define: Jared Barden

Today Michael Vick received his sentence for his much-publicized involvement in his illegal dog fighting “business.”

If I read correctly Vick was handed down a sentence of 23 months, and according to John Clayton, he could possibly get out on good behavior after approximately 19 1/2 months.

What surprised me was that, due to his plea bargain, Vick cannot appeal this sentence, so it looks, if I’m ready everything correctly, like he will actually serve this jail sentence. This is in stark contrast to other celebrities who spend, oh, a day or so in jail for their DUI or other offense.

I’m glad to see that “justice will be served,” at least in a sense. Although it still bothers me that we are making such a huge fuss about this. Not that what Vick did wasn’t terrible and tragic – it was. But these were dogs, not people. What about the athletes, etc. that commit horrible acts against human beings? Where is the outrage there? What Vick did was wrong, and he should definitely be punished. Should he be given another chance as an NFL player? I suppose that will be up to an NFL owner to decide in the year 2009.

I love dogs. I wrote about the passing of my own dog recently. And though we might say they are like people, they are definitely NOT people.

It seems sometimes in our society that we have our priorities out of line.

I just finished watching the 2007 Little League World Series championship game between Warner Robins, GA and Tokyo, Japan. At the end of the game the players proved that sportsmanship hasn’t died.The game itself was close and ended up going in to extra innings before Warner Robins finished the game with a walk off home run. Not 10 minutes after the emotional ending, the players came together, as they do at the end of each game, to shake hands. However, the Japanese players, who were fighting off tears and disappointment, were actually hugging their American counterparts. In the midst of their sadness, they still showed respect to the other team. How often do we see that in American sports? As I watched several players over the last week hit home runs, I was struck by the fact that they didn’t stand there and gawk for a few moment before slowly plodding along the base path. I wonder where along the way players discover that it’s alright to run their hearts out after every single hit. Perhaps it starts in high school or college, I’m not sure. But it is most often on display in Major League Baseball.The professionals could take a cue from these kids when it comes to sportsmanship and professionalism. 

The Canton, PA Little League All Star team was featured in a recent article by Jim Caple on ESPN.com.

It was pretty cool to see a small neighboring (if 30 miles away is neighboring) town featured on ESPN. Apparently their 13-14 year old All Stars finished 4th in the state, so congratulations to them.

Hey even Mansfield got a reference in the store when Caple said, “It has one traffic light, and no McDonald’s (although there is a Wal-Mart 30 miles away).” That 30 miles away would most likely be Mansfield, according to Google Maps.

Again, congratulations to the 13-14 year old Canton Little League All Start team.

When it comes to sports, there are few things better than the Men’s NCAA Basketball Tournament – more affectionately referred to as March Madness.

I love sports, but there is just something special about March Madness. I think a lot of it has to due with the fact that it’s win or go home, every single game. It’s not like the NBA where you have 5 and 7 game series in order to move on to the next round.

I’ll just throw in the fact that your’s truly, in one of my brackets on ESPN, picked 30 out of the first 32 games correctly. This is probably due more to sheer luck than it is any skill on my part.

For instance, I just thought Ohio State (the #1 team in the country) was going to lose to Xavier, but an Ohio State player hit a deep 3 point shot with only 2 seconds left in regualtion. The game is currently in overtime as I write this post.

Even though my perennial favorite, Duke, is absent from the tournament following a first round loss, I’m loving this year’s March Madness!

There are only a few times in my life when I’ve felt like I’ve been watching history. Michael Jordan and the Bulls winning all their championships in the 1990′s, September 11, 2001, and the various wars I’ve lived through.

Today I’m watching Tiger Woods make history by winning his 12th major championship. To those of you reading who don’t follow golf – that’s a HUGE deal. There are only 4 major championships played each year – The Masters, The US Open, The British Open, and The PGA Championship. The record all time is held by Jack Nicklaus at 18 total. Barring a major disaster, Tiger should have no problem getting there.

I’ve been watching Tiger since he was an amateur, and I saw him dominated a match play event on ESPN. So I hopped on the bandwagon early.

To watch him play when he’s on his game is simply amazing. It’s funny to listen to the commentators say, “he’ll have a hard shot here, ” “he can’t make that shot,”, etc. etc. And it seems like every time, he simply silences them with one fascinating shot after another.

I believe one day Tiger will prove that he is the greatest golfer of all time. He is so focused, so fine-tuned, that he’s almost like a machine. In fact, he’s never lost a major championship when leading or tied for the lead after the third round. Other players seem to fade away while he charges ahead.

Has Tiger gone through down times in his game? Sure. Has he slumped as much as some people make it out to be? I think not. Some people would sell their soul to play the game the way he does and to have had the success that he has had.

I am glad that I get to watch history in the making. It’s nice to watch a fun piece of history being made, what with all the wars, terrorism, and every other crazy and evil thing going on in this messed up world of ours.

I have been fortunate to have watched almost all of the major championships that Tiger has won, and I have seen some amazing golf in those 11 (soon to be 12) wins.

Mr. Woods, keep amazing us. Keep chasing history, and keep making history.

Well, the 2006 FIFA World Cup has come and gone. This year I have followed the tournament closer than ever.

It definitely was not any fun watching the U.S. get trounced. This was supposed to be the year that they played better and went deep into the tournament, but they failed to even make it out of the first round. It’s really not terribly surprising when you realize how much apathy there is regarding soccer in the US. When I go to a sports store and there is literally one small section of World Cup gear, that’s kind of sad. Understandable I suppose, but you would think that the world’s largest sporting even would get better treatment than that. But I digress…

I was definitely pulling for Brazil, mostly because I recognize many of their players and I know what a great level of talent they have, but even they didn’t perform they way I thought they would. France beat them pretty handily in the quarterfinals, and that was that.

For political reasons, I’m not a huge fan of France. I’m sure they’re great people and all, but it’s not my favorite country. However, I was pulling for them in the final yesterday, mostly due to Zinedine Zidane, one of the world’s greatest players, who was retiring after the game. I didn’t see much of the game, but I did get to see Zidane pull a really bone-headed move. In the second over time period, with not much time left until penalty kicks, something must have happened, because Zidane did a 180 and threw a vicious head butt into one of Italy’s players. The main ref didn’t see the play, but the sideline ref did, and Zidane received the red card – automatic dismissal from the match. Had Zidane made it to penalty kicks, we might have seen a different end result, but the world will never know.

It’s a little sad to know that this international event won’t be around for another 4 years, but now that I know some more players, hopefully I’ll be able to catch some of the Euro club games while I wait for 2010 in South Africa.