Hello and welcome to another Wednesday of deep thoughts. What happened to global warming? It is mid May and normally, Austin is well on the way to summer. Not this year…pleasant and comfortable is what we have had of late. Of course, that means that others are still waiting for the warm up. I always find it interesting that “experts” talk of trends in weather in the past 100 years. Hell…that is not a trend; that is just a blip. Perspective is an interesting thing. Would you find advice from an 80 year old guy more valuable than a 20 year old? How about a weatherman that was 2000 years old? Now that is a guy that I would tune into listen to. Beezer and BOB touched on something that has been bothering me for awhile. As BOB mentioned yesterday, Tim Tebow cannot find a team willing to put up with the circus that comes with Tebow the football player. Beezer brought out the fact that the “hero” in Cleveland is perhaps not such a great guy after all. Many will say that Tebow is a victim of his popularity that he willingly fed. I guess that is fair, but is really true? From everything that I have heard, Tebow is a very hard working kid that loves to play the game. I am not a fan, but I can see that he has talent to play the game. What is it about Tebow that the media loves? Is it that he was a personality in college and has failed to find success in the NFL? Fans expect, no that is not the right word…we demand players to be available to the media. Usually, players adopt a mask for the camera and use clichés to avoid offering any real depth to who they really are. With Tebow, we get a player that appears to offer us something more than clichés. In doing so, Tim Tebow now understands the dark side of overexposure.
I read this week that Vinny Testerverde and Chris Weinke spent time in the off season working with Tim Tebow. They quickly learned that it was not his throwing motion that caused Tebow’s inaccuracy, but his horrible footwork. After correcting his footwork, his passes had sizzle and repeatedly were true. I also read that the Jets ruined Tebow’s chances of playing in the NFL. I would really like for this kid to get a chance to play. As of now, the only team interested is Jaworski’s AFL team. Tebow has not expressed any interest in arena football at this time.
We live in what has been described as an information age. It is impossible to ignore the many wonderful advances that technology has provided. With the good, comes the bad. With regards to the media and the manner that information is dispersed, I am done…kaput; sick and tired. Emails, twitter, TV, radio…each day such a giant tidal wave of information pours out that I find myself pulling back. Now, of course information is a good thing. It is just the way that the message is being delivered that I have such a problem with. Dig, dig and dig some more is what many media sources do. Why is it that each story must contain drama? Is it because that we want to find the bad stuff that surely must be hidden? I don’t know the Ramsey guy in Cleveland from Jack Shit and really don’t understand why his past is an issue. Except that it gives the media something to dig up and hold up as a trophy of sorts. See, this Good Samaritan is really not such a good guy at all. Look what we found…in the end, we forget that the guy did a really good thing in saving the three women from a horrible existence. Ramsey obviously has had issues in his past. He was punished for his bad behavior and it is not for me to judge his worth as a person, now. Obviously there is a need for this type of coverage because the media finds a large willing market. Maybe it is just me?
I suppose it is rather Pollyanna of me to wish for a simpler time. A time when we accepted things at face value without searching for the bad.. Naive, perhaps…but so much easier in so many ways.
Baseball fans are really big on maintaining the integrity of the game. When a player is “tainted” with real or alleged use of peds, he is completely written off by many fans. I constantly hear it said that players cheating are cheating the game. Why do these same fans not see that horrible umpiring also presents the same threat to the integrity of baseball? Frequently, I hear…”let’s not mess with the “human” element that umpires bring to the game.” I am sorry folks; you can’t take one without the other. A threat is a threat nonetheless. Why should we allow umpires to miss a home run that could have changed the outcome of a game? How can an umpire have access to replays that clearly indicated home run and still get it wrong? How can an umpire not know the rules required for a pitching change? Why allow a manager to protest a game without ever changing the outcome? I can recall one game that was replayed because of a protest…the pine tar game. If ever a game should have been redone it was the game that Oakland lost to Cleveland. Rule the ball a home run and finish the game from that point. I was listening to an interesting story with regards to the pine tar game that I had forgotten. When the Yankees and Royals met to replay the end of the game that allowed George Brett’s home run… Billy Martin appealed that Brett missed first base, then second and third base. The umpiring crew ruled that he was safe in touching all of the bases. Martin screamed, how can you say he touched the bases, you were not even here! Well, Billy we talked to the other crew and they said he touched the bases. Talk about covering all of your bases!! I have to admit that I had my mind changed this week. I work with a guy that is an umpire for high school games locally. I was asking the question why umpires get a pass from the media. Players and coaches alike have to endure the grilling after a game…why don’t umpires? My friend pointed out that umps are not supposed to be a personality. The problem that he sees is that many of these guys have too much personality and ego. By putting them in front of the camera or having their name put in print, we remove the anonymity that an umpire is supposed to have. An impartial judge is the job and I have to agree that he is right. Let’s give the umpires better tools to do their job and get rid of the few tools that wear blue and threaten the integrity of the game.
For all the complaining about baseball, there are also many great things about the game. Here is something that is an example of something that is wonderful about baseball. Think Ryu is now a favorite of this kid? Awesome...
I have not followed the NBA much this year, but do know that everyone was singing the praises of Seth Curry. Golden State was going to knock the Spurs out. Spurs were too old…yadda yadda. Looks like the Spurs had a different idea on Tuesday night. Curry had touted that they were the greatest backcourt in history…Curry had 9 points Tuesday night. Reminds me of the great quote by Samuel Clemens…”reports of my demise have been greatly exaggerated.” Somehow the Spurs get it done…when Pop is done coaching, we will look back and realize what a great coach he was. What a great defensive team coached by a tough minded coach.
That’s all I have today, but I will leave you with a bit of Jack Handey…
“If I had a nickname, I would want it to be” Prince of Weasels”, because then I could go up and bite people and they would turn around and go…”What the…?”And then they would recognize me and say, ‘Oh, it’s you, the Prince of Weasels”. “
“I hope when they die that cartoon characters have to answer for their sins.”
That’s all I have for today, but feel free to leave a few deep thoughts of your own.
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