Is Anyone Else Underwhelmed?

The Panthers celebrating during their huge win over the Warriors

We are now 10 rounds into the 2013 NRL season and I think that is a fair enough length of time to reflect on what we have seen overall so far. Whilst from a biased perspective as a Rabbitohs fan the season has been great, as a general rugby league fan I feel like 2013 has been quite frankly, rubbish.

Taking all bias out of consideration depending on which team you support and which teams you hate, if you simply look at the games player this year, in my opinion the quality of matches has been poor. There have simply been more bad matches than good compared to previous years.

When you look at the NRL ladder there is certainly a logjam in the middle of the table, which is something the NRL is striving for, as only the few bottom teams have been truly uncompetitive and out of contention. However does the fact that excluding the top and bottom outliers, everyone else can seemingly beat each other on any given day make the league better overall?

Obviously the entire purpose of the salary cap is to prevent overwhelming dynasties and prevent teams from not being able to compete. But so far this year, just because the league is close has not meant the matches have been good.

Many games have been blowouts, culminating in Round 10 when an overwhelming majority of games were complete massacres. Funnily enough, it ended up being the round that ended with a draw after Golden Point, but that was played between two of the premier teams of not just this season, but the decade as a whole.

After watching the Rabbitohs destroy the Tigers, in expected fashion mind you, 54-10 on Friday night, the odds you could have gotten that it would be the biggest margin or winning score of the weekend would have been very short. However Penrith then went on to beat the NZ Warriors 62-6 the following night. Adding to that, the Broncos beat the Titans 32-6, the Dragons beat the Eels 32-12 and the Knights beat the Bulldogs 44-8. All of those blowout winners were the home team.

Interestingly enough, those last three matches I tipped the losing team to win the game and I was proven to be extremely wrong. So the league is close enough and competitive enough for it to be possible to have no idea who is going to win (or least I clearly didn’t), but the individual matches have so often been uncompetitive. Why is it that teams seem to either turn up and play great or not to turn at all?

For the couple of weeks prior to their Newcastle loss, the Bulldogs started to build some ominous form, with their players returning and some impressive performances. But then the simply don’t turn up for the Newcastle game.

The Warriors have had a terrible season, but have been competitive in numerous matches before blowing late leads. But when they travel away from home, they leave all their talent in Auckland.

There have even been numerous matches this season that were close on the scoreboard but poorly played on the field. The high flying Roosters beat the Broncos earlier in the season 8-0 in one of the worst games I’ve ever watched and even my Rabbitohs have won a couple of games I’d rather forget about.

Overall, I seem to walk away after each footy weekend thinking that more than half the matches were simply bad and I know I’m not alone as numerous friends have said the same.

But why is this happening? We have a lot of great young talent coming through and there is clearly quite a lot of parity through most of the competition. The only answer I can come to is that there is a lack of age and experience shining through right now.

In an age where teams are trained to exploit any weakness in a defence, young players or defensively frail players have nowhere to hide and are being exploited over and over again.

The Holden Cup competition has given us many good young players, but the defensive side of that competition leaves a lot to be desired and the gap to the NRL has widened. This is why many clubs are now finding it smarter to have their young players play in the NSW or QLD Cup competitions where they compete against men as opposed to other boys.

Teams like Parramatta and the Warriors have brought up numerous young and talented players and on paper it seems like they should be competitive. But when they actually take the field, there are simply too many players who haven’t been conditioned to defend against quality attacks and they are being torn apart. Additionally, the pace of the game at NRL level is so much more physically demanding and it gets faster every year, so players are getting tired quicker and are being exploited for it.

I love watching the Under 20’s competition and following the young talented players, but the process of bringing them along in first grade is complex and requires patience and timing, which is something many teams either haven’t shown or are unable to show due to injuries or lack of depth.

When you compare it to the NBA, every year teams talk about the young, talented, up and coming teams full of great athletes and how they are taking the NBA by storm. Then the playoffs roll around and they get manhandled by the old pros and sent packing.

Teams need to find a way to better prepare their younger players for the NRL before they are thrown to the wolves, or else these sorts of inconsistent performances will continue.

Long term I think the NRL should change the Holden Cup from U20s to U22s or even U23s so players are given more time to develop in the NYC competition as opposed to the State competition. For right now though, I think we are simply going to have to get used to these lacklustre performances while we wait for the talented players to actually turn into good ones.

A Star Is Born

Jason Collins photo from his SI article

Jason Collins spent the first half of the 2012-13 NBA season playing for my beloved Boston Celtics. He was not a player I particularly cared for even though I know he was a good locker room presence and someone who always gave their all, using his somewhat limited talents to do what he could for the team when on the floor.

A decade ago when he was the starting centre for Jason Kidd’s back to back Finals bound New Jersey Nets, I and others often joked about him being the worst starting centre in Finals history. He played solid defence and always knew his role in the team, but he was never going to be a player you could give the ball to in the paint to get you a bucket.

Today however, Jason Collins is a superstar. In fact, Jason Collins is one of the most important players in NBA history and even American sporting history. You see, if you haven’t read the news yet, Jason Collins just came out as gay in an article he wrote for Sports Illustrated.

The article itself was beautifully written, articulate and basically everything you could hope for from the outing of the first openly gay active athlete in America’s “Big 4” sports of the NBA, MLB, NFL or NHL. It is not the first time a player from those sports has come out, but it is the first time a current one has and the difference between it happening in retirement or during their active career is huge.

When an athlete comes out in their retirement it means they never have to deal with any potential backlash that could await them as they take the field or court or ice the next time they compete. It is unfortunate that there would be any backlash, but there are players, administrators and fans that simply won’t be all that approving or understanding. They may be a minority, but a minority can still be hurtful as well as potentially making the life and career difficult for the athlete coming out.

Also, when an athlete waits until retirement to admit their sexuality, it always raises questions about just how necessary it was to wait. Is life going to be that difficult for an athlete who comes out during their career? Had John Amaechi come out as gay when he was still playing, would he have found himself out of a job? Or is it simply a matter of era and timing so the backlash that may face Collins in 2013 will be significantly less than if Amaechi had come out prior to his retirement a decade ago?

I would like to think that the reaction even a decade ago would have been surprisingly positive, but honestly I think a lot has changed in the last decade, both in society and in the locker room. Now is the right time for this day to have arrived and Jason Collins should be applauded for being the pioneer that he is. Whilst Collins will deal with a lot of ignorant bigots, including the likes of ESPN’s Chris Broussard, the support and adulation he receives will hopefully make this a positive experience for him and encourage more and more gay athletes to speak up.

Some people will wonder why this matters at all. If we truly lived in a world where sexuality was no one’s business but your own, why does it matter if an athlete is gay or straight? But I think we are unfortunately years away from that point. As Celtics play-by-play announcer Sean Grande tweeted ‘Proud to have worked with Jason Collins this year, great guy. Will be prouder when this issue becomes less "who is?" and more "who cares?"’

One day it will be a matter of ‘who cares?’ but to get to that point we need pioneers like Jason Collins. Athletes, as much as some hate it, are role models to millions of people around the world and there is a history of athletes being at the forefront of civil rights. Athletes like Jackie Robinson and Bill Russell played an important role in the civil rights movement and Jason Collins can now truly be discussed in the same conversation.

Athletes play a real role is shaping society, culture and public opinion. As more and more athletes come out about their sexuality, it will encourage more and more young people to do the same as well as influencing other people to be accepting of those coming out.

Here in Australia of course we have already had a famous active footballer come out, when Ian Roberts announced his sexuality in 1995. Roberts received a very supportive response from the football community and played another few years, always regarded as one of the toughest players in the league.

Had he have done this during the social media era we live in today, Roberts would have been a massive story around the world. It’s a shame Roberts is only known locally as what he did, especially as a higher profile star of his sport, may have encouraged this to occur sooner in the US as well.

Of course the US is a very different beast to Australia and they needed to get to this point in their own time. Collins will now be watched closely by other athletes considering coming out to see what impact it has on his life and career. It’s possible this news will not only be positive for him in terms of the statement he made, but maybe even in terms of his fame and even sponsorship income.

I think you’ll find numerous companies wanting to tie their brand in with an openly gay athlete and hopefully Collins get financial benefits out of this announcement along with all the other benefits. It is opportunities like that which will really encourage other athletes to come out themselves as they will not only not lose career opportunities, but in fact could gain even more.  Long term, the sponsoring of gay athletes because they are gay will subside as the issue of being gay becomes less of a talking point. But as we currently live in the world Sean Grande described of ‘who is’ rather than ‘who cares’ the gay athletes should be able to capitalise on these opportunities as much as they can.

Jason Collins opened the closet door today and I hope he is the first of many to walk through it.

We are All Witnesses… Sigh

LeBron throws down a monster dunk over Jason Terry

Sometimes when watching something happen, whether it be in sports or just in the news, we understand in real time that what we are witnessing is historic and memorable. It can be for good or bad reasons depending on the circumstances, but some things are just clearly in that realm of events that stay with you.

In sports specifically it can be an individual event or it can be a broader thing like a team or athlete as a whole. I recently wrote about Black Caviar and Michael Jordan and they both fall into this category as individuals. Jordan’s Bulls’ historic 1995-96 season where they finished 72-10 also falls into it. In terms of individual games we can look at memorable finishes like both Rabbitohs vs. Roosters games from 2012, which fans who watch will always remember.

The 2012-13 Miami Heat and specifically LeBron James are without question in that category; even if they do not go on to win the championship. At time of writing they have just completed their 23^rd consecutive victory after beating my own beloved Boston Celtics in Boston, for the first time in years. The Celtics may have been without Rajon Rondo or Kevin Garnett, but watching the game you could tell it was truly a moment. The crowd was insane, the Celtics who did play were ferocious against their rivals and Uncle Jeff Green was playing like one of the aliens in Space Jam.

Despite having a big lead in both the first and second halves (both times they were run down) the Celtics couldn’t shut the door and then LeBron slammed it shut himself with a dagger three. When LeBron returned to the game with nine minutes remaining the Heat were down double digits and regardless of the crowd or the Celtics’ pressure, he simply wouldn’t be denied.

At the end of the day, one team had LeBron James and the other one didn’t. The same can be said of every game they have played this season and particularly during what is now the second longest win streak in NBA history and counting.

In June, the value of the streak and the season will hinge dramatically on whether they are able to go back-to-back and retain their championship, but even if they do not, I will never forget the quality of basketball I have witnessed during this run. I have watched a lot of basketball in my life and whilst I never saw the Showtime Lakers or Russell’s Celtics, I did see Jordan’s Bulls and even the Shaq/Kobe era Lakers. This LeBron season is the greatest individual basketball performance I have ever seen, in what is arguably the most talented NBA player pool ever.

In any other season Kevin Durant would be on his way to an easy MVP season and people would say it was deserved and not controversial. But yet he isn’t even a close second to what LeBron is doing right now. LeBron always had the physical capability to go to this level but it would require the mental aspect as well as the hard work to improve his game to actually reach it. Clearly all of those stars have now aligned and the rest of the league is in trouble.

Many NBA fans that are not Heat fans hate the Heat and hate LeBron. I certainly fall into that category, especially as a Celtics fan. It is hard to reconcile my hatred for their winning with the appreciation as a basketball fan for what they are doing. But sometimes the joy of the game overtakes the jersey they are wearing and whilst I may hate the Heat, I respect them to no end.

Heat fans however will mostly believe this streak and season is meaningless if it doesn’t end in a ring. Obviously that is true in a large sense, but I still believe that win or lose, this season will be remembered forever and talked about for years.  The 2007 New England Patriots season which ended in Super Bowl disaster will never be forgotten (many other factors in that one too) and clearly it would be a different narrative had they won the title, but that season will always be remembered for them more than anything else.

Even the Houston Rockets 22 game win streak that the Heat just surpassed will never be forgotten and that team never got close to winning the championship and they never displayed quite the level of play the Heat have reached.

It is hard to compare across eras, especially with the rule changes and league expansion, but the peak level of this Heat team could very well be higher than the peak reached by those legendary ‘96 Bulls or ‘86 Celtics, which are considered by many to be the two best individual season teams in NBA history.

The best comparison I can think of for this Heat/LeBron team is across the Atlantic Ocean. Lionel Messi and Barcelona reached a level of football performance that I had never seen before in any team sport, until now. Stylistically the teams are worlds apart, as the Barcelona style would compare better with the aforementioned ’86 Celtics and their passing. This heat team is built around stars and a few key role players; more like Barcelona’s great rivals Real Madrid.

But despite their differences, both the Heat and Barcelona have transcended the game and put on a performance that is more like art than sport. At this stage, both teams are competing against themselves more-so than the team trying to defend them and both are doing so behind the performance of a once in a lifetime athlete.

Barcelona have already won plenty of trophies during this era, whereas the Heat have only won the title once so far, but in both instances we will be telling our grandkids about watching both LeBron James and Lionel Messi dribble a ball.

Love him or hate him, as Nike likes to tell us, we are all witnesses.

Walking Away

Sporting Legends Black Caviar and Michael Jordan

You got to know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em,
Know when to walk away and know when to run. – The Gambler by Kenny Rogers

It’s an old story we’ve all heard a million times. The once great athlete who doesn’t know when to retire and ends up sticking around too long, a shell of their former selves, trying to reclaim past glory or perhaps the last few dollars they can make in their athletic career.

The most obvious examples of this happens in boxing when guys stick around well into their 40s, often because they lost their money and because they don’t realise they don’t have it anymore. Usually it ends with them being knocked out by a younger fighter and finally realising it’s over. In rare occasions like George Foreman, the old guy returns and actually succeeds, but not everyone is so lucky.

There are also many examples of players in team sports hanging around trying to catch on as a role player on a contending team trying to win a championship. Shaquille O’Neal and Gary Payton are great examples of players who had plenty of money but just couldn’t walk away when they probably should have.

Of course this leads us to Michael Jordan. The greatest basketball player of all time has already had one comeback that most people would like to forget when he played two seasons for the Washington Wizards, which at the time he part-owned and worked for. This weekend His Airness turned 50 years old and is the owner of the Charlotte Bobcats. Many pundits and even players spent the week discussing not only Jordan’s past, but also whether he could contribute to the Bobcats right now. In most cases this conversation would be 100% hypothetical, but most cases aren’t Michael Jordan.

Wright Thompson from ESPN wrote an incredible insight into Jordan this week and you can see how the hunger to play and compete is no different at age 50. He still beats the young guys on the Bobcats at 1 on 1 and whilst I doubt he does it, I don’t think he is kidding when he thinks about returning to try and improve the Bobcats on the court.

Personally I’m very torn on this idea. There is a part of me that would love to see Jordan lace up his Nikes again and see just what he has left, even if he could just play 10 minutes a game and jack up a few shots. The other part of me still mourns seeing him play for the Wizards when he wasn’t really His Airness anymore. Michael Jordan is the guy who changed hands mid layup and hit that championship winning shot over Byron Russell. Michael Jordan shouldn’t be the 50 year old man coming off the bench of the team he owns, because they don’t have enough good players without him.

All athletes, or at least all the really good ones, are hyper-competitive by nature and that’s what allows them to reach that success. It’s that same nature that leads to their downfall by sticking around too long or coming out of retirement when their body can’t perform at the levels their brain expects. Michael Jordan is that athlete mentality on steroids (calm down, metaphorical steroids not real ones).

But what about when the legendary athlete isn’t human?

Black Caviar is one of the greatest racehorses of all time and certainly Australia. Last year she just barely held on to her undefeated streak by winning the Diamond Jubilee Stakes in England, which cemented her legacy as it was a massive race and not on her own turf. The great mare was injured during the race and due to that, as well as jockey error, she only just managed to hang on.

At the time I thought the owners and trainer Peter Moody would call time on her career. There was nothing left to prove, she had made everyone involved very rich and she had an undefeated streak that shouldn’t be jeopardised by bringing her back, especially after an injury. Of course the biggest concern is that the race horse doesn’t get to make her own decisions and they are risking her health by continuing to run her as well.

Last Saturday Black Caviar made her return to the track and looked great. She won convincingly in a race named after her. I must admit I was worried going into the race about how she would do and it was a relief to see her perform the way she did. But with nothing left to prove and a horse at risk of injury every time she runs, I still feel like the connections should let her retire now. The risk outweighs the reward at this point.

I am glad to read that they will not enter her in the Newmarket Handicap where she would be carrying a whopping 61.5kg of weight. She will instead run in the William Reid Stakes at Moonee Valley on Friday, March 22. Whilst it’s a better choice than risking her streak in the Newmarket, I still feel like this ‘farewell tour’ they seem to have planned of letting her race in different cities so people can see her before she retires, is a bad idea.

I worry it will take her finally losing one of these races she is supposed to win for them to decide maybe it is time for her to head to the paddock. I want the great mare to retire with her record intact, not to mention her legs, but what is the real difference between 23 wins and whatever number she ends up on?

I really hope we don’t see Black Caviar wearing her equivalent of Michael Jordan in a Wizards jersey, because she doesn’t have the option of making that decision herself.