"40 Before 40" checklist -- No. 17 -- see my Mom's house

Most people's "40 things to do before turning 40" lists don't include seeing their mom's house. That's usually a given. Not so in my case.

My mom moved to Sparks, Nev. a couple years ago. It's not an easy drive from Los Angeles. I've been busy. Whatever. I hadn't been there.

That changed at Christmas. I was hoping for a white Christmas. I got it. There's not much left to say. I'm just going to post photos and write captions.

This is my mom's dog Red guarding the house. 

This is me looking into the sky and trying to make it snow. It worked.

Feels like a Christmas movie when you're at your Mom's and it's snowing. 

Snow falling on the tree outside at night.

The next morning, lots of snow on the same tree.

Very nice white layer of snow at my mom's house.

All that snow fell in about 12 hours. I'm no snow expert, but that seems like a lot. 

Even in the snow, Red loves to play with his stick. Is he the cutest dog ever or what?

Got my white Christmas. I'm very happy. Now back to warm LA. 

Great few days with Mom and the rest of the family. Yeahhhhhh, finally saw her place.

After the Credits -- Hoosiers

After the Credits is an ongoing feature where we take the best sports movies ever made and give our opinion on what happened to our favorite fictional characters after the movie ended. Previous entries include The Natural, Bull Durham and Jerry Maguire.

-- by @Josh_Suchon

The movie ends with tiny Hickory High upsetting a taller and more athletic team from South Bend in the 1952 Indiana state championship game. Star player Jimmy Chitwood hits the game-winning shot. Head coach Norman Dale is vindicated. The fans rush the court in celebration. We then see cornfields, a sunset, a kid shooting hoops, and we hear a voiceover of the coach saying, "I love this team."

So what happened after the credits?

Head coach Norman Dale (Gene Hackman): This was clearly a what-have-you-done-for-me-lately town, so even winning a state championship did not lead to job security for Dale. Remember, he lost his previous job after hitting a student and he had a famous temper. He was actually fired a few games into the season, but only kept his job when star player Jimmy Chitwood decided that he would only start playing if the coach remained. The next season, without Chitwood, the Hoosiers crashed back to earth and didn’t make the playoffs. Midway through the following season, the town had enough of Dale and fired him. Dale was resilient, bouncing from job to job, at high schools, small colleges, and as an assistant in bigger colleges. He kept making great speeches and turned around some struggling teams, but always wore out his welcome. His modern-day equivalent would be Kevin O’Neill.

Assistant coach “Shooter” Flatch (Dennis Hopper): The town drunk was able to (mostly) clean up his act during the movie and serve as a valuable assistant coach to Dale. Like most alcoholics, it wasn’t easy for him to stay sober. He fell off the wagon numerous times over the years. Shooter didn’t get the head coaching job when Dale was fired. He was fired too, and that led to him getting back on the sauce. His knowledge of basketball was never in dispute though. Coaches throughout the country would seek him out to learn his philosophies, especially the perfect way to run “the picket fence.” These coaches kept money in his pocket and provided some stability in an otherwise chaotic life.

Myra Fleener (Barbara Hershey): The faculty member who didn’t like the importance that basketball was placed in the community was caught up in the excitement of the state title run in the movie. After the Cinderella season, her awkward relationship with head coach Norman Dale was doomed to fail. When he was fired, there was no way Fleener would follow him from random town to town, as he looked for his next basketball job. Fleener fell in love with another faculty teacher, somebody who didn’t care about sports, and they got married. They had five children, all boys. They all played basketball. Fleener reluctantly took them all to basketball practices, bought them high top Converse shoes, and still thought basketball was stupid.

Jimmy Chitwood (Maris Valainis): Big-time college recruiters didn’t know about the small-town prodigy until his heroics in the playoffs. Already a shy kid, the overwhelming attention made him uncomfortable. The public was obsessed with him and he was pressured into signing with the storied Indiana Hoosiers. His first year in college was a disaster. He didn’t like the huge campus, struggled with the expectations, and the coach didn’t allow him to shoot at will. 

Frustrated, Chitwood transferred to Indiana State. He thrived in the smaller environment and the coach gave him the green light to shoot whenever he wanted. Chitwood led the Cyclones in scoring his next three years, led the nation in scoring as a senior and the Cyclones advanced to the Final Four. That fueled a media frenzy of whether Chitwood could do for Indiana State what he did for Hickory four years earlier. Alas, the Cyclones were dominated by UCLA and the fairytale ended. Chitwood was a late first-round draft pick in the NBA, but struggled to get his shot off against superior defenses. He bounced around the NBA for a few years, made a decent living playing in Europe, and he’s now a renowned shooting coach. Jimmy Chitwood’s modern-day equivalent, naturally, is Jimmer Fredette.

Ollie (Wade Schenck): The team manager who was forced into a critical playoff game, nearly choked it away, and improbably won a game with two free throws wasn’t done with his 15 minutes of fame. Ollie hoped to get more playing time the following season. But the success of the team led to more kids trying out for the team. Ollie only played in garbage time. 

He kept his sense of humor, learned the nuisances of the game, and became a sports reporter for the local newspaper. His reporting was sold, and soon enough the Indianapolis Star lured him to the big city. Ollie covered college basketball, then the Indiana Pacers, and retired as a beloved sports columnist. His modern-day equivalent is Andy Katz.

Whit and Rade Butcher (Brad Boyle, Steve Hollar): Whit was kicked off the team early in the movie for disrespecting the coach at practice. He apologized to the team and returned. His brother Rade got in trouble in the opening game for shooting too much. After high school, they played junior college basketball together, then walked onto the Indiana State team. (The coach did anything to make Jimmy happy, including putting his old buddies on the team.) Both became high school basketball coaches.

Everett Flatch (David Neidorf): He was the son of drunken assistant coach Shooter. You might recall him punching an opposing player after Chitwood was intentionally fouled on a breakaway layup, then got shoved into a glass trophy case. Of course, he started drinking like his Dad. There’s a lot of pent-up anger in that kid. He became a high school basketball coach.

Buddy Walker (Brad Long): Buddy was also kicked off the team early in the movie, but mysteriously reappeared in a later game with no explanation for how he was re-instated. He became a high school basketball coach.

Merle Webb (Kent Poole): His most famous line was in the locker room before the final game when he told his teammates, “let’s win this one for all the small schools that never had a chance to get here.” He became a high school basketball coach.

Strap Purl (Scott Summers): He was the son of the preacher who during a timeout late in one game said an extra prayer for a teammate about to shoot free throws. He became a preacher … and a high school basketball coach.

The case for extreme penalties for PED users

-- by @Josh_Suchon

What’s the best way to get rid of performance-enhancing drugs in sports? One strike and you’re out. Forever banned. Think about how that would change an athlete’s willingness to press his luck on using PEDs.

Of course, that’s not realistic. False positive tests happen. Not all illegal drugs are the same. Sometimes there are legitimate mitigating circumstances that occur. Even if they’re blatantly guilty, people deserve second chances.

The next-best strategy -- and perhaps the only hope for those of us who do want to believe what we are seeing is real in sports – is two strikes and you’re done. If I were the Commissioner of sports, this would be my penalty system.

First offense: 365-day suspension with no pay. Not 50 games in baseball. Not four games in football. One year total. During that year, you can’t negotiate a new contract, even if you’ve become a free agent. You can’t practice with your teammates or workout at your team’s minor league complex. You can’t participate in minor league games as part of a “rehab” assignment. You don’t get service time during this year, your arbitration clock doesn’t run, you don’t appear on MLB-licensed baseball cards or video games.  You’re completely on your own for 365 days, with no pay, left on your own to stay in shape. After the 365 days is up, you can return your team (or sign with a new team), head to the minors or whatever is necessary to return.

Second offense: lifetime ban. No playing. No coaching. No managing. No scouting. No broadcasting. The only way you’re going inside a ballpark is if you purchase a ticket. If you’re banned for life that means your name is not eligible to appear on a Hall of Fame ballot. That takes the decision making out of the hands of baseball writers. Just ask Pete Rose what it’s like, not being allowed on the field (except for special moments like the 1999 All-Star Game) and knowing your plaque will never appear in the Hall of Fame.

Is this extreme? You bet. Damn straight it is. That’s the whole point.

I don’t agree with Curt Schilling very often, but we have the same opinion on this topic.

Of course, you need a truly independent panel to hear grievances and challenges to positive tests. The panel should be more than three people, and not include people from the players union or commissioner’s office.

It should be a jury of your peers. Perhaps a couple retired players, a couple retired front-office executives, a couple highly-respected members of the media, and a retired judge or arbitrator as the seventh and final vote. Have them serve a two-year term. Maybe the fans can vote for the judges. 

I’m not sure if it will make a difference. People cheat. That’s just what they do. Athletes are people. They will always look for an edge.

If this doesn’t work, then Matt Hurst is right, we should give up on having a clean sport and let athletes put whatever they want into their bodies. Hell, make it mandatory to take ’roids and televise the ceremonial pre-game needle injections.

But I’m not ready for that. Not yet. I still want my sports clean.

The only way to make it happen is the stiffest, most extreme penalties possible.

UPDATE: Cardinals slugger Matt Holliday agrees.   

The Case for Steroids In Sports

By Matt Hurst

@ThrowbackAttack

At what point does the public stop caring about headlines?

Look at almost any news cycle – be it in sports, or news or entertainment. There is the immediate interest, the follow-up reporting to keep you hooked, a resolution and then we’re on to the next one.

Whether it is constant wars and militant uprisings in the Middle East or parts of Africa, school shootings in the U.S., the latest with Britney Spears or a fake dead girlfriend, at some point we stop caring about the splashy headlines because there’s going to be something else to attract our attention.

That’s where we are with performance-enhancing drugs.

On Tuesday there were not one, but two PED-related stories that came out within hours of each other and momentarily drew some attention on Twitter and online. Yet seeing another set of athletes involved in a steroid scandal is no longer interesting or revolting. It’s become far too common and at this point it’s too easy to believe everything (deer antler spray barely registered a blip, right?), shrug your shoulders and assume that the majority of professional athletes in any sport are juiced.

And why wouldn’t they be?

The penalties are far too light – even baseball’s – for the athletes not to take risks and why would they give a damn if they get caught? They still get paid. The juice is definitely worth the squeeze.

Then it’s always a three-part process:

1. Deny steroid claims; discuss how hard you work out and that you’ve never tested positive.

2. Go into hiding as evidence builds; repeat step one in any interview.

3. Come clean; apologize, knowing the public will forgive you.

Part 3 of the PED Process.

Rather than feign anger or act surprised, as fans we should stop caring about steroid use.  Whatever rules are in place to prevent steroid use and clean up a sport, those who want to cheat will do so. They will find ways around it. Just think about how long it would take you, right now, to get a bag of marijuana, which is illegal in 48 states. And you’re probably devoid of any hook-ups or insider secrets that these athletes have in getting PEDs.

So let’s treat sports as what they are at the highest levels – entertainment.

Going to a game is like going to the movies. You pay for a ticket and hope to be entertained for a few hours. Vince McMahon runs a very successful empire on ‘roided up entertainment. Instead of creating the XFL, he should have created the SSL – Steroid Sports Leagues.

Tell me you wouldn’t want to watch players who are as juiced as possible doing amazing things in a sport. This would pull the cover off of everything. Strangely enough, it would legitimatize records and accomplishments because there would be a clear separation.

(Quick tangent – for those who are ever worried about records, then you’re not thinking to the times when baseball was segregated, when football didn’t emphasize the forward pass – or if they did, then the rules in place to accompany it – or when basketball didn’t have three-point lines. The game changes, folks.)

You mean a guy can play a punishing sport for 17 years,
be dominant in it, tear his triceps, come back
in the same season and we are supposed to believe he's clean?

We already don’t care that football players are using performance-enhancing drugs the way kids go through a bag of Skittles. Think about it – we don’t care whenever an NFL player gets popped for PED’s and is given a four-game suspension. It barely registers, something that’s in the agate part of the Sports section. There has never been a star busted in the NFL for steroid use, leading one to believe that the most powerful league in sports uses mediocre players as sacrificial lambs, suspending these lesser players to claim the league cares about this issue, likely hiding positive tests from the stars. Because, really, who would miss a third-string middle linebacker vs. a starting quarterback?

Look around the NBA – you really think that league is clean? And while there isn’t a regular test for human growth hormone, a pro athlete would be foolish not to use it during a long season and after working out to stay as fresh as possible.

The solution is not to make more rules and more tests, but to allow all professional athletes to use performance enhancers.

Of course, there is a trickle down effect based on this and here’s how to assure that youths, college athletes and minor leaguers don’t use, too. Put all the efforts of drug testing into the lower levels. Make it as clean as possible. Enforce a one-and-done policy where if you get caught, you’re banned for life. That way when someone makes it to the upper echelon, they did it on pure talent. Now, feel free to juice up and do things the human body wasn’t designed to.

It's all entertainment, right?

As fans, we’ll grab our popcorn and be entertained. If we want a clean version, we can watch college sports or the minor leagues. If we want to witness freaks of nature – once a compliment of a player and now a legitimate term – we’ll tune in.

As Maximus shouted in Gladiator: “Are you not entertained?”

A free agent fan picks his first favorite hockey team, part I

-- by @Josh_Suchon

The hockey lockout is over. That means it’s time for me to get serious about selecting my favorite hockey team. I’ve never had a favorite hockey team. I’ve never followed the sport much. But it’s one of the items on my list of “40 things to do before turning 40 years old” and it’s time to do it.

Picking a favorite team from scratch isn’t easy. I want to do it for the right reason. I don’t want to take the easy way out. I don’t want to dis-own my team after a couple seasons. I want this decision to be for life. I want to have a unique connection to my new favorite hockey team.

I started the process by eliminating teams for various principles. Here is that list:

Eliminated because I’m a proud Californian who can’t possibly like teams from these cities (5): NY Rangers, Philadelphia, New Jersey, NY Islanders, Boston.

Eliminated because the city is lame (3): Columbus, Buffalo, Sunrise/Florida.

Eliminated because the NHL shouldn’t have a team in that city (3): Tampa Bay, Phoenix, Carolina.

Eliminated because they already have enough fans and don’t need any more (3): Detroit, Montreal, Toronto.

Eliminated because one of my good friends already loves that team for whatever reason, and I want to be unique around here, and I want to talk shit when my teams plays his team (2): St. Louis, Vancouver.

Eliminated because my St. Louis Blues fan friend would never talk to me again if I picked that team (1): Chicago.

Eliminated because they just won the Stanley Cup, so if I pick them, I look like the biggest Bandwagon fan ever (1): LA Kings.

Eliminated because if I’m not a LA Kings fan, I can’t pick the team down the freeway because driving on I-5 is a major pain in the ass, and I hated the fucking movie that inspired this team (1): Anaheim

Eliminated because I grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area and I already have enough favorite teams from that region, and I don’t live there anymore, so I need to expand my horizons more (1): San Jose

That eliminated 20 of the 30 teams. So now we’re down to 10.

Out of those 10, I wrote a letter to five of them and mailed it on Wednesday, Jan. 9, 2013. 

I won’t list which five teams are on the list here because I didn’t want the teams to know their competition. I asked each of the five finalists the same five questions:

* The most basic: why should I become a fan of your team?

* What should I expect from the team and the front office if I become a fan?

* Part of picking a new favorite hockey team is falling in love with the city and visiting there often to see my favorite team. What should I expect from the city, and what should I know about it?

* I don’t want to be associated with a bunch of idiot fans. How would you describe what most of your fans are like?

* Has your team, or any of your players, made a video for the “You Can Play Project?” If not, how come?

Yes, I want to be courted and wooed by a team. No, this isn’t a ploy to see whatever team sucks up to me the most. There are lots of factors in choosing a favorite team and whatever response I get (if any) is only one factor.

Of course, I realize that after a lengthy lockout, hockey teams will be doing everything they can to win back their fans and secure new fans. The timing is actually really good for me to pick a favorite hockey team for the first time. Still, it’s not about who sends me the most free stuff. I want to make an informed decision.

For the five teams not eliminated earlier on this list, but who did not receive letters from me in the mail, they aren’t completely out of the running. If I’m not satisfied with the response from the current Final Five, then I’ll re-open my search again.

The process has begun.

The ball, err, puck is in the hands, err, stick of five teams.

This free agent hockey fan will announce his decision a few weeks into the season.

To be continued …

Which college football bowl games to eliminate

How many college football bowl games are too many? Well, we know for sure that the current 35 bowl games is a ridiculous number.

On the latest Out of Ink podcast, Josh Suchon and Matt Hurst discuss how we got to 35, what's the ideal number, which bowls should be eliminated, and what the criteria should be to get eligible for a bowl game.

Should there be sports played on holidays?

In the latest Out of Ink podcast, Matt Hurst and Josh Suchon debate whether it's a good thing there are so many sporting events played on Holidays.