Uou should listen to this episode because it’s fucking hilarious and fantastic.
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SUPER SPECIAL GUEST: Esquire‘s Tom Chiarella
your hosts: Johnny Hustle, Kevin Marshall, Gamejak Dan, and Harlowe

This [...]]]> Look: it’s been a day. I’m just going to copy and paste this right from MANvilleShow.com. Go ahead and sue me, self.

Uou should listen to this episode because it’s fucking hilarious and fantastic.
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Tom Chiarella

SUPER SPECIAL GUEST: Esquire‘s Tom Chiarella
your hosts: Johnny Hustle, Kevin Marshall, Gamejak Dan, and Harlowe

This week’s guest is Esquire columnist Tom Chiarella, who was introduced to the show by our esteemed co-host Johnny Hustle trolling him on Twitter about a Tim Tebow article he wrote. We talk about Tom’s article, writing for Esquire, mainstream coverage of sports and Tebow in particular, and lots lots more. ALSO: Gamejak Dan finally snaps and turns heel, Johnny Hustle thinks dogs talk like old black men, and Kevin Marshall offends EVERYONE.

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Wheldon, a British native, found fame in the United States as a two-time winner of the Indianapolis 500 in 2005 and 2011. He died after a crash earlier today at the Izod Indy Car World Championships in Las Vegas.

A touch on a turn [...]]]> IndyCar driver Dan Wheldon is dead at the age of 33.

Wheldon, a British native, found fame in the United States as a two-time winner of the Indianapolis 500 in 2005 and 2011. He died after a crash earlier today at the Izod Indy Car World Championships in Las Vegas.

A touch on a turn resulted in a multi-car collision that sent vehicles careening into the air and against the wall. Drivers Ryan Briscoe, Davey Hamilton, and others became emotional while recounting the scene to USA Today, noting it as one of the worst – if not the worst – crashes they’ve ever witnessed.

Wheldon himself was contributing to a three-part series for the publication, providing a first-person narrative of his bid to win the championship and the $5 million that came with it. In the second installment published yesterday, Wheldon spoke of issues with the car that, ironically, were putting it three miles per hour off the pace. In other words, too slow.

In the aforementioned piece, Wheldon expressed nothing but confidence, admiration, and appreciation for his crew for all the hard work they’ve committed in preparation for today’s race.

The truly grim note comes right in the introduction, when it’s noted that his final contribution will recap the actual race day. Obviously that series will remain unfinished, but that’s the least of what Wheldon leaves behind.

The full interview (warning: there’s some cussin’):

Firstly, what Mayweather [...]]]> While interviewing Floyd Mayweather during his controversial KO of Victor Ortiz last evening, Larry Merchant was confronted by the man known as “Money” for what he feels is an unfair bias. Merchant responded with…well, a bit less than what would be considered appropriate decorum.

The full interview (warning: there’s some cussin’):

Firstly, what Mayweather did to win the fight was crappy but not illegal. Nevada State Athletic Commissioner Keith Kizer confirmed it after the fight. Time was restarted and the fight was on, and they do say at the beginning of the fight “protect yourself at all times.” The fault for the incident has to lie, unfortunately, with the referee Joe Cortez for not separating the fighters and creating confusion.

That said, this was what I call a classic s***-show. You have dirty fighting, bad officiating, and a media member going in the ring and threatening to kick the ass of one of the fighters. Then after, at the press conference, Yahoo! Sports’s Steve Cofield reported on further shenanigans such as “media” members getting into verbal altercations with each other during the press conference, people in the back shouting and hollering throughout, and Tito Ortiz of all people getting up and asking a question.

I want everyone to remember this the next time someone claims MMA is a barbaric and undisciplined sport.

Here it is: the descent!

Thanks again to everyone who donated and everyone that will donate (CLICK HERE) to the Special Olympics of NY to provide differently abled athletes and their families with services, equipment, [...]]]> Thanks to Rob Madeo of Keyboard Krumbs for providing the camera and setup for this.

Here it is: the descent!

Thanks again to everyone who donated and everyone that will donate (CLICK HERE) to the Special Olympics of NY to provide differently abled athletes and their families with services, equipment, and events at no charge. Our team alone raised over $2100, which will make a ton of difference.

Again, on behalf of myself and especially the Special Olympics of New York, THANK YOU!

And here’s me on the wall looking evil:

I'm laughing at Meghan Mae, who is cursing me as this was being taken.

If that previous paragraph reads like some of the dumbest s*** in history, that’s because [...]]]> What if Michael Vick was white? Then his dog-fighting stuff would be okay, wouldn’t it? Because there’s no white NFL player (MUST IGNORE BEN ROETHLISBERGER) who draws such ire from fans. But this is pointless, because race isn’t a factor.

If that previous paragraph reads like some of the dumbest s*** in history, that’s because it is, and it comes courtesy of – SURPRISE – ESPN, who allowed a feature on its site called “What if Michael Vick Was White.”

Between Times Union blogs and the rest of the internet, I’ve read some desperately reaching piles of offensively dense crap in my day. But this tops it all.

Kudos to you, ESPN. You just outdumbed the Internet.

From the article:

CHICAGO —

Image by photosbyae via Flickr

According to ESPN, Alex Rodriguez might be in trouble for his participation in illegal poker games. It must be pretty serious if if ESPN of all places is reporting on it, since MLB is a business partner on fairly good standing with them.

From the article:

CHICAGO — Major League Baseball is taking “very seriously” the allegations that Alex Rodriguez took part in some illegal, underground poker games, one of which reportedly turned violent, and he could face suspension if his participation in the games is confirmed.

“We’re talking to people involved in the investigation and we’re taking this very seriously,” said an MLB executive who spoke to ESPNNewYork.com on condition of anonymity. “Because he had been warned about this before, I would say a possible suspension would be very much in play.”

READ MORE

As noted in the article, this isn’t Rodriguez’s first brush with gambling. His bad habits when it comes to games of chance have been an open secret in the MLB for years. The Yankees and even MLB Commissioner Bud Selig himself have both warned Rodriguez in the past to distance himself from the activities.

While it would seem harmless outside the context of professional sports, the concern professional is that access to illegal high-stakes poker games gives bookies and other undesirables who might try to shave points fix games access to high-profile active players. Pete Rose, one of the best and definitely the hardest working player of his or any generation, is still serving a lifetime suspension that has prevented  from getting his rightful spot in the Hall of Fame due to his gambling associations.

According to sources, Rodriguez was present at a game straight out of a bad Jason Statham movie: coke everywhere, a sketchy billionaire, and a fight breaking out after one player lost half a million dollars and refused to pony up the cash.

Obviously there’s a deeper issue personally with Rodriguez when it comes to this stuff. He makes an ungodly amount of money playing the game he loves and is a highly valued member and cover boy for the top franchise in all of professional sports. What on Earth could be gained, on the surface, from an illegal poker game? Why would he take such a substantial risk, especially when he’d been warned already in the past? Possibly the same reason why Rose did: gambling addiction.

Cue the conspiracy theorists who will now point to Rodriguez’s poor performance in clutch situations as evidence that he was in collusion with bookies.

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Myself and two others on my team are looking to rappel off the Crowne Plaza Hotel in support of the Special Olympics of New York! Have you donated yet to our cause? Your donation can get you baked goods, a b$15 donation gets you a portrait crudely drawn by yours truly, and much more. Plus, as little as $5  automatically enters you to win a $25 Target gift card! Give a little, get a little. Click here for more info.

Today is, of course, Ed’s birthday. So if you know him, wish him a Happy Birthday! And if you don’t, sit there and seethe because he’s going to have cake today and you aren’t.

This [...]]]> Ed Lass made a donation to Special Olympics of New York and in exchange gets this personalized birthday message!

Today is, of course, Ed’s birthday. So if you know him, wish him a Happy Birthday! And if you don’t, sit there and seethe because he’s going to have cake today and you aren’t.

This is, in case you’ve been living under a rock, part of my ongoing effort to raise money for the Special Olympics of New York and their Over the Edge event. For more information or to make a donation, visit KevinMarshallOnline.com.

Tressel has a long [...]]]>

Jim Tressel adorns the cover of the June 6th edition of Sports Illustrated for all the wrong reasons.

In sports and politics, you can run from improprieties but you can’t hide. It eventually catches up to you, as it did to Ohio State coach Jim Tressel when he resigned Monday on the eve of a Sports Illustrated expose that detailed various rules infractions by students that he knowingly overlooked.

Tressel has a long and documented history of denial. He didn’t know that a star quarterback at Youngstown received more than $100,000 and a new car from Trustees, even though he told him to go see those same Trustees for guidance. He didn’t know about Maurice Clarett‘s litany of rules violations, gifts, and downward spiral, despite professing that he spent more time with the troubled athlete than any other player under his tenure. Sure, mistakes were made, but it was okay because he was More Than a Coach as a biography of the man proclaimed. He was revered as a dignitary, downright saintly even, by not just fans of THE Ohio State University but sports fans in general. It was all an elaborate fiction, though, as the Sports Illustrated piece revealed. Tressel wasn’t clean, he was crafty, and he got away with it because sports fans and many in the sports media are amongst the most easily deceived and gullible people on the face of the planet.

The truly astounding revelation isn’t that a beloved father figure in sports was exposed as a fraud. It’s that the sports media is so scandalized by transgressions in an inherently corrupt system known as the NCAA. The problem is bigger than Tressel, new cars from Trustees, new houses for parents, shady scholarship grants, and people looking the other way. The problem lies in an amateur collegiate sports program that rakes in untold millions of dollars for corporations, Universities, broadcast networks, cable outlets, and the NCAA as a whole on the backs of kids who are given conflicting messages: you are not allowed to reap what benefits we reap from your sacrifices and talents, but take it if you can get it.

Fans of college sports can and will use whatever warped reasoning they have for their continued and undying support of programs that create ethical quandaries and use up young men like cattle, grinding them out and dumping them off without providing anything resembling real world experience or realistic expectations for what lie ahead. They’ll tell you that these kids all know what they’re getting into, that they’re old enough to know right from wrong, and after all, they’re over eigteen years of age and as such are culpable for their behavior. All of which is true, to a point; if any of them commit a crime, they’ll stand trial as adults. That reasoning, though, applies uneven standards and expectations on young, spoiled minds that are told they’re superstars. Not that they’re going to be superstars, but that they already are.  They’re told by people in positions of power, authority, and prestige that they deserve these things that are given to them, because after all, they’re valuable commodities.

Some will say that Tressel should not be held accountable for the actions of others, and that the worst he did was look the other way so that these young men’s futures weren’t jeopardized. That, however, is a gross misreading of the circumstances and willfull ingnorance of his history. More than that, though, it continues the practice of self-deception in the mainstream when it comes to college sports, which are ideally supposed to be held in that order of esteem: college first, then sports. The reality, though, is that certain sports come first. I wouldn’t deign to call it sports college, though, because that infers there’s something of value at the end of it for many of the players. The sad truth is that a great disservice is done to the athletes participating in the major sports programs through a culture of exploitation and lack of ethics in the NCAA.

For far too long, the mainstream sports media has engaged in an attitude that the ends justify the means and that the revenue brought in every year by big-time football and basketball programs only makes those colleges better and gives opportunities to other programs and students where they otherwise may not exist, as if this is somehow impossible without comprimising things like ethical behavior and personal responsibility. Those same apologists, writing columns for major news organizations, will then go on ESPN and crow about the ruination of baseball vis a vis the steroid era, the bad behavior of NFL players, the egos and brazeness of NBA players openly colluding with other players in direct violation of policy en route to a championship, and all the other things that have contributed to a time where role models are few and the concept itself is all but discouraged.

The bottom line is that it all starts somewhere, and it’s with men like Jim Tressel and programs like Ohio State. Let’s not pretend, however, that this incident is isolated. We need to start asking some real questions about not only the accepted behaviors behind the scenes as a whole but also why we’re so willing to look the other way when it doesn’t do anyone any good, especially the players themselves.

Thomas is expected to meet with Siena College athletics director John D’Argenio on Friday to discuss recruitment efforts.

“Needless to say, we’re all really excited” a [...]]]>

New Saints head coach Isaiah Thomas

Siena College has announced it will bring in former New York Knicks player, head coach, and general manager Isiah Thomas to take the Saints’ helm after Fran McCaffrey’s departure.

Thomas is expected to meet with Siena College athletics director John D’Argenio on Friday to discuss recruitment efforts.

“Needless to say, we’re all really excited” a source that did not wish to be named told the Times Union. “We’re hopeful Isiah will bring his expertise from the court, from courtside, and from the front office of the Knicks organization to our school and bring us to the dance.”

Thomas already has big plans, which include a recruitment trip to Wyoming and enrolling former SUNY Binghamton guard Tiki Mayben in the upcoming Fall semester. When asked if he was excited to be playing in front of a home court again, Mayben explained that he was from Troy, NY, and not Loudonville and refused further comment.