Monday, February 28, 2011

MY WEEKLY SPORTS BLOG: What is wrong with the WWE and will somebody fix i...

MY WEEKLY SPORTS BLOG: What is wrong with the WWE and will somebody fix i...: " I asked myself last Monday, What has happened to wrestling these days? I ..."

What is wrong with the WWE and will somebody fix it soon please !

            I asked myself last Monday, What has happened to wrestling these days? I remember watching and being entertained and enjoying the product the WWF had been pushing years ago, I now sit bored for most of the show only waiting for certain things to get me interested. I would call myself an average fan, not the hardcore follow the story line for two years trying to predict the next step. I haven’t watched religiously like I used too. I did start a couple months ago watching weekly and watching the pay per views. I just want to watch a good show, with good entertainment and athleticism that keep me interested and hope to have a few laughs each night.  I now found myself wondering if I am just getting too old and my thinking has changed or if it’s just that the writing isn’t what it should be for such a big product.
I would like to say that the answer is that the writers are doing a bad job and pushing a mediocre product. I would also like to think that 70% of the fans are like myself, they don’t care if what the Nexus does has to follow some boring story line, so 2 years down the road it makes sense to the hardcore fan that has been following it forever. I use that %, because the 4 people that I text during a Monday there are the 3 that are just hoping to see some good old entertainment, and that other person I am texting who happens to be the best damn blogger on the planet, so that he can fill me in with why they are doing certain story lines, so that I can make some sense of it and pass it on to the other 3. I find reading the Iron Sheiks twitter is much more entertaining than most of the Raw program. Here are a few of my issues the last few months of watching the WWE lately that has rubbed me the wrong way.
            First I am sick of the Hall of Fame. The Hall of Fame for the WWE is just a long waiting list of every wrestler getting an award. After seeing Hacksaw Jim Duggan going to be inducted I went and looked at who already was in the Hall of Fame. I was shocked with what I would see. You are telling me that guys like Koko B. Ware, The Fridge, and Bob Ueker are all Hall of Fame worthy? That is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard. That would be like the MLB letting in Travis Hafner, Jack Cust, and Hideki Matsui. I can’t wait for next year when they induct the chicken suit that Pete Rose wore, or did they already? I think of Hall of Fame and I think of a group of the best wrestlers to have ever competed in the squared circle, and that isn’t close to what the WWE has done with their Hall of Fame.         
            Second, is the announcing as bad as it has ever been? Michael Cole and that Striker guy a pathetic excuse for color commentary announcers. They make the thought of listening to Vitale and Musberger announce a Duke game enjoyable.  I could find a couple bums on the street that can’t name a wrestler and would think they could do a better job. During the Rumble, I found them getting lost in the action and arguing with each other about stuff that had nothing to do with the Rumble. Lawler was actually doing a good job and as most times he is with the action and the other two clowns were talking about stuff that had nothing to do with what was going on. Diesel comes out to the Rumble and Michael Cole is busy talking about who knows what and then 5 minutes after he was eliminated finally talks about Diesel coming back. I think of all the great announcers of the past and think what people are getting now is just embarrassing. I think Jim Ross sits at home and watches the Spanish channel with captions on the bottom so he doesn’t have to listen to Cole.
            The story lines are just stupid. I am sick of the Nexus and the Core taking up half the show dealing with stuff that they will finally get around to revealing a year from now. At the Rumble I was sick of them trying to make a point of their dominance in showing them eliminate people and just sitting in the ring. I found it boring and don’t really care what 7 of the 8 will ever do. It is a royal rumble, multiple wrestlers in a ring wrestling, not king of the mountain, throwing 1 by 1 people out of the ring. I find that there are way too many divas to ever get anything going. Most of them can’t wrestle and are just a waste of time. I have no problems with looking at them, but that’s about it. I think that HHH was the champ for so long, because the writers didn’t know what to do with him. I find this true with guys like Morrison, DeBiase; these guys never get a decent push and then have new stories all the time trying to find something to do with them. That is most likely why the Da Pope had to leave; they just had no clue what to do with such talent. Instead they push The Miz, how not AWWWESOME is that. They have stars like Orton and Edge also that they don’t know what to do with. Instead they have the 2011 version of the Ultimate Warrior in Cena taking chest bumps for 25 minutes. The tag teams aren’t as good as they used to be, and when they finally get a tag team that is good it seems they break it up and those guys go to singles action and disappear. Also, how can’t they get more than 5 matches in for a taping of Raw? Oh yeah, it’s because they talk for 40 minutes an episode. More matches please and less talky.
            I also question if the WWE can pull off the big matches like they used too. They send the Undertaker to a UFC event and try to get Lesnar to come back. Taker needs to stay away from the Octagon before he ends up knocked out like Lesnar did that night. I feel the WWE couldn’t close the deal and get Lesnar so they had to go backwards ten years and bring back HHH or a rematch. Big Whoop. You had me with the thought of the Rock actually wrestling, but will he? I am starting to think they will swing and miss with that also. Yes, Jericho is my favorite of all time, but I would have also liked to seen him come back and wrestle at WrestleMania. Sting would have been a great pick up lately, which looks like it won’t ever happen. So instead, no Brock, no Jericho, no Shawn Michaels, no Sting and the finally they get HHH to face the Taker. This reminds me of The University of Michigan trying to hire a football coach, the top guys go elsewhere then they say they got their top candidate. Then they bring the Rock back, but he will just be a ref? Yikes, that is awful if you think of a PPV headlined by Taker vs. Jericho and The Rock vs. Cena. Edge vs. Orton would be awesome. Instead you get Doink vs. Dink, Hornswoggle vs. the Boogie Man for the ruler of the swamp, and Booker T vs. Stevie Ray. So disappointing. Even though I would be excited to see who rules the swamp.
 I also think that some of the PPV events should be free, the UFC does this, and I know the WWE isn’t the UFC, but if they had some of the lesser PPV’s for free more people would watch and lead to them watching again on Monday if they liked it. Not every PPV is worth the money. The WCW had events for free and I enjoyed watching them, it made the less stacked cards ok with me, because they were free. This would be a great time to push the Intercontinental Title holders and put together good tag teams. It would sure be nice to have those belts mean more than they do now. I really think they could and should sell those belts better than they do. They put no kind of importance on those belts which is a major mistake. This is how they pumped up greats like Mr. Perfect!!!
            I hope this is just a funk in what the WWE doing, and not a fun I am in. I just truly think it’s the product and not me. I just get this feeling from the casual fans that I talk too weekly. I would think that the casual fan out numbers that hardcore fan that lives, sleeps and dreams about how that certain move during the match that will be brought up again next year between The Miz and Orton and they can say I told you so to their dork fan that also thought that was the move that would change the whole story line down the road. Who cares, just put on a good match, a good show, and good product. Just seems to frustrate me with the story lines and lack of good characters and I hope this changes soon. I guess, I have more issues with the WWE then I thought, maybe one day somebody will understand my thoughts and get hired by the WWE and turn this ship around for me.
            Tell me your thoughts on the state of the WWE; I want to hear from all you casual fans in what you think the WWE could do better. Yes, I agree Chris Jericho is the greatest wrestler of all time, don’t agree, tell me! I love talking to jabronis, and love handing them over to the Iron Sheik so he can put you in the camel clutch, break your back, and make you humble. So add me on Twitter @ChrisSturgill12. See ya next week.

Monday, February 21, 2011

NBA All-Star Weekend

Another great NBA All-Star weekend
The NBA once again outshined every other sport with there All-Star weekend. No other sport does such a good job recognizing these outstanding athletes as David Stern and the NBA does. The NBA does a great job at showcasing their stars and putting them in the most positive light they can. It is a great weekend to show off the guys like Tim Duncan, Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett as they are finishing off such great careers. Everyone knows the game doesn’t matter much and those 3 won’t play very much, but the NBA can put a guy like Tim Duncan out there and talk about how good guys like him are on and off the court giving the NBA that positive light they need. I just don’t see this very much from the other sports. In the NFL half the players don’t even want to go to the Pro Bowl, hockey is hockey, and baseball always messes it up.
I am not even a huge NBA fan the last few years, but I find myself every year watching most of All-Star festivities. I love watching the frosh vs. soph game, and too see the future talent that the NBA is bringing in and will have for many years down the road sure makes a person excited about the future of the game. The skills competition usually showcases a couple decent players, but it is the weakest part of the whole competition weekend. The dunk contest was awesome, and I actually watched the whole second half of the All-Star game with the hopes of Kobe getting the MVP award. Nothing could have been better then Kobe dunking ahead of LeBron and patting LeBron on the backside kind of showing him up a little.
The dunk contest was one of the best I have ever seen. I still think that Blake Griffin didn’t even have to dunk the ball and he still would have won, because of the fan vote aspect being in place. I mean they could have had Michael Jordan come out and wave to the crowd and he would have won the fan vote. At least they took away the spin the wheel part of the dunk contest. The fan vote just makes no sense when you are trying to showcase some young guys who aren’t that recognized in the NBA yet. Like Charles Barkley said “You better watch McGee now, because we all know damn well the Wizards aren’t going to be on TNT anytime soon,” The first two dunks that McGee made were two of the best dunks of all time. Then you got Ibaka who had the best free throw dunk of all time yet the voters only gave him a 35??? Do you think that they were told not to let Blake get beat? Dr. J was pry busy tonguing McGee’s mom so he might have missed it and not even voted for Ibaka. For Blake to win on a dunk that a high school boy from Iowa did just didn’t settle right with me. It could have been the massive t-bone I ate earlier, but the dunks should be evaluated as a whole contest, just not the final two and then let the fans vote. This kind of took away from the best dunk contest ever as it looked like it was totally set up for Blake too win. I
Either way I guess, it was just a minor problem I had with the overall presentation of the All-Star weekend. I think as long as the NBA doesn’t ever take it back to Las Vegas, it will always be the best compared to all the other sports. Its not about who wins and loses the games, It’s all about showcasing the great young talent the NBA is full of now and the great career accomplishments from the older players. I personally think the NBA has the deepest pool of talent that it has had for a very long time. The NBA does many things wrong, but the All-Star game is something they pull of perfectly.
Let me know your thoughts about the All-Star game or what you think about the NBA these days. Would love to talk about what if guys like Reggie Miller would have sold out and went to Utah like Carmelo and everyone is doing now or will John Wall always have to play second fiddle to Derek Rose ? Hit me up on twitter @ChrisSturgill12 and tell me your thoughts.

Monday, February 14, 2011

Who Voted for these guys ?

            Will anyone ever admit to voting for these people ?
            I have started to wonder about what goes on in people’s heads when they vote for somebody to get a certain award. The last month has come and brought with it Troy Polamalu winning the defensive player of the year award and Yao Ming being voted on by the fans to start on the NBA All-Star team. Neither one of these guys really deserve any type of award or should be awarded too such an All-Star team. I wonder what the fans or the voters saw that really made them go and vote for these athletes. I understand that in a couple months nobody will really even remember either of these, but for now, I question you, Is Yao Ming really the top center in the West? Was Troy Polamalu the defensive player of the year in the NFL?? I highly doubt it. Actually the more I think about it, No F’n way they are.
            Fans each year get to vote for the starters for the NBA All-Star game and each year it seems somebody is named a starter that shouldn’t be. This year it really holds true when Yao Ming was voted to start for the West. Yao can’t even start a game for his own team the Houston Rockets this year or even his national team. If he can’t even play for them how did you really think he deserves to be an All-Star? This just blows my mind. No way should a player who can’t even play be awarded to an All-Star award of any kind.
            Yes, I understand that he was replaced anyways, but it just shows how messed up the system is. Kevin Love shouldn’t be a replacement All-Star, he deserves to be a regular All-Star enjoying his first trip to the game for his accomplishments this year, not having to be brought into the who is better debate, even though it is a good debate between him and Blake Griffin. I for one would like to see the NBA only let the fans choose between a certain amount of players that actually play. Players like Yao shouldn’t even be on the ballot. It would definitely stop things like this from happening again if people didn’t even have the choice to vote him on.
            I am thinking that many over seas computers led to this happening and maybe a few Rockets fans had a few too many drinks one night and voted late at night for Yao. But, If this isn’t the case and you really think Yao is having the type of season to warrant being on the All Star team and voted for him, please go to the nearest mirror and look at yourself real good and ask yourself this question, Does Yao really deserve to start in the NBA All-Star game? If you still really think he does, do me a big favor and punch yourself as hard as you can in the groin. You deserve that. Also tell your friends I feel for them having to listen to you talk about sports. I bet you are the guy expecting big numbers out of Ken Griffey JR this next baseball season and expect North Carolina to roll to another national championship this year since Roy always wins the big game in the NCAA tournament.
Now to the NFL defensive player of the year award that was awarded to everyone’s favorite shampoo salesman Troy Polamalu. He pry does deserve to be named in the names of guys in contention for this award, but in no way should he be in the same sentence as Clay Matthews. No it’s not because I like straight hair over curly hair either, even though I do like my hair being straight. It's because, I actually like players who play more games and contribute more at the end of the season.  At the end of the season Polamalu wasn’t even in the games for the Steelers or leading there defense on every play. Clay Matthews sure was though. Clay did miss a game early in the year that the Packers lost, but Polamalu missed the two final games of the year, much more important games to the future of his team. Both players had about the same amount of tackles. Polamalu had more picks which he should of course being a safety and getting to play the Bengals and Browns each twice; both teams are teams whom my mother could have started at quarterback for this season.  She wouldn’t even have threatened to sell her house if the Bengals forced her to come back after playing so bad.
            Now I give the deciding factor to Clay, because of the 14 sacks and pressure he always was putting on the quarterback coming off the edge. The argument about Clay being closer to the ball means you didn’t watch any of the Steelers games as Troy was up on the ball often also and did about the same thing just less affectively as Clay did. The speed rush that Clay brought was insane pressure that most teams couldn’t stop, or had to totally run away from. Most likely my biggest thing goes back to Clay was also playing football at the end of the season when his team really needed him. He wasn’t playing half games or sitting out like Polamalu. Maybe my hate for the Steelers would affect my voting, but I didn’t see anything out of Polamalu different this year then he has done any other year except reap the awards of Woodley and Harris making quarterbacks rush passes while he was playing safety and then putting on his token pressure off the corner. This year I did see a Clay Matthews I have never seen in his collegiate or NFL career.
            Either way I just think that these awards have gotten a little ridiculous when you see such things as Yao making the All- Star game and Troy Polamalu winning the NFL’s defensive player of the year award. Should we just flip coins between players since the fans can’t get it right, or should we cut cards since the writers never can? That I am not for sure of, I mean I wouldn’t give much credit to American voters in general the last maybe 10 years, so what should I expect when it comes to voting for sporting awards. Or maybe I will only be happy when one of the players on the miserable teams I cheer for is the player to luck out with these votes. Maybe then I will think the system is great.
 If you have any great ideas I want to hear them or if you want to tell me how stupid I am that’s cool also. I probably don't get as much of that as I should ever since I have moved out of my parents basement, so add me on twitter @ChrisSturgill12 and let me know, I also wouldn’t mind a Mark Zuckerberg kind of stalker aslong as its female and halfway decent looking. Love talking about all types of sports; ufc, spring training baseball starting, college sports - nfl - nba, anything.