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Check, one two, testing, testing... yeah, this thing's still on. It's been about a year, but we're back! GuysJawing is once again your place to go to hear the stuff you don't really agree with. I'm still the same Sugar C, with my off-the wall opinions.
Let me tell you, it's been one hell of a long year, for me, and in the sports world. Let's see what we've missed... Ryan Sheckler wins men's park skating at the X-Games, at the age of 13... the Boston Red Sox break the Curse of the Bambino... the Patriots reign supreme... the Chicago Bulls are good again!
Boy, am I glad to be back.
In closing, I would like to say that the GuysJawing team lost a dear friend over the winter. LeRoy Blair, age 19, passed away tragically as the result of a snowmobiling mishap. He will be missed by all who knew him.
I would also like to send my hearts out to those who are greatly touched by the loss of Pope John Paul II; he was a very noble spirit and a great leader.
Cheyne
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April 4, 2005
Yeah, it's me again. I felt guilty leaving the page alone with no new columns on the first day! I have a soft heart, what can I say. But now, what to talk about.
For starters, I remember last year I talked about baseball holding it's opening day in Japan. I claimed that this made baseball less American, and I was sharply proven wrong by a write-in.
This summer I am choosing to call the summer of the Baseball Rennaissance. Whether America will admit it or not, baseball is losing the fight to be the "American Game" to football (namely the NFL). Major League Baseball is due for another great year of competition. Now, there are some things wrong with the League itself, but I'm not even going to get into those things at this point. Let's just talk baseball.
I can think back to my younger days, back when I was a boy of 8 or 10, every day all summer going down the hill and across the road to play baseball with my neighbors. We did it every single day, like we'd never get to do it again. We could go out there and throw that old beat up baseball around for hours, never tiring. What is it that attracted us? Simplicity, maybe. Maybe we were all more American when we were kids. Back before jobs, and grown-up-people drama, and worrying about other things going on in our lives, all we had to worry about was what was going to be the most fun thing that day.
For an America trying to re-capture its youth, baseball is the chosen way. Enjoy baseball, and you're enjoying a time when you'd meet at the field at 2:00 everyday, rain or shine, to play baseball, a time when hotdogs and lemonade were the foodstuffs of the gods.
Anyone who wants to recapture their youth a little, name the place and time. I'll bring a ball.
Cheyne
Update: 8:54 pm CST
Yes, I know it's a little late to put my predictions up for the NCAA championship game, but here it is. Sean May is going to manhandle Augustine. Go back to December, and Shaq's analogy using a Corvette to represent Kobe and a brick wall to represent himself. Augustine is Kobe, May is Shaq. There you have it folks. Go wild. Go UNC.
Cheyne
Hey hey, kids. How about those Tarheels? And in case you didn't know already, my prediction about Augustine getting manhandled was CORRECT, Jon. The real shocker was the fact that each team scored in bursts like that, first UNC would go on a 10 plus point run, then the Illini would turn right around and catch up. Too bad, Luther Head, you could've won the game. Don't let it haunt you though. It was just the only chance you'll ever get to be on a national championship team, but don't fret. At least you got beat by the best team in college basketball since Jordan's Tarheels.
Speaking of Michael Jordan, I got into an argument with a colleague about where I rank the greats of the NBA. I liked my order so well that I'd like to elaborate some, right here on this very webpage.
Here it is, Cheyne's Official List of he Greatest NBA Players of All Time.
1. Greatest Guard: Michael Jordan
Come on, that's the easy one. Just watch any of his so called greatest games and it's clear that he deserves the title of the greatest basketball player ever. For instance, against Portland in 1992 when he hit three three's in a row, then shrugged, or when he scored 37 in '97 in the Finals against the Jazz... with the flu. Nobody will ever top his feats.
2. Greatest Big Man: Bill Russell
Bill Russell was one of the greatest the game will every see. Not only did he open the door for African-American players, he also revolutionized the game with his low-post domination and unrivaled strength.
3. Greatest Defender: Dennis Rodman
Yeah, he was weird. But beyond that, he was someone who came to play every single game, and for 48 minutes wanted nothing else in the world than to win. His raw strength and downright gazelle-esque quickness gave offensive players fits, and his size (6'10") allowed him to defend even the larger guys. Teamed up with Isiah Thomas, another great defender, he was he headline defender of a team that nobody wanted to play against.
4. Most Versatile Player: Magic Johnson
He could shoot. He could pass. He could defend. He could lead. He was a point guard, but in 1987 when they needed him to play center when Kareem Abdul Jabbar went down with an injury, he did, and led the team to victory. He's the only person who could be a force at any position. And in 1992, when he announced that he had contracted HIV, he left the game, then made a triumphant return, which showed that the strongest and most important muscle in the body is indeed the heart.
5. Best Young Gun: LeBron James
It might be early to say, but LeBron James is great. He's building his legend bigger every day. Youngest player to score 50 points in a game, and he's on pace to be the youngest player ever to score every major milestone number of points. He came into the NBA straight out of high school, and was the first truly good player as a straight-outta-school rookie. By the numbers, at this point in his career he is better than was Michael Jordan at the same point in his career.
There you have it, cats. Goodnight.
Cheyne
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Hello again. Today a thought--or more accurately, a question--crossed my mind. What exactly makes an athlete a hero? Is being a mega-successful sports star enough? Selling a million jerseys? Winning three straight championships, twice? (What good is talking about sports heroes without mentioning MJ?) Or maybe, it's the finer points, the things that never get recognized.
Magic Johnson's a hero. (I don't know what my deal is with him lately, he just suddenly is a great person to me.) His announcement in 1992 that he was HIV-positive stunned the world. Then he stunned the world again by defying all the negative opinions, and surviving a media frenzy, and he made a brilliant and valiant return to the game. He wasn't as potent in body as he had been, but in spirit and heart, he was a person who could not be stopped.
Jackie Robinson's a hero. Not only did he break the so-called color barrier, but he also planted a seed of hope in African-Americans everywhere, and opened the floodgates of the black equality movement that would take the 60's by storm.
Brett Favre and Lance Armstrong are heroes. Each overcame serious physical ailments: massive loss of intestines in an auomobile accident, and deadly cancer, respectively. Doctors told Brett in 1989 that he'd be out of football for at the very least, a year due to an automobile crash. He was back on the field in a mere couple of months, and playing up to his potential for the Southern Miss. Golden Eagles. Doctors told Lance Armstrong he could die, and he battled the cancer that took away all his strength, then did the cancer one better by winning six straight Tours de France. Both showed grit and determination long after their physical woes. Brett showed his grit by battling through a painkiller addiction to win three straight MVP's and a Super Bowl, then surviving through myriad other injuries to become the all-time leader in consecutive starts for a quarterback. Lance showed his by surviving the elements, everyone's negativity, and multiple problems in the races themselves to become possibly the greatest byciclist in the history of the sport
There have been more heroes. Jack Dempsey, born with a moderate physical disability that left him with a diminuitive right arm and stub for a foot, holds the record (in a tie with Jason Elam) for the longest field goal in NFL history at 63 yards. On the same note, Jim Abbot had a successful major league pitching career with only one hand. Babe Didrikson Zaharias got tired of beating the women back in the 1920's so she moved on and beat the men, first in golf, then in a great number of other sports, including tennis and basketball.
There have been many who changed the face of sports without changing their respective games; they are the true heroes, and should be heralded as such.
Cheyne
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Wow, it's been a long time since I've written anything on this website! Since Cheyne brought it back to life I haven't been able to edit due to technical difficulties. Now that it works, I'm going to just say welcome back to any and all new and old readers to our website. It's good to be back! Hopefully, we can keep it running this time. I haven't had time to write anything on sports yet, but hopefully, I can write something in the near future. My welcome back is all I have time for right now.
Derek
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I have a new obsession; apparently I caught it from every other redneck (yeah, I'm a redneck) in the United States of America: NASCAR. I, like every other NASCAR fan in denial (which is everybody who claims that it's stupid), used to say "ah, that's stupid, 43 cars driving in circles..." But I have seen the light.
First, let me admit to you the thing that about 90% of you NASCAR fans are dreading: I am a Jeff Gordon fan. Something about the Rainbow Warriors, or something about his driving style, catches my eye. Besides being a fan of the most hated driver in the sport, I'm also a strong follower of Jimmie Johnson (Gordon's teammate), Robbie Gordon (no relation to Jeff) and Brendan Gaughan. The last three are no-brainers, as all three of them graced my local short-course off-road racetrack with their presence before taking the leap into NASCAR.
Now, I'll try to explain why I'm suddenly obsessed with 43 cars driving in circles. I think it is due in part to an exciting start to the 2005 NASCAR Nextel Cup season. The Daytona 500, the so-called Super Bowl of NASCAR, lived up to it's title (and surpassed this year's Super Bowl as far as excitement goes... I was falling asleep during the Super Bowl, but wide awake as I watched the Daytona 500). Those last 10 laps, which had 3 caution flags, were the most exciting 10 laps of NNC racing I've ever seen, and to top it off, my boy Jeff Gordon won.
Then, the following week, Greg Biffle broke out of a slump with a big win. Week after that, my boy Jimmie Johnson runs away with it. Then, at Atlanta Motor Speedway, the proverbial hook was completely set in my mouth. I watched my boy Jimmie Johnson run away again, only this time with a little company: the number 99 car of Carl Edwards, who is competing in his first full season of NNC racing. Coming off turn four on the final lap, Edwards pulled alongside Johnson, and edged ahead by the finish line to win his first NNC race of the year.
Forty-three cars going around in circles can be pretty exciting at times.
Cheyne
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