Time to Schein
Sharp, Contrarian Opinions From a True Sports Fan
North Korea, Dennis Rodman May Be the Most Important Person in America
January 9, 2014 January 12, 2014 Corey Scheiner1 Comment
I started following basketball just as the Chicago Bulls were starting phase two of their eight-year dynasty. That team was fun to watch. If Michael Jordan wasn't enough for you (career highlights), every game could be one when enforcer Dennis Rodman lost his mind. Like on January 15, 1997, when he kicked cameraman Eugene Amos in the groin after tripping over him.
Rodman was undersized at his position, yet is one of the greatest rebounders of all time due to perpetual aggression and determination. He has to be one of the five most intimidating basketball players of all time; definitely one of the five most unique.
Dennis Rodman dyed his hair a different color(s) before every game
In 2013 Rodman made his first, second, and third trips to North Korea. Dubbed the Hermit Kingdom, it is a country of total dictatorship, where failure to worship the "Supreme Leader" results in the death or imprisonment of not just you but your extended family.
The dictator's face is everywhere. The documentary Inside Undercover In North Korea (here) takes you through the ten-day journey of a doctor traveling through North Korea to treat blind patients. At one point the crew was granted camera access inside a typical North Korean home. Family pictures were non-existent, but in seemingly every room there was a picture of Kim Jong-un. You watch them bow down, but their passion while doing so conveys how commonplace and ritualistic it is throughout the country.
I imagine telling a North Korean they're brainwashed would be the same reaction of a North Korean trying to genuinely convince me the Earth is flat. In their heads, they are infinitely lucky to be a part of the greatest country in the universe. "Juche" is a well-known slogan of unification in North Korea. To the outside world, that translates to "Up yours."
Kim Jong-un's hatred toward America is well known. He has recently threatened America with nuclear weapons and still blames America for the separation of Korea over a half-century ago. Anti-American nursery rhymes are taught to kids the way we may teach Ring Around the Rosy to ours (technically, we are still in the Korean War. North Korea never signed papers to formally end it, so legally we are in a half-century cease fire).
But Kim Jong-un is an admitted fan of the 1990s Bulls franchise, enough to break the ice with a high-profile American for the first time. He could have picked anyone else. Something drew him to Dennis Rodman. Remember when he wore a dress to promote his autobiography?
But it may be a perfect wedding. Both seem to live in their respective internal realities, and maybe this is the first time both Rodman and Kim Jong-un have found someone else that "gets it." Rodman seems to have little genuine desire to talk politics, and maybe that's a breath of fresh air for the Supreme Leader of Earth's most mysterious country.
Maybe Rodman is so unique he is the only person in the world Kim Jong-un has ever connected with. Rodman doesn't give in to national pressure to question the dictator's politics (CNN outburst here), and if Rodman wants to take it slow and develop a true friendship then why not? "Finally, someone isn't trying to criticize me or my country," and Rodman is so different I truly believe he's being genuine. Where maybe no one has understood Kim Jong-un his whole life, maybe this is an opportunity for the dictator to make his first "true friend."
What if this works? What if Kim Jong is so flattered by Rodman he finagles a United States interaction with North Korea. What if Rodman's friendship leads to communication. What if Rodman's friendship keeps Kim Jong from pulling the trigger on a nuclear weapon on the United States.
Kim Jong-un hand selected Rodman. Either way you look at it, the bottom line is a friendship is forming. Rodman's "Up yours" attitude toward his sea of American critics will fuel his fire to befriend the dictator. All stars may have aligned.
I can see it now. "Class, please turn to page 167. Here we will see how 200 years ago Dennis Rodman initiated peace between America and North Korea."
Posted in SportsTagged 1990s, anti-american nursery rhymes, Are we still at war with North Korea, camera, cameraman, Chicago Bulls, chris, cnn, corey, crazy hair, cuomo, Dear Leader, Dennis, Dennis Rodman and, dictator, dimplomat, diplomacy, dyed har, eugene amos, friend, game, Juche, kenneth bae, Kim Jong-il, Kim Jong-sung, Kim Jong-un, man, michael jordan, national basketball association, NBA, new jersey, nj, North Korea, North Korean, nuclear weapon, nuclear weapons, Old Bridge, opinion, out lash, outburst, outlash, peace, relationship, Rodman, rowan university, scheiner, Scottie Pippen, Supreme Leader, threat, threatening, totalitarianism, up yours, wedding dress, What is North Korea
Fresh Rushing Game Just One Reason New York Giants Are '13 Super Bowl Contenders
February 21, 2013 February 21, 2013 Corey ScheinerLeave a comment
Once Dez Bryant's knuckles were ruled out of bounds on this play October 28th, the New York Giants sat comfortably atop the NFC East at 6-2, 2.5 games ahead of the Eagles and Cowboys, primed for another playoff appearance. Coming off a Super Bowl championship, it was logical to feel confident the experienced Eli Manning could lead his team through a serious championship push for the second straight year.
Ultimately, it seemed the Giants grew complacent with their game and let their guard down to ultimately miss the playoffs entirely, an utter disappointment for a franchise and fan base expecting more.
But 2013 will be different for Eli & Co. The brightest light at the end of 2012's depressive tunnel was a renaissance of New York's running game, one with energy we haven't seen since Tiki Barber's pre-Eli days. Journeyman-turned puzzle piece Andre Brown showed fans his brute force capabilities and rookie David Wilson showed us the explosive step Ahmad Bradshaw never offered. Couple this with New York's weaker schedule and the fresh pressure to avoid a second straight "losing" season, the New York Giants will contend for the Super Bowl in 2013.
An athletic neophyte, Wilson's agility and 4.40 40-yard dash (video) offer a glimmer of hope Big Blue can represent a game-changing back comparable to a Ray Rice, Adrian Peterson, or even Robert Griffin III (According to the New York Times, Wilson has run the 40 in 4.29 seconds). While a long shot, there's finally enough quickness to evoke a glimmer of hope.
In the last five games of the regular season, Brown recorded five touchdowns on only 35 carries, many in Brandon Jacobs-like short yardage situations. While I couldn't find the numbers, I don't remember Brown rushing for a loss many times in those games.
If there's chemistry, this duo has the potential to propel the Giants to the other end of the rushing spectrum. Both of their '12 performances qualify for guaranteed rushes in '13, but this "friendly" competition will add fuel to their respective fires. That extra drive should ultimately bring out the best in one, if not both of the Giants' running backs.
In its best-case scenario, the Giants' new-found rushing game will force defenses to allocate more attention on the ground, therefore leading to more open receivers and an even more successful passing game.
*How the Giants won last year's Super Bowl with the league's worst rushing numbers is a mystery I will never solve. And while given his fair share of kudos, I feel Eli's 2011-12 accomplishment is still underrated given that statistic.*
The only other silver-lining of New York's underachieving season is the motivation it offers for the upcoming campaign. Before this year's Baltimore Ravens, no team since the 2006 Steelers won a Super Bowl the year after winning a playoff game. While winning is always the ultimate goal, I theorize an underachieving season finale is heavier motivation to win than the fire to repeat. Look at the 2012 Miami Heat.
But while arguments supporting New York's new rushing game and theories of losing seasons are nice, they're subjective. Plus, coming into 2012 Wilson and Brown combined for four career rushes. How will they tweak their game to counter defenses' adjustments? Brown will enter 2013 off a broken fibula and Casper the Friendly Ghost could have blocked better than Wilson. But New York's 2013 strength of schedule is the most tangible reason the Giants will at least make the playoffs. The scheduling committee gave the Super Bowl champion Giants games against all winners of the '11 NFC conferences – Packers, Saints, and 49ers. This year, New York will face a much weaker schedule, one that includes the dreadful AFC West. Take out the 13-3 Broncos and that conference boasted a 13-35 overall record this year (2012 standings).
With fresh assets at hand in 2013, a favorable schedule and a new-found motivation to elude the taste of failure, it will be a season Giants fans should look forward to. I correctly predicted the Giants would not make the playoffs in 2012, but am predicting a serious playoff representation in 2013.
Plus, the Giants have home-field advantage in this year's Super Bowl whether they play or not. That cherry-on-top motivation may put them over the hump should they hit their stride come December.
Posted in SportsTagged '12, '13, '14, 2012, 2013, 2014, 49ers, afc west, ahmad, andre, barber, blog, bored, bradshaw, brandon, brown, bryant, building, can't wait for football, complacent, corey, coreyscheiner, dallas cowboys, david, derrick, dez, eli, empire, football, game, games, giants, jacobs, Knicks, league, local, lose, Manning, metlife, monday, national, new, new york giants will make the playoffs, new york will make the playoffs, newfound, nfc east, nfl, night, optimism, optimistic, packers, playoff, playoff teams in, playoffs, rangers, rushing, saints, scheiner, skyline, sports, stadium, state, super-bowl, team, teams, the giants will make the playoffs, tiki, tuesday, twitter, ward, wednesday, wilson, win, yankee, yankees, york
Sporcle of the Week: Top 5 NBA Scorers by Draft
January 19, 2013 Corey ScheinerLeave a comment
I'm a sucker for 90s basketball, and this Sporcle delivers. Since 1992 and until 2011, name the top five NBA scorers from their respective draft class.
Make sure you have 15 minutes to kill. I got 55 of 105 but know I could've gotten more. One of those "Oh c'mon I knew that" quizzes.
Happy Sporcling!
SPORCLE OF THE WEEK: TOP 5 SCORERS BY DRAFT CLASS
Posted in SportsTagged 15 minutes, 2000s, 90s, armstrong, basketball, blog, bored, bryant, class, draft, draft class, fun, game, games, gaming, giants, jets, Knicks, kobe, lance, local, mets, monday, national, NBA, nets, nhl, of the week, quizzes, rangers, rookie, sporcle, sporcling, sport, sports, trivia, yankees, young
Kobe Bryant's Class Gives Kevin Durant Scoring Title
April 26, 2012 April 27, 2012 Corey ScheinerLeave a comment
In 1941, Boston Red Sox' Ted Williams went into the final day of baseball's regular season batting exactly .400. While he could've sat out – Boston was 17 games back of the first place Yankees, Williams understood batting .400 wouldn't mean as much if put himself before the team. Williams went a combined 6-8 in the doubleheader (Game 1 Game 2) – on his way to the .406 batting average we haven't seen since.
According to this story on ESPN.com, Bryant will sit out in the final game of the season against the Sacramento Kings tonight, forfeiting a chance to take home his third career scoring title. He needed 38 points to beat out Oklahoma City's Kevin Durant, who played their final game of the regular season last night.
Kobe had the chance to smack ESPN in the face tonight. By scoring 38, he makes an argument he's the best player in the NBA, not the seventh best according to a preseason rank on NBA on ESPN. Remember, this comes in the same season he had to adjust to a coach not named Phil Jackson and a Scottie Pippen not named Derek Fisher. He has not let his basketball stardom fog his vision of another NBA title – basketball's ultimate measuring stick.
In today's story with ESPNLosAngeles, Kobe said, "It's not a challenge for me to score 38 points, you know? … We know I can go out and score 38 points. The most important thing is sending the right message to the group which is putting a championship above all else. That means rest. That means letting other guys play. That means us getting ready for Sunday (for the playoff opener)."
Yeah…Kobe is exactly right. We do know he can go out and score 38 at whim. He's the only player in the league that can say that without a backlash of pseudo-news and debate on Twitter. Let me know in the comments if you disagree. LeBron could say it and be truthful, but we love hating LeBron too much to let a comment like that slide.
While Kobe could use father time to school the younger Durant, he didn't. He showed class. He conveyed he's not bigger than the game. It was refreshing, and I think it reminded basketball fans how special Kobe is.
When we look back on Kobe's career, there will be an unofficial asterisk next to Kobe's amount of scoring titles. In a sports era where asterisks are associated with negativity, this asterisk will reiterate how special Kobe was.
"Yes son, Kobe only won three scoring titles way back when, but he could have had a fourth if he decided to play in the final game of that 2012 season."
Remember when Jose Reyes voluntarily sat out of last season's finale to ensure his batting title? Yes he won, but sports fans partner his batting title with, "Yes, but he sat out the last day of the season to ensure he would win," communicating he put himself before the team.
Rest up Kobe. A third scoring title doesn't look as impressive as a sixth championship.
Posted in SportsTagged .400, .406, 2012, angeles, association, average, barry, baseball, basketball, batting, bonds, bryant, class, college, corey, derek, durant, duratn, espn, espn.com, espnlosangeles, final, fisher, game, giants, jackson, james, jose, kevin, kevin durant, king of the castle, Knicks, kobe, kobe bryant, lakers, lebron, los, mark, mcgwire, mets, national, NBA, out, phil, rangers, reyes, rowan, scheiner, scoring, season, sits, sports, steroids, ted, title, university, williams, yankees
The Giants are in the NFC Championship Game. hhhhhwat?
January 17, 2012 January 18, 2012 Corey Scheiner2 Comments
The Giants are playing with house money. In August, no one thought Big Blue would still be alive midway through January. You didn't, and neither did I. Since then, Giants fans learned who Victor Cruz is, the Giants proved you can lose four straight in the second half of the season and still control your own destiny, and Eli Manning may have finally tattooed his name into the "elite quarterback" category – a fraternity I thought he pledged his way into three years ago.
The "may have" in that previous sentence is tentative to change. If the Giants win it all in the 2011 season, you can remove it altogether. That four star gold "C" means he's the man in charge.
It's not how good of a team you are, but how good you are for the 60 minutes on the field.
The Giants are not a better team than the Packers. If the two teams played ten times, I think Green Bay would win seven. However, in a blessing in disguise, the Giants got injured at the right time. Osi Umenyiora's perfectly timed injury got him back just in time for a tune up game in week 17. The whole Giants team seemed to come back just as the regular season was ending as well.
In my previous post I had zero trust in my team to make any noise this postseason. Just over a month ago I watched a struggling football team look weak in the secondary, uphill on the ground, and a clueless on special teams.
Then finally and out of nowhere, the one constant – Peyton's younger brother, finally finds his team. The defense (and especially the secondary) picked up, the running game reappeared, and Eli's wide-receivers think they're some of the best in the league. The Giants still have no special teams unit… but I can live without that, so long as you play solid on offense and defense.
And who's been on and off the hot seat more than Tom Coughlin? He pushes the New York Giants' fans and front office to the brink. In 2007 the Giants started 0-2, and were down 17-3 at the half to the Washington Redskins in week 3. I'm convinced if the Giants lost that game Coughlin was gone. I'm also convinced if Coughlin didn't win week 17 against the Dallas Cowboys he was gone. Somehow he finds a way to rally his troops just in time. My previous post talked about how Coughlin would be gone by the end of January – I'm still not 100% sure he's safe, but it looks that way.
Now the Giants play the 49ers, a team they showed they can beat back in week 10. They held a one point lead going into the fourth quarter. Granted, they now face the tall task of beating Alex Smith and Co. in SanFran, but again, it's not how good of a team you are, but how good you are at the right time. That's why the Giants won the Super Bowl in 2007 and why the 1980 Olympic Hockey team won gold.
Eli has been here before. He's a quarterback entering the prime of his career, yet with Super Bowl experience under his belt. Will the Giants again hold up their Road Warrior mantra? Will Alex Smith lead the New York Knicks of football to a championship game (a team that's usually so good but out of nowhere becomes terrible for ten years)?
Who knows… in five years, you may refer to Peyton as Eli's older brother.
Posted in SportsTagged 2012, blog, bowl, bridge, championship, college, eli, elite, game, Manning, new york, nfc, old, quarterback, rowan, sports, super, university
October 29, 2011 January 20, 2013 Corey ScheinerLeave a comment
Congratulations to the St. Louis Cardinals. Three days ago I had zero vested interest in this World Series. Last night I found myself to getting frequent updates at work.
All things considered: late drama, perfect imperfections, a walk-off home run, a slugfest, the world series, etc., this game featured a concoction of rare attributes that made game six the best game ever played in professional baseball history.
No team within 1,000 miles of me was represented – no team I love was represented, no team I hate was represented. I was a TV station's worst case scenario – the indifferent fan.
But then game six happened. What started as ambiance on my living room TV during a small social setting quickly became the center of attention. What started as "Oh, at least it's a good game," became, "No, we're not leaving until this game is over."
Two separate times I sat watching the soon-to-be final strike, waiting for Neftali Feliz or Scott Feldman to induce a ground ball or throw strike three, waiting for "…and the Texas Rangers are your World Champions."
…and then they weren't.
Lance Berkman's hit in the tenth pumped adrenaline through me reminiscent of what I felt when Matsui's single of Pedro knocked in two during 2009's Game Six, or when A-Rod's '09 ALDS shot tied it up in the ninth. I all of a sudden wanted the Cardinals to win.
Many great games follow similar formulas: a great late comeback, a slugfest, a pitchers duel, but this game had the "it" factor. It wasn't just one comeback; it wasn't your mundane slugfest.
Looking at only the game itself, similar games with this "it" factor were the Mets' victory against the Braves on Independence Day in 1985 when pitcher Rick Camp, lifetime .074 batter, hit his only career home run with two outs in the 18th to send the game further into the night. And that was after the Braves came back with four runs in the 8th, the Mets with one in the ninth, and both teams with two in the 13th.
Games like July 1st, 2004 between the Yankees and Red Sox, where a rematch of the 2003 ALCS pitted rookie Brad Halsey against superstar Pedro Martinez. By the 13th, A-Rod was back at shortstop, the Red Sox were using five infielders, and Gary Sheffield was at third base for the first time in ten years because Derek Jeter's kamikaze play in the 12th saved the game, yet forced him to leave.
Games with that little extra. They all have something you rarely see. The games where you need everybody.
This game had "it."
Right off the bat (haha…) both teams scored in the first. Then the rare wheel play in the second forced the only 5-6-4 bunt-groundball-double play I've ever seen. Both teams traded errors in the fourth. Texas' back to back home runs in the seventh broke a 4-4 tie, and later that inning sent out 24-year old starter Derek Holland out for his second inning of relief, and he was already the third starter to pitch for Texas.
Two improbable comebacks in consecutive innings gave me only a taste of what it would've been like if I was a Cardinals or Rangers fan. According to baseball-reference.com, after Ryan Theriot's strikeout to leadoff the ninth, the Cardinals had a 4% to win the game (8% chance to tie it up). They did. Once Josh Hamilton hit his two-run homer in the tenth, the Cardinals had a 7% chance to win (14% chance to tie it up). They did.
I'm about to crunch some numbers. I apologize in advance.
8% in the ninth, 14% in the tenth, then once the game went into extras, lets assume both teams have a 50% chance to win.
.08 x .14 x .5 = .0056
I'm no baseball statistician, and this number is only a guesstimate, but I calculate the Cardinals had about a .6% chance to win this game after Theriot's strike out. If the Cardinals and Rangers were to play 1,000 games starting with said strikeout, the Cardinals would win six times. Assuming each team had a 50% chance to win game seven, you saw something that happens three times out of 1,000.
And this was in a World Series.
Everything considered – from the errors, to the starting pitchers in relief, to the slugfest, to the late comebacks, to the World Series implications, you may never see a better baseball game in your lifetime. Congratulations to the St. Louis Cardinals and their fans. I'm incredibly jealous of you.
Posted in SportsTagged 2011, cardinals, game, rangers, series, six, world