Here we go again......

Welcome to another edition of "Are You Kidding Me?". I mean, seriously people.......what has gone on in the world of sports that has everyone saying some of the displayed behavior is acceptable? Before I address any of that, I would like you to know where some of the backlog in the court system comes from.
Remember last time we talked, I spoke of Josh Hancock. He was tragically killed in a car accident in St. Louis, and while that's bad enough, he was legally drunk at the time. Now, put aside all I said, for the moment, about his culpability in the whole incident. It now comes out of St. Louis that Josh Hancock's father has filed suit against the bar that was serving Hancock. Nothing like assigning blame on something other than a grown man. The suit not only names the bar that was serving Hancock, but the tow truck driver, the towing company, and the individual whose car had broken down. I'll pause for a moment while you all collect your thoughts. At first, I thought this was a joke, but sadly, it is not. We can sue everyone in the world when something goes wrong, and it still won't bring a loved one back. As I said before, none of the aforementioned people killed Josh Hancock. Josh Hancock killed Josh Hancock......plain and simple. This lawsuit, hopefully, will be thrown out for a lack of merit.

Now, I'd like everyone to recall a time when Charles Barkley, then of the Philadelphia 76ers, came out on national TV and said the following words "I am not a role model". Remember the uproar that caused? People were like "Oh, well, he's a professional athlete. He should be a role model for all of our children". I said it then, and I'll say it now.....it's not Barkley's responsibility to raise other people's children. He was just being honest, and that's all he's been for his entire career, both on the court and off. Look back at the athletes as a whole from that timeframe. We never heard anything negative about Gretzky, Jordan, Elway, Kelly, or Smith. They went out and played hard. Now, some people made a big deal over Jordan losing a lot of money at an Atlantic City casino one evening, but guess what....he's a grown man, it's his money. Deal with it. Look at some of the more modern athletes. We never hear anything negative about Peyton Manning, Derek Jeter, or to a smaller extent, DeWayne Wade. Those guys go out, play hard, and come back to do it all over again for their teams' next game. But, like I said in the last posting, that doesn't sell papers, and it doesn't spike TV ratings. Oh sure, people will make mention of Jeter being a night owl, and in New York, that's real easy to do. But again, its never affected his team, he's a grown man, and we should all be so lucky. Deal with it. Now, though, comes today's athlete. These are the ones who come into their respective leagues with a sense of entitlement, like it's their birthright to play professional sports. We've got guys throwing thousands of dollars at strip clubs in Vegas, causing enough of a riot to where someone ended up paralyzed. We've got guys keeping enough weapons and ammo in their homes that the military is considering making it an adjunct arsenal. Never mind the fact the owner is on probation for a weapons violation. And, the big kicker....we have a franchise player who is being looked at hard for running a dog fighting ring out of a home he owned in Virginia. Now, the last three guys I mentioned.....THAT'S making ratings. Stuff like that will sell newspapers, and it will get the talk radio people all worked up. Two of the three have been addressed. Adam "Pac-Man" Jones (throwing money at the club) has been suspended for the entire 2007 season by the NFL, a verdict he is appealing. But, before he could meet with the NFL commissioner, he's spotted at a New York strip club, doing roughly the same thing that got him into trouble. I can't make that one up, people. You don't find "I just don't get it" like that every day. It comes from years of bad decision making. In the second case, the owner of the weapons (Chicago Bears DT Tank Johnson) was a guest of the state of Illinios for a period of sixty days. He still has to meet with the NFL, but conventional wisdom says that he'll serve a suspension that's less than that of Adam Jones. After all, Johnson served time for his crime. But now, let's jump head-on into the final one, and that's the case of Atlanta Falcon quarterback Michael Vick. First, let's read off his laundry list. One, he almost caused an incident at a Miami airport by refusing to give up a water bottle before boarding. The bottle was surrendered, and subsequently found to have a secret compartment in the bottom. Miami-Dade police all said it smelled like marijuana, but tests were inconclusive. And, the security tapes from the whole episode were mysteriously erased. Second, he blows off meeting with Congress. That's right. Vick was supposed to meet with Congress on funding for after-school programs for America's youth. But, instead, he makes a lame excuse about oversleeping, missing an alarm,,,,,whatever! You're a grown man! Accept the responsibility. And, finally, the incident that has the Falcons, as an organization, holding their collective breath. Vick owned a home in Virginia that was found to have malnourished dogs, dog fighting items, blood-soaked towels and rags, andchains tied to car axles buried in the backyard. Dog fighting, the act that is a felony in most, if not all states, is the act that could bring the Falcon organization to their knees. They've invested over 100 million in Vick, and he rewards them with this. They've traded their top backup, Matt Schaub, to Houston, and have Joey Harrington in the wings. I predict Harrington will be the starter by Week 8. The more Vick hopes this will go away, the more comes out to tie him to this. Falcons owner Arthur Blank is beyond upset, he's downright ticked off. And he has every right to be. He's bent over backwards to accomodate Vick, and now, he has the proverbial egg on his face. Trading Vick is out of the question. Who would want to take on the contract? You can't really bench him, because who pays huge money to a back-up? Some Vick apologists are saying "Oh, this isn't him. It's his cousin". Rationalizing it doesn't make it right, but to Vick fans, it'll soothe their consciense a bit. Others will say "Well, it's just not in him to make bad decisions like this". Come on, people. This is a guy whose brother was dismissed from Virginia Tech for a history of bad decisions. Do I really need to bring up Marcus Vick stomping on the leg of then-Louisville DT Elvis Dumervill's leg in the Gator Bowl? It's time, for us, as a sports loving society, to re-claim the world of sports. Stop supporting these morons and their idiotic behavior. Will it make a dent on the surface? Probably not. But, how far do we have to go before the pendulum swings back to the side it once was on.....when we looked at our pro athletes and weren't ashamed to wear their jerseys? And, before you say this is just a case of boys will be boys, do me a favor. Go tell that to the guy in Vegas who was paralyzed from bad decision making. Go tell that to the dogs that the state of Virginia has had to put to sleep, or the other dogs that the Virginia ASPCA is trying to re-nourish due to their lack of care. If you can look those people and animals in the eye and rationalize the behavior.......have your head examined, or visit a priest. I'm done with it, plain and simple.


Till next time.....

Patrick

It's sad when it happens, but are we blaming the wrong thing?

Hello once again. You know, I've been thinking long and hard about a subject in sports today. During this time, I went from one side to another, to another. I even brought up this topic with my friends and colleagues. And, after a lot of discussion and consideration, here is my final thought on the topic: Josh Hancock killed himself. Not beer, not marijuana, not anything else. Josh Hancock killed Josh Hancock. Let me give some of you a back-story here. Josh Hancock, former relief pitcher for the St. Louis Cardinals, was killed almost two weeks ago when he was involved in an accident on the highway in St. Louis. According to sources, he was on the phone, speeding, and had a blood-alcohol level of almost twice the legal limit in Missouri. In the car was a stash of marijuana. Now, when I first heard all of this, I wondered out loud: Isn't this a case of the media just piling on? But, after looking at it from all angles, I figured this out. It's a bit like the news media following the shootings at Virginia Tech. We all agree that the event itself is reprehensible beyond belief. We all agree that it was a senseless act. But, at the end of the day, when the shooter's tape reached the news media, all bets were off. Today's media is all about sensationalism, and whoever got that tape out first got the ratings. News media companies are, after all, a business, and their goal is to make money. What makes money? Controversy. It's why every media outlet, for almost a week, ran the tape and pictures of the shooter. Now, by saying all of this, in no way am I condoning what the shooter did, or what the news companies did. But, the paralell here is this: Once there was some zip to the Josh Hancock story, it was everywhere. It was bad enough that he was killed in a car accident, but now add to it that he was on the phone, legally drunk, and had marijuana in his possession, now that's front page material. Now, in the reactionary society we live in, we're seeing where some teams in Major League Baseball are banning alcohol from the clubhouse, with St. Louis taking the lead. OK, then why didn't they take this step in spring training, when their manager, Tony LaRussa was found alseep at the wheel at a stoplight? He wa over the legal limit then, but I never heard anything about banning alcohol from clubhouses. And, if we're going to start banning alcohol from the clubhouses, then when do all the alcohol advertising signs come down? I mean, if St. Louis is going to really take the lead here, let's see them remove all of the Budweiser signs from around Busch Stadium. Better than that, let's see them completely stop the sale of beer and other alcoholic beverages from their games. That will never happen, of course, because of the revenues that alcohol brings in. At most parks, one beer goes for seven to eight dollars per cup. Now, clubs think it's more than OK for us, as average fans, to come in and buy beer from the National Anthem to the 7th inning stretch, and then go drive home. They have the cash in their pocket, and he have a hangover in the morning. But for clubs to then turn around and tell their milti-million dollar, pampered employees they can't have a beer after a game? Good luck enforcing that one. The fact that someone died while driving drunk is not an indictment on beer.....it's an indictment on the person. At what point do reason and accountability come into play? At what point does a 29 year old man realize he's had too much to dring, and therefore, should seek alternate methods of transportation? Let's assign blame where it really needs to be, people. It's not the spoon that makes people fat. The teacher is not the reason some kids do poorly in school. And, it's not the beer that killed Josh Hancock. Josh Hancock killed Josh Hancock.


That's all I have for now. Thanks again.

Till next time.......


Patrick