Culture Archive

Tiger apologizes to …

By
Tim
Published: February 19, 2010Tags:
Tiger apologizes to …

Our relationship may be beyond repair. What he did to me and you was unforgivable. I can put up with a lot, but cheating? I don’t think so! Does he even care how this has affected my life?! Not very much whatsoev wait, no, I don’t give a shit.

That press conference was nothing more than Tiger Woods granting us public access to his apology to his wife, wasn’t it? The world’s best golfer publicly apologized Friday for cheating on his wife many, many times. It’s who he was apologizing to that’s interesting. I’m assuming he apologized to his wife Elin as soon as this all came to the surface, and hundreds of times since. But that wasn’t enough. People still demanded a public apology. For what, exactly?

Now, if you ask these same people if they felt they were owed an apology, they’d say no, of course not. What people wanted was simply to invade another celebrity’s private life. We want all the details. We want everything broadcast. Since we missed out on his private apology to the only person who truly deserved one, he kindly repeated it on television.

Whether or not the public will forgive him is still being decided. First we’ll have to determine if he was sincere in his apology and truly sorry. I have enough trouble figuring out if I’m sincere in my apologies. We have to decide whether he’s taking his sex rehab seriously, or if it’s all for show. There are sex addicts out there, but Tiger ain’t one. Then again, who cares?

After nearly three months passed since the stories of his infidelity began, I was hoping Tiger would be the guy to refuse a sham apology to people who didn’t deserve it. Forget the podium, cameras, reporters and just send out a statement that says “I don’t owe any of you an apology or explanation.” Instead, he caved to the pressure of doing something he didn’t want to in order to protect his image. You let me down Tiger, and I demand an apology.

This Super Bowl commercial means more than you think

By
Zuri
Published: February 17, 2010Tags:
This Super Bowl commercial means more than you think

I love it when cultural conversations arise out of seemingly meaningless drivel.

Exhibit A: This Dodge Charger commercial (see video at bottom), which aired initially during the Super Bowl two weeks ago, struck a chord with the Mark Morford, a renowned columnist on SFGate.com. (Not to mention the comments on YouTube … Seriously, what doesn’t set off the YouTube community!)

I’m a big fan of Morford. Not for his politics, but for his style. It’s brash, it’s futurist, and it’s clever and witty. All the things I try, at times, to be in my writing and yet fail so miserably to do. He’s got that kind of respect from me.

Now you know that context. But understand this as well: Everything he writes, does not make sense. Often times, he’s on a bigger rant than he himself can get under. And while his arguments are tasty, they’re not always healthy.

So when he said …

Do you know what that awful message is? Can you read the sign over the door?

It says: “When the going gets tough, the tough get totally bummed out and slump off to the basement to drink too much beer, watch ESPN and quietly resent every aspect of their lives, as they deeply wish, just once, they could drive a turbocharged Z06 Corvette flat-out for 10 minutes straight on an open road with no cops anywhere, laughing and screaming and crying all at the same time, straight off a cliff.”

Whaaaaa??

Naw dawg. Not even remotely.

What his response represents though is a deeper resentment that most sports fans don’t always recognize, but see quite often. It’s the angry girlfriend response.

What’s the angry girlfriend response? Simply put: It’s when she doesn’t want you to have fun by yourself, even though you clearly are and you have no intention of adding her to the mix. Instead of allowing the peace to last, she has to stop this. In her mind, it’s not right. How dare you! Fun cannot be achieved without her — ever. And because you thought you were going to dismiss this unknown fact, you will now suffer her wrath.

It’s always angry. It’s always immediate. It’s as if to check your self-identity.

That’s what Morford is doing. (It’s actually his job, which he usually does a good job performing.) But for Morford, and folks like him, it’s not so much knee jerk as not well thought out. To say, and I’m paraphrasing, that men are overly dependent on sports, being “manly”, drinking beer and escaping from day-to-day issues with recliners and man caves, is a misnomer. The truth is, everyone needs an escape. One in which we all can simply have peace of mind from our spouses, our jobs and any other stresses permeated throughout life. To sum this up as a male foible, is oversimplifying a deeper issue. And frankly, it’s irritating.

I enjoyed this commercial for two reasons. 1) The car is dope. You must be a nutjob not to think so. 2) When I first saw it, I understood its message immediately. And when you can relate, plus add a product to the message, you’ve got great marketing on your hands. I can appreciate that.

Now you tell me, what do you think of this commercial? Is it really that bad? Does it represent the worst of men? Society? Or, as I’m assuming, is it harmless?


Best Super Bowl commercial, hands down

By
Zuri
Published: February 8, 2010Tags: ,
Best Super Bowl commercial, hands down

Only way this commercial could’ve been better is if the kid put down his middle finger second.



Check out all of the Super Bowl commercials on YouTube here or on CBSSports here.

Update: Mark McGwire does not get the HOF nod

By
Zuri
Published: January 6, 2010Tags:
Update: Mark McGwire does not get the HOF nod

Update, 4:11 p.m.

If you haven’t heard, Mark McGwire did not get the Hall of Fame nod, conjuring up 23 percent of the votes. He needed 75 percent — or 405 votes — to be inducted, marking a continued dismissal by Baseball Writers Association of America members for his alleged steroid use.

Do you think this is the right decision? You can still vote below.

You can see the release from the BBWAA here.

—
I’m not sure if I’m as outraged by steroids as I was five years ago.

Oh wait, yes I am.

Today, we’ll find out if the collective baseball trust is still outraged as well, or if they’ve chosen to fall down on their swords of principle and let the red-haired slugger Mark McGwire into the Hall of Fame. (Details come in at 7 p.m. EDT.)

His numbers are still astonishing (583 home runs, including that magical 70 season in 1998). And his place in history is vague.

Will we always look at him as an embarrassment, unable to talk about the past? Or will we, after being introduced to the Mitchell Report and its fallout, be softened by our obviously moralistic tone?

I’d prefer we take McGwire and every other suspected cheater and put them on a black list for the HOF. And if they wanted to get off of the black list, they’d have to perform a lie-detector test (not 100 percent, but close) to become eligible again. And yes, they’d have to talk about the past.

What do you think?



Gilbert Arenas is a fool

By
Zuri
Published: January 4, 2010Tags:
Gilbert Arenas is a fool

Idiocy is like currency. Too much of it is floating around.

Gilbert Arenas is the latest NBA player to strike fool’s gold. He took bad judgment, and put it on another stratosphere. Everything about what has transpired in Washington D.C. is an embarrassment to the Wizards organization, the NBA and to his family.

Good thing Javaris Crittenton is being quiet, because he’s an embarrassment too. But at least he’s not foolish enough to broadcast his stupidity. He’ll leave that to Agent Zero.

Here’s the alleged rumor:

NBA all-star Gilbert Arenas and his Washington Wizards teammate Javaris Crittenton drew guns on each other in the team’s locker room during a Christmas Eve dispute over a gambling debt, The (New York) Post has learned.

Here’s the more probable version of events:

Two officials within the league who have been briefed on the investigation told The Associated Press on Saturday that it involves a dispute over card-playing gambling debts and a heated discussion in the locker room. Neither official was told of Arenas and Crittenton actually drawing guns on each other – as the New York Post has reported.

Here’s what David Aldridge reported for TNT Sports and NBA.com:

While the details are not yet clear, the substance of what was reported Friday by Yahoo! Sports and the New York Post — that Arenas had a confrontation in the Wizards’ locker room late last month with teammate Javaris Crittenton in which both players had guns in their hands — was confirmed Friday by a league source. The incident, the source said, apparently involved a debt of $25,000 that Arenas owed Crittenton. It is not clear why Arenas supposedly owed Crittenton the money, but the dispute apparently began on a team flight as the Wizards came home the night of Dec. 19, after Washington completed a road trip in Phoenix.

The reports (and there’s plenty) go on to say that it was undetermined whether or not the two players were pointing the guns at each other.

And that’s the part that saddens me.

Why not go all the way? Why not just blow each other’s brains out? If you’re going to pull a gun, you might as well use it, right?

And while you’re at it, why not emulate every other stereotype of an ignorant, overpaid, asshole NBA baller who makes respectable black people cringe because of your constant foolish, short-sighted behavior.

Please, continue the bit of “I’m just joking about it” because if I didn’t I’d cry routine. Rather than apologizing forthrightly and coming clean, just drag it out to make sure the NBA feels the drench of the mud too.

That’s a great idea. Why didn’t I think of that.

Oh, that’s right. I’m not stupid.

If Arenas has any smarts left, he’ll wise up just enough to be honest about the alleged gambling and why guns were in the locker room. And I’m not talking little white lie honest. I’m talking forgive-me-for-I-have-sinned honest. Anything less, will just create SpyGate.

And Lord knows, D.C. — or America for that matter — doesn’t need another excuse to tack on said post-modifier. So just end it already. Or do we have to bust your balls?

Urban Meyer hype is out the window

By
Zuri
Published: December 27, 2009Tags:
Urban Meyer hype is out the window

Florida is going crazy after the announcement that Gators coach Urban Meyer was resigning. Sad day in Gainseville -- and on ESPN.

It’s really a cultural thing more than anything else.

When news hit that University of Florida football coach Urban Meyer was resigning due to health concerns, the whirlwind was imminent. After it was announced live during the North Carolina-Pittsburgh bowl game, Gatorzone, the official site of the Florida Gators, went down.

First thought: It’s going to be one of those bowl weeks.

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TMZSports.com on its way

By
Zuri
Published: December 23, 2009Tags: ,
TMZSports.com on its way

Getting word from folks in the industry that TMZSports.com is on its way, expanding on its sports section which has been hammering Tiger Woods as of late.

The site is currently parked, registered to Telepictures Productions in Burbank, Calif., a division of Warner Bros which is partnered with AOL in managing TMZ.

Is this something to worry about for newspapers, blogs/Web sites? Not likely.

I just think we’ll see an amped up effort by TMZ to go after the Tiger Woods’ of the world. If anything, single guys like Peyton Manning and the like shouldn’t be too concerned. It’s the married guys who should be worried, baseball players who think they’re anonymous, NBA players who are always on the road and apparently always in the club, and the athlete with multiple baby mamas (as one colleague so eloquently noted).

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Michael Crabtree ain’t out the woods yet

By
Zuri
Published: October 16, 2009Tags:

Hey Michael, youre not out of the woods with me yet.

Hey Michael, you're not out of the woods with me yet.


When Michael Crabtree finally signed with San Francisco 49ers last week, there was a sigh of relief for owners all around (besides the Jets, I assume) because the sanctity of the slotted draft system and its capitulation that money be doled out according to draft number rather than actual value was once again preserved.

That’ll be another issue come collective bargaining time.

But for Crabtree, who foolishly had to take the money he was already offered (minus whatever he lost in the first four weeks), and which contains much fluff, as explained by ProFootballTalk.com, is at a loss.

At what loss?

Oh gosh, where do we start … Practice, bonding and building chemistry with quarterback Shaun Hill, entering the locker room seen as a selfish outsider (by outsiders admittedly) and failing the smell test come press conference time.

Nope, I didn’t like most of what he had to say. Full transcript here. I say most because he did make one point, which I think is worth sharing on this site after I blasted him for allowing his cousin to speak for him in my column for The Union.

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Wow, I’ve been slacking over here…

By
Zuri
Published: October 10, 2009Tags:

So it’s a good time to catch up.

We’ve had three features at Addisports.com that haven’t been coming out on their respective dates: My column (on Tuesdays), our daily Superbowl picks (which will run out when we’re done with all 32 teams), and our weekly picks for NFL games (Wednesdays).

A large part of that is my fault. Been busy, what can I say. The other part is I’ve been busy. What can I say.

So I’ve been surprised to look at the traffic here and see that we’ve skyrocketed in terms of fandom, all because of one picture. View that here and below.

Tila Tequila is good for only one thing. Yes, that thing.

Tila Tequila is good for only one thing. Yes, that thing.

People seem to love that picture so much, they’re downloading it like a mofo. No lie.

Anyways, I couldn’t tell you where I got it. I just don’t remember. But it was definitely off the inter-web. And if my guess is any good, people are finding it the same way I did, by Google image search. (Of course, there were a couple of Bing nods as well.)

So expect some rapid fire posts today and some scheduled posts to appear throughout the week. Gotta get back on this saddle and make October go hard.

Cheers.

Jordan’s HOF speech brings out the best in him, critics (with video)

By
Zuri
Published: September 12, 2009Tags: ,

Michael Jordan, a.ka. the Greatest of All Time, has been getting a bad rap for his speech. Methinks that's unfair.

Michael Jordan, a.ka. the Greatest of All Time, has been getting a bad rap for his speech. Methinks that's unfair.

It’s almost like gold, except its shininess comes from a bald head.

Whenever Michael Jordan speaks publicly, the collective basketball brain trust comes together and makes damn well sure to have a camera on him with expectations bordering on amazing. It’s cult-like and it’s no secret Jordan grants few interviews, if any, and hand picks those he will talk to (if any). Michael Wilbon scored a nice interview the other day.

So when he does speak, his words carry more value than the those shiny rocks under the ground — particularly to the media.

For Friday’s Basketball Hall of Fame ceremony, and unexpectedly (to us), Jordan showed a little crass, the vengeance he’s always carried and an elephant’s memory of perceived wrongs against him. The reaction was twofold: “Jordan is an asshole;” and “Jordan was hilarious.”

I’ll side with the latter.

While some saw his comments on Leroy Smith, Byron Russell, and others as distasteful, I found them outright comical and actually in respect to stories we would never have appreciated if they were not told by the G.O.A.T. himself. These are people that provided the “wood for the fire” that Jordan kept talking about.

It’s really that simple.

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