MEH, THE NFL IS BACK.



At a time when unemployment is running over 9% (17% actual if you count the underemployed and those that have given up looking for work); football players and team owners were, until yesterday, haggling over the split of the $9 billion in revenue that the NFL generates annually.  To the average unemployed individual it seemed to be a rather petty dispute between callous millionaires and billionaires. 

In San Diego, the wealthy Spanos family is still trying to find a way to have the taxpayers subsidize a new stadium with taxpayer cash and city land for their Chargers business.  Their quest has been made more difficult by Governor Jerry "Retread" Brown's impound of all local community redevelopment funds to help satisfy the Sacramento's insatiable appetite for spending.  Unless an owner builds his or her own stadium or the team is located in a prosperous state like Texas, it will be at least ten years before any sports stadium is financed with public funds. 

All this brings to mind the real purpose of local government, which is to provide basic municipal services like streets, fire protection, police, and infrastructure.  Local governments are not venture capital banks.  Few politicians have the requisite skills to run a simple lemonade stand.   And truth be told, most politicians have no real marketable job skills.  Elective office is often the best job that most of them will ever have.  And the NFL owners are just another bunch of potential campaign contributors that, with a well placed contribution might benefit financially using other people's money, i.e., taxpayer money. 

Keep your eye on the bouncing ball!

I loved the game when it was common for players to take "real jobs" in the off season.  That was in the Golden Age of Pro Football in the 1960s.  A couple of players worked at the department store where I worked at as a sales clerk forty years ago.  Other players sold cars, insurance, houses or worked at banks.  They were for the most part regular guys and not the prima donnas of today's game.  The game lost its luster for me when the NFL reinstated Michael Vick, dog torturer and gambling ring impresario. 

Nobody denies that Michael Vick has a right to make a living, but there are some misdeeds that should foreclose one from making a living in certain professions.  Thieves rarely get to work at banks or any job that requires honesty.  The animal cruelty aside, running a gambling ring should be evidence of a character flaw that is incompatible with the so-called integrity of the NFL.

No doubt I'll watch a couple of football games this year.  But it just doesn't have the same magic that it held for me many years ago when I was able to eat my tuna sandwich next to a real NFL player in the store lunchroom.



They don't make them like that anymore--

the 32 cent postage stamp OR Jim Thorpe.

An Unwanted Sexual Assault by Any Other Name is Still a Sexual Assault

In  an earlier post I discussed the case of Michael Vick being reinstated into the NFL after doing time in the Federal Pen for running and bankrolling a gambling ring involving dog fighting.  (A $30 million contract and this guy is interested in chump change made from dog fighting?)  Apart from the brutal treatment of the dogs, one would have thought the gambling offense would have permanently barred Vick from pro-football.  Other sports leagues like the NBA and MLB have barred players and referees for life because of gambling.

The post also discussed other dubious NFL characters like Lawrence Phillips, the Nebraska running back that once dragged his college girlfriend down several flights of stairs at a college dormitory... what a he-man!  In both cases, obvious sociopaths are/were allowed to pursue lucrative NFL careers.  The NFL is also the same league that doesn't think Rush Limbaugh is fit to be an NFL owner, yet a part owner of an AFC franchise that is known for a very public urination incident is fit to own an NFL franchise.  The NFL is a strange institution.  Many of the players have attended college for varying time periods.  (Most of them spent more time in classes during four years of college than Barack Obama spent "working" in the the United States Senate during the four years he was a Senator. Obama attended Senate sessions about 143 days total.) 

For some reason, the NFL is a haven for thugs and misfits.  Yes, I know that NBA has its share of thugs, but it pales in comparison with the NFL.  A couple of seasons ago, there was running gag as to whether the Cincinnati Bengals would be able to field a football team because of the abnormal number of Bengal players being arrested.  The Oakland Raiders have lived off an overblown outlaw image for years. Their fan base is so notorious that a local bail bondsman runs this ad whenever the Raiders come to town. 

Humor and showbiz aside, there is a dark side to the NFL's crypto-outlaw image.  Rae Carruth, an emerging NFL star with the Carolina Panthers is doing time for the murder of his pregnant girlfriend Cherica Adams.  Carruth had already lost a paternity suit and apparently didn't want the additional financial obligation of another child.  What a stand-up guy!  Carruth was found guilty of conspiracy to commit murder, shooting into an occupied vehicle, using an instrument to destroy an unborn child (he probably had her killed because she wouldn't get an abortion at a legalized murder mill like Planned Parenthood) and is serving a prison sentence of 18-24 years.  Thankfully the child survived.  Kind of ironic isn't it?

My local team, the San Diego Chargers has had its share of misfits and felons.  Terrence Kiel died in a car crash on July 4, 2008 after leaving a party.  Kiel pleaded guilty in February 2007, to felony and misdemeanor drug charges for shipping codeine-based cough syrup to Texas and the Chargers released him.  The Chargers recently traded flash in the pan cornerback Antonio Cromartie to the New York Jets.  Cromartie was involved in a recent barroom incident involving a thrown champagne bottle hitting another patron in the head...  but really, Cromartie is truly a class act because it was probably a Cristal Champagne bottle that slipped from his hand!  BTW, Cromartie is currently facing a paternity suit in San Diego.  So he's negotiating the terms of child support.  (Hey, it's a lot better than Rae Carruth's approach to unwanted pregnancy, n'est pas?)  But after watching his last two seasons of play, I don't think that Cromartie will reach the five year mark to get a fat NFL pension unless he spends the rest of his career as a back-up or a kick returner.  Apart from the usual DUIs and a Tila Tequila aficionado, the Chargers are a relatively tame NFL team.  In the 2010 draft, they seem to have drafted a quality character guy in Ryan Mathews, a seemingly genuine "aw shucks" guy.  Mathews would follow in the footsteps of another quality character guy, LaDainian Tomlinson who now plays for the New York Jets.  Of course I could be as wrong about Mathews being an "aw shucks" guy as I was with another first rounder also named Ryan over a decade ago.  Ryan Leaf is now doing time for a drug offense.


So what's all this discussion leading to?  A week ago, a district attorney in Georgia decided he would not prosecute Ben Roethlisberger in connection with a sexual assault complaint filed by a 20-year-old female college student.  While "Big Ben" has escaped the long arm of the criminal law process--again, he's still facing a civil lawsuit in Nevada from another woman alleging a sexual assault by "Big Ben."  But Roethlisberger did get firm disciplinary action from the NFL.  Big Ben got a six game suspension from moral sentinel and NFL Commish Roger Goodell.  But knowing the éclair spine of Roger "Not so" Goodell, it will probably be reduced to four games.  The NFL is a business after all.  Fans want their heroes to play!  And the Steelers are one of the legendary franchises in the NFL.  Do you really think that Goodell will allow the iconic Rooney family's business to flounder while their franchise QB languishes in saloons looking for some "touch"?   I doubt it.  If Goodell was willing to allow a sadistic  dog-killing bookie to be reinstated in the NFL, this latest peccadillo should land Roethlisberger in the Pro-Football Hall of Fame and a juicy blurb in Penthouse Forum letters.


Boy, do I miss the good old days as when then Charger star defensive back Leslie "Speedy" Duncan gladly signed an autograph for my little brother (and me) in the sporting goods department of the old Broadway Department Store in 1969.  Forty years later I still remember it like it happened today.  During the Golden Age of Pro-Football, players were regular guys that held real jobs in the off season and gladly signed autographs.  With the Super Bowl, Big Media, Mega Beer Brewers, and Big Gambling--the Pro-Football Valhalla of a young boy's imagination is long gone.  Too bad.  Boys and grown up men need more stand-up guys to look up to.  We all do.

Foul Ball! Steroids, Baseball, and Hypocrisy

There are three things that you just don't mess with in America. They are--in no particular order--kids, dogs, and baseball.  Child molesters that are exposed to the general population in prison are assured of certain death.  Mistreatment of a dog invites scorn and contempt, although that is now under question with the NFL's attempted beatification of Michael Vick.  And please note that the American people take their baseball very, very seriously. 

There is a widespread misconception among baseball fans that Major League Baseball (MLB) is the only sport that is pure and pristine.  NBA players are considered gangsta' thugs. Rush Limbaugh once described quite accurately that a typical NFL game sometimes resembles a fight between the Crips and the Bloods.  But, baseball fans conveniently forget about the "Black Sox" scandal, the Pete Rose gambling scandal (more on that below), the use of greenies, spitballs, and the collusion among club owners to avoid competitive bidding for players' services. Yet baseball fans are outraged at steroid use in baseball.  ("I'm shocked, shocked that there is drug use in Major League Baseball!")

In an interview with Bob Costas, Mark McGwire finally admitted steroid use, confirming what was probably the worst kept secret in the history of humankind.  McGwire, between crocodile tears, claimed that he used steroids only for health purposes although an FBI informant claims otherwise.   McGwire was recently hired to be the hitting instructor for the St.Louis Cardinals.  Cardinal Manager Tony LaRussa stands by his man claiming that McGwire would have hit all those home runs without steroids.  Yeah, and Dave Kingman hit for average.

Maybe there was a pang of guilt, but in reality McGwire was probably testing the waters to see if baseball would accept his return.  McGwire has been under the radar since his retirement in 2001, thus avoiding the scorn and contempt experienced by Barry Bonds.  Bonds has been essentially ostracized from MLB since 2007, with no AL team needing a power-hitting DH with bad knees.  Bonds is also under indictment for perjury.  The trial has been indefinitely postponed. Other steroid users haven't fared much better.  There is the indefinite suspension by MLB of Rafael Palmiero following his finger waving testimony before Congress.  Another player in steroid limbo is Roger Clemens who continues to be investigated by the Department of Justice for perjury.  Sammy Sosa, despite being named as one of the 103 players that tested positive for steroid use, calmly waits--as he believes--for his induction into the Hall of Fame.

By cutting a deal with Congress before his testimony before his testimony, McGwire, until his tearful confession has avoided any consequences of his steroid use.  But who knows what McGwire gave the "Honorable Gentlepersons" of the Congress [sic]  in exchange for his testimony?  For some reason, McGwire has received kid glove treatment all of these years while others have paid in one way or another for using performance enhancing drugs.  Steven A. Smith expressed his contempt for McGwire on the January 12th broadcast of his Fox Sports show.  The elephant in the room was that McGwire was given preferential treatment because he is White as opposed to the treatment that Barry Bonds has endured.  It's not clear whether the race victim card applies here, but it is odd that McGwire got a Congressional deal that others didn't get.  What is really laughable is that perhaps the most crooked Congress--(read Democrats)--in American history self-righteously deigns to judge alleged steroid users.     

Many fans still question the continued suspension of Pete Rose for gambling on baseball.  A USA Today/Gallup poll showed that 75 percent of more than 1,000 Americans surveyed think that player use of performance-enhancing drugs is more serious than Rose's gambling offense. The same poll shows that support for Rose's Hall of Fame eligibility has not changed in 20 years--60 percent favor it and 35 percent are opposed to make Rose eligible.  Whatever Rose was, he gave his all on the field and never considered any alternative to winning. He was known as Charlie Hustle because of that quality.  While reprehensible on its face, knowing how competitive Rose was, it is believable that he would bet on his own team.  But it was still wrong to gamble on baseball.  My über-smart Sister once told me that, "If it's wrong on Monday then it's wrong the rest of the week." 
  

But all of these barroom and squawk radio discussions about relative filth miss the point.  Both gambling and steroid use compromise the integrity of the game.  Otherwise, why not evolve into sports entertainment like the WWE?  That's because although we may know the probable outcome of a WWE wrestling match and that some of the wrestler's bodies may be "enhanced," we're still entertained.  FYI, there are fans of wrestling that are called "smarks" that are fans that enjoy pro wrestling despite or because they know that it is staged.  But Americans enjoy a wide range of entertainment options and know how to put things in their proper perspective.  The only time they get angry is when there's a misrepresentation of the product that they've spent their hard earned dollars on.  This is the emotion behind the anger toward Tiger Woods who was misrepresented as a clean-cut guy but who turned out in reality to be Tiger Woody.  From all this, perhaps even Barack Obama might experience a "teachable moment" and reconsider his misrepresentation that he is a moderate.  But knowing how arrogant he is and that he is Soros' puppet, it's doubtful that he would ever be open-minded enough to be truthful.  It is turning out that there is no such thing as change that we can believe in.

A Rose by any other name...

Remember the old arguments made about the differing punishments accorded black vs. white cocaine offenders in the 1990s? It was argued by some that because whites were busted for snorting pricey coke powder that they were given lighter jail sentences. Their black counterparts that were busted for using the more pedestrian “crack cocaine” were allegedly given harsher sentences. To many it was clearly a case of economic discrimination and racism that was being practiced by the criminal justice system.

There is much to consider while observing the current Michael Vick redemption tour a.k.a., the NFL Pre-season. Vick, as you may recall was convicted of running an illegal dog fighting and gambling ring. The details of the cruelty committed on the losing dogs is a stomach turner. Vick was released after serving 18 months of a 23-month sentence for his involvement in the crime. Still, sports talk radio debated whether or not Vick should be reinstated to the NFL. Many sports talking heads concluded that Vick has a right to make a living as a professional football player. Fans seemed to be split between a permanent ban and a return to the NFL by Vick. The Philadelphia Eagles signed Vick after NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell gave Vick a conditional reinstatement. Vick was also sponsored by former Indianapolis Colts coach Tony Dungy, a model citizen beyond reproach.

What many football fans and sports talkers forget is that as well as visiting cruelty upon helpless animals, Vick was bankrolling an illegal dogfighting gambling ring. So you might ask why Pete Rose is still banned for life—as well as he should be—from Major League Baseball (MLB) for gambling in pedestrian betting parlors. Gambling is Gambling—right? That ain't necessarily so. Green Bay Packer legend Paul "Golden Boy" Hornung and Detroit Lions star defensive lineman Alex Karras were suspended and reinstated a year later into the NFL after being caught betting on various sporting events--including NFL games--in 1963. In 1987, NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle did prevent Art Schlichter, the quarterback from resigning with an NFL team but only because he was arrested for his involvement in a multimillion-dollar sports betting operation. According to the Wikipedia article on him, Schlichter estimated that over his lifetime he had committed 20 felonies and stolen $1.5 million. What Rose did pales in comparison.

Yet, Rose is still out of MLB and Vick is back in the NFL. In Rose's case he hasn't helped himself much over the years by allegedly being seen in gambling parlors; thus suggesting that he still has a gambling problem. It would be very easy to claim reverse racial discrimination against Rose, but the real answer lies elsewhere. What it comes down to is money. The NFL is big business. Vick is an exciting player to watch and he puts "butts in the seats" and attracts TV viewers. As an aside, the 1960s are widely regarded to have been the "Golden Age" of professional football. Thus, Paul Hornung was reinstated after a year because he was a valuable commodity to the NFL and a huge fan favorite. Hornung was left relatively unscathed by the gambling scandal.

Rose on the other hand has been out of baseball for over 20 years. With his playing days long behind him, there is little or no incentive to bring him back into baseball as either a coach or a manager. Major League Baseball has always tried to maintain a patina of being a "holier than thou" institution over the years. This image has been tarnished somewhat by the use of performance enhancing drugs by several of MLB's current and past megastars in the last 15 years. Still, most any taint of moral turpitude is not tolerated by MLB. That especially applies to allegations of gambling--legal or illegal. In contrast, Steve Howe was suspended seven times by MLB for alcohol and drug abuse and reinstated six times. But Howe didn't gamble on baseball as Rose or Shoeless Joe Jackson of Black Sox infamy did and therein lies the rub of moral relativism.

There are apparently some very serious cultural differences between the two "professional" sports that go beyond racism, which might explain the moral schizophrenia of tolerating illegal activity plus depraved cruelty vs. non-tolerance of an illegal activity. Americans traditionally view baseball and dogs as sacred, i.e., no one messes with baseball or dogs. Or perhaps football is perceived by the sports fans as a violent culture full of thugs; and therefore, expectations are much lower for football players. In his debut last week, Vick was by most accounts warmly received by the fans, some of whom are probably dog lovers. Unless you follow the money, this would appear to be a puzzling moral paradox.