Adam J. Choit

That’s right, you read that correctly.  Gymnastics (and figure skating), perhaps more so than any other sports out there require the most amount of toughness from it’s competitors.  You’re probably thinking, “Um, I’m pretty sure football and hockey require more toughness than figure skating and gymnastics…and so does mountain climbing, boxing, mixed martial arts, and rugby.”

Well, you’d be making a very good point, but it’s a different kind of toughness I want to talk about here — a mental toughness.  While watching some gymnastics during these 2012 Olympics, I noticed a very interesting thing happens when one of the gymnasts falls, has a blip, or just makes a mistake.  You know what happens?  Nothing happens.  That’s right, if a gymnast falls during an acrobatic move, or accidentally goes out of bounds during a floor exercise, nothing happens —– meaning the athlete does not yell out an obscenity. He or she does not make a disappointed/frustrated facial expression, and the athlete’s body language does not change.

In most other sports when an athlete fails he or she will express themselves, and it’s almost expected that they do so.  In baseball, if a batter strikes out, he’ll curse, sigh, shake his head, or slam the bat down in frustration.  If a hockey player shoots the puck, and it completely misses the net, you can bet you’ll hear him yell out “Fuck!”  ..and the same goes for basketball, football, and so on when a mistake/error/or failure occurs.

Actually, it’s been proven that yelling out, and yelling out curse words while feeling physical pain is a genuine coping mechanism that really does help humans deal with pain.  It’s true, you can Google it.  I can’t say for sure whether or not cursing is a genuine coping mechanism for the pain that comes with failure (in sport), but it wouldn’t surprise me if it was.  I mean, I’m sure when an athlete fails and feels that failure, certain chemicals are released into the brain. So perhaps cursing really can help deal with this physiological change.

Anyway, with gymnastics and figure skating, the athlete isn’t afforded the luxury of yelling out curse words.  One can’t fall off the uneven bars and then yell out, “Fuck! Godammit!”  The athlete must stay focused and maintain a proper demeanor.  The athlete just has to persevere, and pretty much with consistent facial expression and body language just go on with the rest of his/her routine.

Sure, once the routines are over athletes are crying and yelling, and expressing all sorts of emotions.  But in the heat of performance and competition the athletes must exhibit a type of toughness that I really respect, because having such a level of restraint and focus during intense competition can’t be very easy.

Here’s the statement Joe Paterno’s family released, in response to the NCAA’s sanctions against Penn State University and their football program.

http://espn.go.com/blog/bigten/post/_/id/53734/paterno-family-statement-on-ncaa-ruling

In anticipation of reading something that would 100% only anger me, I was almost pleasantly surprised after reading this statement that Paterno’s family released.  Almost.   Their statement was well thought out, and does make what appears to be an honest attempt to be sensitive to the victims of Jerry Sandusky’s heinous crimes.

Now having said all that, I love how Paterno’s family complains about a lack of due process, and although perhaps it’d be all daisies and roses had Paterno’s lawyers and surviving family members had more involvement with the NCAA investigation, we must remember that this isn’t a government criminal court case.  It’s the NCAA, the National Collegiate Athletic Association.

What I find most revealing about this statement released is that the Paterno family is outraged about “the process,” but in no way, shape, or form do they outright defend Joe, and proclaim him to be innocent of any wrongdoing.  And do you know why? — Because there’s no way in hell that Paterno didn’t cover up for Sandusky. And Paterno’s family knows this.  Otherwise why wouldn’t they come right out and say “Joe is an innocent man!  And we never even had the chance for a fair shake to clear Joe’s good name!”  Why isn’t this what the family is saying?  Because even they know how ridiculous they’d sound if they said this.

Penn State should live with the sanctions (Click here to read them).  And I’ll give them credit for willingly accepting them (It’s more Paterno’s family who’s expressing the outrage about these sanctions).

Let us remember, it’s only football.  The entire University is not being shut down. Current Penn State students are NOT being deprived of their education.  And while the students and student-athletes currently attending PSU have definitely had unwanted issues to deal with, it’s nothing compared to the victims of Sandusky, the innocent children Joe Paterno (and others within the Penn St community) opted not to protect.  And the football players are free to transfer to other schools.  Correct me if I’m wrong, but it’s the football program that’s taking the hit.  And well, the university will lose some profit as well perhaps.  Boo hoo.

As far as the loss of wins is concerned, I suppose that’s kind of a pointless punishment.  Merely seeing Paterno’s name in the record books doesn’t endorse his actions or lack there of, and if anything, seeing the name serves as a reminder and a warning for future generations.

So yeah, the football players are rightfully free agents. And while current PSU students won’t be enjoying a very good football team/bowl games for a while, in the grand scheme that stuff is just not that big a deal because even if you think the NCAA’s sanctions were too harsh, you can’t deny that they serve as a strong warning to every other institution in this country.

I play baseball in the Los Angeles Parks Department adult league, and a teammate just happened to be shooting some video that day, and put together this short video.

Surely you’ve seen in person or on TV, images of the Hollywood Walk of Fame, which are basically engraved stars on the ground in Hollywood.  Engraved inside each individual star is the name one famous person.  This is supposed to be some sort of honor when someone gets his/her own star, marking a significant achievement(s) in the person’s career.

The same goes for really all halls of fames, whether it be baseball, football, or even a hall of fame that isn’t related to sports.  Speaking of sports, one shred of credibility that sports halls of fames have that the Hollywood Walk of Fame doesn’t, is that at least with sports, they don’t induct the athletes until after they retire.  Sports will actually wait until the body of work is complete and can be assessed before giving the distinct honor of induction.  The Hollywood Walk of Fame is always giving away stars to relatively young people, such as actors who are seemingly in their 30′s.

Now, if you remember a few years back, the NCAA passed down heavy sanctions on the USC football program, for improper benefits that former running back Reggie Bush received during his college days.  Technically, the Heisman wasn’t taken away, but amidst outside pressures, Bush opted to return the award.  I say he shoulda kept it.  I mean, despite breaking the rules, it’s not as if he was busted for performance-enhancing drugs.  In other words, whatever benefits Bush received, those benefits didn’t give him an obvious unfair advantage on the field.  He didn’t cheat in that regard.

So anyway, in a world where we can take away Heisman Trophies, why can’t we take away people’s stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame?  How come once someone is inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame, why must his induction be permanent?  Whether it’s a post-induction discovery that the person was guilty of highly immoral/illegal behaviors, or a realization that the person just really wasn’t deserving of the honor, why can’t we take away these honors?

Whatever.  Besides the incredibly long list of people we’ve never heard of having stars on the Walk of Fame, it’s worth noting that Ryan Seacrest and Ricky Martin have stars as well. I mean, how much of an honor could it really be if those two guys get stars?  While Hollywood has it’s Ricky Martins and Ryan Seacrests, baseball has it’s own Don Suttons and Bert Blylevens (guys that should not be in the Hall of Fame).

I say there’s nothing that says these honors should be permanent, forever.  Sure, it shouldn’t be easy to get someone kicked out of any hall of fame.  But there could be a process.  Signatures to nominate someone to get removed.  Once the magic number of signatures is obtained, then a voting process could come shortly thereafter.  To make things tougher, just make the number high — like it takes at least an 85% vote to kick someone out of a hall of fame.

I think a lot of people out there suffer a bit from being a self-hating American — and sadly, I can kind of understand why.

While many Americans really are great people, and as a country we’ve done many wonderful things, often it’s all overshadowed by our flaws.  In addition to our history of questionable foreign policies (understatement) and often lack of respect for human and civil rights, we also have produced Paris Hilton and other embarrassing pop culture-y jokes.

Anyway, despite invading Iraq unnecessarily, and also spawning the Kardashians, I still find it disheartening when Americans root against the United States in International sporting events, such as the World Cup or the Olympics.

You’re an American.  Root for us.  Wtf.  Even if someone thinks they have legitimate reasons to root against the U.S. that go beyond a forced attempt at being provocative, I’m still not going to accept such acts of Benedict Arnoldism.

“Oh, I’m an Italian.  I root for Italy in the World Cup.”  Really, Italian?  You’re family has been in this country for 250 years now.  You can root for Italy, fine.  But if it’s U.S. vs. Italy, you better be rooting for us.

Sports and athletics are a significant part of all cultures.  Regardless if the sport is baseball, soccer, or cricket, every sport is going to have it’s fair share of followers that are known as “traditionalists.”  These are people who have an obsession with history and continuity, and are often super-hesitant to alter anything about a sport — sometimes even if proposed changes will make the sport itself better.

Ya know what sport needs an alteration?  Pool/Billiards.  That’s right.  Don’t consider pool a sport?  I guess you’re not watching enough ESPN2 at 11am Saturday mornings.

Anyway, 8-ball tends to be the most popular game for casual pool players.  Basically, in a game of 8-ball, one player tries to hit solid-colored balls into the pockets, while the other goes for the striped balls.

I’ve always thought that “stripes” gets to play with an unfair advantage.  Pool is a game that requires accuracy and precision, and when you’re stripes, you can more easily mark where on the ball you intend to make contact. You can say to yourself, “Ok, I need to hit this a little to the left of the stripe.”

With solid balls, there are no visual markers to use as a guideline.

My solution?  Put white stripes on the solid colored balls.

Suck it all you pool traditionalists — wherever you are.

This March Madness season I filled out two brackets — both of which are no longer in the competition, as far as I can see.  However, for one group I’m part of, last place at the end actually gets back the entry fee of $10.  Sweet.  A reward for being the best at being the worst.  Part of my issue is that I fill out my bracket based on emotion, not reality — which is why I’m always heartbroken (and poorer) every year because of my alma mater, Syracuse. (2003 being the exception).  I had Cuse winning the whole thing in both of my brackets this year. WHOOPS.

So anyway, the second group I’m in cost $5 to enter.  I didn’t pay the organizer the entry fee before the tourney began, but mailed him a check earlier this week — in fact, the day after Syracuse got knocked out.  In the memo line/section on my check to him I wrote “Cuse Sucks.”

This has got me thinking.  Why don’t I take advantage of this blank memo line more often?  I really should be writing more personal messages to the people I give checks to.  You’re probably thinking to yourself, “Who the hell writes personal checks still these days anyway?  I have a debit card and pay all my bills and stuff online.”  Well yeah, but you still have checks too — so you must be using them for something.

Perhaps I’ll try to have more fun with my check-writing in the future.  If I owe someone money from a bet I lost, I’ll write on the memo line, “You’re a dick” or “I hate you”.

Paying a Time Warner Cable bill and aren’t satisfied with the service? — perhaps writing on the memo line “You guys are assholes” could be good.  As far as I know, there’s nothing illegal about writing obscenities on a personal check.

Doesn’t have to be all negative either, consider offering helpful advice to others.

Giving your nephew a check for his birthday?  Write on the memo line “Don’t spend it all on drugs”

Last week in the NHL, Boston Bruins defenseman Zdeno Chara viciously checked (hockey term) Montreal Canadiens left winger Max Pacioretty.

“Pacioretty suffered a severe concussion, and a non-displaced fracture of the fourth vertebra in his neck when his head hit the partition between the benches in the waning seconds of the second period.”

Here’s the hit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZdIs-IY2LBI

Chara was penalized for interference and a game misconduct.  While the league has not, and will not suspend or fine him for this, Montreal police actually started a criminal investigation.

Pretty much everyone involved in, or around hockey actually understands that Pacioretty’s injuries were caused by where he was at the time, and the nature of the game of hockey, and not Chara’s viciousness.

To me, this is quite hypocritical given that the Canada’s government’s laws (and our’s too) allow professional hockey to have fighting.  Yes, fighting.  Yes, guys are allowed to punch each other in the face legally, without being prosecuted for it.

For the most part, I don’t like the idea of law enforcement getting involved in anything within a pro sports game, particularly sports like football and hockey, which are constructed to be violent sports.

Listen po-po, unless one guy whacks another guy in the face with his stick 25+ times, stay out of hockey, because otherwise you might as well just ban the sport entirely.

By now most of you probably heard this story.  The story about the Brigham Young University basketball player who was suspended for the rest of the season by the university.

Yup, Brandon Davies was suspended for having pre-marital sex with his girlfriend.  To mostly everyone who lives on this planet, that action doesn’t even seem like an offense in the least bit.

HOWEVER, upon enrolling at the very Mormon BYU, every single student knows the rules, and this “honor code” they must follow:

• Be honest
• Live a chaste and virtuous life
• Obey the law and all campus policies
• Use clean language
• Respect others
• Abstain from alcoholic beverages, tobacco, tea, coffee and substance abuse
• Participate regularly in church services
• Observe the Dress and Grooming Standards
• Encourage others in their commitment to comply with the Honor Code

Honesty, respecting others, living a virtuous life, and obeying the law all seem like fine ideas, but I must admit, everything else on this list is pretty unreasonable in varying degrees.  In fact, the rest of this honor code is — dare I say stupid?

In this p.c. hyper-sensitive society we’ve become, we’re all afraid to criticize religion, in fear of being labeled intolerant or even as someone who’s prejudice.  But being afraid to make fun of, or criticize religion I believe is counterproductive to becoming a more progressive society —- a society that promotes both humor, and intelligent dialogue.

While I can respect BYU for treating a basketball player like any other student who violated a university policy, I also think they are nuts for having this ridiculous honor code in the first place.

Anyway, I thought the whole point of college was sex, drinking, smoking, cursing, and dressing like a slob.

I thought the point of college was to become more liberal and to denounce whatever religion in which you were raised.  I thought the point was to come home during that first winter break freshman year, and proclaim to your parents you’re now an atheist — of course mostly to just upset them.

I can’t even remember who told me this anecdote, but it’s definitely worth repeating.

I think the conversation began by me asking, “Do you think Kobe Bryant ever wears his actual jersey when he’s just walking around in public?”

That’s when I was told that this is something that John Elway has done.  That’s right, he just strolls around the city street rocking his #7 Broncos jersey.

Why does he do this you ask?  Because who would ever actually think some random guy in an Elway jersey, would actually be John Elway himself?

Sometimes dressing like yourself is the best way to not get recognized I guess!