Jarrett-Carter.com

The Philadelphia Phillies are one game away from the team’s first World Series title in 28 years, and the franchise deserves it. By and large, they assembled a good team with balanced pitching and overpowering hitting.

But there’s a reason that the biggest story line surrounding this potential title is not about players, managers or ownership.

It’s about the City of Philadelhpia.

They relish being the most obnoxious fans in the world. Most fans like to be obnoxious, but very few carry the spirit around with them like an ATM card. These folks can deposit hate and withdraw disdain at will.

They have every reason to be frustrated. Across the major sports teams, they have waited impatiently for a winner. They got close with Allen Iverson and the Sixers, they’ve gotten close with Donovan McNabb and the Eagles, and they’ve gotten close with the Flyers.

But there are plenty of cities who’ve been through just as much letdown and suffering when it comes to sports. Kansas City hasn’t had a winner since 1985, but their city isn’t synonymous with unnecessary booing.

You can’t find a city that is more fair-weather faithful than Philadelphia. They adore when everything is going well, and despise when its not. Is it their right to voice their opinion? Absolutely. But you can bet a cheesesteak that if the Phillies don’t open the 2009 season with at least 10 wins in their first 15 games, everybody is on the hot seat.

New York, Los Angeles, the only threats there are the media. But when fans turn on you, people who take the time to stalk you, to call into radio talk shows and curse you out, to throw things at you from the stands, and to provoke you in the streets, you’re dealing with another level of scrutiny.

So, does Philly deserve a title?  Knowing that fans prefer drama over success, knowing that they want to live with being third or fourth best, and never rise above, the answer is no. Philadelphia sports fans know deep down inside that success doesn’t suit them well. It would take the edge off of that hard-scrapping, don’t-take-no-mess aura that the city breeds in each of its citizens.

What would Philly be without booing? What would the city mean in the larger sports landscape if they were not America’s most hated sports town? They would be just like everyone else, and even in the all of the negativity, that’s something they can’t live with.

Philly doesn’t deserve a World Series title or any sports title. Not because they haven’t earned it, but because having it would reduce them to positive anonymity.

Because they keep Emmitt Smith on the air.

Look, we respect Emmitt Smith the football player. We respect him as a human being. But we just can’t respect him as a public speaker, or someone who gets paid to speak without a script. To Smith, subjects and verbs go together like refried beans and milk.

And yet, ESPN allows this humiliation to continue. They put him in prime time slots, like Monday Night Football, despite his lack of preparation, and I’ll say it, his lack of education.

Why? Is it humorous to give somebody a job for everyone to see he’s not qualified for it? Is it funny that his grinning and marveling at his insight, while most of us have to replay his statements in our mind just to figure out what he was trying to say?

What is the reason, ESPN? Because it can’t be for what’s at face value.

God bless his soul, Emmitt Smith is trying. For every slip up, someone dives in to make it right, or he gets that quick talking to and tries to make it right. For instance, on the topic of University of Florida quarterback Tim Tebow breaking Smith’s school touchdown record this morning, Smith said, “You did it in four, I did it in three.”

Problem is, Tebow is a junior, so he will likely do it in three.

It’s mistakes like this that show ESPN’s non-caring attitude towards credibility. I could care less if they report anything about Brett Favre cheating, but its not credible to put someone out there as an expert just because he played football. He has to be able to coherently communicate his insight to the viewing/listening audience, and if that’s impossible, then what benefit to we stand to receive in listening to him?

Emmitt knows he’s bad. We know he’s bad. ESPN knows he’s bad. Two of these groups have the power to do something, but only one of them is willing to admit it. And that’s what is so disheartening. Smith, unwittingly, plays into so many stereotypes about athletes, about black people, and about television culture.

So who’s more at fault for this regular display of inadequacy? Smith, who appears to be the old dog unaware of any new tricks? Or ESPN, who’s turning a trick on Smith and the rest of the viewing audience?

He’s already got the ball, now all he needs is a Swoosh T-Shirt, a Neptunes beat, and Tiger Woods standing by nodding in approval.

By now, everyone has heard about Sen. John McCain’s plans to suspend his presidential campaign in order to focus on the economic crisis. What a lot of people may not know is that Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban suggested this days ago on his blog, and it appears McCain has followed it to the letter.

“Based on the series of events on Wall Street this past week, I am withdrawing my economic proposals. Once the market settles down, I will meet with Secretary Paulson, who has done a phenomenal job in handling this crisis, and gain a better understanding of where the economy is and where it can go from here. Based on that information, I will present to the American people my new economic strategy.

In the meantime, because the economic future of this country depends on the funding of the plan Secretary Paulsen has proposed, I will set aside my campaigning and work with my colleagues in the Senate and across my party to quickly get this bill passed. The future of our economy depends on it”

Well, from one Maverick to another, its certain an interesting turn of events. The man who can’t get David Stern to see things his way might have just changed the course of American political history?

Language-wise, it’s nowhere close to being correct. Marketing-wise, you’d be hard pressed to find a better campaign.

Chad Ocho Cinco, formerly known as Chad Johnson, has turned the sports world upside down with a name change, and made himself into an instant sports marketing guru. Set aside for the moment the sheer stupidity of casting your birthname aside and think of it from a business perspective. Who will be getting the most media coverage in the next few weeks?

Who will be collecting headlines in newspapers and blogs around the world once the NFL formally recognizes his name change?

And whose jersey will likely be the league’s top seller this season?

It’s not like he can’t formally change his name back to Johnson when he feels like it, and it’s not like he doesn’t have the money to pay the licensing fees associated with the name change. It’s a quick change for a quick windfall of cash and notoriety that’s sure to follow him for the rest of his career, much to his benefit.

You could say it might be the best marketing tactic in the history of the NFL.

Singers and actors change their names all the time to make themselves more marketable to a wide section of consumers. Chad Ocho Cinco just showed them all up, and it will pay off big for him.

First off, Usain Bolt is fast. Damn, that dude is fast. I know the result of his race, and I still want to watch and rewind it when it comes on this evening.

With that being said, it’s time for all of us to reevaluate what we know to be fast. And I’m not just talking about speedy or quick, but things for which we might have to totally readjust perceptions.

Here’s five ways to begin the deprogramming.

5. Fast women - There used to be a time where we could look at somebody like Karrine Steffans or Gabrielle Union and give them the label of fast. Thanks to Bolt, ain’t enough rappers or ballplayers in the world to hold that distinction anymore.

4. Fast money - Crystal meth has the dope game drying up. File sharing has the rap game drying up, and Barack Obama has the political hustle going Mojave. Aside from bootlegging DVDs, side hustles are no match for Bolt’s speed.

3. Fast Internet  - Since Comcast got busted for blocking people’s Internet access, you have to wonder if the Slowsky’s commercial was a subliminal message to the masses.

2. Fast food - Heart attacks, diabetes and strokes have a lot of people obstaining abstaining from the fast food poison. Those, and Dr. Ian Smith.

1. Fast reading - In the time it took you to read this and click on a few of the links, the next Usain Bolt growing up in some hood just ran to the coner store, drank a Mountain Dew and ate a pickle, and ran back home.

The only thing worse than athletes who don’t value their blessings of fortune and fame are broadcasters who wish they were in the same position to be hated. And such is the case with Bob Costas and former Olympic sprinter Ato Boldon, who criticized Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt for celebrating during his record-shattering 100-meter dash gold medal victory.

Bob Costas, while being one of the best sportscasters in television history, has been on a criticizing kick as of late. Not long ago, it was sports blogs. Now its Bolt, who next to Michael Phelps, will probably emerge as the larger-than-life Olympic story track and field has been famous for crafting through the years.

Costas’ commentary on Bolt’s celebration 85 meters into the race classified the moment as “disrespectful to the other competitors.” While it may not have made for the classiest of Olympic moments, it was no more contrived, or rude, or less picturesque than the American 4×100 relay celebration in their come-from-behind victory.

You can make the case that their celebration began once the race was completed. So did Bolt, about 50 meters in.

As for Bolden, who has done a golden job of commentary in Olympic sprinting analysis, he comes across as a player on both sides of the finish line. Immediately following Bolt’s victory, he marveled at the time left on the track that was occupied by celebratory measure. He, like the rest of the viewing world, gawked at the raw talent and exuberance of a sprinter who appeared to be as far ahead of his time as he was his competitors.

Combine this with the fact that Boldon has never done better than silver in an Olympic competition, and you have a strong case for sour grapes spoiling a truly sweet moment.

Costas and Boldon have worlds of talent in the broadcasting, but making a world-class moment a personal soapbox is universally small.

The last time I saw somebody guzzle liquor like this, that brother downed a fifth of Hennessey straight, wandered out of the Paradox nightclub in downtown Baltimore and woke up at a bus stop somewhere near Ravens Stadium. Now obviously, Charles Barkley has more money and common sense than a couple of drunk Morgan State students during homecoming, but the hurting he puts on these bottles is just as legendary.

Courtesy of You Been Blinded.

If you don’t play football, apparently so, according to Mountaineer quarterback Pat White.

Before anyone goes and calls him an angry black man or an individual who’s misguided or misinformed, truly begin to understand the source. We’re not talking about a back-up QB at Chowan College, this is a Heisman Trophy finalist with a high profile in college football.

But more convincing than his academic accolades in the fact that he actually attends West Virginia University. If White believes that blacks are not welcome to be a part of the baseball team, then they probably are not welcome to be a part of the baseball team. He has much more to lose than to gain in this commentary, so whether its true or not, he must be commended for speaking his mind when so many other athletes don’t.

And on the subject of losing, let’s look at the University’s athletic profile, shall we?

Hmm. No black players on the baseball team, and White has been drafted by Major League Baseball teams three times in his tenure at WVU.

There is one black head coach at the university, and he coaches the soccer team. He also happens to be the head of oneWVU, an diversity initiative designed to promote “racial equality and justice.” Usually schools who are truly down for racial equality and justice don’t need a program to implement it. It just happens.

You don’t have to dig far to realize that while Pat White may be way off in his commentary, the impetus for his statement is dead on. And the thing is, he might not be way off in his commentary. As a student-athlete, you think that baseball players don’t talk to football players about how their coaches are? That if the baseball coach was a raving racist, other black athletes wouldn’t know about it?

And even if that wasn’t true, there’s enough smoke around that program to call in a Five Alarm diversity problem. The state that produced Randy Moss can’t be that limited in black athletes who play more than football.

I hope that people don’t take Pat White out of context. More over, I hope they put the motivation for his comments under the proper microscope.

Baseball might be America’s past time, but football is king on this continent. And while most of us are gearing up for college and NFL football in the coming months, this year’s MLB All-Star Game and festivities might have positioned a disgraced sport into a more favorable light.

And back into national sports relevance.

The elements are all there. MLB’s biggest stars playing in it’s most well-known stadium in the world’s most famous city. The all-star game itself was one for the ages, an extra-innings marathon that saw the American League extend its winning streak to 12 straight.

But the biggest story from the all-star break was that of Josh Hamilton, a former drug addict three years removed from professional baseball, who has come back from his demons to ascend as one of the game’s most feared hitters and it’s most marketable feel-good story.

His life, and the last few days of it, are a microcosm for how baseball has postioned itself back into sports fans’ minds and hearts. Like Hamilton, drugs nearly killed the sport. Kids didn’t care, their parents didn’t want them to, and players were oblivious to it all. Some of the most popular names in the sport were implicated as cheaters and liars, not good for a sport that is symbolic with the purity of competition and roots of athletic hero worship.

But a few clean home runs, an intriguing all-star game and a fading fancy with who cheated and how long they did it, baseball is surging towards a fantastic regular season finish, complete with fantastic small-market success, star-crossed drama, and the usual drama of pennant races.

Major League Baseball still has a ways to go before it catches the NBA. Even with the one-and-done rule being challenged, the reservoir of young talent coming out of the NCAA will easily translate to marketable draft picks and high recogniazbility among casual fans. But if fans are continuously treated to solid baseball and captivating back stories, MLB might have something good on its hands.

And that’s a much better feeling than the thorn that been in its side the past few years.