In this edition of the Ultimate Sports Blog Roundtable, Dustin James, Steve Cook, and myself discuss NFL training camp fights, playing Michael Jordan one-on-one, and the Toronto Blue Jays.
Training Camp Fights: Yay or Nay?
Steve Cook: Football players are violent people. Let's just put that out in the open as an undisputable fact. You gotta be combative if you want to make it all the way to the highest level of professional football. One of the main aspects of the game is tackling people. Until they switch the NFL to flag football, violence is going to be a common presence & a common attribute among the best in the game. Training camp fights are only natural because the players haven't been in that type of situation for awhile. The competitive juices start flowing again, they remember what it's like to hit & be hit...fights are going to happen. And if they are, it's for the best that they happen in a controlled situation like training camp where there are plenty of other people around to break things up.
Look at it this way: at least they aren't getting into fights with their wives, girlfriends or children.
Dustin James: I kind of lean towards the middle, but I'll go with "yay". Training camp fights aren't exactly a bad thing as long as they don't get too serious (can we keep the helmets on fellas?). Everyone knows that football is a violent sport. When you watch it on television, there's almost a scuffle after every play. That's just what happens when you get testosterone-filled men running into each other at fast speeds. Guys get angry and start swinging at each other. It's almost inevitable that it's going to happen at training camp. If it happens on-the-field, why wouldn't it happen when NFL players are going through the most stressful time of the season (training camp can be a bitch for NFL players)?
If I was a coach and my team wasn't getting into fights during training camp, I would start to worry about their competitive nature and overall softness of the team. Maybe I'm old fashioned, but I want my football team filled with guys who want to win football games and will tear their opponents heads off to accomplish just that. Those kind of guys are getting into fights at training camps because that's how competitive people are. Plus, fighting sometimes can build more camaraderie with the players. Everyone knows that after you fight someone, you usually like them more. That's never a bad thing. But like I said earlier, they can't be getting too serious because you don't want anyone suffering any kind of serious injury over a stupid training camp fight. Can you imagine what would have happened in Carolina had Cam Newton gotten injured during the scuffle with Josh Norman? We probably would've seen the last of Ron Rivera in Carolina so I also totally understand why NFL coaches can hate it. As a fan though? Give me more.
Jeremy Lambert: Nine out of ten times I'm all for training camp fights, but the one time I'm against them happened on Monday when Cam Newton got into a scuffle with Josh Norman. On one hand, it shows that Cam is already in compete mode and ready for the season to start. On the other hand I don't want my franchise quarterback getting hurt over something dumb like an interception thrown in practice.
Most of the time training camp fights happened between two fringe players on the offensive and defensive lines who are just sick of running into each other over and over again, but when your franchise player is involved, it becomes a bit of a worry. I think training camp fights can actually bring the team closer together and I'm hoping that's the case with the Panthers.
Who would you take to beat Michael Jordan (in his prime) in a game of one on one?
SC: I immensely dislike this question for a number of reasons. First of all, basketball is a team sport. The one on one thing is a nice little debate to have when we're high or drunk, but until somebody makes a league out of it & it supersedes the NBA in popularity, it's irrelevant. It does not matter if LeBron James can beat all the Golden State Warriors individually in games of one on one, what matters is his team can't beat them.
Secondly, can we please stop comparing everybody to Michael Jordan? I know it's probably impossible at this point, but the MJ vs. Whoever debate has been driven into the ground in the 17 years since he retired. (I don't recognize the Wizards years as having happened.) I don't need ESPN reporting every time somebody asks Jordan about a current player, nor do I need to know if current players think they could take Jordan in his prime. And why is basketball the only sport that does this? You don't see Mike Trout being asked if he could hit a home run off of Roger Clemens, or Calvin Johnson being asked if he could score a touch down with Deion Sanders covering him. It's all so stupid.
So, to answer this insipid question, I say that LeBron, KD, Russ Westbrook, Kobe, Damian Lillard & Kendrick Perkins could all beat MJ one time in a game of one on one. Because people get lucky.
DJ: The correct answer is "no one", but if I'm forced to take someone, I'm taking LeBron James. Michael Jordan is the greatest basketball player that ever lived (and is my all-time favorite athlete). He would destroy anyone he faced in a one-on-one encounter on a basketball court, with all due respect to guys like LeBron and Kobe Bryant. However, if I had a million dollars in my hand and had to lay it down on an NBA superstar past or present to beat Jordan, my money's going on LeBron. Either way, it doesn't matter because it's a stupid argument anyway because basketball is a five-on-five game. It's like NFL fans arguing over who's running back is faster because he ran a quicker 40-yard dash at the Combine, even though that has absolutely nothing to do with his in-game speed with pads on. Some sports arguments are just the worst.
JL: Like my colleagues have said, basketball is a team game and one-on-one debates are pretty dumb, but this is a hot story right now (and will continue to be a hot story for years to come) and I'm all about those clicks. If I had my choice, I'd take Kevin Durant. LeBron is unquestionably the best player in the NBA right now, but he's great within the team game. He's not a great shooter and if you can't shoot against Jordan, you're going to be in a lot of trouble because baskets won't come that easy. Durant has the shooting ability and the size to matchup against MJ so I'd take my chances with The Real MVP.
Are the Toronto Blue Jays now the favorites to win the World Series?
SC: The Blue Jays are certainly on a roll since the trade deadline. They're shutting the Yankees out in Yankee Stadium. They're fighting with the Royals. David Price has gone back to being David Price instead of whatever he was in Detroit. Troy Tulowitzki is showing people that it wasn't just the thin Denver air that made him one of the most dangerous hitters in the game. Oh, and guys like Jose Bautista & Edwin Encarnacion that were already there are on hot streaks. Certainly, if the season ended today, you would have to think that the Blue Jays & New York Mets would be hooking up in the World Series.
But the thing about baseball is that it's a 162 game season with peaks & valleys. Teams get hot all the time. Teams get cold all the time. Sure, the Blue Jays are hot now, but it's not going to be this way for the entirety of September & October. That's why, at the end of the day, I still give the AL advantage to the Kansas City Royals, a team that was there last year & knows how to get it done in the postseason. And even though the St. Louis Cardinals are so beat up & might end up losing their division to the Pittsburgh Pirates if it keeps up, I'm not counting them out until they're officially eliminated.
DJ: I'm tempted to say "yes" here because the Blue Jays are absolutely rolling right now, but I'm still liking the Kansas City Royals as the team to beat for the World Series. The Royals were so close to winning it last year and they look every bit as good (or even better) as last year's team and I just feel more comfortable putting my eggs in that basket. The Royals showed last post-season that their style of baseball can be tough to beat, especially when October rolls around. I think they're even better this year and are the team to beat in MLB, with all apologies to the Blue Jays and St. Louis Cardinals fans.
JL: They were my big winners from the trade deadline and so far they haven't disappointed. The playoffs are a different animal though. Most of the Blue Jays players haven't been there and who knows how they'll respond to the pressure. The Royals have the best record in the AL and were in the World Series last year, the Cardinals are still a force, and don't sleep on the Giants to make a late push.
