Kind of Like Sports Starts Podcasting

Today I am announcing that, Kind of Like Sports is entering a new era. We will be launching a podcast starting in August. The podcast will feature a lot of the same kind of content that you currently see here on the page with much more. We will have weekly special guest and interviews with various members of the collegiate and professional sports community. We will still have a strong focus on sports teams from Michigan and Georgia but will never miss the big stories from around the country.

Some of the segments that you can expect to are things like the Falcons Beat that will feature my Ring Time Pro Wrestling co-host Keshia. The Detroit Lions minute, The Georgia College Football Wrap and other segments that focus on key teams around me or where I am from. We will talk a lot about Fantasy Football and I will give some advice and share some of my dilemmas with the audience. We will work to cover sports from a different angle and talk about the economics of some decisions and the social impact that sports have on the world landscape.

As a veteran podcaster, I am excited about the opportunity that this new endeavor presents. We will strive to have great content and strong production quality. I don’t think there can be enough podcast where African Americans are talking about athletics. The sports talk radio community is a multi-billion dollar medium that largely ignores our voice. Being a passionate fan, I found this to be the perfect place to share my opinions in a way I sometimes cannot convey via the written form.

Written By

Keith B. Holt

Follow on Twitter @Kholtjr

The Parallel Existence of Lebron James and John Cena

Listening to sports talk radio today, I heard the 8,456,377th discussion of whom or what people think LeBron James is or is not. I keep hearing why he is not a part of the great pantheon of NBA royalty and why other guys are better. It kind of took me to a discussion that wrestling fans have about John Cena. Both maybe the most polarizing figures of their respective professions. As I began to examine both men and how they are viewed they have a lot in common. Enough that I decided to post this both on the Kind of Like Sports and on Ring Time Pro Wrestling pages.

James and Cena are both apart of the first generation of athletes that are viewed through the scope of social media. The constant flow of Twitter and Facebook allow fans to debate the greatness of these versus the prior generation’s superstars. James has never been able to escape the shadow of Michael Jordan and constantly being told no matter what he does that he will never be a Jordan. Cena faces similar critiques that is no Stone Cold Steve Austin or will never be The Rock. Both are said to be the stars of what is believed to be the lesser era of their league or company.

Cena rose to the top in 2004 when he defeated the Big Show at Wrestlemania XX. He was not number 1 draft pick like James. The powers that be in the WWE expected Randy Orton or Brock Lesnar to be the unquestioned face of this generation. James on the other hand from day 1 had to prepare to take on the ghost of NBA past. Both have risen to the top and no matter how much they accomplish they still are dealing the comparisons to completed careers that happened prior to them. Both of James and Cena’s legacies are still being written.

Written By

Keith B. Holt

Follow on Twitter @Kholtjr

Wendell Scott Enters The Hall of Fame

This past Wednesday, NASCAR honored Wendell Scott by announcing that he will be inducted into their hall of fame. Scott was the first African American driver to race full time in NASCAR’s top series. He won only one race in his career in 1963 in Jacksonville, a victory that was originally not credited to Scott because the track promoters did not want a black man standing next to a white trophy girl. Scott did finish in the top 20 in 80% of the races he competed in, with 147 top 10 finishes from the years of 1961-1973.

Scott should have been elected to the Hall of Fame a long time ago. He was pioneer in the sport and battled extreme prejudice and received numerous death threats throughout his career. He did it all with hand me down parts from other teams because he was not afforded the big time sponsorship deals that his white counterparts had. To quote Scott’s son Frank is father was “a mechanical engineer without a formal education”. Not having an ownership group like say a Hendrick Motorsports makes all of his accomplishments in the sport even more amazing.

I would love to tell you that Scott’s accomplishments led to the great legacy of black drivers that we have today but unfortunately they did not. The elite level of stock car racing maybe the least integrated sport over the last 40 years in the United States. Professional sports like hockey, golf and tennis have all made major strides in diversity. There is still an environment where lots of minorities do not feel comfortable attending races where the Confederate Flag still waves strongly in the stands.

Today there is not a full time African American driver in the Nationwide or Sprint Cup Series. The race car game is about access and still appears to subscribe to the good old boy network. To be fair NASCAR has made some efforts recently to get more potential minority drivers a chance with the A Drive for Diversity campaign that it started 11 years ago. All of this makes Scott’s accomplishments even more amazing. For all of the lack of progress that has been made, Scott faced even greater obstacles during his time. Not being serviced at restaurants while being on the road traveling to races trying to support a family and living with the constant threats against his life. His fearlessness and determination should never be forgotten.

Written By

Keith B. Holt

Follow on Twitter @Kholtjr

My Premier League Team

With the ever increasing popularity of soccer here in the United States it has dawned on me that I need to find a Premier League team to root for. American Football is ending soon and I will have some extra time in sports watching. Now because I have no roots in Europe and don’t have any real bias it is hard for me to pick a team to ride with. Not that I need a team but it makes it more interesting when you care about who wins and who loses.

Most of my sports fandom comes from some kind of relationship to the school or team. I was born into being a Lions, Pistons, Tigers and Red Wings fan. Living in Atlanta has made me appreciate Georgia Tech, Atlanta Braves and Atlanta Hawks teams. None of that exist for me in the soccer world. Now I could go chalk and pick Manchester United but that’s no fun and I don’t jump on bandwagons, so this is actually a real decision for me. I have never had the luxury of picking my team in a sport so I am going to have fun with this one.

Written By

Keith B. Holt

Follow on Twitter @Kholtjr

The Braves Are Moving

The breaking news in Atlanta sports today is all about the Braves. The Marietta Daily Journal rocked the metro area with the announcement of the city’s baseball franchise leaving the city limits. The teams lease runs out in 2016 at Turner Field and for the 2017 season they will move to Cobb County. Now some fans will have an issue with the club moving but from a business end this makes sense for the organization.

The new build will seat 41,000 fans and will be a multi-use facility. The team will not be seated at the I-75 / I-285 corridor. This will allow perfect access for fans that are from the Tennessee area and Alabama. The majority of the Braves fans who purchase tickets are not from the city of Atlanta. Not to mention there is a major traffic issue when fans are trying to reach the games at the current location. There will be a much easier commute to the facility. Now some people will say that there is not a public transportation option. Well guess what there is not a train headed to Turner Field either. Cobb County will have bus access just like Turner Field currently has.

Braves Season Ticket Holder Map

On the Braves official website they released the following statement…

Turner Field is a facility that was built for three weeks of use for the Olympics, but has now served us well for nearly 20 years. The issue isn’t the Turner Field we play in today, but instead whether or not the venue can remain viable for another 20 to 30 years.

Turner Field has served the Braves well since 1997, but it is in need of major infrastructure work, which will cost around $150 million. These upgrades are functional ones, such as replacing worn-out seats or upgrading the stadium’s lighting, and they would do little to significantly enhance the fan experience. If the Braves were to pay for additional projects focused on improving the fan experience, the additional costs could exceed $200 million.

Those upgrades still wouldn’t address the logistical challenges outside the stadium – lack of consistent mass transit options, inadequate number of parking spaces and limited access to major highways.

The team is also looking at the before and after game fan experience that the area can provide. In the Cumberland area there are already two very good shopping facilities and a few restaurants that customers can frequent. Of course more things will be built around the facility. Currently the Turner Field surrounding area is not the friendliest place to be. There is nowhere to really go to do anything and no one in the city has tried to build up the area.

Written By

Keith B. Holt

Follow on Twitter @Kholtjr

Ring Time Pro Wrestling is Back

Join Ring Time Pro Wrestling Tomorrow as they make their return. Live at 11am on BlogTalkRadio the Ring Time crew will be back to talk about some professional wrestling. It should be some fun times.
Ring Time Is Back – Mania Season 02/28 by Ringtimeprowrestling | Blog Talk Radio

Johnny Football Goes Online

The details of Johnny Manziel’s class schedule hit the news cycle this week.  The Heisman Trophy winner will be taking all of his classes at Texas A&M this semester online.  His reasoning for this is because due to his new found celebrity it is too much of a distraction to be in a classroom.  This seems to have caused quite a few sports talk radio host to get their panties in a bunch.  They tend to feel that Manziel should have a more traditional class schedule.  The reality is this not a big deal and these old guys just want to see this young man do things their way.

The critique seems to come mostly from the media members who are over the age of 40.  The classes are offered by Texas A&M and most are offered only online.  For those of us in the 21^st century online learning is very popular.  These classes have been evaluated by the governing bodies that accredit institutions of higher learning as valid courses.  Most universities are making major increases in their online offerings.

Manziel seems to be a polarizing figure amongst the sports fan base.  Like many college athletes he rubs a lot fans wrong who want to live in the student athlete fantasy.  Where the kid goes to class and struggles the way they did in college but entertains them on Saturdays.  Sports radio host tend to pander to these types of fans.  They want kids to struggle they way they had to struggle.  Manziel is a different athlete for a different time.

He has a million twitter followers hanging on his every move unlike most of the past college sports icons you can name.  I am pretty sure that his celebrity is a campus distraction.  This actually seems like a very smart way to handle business.  So he wants to handle his education differently than what people expect.  That is his choice to do so.  Let’s just enjoy the touchdowns and leave his life up to him.

Does The IOC Even Care About Sports

The International Olympic Committee decided this week that wrestling was not going to be one of the 25 core sports. Starting in 2020 wrestling will have to fight with 8 other sports for slot in the games. Despite being one of the original sports that were part of the first modern Olympics in 1896, wrestling is now forced to fight for a spot. The situation makes me wonder something about the organization. Does the IOC even care about sports?

The way this was done was by a secret ballot because the parties involved did not want to have own up to whom individually help the sport lose its position in the Olympics. Is it possible that the people in charge of wrestling did not pay the proper fee to keep their sport around? You have wonder who in their right mind would think that dressage was a more respectable sport than wrestling. Can anyone name the most recent dressage medalist without the help of Google?

There are other sports that do not even come close to the competition that wrestling brings to the table. There is no way of convincing me that badminton, table tennis (ping pong) or sailing belong in the Olympics. Wrestling is a great sport that is the ultimate competition. It is one on one to prove who the best is. Both parties bring all of the strengths and weaknesses to the mat and see who comes out on top. I guess the IOC doesn’t have time for those kinds of athletic events anymore.