?

So I can't say how I'll feel about whichever team wins. I will say, after some wavering, I think the 49ers will win. It really depends on their quarterback, Colin Kaepernick, continuing to handle the pressure despite having little NFL experience before taking over midseason. If he doesn't play like a rookie, the 49ers will win. And, if you don't mind tattoos...

Why An Earthquake Should Bring Down Xfinity Live

A few weeks ago I bought a ticket to Wednesday night's Phillies game. I wasn't planning to go originally, even though they were giving the t-shirt pictured to all fans 15 and over. Then I read that the Phils set up their starting rotation so that Roy Halladay was pitching that night. In the previous two years I haven't seen him pitch once in person. I've only been to a few games the last couple of years but every time I went someone else pitched. So I got a ticket.

(I almost didn't go because my mom passed away the day before, but I spoke to one of my brothers and he said she wouldn't want me to waste the ticket, which I sort of felt myself, and it wasn't as if I was missing the funeral or needed for anything else related to it.)

I figured I could check out what has come to be known as Xfinity Live. (Officially the title ends with an exclamation point but I refuse to use it.) When plans to tear down the Spectrum were first announced, it was known as Philly Live, and was quite ambitious. A shopping/dining/entertainment experience, perhaps even a hotel, was planned. Although I hate that the Spectrum had to go (I'd have liked to see them build around it somehow), the idea sounded really exciting.

It became less exciting when the project was delayed and scaled back due to the economic meltdown.

Then they decided that it would be given the same bizarre made-up name that Comcast came up with for its cable, internet and phone services because the name "Comcast" had such a poor reputation.

You Can Play, But How About Simmonds?

Needless to say, I'm pleased about the You Can Play project, with its simple yet clear message encouraging equality for LGBT athletes: "If you can play, you can play." It's spearheaded by Flyers scout Patrick Burke, powerfully carrying on his brother Brendan's legacy. The fact that two Flyers (at least so far), Claude Giroux and Scott Hartnell, have taken part in the initial public-service announcement (see below) is even better.



(Hartnell's comments to the Philadelphia Daily News, by the way: "It was a no-brainer...we live in a diverse country. It's not a white man's sport. There's all sorts of nationalities in our sport. We encourage everyone to play. It's a great sport. Everyone has fun with it, especially when you're a kid. It's not just about sport, but you learn a lot of things about real life and becoming a team.")

I've been ambivalent about the Flyers this season because of the Wayne Simmonds preseason f-bomb incident. I do feel less ambivalent now, but I still can't entirely let go of it. The fact remains that after that game his stance was "you say things in the heat of battle" and the next day, on advice of -- well, who knows? NHL players' union? Team official? Agent? - he lied that he didn't saying it. The phony non-apology we often get in these situations would have been preferable to this. And it still bothers me that, at least for public consumption, Patrick Burke hasn't gone beyond what he was quoted as saying in the article I discussed in the above-linked post. I can understand why -- he works for the Flyers, after all -- but it still irks me.

Am I being too stubborn, or ridiculous? Is it too much to ask for Wayne Simmonds to at least be honest, if not contrite? Maybe at some point he should join the other players participating in the You Can Play videos. Maybe then I'd feel better.