Bent Corner

Angel Valodia Matos, Cuban taekwondo Olympian has been banned from taekwondo competitions for life for purposely kicking an Olympian referee in the mouth.

Evidently that’s not allowed. Imagine that.

Matos had just been been disqualified after taking too much time out for an injury in the middle of his fight against the world silver medalist, Aman Chilmanov, of Kazakhstan.

Kazakhstan? Isn’t that where Borat is supposed to be from?

I’m not an expert in human physiology, but it seems to me that if you are physically capable of kicking a referee in the mouth, you cannot be too injured.

I didn’t know that you even could be disqualified from Olympic taekwondo. I just assumed that Olympic taekwondo matches were fought to the death. Like they should be.

Former Redskins coach Joe Gibbs liked to make a big deal about “personal character” when it came to Redskins players.  How ironic then that NASCAR is coming down with sanctions against his racing team because they attempted to alter the outcome of a chassis dyno test.

They cheated.

When Redskins safety Sean Taylor (since deceased) was arrested for suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol, Gibbs immediately jumped at the chance to grandstand.  He immediately suspended Taylor for one game and spoke to reporters saying that character was important to the team and that “you don’t ever want this on the team”.

I never was sure what “this” he was referring to.  An innocent man?

Taylor was later cleared of all charges. A judge ruled after viewing the video of the traffic stop and the field sobriety test that Taylor showed no signs of intoxication and in fact passed the test.

Sean Taylor was innocent.

Joe Gibbs suspended an innocent man. Instead of allowing the judicial system decide Taylor’s guilt or innocence, Gibbs immediately suspended him and then grandstanded about it to reporters.

The only thing worse then a cheater is a hypocrite.  In Gibbs’ case, he’s both.

Chinese “woman” gymnast He Kexin was 13-years old only nine months ago. At least that is what the Chinese government’s news agency, Xinhua, reported back then. They reported that she was 13-years old.

Olympic rules state that you must turn 16 during the calendar year to compete.

He Kexin and her fellow teammates beat the United States and clinched China’s first women’s team Olympic gold in gymnastics. Some are complaining that the Chinese cheated. Did they?

Of course they cheated. That’s just what communists do. They cheat. The Soviets and the East Germans cheated in the 70’s and the 80’s and the Chinese are cheating now. If you ask me, it’s not really the Olympics unless you have godless communists cheating at something.

Yahoo’s Olympics blogger Chris Chase is ticked off that NBC is showing some of the Olympic events in Beijing on “tape delay”. Not that they still use magnetic tape to record sporting events or anything else for that matter. How old is Chris Chase? When he wants to make a phone call, does he “dial” the number? When he wants to listen to music, does he grab his Walkman? Does he write his blog on a manual typewriter? Is his car powered with steam?

Chris Chase wrote:

Tonight’s swimming finals with Michael Phelps, Dara Torres and Katie Hoff were not shown live in the Mountain or Pacific time zones, nor will they be shown for the entirety of the competition. NBC will instead run the east coast feed three hours later; at 8:00 p.m. PT. So, at the moment (midnight on the east coast), viewers on the other side of the country still haven’t seen Phelps shatter his own world record in the 400-meter individual medley.

The day I feel sorry for sports fans on the left coast is the day alien lifeforms have taken over my body. The ones that look like worms and embed themselves in your brain stem and make you say and do kooky things.

I don’t get to watch many Big Time sporting events. The reason? Two reasons actually; I work for a living and I live on the east coast.

To make viewing optimal for people living out on the west coast, most major sporting events don’t start until after 9:00 p.m. on the right side of the country. They do this so the folks out on the west coast can watch the event on TV after they get home for work. They don’t care that people on the east coast — people like me — have to stay up past midnight to finish watching. If you’re unemployed, retired, or sell drugs for a living, it’s really no big deal. If you are none of the above, it sucks.

So people out of the west coast don’t get to watch it live when Michael Phelps sets a new record? I don’t get to watch the World Series, NBA Championships, Monday Night Football, or the NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship final.

Consider us even.

I didn’t know ESPN had it’s own unprofessionally dressed, flirty sports babe/sidelines reporter.  I don’t think I’ve watched an ESPN Sunday Night baseball game all year and I think that’s her regular gig.  Evidently, I’m one of the few people around that wasn’t aware of her.

One of the many people aware of who Erin Andrews is and what she does is columnist Mike Nadel.  In a recent column he wrote:

Erin Andrews, the ESPN “it” babe who clearly isn’t afraid to flaunt it, sauntered around the visiting clubhouse, flitting from one Cubs player to another. Her skimpy outfit — designed to accentuate her, um, positives — had players leering at her. Some made lewd comments under their breath. Others giggled like 12-year-olds.

I imagine being a female reporter in a male dominated field is hard enough without having to guess if your skirt is short enough or if you have any unsightly panty lines.

It seems she’s dressing to attract male attention and that’s too bad.  She might actually be good at what she does, but if she continues to dress in a certain way, that’s what she will be known for.

A very similar problem once plagued Chris Berman.  Word has it early in his career he would often wear assless leather chaps and nipple clamps while walking the sidelines of sporting events.  He quickly realized that if he continued flaunting his sex appeal for the sake of getting a story, people would only look at him as a boy-toy and not a respected sports journalist.

Mike Nadel: Blonde bombshell can’t distract red-hot Cubs [Norwich Bulletin]

All is now well in the universe.  Art Monk was finally inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio yesterday.  There’s a lot in life I just simply don’t understand.  How it took Art Monk this long to be inducted into Canton is a mystery.

If I was in any way connected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, I’d be embarrassed that it took eight tries for Art Monk to make it in.  Eight tries.

Even though he played primarily on run happy Washington Redskins Joe Gibbs offenses, he was still able to put together some impressive career statistics.  He comes in at 7th on the all-time reception list with 940 catches and 12th on the all-time receiving yards with 12,721 yards.

The man simply played the game the way it ought to be played.  He wasn’t flashy.  He didn’t do anything to draw unnecessary attention to himself.  The reason you don’t remember what any of his touchdown dances looked like is because he didn’t do any.  He just made plays.

Imagine that.

WTMJ-TV Channel 4 in Milwaukee is reporting that the Green Bay Packers offered Brett Favre $20 million paid out over the next 10 years to stay retired. Could they know something that the rest of us don’t? I think most people believed that the reason Brett Favre wanted to un-retire and come back and play quarterback in the NFL was because he still had the burning desire to compete.

What if he just needs the money?

It seems to me that if a guy just wants to play, offering him money to sit at home and watch Judge Judy would be a complete waste of time. With that said, the Green Bay Packers thought it was worth making the offer.

I would think with all of the commercial endorsements Brett Favre does, money wouldn’t be a problem. Unless of course being the pitchman for heartburn medication and blue jeans sold at Wal-Mart doesn’t pay a lot.

Report: Packers offer Favre $20 million to stay home (Milwaukee Journal Sentinal)

Evidently Washington Post columnist and ESPN PTI co-host Michael Wilbon hates wearing long paints in the summer time.  Knowing first hand just how hot it is right now in the Washington DC area, I really can’t blame him.  In fact, I’m wearing shorts right now too.

This reminds me of when I had my high school senior portrait taken.  I too was wearing a jacket and tie above the waist and OP corduroy shorts and Vans slip-on shoes below it.  Good times!

The Only Thing Michael Wilbon Hates More Than Sports Bloggers Is Pants (Mister Irrelevant)

The Yankees play Boston tonight on the ESPN. I can’t ever figure out which team I hate the most. The Yankees are the Yankees. The Red Sox are kind of like the Yankees version 2.0. Just like the Yankees, they rely on high priced free agents to win championships.

Boston fans are even more obnoxious then Yankees fans.  That’s something I didn’t even know was possible.

The game tonight will be called by Jon Miller and Joe Morgan.  These two men are as complete polar opposites as two people can be.  Miller is one of the best play by play men in baseball while Joe Morgan is semi-mentally retarded. You know that guy at work that is constantly saying things and telling stories that are just not true?

Joe Morgan is just like that guy.

(Photo: Deadspin)

I wish Antietam Cable offered the Setanta Sports channel.  I think it’s only available to people that have Direct TV. (more…)