The Whining Game

Pouring out of a crashed car with bruises and bite marks all over its booty, it is once again time for POINTLESS PONDERING. That entity that never knows how or when to retire without media approval.




Next Boring Act

Is anyone REALLY that excited about what is going on in the NBA right now? Can you truly watch ANY game without an eyebrow raised in its direction? If you had read an old post of mine, STERN'S STOLEN SCRIPT, you can see it is almost going verbatim. I have long been critical of David Stern for selling out the integrity of the game in order to "go hollywood". The cash has rolled in by the buckets, but the message is convoluted with greed. Seeing the LeBron versus Kobe push was something anyone could see coming miles away. The game has become boring and predictable. Dictated by the front offices and orchestrated by their stooge refs. I'm not saying that the NBA is the only fixed game in town, but their recycled scripts are much in line with pro wrestling. The hilarity of having Kobe and Shaq play nice and sharing the MVP Award at the All Star game only sent one message in my mind = "Our bad about Donaghy. If these two can forgive and forget, shouldn't you?"



Steroids R Us

A-Fraud is the now statement to sully an easy target. The fact Alex makes big bucks playing in the Big Apple makes it almost required. But to blame the player himself is not the only route in this mess that baseball has made. Sure, the player put the needle in his arm. Most likely without a gun to his head either. Some say the pressure pushed these guys to go roid. That is the enabling message the MLB offices want you to have. A player trying to be their best at all costs is a part of competitive spirit to some. TSN blogger Big Toke raised an accurate point that it is human nature for people to seek that magic pill. I once heard a comic say he didn't care if these guys shot up. Let them jack 2000 foot home runs. Big deal! Let their sacs shrink as the ball flies. Another valid point. I still tend to look at the other side of the equation to try and balance my thoughts on this subject. You have kids watching these guys do it their way. I cannot say if it is the right or wrong way, but it is a unknown path. We have yet to see all the long term repercussions of the effects of steroids. Lyle Alzado died young trying to tell people not to do them. I still think it is cheating, and a far worse offense than gambling on the game because the player doing steroids gambles on his health and those who try to emulate him. I have long stated, since my TSN beginnings, that we can let all offenders in to Cooperstown. But not the right way. They didn't earn it the right way, so they do not deserve respect from a game they disrespected. Build a separate wing called The Cheaters Wing. Then you can let Shoeless Joe Jackson (though his case is mired in confusion as to his amount of actual guilt), Pete Rose, and all of the Roid Rangers all be inducted. Let them have the ceremony...but have them sit in general seating with paying customers in future ceremonies. Just a way of the MLB admitting its guilt while trying to wash their hands from an ugly era that made them all very rich...in cash mainly.



The Two Ryan's

Before last year, the Philadelphia Phillies rejected Ryan Howard's request to have a pay raise and contract extension. After Howard helped the Phillies win it all, the team ended up giving him what he wanted. It was a smart move, but probably was a year late. The man is the face of the franchise and may be for another decade. Washington Nationals Third Baseman Ryan Zimmerman also asked for a contract extension and pay raise before last season. He was rejected as well. Zimmerman then asked for it again at the conclusion of last season and was rejected yet again.I have no idea what Stan Kasten, the Nationals Team President, is thinking. Kasten is known for not signing guys to long term contacts. This may be a move he will regret. Zimmerman is the best fielding 3rd Baseman in the game, and maybe the best since Brooks Robinson. He may get tired of the disrespect and wait until he is a free agent, and will have a very long line of teams holding offers. Considering the Nationals are many years away from winning, Zimmerman might just have another reason to go elsewhere. The man is a high quality individual on and off the field. Some know a little about his personal life and how far he has come. The fact is that Stan Kasten is playing Russian roulette with the franchise right now. The team's farm system was raped by the MLB during its last years in Montreal, when the MLB owned it. A once stellar farm system that is now amongst the worst in the game. If Zimmerman walks, you might see many Nationals fans follow suit. Washington D.C. has waited over 30 years for baseball to return, and having their team send a message that they don't care what the fans think of them is the wrong tune for such a young team. The honeymoon will be over even faster if the one guy most Nationals fans pay to see, Ryan Zimmerman, is mot signed to a long term contract very soon.



Potpourri Missed

There has been a bunch of crap going on since my last ponderance. From the multitude of personnel changes in the NFL, the Super and Pro Bowl, college basketball, the NHL, NASCAR, and even a kid holding lots of gold..in medal form and in weed form in his bong. A certain hyckocrite seemingly has retired again, and America is gearing up for hard times ahead in every form. Just because these events occurred without a ponderance, it doesn't mean I don't care. I will try to pick up the slack in the future, but that goes without promise. Since I'm not running for a political office, I can do that.





Canton Voters

I just HAD to weigh in on the recent players inducted into the Pro Football Hall Of Fame. It was another example of the voters having little clue. As you may have seen in my Crazy Canton Cuts series, there are several players still waiting on the call. Two guys who just got the nod, Bob Hayes and Derrick Thomas, were pretty far down my list of guys up to profile. Not that both aren't deserving, because they certainly are. It's just there are guys who were better than them at their positions still not inducted. This same thing held true when Fred Dean was somehow inducted last year in front of several guys, not yet inducted, who were better at his position than him. Hayes and Thomas are dead, so there is the thought that their induction is an NFL angle to garner pity by "showing a human side". I think the induction classes should be larger than they are, and the politics need to be dropped from this whole process. I really am uncertain how much these voters really know about the game, and especially the history of it.




Well, it is that time for me to make like a baby and head out. As they say in Ol' Mexico = A.M.F.