Oh yeah, happy Opening Day! I think I like the fact that Opening Day is not the same day as the National Championship game. It gives both events the stage to itself instead of sharing and providing an overload of sports action when none is really needed.

And then there were four ...
I guess the Final Four will be full of star power, although I wonder if NBA scouts will discount some of this tournament stuff when it comes to draft time. It always seems like guys who do well in college on the biggest stage actually have a strike against them when they hit the pros. Mateen Cleeves, Danny Manning, Christian Laettner, Khalid El-Amin -- all have been in the pros, but none could be considered superstars. And think of Anderson Hunt and Scotty Thurman -- the Final Four MVPs from those team were the only one not to have much of a pro career. It's like winning is a detriment to NBA success -- me first is good, team first is not. In scouting speak -- a "winner" is a player (usually white) lacking in talent who finds his way to winning games or putting up numbers. An "athlete" is often an African-American player with lots of skill but not much smarts.

Back to my bracket, I predicted earlier that Marquette might make the Final Four after I predicted them to lose in the first round. However, I guess I was right in getting a No. 3 seeded Catholic school into the Final Four. I just picked the wrong one (Xavier instead of Marquette.) I did get Syracuse right, so I feel good about that. Like everyone else, I got burned by Kentucky and Arizona losing. BTW, do you think someone over at CBS decided to switch out Pontiac ads to the Al McGuire "Holy Mackrel" one in the first spot after the game ended?

The more I think about it, the more I'm not surprised Fox News is winning in the ratings during the war. This war seems to be so much about politics that it can only help Fox News, which has built its audience based along a certain point of view. (On a similar note, I now think the Michael Moore speech was hard to stomach because it started ranting about the 2000 election. The pope/Dixie Chicks line was great, but when you're still whining about the election, it's hard to get support for whatever you say.)

What we're learning is that CNN is good at getting viewers when something happens that actually has a middle ground or isn't politcially motivated. If there's something where you can scream and yell either for or against Bush right away when it happens, Fox News has it covered. When you really can't do that (Bush didn't mess with those shuttle tiles, as far as we know), CNN gets the edge. It's really sad that today's climate of debate (at least in the major media) seems to forbid finding a middle ground. I am very conflicted as to my feelings about the war, and unfortunately the very vocal extremes of the debate turn me off to their side.

And with that said, I'm still waiting for The Onion headline: "Critics complain The Weather Channel has pro-hurricane bias"

K-Tel, where are you?
One thing that war coverage does save viewers from is the array of TV ads for compilation CDs (the Anne Murray collection being the most disturbing). However, Game Show Network still has similar ads going, though, with the most troubling being Kidz Bop 3. Now I understand the attraction of the Now series -- all the top hits in one package. But the Now series sung by kids? Are we sure we want kids' versions of Sheryl Crow, Shakira and Nelly? I suppose I really need to hear some Kidz Bop versions of Eminem or Ludacris. Who's with me?

Rich Eisen won't be happy
You didn't have to be from Atlanta to get used to Braves telecasts, although I've become more tuned into the comings and goings now that I'm here. With that said, it's disappointing to see Skip Caray and Pete Van Wieren dropped from TBS telecasts, although I'll get to hear them a lot on Turner South as well as on the radio. It actually will have little impact on how I watch/listen to Braves games, but the moves signal a couple of disturbing trends.

First off, the move is part of a rebranding of Braves games to focus on baseball in general instead of just the local team. It seems very silly right now, given how synonymous TBS and the Braves have been since Ted Turner bought the team back in the '70s. The "MLB on TBS" brand may eventually work, but it will take a lot of getting used to. Unfortunately, this isn't TNT's NBA package, which shows a variety of teams. It's still the Braves and some other team every night. And there's definitely something to be said about focusing on one team to draw viewers. Remember that many sports fans care about just their team only and could care less about anyone else. TBS and the Braves took that loyalty to higher levels thanks to the superstation, and built up a huge fan base because of it. This "national" focus could alienate many Braves fans.

Secondly, this move shows how the roles on play-by-play and analysts become more blurred or more ambiguous. Both Caray and Van Wieren are broadcast guys first and both handled play-by-play for years. Joe Simpson and Don Sutton, who will handle the TBS games, were former players-turned-announcers and both handled color duties for the most part. Don't get me wrong, lots of former players in all sports are now handling the play-by-play roles and doing a great job of it. (Ernie Johnson and Bob Uecker are among the legendary guys fitting that bill.) Still, there is something to be said about broadcast guys learning the craft and working their way up. I guess it is a lot different than breaking through on the print side, which can be a long, painful process.

Emphasizing the student in student-athlete
Who says top-level college athletes don't do classwork? If you want proof, check out this homage to Johnny Rocket's by Maryland point guard Steve Blake. Now we know why a lot of you took the Terps in your office pool.

Final Oscar thoughts
All of my usual suspects chimed in on the Michael Moore stuff -- it was just too easy. And everyone seems to have the right idea on it: You knew he was going to do something like this. I would've been surprised if he didn't, actually. And it was somewhat amusing. But as Greg mentioned somewhere, even if you do agree with him, his grandstanding tactics often outstrip any good he does (or attempts to do). I just wonder how many of those other nominees on stage knew what was coming up. Then again, he did it the night before at the Independent Spirit Awards, so maybe they did.

As for my picks, I finished an average 11 for 25, although some hedging on points/bets got me a decent showing in the Squirrel's Oscar pool, which was different than Yahoo! game. A couple of middle-of-the-pack finishes (including a tie with AML -- knowing the way we can be picking football games, it's not even a surprise we would have the same score) and a win in Mark's group, which probably showed how mediocre all of us were in making picks if I'm winning there.

Oh yeah, and damned if I wasn't going to forget the announcement of the Razzies winners, which seemed to be a real pile-on for Madonna. I only say that because it was a knee-jerk name recognition thing that got her Worst Supporting Actress for Die Another Day -- which was more a gratutious role than anything else. Besides, if she was going to get a Razzie, it should've been for Worst Song for the theme to the Bond film. After some classic Bond theme songs, we get the outtakes from "Music". All we were missing there was Ali G.

More differences between men and women
I always wondered about how my sometimes sketchy communication skills would be without movie/TV quotes. Now I realize that I'm close to being normal, at least in a trivia guy sort of way.

It's a bit strange, but cool, to think Harold Ramis is responsible for lots of the quotable films. In typical fashion, he had a great line about which of his movies are quoted:

"Depending on which of my movies they quote from, it tells you a lot about them. The high end of my audience is `Groundhog Day.' The more populist end of the spectrum is `Caddyshack.'"

Shameless plug
What do Aaron Brooks, Peyton Manning, Mike Vanderjagt, The Undertaker, Alyson Hannigan, Steve Karsay, Lara Flynn Boyle, Star Jones, Steve Ballmer, Louie Anderson, Tommy Hilfiger, Curtis Hanson, Steve McQueen, Norman Fell, Gorgeous George, Thomas E. Dewey, Harry Houdini, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Fatty Arbuckle have in common (other than completely blowing up your Google search)?

Yup, they share my birthday. Yes, it's today, and no, it won't be a question ... yet.

Grouchy Oscar
It's not going to be a full-out Oscar diary. But here are some observations. I'll try to avoid the Larry King style, but who knows (If there's one film you've got to see, it's Gattaca!):

-- This via Craig: "I don't think Chicago won this much when Ditka was coaching them."
-- Steve Martin isn't doing too bad. Given everything, he's about on target. The writing could use some work (even with Bruce Vilanch and Dave Barry on the staff), but everything had to be sanitized for a general audience. Just imagine if Dennis Miller got his mitts on an Oscar gig.
-- So, the rule for presenting awards is you've got to be young, hot or a true legend? Would that be why Jim Broadbent got bumped off awarding Best Supporting Actress in place of Sean Connery, in Austin Powers getup. Dude, Keanu got to present an Oscar!
-- I got the Best Actor pick right. You've got four guys who already won for decent but not boffo performances. Then there's the guy in the Holocaust-themed film. Yup, you do the math. But more props to Adrien Brody for cutting off the music to play the talk about the war in the proper way.
-- On the other hand, I was not surprised to see Bowling for Columbine win and that Michael Moore would spout off his stuff like that during his speech. He did a great bait-and-switch tactic by bringing all of the documentary feature nominees up and then launching into his tired act about the "fictition" of duct tape and stolen elections. But from the reaction of the crowd, not all of Hollywood is liberal.
-- From one Michigander to another: I'm stunned but pleased to see Eminem win for Best Song. So we've got Oscar winners Michael Moore and Eminem? God help us all. As AML said, "Hell is freezing over." BTW, what was the temperature in Hell, Michigan, today?
-- The obit reel was filled with lots of stars, but thankfully no real disservices were done to the less than well-known dead. That's always a strange part about watching that part. Who's more "important" to get loud ovations and how many show up with the crowd whispering, "Who's that?"
-- The "instant replay" shots for the acting category winners seems a bit like overkill. Unless some cussed along the way, it's really just time filler.
-- I suppose Nicole Kidman was bound to win. It’s just too bad she doesn’t look as good as she used to. In fact, she looked a tad scary. Still, ditch Tom Cruise, win an Oscar. If that’s the case, where’s Mimi Rogers’ Oscar for playing Mrs. Kensington?
-- Another thought on back-to-back Oscar nominations, Nicole Kidman and Renee Zellweger both got nods this year and last. It actually seems a bit off. But hey, if Tom Hanks can go from Bosom Buddies to two-time Oscar winner, anything can happen.
-- OK, the roll call of past acting Oscar winners is pretty cool, but what’s up with “For Your Eyes Only” as the music? It’s hard to fathom some of the actors on stage with winning Oscars: George Kennedy? Mrs. Partridge? Cuba Gooding Jr.? (You realize in a few years, that’s going to be one of the oddest choices Oscar ever made.)
-- Yo, Ben! You were in awesome in “Phantoms” but what up with the shiny forehead?
-- Nice theatrics at the end by the Kirk and Michael Douglas. The Pianist got a bunch of momentum during the ceremony, but in the end, the inevitable came.
-- Holy cow, the damn thing ran on time! Hell is definitely freezing over.

Still no real war content ...
There's a war going on, and yet I'm still focused on everything else -- basketball, the Oscars, etc. I won't apologize for that for now.

So, speaking of hoops, my hedge Final Four bets out of the East -- Xavier and Florida -- are both gone. This after sweating through that Syracuse game. As I've said before, the second round is when brackets really go down the tubes.

A couple of other TV notes: It was a nice little bit of broadcasting seeing Bonnie Bernstein interviewing Ashley Judd. On the other hand, why in the world are we giving Joe Millionaire more screen time by having him advertise KFC?

Time to shred brackets yet?
As seemingly expected, two of the teams I expected to lose in the first round, came away winners today. Oh well, the NCAA Catholic League is representing itself well, even as Gonzaga nearly showed that Cinderella streak again. Yup, this is the real round where brackets get busted. Not the best way to follow up a 25-7 first round.

The last two games of the day were dogs, but it was interesting seeing how Matt Guokas let Kareem talk a lot more as the Duke blowout came to an end. However, a few times, I could hear Kareem channeling Roger Murdock. "No, Dick, my name is Roger Murdock, I'm a basketball announcer."

Pool reporting
After whiffing on a bunch of the early 7-10s/8-9 games (plus missing on the required Ivy League pick), I made a nice recovery thanks to some great games in the final time window of the first round. I can't believe it took until the end of the first round for a 12 seed to win a game, given past history. Butler had a big chip on its shoulder from being snubbed last year and probably can thank Georgia for getting into the field this year. However, I've always found it hard to accept Mississippi State as a legitimate contender, even the year it made the Final Four.

The end of the Maryland win will be on highlight reels for years to come, although it's too late to be in that Pontiac promotion that's been showing during the tournament.

Hoops or war? An easy decision
Yup, it was a stressful day in the office. But it would've been that way war or not. The only difference is that the war cut into some television issues. However, ESPN did a good job in picking up the CBS games in the afternoon. Plus, the fact that ESPN had some schedule conflicts later in the day almost seemingly forced CBS to pick up the games in the evening. And, if you want to believe in the fact that money and entertainment prevails over news, think about the money CBS is losing with war coverage compared with the ad revenue it picks up by showing games. CBS even showed The Late Show (with guest host Bonnie Hunt) hours after war started.

On a side note, it was a bit strange seeing ESPN telling viewers to watch CBS News for the latest on the war during the afternoon games (done by the CBS crews) and then watching Sportscenter minutes later and having the crawl asking people to watch ABC News for the latest on the war.

As for the games themselves, I did pretty well for myself in the first day of tournament action, just missing on the Marquette-Holy Cross game and the Wisconsin-Milwaukee-Notre Dame game, plus whiffing on Arizona State-Memphis. Of course, that means that Marquette and Notre Dame could go far (oh well, go Catholics!).

(I'm sure I missed a few picks in other pools, but I've got to base my picks on the office pool I run. I'm still trying to figure out how I've got a couple of executive-types in the pool.)

It was fun seeing the first three games of the day all coming down to the final seconds. Then came the parade of usual tournament games: the "sexy" upset picks almost, but don't, happen (see Holy Cross, Wisconsin-Milwaukee, San Diego, Weber State); blowouts by the top seeds (poor snowbound Vermont, couldn't they have skiied to Salt Lake City?); major scares for top teams like Kansas and Duke; a high-ranked but low-seeded mid-major team getting upset by a fellow mid-major in the first round (doesn't the Central Michigan upset of Creighton seem a lot like Wyoming's upset of Gonzaga last year?); and Tulsa pulling off another wild but not unexpected upset. You really could script some of this stuff, although the excitement is always fun.
However, I'm sure many bracket folks are happy that BYU went away quietly.

The madness continues ...
A number of folks have already gone into the whole BYU mess. As someone who runs an office bracket pool, I'd rather not get into the whole mess should the Cougars make the Sweet 16. But, geez, the NCAA handled that like so many quizbowl fiascos in the past. Hopefully, my job as bracketologist for TRASHionals doesn't turn out like that.

Speaking of the tournament, the play-in game turned out to be another close-fought, exciting game to watch. It's odd, though, that I'd watch this game because it was a tournament game, but this game barely registers anywhere if it's in the regular season, given it's a contest between two small-conference teams. It's almost like some of the low-end college football bowl games. To think, some of those televised NIT games have more drawing power but are sometimes boring contests.

Thankfully we'll have the tournament to create separate stress on top of a potential war. It will be interesting to see how CBS handles this should it go to war coverage. One of our writers is searching out hotels that may carry ESPN2 and/or TNN -- stations that may show the games if CBS dumps out of coverage -- while he's on the road. What we both discovered is that better hotels actually shaft you in terms of channels available on the TVs. I've been to my fair share of cheaper motels, and in most cases, they'll pipe in the local cable (40-50 channels at least). The better TVs go with the Spectravision or similar systems. Those limit the cable channels to the local networks, CNN, ESPN, The Weather Channel, HBO and maybe one or two "general interest" channels (USA, TNT, TBS). Or as we determined, you can either get more cable channels (E!, Game Show, Food Network, etc.) or you can get porn/PPV/video games.

Don't look a gift horse ... ?
While many of us await filling out our NCAA tournament brackets, check out the disclaimer on the bracket on the NCAA site, which asks people not to use this for gambling purposes. It's well-intentioned, but unfortunately, the ratings/excitement/buzz over this cash cow wouldn't exist without it, and I'm pretty sure the NCAA knows this.

Speaking of big money and college athletics, an interesting nugget in Tim Layden's suggestions for overhauling college sports was the possibility that the major conferences could break off and form a super league, which would serve as an NFL and NBA minor leagues not under the watchful eye of the NCAA.

In football, it already seems like Division I-A football is above NCAA control. The schools have been able to resist a playoff (which is in place in every other division of football) and keep the riches of bowl money primarily to itself. This whole fight over a playoff shows exactly how different major college football is really run. Why are the rules for something simple as a playoff so different for I-A football? You might as well just break off football from the auspices of the NCAA and make it a free-for-all. It would remove much of the stigma of scandal. You cheat? So do we?

It's a bit harder to control in basketball, especially since some of the excitement that comes at tournament time comes from upsets by small schools over major powers. Then again, it would solve some of that strength of schedule problem when it comes to bubble teams.

March madness
Back to blogging after a hiatus that's primarily quizbowl-related (i.e. writing questions). It's getting back to that time of year where I really care about college basketball (as does much of the sports world, really). One issue that lingers in my mind while watching all of these conference tournaments is if they're even relevant at all. Don't get me wrong, this is the type of stuff that gets me in the mood for the NCAA tournament, and a number of major-conference teams can use a good run to get off that good old "bubble." However, a number of top teams may just as well lose early (see Texas, Arizona, Marquette) and get themselves somewhat rested for the tournament rather than run through the gauntlet of 3-4 games to win a conference tournament. Conversely, winning a bunch of games in a short period of time could reflect how a team does in the tournament -- although you only play two games over three days, not three in three days.

I suppose it's a better situation now with all of the at-large bids, in that the major-conference teams get in even without winning conference tournaments. The same can't be said for the smaller conferences. I'll get geeked up for the MAAC, Patriot, Horizon, etc. conference tournament finals. However, you've got to wonder about the fairness of that in determining NCAA bids, especially if a team that so thoroughly dominates a conference falls short in the tournament. You don't always get the top seed from that tournament (or even one of the top few teams), and that could mean the difference between a team that could pull off an upset and a team that's cannon fodder. It's such a catch-22: smaller conferences want some exposure (which they wouldn't get if they went straight-up round robin to determine a champion), but you want to show some fairness in getting teams in.

One way to do that among the smaller conferences is to stick to a completely neutral-site tournament or hold the tournament final on the home court of the higher-seeded team (the Patriot, among many conferences, does that). Both Gonzaga and Butler, recent NCAA tournament darlings, both got the shaft this year on that end. Both were the higher seed in their conference finals, but were played on the home court of the opposing team. I suppose it's tough for some of the smaller conferences to find a neutral site for a conference -- and travel budgets are too tight to travel for a tournament site to a school court in one day. (Some of the tournaments that do home court for the finals only have a long lag time between games as they accommodate ESPN.)

Someone needed to bring up that chess video
Looks like Screech growed up (or at least acted like many regular teens should've acted like), much to the chagrin of Indiana "Saved by the Bell" fans. It might've been the wrong audience to go blue, although that type of stark contrast actually served Bob Saget well on the comedy-club circuit. Of course, it could've been much worse -- he could've read The Great Gatsby in full like Andy Kaufman did years ago on his college tours.

When faux-rappers attack
Well, I guess Fred Durst actually used a real word in his Grammy speech. Sometimes you just get lucky, and after that Britney Spears thing, I guess he's on a roll. Then again, I heard a clip of his new album. There's only so much luck to go around.

On a similar path, I can't believe that these words were probably said this week: "I'll take Vanilla Ice to block."

Forget all those reality dating and marriage shows, I think someone's got to put together more "relationship" shows done in the manner of this Onion column. I had to cringe while reading it as I thought to myself, "Am I like that guy?" Damn, I hope not.

Kids these days ...
There's been criticism in some circles that the U.S. has not embraced some of the higher-end cell phone technology out there, like wireless Web, text messaging, etc., especially compared to our neighbors in Europe and Asia. Maybe that's not necessarily a bad thing, though. We have enough problems dealing with people talking on cell phones on the road (although wasn't that the primary use of such devices even 10-12 years ago?), imagine what would happen if we were like this British student who texted a paper for school or the Filipinos texting confessions?

More MP3s for your downloading pleasure
If you like those Bud Light radio ads about Real American Heroes (like Mr. Putt Putt Golf Course Designer), here's where you can grab them.

Unholy matrimony, international edition
Someone got here looking for this story earlier, so might as well give them what they want. I suppose it's not a surprise that Sergei Fedorov was actually married to Anna Kournikova. The whole thing sorted backstory just seems a bit silly, but something that's perfect for a soap opera. The Reuters story that's linked up here is a trip to read, especially compared to the staid AP story that came through later in the day. The best line talks about Sergei, Anna and Pavel Bure in a "torrid Russian love triangle" (hey, could that be the perfect comeback song for New Order?).

Unholy matrimony, Rupert edition
And speaking of weddings, I wasted a couple of hours (give or take the fast forward time on the VCR) to catch Married by America only to see the one guy I know only get a few minutes of screen time introducing himself. I guess if I didn't know him, he'd be a likeable guy, but whatever.

The rest of the show was another half-witted beauty pageant/American Idol/Are You Hot? plus some Meet My Folks interrogation thrown in for good measure. Nothing really remarkable other than the odd panel of family/friends picking out the finalists us ham 'n' eggers (thanks Bobby Heenan for that) get to choose. There was a great Longisland dad doing the great brusk New Yorker on the guys, and the queen of a roommate of the blonde bartender who was just over the top.

How much more I'll watch after the first couple of episodes, I don't know, although I felt like jamming sharp objects into my eyes from time to time, or as Bill Simmons likes to say "lighting myself on fire." On the other hand, it was interesting reading this sequestering and rehearsal note from The Smoking Gun. Thankfully, this note went out last month. I didn't think there's enough on this show to warrant eight weeks of TV time.

There is definitely a large portion of the population that thinks this picture of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed looks like this guy (fun with Google to be sure, which is why I'm keeping his name out of this), but a couple of friends mentioned tonight that he also looks like Carl from Aqua Teen Hunger Force.

Reality check, take 450
I've already gone into full length to some of my tenuous links to reality shows in the past. Now, I can honestly say I know one of these contestants. Unfortunately, it's this guy who wants to get "Married by America." This guy used to work with us in a slightly different department, but few of us can really think of any positive (or negative) things to say about him while he was here. And he disappeared almost as quickly as he got here, only to see him show up last fall hosting the awful Movie Bowl on TBS after college football (otherwise known as faux-frat boys yucking it up while showing "Lethal Weapon 4" for the 985th time). Not sure if I'll watch it (or tape it since I'm usually out Monday nights). Then again, it could be another train wreck in the making.

And while we're at it, why does it seem like Atlanta is such a hotbed for reality show contestants? There's at least one or two more people involved with "Married by America" from this area, and there's always a constant stream of American Idol folks from the area. (I wasn't too sure if I wanted to feel sorry for my friend Rodney who was on the Idol beat for the AJC last summer.) T-Bird and Judge Pappy both leveraged their lengthy Survivor runs into TV spots down here. One of the Georgia Force cheerleaders was an early cut on Joe Millionaire. I guess the city has an excess of people that fit the photogenic (and often shallow) qualities perfect for these shows.

Although to be fair, the early days of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire featured a more than representative number of Georgia-based contestants, but that could be traced partially to the fact that callers could dial an 800 number (instead of the original 900 number) to compete in the phone game -- the vastly overlooked part of the show that drew viewers to the game during its heyday.

Is it March or October?
I think the news of the change in terror alert color hasn't hit Florida just yet, based on the Mets' and Orioles' choice of uniforms on Sunday. Maybe it's spring training in the Florida penal league, or a tribute to traffic cones.

Sports in the "real" world
-- So, the NCAA tournament actually costs businesses $1.4 billion in lost productivity. I wonder if CBS can use that number in its next set of negotiations for tournament rights. But all is not lost, since the talk is supposedly good for morale. That is until a school like Middle Tennessee State blows up your bracket on the first day with an upset of your Final Four team.
I'm curious as to why someone would want to quantify this talk, other than for a silly headline. How much is talk about the Oscars, the war on Iraq or anything not work-related worth to employers in lost productivity? And if you don't do anything but work all day, wouldn't the costs of stress-related illnesses outnumber idle hoops chatter?

-- Salon's King Kaufman has a different look at the anti-war protests (or lack thereof) by professional athletes. It is telling that an anti-war protest from a Division III women's basketball player has made so much noise. I still think a lot of athletes, stars or otherwise, are actually trying to tread lightly on the issue, given the often conservative nature of sports fans.

However, I can definitely see where the self-absorption of athletes actually leads to their reticence. Even here working in sports, the gravity of the situation doesn't always resonate with us. As long as games are getting canceled or additional stress put on our systems, it's business as usual. Although I don't think I'm as self-interested as Simeon Rice, who might've been so caught up in the smack talk that comes from being on Jim Rome's show that he felt that it wasn't national duty that motivated Pat Tillman (a vastly underrated player before all of this) to leave the NFL to join the army.

On the other hand, we are sending out a bunch of mixed messages when it comes to our athletes. We want them to be trailblazers and help advance causes to a mass audience of sports fans who might not get the message from politicans or activists. However, say the wrong thing and you can be ostracized (although it hasn't hurt Charles Barkley). Yet in the case of Toni Smith, a handful of coaches said they would kick her off their teams if she did that for them (which would definitely be within their rights, much like Smith's protest) because it would upset chemistry.

This could be why most of the real progressive thinking or "accepted" outspokenness comes from athletes in individual sports -- think Arthur Ashe, Muhammad Ali, Martina Navratilova -- and not team sports. There's a lot more of a dynamic involved if you speak your mind above and beyond your team -- more people to deal with like teammates, coaches, administration, etc. The quiet backlash from inside can be a lot more damaging that public outcry.