Saturday, January 2, 2010
Iowa State Wins The Insight Bowl
KXnO sent me down to Phoenix to cover the Insight Bowl. I got the chance to be on the field after the win. Here's the video that I shot of the Cyclones celebrating their win over Minnesota
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
My Take on Tiger
Tiger Woods was born a little more than 1 year before I was. After my first year of playing golf at 12 years of age, I still remember reading about him in Golf Digest. The name was funny-sounding but the story was raving about the next big thing in golf that was about to explode on to the game.
And boy has he ever.
Today though, we are talking about Tiger Woods in a much different context. The most popular athlete on the planet has been forced into the uncomfortable position of having to admit that he cheated on his wife, Elin, this morning via a statement on his website. He was forced into the mea culpa because of US Weekly’s interview with an alleged mistress that had proof of the affair. A 24 year old cocktail waitress from Las Vegas has positioned herself to bring down one of the biggest brands in sport.
Now everyone is asking: Is this any our business?
It doesn’t matter because the media in this country has everything in this story that makes for a huge scandal. Rich, powerful, popular man crashes his car at 2:30 A.M outside his house and is unconscious for some reason after a 30 mph collision with a tree (drugs? and a car crash). 911 is called and the police show up to investigate (record of the call made public). Rumors of a sexual affair with a beauty (sex, beautiful people and lying) that became tabloid news a few days before seems to be the trigger for a fight between the powerful man and his wife and the man has cuts on his face when cops arrive (domestic violence?). The police want to talk to the powerful man and his wife but he refuses and instead lawyers up (hiding something). Then a different sexy female comes forward with sexts and voicemails (evidence and proof) claiming to be from the powerful man. Man is caught red handed and vaguely admits that he did cheat on his wife via a message on his website (vague admission).
To the rich and powerful man, he thinks that means the story is over.
WRONG.
In fact, the story has now just begun.
Tiger Woods has done everything right in the public eye since becoming the golf phenom picked to pass Jack Nicklaus as the greatest golfer in history. His father Earl, who passed away a few years back, once said that “Tiger will do more than any other man in history to change the course of humanity”. That’s the divinity that the Woods family expected from their son. He was the chosen one.
The money, the endorsements, the winning, the gushing of affection from the general public, all of it has fed an alter-ego that was carefully hidden away until a golf shot went astray. Then the language would come out. The angry glares towards fans would come out. The nasty, human-side of Tiger would be released and people would be shocked to see the calm, cool customer they loved, all of a sudden becoming a fire-breathing dragon of sorts. We all knew there was a different person inside of that winning smile but we just didn’t know what kind of person.
We know now: A human being.
That is why Tiger Woods has made such a major mistake this morning with the admission of his “transgressions” via a vague, contrived admission on his website. When Mark Mcgwire refused to talk about the past in front of Congress, everyone knew he was done as a public figure. Nobody could defend him from his accusers any longer but people still wanted to know about his past. What did he take? When did he start taking steroids etc? The media slowly began ripping him down. Politicians wanted his name off of highways in St. Louis and the voters won’t elect him into the Hall of Fame. More damage was done over time instead of just admitting it and watching the story die.
While Tiger didn’t do anything against the rules of golf, his public image awaits the same fate as Mcgwire’s because for some reason, Woods thinks he can control this story. He can’t. Woods is not operating from a position of power. The media doesn’t need him to sell this story.
At 32, I could have gotten married a few different times in my life. However, I knew I wasn’t ready for the commitment because my career was more important than starting a family. We now know that Tiger wasn’t ready for the commitment either but his statement about his “principles” made me choke when I read it. Tiger is now claiming that his “principles” of privacy are more important that his marriage vows and he is asking everyone to leave him alone because he is Tiger.
That takes some big balls to try to pull off and a really stupid PR firm for allowing him to put that out there.
You can’t call upon your principles when you are sleeping with another woman for over two years behind the back of your wife. You can’t claim to have principles when you admit to doing “something” but not admit to what you did. I’m not a saint and would never admit to being the greatest person in the world to be involved with romantically but in my years of dating, I have never cheated on anyone. I’m not saying I’m better than anyone who has cheated but it angers me to read about someone’s selective use of morals.
A “transgression” to me is a one-night stand. So far, it’s a two and half year relationship with one woman. How many others are out there? I’ve never been married but Tiger shouldn’t be married either.
Tiger can’t control or spin this. All he can do is tell the truth to throw water on the fire and for some stupid reason, he won’t.
This is the same situation that A-Rod put himself in by doing that stupid fluff interview with Peter Gammons on ESPN a few years ago. He lied about what he did and then had to come clean at a full blown press conference after the media kept digging around the story. When you leave out details, the media will fill them in.
I know I’ve used two baseball steroid stories while talking about a golf sex scandal but this is what it means to be a million dollar athlete these days. What you do off the field is as much news as on the field. I know Tiger never used performance-enhancing drugs but A-Rod’s sex life as been as much tabloid fodder as was the “Boli” story. It’s the life of the athlete that people want to know about. It’s the reason behind why Tiger crashed his car is what everyone is after.
If Woods admits to exactly what he did, then it all goes away. Go on Oprah if you have to but make it disappear on your own terms. Control the story with the truth: see David Letterman!
Cheating in this country is not that big of a deal unfortunately and we are a forgiving nation once we have all the information that’s out there. Then it’s not juicy anymore. Right now, there is a race to find out how many women and how many times Tiger cheated and the line is getting longer by the hour.
If nothing less, he should do it for his family so they aren’t being hounded at the grocery story by TMZ and the National Enquirer. Those are the principles I want to see out of Tiger now. Protect the people you have hurt already from the paparazzi that will continue to hound you until the story is dead.
Tiger cheated on his wife. This is not the story. Tiger’s image is. Sponsors are staying put now but will they after Us Weekly, People, Star, SportsbyBrooks, and others run a laundry list of his sexual exploits over the years with quotes, stories, pictures, voicemails and text messages from him?
We know now that Tiger is human but I want to know: does he have courage? Can he stand up and face the music or is he much more like every other husband who has cheated?
Lie until you are caught and then, lie some more.
Be a real man Tiger. Stand up, admit what you did completely, and then let’s all move on. Save the image that I and others have of you as a strong willed, determined, imperfect human but a principled man who knows when he is wrong and will do the hard thing – the correct thing when the time comes.
Until you do that - get the door, TMZ is knocking.
And boy has he ever.
Today though, we are talking about Tiger Woods in a much different context. The most popular athlete on the planet has been forced into the uncomfortable position of having to admit that he cheated on his wife, Elin, this morning via a statement on his website. He was forced into the mea culpa because of US Weekly’s interview with an alleged mistress that had proof of the affair. A 24 year old cocktail waitress from Las Vegas has positioned herself to bring down one of the biggest brands in sport.
Now everyone is asking: Is this any our business?
It doesn’t matter because the media in this country has everything in this story that makes for a huge scandal. Rich, powerful, popular man crashes his car at 2:30 A.M outside his house and is unconscious for some reason after a 30 mph collision with a tree (drugs? and a car crash). 911 is called and the police show up to investigate (record of the call made public). Rumors of a sexual affair with a beauty (sex, beautiful people and lying) that became tabloid news a few days before seems to be the trigger for a fight between the powerful man and his wife and the man has cuts on his face when cops arrive (domestic violence?). The police want to talk to the powerful man and his wife but he refuses and instead lawyers up (hiding something). Then a different sexy female comes forward with sexts and voicemails (evidence and proof) claiming to be from the powerful man. Man is caught red handed and vaguely admits that he did cheat on his wife via a message on his website (vague admission).
To the rich and powerful man, he thinks that means the story is over.
WRONG.
In fact, the story has now just begun.
Tiger Woods has done everything right in the public eye since becoming the golf phenom picked to pass Jack Nicklaus as the greatest golfer in history. His father Earl, who passed away a few years back, once said that “Tiger will do more than any other man in history to change the course of humanity”. That’s the divinity that the Woods family expected from their son. He was the chosen one.
The money, the endorsements, the winning, the gushing of affection from the general public, all of it has fed an alter-ego that was carefully hidden away until a golf shot went astray. Then the language would come out. The angry glares towards fans would come out. The nasty, human-side of Tiger would be released and people would be shocked to see the calm, cool customer they loved, all of a sudden becoming a fire-breathing dragon of sorts. We all knew there was a different person inside of that winning smile but we just didn’t know what kind of person.
We know now: A human being.
That is why Tiger Woods has made such a major mistake this morning with the admission of his “transgressions” via a vague, contrived admission on his website. When Mark Mcgwire refused to talk about the past in front of Congress, everyone knew he was done as a public figure. Nobody could defend him from his accusers any longer but people still wanted to know about his past. What did he take? When did he start taking steroids etc? The media slowly began ripping him down. Politicians wanted his name off of highways in St. Louis and the voters won’t elect him into the Hall of Fame. More damage was done over time instead of just admitting it and watching the story die.
While Tiger didn’t do anything against the rules of golf, his public image awaits the same fate as Mcgwire’s because for some reason, Woods thinks he can control this story. He can’t. Woods is not operating from a position of power. The media doesn’t need him to sell this story.
At 32, I could have gotten married a few different times in my life. However, I knew I wasn’t ready for the commitment because my career was more important than starting a family. We now know that Tiger wasn’t ready for the commitment either but his statement about his “principles” made me choke when I read it. Tiger is now claiming that his “principles” of privacy are more important that his marriage vows and he is asking everyone to leave him alone because he is Tiger.
That takes some big balls to try to pull off and a really stupid PR firm for allowing him to put that out there.
You can’t call upon your principles when you are sleeping with another woman for over two years behind the back of your wife. You can’t claim to have principles when you admit to doing “something” but not admit to what you did. I’m not a saint and would never admit to being the greatest person in the world to be involved with romantically but in my years of dating, I have never cheated on anyone. I’m not saying I’m better than anyone who has cheated but it angers me to read about someone’s selective use of morals.
A “transgression” to me is a one-night stand. So far, it’s a two and half year relationship with one woman. How many others are out there? I’ve never been married but Tiger shouldn’t be married either.
Tiger can’t control or spin this. All he can do is tell the truth to throw water on the fire and for some stupid reason, he won’t.
This is the same situation that A-Rod put himself in by doing that stupid fluff interview with Peter Gammons on ESPN a few years ago. He lied about what he did and then had to come clean at a full blown press conference after the media kept digging around the story. When you leave out details, the media will fill them in.
I know I’ve used two baseball steroid stories while talking about a golf sex scandal but this is what it means to be a million dollar athlete these days. What you do off the field is as much news as on the field. I know Tiger never used performance-enhancing drugs but A-Rod’s sex life as been as much tabloid fodder as was the “Boli” story. It’s the life of the athlete that people want to know about. It’s the reason behind why Tiger crashed his car is what everyone is after.
If Woods admits to exactly what he did, then it all goes away. Go on Oprah if you have to but make it disappear on your own terms. Control the story with the truth: see David Letterman!
Cheating in this country is not that big of a deal unfortunately and we are a forgiving nation once we have all the information that’s out there. Then it’s not juicy anymore. Right now, there is a race to find out how many women and how many times Tiger cheated and the line is getting longer by the hour.
If nothing less, he should do it for his family so they aren’t being hounded at the grocery story by TMZ and the National Enquirer. Those are the principles I want to see out of Tiger now. Protect the people you have hurt already from the paparazzi that will continue to hound you until the story is dead.
Tiger cheated on his wife. This is not the story. Tiger’s image is. Sponsors are staying put now but will they after Us Weekly, People, Star, SportsbyBrooks, and others run a laundry list of his sexual exploits over the years with quotes, stories, pictures, voicemails and text messages from him?
We know now that Tiger is human but I want to know: does he have courage? Can he stand up and face the music or is he much more like every other husband who has cheated?
Lie until you are caught and then, lie some more.
Be a real man Tiger. Stand up, admit what you did completely, and then let’s all move on. Save the image that I and others have of you as a strong willed, determined, imperfect human but a principled man who knows when he is wrong and will do the hard thing – the correct thing when the time comes.
Until you do that - get the door, TMZ is knocking.
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Live In-Game chat for Michigan!!
No. 15 Michigan vs. Creighton live chat starts at 10:45 am!! All are welcome!
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Monday, October 12, 2009
Matt's Monday Thoughts for Oct. 12th
The Red Sox are the team that my emotions are tied to the most.
One spring morning back in 2003 while living in Alabama, I was driving to work thinking about what it would be like to see a Red Sox championship. My eyes welled up thinking about the parades, the celebrations, and the different world it would be to see my favorite team win it all.
To be a fan of a great team, that’s all most Red Sox fans wanted and if we became hated like Yankees – so what? We would have had our moment in the sun.
A few years later, after the first title for Boston in 86 years, I flew home at the last moment to watch the 5th game of a 5 game series of the Yankees vs. Red Sox. I was in a long distance relationship at the time with someone from Boston and she flew in to meet me at Fenway. It was expensive mini-vacation but we were offered awesome seats cheap so we had to go.
The Red Sox had dropped the first 4 games to New York and were looking at an epic 5 game sweep at home to our hated rivals.
We had 1 championship in our lifetime so both my girlfriend at the time and I could die in peace (or so we told ourselves) but we wanted our team to stop the slide and avoid a historical first to NY. A 5 game sweep in baseball is nearly unheard of. A 5 game sweep at FENWAY to the Yankees was completely unacceptable.
The Red Sox lost that afternoon. I would later look back on that day realize that Yankee Cory Lidle pitched that afternoon for the last time at Fenway. He would die in a plane crash in Manhattan a few months later but after the game I was just pissed off.
I walked out of Fenway and could not believe my team had managed to break my heart again. Even after the championship of 2004 – they could still sting my heart.
On Saturday morning, I jumped a double flight from Des Moines to Boston in order to watch the Red Sox battle the Angels in Game 3 of the American League Series the next day. I had never been to the playoff game at Fenway in my life, only Game 4 of the World Series in Denver in 2007, so my track record was pretty good. Again, I was offered good seats cheap and had to go.
The Red Sox had never lost to the Angels in a playoff series. Dating back to 1986, where the Sox came back to beat the then California franchise on a huge homerun by Dave Henderson in Game 7 of the series, we owned the Angels.
After the 5th inning, Boston was up 5-1 and people were making plans for Game 4 in their heads. I know I was and even though deep down, I knew better.
Welcome to Black Sunday.
On this day in Boston, I got the chance to watch the Red Sox choke away a 4 run lead in person and then watch the Patriots blow a 10 point lead on the road at Denver. More on Pats in a second….
Jonathan Papelbon had not given up a single earned run in his playoff career before Game 3. Over 20 innings of work and nobody had crossed home plate against him.
On Sunday, he allowed a hit that scored 2 runners in the 8th and then gave up 3 runs in the 9th to allow the Angels to beat Boston 7-6 in Game 3. Unreal. Pap walked Tori Hunter to load the bases in order to pitch to Vlad Guerrero…..their clean up hitter who had done nothing in the series but a veteran who took a first pitch, meatball, fast ball and put it in center field. Game over.
My heart stung again.
The Red Sox have been a unique story that went from tragedy to triumph thanks to finally winning but after the past 2 years you have to ask is it over?
1918 to 2004, 86 years between titles and everyone said Boston would never be the same. Those people were right cause Sox fans walking out of Fenway were shaking their heads, not headed for ledges like they would have been in the past.
I couldn’t believe how easy people took the loss. I was pissed off but my family just said “Oh well, they weren’t that good this year”. And they were right to say that cause L.A. was a better team but still…..we lost! Where is the anger?
Sure, I picked them to win in 4 over a Boston team that could not score enough runs in the regular season to catch the Yankees vaunted line up. We all knew the Red Sox weren’t the best team in the American League and I think they would have struggled against at least 2 of the National League playoff teams. Yet I had hope….a hope that was dashed like in the playoffs of 2008 and 2003 and 1999 and 1995 and on through out the history of my baseball team.
Suddenly, 2007 seems like a long time ago for me. But my family’s reaction of “Oh well” made me realize that Boston really won’t ever be the same town that I grew in. 2 Championships in 5 years has created a different type of fan. One that believes that in the future, there are good times ahead even if things suck right now.
Now, all I can only do is hope once again.
*Is it time to say that Tom Brady without Josh McDaniels is a problem? Tom Brady had a record setting performance in 2007 under McDaniels leadership. Then Matt Cassel became a quarterback and became multi-million dollar athlete with McDaniels as his tutor. Now, Kyle Orton has the Denver Broncos undefeated and McDaniels is the hottest name in the NFL for what his doing with him.
Brady and the Pats got shutout in the second half in Denver and New England gave up 13 unanswered points including the game winning field goal in Overtime. The Patriots’ offense looked slow and out of synch again as Brady continues to struggle with his timing.
New England is 4-2 on the year and still looks like the best team in their division but in both losses this year – at New York and Denver, the Pats offense has been held in check by dominate defenses.
In the post season, Brady has to be better if the Pats want any chance of winning a 4th ring. He has to get back on the same page as Randy Moss and has to be more accurate with his throws.
Bottom line – Tom Brady needs to play more like Tom Brady is supposed to.
*No show reviews this week as I just got back to Des Moines this afternoon. However, I’ll try to do a mid-week blog post on them. Thanks for reading.
One spring morning back in 2003 while living in Alabama, I was driving to work thinking about what it would be like to see a Red Sox championship. My eyes welled up thinking about the parades, the celebrations, and the different world it would be to see my favorite team win it all.
To be a fan of a great team, that’s all most Red Sox fans wanted and if we became hated like Yankees – so what? We would have had our moment in the sun.
A few years later, after the first title for Boston in 86 years, I flew home at the last moment to watch the 5th game of a 5 game series of the Yankees vs. Red Sox. I was in a long distance relationship at the time with someone from Boston and she flew in to meet me at Fenway. It was expensive mini-vacation but we were offered awesome seats cheap so we had to go.
The Red Sox had dropped the first 4 games to New York and were looking at an epic 5 game sweep at home to our hated rivals.
We had 1 championship in our lifetime so both my girlfriend at the time and I could die in peace (or so we told ourselves) but we wanted our team to stop the slide and avoid a historical first to NY. A 5 game sweep in baseball is nearly unheard of. A 5 game sweep at FENWAY to the Yankees was completely unacceptable.
The Red Sox lost that afternoon. I would later look back on that day realize that Yankee Cory Lidle pitched that afternoon for the last time at Fenway. He would die in a plane crash in Manhattan a few months later but after the game I was just pissed off.
I walked out of Fenway and could not believe my team had managed to break my heart again. Even after the championship of 2004 – they could still sting my heart.
On Saturday morning, I jumped a double flight from Des Moines to Boston in order to watch the Red Sox battle the Angels in Game 3 of the American League Series the next day. I had never been to the playoff game at Fenway in my life, only Game 4 of the World Series in Denver in 2007, so my track record was pretty good. Again, I was offered good seats cheap and had to go.
The Red Sox had never lost to the Angels in a playoff series. Dating back to 1986, where the Sox came back to beat the then California franchise on a huge homerun by Dave Henderson in Game 7 of the series, we owned the Angels.
After the 5th inning, Boston was up 5-1 and people were making plans for Game 4 in their heads. I know I was and even though deep down, I knew better.
Welcome to Black Sunday.
On this day in Boston, I got the chance to watch the Red Sox choke away a 4 run lead in person and then watch the Patriots blow a 10 point lead on the road at Denver. More on Pats in a second….
Jonathan Papelbon had not given up a single earned run in his playoff career before Game 3. Over 20 innings of work and nobody had crossed home plate against him.
On Sunday, he allowed a hit that scored 2 runners in the 8th and then gave up 3 runs in the 9th to allow the Angels to beat Boston 7-6 in Game 3. Unreal. Pap walked Tori Hunter to load the bases in order to pitch to Vlad Guerrero…..their clean up hitter who had done nothing in the series but a veteran who took a first pitch, meatball, fast ball and put it in center field. Game over.
My heart stung again.
The Red Sox have been a unique story that went from tragedy to triumph thanks to finally winning but after the past 2 years you have to ask is it over?
1918 to 2004, 86 years between titles and everyone said Boston would never be the same. Those people were right cause Sox fans walking out of Fenway were shaking their heads, not headed for ledges like they would have been in the past.
I couldn’t believe how easy people took the loss. I was pissed off but my family just said “Oh well, they weren’t that good this year”. And they were right to say that cause L.A. was a better team but still…..we lost! Where is the anger?
Sure, I picked them to win in 4 over a Boston team that could not score enough runs in the regular season to catch the Yankees vaunted line up. We all knew the Red Sox weren’t the best team in the American League and I think they would have struggled against at least 2 of the National League playoff teams. Yet I had hope….a hope that was dashed like in the playoffs of 2008 and 2003 and 1999 and 1995 and on through out the history of my baseball team.
Suddenly, 2007 seems like a long time ago for me. But my family’s reaction of “Oh well” made me realize that Boston really won’t ever be the same town that I grew in. 2 Championships in 5 years has created a different type of fan. One that believes that in the future, there are good times ahead even if things suck right now.
Now, all I can only do is hope once again.
*Is it time to say that Tom Brady without Josh McDaniels is a problem? Tom Brady had a record setting performance in 2007 under McDaniels leadership. Then Matt Cassel became a quarterback and became multi-million dollar athlete with McDaniels as his tutor. Now, Kyle Orton has the Denver Broncos undefeated and McDaniels is the hottest name in the NFL for what his doing with him.
Brady and the Pats got shutout in the second half in Denver and New England gave up 13 unanswered points including the game winning field goal in Overtime. The Patriots’ offense looked slow and out of synch again as Brady continues to struggle with his timing.
New England is 4-2 on the year and still looks like the best team in their division but in both losses this year – at New York and Denver, the Pats offense has been held in check by dominate defenses.
In the post season, Brady has to be better if the Pats want any chance of winning a 4th ring. He has to get back on the same page as Randy Moss and has to be more accurate with his throws.
Bottom line – Tom Brady needs to play more like Tom Brady is supposed to.
*No show reviews this week as I just got back to Des Moines this afternoon. However, I’ll try to do a mid-week blog post on them. Thanks for reading.
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