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I’m not sure if it’s as much human rights or freedom of the press, but this Olympics is starting out poorly in the eyes of free nations around the world.
The latest bit of bad news is delivered to our door steps via the New York Times, which is reporting that although promises were made that foreign journalists would have unlimited access to the Web, many sites have been blocked so that reporters can not get access to them from Beijing’s press centers. In a roundabout way, Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge said publicly two weeks ago there had been an agreement to allow journalists unlimited access. But at the behest of China, Rogge succumbed to the country’s objections.
Strangely, it appears both China and Rogge have lost what is a basic ideal of the Olympics: Camaraderie of sovereign nations in which peace and freedom are promoted. Sadly, China has yet to portray any of the characteristics of a nation that is concerned with freedom or camaraderie. Human rights continue to overshadow the games and suppression of this known negativity is paramount to the Chinese government. For what reason, I’m not sure. But the party line is the censorship of many Web sites is to keep social stability.
Let’s be clear: In the Olympics, there is no escaping politics. It’s guaranteed. There have been bombings (1996 in Atlanta, USA), propaganda (1936 in Berlin, Germany) and boycotts from competing nations (1980 in Moscow and 1984 in Los Angeles).
This year, we’ve already seen propaganda on issues ranging from the legitimacy of Falun Gong, Tibetan human rights and Taiwanese independence. I am sure we will continue to see demonstrations of dissent as well, as seen in the video below, in the course of these Olympics.
In essence, the backlash against the media is a protracted stance in form with China’s normal crackdown on dissenting voices against the country’s human rights record. Even Amnesty International, according to the New York Times, has been blocked.
This is all a disturbing trend, seeing how China had promised reforms in order to get the games in the first place. So far, the only thing that has changed, although slightly, is the pollution in Beijing.
China’s history on human rights, it’s record on suppressing dissent and its cowardly initiative to suppress the freedom of information, therefore the press, points to a very shallow Olympics in which the country proudly protects its reputation while damaging it more in the process. I can conclude, without fail, that China will not see the see the games again until this is rectified. Even the IOC can’t put up with this terrible publicity for more than one year.
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UPDATE: The New York Times is reporting today that some of the Web sites previously blocked by China, such as Amnesty International, are now available to reporters at the Olympics. That’s what happens when the press starts putting the focus on lies and backward rhetoric.
The New York Daily News’ I-team is reporting that Kirk Radomski … the Kirk Radomski … has found his shipping receipts for packages of steroids he’s sent to Cheater No. 2 (aka Roger Clemens) to help solidify the case against him.
This is what I like to call a slow death. Everything is unraveling for this former great. His wife is accused of injecting steroids. He’s charged with perjury. His son is badgered with questions. Shoot, the I-team is working so hard they have a list of women they’ve found to be connected to the ex-power pitcher.
I wonder, does he ever think he can just hide and it will all go away? It certainly doesn’t work for O.J., Michael Jackson, Barry Bonds and every other disgraced star we once idolized.
I must have stopped about 10 to 15 times in the last three months and wondered when I was going to sit down here and blog again. I’ve been a busy man, but that is no excuse.
You know those lame New Year’s Resolutions everybody gives themselves, knowing that they break them within the first two months. It took me a little longer than that, but I broke mine. I’m not sure if I’m supposed to be proud or if I should continue to punch myself every time I get my StatCounter report. Either way, opening up my browser every day to see a worthless blog is about as inspiring as a dog licking peanut butter.
I was supposed to be blogging at least twice a day for five days of the week. (Shit, even bloggers need days off.) But I ran into a scheduling conflict.
I was named the “online community manager” at my newspaper in about March and started the job on the fly mid April. What that basically means is I ceased having free time to deal with my Web site and have had to attend to demands of the beast, as I like to call it. Some days, I feel like Captain Ahab. But that’s another story.
What’s an “online community manager” you ask? Basically, I deal with all things Web related in an editorial sense. I make sure the stories look nice and pretty when they’re loaded and I promote features on the site. In addition, I do quite a bit of moderating. If you’re aware of the volume of visitors small newspapers receive, it’s a bit of task (much unknown to Addisports.com). But nonetheless, it’s a task I’ve taken up heartily and have sees some success with. A big part of my job is creating dialogue.
If you’re ever bored or just interested in small town politics, visit the Web site. You might get a kick out of the letters to the editor. They’re always a good source of laughs and/or anger. I generally find myself cursing under my breath and wondering how I ended up in such a town. And then I realize I cover sports and the idiot disease can’t touch me there.
That’s right, sports is my bubble. Generally speaking, people who participate in sports are generally cooler than folks that don’t. They’re much more easy going and a lot less stressed. I wrote in my column recently that the best part about Nevada County is the people. I should probably clarify that I mean the good folks that make it such a vibrant sports scene, are the best part of Nevada County. I need those good nature people in my life. I guess that’s why I don’t mind doing this dual job, being the “online community manager” and sports writer all at the same time. It keeps me balanced but at the same time it’s killing this blog.
At the end of the day, I can continue to make renewed promises to write here more and more, but I know it’s not going to be the same. It definitely won’t be five days a week with multiple entries. But I’m sure as hell gonna try. More than anything, this is venting for me. There’s so much crap that goes on in sports, particularly with celebrity athletes, that I can’t help but chime in.
So while the blogoshpere is run by more interested men and women, that is not my objective (yet). Nope, I just want to bang out a couple of random thoughts and rip wannabes and crybabies. Isn’t that what every sports writer wants to do?
Wait and see on this one. I’ve got something coming and you won’t want to miss it.
It’s weird knowing cats who get to the NFL, the NBA, and so on and so on. It’s like I went to Penn State instead of Chico State.
I was catching up on all the draft coverage this weekend, particularly with the 49ers, and came across a gem. Larry Grant, a Bay Area guy and Ohio State graduate, was drafted in the seventh round by my team.
I remember him specifically for a couple of reasons. He played for City College of San Francisco when I was there and was actually covering the team. He was one of a few linebackers on the team that were highly touted all over the country. The other, more glamorous player jumped to the NFL. You may have heard of him: Desmond Bishop.
But even weirder, here we are passing another draft with the 49ers jumping on the local guy who can possibly help in a position that needs solidifying. Last year, it was my good friend Jason Hill, who I wrote about when I was attending the 49ers’ training camp for the Marin Independent Journal and in this blog.
This marks the fifth major Bay Area athlete to make it to the pro level in the last couple of years (add Leon Powe of the Boston Celtics to that list along with Eric Wright of the Cleveland Browns.)
I think this is a good opportunity to pull out the contact list and call these guys up.
You know what, scratch that.
I’m going down to Santa Clara to write a story on this. Mini-camp is this upcoming Friday, Saturday and Sunday. I’ll be there.
So if you have any questions you want answered from these Bay Area natives, or any other 49ers players or coaches, let me know before Friday rolls around. I’ll ask all the questions that don’t make me look like an idiot.
You know, when sports franchises figure out that bloggers (serious ones) are actually pioneers in the media industry, then we’ll make some progress toward a better future of coverage and access.
In the mean time, articles like the one today in the New York Times show exactly how the line is blurred for newspapers and new media alike and how the problem is exacerbated by sports organizations (the NFL in particular) by trying to control the once free flowing information that is now Web centric.
Instead of ranting on why bloggers should not only be given free access to cover games, I’ll just throw out some criteria for sports franchises to determine which bloggers should be able to get free access:
Note: Each criterion can be used separately or singularly in its own right.
If the blogger’s blog is dedicated to a team, franchise or sport and it covers the respective entity regularly, say five days a week.
If the blogger’s blog page views and hits are through the roof. Namely, anything in the thousands.
If the blogger works for a traditional news media organization (i.e. newspaper, magazine or television).
As I continue to transition into a Web only domain as a professional writer, I’ll be watching how this plays out with the pro franchises. I do honestly believe their grip on information is as backward as it has ever been in terms of dealing with the media.
It’s the first time MMA has made it onto the national networks.
UFC has deals with Spike and Pay Per View, but has never been aired on a network.
This is a huge move in many respects, even putting the sport on a higher scale than boxing which is in relative PPV / HBO abyss. Can you imagine seeing some of the sports biggest stars kick tail. As long as it doesn’t turn out to be some WWE crap, however unlikely, I’m down.
I think I actually feel giddy.
In a release:
“Mixed martial arts is one of the fastest growing sports in the country and a wildly popular entertainment vehicle for upscale, young adult audiences,” Kelly Kahl, CBS Primetime’s senior executive vice president, said in a release.
The New York Giants stunned the world, that is, everybody but themselves on Sunday by beating the previously unbeaten New England Patriots 17-14 in Super Bowl 42. Eli Manning threw a game-winning touchdown to Plaxico Burress and an improbable third-and-long to David Tyree in the waking moments of history.
It was the stuff of champions.
But in their most sour moment, the Patriots’ leader turned from good sport to sore loser faster than Britney Spears’ bipolarity kicks in. Coach Bill Belichick, the alleged genius, bolted to midfield, shook Giants coach Tom Coughlin’s hand and then left the field with :01 seconds on the clock.
The thing is, you gotta take your whipping like a man. Step up and swallow your spit. Give props where props is due and keep your chin up. Instead, what we saw was another example of Belichick being over arrogant and under prepared for the thought of losing.
Needless to say, as others have said before me, he didn’t deserve to win. Cocky bastard.
Michael Vick gets to keep his bonus money
Of all the things stripped of Michael Vick (his pride, his endorsements, his freedom), you can’t take away what he’s actually earned.
At least that’s what a federal judge said Monday, giving the embattled quarterback some room to breath with all of his financial woes. The Atlanta Falcons had tried to recoup his bonus money when he pleaded guilty to dogfighting charges in 2007, arguing that he forfeited the money because of his troubles. But the judge ruled that you can’t take away what he’s earned when he had already played three years on his contract.
Every dog has his day. (That was a cheap one, I know.) Vick can find comfort in the fact that he may have some money left over when he gets done with his 23-month jail sentence and he may have a home to return to. But if he gets caught up on those gambling charges in the NFL, he may be done for. Crossing fingers here.
Andy Pettitte is gonna talk but what is he gonna say?
Today, he talked with the congressional lawyers in a deposition. On Feb. 13, he’ll talk before the house committee overseeing steroids in which he’ll either rat out Roger Clemens or exonerate his buddy.
On a scale of 1-to-10, with 10 being Pettitte ratting his boy out and just dumping on him, and one being him going to jail rather than talk, I see a solid eight. Yup, Pettitte will waffle, but he’ll tell the truth. And when the questions become precise and too accurate for him to deny what he knows, he’ll think about Barry Bonds’ perjury case, Dana Stubblefield’s lying, Rafael Palmeiro, Marion Jones and a host of others. I think for him, it won’t be a smart decision, it will be a decision to speak made out of fear.
And, ironically, that may be the smartest decision out of every baseball player that has stepped on congressional hill.
Barry Bonds wants his federal indictment case thrown out for reasons that are confusing to say the least. Here’s radio host Jim Rome’s take:
Barry Bonds has asked a federal judge to dismiss perjury charges against him, saying the indictment is “scattershot” and noted for its “striking inartfulness.” You know what?! …sure, Barry, you got it. That’s not an unreasonable request. Judges always just toss out federal criminal cases. Maybe while you’re at it, you can get the judge to throw out Charles Manson’s multiple murder convictions or reverse Roe v. Wade or Brown v. Board of Education.
It’s not like you don’t have a good argument. After all, you think the indictment is “scattershot” and “striking in its inartfulness.” Whatever the hell that means. If you’re looking to muddy the issue and create a reasonable doubt with confusing language…it’s working.
The indictment is “scattershot” and “striking in its inartfulness”? Who talks like that? It had me running for my dictionary, but neither was in it. Is that what you’re paying those high priced lawyers to do? Make up words and phrases. What are you going to tell me next? That Roger Clemens doesn’t have to show up for his deposition because the charges against him are “indiscriminate distruthfulment”….and “appalling in their quasi ham-handedness”.
Is that your “strategery”? Even I know that, and I didn’t go to law school. I’ll tell you what’s “scattershot” and “inartful”…your contention that you’ve never knowingly taken ‘roids. It’s also a bold-handed attempt at “disrelevant impertinentosity”.
I’ve got to work scattershot and inartfulness into a conversation sometime.
I’m not sure if it’s as much human rights or freedom of the press, but this Olympics is starting out poorly in the eyes of free nations around the world.
