#ViewFromYourSeats

My Dad sends along a picture of a Kevin Youkilis at-bat at Fenway, a 6-3 groundout.

Darren Rovell Says Nike is Not Meeting Demand for Retro Dream Team Apparel

Sports business analyst Darren Rovell, who recently left CNBC for ESPN, joined Colin Cowherd’s radio show today to talk about the US Men’s Olympic Basketball team, Jeremy Lin, and Carmelo Anthony.

At the beginning, Cowherd asked Rovell to compare the marketability of the 1992 Dream Team to this year’s squad:

Cowherd: We all acknowledge that the Dream Team was better on the court [than this year’s team]. Is this team comparable to the Dream Team in marketing? Was that team far more popular than this team?

Rovell: If you break it down, it’s obviously a different era in time but, yeah, I would definitely say that this team is not as marketable as that team. But, then again, sports marketing has come a long way…I think that the Dream Team as a marketing vehicle–it’s not even close. And the crazy thing is, by the way, everyone’s asking Nike, “Where are all the retro Dream Team things that I want to buy?”

I think it’s one of the first times ever where Nike has not met demand for something.

At the ESPYs, Bill Simmons Saw Rob Gronkowski Sprint Down an Up Escalator, Heard Gronk Crossed Swords With Brothers and a Stranger

Bill Simmons had his buddy Jack-O on his BS Report podcast today. As usual they discussed the relative situations of the Yankees and Red Sox before veering off into other topics. The conversation eventually drifted toward Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski; around the 28-minute mark, Simmons shares three funny anecdotes about Gronk from the ESPY awards last week.

1. Leaving the after party, walking through the hotel where the first after-party was and there was an [escalator] that people were going down. And there was probably like–you know, people were walking kind of slow because there’s only one at a time on the [escalator] so it’s kind of clogged a little bit–and then there was an [escalator] going up that nobody was on. Gronkowski sprints down, past all the people that are going down the [escalator] and sprints down the ‘up’ [escalator]. Then, he gets to the bottom, raises his hands, and goes, “YEAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!” I actually witnessed [this].

Barack and Michelle Obama on Kiss Cam at USA-Brazil

President Obama attended tonight’s USA-Brazil exhibition tonight with his wife, Michelle, and got put on Kiss Cam:

Ultimately, Michelle seemed put off by the idea and the crowd didn’t really pressure them enough to do it.

Why Team USA Basketball Should Consider Greg Stiemsma (Seriously)

Let me preface this column by saying that as a fellow Wisconsin Badger I am absolutely biased on the subject. I hadn’t thought much about Stiemsma for three years but was delighted when he surfaced in Boston this year, had six blocks in his debut, and got compared to Bill Russell by the inimitable Celtics homer announcer Tommy Heinsohn after playing just five games.

World Wide Wednesday

Deep Routes

An angry millenial writes an open letter to her parents’ generation that makes a whole lot of sense:

Quit telling us we’re not special.

Believe us, we bloody well know.

Earlier this month, Wellesley high school teacher David McCullough, Jr., delivered what was perhaps the world’s first commencement dirge to a crowd of teenagers on the first day of distinction many of them have ever experienced. Graduation from high school, he informed them, is a shiny induction to the hordes of mediocrity. McCullough even took it upon himself to remind the youth of their eventual funerals. (You know it’s a problematic speech when Rush Limbaugh loves it.) What parting words did the teacher have for those who survived his twelve-minute lesson on nihilism? The paradoxical exhortation to go forth and live extraordinary lives! Because, apparently, we can?

Here’s the rub: this speech is misplaced. It doesn’t belong in an address to the generation graduating into an economy that wipes its rear end with their high school diplomas. It doesn’t belong in an address to the generation who began running the rat race at age 4. It doesn’t apply to the generation that knows hard work guarantees nothing, that can’t hope to own a home before we have our own children, that pours coffee for other people’s parents for free in the name of gaining “work experience” through “internship.” David McCullough ought to have given that speech not to the graduates, but to their parents. We have not yet begun to shape the world: we are living in the one you created. And it’s killing us.

Sports Rapport Is Closed Through Monday, July 9th

I’m headed up to Wisconsin AKA God’s Country for a week and will not be doing any posting.

If you find yourself struggling to make it throughout the week without my sports and food commentary, here are some of my greatest hits from the past year:

– 25 Things Wisconsin Democrats and Republicans Can Agree are Awesome

SPORTS

– Badger Basketball: Where Are They Now?

– Rooting for Allen Iverson

– Aaron Rodgers Just Got Named the NFL’s Best Player by His Peers; What is His Ceiling?

– With 79 NFL DUIs Since 2007, It is Time For An Automatic Four-Game Suspension

– How Much Would 304-lb Tackle David Diehl Need to Drink to Blow a .18?

– Charles Barkley Says Larry Bird Drank Him Under the Table, LeBron Haters Led By Punk-Ass Skip Bayless

– LeBron James Has ‘The Look’

– Under the Radar, LeBron James is Having His Best Season

– So Was That Egregious Pacquaio Decision Corrupt or Incompetent?

– 8 Better Ways to Spend $64.99 Than Ordering Pacquaio-Bradley

– 8 Better Ways to Spend $69.95 Than Ordering Mayweather-Cotto

– Who are the Preakness Owners and How Did They Make Their Money?

TRIP DIARIES

– A Day Trip to Auschwitz

– EuroCup part I; EuroCup part II

– Green Bay for Packers-Giants playoff and epic weekend

– Indianapolis for Big Ten title game

– Losing on a last-second hail mary to Michigan State

– Losing on a last-minute hail mary at Ohio State

– Madison for Nebraska, Will’s Northwoods for Packers-Broncos

Joe Paterno

– Why Joe Paterno HAD to Go

– Joe Paterno’s Complicated Legacy

– New Emails Confirm That Joe Paterno Acted in Self-Preservation to Cover Up Jerry Sandusky

FOOD

– Trying the New Cantina Bell Burrito Bowl From Taco Bell

– How to Make Enchilada Pie

World Wide Wednesdays

– Via Google.

My Daily Meal Food Slideshows

– Here.

Chicagoist Archive

– On Will’s Northwoods Inn, Q101, some more.

Other

– HuffPo long read on medical marijuana industry and policy in Colorado.

– On The Awl: What Return Can You Expect on That $2 Lottery Ticket?

– Sconnie Nation Keeps Growing

#ViewFromYourSeats

Don C. was at Roger Federer’s great comeback at Wimbledon on Friday:

Kevin O. was at the Eurocup finals between Italy and Spain in Kiev yesterday:

David F. sends the view from his hotel overlooking the Skydome in Toronto:

New Emails Confirm That Joe Paterno Acted in Self-preservation to Cover Up Sandusky Crimes

When word first came out that former Penn State defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky was being charged with child molestation and we had time to process the gruesome grand jury report, it seemed pretty cut and dry that Joe Paterno and Penn State administrators Gary Schultz, Tim Curley, and Graham Spanier conspired to cover up Sandusky’s heinous crimes. Here’s what I wrote at the time:

Penn State administrators were more concerned with self-preservation than justice for past victims and prevention of future ones.

Telling Sandusky “not to bring any Second Mile children into the football building” sends a clear signal that Curley and Schultz did not care about sexual abuse victims as long as Penn State would not be implicated in them and be held liable.

Considering this callousness and utter lack of responsibility for humanity, it is not a stretch to believe that Curley, Schultz, Spanier, and Paterno chose not to go to the authorities with this matter because they did not want to incur intense scrutiny from the media and general public as to a) why Sandusky wasn’t prosecuted the first time he was investigated despite a mountain of evidence which included a tacit admission, and b) why he was still allowed unfettered access to campus facilities with young boys from his charity when he had been investigated for sexually deviant behavior in the past.

Media coverage wouldn’t have been AS bad as it has been this week if in 2002 Sandusky was turned in to authorities because there would not have been such an egregious cover-up and the internet had not yet evolved into what it is today. However, it would not have been pretty for those in power at Penn State. Couple that with the fact that the Nittany Lions were not winning on the field (they had no bowl appearances from 2000-2002) and Paterno would have had an extremely difficult time keeping his job in a scandal where his long-time defensive coordinator–who had been previously accused–raped an underage boy in the football team’s locker room. Jobs would have been lost and Penn State’s pristine reputation would have been immensely and perhaps irreparably tarnished. Only now, it’s worse.

#ViewFromMySeats

I snuck into some pretty good ones after getting into Wrigley for $15 right before the pouring rain turned into an absolutely beautiful day…

Paul Maholm pitched 8.1 shutout innings and Alfonso Soriano hit a home run onto Waveland as the Cubs blanked the Astros 4-0.