Monday, December 29, 2008

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.”

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