Professional Stupidity Run Amok

Stupidity is common among professional athletes. Most of the brutes that play professional football lack a certain intelligence that powers the part of the brain that controls self-preservation. They do in fact play one of the most violent sports there is to compete in these days, so it takes a certain kind of insanity right off the bat just to consider stepping onto the field with guys like LaRon Landry roaming the secondary looking for a head to take off. Any one of them could tell you what any of the other 10 guys on the field will be doing in any given situation, and how to respond to this kind of formation or that particular type of play. But when it comes to handling their life off of the football field, most of them are clueless and naïve. The media has proficiently covered the blunders and mishaps of various football players and their horrendously dim-witted and careless involvement in maintaining a social nightlife. This is the year that Pac-man Jones beat down his security guard in a drunken stupor just 6 months after being arrested, suspended, and subpoenaed for his involvement in an altercation at a strip club in Las Vegas. This is also the year that Plaxico Burress ‘fumbled’ his gun in his pants at a Latin dance club in New York and accidentally shot himself in the leg with an unlicensed handgun. Stupidity has rung at full volume this season, all while drowning out the foolishness of possibly the leagues brightest shining star.

Tom Brady is one of the greatest quarterbacks I have ever personally seen play the game in my lifetime. He is outfitted with a strong and accurate arm, a keen mental awareness, ’cold as ice’ composure, and the qualities of a natural born leader. He has the talent, the charm, and the looks to take him anywhere that his imagination and boyhood fantasy could lead him. But what a boneheaded move he made by choosing his own doctor to repair his blown out knee as opposed to letting a sports specialized surgeon appointed by the team perform the procedure. Now, not even 24 hours after the end of the regular season in which he only participated in for roughly 8 minutes, it looks as if he will have to have his knee surgically repaired again to correct the infection that has caused him problems throughout his rehab thus far. If this is the case, and that is indeed how it goes down, he will likely miss the entire season next year. Somebody seems to have gotten caught up in the glamour of the ‘LA’ life and lost his sense of reality. Well reality now reads “Back to the sidelines you came from Tom.” No more celebrity status. Just another dumb ass football player with all the talent and all the qualities of a star, who flushed it all away by making decisions that he was never cut out to make. That’s exactly why professional organizations like the Patriots hire professional doctors to handle their tremendously valuable athletes.

*Disclaimer: I am a fan of Tom Brady. I have been a fan of his since Drew Bledsoe went down and Brady stepped in and made a few miraculous throws to win the game. I support all Michigan Wolverines and former Wolverines and I will continue to support them even through bonehead moves made in their collegiate/professional career. I even forgave Chris Webber for his infamous “timeout.”

Great Ball Player, Dreadful Coach

In light of the recent firing of Sixers coach Maurice Cheeks, I'd like to share my thoughts from 2 weeks ago... when I first began to call for the rolling of Mo's head.

12/1/08

Coaches coach. Thats the bottom line. Mo Cheeks is not a coach. Not at a professional level atleast. A coach motivates and uses his assets in the best way he sees fit to win the game. It's more complicated then that but at the same time it's not. That is the primary function of a coach at a professional level. It's not as if he's trying to develop talent. These are grown men... professional ball players. They've been through the motions most of their lives. They know how to play the game. But it is painfully obvious that they don't know how to play in Mo's system. They look confused. It's more like backyard ball than professional play. Atleast when you throw down on the court around the neighborhood, you go after rebounds with the necessary aggression. This team is full of potential, but they lack guidance. What happened to the hard-nosed defense that they played last year? Where is the post game that Elton Brand was supposed to bring with him when he came to Philly? Their whole selling point to the fans is "Come Run With Us." Where's the running? These are concerns that the team needs to address if they want to compete in a very tough Eastern Confrence. Keep in mind that the reason why Allen Iverson is not with the Sixers anymore, much to the dismay of the fans, is because the organization invested hope and confidence in Mo Cheeks. With that said, the first thing I would do if I was Ed Stefanski would be to fire Mo Cheeks. I like Mo. He seems like a good guy. But he's not a good fit for this team. He was a good fit for last years team. This year, the main objective was a new direction. A new team, with new talent. I'm sorry, but being outscored 31-11 in the third quarter with the entire starting lineup on the bench and the last 5 guys on the depth chart in the game for more than half of the quarter is grounds to fire the guy who puts the lineup on the floor. Brick after brick, bad foul after bad foul. The players on the court did not deserve to be on the floor at that critical point in the game. They didn't match up with the opposing team. Chicago had the right guys on the court at the right time and they ran away with the game before the buzzer sounded to end the third quarter. Sorry Mo... There's nobody to blame but you.

Holiday Hypocrite

With the holiday season in high gear, just 2 weeks away from Christmas, I have come to realize my hypocrisy in the celebration of Jesus/Commercialism. I disagree with and despise everything that Christmas represents in the eyes of many. I despise commercialism, even though it is good for the capitalist economy that you may deny that you live in. I also have grown to renounce Jesus Christ as my lord and savior despite the efforts of my family to drive it into my head that he is in fact "The Son of God." Don't get me wrong; I think Jesus was a very important historical figure... I just don’t buy into all of the hypocrisies of the Catholic Church and I don't buy into the idea that Jesus was what Christians have made him out to be. (For the record, for all of you who grew up with pictures of a white Jesus embedded into your head, he was of Middle Eastern descent, and if you haven't seen what the people in that region of the world look like, they are dark skinned.) There's even the idea presented by researchers that Jesus was born in June, utterly discrediting the correlation of Christmas to the celebration of the birth of Christ.

Despite all of the reasons why I should boycott Christmas each year, I still celebrate it as my favorite holiday. I see Christmas as a representation of something different. It's the spirit that makes it such a special holiday. It's the warm feeling you get when you're out driving, passing all the decorated houses along the way. Once you get home, you walk inside to see your tree pleasantly lit with decorations scattered throughout your home. There's the pain in the ass that is the Christmas shopping experience, but it's much more manageable to get through when you hear Christmas music playing overhead, softening the stress of dealing with the crowds and the long lines you get caught in.

But most importantly, it's a time that is meant for family. For some, it represents tradition. Some families do the exact same thing year after year, strengthening the bond they share with each other. My heart goes out to those who don't have a family to spend the holidays with because it can be a very lonely and depressing time of the year when you are overwhelmed with the visions of something you don't have or can't relate to. But hey, what would Christmas be without the Scrooges and Grinches of the world?

I tend to have a pessimistic view of most things in life, I can't help it... but it is so important to have something to look forward to and enjoy despite all the negativity that you can draw from it. You can look at Christmas as a financial burden to some, but there's nothing to say you have to spend "X" amount of dollars, and buy this and that for him and her. It's not supposed to be stressful (although you can very easily fall into the retail racket). The most important thing is to maintain and share the spirit with those close to you because you never really know how many more opportunities you will get to do so. Life is too short not to enjoy times like these with your loved ones.

So in closing, I would like to propose the disassociation of Christmas with the birth of Jesus Christ in an attempt to unite everybody, of all religions, in a celebration of life, love, and appreciation. Get rid of the fucking baby in the barn with the "virgin" and the carpenter... Christians can celebrate that shit in June if they'd like, when Jesus was actually born. They can even take the name if they'd like, I'd prefer a new one anyway... feel free to offer suggestions. Myself, I like "Santamas.”