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Deciphering US sport – help please!

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As some of you may be aware, 2 members of the Sports Banter team are embarking on a trip to the USA at the end of the year. As a long time lover of US sport, it was a certainty that we would try to fit in a few games, whether it be NFL, NBA or NHL.

Unfortunately, the NBA has rather inconveniently found itself in a lockout – so no joy on that front.

With the NFL entering playoffs at that time of year, with no way of knowing when or where games would be, we looked to College Football. The Sugar Bowl kicks off on the 3rd of January in New Orleans, and I’m happy to report that high up in the nosebleed section, yours truly will be covering the game (or getting drunk).

I love US sport, and regularly watch College Football games on ESPN, however how their conferences and bowl games work has always been a bit of a mystery. In order the try to predict which teams we would be watching in the Sugar Bowl, I decided to undertake a bit of research. I arrived at several conclusions, one of which was that US sport is bloody confusing!!! There are a bunch of different conferences, umpteen bowl games, 5 major bowl games, and who knows what else!

As far as I can make out, there are 5 major bowl games, the Sugar Bowl, the Rose Bowl, the Orange Bowl, the Fiesta Bowl and the BCS Allstate Championship Game.

Someone, dont ask me who, decides who goes in to the BCS Allstate Championship Bowl, which is effectively the best two College Football teams in America – I believe there is a ranking system, although how this works, considering the thousand different conferences, I have no idea.

The Sugar Bowl pits the best team the the Southeastern Conference (SEC) against another at-large BCS team. Who or why, no idea. However, if the SEC Champions are selected to play in the BCS Allstate Championship Game, then a replacement is chosen, another at-large BCS team. History leads me to believe that if this happens, the second best SEC team would be chosen.

Seeing as one of side of the draw is a mystery, I decided to concentrate on the SEC side of things, seeing as this would be the home team anyway, that’s probably the bandwagon I’d be jumping on.

At the moment, it appears to me that the best two teams in the SEC are LSU and Alabama. These teams faced off against each other a few weeks ago, and LSU got up in a close game. My thoughts are that LSU will probably go through to the BCS Allstate Championship Game, leaving Alabama to be selected for the Sugar Bowl game. Georgia also appears to be a chance. So, with that in mind, go Crimson Tide!

As you can probably tell, I am hopelessly out of my depth here – so if anyone out there can give me a hand, please do, because I need help!

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Cash, Money, Cars, Clothes, not the way all ‘Ballers Roll

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“Cash, money, cars, clothes, this is how true ballers roll”. These are the lyrics from Ruff Endz’s 2002 hit R’n'B single – one of my favourite tracks back in high school.

According to urbandictionary.com (great source, right?), the term ‘baller’ refers to “A thug that has “made it” to the big time or professional ball (basketball, football, baseball etc.) players that made it out of the streets to make millions as a professional ball player”.

Now, as sports fans we live in a world where the elite athletes in their respective sports get paid an exuberant amount of cash. You’ve got the likes of Tiger Woods, Kobe Byrant and LeBron James each earning in the tens of millions each year.

It’s made me wonder at times, whether or not these athletes are some what detached from the fans of the game. Do they still play for the love of the game and its fans or do they play for the green?

In recent years the NBA has seen some of its brightest stars such as Josh Childress cross the Atlantic for a stint in the European Leagues for a bigger payday and less taxes. I personally don’t quite understand why an athlete would rather chase money than test himself in the best league in the world. We’ve also seen it happen here domestically with the defection of Karmichael Hunt, Israel Folau and SBW to other footballing codes.

You’ve then got Miami Heat Superstar and part owner of Liverpool F.C LeBron James publically claim “The first time I stepped on an NBA court I became a businessman”. Really? I would have thought you became a professional basketball player living his dream.

In saying all this though, I’m not against sporting superstars making the dosh and I fully understand their motives to go out and brand themselves but I guess it’s legitimate to ask what truly motivates and drives today’s athletes. Championships or money? Fans or brand recognition?

Last week, Chicago Bulls point guard Derrick Rose, at 22 years of age, become the youngest Most Valuable Player in the history of the league. Yesterday, he lead the Chicago Bulls to one game away from the Eastern Conference Finals. As a Chicago Bulls fan from the days of Michael Jordan, I couldn’t have been any happier for him. Some of you reading this may have not seen or have even heard of him before but from what I’ve see on T.V and from what I’ve read he’s very much a shy person who never attracts any unnecessary attention – a far cry from the bravado displaying, harlem hoodlum suit wearing ballers from Miami and Boston.

A lot of reporters were anticipating an underwhelming acceptance speech from Rose due to his quiet persona. Please watch the footage below (his speech starts at 2:44).

As you can see a very humble and mature human being with awesome talent to boot, worthy of being recognised as the NBA’s most valuable player. His speech showed me that there are athletes who still love and play the game for what it is and that improving and playing the game as hard as you can is what drives them to levels only few can reach, whilst not forgetting his roots and how he got there.

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