Wrestling legend George "The Animal" Steele visited "The Sports Fix" -- a reunion from our spring training days with the Washington Nationals:

http://www.thomloverro.com/2008.htm#Baseball

   Nick Saban is not a stupid man. So when he made the comments in response to the NCAA probes into improper agent activity, including at Alabama, he knew what he was saying and what the impact would be.
   "I don't think it's anything but greed that's creating it right now on behalf of the agents," Saban said at the Southeastern Conference media days. "The agents that do this -- and I hate to say this, but how are they any better than a pimp?
    He knows that using the word "pimp" would get him front page news and run on ESPN. "Pimp" is an attention-grabbing word.
    The attention on Nick Saban, as it turns out, comes a month before the premiere of a film glorifying Nick Saban.
    "Gamechanger," an authorized biographical film by Memphis-based Flashlight Media Group, will be in theaters starting Aug. 27, according to the film's web site.
     Here is how the web site describes the film:
     "A rare, behind-the-scenes look at Alabama’s preparation for the 2010 BCS National Championship Game and upcoming title defense will give viewers a glimpse of the disciplined approach Saban takes to building his programs. Saban will also offer insights on his leadership philosophy and how it developed at various stops in his career.
    "Gamechanger will be crafted with the highest storytelling and production values possible. As with the Defining Moments: Alabama DVD series, viewers will be taken on an informative, inspiring journey. Those who witness Saban’s efforts to overcome the challenges he faces in life will be encouraged to follow his example. Viewers will also form new opinions of Saban as they realize he doesn’t necessarily fit the mold created by the media. For the first time, Saban will communicate his story to the public unfiltered."
     Do you think Saban put a few more fannies in movie theater seats with his "pimp" comment? Do you think it was not calculated?
     Do you think that Saban's own "pimp" cares about his comments?
     Saban has his own agent, Jimmy Sexton, who some college presidents might characterize as a "pimp," for the way he has manipulated schools and coaching vacancies in college football.
     Here is what Brian Cook of "The Sporting Blog" wrote in 2009 about Sexton's influence in college football when it was rumored one of his prostitutes, Houston Nutt, was a possible candidate for the Kansas job.
     "Sexton is almost singlehandedly responsible for creating the maelstrom of coaching insanity in the South. Any opportunity to pretend his clients are thinking about jumping ship is taken, whether it’s to wheedle out a contract extension or just buy a guy who turned a top five preseason ranking into obscurity a little more goodwill at his current home. Here’s an archetypal example:
     "In November 2006, he brought Butch Davis back to the college ranks at North Carolina. A year later, despite a 4-8 start, Davis received a contract extension and a raise from UNC, a response to rumors that he might leave Chapel Hill and take the vacant job at Arkansas, his alma mater. Even though Davis vehemently denied the chatter, he still received an extra year and $291,000 more per season.Sexton is the coaching equivalent of sleazy, soul-patched pickup artists displaying “PUMA SKILLS“; there’s nothing to see here except posturing and possibly a Nutt contract extension."
      Remember, Saban is the guy who, when rumored to be a candidate for the Alabama job in 2006 while still coaching the Miami Dolphins, repeatedly denied the rumors in his weekly press conferences, stating on December 21 "I'm not going to be the Alabama coach."
      Well, we know what happened there. Maybe Nick Saban was just doing what his pimp told him to do.

     For more information about Thom Loverro, go to www.thomloverro.com
 

  There is a great event for sports fans taking place Saturday at Langton Golf Course inthe District.
   Jimmy Garvin, who runs the course there, is the godfather of golf and education programs for kids in this area, and helps run a great education center  at Langston  for kids in need. He also helps run golf programs for minority youths,  a number of which who have went on to college on golf scholarships.
   On Saturday, a golf tournament and autograph session will take place at Langston to benefit the education center. The scramble format tournament, which begins at 8:30 a..m., is scheduled to include such former Redskin greats as Charley Taylor, Roy Jefferson, Ron McDole, Larry Brown, Ted Vactor and others.
   The cost to play is $125 per person. I won't be playing, but I hope to attend as well.
   There will also be a silent auction open to the public, as well as an autograph session with former Redskins from 1 to 5 p.m. at the football field at Spingarn High] School across the street from Langston.
   The event is sponsored by the Jimmy Garvin Legacy Foundation. For more information, call Langston at 202-397-8638 or go to www.golfdc.com or www.jimmygarvin.com.

    For more information about Thom Loverro, go to www.thomloverro.com
 

   Part of the fallout from the LeBron-Wade-Bosh trinity in Miami could be a re-examination of the NBA's committment to USA Basketball and the Olympics.
   A report in the Cleveland Plain-Dealer detailed how the birth of this plan for LeBron James, Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh to all come together at the same time to play for the same team began when the players took place in a USA basketball session to build up the relationships between the star players who would represent the United States in the 2008 Olympics.
   "The seeds were planted in the summer of 2006 after Bosh, James and Wade finished their third seasons," according to the Plain-Dealer. "Established All-Stars and clearly the future of the league, the three were part of a bonding effort led by USA Basketball to revamp and re-energize the national team after the disappointing 2004 bronze medal.
   "The three played together for the first time that summer in Japan at the World Championships. For the first week, they were sequestered without family or friends in Sapporo, Japan, in an attempt to build chemistry. But it wasn't just the players. Working as an intern for Team USA and getting to know the players was Nick Arison, the son of Heat billionaire owner Micky Arison.
   "Now, Nick Arison is a rising executive with the Heat. He was part of the team that recruited all three players this summer.
    "Already close because they came from the same draft class, the Team USA experience strengthened the relationship. Even before the team gathered in Las Vegas to prepare for the World Championships that summer, the three had talked about playing for that team."
    If you are an NBA owner now (other than Micky Arison), you are on the phone to commissioner David Stern asking for a second look at the committment of your star players to USA basketball and the Olympics, if that committment is going to somehow empower the players and risk the competitive balance of the league like this Miami deal has.
    Nothing may come of it,, because the Olympic and world competition committment is good for the global business of the NBA. But you can be sure the talk among NBA  executives is what price are they paying for that international committment.
     Here's what former NBA general manager Wayne Embry, currently a senior consultant to the Toronto Raptors, told "The John Thompson Show" on ESPN 980:
    "I think we have to adapt to the changing times," Embry said. "This is the first where three players decided they were going to collaborate and play together...I am not sure it is a good thing. We look for competitive balance.
    "I would advise that ownership take a hard look at this and find a way to not allow this to happen in the future," Embry said. "I looked at this whole dream team concept...these guys are together for a period of time over the summer, you develop bonds and friendships. You got there by competing against each other, and now you are competing with each other."
     In that interview, no one brought up the "Dream Team" concept except Embry, which likely means it has already been discussed with some degree of dissatisfaction among NBA officials throughout the league.

     For more information about Thom Loverro, go to www.thomloverro.com
 

The major league baseball All Star Game is the legacy of a sportswriter: http://bit.ly/c5zRv4

   It still remains one of the most memorable moments in All Star Game history.
   It is certainly the greatest moment of any player who never got into the All Star Game.
   Mike Mussina's bullpen session during the final innings of the American League's 9-3 win over the National League in the 1993 All Star Game at Camden Yards -- and AL manager Cito Gaston's refusal to put Mussina in the game -- created a controversy that lasted for weeks after the game and bitter moments in Baltimore years later.
   Some say the repercussions are still being felt in the All Star Game today.
   Setting the stage, it was the top of the ninth inning of a game the AL led by the score of 9-3 before a packed house at Camden Yards. Up to that point the hometown hero, Mussina, had not been in the game. It was becoming apparent that he was not likely going to be in the game.
   The rumblings went through the crowd when Gaston brought in his own Toronto Blue Jays closer, Duane Ward, to pitch the ninth inning. Then all hell broke loose.
   Mussina got up in the bullpen and began warming up. The JumboTron showed Mussina throwing in the bullpen, and the crowd roared and began chanting loudly, "We want Mike. We want Mike."
   Gaston had not told Mussina to warm up and said after the game he had no intention of using him. "I would have put Mussina in the game if it went to extra innings," Gaston said, and remarkably, he wasn't joking.
   Mussina later claimed he was just getting up to get his work in for his next start. But no one was buying that. He was making a statement, and the fans at Camden Yards heard it.
   Then, in an bizarre scene as the game ended, the winning American League team in an AL ballpark was booed as loudly as any team ever had been to date at the new ballpark. They cheered as Mussina walked in from the bullpen, and he acknowledged their cheers by waving to the crowd.
   Everyone was either on attack or in defense mode after the game. Orioles team president Larry Lucchino said he was "outraged" that Mussina was not used in a game played before Orioles fans. General manager Roland Hemond said, "Why you can't get Mike Mussina in a 9-3 game is beyond me. I don't care what the explanation is. If you say you have to save him for extra innings, you don't have faith in Duane Ward."
   The next day the Mussina controversy dominated the headlines of All Star coverage across the country, and they were particularly outraged in Baltimore. "After all the efforts the people of this city put forth this week, to have Cito Gaston do something like this was like he was thumbing his nose at the city of Baltimore," Orioles announcer Jon Miller said. "It was a showcase week and event, and it ended on a sour note."
   The debate continued, even among Mussina's teammates, and turned into a racial divide, with black players and coaches defending Gaston, a black manager, and white players siding with Mussina. "I'd like to think it's not a racial thing," Orioles coach Davey Lopes said. "I don't know what it is. But the fact is that when a minority makes a decision, it seems like too much attention is paid to it."
    Mussina's pitching mate Ben McDonald called Gaston's decision "terrible. I can't see how the guy couldn't get Mike in, even if it was just to pitch to one batter. This is his hometown crowd."
    It got pretty ugly, as Baltimore fans began wearing "Cito Sucks" T-shirts, and the Blue Jays manager said he feared for his safety when he returned to Baltimore. Two weeks later, the Orioles went to Toronto to face the Blue Jays, and Mussina, even though he was in the same ballpark with Gaston, apologized by phone from manager Johnny Oates' office. The bad feelings and bad memories remained for a long time.
    Baseball commissioner "Cadillac" Bud Selig maintains that the All-Star Game changed that day and became the farce that led to managers running out of pitchers in the 11th inning in the 2002 All-Star Game in Milwaukee. Selig maintained that the abuse Gaston took changed the way managers handled the game, and resulted in the philosophy of every player being used. It led to the current status of the game, where the winning league gets home field advantage in the World Series, to give some meaning back to the game.
     But several veteransj of those All Star Games told me the importance of the game was diminished by the presence of Joe Torre as the AL skipper when he was managing the Yankees in the late 1990s. He told players to relax and that he would do all he could to get everyone in the game, and reduced the emphasis on winning the contest. Torre was the manager of that 2002 AL squad.
     Whatever the fallout was from Mussina's short bullpen session, it made the 1993 All Star Game in Baltimore unforgettable.