To describe the past week in sports as unpleasant wouldn’t begin to do justice to the silliness, the dishonesty, and the lack of integrity displayed by so many. I almost don’t even know where to begin, but, like any other journey, this one begins with a single step…or in this case a kick, courtesy of….
Tiger Woods. Time was when his fellow golfers were in awe of and completely intimidated by Woods. He was a winner, capable of conjuring up golfing magic seemingly at will. Then it came to light that he’d slept with half the women in Las Vegas and was working his way through the other half…all while married to an incredibly hot Swedish woman.
Yeah, I don’t know what he was thinking, either.
Woods has come back to the pack, and his vulnerability is unmistakable. Still a very good golfer, Woods is no longer feared…and in some cases not even respected. This is especially true after his performance in the Masters. As if finishing in 38th place wasn’t humbling enough for the four-time champion, he hit the ball all over the lot, swore like a longshoreman, and kicked his club like a petulant child. So much for respecting the game….
You’d think that after displaying his churlish immaturity for Augusta’s patrons, he’d be contrite, fess up, and promise to do better. Au contraire, mon ami…. Woods, as usual, spoke in generalities and platitudes. His lips were moving, but the words that emerged were empty and meaningless.
It could have been worse; he could have had to deal with a mess similar to that created by….
Bobby Petrino. In some cases, a 51-year-old man with a hot 25-year-old former volleyball-playing girlfriend would be the envy of most any man. Except that Petrino happens to be married…and the football coach at the University of Arkansas. Or at least he was until a few days ago.
Petrino lied to his bosses while coaching at Louisville. He lied to his bosses and his players while coaching the Atlanta Falcons. No one should be surprised that this pattern of behavior continued at Arkansas. Petrino hired his 25-year-old mistress for a $56,000/yr. job with the football program. He lied about his motorcycle accident to his bosses, the press, and his wife and family. Eventually, the lies and deception were bound to catch up with him.
To his credit, Petrino acknowledged his errors and accepted responsibility for them. I hope he’ll be able to keep his family together, learn from his mistakes, and come back as a better, more balanced and honest person. He can’t change the past, but he can chart a new course into the future.
Passing judgment on Petrino seems redundant. His behavior and his dissembling cost him his job, with the possibility of more fallout to come. Ambition can be a double-edged sword. Unchecked, it can drive a person to behave as Petrino did, leading to a spectacular fall from grace.
Then again, sometimes ambition can produce truly entertaining results, sort of like the antics of the….
Texas Tech chess team. After repeating as national champions (who even knew anyone crowned a collegiate chess champion?), Tech Coach Susan Polgar stunned the chess world. Concluding that Lubbock just wasn’t big enough for a championship program, Polgar announced that she and her entire team were transferring to Webster University in St. Louis.
That’s one way for a tiny Liberal Arts school to instantly develop a championship-caliber chess program, eh?
Hey, if you had the opportunity to escape from Lubbock, wouldn’t you??
Speaking of misplaced ambition, there’s always our very own….
Seattle Mariners. Seattle is finally getting serious about building an NBA/NHL arena in SoDo. Mariners CEO Howard Lincoln for some reason chose to rain on the idea of an arena next to Safeco Field and Whatever-They’re-Calling-It-These-Days stadium. Evidently, Lincoln thinks the area on the southern edge of downtown Seattle just isn’t big enough for yet another jock palace. Never mind that developer Chris Hansen has already chosen and purchased the land for the arena. Lincoln is making the weak argument that traffic and parking issues in SoDo will be an unsolvable and intractable problem. What it really comes down to is self-interest.
What Lincoln doesn’t understand is that there will be few days when the Seahawks or Mariners will experience a scheduling conflict with the occupants of a new arena. His stated opposition to something that most Seattle sports fans want is as misguided as it is disingenuous.
Hansen, to his credit, acknowledged Lincoln’s concerns, even offering to pay for a study of transportation issues that may be created by a new arena. Hansen’s stepping up to the plate stands in stark contrast to Lincoln’s curmudgeonly, self-interested opposition.
As bad as Lincoln looked in objecting to the new arena, at least he didn’t have to deal with what happened to….
Warren Sapp. How do you end up broke and $6.7 million in debt? I have no idea, but evidently Sapp managed to do just that, filing for Chapter 7 bankruptcy. Listed among his assets are 240 pairs of Jordan athletic shoes valued at $6,500. What one would do with 240 pair of athletic shoes is a question I can’t even begin to answer, but an asset’s an asset, right?
Sapp seems to have done a spectacularly poor job of managing his finances and keeping track of his valuable possessions. Somewhere along the way, he managed to lose both his Super Bowl and NCAA championship rings. I suppose when you’re young and rich, you think you’re always going to have money, right? Then the money runs out and reality sets in.
While we’re on the subject of bad days, there’s always the….
New Orleans Saints. In a decision that surprised no one, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell denied the appeals of the suspensions he handed out as a result of the Saints’ bounty scandal. Coach Sean Payton will have plenty of time to work on his short game. GM Mickey Loomis will be able to take that slow boat to China he’s always dreamed about. And since Joe Vitt, the interim coach, is suspended for the first six games, the Saints will need to name an interim interim coach.
Don’t even get me started….
And then there’s former Defensive Coordinator Gregg Williams, now with the St. Louis Rams. A documentary filmmaker recorded Williams’ pregame speech prior to a 36-32 playoff loss to San Francisco. In it, Williams can be heard imploring his defense to physically punish and injure specific 49ers players. It’s sickening to listen to. Yes, football is a violent sport (George Will once called it “violence punctuated by committee meetings.”). Williams crossed the line in exhorting his defense to target 49ers players with the intent to injure. He deserves his indefinite suspension as much as anyone associated with the Saints’ bounty scandal.
Given the seriousness of the Saints organization’s transgressions, it feels almost trivial to mention….
John Tortorella. The head coach of the New York Rangers was fined by NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman for cursing during a press conference.
Say what?? Bettman will tolerate all manner of predatory on-ice pugilism…but cursing during a press conference is beyond the pale? Bettman’s rationale?
“I think he did it four times … He’s a professional. He knows better than that. As emotional as you get, when you’re a head coach in this league, when you’re in a public media session, you shouldn’t be cursing.”
Right. Players can drop their gloves and turn a perfectly good hockey game into Friday Night Fights, but you’d better not be caught cursing on camera.
We have standards, after all.
The good news about this week is that it’s over. Another week brings renewed hope…and the Stanley Cup Playoffs, which IMHO, is the best time of the sports year. Hey, where else can you find talented athletes in scraggly beards playing relatively fight-free world-class hockey? It just doesn’t get much better.
I don’t want to end this and leave my readers with the impression that losers, liars, and immature crybabies dominated this week. No, there was at least one hero this week….
Jeff Francouer, the Kansas City Royals’ right fielder, is a hero in Oakland for what’s known as “Bacon Tuesday.” Last season, Francouer tossed a baseball wrapped in a $100 bill into the stands at Oakland Coliseum with a note telling fans to buy bacon or beer.
He did it again last week when the Royals were playing in Oakland, and he went one better. On Wednesday, Francouer had personal pizzas delivered to a small but vocal group of fans in section 149, along with a signed bat. Now fans in Oakland love Francouer and cheer him at every opportunity. Go figure….
For his part, Francouer understands that he’s playing a kid’s game and it’s supposed to be fun.
Baseball is fun. We can take it too seriously sometimes.
I don’t know about you, but Jeff Francouer deserves to be recognized and applauded for recognizing that without baseball fans, he’d be driving a beer truck in Atlanta. Would that more athletes possessed his sense of maturity and humility.
Tune in next week when I’ll be discussing why John Calipari should be the next coach of the Trailblazers and why Ashley Judd should replace Calipari at Kentucky.
And I suppose you have a better idea??
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