Is anybody but me getting sick of the whole A-Rod/steroid "scandal?" At this point, the most you're going to get out of me over hearing that a modern-era baseball player has used performance-enhancing drugs is a big, fat YAWN! I am honestly more surprised to hear that a modern baseballer has NOT used steroids or HGH in his career!
And, oh, the SANCTIMONY I am hearing!! It was bad enough that MLB commish Bud Selig stated that A-Rod had "shamed" the game - this from a man who STOOD BY and reaped the financial whirlwind of the long ball battles that the steroid era brought us, all the while refusing to stand up to the players' union and institute SOME type of random drug testing until a very short time ago. But the talk radio pundits, bloggers and columnists are just making me physically ill with all the self-righteous nonsense they keep hurling at A-Rod. Case in point: one day, syndicated talk show host Jim Rome calls on Rodriguez to come clean, admit it and move on. After A-Rod did so, the very next day, Rome questioned his sincerity, and said he thought it sounded more like "A-Rod's not sorry; he's just sorry he got caught!" WHAT?! Jim Rome, while extremely entertaining and generally really good at what he does is a WEASEL and a HYPOCRITE (anyone remember the "Chris Everett" incident)? Since when did sports talk hosts and columnists become the moral friggin' yardstick of our society?? Give me a break!
Look, A-Rod cheated. I get it. He lied about it, right to Katie Couric's face. I get that, too. But it's pretty apparent that an entire era of baseball is deserving of having a giant asterisk placed beside it, and A-Rod is part of that era. So we move on. Put it behind us, stop the sanctimony and preaching, and get back to having FUN with our sports. I am sick of this steroid nonsense, and even sicker of a sports media with an ever-increasing God complex!
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
"America's Team"
If you've listened to any sports-talk radio the past couple of days, it seems the hip thing to do now is declare the Pittsburgh Steelers the New America's Team. First of all, let's get some things straight: despite the fact that I am a Dallas Cowboys fan and believe - nay, am convinced - that the NFL as we know it today would not exist without the Cowboys, I have always hated that nickname, and wish that NFL Films and Tex Schramm had never made it up. To be honest, when it comes to NFL football, I actually think there are multiple "America's Teams": the Cowboys, Raiders, (ugh) Redskins, Packers, and yes, the Steelers. The Steelers just happen to be the hot commodity right now.
Now I'm not in any way diminishing what the Steelers have done; right now, today, as of this moment, they are the elite gold standard in pro sports. Uncle. I give. BUT - to call them - as some are suggesting - the greatest pro sports franchise of all time is completely asinine. First of all, it's a dumb subject that is base purely on the opinions of talking heads. Second, all of the gushing about them is making it sound like the rest of the league has been basically trying to catch up with them since the early 70's. Baloney! Do you realize that other than Super Bowl XIV in January of 1980 - which was actually the Super Bowl for the 1979 season - the Steelers did not make a single Super Bowl appearance in the 80's? They only made one in the 90's, Super Bowl XXX following the 1995 season when the AFC was clearly the weaker conference, and they couldn't even get over on the Cowboys in that game with Dallas playing probably their overall worst Super Bowl ever. I remember well that many wondered why Bill Cowher never seemed to be on the hot seat despite his lack of postseason success (not to mention the failed Kordell Stewart experiment). And I never hear any Steeler fans fondly reminisce on the good old days of Cliff Stoudt, Bubby Brister or Neil O'Donnell. The fact is, the Steelers have had their ups and downs just like everyone else, and I'm quite honestly getting nauseated at the way supposedly objective media members are suddenly drooling over them.
Now I'm not in any way diminishing what the Steelers have done; right now, today, as of this moment, they are the elite gold standard in pro sports. Uncle. I give. BUT - to call them - as some are suggesting - the greatest pro sports franchise of all time is completely asinine. First of all, it's a dumb subject that is base purely on the opinions of talking heads. Second, all of the gushing about them is making it sound like the rest of the league has been basically trying to catch up with them since the early 70's. Baloney! Do you realize that other than Super Bowl XIV in January of 1980 - which was actually the Super Bowl for the 1979 season - the Steelers did not make a single Super Bowl appearance in the 80's? They only made one in the 90's, Super Bowl XXX following the 1995 season when the AFC was clearly the weaker conference, and they couldn't even get over on the Cowboys in that game with Dallas playing probably their overall worst Super Bowl ever. I remember well that many wondered why Bill Cowher never seemed to be on the hot seat despite his lack of postseason success (not to mention the failed Kordell Stewart experiment). And I never hear any Steeler fans fondly reminisce on the good old days of Cliff Stoudt, Bubby Brister or Neil O'Donnell. The fact is, the Steelers have had their ups and downs just like everyone else, and I'm quite honestly getting nauseated at the way supposedly objective media members are suddenly drooling over them.
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