Balls, Too

So, tell me, is it reality or is it a Saturday Night Live skit?

As the #DeflateGate controversy continues to overtake Super Bowl XLIX, the first tangible evidence other than footballs being underinflated (which the NFL has acknowledged) emerged Monday, when Jay Glazer of FOX Sports reported that a Patriots employee took a bag of football that had been inspected and approved by officials into a separate area. That individual has become, per Glazer’s report, a “serious person of interest” as to the question of how the footballs came to be underinflated. As PFT reported last night, adding to Glazer’s bombshell, the separate area was a bathroom in which the employee spent approximately 90 seconds.

Words and Sports

If you’ve been around here a few times, you know that I am a sports fan, often a passionate one when it comes to my teams.  Sometimes I step back from myself (not an easy feat) and am a little embarrassed about just how a victory can make my day … or a defeat can ruin it.  I am, some report, an intelligent man and they are, after all, only games.  My favorite sports are basketball and football, a domain in which I have definite favorites (USC Trojans. Lakers. UConn Huskies), but when the playoffs roll around, I’ve been known to imbibe a bit of hockey or baseball.  I am also a soccer fan and for the last two weeks I have been overdosing on World Cup soccer.  The games have, for the most part, been excellent (except for that Germany-Brazil debacle) and I can tell you, after watching the Brasilian soccer fans, I am no longer embarrassed, even slightly, by my own fandom.

Smacksmanship

If you’re a sports fan … and maybe even if you’re not … you’ve probably heard about Seattle Seahawk player Richard Sherman’s tirade after his team won the NFC championship last Sunday.  Having made the game saving play for his team, he gestured with the choke sign at the opposing quarterback and taunted the receiver for whom the pass he tipped was intended.  He then responded to a simple question by a sideline reporter thus:

Dogma

courtesy huffington post

Last week, in an article in Sports Illustrated, NBA player Jason Collins admitted to being gay, making him the first male player from a major sport to do so.  The sports media and media in general were nearly unanimous in expressing support, as were other NBA players, some of whom were known for making derogatory comments toward gays in the past.  However, ESPN’s Chris Broussard, in a statement on the air, said, If you’re openly living that type of lifestyle, then the Bible says, ‘You know them by their fruits.’ It says that that’s a sin. And if you’re openly living in unrepentant sin, whatever it may be, not just homosexuality — adultery, fornication, premarital sex between heterosexuals — I believe that’s walking in open rebellion to God and Jesus Christ, so I would not characterize that person as a Christian.   He seemed to be responding to Collins’ assertion that he was gay and Christian.  ESPN felt it necessary to issue a statement regretting Broussard’s statement and, as Jim Burton said in an excellent article on the Standard-Examiner, Broussard was vilified across all forms of media, being labeled ‘homophobic,’ a ‘bigot’ and an ‘idiot.’  I don’t understand, Burton said, why those who demand we use inoffensive, politically correct language at all times, are often the first to break out offensive, hurtful language to respond to those who disagree?  And to be fair, a number of sources supported Broussard on the basis of free speech.

Glass Houses

Thursday afternoon, on my way to the bank, I turned on the radio to see if our local sports-talk weenes might be talking sports for a change, what with the Super Bowl on Sunday.  Since KSPN has elected to inflict the Max and Marcellus Show on the noon time slot, I knew the chances were slim.  Marcellus Wiley is a former NFL football player who actually knows something about sports.  Max Kellerman is a know-it-all who thinks he knows sports, continually interrupting Wiley with his opinions, offering him vocabulary lessons, and correcting his English.  I’m sure there are guys who enjoy this smart ass – dumb jock schtick but I find it unlistenable, particular since Wiley is no dumb jock.