Apologies

Originally posted on “Is It Sports?” by Ryan. Ryan felt he was a little harsh on some people in his early posts, and wants to make up for it. I think this is where this site’s love affair with Cliff Floyd began.

Being the ever gracious Minnesotan, I feel the need to make some apologies. One of the things I’ve learned in my relatively brief dealings with sports and the media is that one little request for forgiveness, or even if not that, a sincere apology, goes a long way. Take the Minnesota sports scene for example. On the one hand, you have Juan Rincon, who apologized profusely, despite the fact that he still wasn’t clear exactly as to what transpired. He even apologized for not knowing what was going on!

Then, on the other hand you have Randy Moss. He ran over a cop. No apology. He displayed some fairly obscene treatment towards officials. No apology. Needless to say, Moss was run out of town, Juan Rincon is still a fan favorite out of the Twins bull pen. The list goes on in Minnesota.

Without further ado, I would like to mention a few people I need to apologize to. First on my list is Matt Guerrier. I have to admit, especially in my baseball preview, I didn’t expect much from you, but you’ve turned into one of the three most reliable relievers in a very strong bullpen. Same goes to Jesse Crain, who’s been even better.

Keeping in the same sport, I owe apologies to a couple other guys. A.J. Pierzynski seems to have stepped away from his legendary cancerous history. He’s transformed what for years had been an underachieving and downright poor staff into one that has two starters in the all star game, one of whom is Jon Garland and Jose Contreras is actually respectable. Cantankerous catchers usually don’t promote this kind of improvement.

Then there’s Cliff Floyd. I’ve laid into him pretty ferociously since January. Turns out this guy, whom I had labeled as overpaid is finally playing like his paycheck would suggest. Actually, this season he is the best outfielder the Mets had. I will now turn my ire at overpaid athletes on Carlos Beltran and Mike Cameron.

I have to apologize to the NHLPA. I never would have though that guys with those few teeth would be able to understand the financial issues of the league. They needed to take the salary cap, and contract reductions if they wanted to have jobs in America. The trick now is to convince the owners that they shouldn’t change the rules as drastically as they intend to. The interest in the league is down not because of the pace of the game, but because the games are played in cities without a hockey tradition. Real fans know that, as Patrick Reusse of the Minneapolis Star Tribune said, ending a tie game with a shootout is like ending a baseball game with a homerun derby, or a tied basketball game with a three point contest. I’m watching you NHL Owners.

I’m inclined to apologize to you, the reader, as we don’t update quite as much as we should. Additionally, we tend to stray from our initial, base posts on IM conversations that we’ve had. Well, we still do, but we just don’t include them in the posts. Nevertheless, I think the site is growing stronger when we get around to actual updates.

Enough about me though. There are other people in the public eye that deserve to apologize. Like Kenny Rogers. Not only did he shove the camera man, as you may have seen once or twice but he has done something else that has tarnished his career. He’s shared a name with a country singer, bringing him to the forefront. I don’t want to EVER think about the other Kenny Rogers!

That brings me to another annoyance. ESPN. Not only are they overdramatic on whatever scandal they feel like, be it Kobe, who I don’t care about, or Kenny Rogers, who I don’t care about, or even Barry Bonds, who I don’t care bout, but they aren’t handling the hockey strike well at all. Instead of making light of how forlorn the hockey fans are, they make fun of how nobody (besides about 100 million people) cares about the game. Instead of playing programming that people want to see, like Major League Baseball, they play college baseball and softball.

I give them credit, however, that they stick to their guns with the whole poker thing. It’s the sports network, not the network for athletic prowess. Sport means competition, not always athletic competition. So to you naysayers, I demand you apologize to ESPN. But only for that. Demand that the network makes other changes.

That’s all that I need to mention for now. You know there are others that need to apologize, so don’t let them get away with it. And if you didn’t like this post, well then, I’m sorry. -Ryan