My Sports Life is a Rock Song: "Sunday, Bloody Sunday"

This is "My Sports Life is a Rock Song," a weekly series in which the House of Georges attempts to mix professional sports opinion with music. We've thus far tended to stay in the rock genre, but not intentionally; our last installment of this series attempted to meld Ice Cube and the Kansas City Royals, and we've gone punk on one occasion, too. This go-'round goes out on the unusually placed end-of-the-weekend slot, and the feature track is perhaps the influence. The content of the post, however, is miscellaneous in nature. After the jump, we'll have a look at some professional football, a bit of basketball NBA-style, and of course, some Kansas City Royals baseball.

Recently, we teamed up with the Yard Barker Network, and there're an impressive number of sports bloggers out there that either write for the site, belong to the network, or simply frequent it for news and updates. For a sample of some writing that goes on "in the Yard," here's a bit from SpankDaddy that discusses why Kobe Bryant will never be like Mike -- a sentiment with which I agree -- or a number of others for that matter. Speaking of Kobe and the Lakers, Bleacher Report is another network member, and BR's Senior Writer Jeff Little examines tonight's second-of-the-series contest between L.A. and Boston. I'm not linking to Mr. Little's post so that I may rip on him; his was the first preview I came across, and I'm too lazy to look for another. I couldn't disagree with commenter Max any stronger than I do. The piece is not "great," and in this instance, I don't think they author is "quite good at writing." What I do think is that the preview is full of useless generalities, and (at least one) inaccuracy.

Paragraph -- though I wouldn't really call them that -- eight includes the line, "The Celtics played tremendous defense," and I think we all know (Editor's Note: Shut up, Lone Reader.) that no one plays defense in the NBA. Actually, I've heard several recent claims that the league-wide level of overall D has improved significantly in recent years, but it's more fun to still gripe about it. Anyway, the piece is very generic, poorly punctuated, and lacking a prediction. I've picked the Celts to win the series, but I think the Lakers rebound (Note: No pun intended.), and come away with the victory this evening, 103-98. In Little's defense, he is a Raiders fan, and a guy who, in his profile, claims that his sports "takes are always on point." So he's got that working against for him.

In football news, The Big Lead points out that "Jeremy Shockey is douchey." I couldn't agree more. They also share with us the news of a certain Chicago Bears running back who was, in numerous allegations, wrongfully arrested last month for boating while under the influence/intoxicated. The latest: he was arrested on Friday for driving in similar conditions, and running a red light. His lawyer, in a statement I can't wrap my head around, insists that Benson was not intoxicated. The tailback refused to take a breathalyzer or participate in a blood screening. Hmm...Kinda leaves Bears Nation singing, "I can't believe the news today. I can't close my eyes and make it go away..."

TBL writes:

This kind of throws a dagger in the heart of the “cops singled me out” story. BWI + DWI = no football in Chicago, one would presume. The Bears have yet to release a statement, but I’m confident that when that happens, it will involve a release of Benson.

And for the love of the Creator, Cedric, call a cab or hire a driver. You have the funds.

Again, couldn't agree more. I'm sure these guys won't, though. We've agreed to disagree regarding some of the details related to Mr. Benson's last-month arrest.

In Chiefs news, a deal with first-round pick Glenn Dorsey doesn't appear to be just around the corner. And Greg Wesley's in minicamp, though he doesn't know what his role with the club is. I feel like this is the third year in a row we've heard this story.

On the baseball diamond, I'm a few games away from throwing my hands up regarding the Royals and this season. Doesn't mean I won't follow and root, but I won't be able to confidently steer the vessel known as "Operation Play .500 Ball" without fear of sinking. Since snapping their 12-game losing streak, they've gone 2-5. They took two from the Cleveland Indians, got swept by the division-leading Chicago White Sox, then kicked off a series in New York where they win a pitchers' dual (2-1), allow a Yankees come-from-behind win in a hitters' exchange (12-11), and squandered another lead today, losing 6-3. They make no sense, and I have no idea what the solution is. I theorize that it has something to do with getting some gelling between the younger guys and the veterans, and figuring out who your (more or less) everyday lineup is going to include.

In Chicago, they, for the most part, kept games close with good pitching, and decent-at-best hitting, but they gave up about 87 homeruns in that three-game stretch. Yeah. I know. That means the pitching wasn't good. But it wasn't bad. Then they travel to the Bronx to face a struggling Yankees club, get decent starts out of their guys to split the first two, only to let game three slide away with a blast from Jason "Gold Bond" Giambi. Fuck. That guy's had one of the shittiest starts to a season in his career. One more game against the 'Stripes before hosting the Rangers for three, then two solid weeks of Inter-League play featuring Arizona, the Cardinals (twice), the Giants, and the Rockies. Come July, this team will have a hot stretch of summer baseball, where it's time to resemble the temperature, or reassemble the club.

In other extremely unfunny Royals news, the club only waited three too many years to do this. Jesus. Ever since his AL Rookie of the Year season, Royals fans have been watching the fielding blunders and eptiomally awful strikeouts of Berroa, leaving us singing, "How long -- How long must we sing this song?"