Mickey Mantle's Liver

Please excuse my absences and intermittent posts......

When I first started Mickey Mantle's Liver I intended this site to be a place where pithy observations about the world of sports would dominate the discussion.  I lined up a stable of contributors who committed to posting relevant articles on a regular basis.  Unfortunately, those folks never panned out, and the entirety of the Liver was left to my two hands.

Not that I am bellyaching, but maintaining a blog on a daily basis is tough work, but I really enjoyed it.  But as the sole contributor to the Liver, it makes it tough to keep this site up-to-date when my "real" life gets as busy as it has been over the last several months.

So, I am going to get back to work on the Liver, only this time I am going to refocus the Liver by having regional contributors and authors who focus on specific subject areas within the world of sports.  I am going to personally focus on sports and the law.

So stay tuned and don't go anywhere......

Mallory Holtman and Liz Wallace Are the Sports(WO)men of the Year

There is no question in my mind, and there should be no question in the minds of the folks over at Sports Illustrated, that Mallory Holtman and Liz Wallace should be named SI's Sportspersons of the Year.

This video from ESPN should be submitted as Exhibit 1 for their case:

I don't care who you are, but this is the most impressive act of sportsmanship I have ever seen, and these two women must be congratulated, and it is about time the sports industry recognized sportsmanship, and not just spoiled-brat millionaires.

Let's start the campaign now to make sure these women get the recognition they deserve.

The Beavers Baseball Team Gets No Love - Part Deux!

Remember last year, when I posted here about ESPN the Magazine's annual list of the top 100 sports stories of the year and the Mag conveniently forgot to list the incredible run by the Beavers baseball team - playing five consecutive elimination games AND beating Number 1 overall pick Andrew Miller....TWICE! -- as one of the top 100 sports stories?  Remember that?

Well guess what, ESPN the MAGAZINE did it again!!!!!

This time, the Beavers baseball team won a second consecutive national championship and they get no love from the WorldWide Leader.

And again, just like last year, the Magazine listed as one of its top sports stories something from professional wrestling!  Since when is professional wrestling a sport?  The Mag mentions the death of a cricket coach in Jamaica, the U.S. Track and Field Championships, base jumping in the Grand Canyon and even the Little League World Series....but no love for the College Baseball National Champions?

The Magazine lists the weiner-eating champion as the 99th best sports story.  What?  I realize beating that little Japanese dude in a weiner eating contesting is a big deal and all, but is it really (a) a sport, and (b) more impressive than the Beavers winning a second consecutive National Championship in college baseball.

But what is probably the worst pick of all is #100 - Helio Castroneves  winning "Dancing With the Stars".  Now, I understand that old Helio is a race car driver and all, and that race car driving counts as a sport.  But he is mentioned in the Magazine not for winning a race, but for winnig a DANCING CONTEST!!!!

What makes this last pick especially questionable is the fact that Dancing With the Stars appears on ABC, which is the sibling network of ESPN, which owns and publishes the Magazine.  Suffice it to say, the Magazine's #100 pick is a transparent attempt at shameless self-promotion.

Last year I did nothing, assuming that if the Beavers were to do the unthinkable and win yet another National Championship, ESPN the Magazine would give the Beavers their due.  Now that i know that ESPN the Magazine has no clue, I am going to take action.  Stay tuned......

Hey Nifong, Cry Me a River!

Mike Nifong, the idiot DA in Durham, North Carolina, testified today that he "made some mistakes" and that his presence as the DA in Durham was not "Furthering the cause of  justice".

Claiming that his community has "suffered enough", Nifong surprised everyone - including his family and lawyers - resigned.  Hopefully Nifong is going to crawl back under the rock from whence he came.

I don't like to attack members of the noble profession (aka "Lawyers") because, being one myself, I understand how tough it can be being a lawyer in today's day and age.  But every lawyer, I don't care where one practices, knows some basics about being a lawyer.

Don't lie.

Don't steal from your clients.

Deal fairly with the other side.

Don't withhold evidence.

These basic tenets of the practice of law are necessary for every lawyer to follow so that the purposes of justice can be achieved - the determination of fact and truth.  If a lawyer lies, or withholds evidence, the lawyer is frustrating our legal system and inevtiably denying the furtherance of justice.

Which brings me to this dickhead Nifong.  Not only did he withhold evidence (he says that he didn't knowingly withhold evidence - c'mon!), but he failed to objectively analyze the case, which led him to prosecute three innocent young men.  Even a first year law student, with a minimal amount of effort, could have figured out the lax players were innocent.

But not Nifong.  NO!  He instead saw an opportunity.  A platform with which he could launch his bid for re-election, and he took it.  He decided to ruin the lives of these young men for his own political advantage.  He decided to use the awesome power of our criminal justice system to financially and emotionally destroy the lives of these men and their families for his own personal gain.

You may wonder - can the boys sue Nifong?  Well, that depends.  You see, prosecutors enjoy immunity from civil suits.  This immunity makes sense.  Without it, prosecutors would be reluctant to seek indictments against anyone, for fear that an acquittal will lead to a subsequent civil suit.

However, prosecutorial immunity ends when it can be proven that a District Attorney knowingly or recklessly prosecuted an innocent person.  That is, when the DA prosecutes a person he knows to be innocent (or SHOULD know to be innocent), prosecutorial immunity vanishes .

That is clearly the case here.  Nifong prosecuted three men he KNEW were innocent just from the results of their DNA tests.  He should have known they were innocent if he had just done a little detective work to see if any of the lax players had alibis (which they did).

Silence is Simply Not Good Enough

In the midst of the Don Imus scandal, many commentators are rightly concerned about the effects his statements may have on the Rutgers' womens basketball team.  Virtually everyone in American has steadfastly taken the side of the players individually and the team as a whole, in an effort to protect the players from unfair and unjust criticism.

"Don Imus, whose comments have hurts the players individually and the Rutgers womens basketball team as a whole should be fired!" these people shout.

But what about the three lacrosse players at Duke University?  What about all of the professors on Duke's campus who couldn't rush to judgment fast enough?  What about the professors who demeaned the players personally as bigots and sexists?  Haven't those professors committed the same crime that Don Imus committed?

Yes.

And where are they today?  The silence is deafening.

The Duke Chronicle has this editorial demanding the professors apologize - at the least - for displaying a total lack of judgment, and unwillingness to consider these three players may actually be innocent, and using the hoax as an opportunity to incite Duke's minority population.

That isn't far enough.  They should all be fired.  Treated just like Imus.

Professor Houston Baker (now at Vanderbilt University) wrote this inflammatory letter in which he said:

"[r]egarding the lacrosse team and the administration's response to the incident, asking, "[w]hat have Duke and its leadership done to address this horrific, racist incident alleged to have occurred" and asserting "internationally, we have been deeply embarrassed by the silence that seems to surround this white, male athletic team's racist assaults (by words, certainly - deeds, possibly) in our community".

And then there was the "group of 88" - 88 Duke University professors who signed an inflammatory, demeaning, and likely libelous letter condemning the three wrongfully accused students.  Here is a link to the letter, which not surprisingly has been removed by the cowards in Duke's Department of African American Studies.  So I found another link to the letter here.

Other deep-thinking professors, identified by Duke's student newspaper, as having fanned the flames include Grant Farred, Orin Starn, Wahneema Lubiano and Mark Anthony Neal (Professor Neal has a Blog, where he hasn't posted anything on this case in a while).  I am going to send each of them an email asking them if they plan on issuing an apology to the three victims of their vicious, unfounded, and reprehensible actions and comments.

As you all know, I am a professor myself.  But I like to think I am a different professor from the "group of 88".  As a professor, your responsibility is to challenge your students and set the example.  The "group of 88" did neither.  Instead, they capitalized on a tragedy in the worst possible manner, and set a very poor example for their students.  The "group of 88's" rush to judgment is as negligent and reprehensible as the actions of Mr. Nifong.

At least Mr. Nifong was human enough to apologize for his rush to judgment.  Where are the "group of 88"?

Each of these professors owe something to the Duke community.  I think they should be fired, but there is no way Duke is going to fire all 88.  From a practical standpoint, these professors have demonstrated an inability to fulfill their responsibilities as professors, and should be fired on that basis.

But more to the point, these professors should be fired for the same reason Imus was fired.  Their remarks were solely based upon race.  Had this been a black student allegedly raping a white woman, or a black student allegedly raping a black woman, or a woman raping a man (it does happen), as sure as I am sitting here the "group of 88" would have remained deadly silent.

No, their comments were motivated by the race of the players and the race of the woman.  They criticized Duke University for not torturing the innocent players as the "group of 88" had done.  Duke University, in their mind, did not rush to judgment quick enough.  The white boys were obviously rapists, to hell with the justice system!

Isn't that what Imus did?  All the women on the Rutgers Basketball Team are "Nappy Headed Hos". 

Imus is fired.  The "group of 88" should join him in the unemployment line.

So much to talk about, so little time....

For those of you who are regular readers of Mickey Mantle's Liver, you have probably noticed a dearth of posts here.  I don't mean to point fingers, but there are several OTHER people who could be posting articles, but aren't.  I am nothing more than a lone wolf here.....

Be that as it may, there is a lot happening in the world of sports.  So, without further ado:

1.  Kobe Bryant:  Look, who knows if that elbow to Jaric's face was intentional or not.  I know that I have seen Kobe flail like that after shots, especially three-point shots at the end of a game.  I personally don't think it was intentional.  I can't stand Kobe, but I can't say for certain that he is a dirty player.  At best the video is inconclusive.

2.  NFL Free Agents:  Wow, a lot of free agent movement out there.  Jamal Lewis to the Browns.  Jake Plummer to the Bucs (and then to the Peace Corps, apparently).  Dre Bly to the Broncos.  Nate Clements to the 49ers.  And Leonard Davis - LEONARD FREAKIN' DAVIS - to the Cowgirls for 50 mil.  The NFL is starting to look like Major League Baseball of the late 80's and early 90's - spending is getting out of control.

3.  Juan Pablo Montoya:  Who?  Well, he is NASCAR's answer to affirmative action.  Juan Pablo is who NASCAR points to when critics of the sport claim that stock car racing is "too white".  Juan Pablo got into a little trouble last week when, on a road course, he tried to pass a teammate and ended up taking his teammate out of the race.  To me, it looked like Juan Pablo was trying to pass on the inside, and his teammate was trying to cut him off....and BOOM!

4.  NCAA Tournament:  There are two reasons why I don't want to watch the tourney, and one reason why I do.  First, the reason I want to watch the tourney:  I love watching Gonzaga play.  They play hard for 40 minutes and leave it all on the floor.  The two reasons I don't want to watch:  Oregon State University isn't in the Tourney, but Oregon is.  My prediction:  Ohio State wins it all.

5.  Major League Baseball:  The start of a new baseball season means yet another opportunity for MLB to not screw things up.  Baseball fans are both forgiving and forgetting.  Evey new season we forget the transgressions of the past.  But MLB never ceases to amaze me by making the same mistakes over and over.  Steroids will again be the big topic this year, especially as Barroid makes his way towards Hammerin' Hank's home run record.  And yet, Baseball will still make the same mistake and not seriously address the 'roid issue.

Those are my random thoughts......let's hear yours.

One of the Greatest Moments in Sports Ever

27 years ago today:

Just Some Random Thoughts About Recent Events

Well, it has been a while since I last posted anything, so I thought I would provide some insightful commentary on recent events in the sports world....

Michael Waltrip - Who the hell cares?

Tim Hardaway - What a moron.  Whether you agree with him or not, he is pretty stupid for being so blunt about it.  I understand that we are all entitled to our opinions, and you can diagree, but you can also disagree without being disagreeable.

Indianapolis Colts - Good job.  I just think it is funny that Peyton Manning is one of the best quarterbacks ever to play the game, and yet a bunch of idiots in the media won't acknowledge Peyton Manning's place in NFL history without Peyton first winning a Super Bowl.  Now that Peyton has become the first player to win the NFL regular season MVP, the Super Bowl MVP and the Pro Bowl MVP, hopefully these morons will shut up and start criticizing Tim Duncan, Kobe Bryant or Tiger Woods.....

Boston Celtics - God they suck....really suck.....I hope Greg Oden likes Boston.

Laine Kiffin - 31 and the coach of an NFL football team.  He is either a genius or the Raiders suck so bad they can't pay a good coach enough to take the job.  Jamarcus Russell better get to like Oakland.

Barroid - So the Giants are paying this guy $15.7 million to hit .270 with 22 homers over 75 games.  Great investment.....I sure he doesn't go to jail.

Just my random thoughts, I have been so busy lately that I haven't had a chance to author a really thoughtful post, and the people who are authors on this Blog don't seem to be posting either.  So, hopefully I will get back to the content our readers have come to expect.

My 2007 Sports Predictions

I am going to go out on a limb here and make a few predictions for the upcoming sports year.  I am NOT going to make some of the more "predictable" predictions (you know, Brett Favre retiring, the Lakers not making the playoffs, or Barroid breaking Hank Aaron's record).  On this post, you will find predictions that you will not hear elsewhere (if you do, they probably got it from Mickey Mantle's Liver), but these are predictions you can take to the bank:

1.  We will have a new NCAA Football national champion.  I know the BCS system is really - REALLY -- screwed up, but not even under the current system will the Texas Longhorns have a shot at winning the national championship.  This much I do know.

2.  Alex Rodriguez will hit .300, 30 HRs, and 100+ RBIs, and Yankee fans are still going to complain that Alex Rodriguez isn't worth the money he is being paid.

3.  A team will win the Stanley Cup - on the "Versus" channel.  And no one will care.

4.  Even though he isn't racing in this year's Tour de France, during the Tour, you will hear more about Floyd Landis than you will hear about the winner of this year's race.

5.  Phil Mickelson will choke during a major.

6.  By the end of the year, Roger Federer will make us all forget Pete Whats-his-name.

7.  The Dallas Mavericks WILL NOT make the NBA Finals.  But Mark Cuban will be fined while attending the NBA Finals.

8.  An offensive lineman WILL NOT win the Heisman Trophy, continuing the obvious anti-lineman media bias against offensive lineman.  Somebody must do something to stop this injustice.

9.  Jose Canseco will continue to be the only credible and knowledgeable athlete on the subject of performance enhancing drugs.  Until Mark McSteroid and Barroid and the others admit the error of their ways and come clean, their credibility will be overshadowed by Canseco's credibility.  Never thought I would write a sentence like that on this Blog.

10.  Ichiro Suzuki will get at least 200 hits this year and deep thinkers like Rob Dibble and Keith Olbermann will still openly question whether Ichiro is good enough to make it in the major leagues.  After all, Ichiro is Japanese, which means he did not grow up in America or Latin America playing baseball.  And as we all know, only Americans and Latinos know how to play baseball.

11.  The Raiders will have the #1 pick in the 2007 NFL Draft (ok, this much we already know), and they will try to use their pick to draft Reggie Bush.  Or Vince Young.  Or Matt Leinart.  Or Jay Cutler.  Or Marques Colston.  When Al Davis finds out those guys aren't available, he will ask "Why would I want to draft a dynamic player like Troy Smith?"

12.  One thing is undeniable - sports talk radio is more popular now than ever before.  Another point is also undeniable:  sports talk radio hosts are getting dumber.  They sound more like FM Disc Jockeys than persons knowledgeable in the world of sports.  When challenged on their knowledge of sports, radio hosts turn condescending.  This year, a host will be fired because he (or she) crossed the line.

13.  A least one member of the Cincinnati Bengals will be arrested.

14.  Dennis Erickson will leave Arizona State for yet another "Final stop on the Dennis Erickson Coaching Tour".

15.  UCLA will win the Men's Basketball Championship and Bruins fans will still complain about Ben Howland's coaching style not being anything like Coach Wooden's style of play.

16.  An Oregon State Beaver football player will be drafted in the first round of the NFL draft.

17.  Bowling will become very popular - surpassing golf in popularity.

18.  The NFL Network will become standard programming for all Cable TV companies.

19.  Congress will do nothing about the prevalence of performance enhancing drugs in sports.

20.  Somebody other than myself will start reading Mickey Mantle's Liver.

There you have it.  20 predictions you can take to the bank - guaranteed to occur (or not) in 2007.  Remember, you heard it hear first.  Have a happy and safe New Year.

The Worst Day of the Year

Today, without question, is the worst day in sports.  Why?  Well, today is the only day of the year where none - NONE - of the important sports (aka Baseball, Basketball and Football) are playing any meaningful (or even quasi-meaningful) game.  Not even hockey, which has a 10-month schedule (ok, it may not be 10 months, but it sure feels like 10 months) has a game scheduled today.

Ordinarily, the sports talk on this day is left to discussing the upcoming All-Star game, finding out who is going to be replacing whom on the All-Star roster, and getting ready for the upcoming college and pro football seasons.  I can handle that.

  But now the "home run derby" has become almost as hyped as the U.S. World Cup Sucker Team.  And both the Home Run Derby and the Sucker Team will (or have) fail miserably.  A REAL home run derby would have Jose Canseco taking on Barry Bonds.  Of course, I want the juiced up Barroid, not the wimpy Pittsburgh Pirates Barroid.

Yeah, I think a Barroid - Canseco home run derby would be interesting.  Think about it, between turns at the plate Barroid could go rub some cream on his arms and take a shot of "the clear", which Barroid thought was only flax seed oil.

Then Canseco can have his good friend Mark McGwire shoot him in the ass with a syringe full of horse hormones....of course, Mark and Jose may only feel comfortable doing that in a bathroom stall, so MLB will have to put one out on the field.  MLB can afford it, especially if they are going to get this kind of entertainment for the money.

Given the recent steroid revelations, why do we even have a home run derby?  Who wants to watch a bunch of doped up millionaires hit baseballs for a couple of hours, anyway?

But back to my original point about this being the worst day in sports.  Because there are no other real sports taking place right now, we are relegated to talking about two of the DUMBEST sports on the planet - Tennis and Sucker.

First, I don't care who wins Wimbledon.  It isn't a "championship", its a friggin tennis tournament played in a country that wouldn't exist without the help of the United States.  If it weren't for the United States the "championship" might be called "The Adolph Hitler Invitational".  As far as I am concerned, the British should be fixing the tournament so that an American wins every year.  And don't even get me started on the French Open.....

And Sucker.  I hate Sucker.  It isn't the "beautiful game."  It is the "Stupid Game".  Dumb, dumb, dumb.  What other team sport do you know of where the best player on the team -- perhaps the best player in the world, gets in a fight using his head?  What kind of moron gets kicked out of the world championship match?  What kind of idiot, when he wants to get in a fight, USES HIS HEAD, AND NOT HIS HANDS????

A Sucker player, that is who.  Because the game sucks.

There are two good things that will come out of yesterday's game.  (1) France lost, and I hate France, and (2) World Cup Sucker is over and I don't have to hear about it for another 4 years.

Plus, France Lost.