Everything Sports

For the second time, Chamique Holdsclaw is leaving her team hanging in the middle of the season, opting to call it a career after just eight years of playing in the WNBA.

According to sources, Holdsclaw had indicated prior to the start of the season that she was considering retiring, but later told ESPN.com's Matt Wurtz that she was looking forward to playing the upcoming season. Which makes it a little more disappointing for Sparks fans, especially with Lisa Leslie sitting out the season with a pregnancy.

As a Sparks fan, I'm taking this a bit more personal because I was hoping that with Leslie gone, Holdsclaw would take the opportunity to prove to everyone that she was still the elite player that everyone thought she would be when she was drafted first in the '99 draft. But in five games played for the Sparks this season, she averaged 15.8 points to the lead the team, 5.6 rebounds and 3.0 assists, not bad for any player, but well below the average for a player of her caliber.

On the other hand, Holdsclaw's career has been plagued with a lot of off-court problems that contributed to her previous departure from the game and may have also caused her to retire without ever winning a WNBA title. She lost a grandmother in 2002, grandfather in 2004 and has shared her past battles with depression. In the past year, it was revealed that both her father and step-father were battling cancer, forcing her to miss the early part of last season. So if any or all of these incidents have contributed to her present decision then it is understandable that she may want to walk out on the game.

However, I agree with ESPN contributor Mechelle Voepel in saying that she has robbed her fans of seeing a great player's career unfold, culminating in a hall-of-fame entry. This brings to mind another female player, tennis star Kim Clijsters, who was one of the sport's brightest stars, but has chosen to work away from the game after this season (she has opted out of virtually every tournament this year, robbing fans of awarding her a proper farewell tour) with a barely explained reason of avoiding more injuries and starting a family.

But whatever the reason may be, Holdsclaw has stepped away from the game that made her a recognizable star, without a promise or hint of a comeback, but more importantly, without giving her supportive fans a reason why for closure. And that is disappointing.

Here are Holdsclaw's most memorable accolades:
First overall pick, 1999 WNBA draft
1999 WNBA rookie of the year
six-time WNBA all-star
2000 Olympic Gold medalist
2002 WNBA scoring champion
2002-03 WNBA rebounding champion
Honorable mention, WNBA All-Decade team
3,975 career WNBA points
1,862 career WNBA rebounds
Three-time NCAA champion (with the Tennessee Lady Vols).

As Louisville Defensive Tackle Amobi Okoye prepares for the draft, physically and media-wise, he also prepares for the unique position that awaits him at the start of the upcoming NFL season: Becoming the youngest player to ever compete in the NFL.

What makes Okoye's story more intriguing is that he didn't have to fight his way in through the doors of financial security like Maurice Clarett, he satisfied the NFL's requirement of being three years removed from high school to be eligible to compete. By virtue of his early enrollment into college, Okoye will not need high-priced lawyers to prove his readiness to compete with his soon-to-be much older counterparts.

But while Okoye's play on the field proves that he is more than ready to compete in the NFL, his age has scouts pondering on his mental readiness for the pros. Some scouts have even suggested that Okoye might not actually be 19, reminding everyone of Danny Almonte, the little league baseball player who was revealed to be two years older than the age requirement. Being a Nigerian, a country that has drawn negative publicity for its notoriety in online fraudulent activities, it may not be uncalled for to suspect that Okoye could have altered his age. But it should not be surprising to know that there are plenty of "Amobis" from Nigeria.

I was also born and raised in Lagos, Nigeria, much like Okoye was. I started attending school at two-years-old and also skipped through two classes en route to a high school graduation at 15. While friends have attributed my early graduation to my being very intelligent, and I'd love to promote that assumption, starting school at a much younger age is the reason why many Africans graduate earlier.

Not to take any credit away from Okoye. He is undoubtedly as intelligent as he's been portrayed to be--he reportedly interrupted an Algebra class soon after passing a test to allow him advance to ninth grade, to teach the class an easier method to solving an equation. Besides he, just as I did, had to pass series of tests to skip through certain grades. But he isn't where he is now because of intelligence alone. His physical and mental toughness are to be credited for his maturity. Growing up in poor, third world countries like Nigeria, where laws do not exist and survival of the fittest is the name of the game, you are forced to mature more quickly and beyond your years.

Few years ago, a teen phenom, originally from Ghana, received global attention for becoming the youngest player to sign and play for a professional team in North America when he signed with the MLS' DC United. At 14, many questioned whether Freddy Adu was ready to handle the media scrutiny and expectations of raising the profile of a struggling league, while competing against athletes several years older in a very physical sport. It's been three years since Adu turned pro and he is doing just fine. He is still being monitored by top soccer teams in Europe, one of which is Manchester United, which has expressed interest in signing Adu when he turns 18.

Okoye laid it out in every game he played for the Cardinals, commanding the respect of his team who made him captain of the defense, despite his age. He's a proven leader and accomplished player, and if you question that, just watch his game tapes. You may question his lack of closing speed or explosiveness. But on draft night, when your team, badly in need of a defensive tackle, is on the clock, and the name Amobi Okoye comes into consideration, do not question his age or maturity.

It was every Heat fan's worst nightmare as they watched their star, Dwayne Wade, head for the team's bench clutching his left arm in severe pain.

As Wade made a play for the ball in Wednesday night's game against the Houston Rockets, he slapped his arm against the Rocket's Shane Battier and bent over in pain. Cameras captured a crying Wade on the bench as he grimaced in pain and was carted away in a wheelchair. The Heat went on to lose the game 112-102.

The diagnosis on Wade is a severe dislocated shoulder that would force him out of action for at least six weeks, if Wade decides to prolong surgery and rehab the injury. However, if he opts for surgery, it would be the end of the season for one of the league's toughest players. It appears the star, famous for his "fall seven times, get up eight" ads, may have met his match in a freak accident that did not appear to have been serious in subsequent replays.

The questions on everyone's minds are "What decision will Wade make?" and "Can the Heat make it to the playoffs without him?"

The Heat attempted to answer the latter question with a win over Lebron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers earlier today. The Heat put up a great defensive effort, forcing the Cavs to a poor 36 percent shooting game.

Riding on the coattails of the big man, Shaq, and a great all-round game from Alonzo Mourning and James Posey, the Heat has set out to prove that they can survive the rest of the regular season without their scoring and steals leader; perhaps prolonging Wade's decision to return or not.

Also adding to the importance of Wade's decision is the fact that many believe this might be the Heat's last chance with its current roster of winning a championship. Already one of the oldest teams in the league, it will be even more difficult to imagine Shaq, Mourning, Payton and Walker giving the team this same kind of intensity and production every night, while staying injury free. If the team is going to try to make a run for a second championship, this may be their only window of opportunity.

So until Wade returns--and I believe that he will, in keeping with his tough nature and recognition of the fact that the team will need him if it wants to defend its trophy-- the Heat's role players would have to step up.

As Mourning said today in a half-time court interview with Michelle Tafoya, the team would have to rely on its defensive prowess to give it key stops and spread Wade's scoring amongst its role players.

Eddie Jones, who recently returned to the team after being bought out by the Memphis Grizzlies, is the likely player to replace Wade's production. While not quite the offensive player that Wade is, Jones is one of the better defensive players on the team and is capable of producing on the offensive end as well, having served as team's scoring leader few years back.

Jason Kapono, who has thrived from the open looks that Wade has created, needs to maintain his level of shooting while increasing his scoring and Antoine Walker needs to become more efficient in his shot selection and defense.

The Heat has a longshot to make it back to the finals, but I wouldn't bet against the team--just ask the Ocala man who took to robbing a bank three times to recover the $10,000 debt he incurred from betting aginst them in last year's final-- because no one can underestimate the heart of a championship team, and more importantly, the toughness of Dwayne Wade.

In the wake of the Italian Soccer League's recent law passed saying that football would be played without spectators to curtail the violence and Liverpool striker Craig Bellamy facing criticism for hitting a teammate with a golf club, has football become associated primarily with violence?

The ISL, formerly a football powerhouse haven, passed a law that prevents spectators from watching live matches after a police officer was killed in the midst of a violent riot during a match between cantania and Palermo. Matches were immediately suspended temporarily until a decision could be made.

This is the latest scandal to tarnish the ISL's reputation and probably further reduce its sponsorships. Few months ago, the league was engulfed in a match-fixing scandal involving four major teams.

More recently, the English Premiership League's Bellamy hit a teammate with a club after a dispute over, get this, Karaoke!!! The incident has many wondering if football has become the most dangerous of sports.

When it comes to player on player violence, then soccer isn't the sport to look at, but it has definitely become the sport to point a finger when it pertains to spectator or non-player violence.

Although it isn't quite popular in the United States, football has taken on a life of its own in other countries. Players get taunted with racial slurs by fans, some even get objects thrown at them during play. Referees are mugged for making perceived wrong calls and players are even killed by country-men for scoring own goals. Something needs to be done to curb the increasing number of violent activities related to the sport.

And the ISL's decision may be a starting point. It's hard to imagine watching a match with no fan involvement. There's little or no incentive to perform at your best as a player. From the management's point of view, it is costing teams millions of dollars in ticket and concession sales. But it is the right decision. When lives are being threatened on a match-to-match basis, nothing else should come into play when penalties are being considered. Hopefully, this decision would serve as a warning call to other soccer leagues to enforce better control of their matches.

To update a story I talked about earlier, it seems the two San Francisco Chronicle writers who faced 18 months in jail for failing to reveal the source of their leak in the BALCO investigation will avoid jail time.

Mark Fainaru-Wada and Lance Williams may not be headed to prison because the source of their leak has chosen to reveal himself. Troy Ellerman, who briefly represented BALCO founder Victor Conte, struck a deal to plead guilty on the terms that the writers would avoid jail time. He could be sentenced to two years in prison and a $250, 000 fine.

Ellerman had sworn under oath to not being the source of the leak, even going as far as blaming the government as the source to cover his tracks. However, in a turn of events, he decided to face the music and accept his punishment instead of letting the writers suffer for it.

Ultimately, the right decision was made. If the writers hadn't been sentenced to serve time, the genesis of their source would probably have remained unknown until the issue was irrelevant. Ellerman clearly abused the power that was given to him and should be punished justly. Maybe this may serve as a deterrent to other lawyers or officials of the court who want to get involved in illegal activities pertaining to their jobs from doing so.

Former NBA star and ESPN radio analyst Tim Hardaway revealed on the Dan Le Batard show on a Miami radio that he is homophobic.

After answering a series of questions from the Miami Herald and ESPN writer, Hardaway was asked how he would deal with a gay teammate, to which he answered:

"You know I hate gay people, so let it be known. I don't like gay people and I don't like to be around gay people. I am homophobic... It shouldn't be in the world or in the United States."

He went on to say this about having one in the locker room,

"First of all, I wouldn't want him on my team. And second of all, if he was on my team, I would...really distance myself from him because, uh, I don't think that's right." He continues on to say, "...I don't think he should be in the locker room while we're in the locker room. I wouldn't even be a part of that."

Hardaway's comments sent a wave of shock around the league culminating in NBA Commissioner David Stern asking for Hardaway to be removed from this weekend's All-Star festivities. Stern said the league would not entertain Hardaway representing them in anyway since his comments are not in line with what the league agrees with. Hardaway promptly left Las Vegas, where the All-Star weekend is taking place. ESPN has also tried to distance itself from him saying that he would no longer be making comments on ESPN radio.

Hardaway immediately issued an apology saying he is committed to examining his feelings and will "recognize, appreciate and and respect the differences among people in our society."

However, his comments come a little too late to save his current career. He should've known better than to make such a type of comment on air. The manner in which he spoke his opinion was riddled with hate. And he should know better as a black athlete who's aware of the history of black people in the United states.

After decades of facing racial discrimination and being denied the same rights as other races in the U.S., blacks can empathize with gay people, even if some may be against homosexuality. It is obvious that while there are laws protecting people of color from discrimination, there are still some people who smile in our faces, but discriminate against us behind closed doors. As a Christian, I was brought up to believe that homosexuality was wrong. However, I was also brought up to believe that judgement should be left to God. I have worked with some gay people who I had no issues with. On the contrary, the few I know were extremely friendly and kind. But when I interacted with them, they were just people to me. Just as they didn't look at me and comment on the fact that I was heterosexual, I didn't look at them as being homosexuals.

For us to come as close to ridding this nation of discrimination of any kind (race, sex, gender), we need to start looking at each other as people and not what we look like or what lifestyle we choose. On a recent trip to the UK, I spent a couple of days in a small town called Kings Lynn. While I was there, I observed that besides my friend--who I was staying with-- I was the only other black person in public. I asked my friend how comfortable he felt living in a place that had less than 1 percent of his race and he said that he hardly noticed it. I came to understand what he meant because, when he went to work on one of the days, I went out for a little shopping trip and it was the most comfortable I had felt shopping before. There were no eyes darting at me like I was an alien as I walked the streets and no sales associates casting furtive glances of apprehension at me. If anything, I felt at home in the town. By the end of the trip, I shed a few tears because I knew I was going to miss the innocence of the town, knowing that I was coming back to the reality of my color in the United States.

I don't know what kind of actions Hardaway plans to take to put a little damage control to the negative publicity he has drawn with his comments, but he needs to do it quickly if he ever dreams of getting another chance in the sport that made it possible for him to live the lifestyle that he does right now. It's going to be very difficult for him to get another chance, even at the lowest level, but if he doesn't do something quickly, he may not get a chance anywhere.

What has become of America's favorite pastime? I'll tell you what has happened. Baseball has lost its lustre amid the growing concern of steroids among players.

The Associated Press has reported that MLB's Player's Association has asked a federal appeals court to reverse its decision allowing investigators to probe into the 2004 positive steroids test of over 100 players. The court's 2-1 decision was instrumental in helping to expose the major source of steroids distribution in the U.S.

The MLB obviously stands to plunge further into the depths of irrelevance and plummeting ratings if several of its stars are suspended or, at the very least, thrown into clouds of suspicion so it isn't surprising that the league is fighting to keep the identities of these athletes private. Several names have already been leaked, but since there is not proof of certainty, we can only speculate and not convict. But Barry Bonds shouldn't have to bear the weight of this steroids issue on his aching knees and back. The public deserves to know who these people are and leave them with the choice to convict or give any athlete a second chance. Afterall, the NFL's Shawn Merriman made it to the Pro Bowl after serving a four-game suspension for testing positive to steroids this past season.

Several months ago, I blogged about the fight two San Francisco Chronicle writers were undergoing to avoid prison time (the appeal is still ongoing) and addressed some of the comments that portrayed these writers as investigative heroes. This is a perfect way to expose these mess called steroids. Revealing these athletes proves that the MLB is ready to revamp its image and promote a drug-free sport. The MLB needs to take a cue from Track&Field. No one should be above reprimand. By protecting these athletes, the league is saying publicly that it is more interested in revenues and financial success. The problem is very soon, there just might not be any revenues coming in from the mostly empty stadiums.

Apparently it is. As yet another former ball player has declared his homosexuality to the public, saying he is tired of living in the closet.

British-raised basketball player John Amaechi, who ended his career with the Knicks--he never played a game for them-- has become the first NBA player to make the revelation that he is gay.

While I applaud Amaechi for joining the list of professional athletes to come out of the closet and share their lives with the world, I question his timing to do so. It ties in nicely with the release of his strictly-for-profit book, "Man in the Middle". No one had heard from Amaechi since he retired until the pre-release of his book, so his revelation has made him somewhat popular and will undoubtedly help him sell copies.

It is becoming redundant to hear former athletes come out well after their careers have ended while several members of the media and other gay athletes commend him/her for his brave actions. Where are the current athletes who admit to being gay? Besides Houston Comets star Sheryl Swoopes (female athletes aren't subjected to the same perceived treatment as males if found gay) and Martina Navratilova, who is perhaps the most notable athlete to announce she was gay, and until last year, played as a semi-pro, no one else in all the major sports has admitted to being gay as a current player.

Amaechi has hinted that there are a few gay athletes currently playing in the NBA, but has refused to name them because he wants to leave their revelation to them to make; and rightfully so. However, we need one or two of them to come out of the closet, become true heroes for the next generation of high school athletes who are confused about making that decision. It is easy to laud these past athletes for "doing the right thing", but I fail to see how it really helps younger athletes. The only message it sends besides saying that it is OK to come out as a gay person in the 21st century is that you should do so when your playing career is over.

Swoopes' revelation was no doubt instrumental to girls around the world who have struggled with their sexuality, especially amid the recent settlement between Penn St. and ex-player Jennifer Harris. For those who are unaware, Harris sued Penn. St. along with the women's basketball head coach Rene Portland, for racial and sexual discrimination. Harris said she, and some other players, were kicked off the team because Portland (who doesn't condone homosexuality)thought she was a lesbian. Harris has said she's not a lesbian. This incident may have influenced high school players who may have thought about revealing their homosexuality.

But we need a current player in any of the major sports to come out while playing, so we can observe what kind of treatment he will get after his revelation. Amaechi said he got acceptance from some of his Utah Jazz players such as Greg Ostertag and Andrei Kirilenko, so why can't we assume that other players will? While reaction to this news have varied, most players--maybe from not wanting to be labeled a homophobe or who simply don't care either way-- have stated that as long as a person brings his game to the court and doesn't hit on them, they are fine with it. So why can't we give them a chance to prove it? We would like to see how they react in the locker room to knowing that a teammate is gay. We are dying to know.

We are in the day and age where there are many gay personalities receiving support and patronage from legions of fans. Isaiah Washington (black actor on Grey's Anatomy) caught some flak for calling a castmate a derogatory f word (rhymes with maggot) that is used to refer to gay people. His castmate was forced to come out as a homosexual and Washington has been forced to go into rehab.

It is no more accepted to discriminate, at least publicly, against gay people as it is to discriminate against blacks, so why are people still afraid to reveal their sexuality? If public figures can't come out, knowing the tremendous amount of protection they'd garner after that, then how much harder must it be for ordinary folks who no one cares about? We need a current male ball player to set the tone on how gay athletes would be perceived from here on. His decision to do so would be a life changing experience for him and many others world wide.

It is never an issue when I look at the lives of two of the greatest tennis players in history: Navratilova and Billie Jean King. When their names are mentioned in a conversation, I don't think about the fact that they are lesbians, but I definitely think about their legacies and influences on tennis as a sport. No one ever took away from the legacy of Bill "Big Bill" Tilden, one of the earliest true tennis champions that existed, so I don't see how being a gay athlete would take away from any player's legacy.