A Tribute To Dad

Today is Sunday June 15, 2014 Father's Day!  Happy Father's Day to all you fathers out there.  In honor of this festive day I am going to write about my father, Benito Abeytia.  In a roundabout way he is responsible for this very blog you are reading now.  As you read on it will all make sense.

I know this sounds cleache but my dad truly was my best friend.  As I get older I realize how much like him I really am.  And just like most of you if I had question, dad had the answer.  Since I was three or four my dad and I bonded through sports.  We were always watching any sport we could together.  My dad taught me a lot about the mental part of sports.  He taught me to to think before I react and to always anticipate the other guys next move.  That has helped me with my coaching career.

My dad used to take our whole family to St. Mary's High School football games every Friday night.  For us it was like going to see an NFL game. (Back in the 80's we didn't have the Cardinals yet) I can still remember this one time I got honor roll on my report cards and my brothers didn't do so well so I was able to go to the game just me and my dad.  Now I know it was meant more for a punishment to my brothers but it's a day I'll never forget, especially because I caught a football the cheerleaders threw after a touchdown.   I would look forward to Friday nights at Phoenix College.  I was also able to take my dad to his last St. Mary's game a few month's before he died.  My daughter and wife were with us continue the family tradition.

Mine and my dad's love for high school football carried on throughout the years.  Years ago Steve Belles was coaching at Mountain Ridge and they made it to the state playoffs against powerhouse Mountain View.  My dad, myself, my brother and a buddy took the long ride to Mesa to see the game.  My dad was already sick and so before I parked I dropped him off at the front gate.  My dad had a gift of talk, he was able to talk to anyone and keep them interested. He was talking to the guy at the gate taking tickets and when we walked up he just let us through forgetting to take our tickets.

My dad, joklying said lets scalp these tickets.  The  joke turned into reality and we sold them to some high school students for half price.  My dad had paid so he kept the money, but as we were leaving our plans were to go to a friends house and he said "hey lets take this money and get a pitcher" .  He wanted to go to our usual drinking establishment, and even though by this point in his life he didn't drink we went where he wanted to go.  That night I met the women that would later become my wife.These events are a perfect example of how sports and everyday life sometimes intertwine to change your life significantly.

So to you Dad, I salute you and never stop thinking about you!  Happy Father's Day!

Dodgers A Major Problem For Diamondbacks!

The Arizona Diamondbacks are just 53 games into a 162 game season, yet many experts and fans have already counted them out of contention for a NIL West pennant.  They are 11 games under .500 and 12 games out of first place.  Even though they have been playing a lot better as of late I don't think they will win more then 85 games at best this year.
The D'backs will struggle to reach .500, but that is the least of their worries.  The big problem for the D'backs is the Los Angeles Dodgers.  The Dodgers didn't get off to good start this season but they are many peoples pick to win the World Series.  The pitching for the Dodgers has been on fire as off late.  Over a 3 game span Dodger pitchers  held 56 consecutive batters hitless.  One pitcher threw a no-hitter and the very next night another pitcher took a perfect game into the 8th inning.  The Dodger pitching isn't the only thing the D'backs have to worry about.  They also have a powerful offense led by outfielder Yasiel Puig.
The Dodgers are division rivals and given the two teams recent public dislike for each other, aren't going anywhere anytime soon.  The Dodgers have put together a roster that can win now and be contenders for the next five years.  The D'backs are trying to do just that and if they are going to be successful they will have to go through the Dodgers to do so.  The fact that the front office recently brought in Tony La Russa should tell fans that they are planning to do just that.

Johnny Football....or maybe not

The first round of the 2014 NFL Draft has come and gone and like many people expected Johnny Manziel went to the Clevland Browns.  The problem is he was selected with the fourth overall pick.  He dropped all the way to number 22!  This slide cost Manziel millions, which makes you wonder if he should really be called Johnny Football.  Many people questioned his off the field behavior and his arrogance, as well as his footwork.  Will it affect his play on the field?  History shows that it will.  If you look at the proven long term superstar QB's such as Tom Brady and Peyton Manning they are great guys off of the field as well as on the field.  For him to have the nickname Johnny Football suggests that he difines football and what a QB should be.  If thats the case I don't want any part of it.  Manziel only played colloege ball for two years and yes he was good, maybe even great, but if he was that good then why didn't he win the Heisman his sophomore year?  Manziel is a good QB, but there are just to many questions about his mechanics and arm strenght.  The fact that he went to an orginazation that is known for drafting busts for quarterbacks.  If you don't believe me google two names, Brady Quinn and Brandon Weeden.  For Manziel to be successful he needs to be able to sit for a full season and learn how to be a QB in the NFL on amd off the field.  The reality is he now plays for the Cleveland Browns, which means he will be the starter by week 4.  Maybe his nickname should be Johnny 22, not just for his draft position, but for the number of picks he'll throw his rookie season.

The NFL's First Gay Player

The NFL Draft is finally here and it should be quite an entertaining day.  Everyone can't wait to see who goes number 1 and who their team will take first.  One of this years big stories from the draft will be Michael Sam.  In case you don't remember he is the Defensive End from Missouri who recently came out of the closet.  Sometime this weekend he will become the first active gay player in the NFL.  If he gets drafted.  When this story broke a few months ago a lot of experts had Sam going as early as the fourth round.  Now some say he may go undrafted, and not because he is gay, but because the draft is so deep.There are already guys that have been told by some teams that they will not be drafted but they want them to attend training camp.
With Sam coming out it puts the NFL in a bad position.  If Sam does not get drafted it makes the NFL look homophobe.  People are going to say that he didn't get drafted because he is gay.  The main argument will be that it doesn't if he is gay.  My thought is this, Sam's coming out was strategic.  He knew that there was a possibility that he would not get drafted.  Since Sam being gay doesn't have anything to do with him playing in the NFL then why come out before the draft?  He could have waited until after the draft to come out.  If he is good enough he will get drafted.

Fighting Floyd Mayweather: Career Suicide

It's a pretty safe bet to consider Floyd "Money" Mayweather pound for pound the best boxer around today, He may even be the best fighter of all time..  Mayweather is 45-0 and has beaten some pretty dominant names in boxing.  He has beaten such boxers as Oscar De La Hoya, "Sugar" Shane Mosely, Rickky Hatton, Miguel Cota and most recently Saul "Canelo" Alvarez. These are great fighters but there careers have been brutaly damaged from the loss to Mayweather.
Mayweather is such a great fighter that he has ruined careers of some of boxings best, such as Zab Judah.  Judah was 33-4 before he fought Mayweather.  Since that fight he is 9-5, including an embarrassing loss to Pauly Malignaggi.  Shane Mosely is 1-3-1 since his loss too Mayweather.  And Robert "The Ghost" Guerrero has even been able to get a fight since his loss last May.  Although he will fight next month.  Mayweather's last 10 opponents are a combined 26-19.  That's a stat that most people don't even look at but speaks volumes of how great Floyd Mayweather really is.  The only fighter, excluding the ghost, that hasn't lost since there loss to Mayweather is Canelo Alvarez.  He is 1-0 since his loss last September.
In my book Mayweather is the best boxer in the sport today.  Marcos Maidana has more to worry then just today's big fight.  Perhaps he is fighting for his career.

The Suspension Heard Around The World!

The NBA and it's commissioner Adam Silver completed their investigation of the Donald Sterling case.  The NBA has banned Sterling for life and fined him 2.5 million dollars.  Silver also urged the rest of the NBA owners to vote Sterling out and force him to sell the Clippers.  Silver said that a 3/4 vote is needed and he fully expects to get that number.
I feel the punishment was appropriate.  Adam Silver needed to really bring down the hammer  if he wanted to get a grip on this situation, and he did.  The reaction from the rest of the world seems to be the same.  Everyone is happy with the ruling.  I'm sure in the near future more stories will come out about Sterling but the NBS and the Clippers need to just move on as fast as they can.
The only negative attention the ruling is getting today is that people knew Sterling was a racist and the NBA never did anything about it so why now.  Well I'll tell you why.  This story was to big to ignore.  The other thing is what could the NBA have done?  There were two cases before involving Sterling and racism.  The first one went to court regarding Elguin Baylor and Sterling was told by group of his peers that he was not at fault.  The other one was settled so fast that the NBA didn't even get a chance to review it.  There hands were tied in both situations.  Can we really blame the NBA for not doing anything about this?  The reality is many people know of someone that needs help and they do nothing until the shit hits the fan.  The NBA responded to a situation that needed there attention and they got it right.  The moral of this story is to becarefull of what you say and who you say it to.  People will do anything for 15 minutes of fame.  Donald Sterling learned that the hard way.

The Rebirth of Boxing.

For those of you that don't remember boxing used to be a major sport in the United States.  In the 1980's and 90's boxing was at its best.  You had a lot of well known fighters such as Julio Cesar Chavez Sr., Iron Mike Tyson, Evander Holyfield and George Foreman.  There were great fighters in all divions.  Even here in Arizona we had a fighter from Phoenix who was a world champion and considered one of the best of his time.  Michael 'Little Hands of Stone" Carbajal dominated the little weight and put Phoenix on the map as a boxing city.
The last 15 years or so haven't been so great for the world of boxing.  Street fighting became UFC and many boxing fans jumped shipped and quickly made UFC more popular than boxing. There were many fans like myself that didn't buy in to the UFC hype, but the majority of boxing fans did and many people thought of boxing as a dying sport.  There were a few guys such as Oscar De La Hoya and Floyd  "money" Mayweather to say the least that stayed loyal to their sport.  They kept training and kept boxing and because they didn't give up on boxing the sport is back.
That's right boxing is back!  Most people just here of the major fights that usaully happen in May and September but what most people don't realize is that there is a great fight card televised evry weekend by either Showtime or HBO.  Boxing is starting become a big money making sport again and it's not just because your big names such as Canelo Alvarez, Manny Pacquiao. Bernard Hopkins or even "Money" Mayweather.  It's because of guys that have worked hard and made big names of themselves by winning when no one expected them to.  Some of these fighter's are Adonis "Superman" Stevenson, Lucas Matthysse, Kieth "One Time" Thurman and Adrien "The Problem" Broner.
The rebirth of boxing was also made possible by the promoters.  Top Rank and Golden Boy are the main promoters and there battle to put the best fights out is a major win for boxing fans of all ages.  Here in Phoenix there are few promoters that are trying to put Arizona back on the boxing map.  One of them is called Iron Boy Promotions.  I have been to one of their fights and it was an awesome time.  They continue to put together good cards and promote Arizona boxers all at the same time.
The only problem I have with boxing right now is that I'd love to see an Arizona born boxer make it big;  Perhaps one day that will be Jesus "El Martillo" Gonzales.  Boxing is finally making it's comeback and it may get even better if we ever get to see a Mayweather vs. Pacquiao fight.

College Football And It`s New Playoff System

Beginning this college football season we will have a four team playoff to determine the national champion.  For you traditional football fans, don't worry we will still have plenty of bowl games to watch.  Here is how it's going to work.  College Football has selected a committee of 13 people that will rank the top 25 teams, stating midway through the season.  At the end of the season the top 4 teams will go to the playoffs.  On New Years Eve the number one team plays the fourth ranked team, while the second and third ranked teams play each other.  A week or so later the two winners will play for the national championship.
So I mentioned earlier that a 13 person committee has been selected to determine who makes the playoffs.  The committee consists of mainly Athletic Directors.  there is also a cuople of former coaches and even a former QB in Archie Manning.  There are plenty of familiar names among the committee, such as Pat Hayden, Tom Osborne, Barry Alvarez and Tyrone Willingham.  But probably the most famous name doesn't have any connection to college football.
Condoleeza Rice is a former Untied States Secretary of State and is one of the committee members.  I'm not sure why she was chosen, but it makes you wonder how much of a role politics will play in the selections process.  Rice may be very qualified to take on this role, but just the fact that she does not have a football background tells the average football fan that she is not qualified.  I wish the NCAA would have put more thought into this selections.  I wonder if she was chosen to have a women on the committee because she is the only female.  If this is the reason they could have picked a women that is connected to college football instead of a women that was in politics.

Tidbit Tuesday 4/22/2014 Pat Tillman Edition

Did you know 10 years ago today the nation lost an athlete, a war hero, a role model and an all around outstanding person.  Pat Tillman was killed by friendly fire in Afghanistan April 22. 2004 when his Army Ranger team was carrying out a mission.  Many people were touched deeply by this news because of Pat Tillman's story.  Pat Tillman was a football player who started his career in Tempe, Arizona.  He played linebacker for the Arizona State Sun Devil's and quickly became a fan favorite with his inspirational play and his long hair.  When Tillman graduated from ASU he was drafted by the Arizona Cardinal's.  He was then moved to safety and made an immediate impact for the Cardinal's. 
Then Pat Tillman's life was changed forever on September 11, 2001.  America was attacked by terrorist and Tillman gave up a great deal of money to enlist in the Army with his brother, who played minor league baseball for the Cleveland Indians.  Ten years later Pat Tillman's memory is still not forgotten.  The citizen's of the United States are very gracious to Tillman and all who have served in the armed forces.  RIP Pat Tillman.

If You Build It........They Will Come!

"If you build it .....they will come.  If you build it.....they will come".  In case you don't remember this phrase it is from one of the greatest sports movies ever made.  The movie is called Field of Dreams.  It's about a farmer who hears voices telling him the famous quote.  If you build it they will come.  It refers to a baseball field and when he builds it they do come.  The Chicago Black Sox and "Shoeless" Joe Jackson show up.  The movie does a great job of reminding how important baseball used to be to an average American citizen.  This is a great movie and if you have not seen it you definitely should.  The reason I mention this is because the movie came out 25 years ago today.  there is a lot more to the movie and it will bring out the die hard baseball fan in you.