When There's Nothing Going On, Make Something Up
We're in a bit of a doldrums cycle in the world of sports right now. The S**** B*** has come and gone (but I still don't want to get sued, hence the asterisks). Pitchers and catchers don't report to Spring Training for another week or so. Nobody watches or cares about the Pro Bowl, and yeah the NBA and NHL are still in the meat of their regular seasons, but nobody watches the NBA or NHL either. So we have college basketball, but we're still a month away from M**** M****** (yeah, you can't say that either without getting sued... just remember it's a month and a synonym for "craziness"). Also, given Syracuse's play of late (having 100 dropped on us 2 out of 3 games), I'd rather not think about the college game right now. Suffice to say, there's not much exciting to write or talk about.
Which is probably why we've had a massive amount of non-news dominating the sports media conversation of late. I get the obligatory day or two of post-Big Game coverage; you have to follow the MVP to Disney World and forecast whether or not the Steelers and Cardinals will be just as good next year. However, five days of discussion about the officiating in the Super Bowl? Yeah. FIVE DAYS OF IT. First there was all the hubbub about Kurt Warner's fumble at the end of the game and whether or not it should have been reviewed. This is all moot of course because the NFL director of officiating said that it was the correct call. Therefore, WHY WERE WE STILL TALKING ABOUT IT? Then, we get not one, but TWO days of talk about whether or not Santonio Holmes should have been flagged for excessive celebration after the game-winning TD. WHY?
Meanwhile, I have to watch Mel Kiper give endless draft projections and the friggin' draft is over two months away. I propose a total moratorium on talking about the draft, right up until 2 weeks before. You can talk about the combine, you can talk about college juniors declaring early, but you CANNOT project, and you CANNOT talk about whose "stock" is going up or down. Period.
This phenomenon of inventing things to talk about is not just limited to football, however. The New York media has been hard at work trying to create a story about Manny Ramirez. A player which NEITHER New York team has had any interest in signing from the moment he became a free agent. But what do I see on the back page of the New York tabloids not too long ago? A headline declaring that the Mets are screwed in 2009 if they don't make a run at Manny.
Excuse me? Why on earth would we want Manny in that clubhouse? We don't need a Manny Ramirez with all the baggage he brings... ohhhhh, I get it. The New York sports media want the Mets to sign him because then THEY'LL HAVE SOMETHING TO WRITE ABOUT! Nothing like a little clubhouse drama and tension to sell newspapers, even if there is none. So naturally Omar Minaya and Brian Cashman both had to issue denials this week about being interested in Manny, simply because it's now a story, and it shouldn't be. We're quite happy with the roster we have, especially since we resigned Oliver Perez. Of course, I saw that one coming... all we had to do was wait until the first few days of February and Scott Boras would relent, realize that nobody was going to sign Oliver for what Boras was asking, and come crawling back to us. Pretty good strategy. Besides, we can't do anything about the fact that a sizable segment of the baseball world thinks we're screwed in 2009 regardless of whether or not we have Manny; they all live in Philadelphia.
And speaking of Scott Boras clients and things I was right about... today we did get a LEGITIMATE SPORTS STORY. A-Rod reportedly tested positive for steroids back in 2003. Of course, I called this one back in the summer of '07 when I said he didn't look natural at all. Well, that'll knock the most overrated player on America's favorite 3rd-place team down a peg. Oh by the way, don't forget I correctly predicted the Yankees' 3rd-place finish last year. Geez, when you lump in me being just one point off on the S**** B***, I'm getting really good at this prediction business.
Anyway, A-Roid can't be punished for this transgression, since this was under the supposed anonymous testing program back in 2003, but he becomes just one more player from the last 10-15 years whose numbers you have to put a mental asterisk after. But this is a real story, and thank god because I really can't stand watching SportsCenter these days when it's 15 minutes of made-up NFL controversy, 44 minutes of NBA and college basketball highlights, and maybe 60 seconds of hockey coverage. After all, ESPN has the NBA and NOT the NHL, so they have to promote their product.
Thank god for MLB Network... Spring Training cannot come soon enough.
Which is probably why we've had a massive amount of non-news dominating the sports media conversation of late. I get the obligatory day or two of post-Big Game coverage; you have to follow the MVP to Disney World and forecast whether or not the Steelers and Cardinals will be just as good next year. However, five days of discussion about the officiating in the Super Bowl? Yeah. FIVE DAYS OF IT. First there was all the hubbub about Kurt Warner's fumble at the end of the game and whether or not it should have been reviewed. This is all moot of course because the NFL director of officiating said that it was the correct call. Therefore, WHY WERE WE STILL TALKING ABOUT IT? Then, we get not one, but TWO days of talk about whether or not Santonio Holmes should have been flagged for excessive celebration after the game-winning TD. WHY?
Meanwhile, I have to watch Mel Kiper give endless draft projections and the friggin' draft is over two months away. I propose a total moratorium on talking about the draft, right up until 2 weeks before. You can talk about the combine, you can talk about college juniors declaring early, but you CANNOT project, and you CANNOT talk about whose "stock" is going up or down. Period.
This phenomenon of inventing things to talk about is not just limited to football, however. The New York media has been hard at work trying to create a story about Manny Ramirez. A player which NEITHER New York team has had any interest in signing from the moment he became a free agent. But what do I see on the back page of the New York tabloids not too long ago? A headline declaring that the Mets are screwed in 2009 if they don't make a run at Manny.
Excuse me? Why on earth would we want Manny in that clubhouse? We don't need a Manny Ramirez with all the baggage he brings... ohhhhh, I get it. The New York sports media want the Mets to sign him because then THEY'LL HAVE SOMETHING TO WRITE ABOUT! Nothing like a little clubhouse drama and tension to sell newspapers, even if there is none. So naturally Omar Minaya and Brian Cashman both had to issue denials this week about being interested in Manny, simply because it's now a story, and it shouldn't be. We're quite happy with the roster we have, especially since we resigned Oliver Perez. Of course, I saw that one coming... all we had to do was wait until the first few days of February and Scott Boras would relent, realize that nobody was going to sign Oliver for what Boras was asking, and come crawling back to us. Pretty good strategy. Besides, we can't do anything about the fact that a sizable segment of the baseball world thinks we're screwed in 2009 regardless of whether or not we have Manny; they all live in Philadelphia.
And speaking of Scott Boras clients and things I was right about... today we did get a LEGITIMATE SPORTS STORY. A-Rod reportedly tested positive for steroids back in 2003. Of course, I called this one back in the summer of '07 when I said he didn't look natural at all. Well, that'll knock the most overrated player on America's favorite 3rd-place team down a peg. Oh by the way, don't forget I correctly predicted the Yankees' 3rd-place finish last year. Geez, when you lump in me being just one point off on the S**** B***, I'm getting really good at this prediction business.
Anyway, A-Roid can't be punished for this transgression, since this was under the supposed anonymous testing program back in 2003, but he becomes just one more player from the last 10-15 years whose numbers you have to put a mental asterisk after. But this is a real story, and thank god because I really can't stand watching SportsCenter these days when it's 15 minutes of made-up NFL controversy, 44 minutes of NBA and college basketball highlights, and maybe 60 seconds of hockey coverage. After all, ESPN has the NBA and NOT the NHL, so they have to promote their product.
Thank god for MLB Network... Spring Training cannot come soon enough.
posted by Dave | 4:12 PM
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