Randy Blalock
COLUMN:Thoughts on Favre, ARod and Shaq
Well, it’s that time of year again. No, I don’t necessarily mean the opening of football training camps for the pros and the start of fall practice for the college boys even those things are beginning the week I write this column.
No, I am referring to the seemingly annual wait and see game Brett Favre thinks he has to play. “I’m retiring. No, I’m not! Well, maybe I will because my body can’t take it anymore. Think I’ll come back for one more season after all.” Enough already. Once a big Favre fan, I now wish the Vikings nothing but losses if he comes back. Maybe that will help him decide for sure the next time he retires.
I have come to believe that Brett has become one of pro football’s biggest narcissists and I rank him right up there with TO and Chad Johnson. He seems to wallow in the limelight he creates by stirring up the waters each year with his endless “will he or won’t he” episodes.
Supposedly, Favre texted some Viking teammates the other day telling them that he was going to retire because his ankle was not responding as well as he wanted it to. So, for two entire days, that’s all we heard about on Sports Center and other sports shows. The media was playing right into his hands.
I don’t know how this saga will turn out but let’s look at how his response, instead of his no comments, could have been handled. If he is, in fact, going to retire because of his health issues and believe me, from what I have heard and read about how his ankle is doing, he should retire for his own sake, then why did he deny having sent those texts. On the other hand, if he didn’t send those texts and was uncertain what he was going to do at this juncture, then why not come out and say that and deny that he said he was going to retire.
The reason is that he has come to love the attention. Maybe he likes seeing himself cry like he did at his first two retirement press conferences. Maybe he likes the way his name appears on the scroll bar at the bottom of ESPN or maybe he likes seeing all those highlights of his great career and is not ready to give that up. I can understand that so stop with the drama. Either retire or play.
Brett Favre will certainly go into the Hall of Fame if and when he does retire. He is one of the five greatest quarterbacks of all time in my opinion. I, like many fans I’m sure, are simply tired of his yearly shenanigans. Make a decision, even if it is the wrong one — like your last decision in throwing that interception in the playoffs last year.
Will someone please tell me why every baseball game being aired for the last week or so had to cut to the Yankees game each time ARod came up to bat. I realize the significance of 600 home runs as much as anyone but I am a purist and I cannot accept this as being noteworthy because he has cheated to hit many of them. How many? I don’t know and I don’t care.
The record book says that ARod became the seventh player in baseball history to accomplish this feat. I will only acknowledge four: Aaron, Ruth, Mays, and Griffey.
Now, before you think I am a complete ARod basher — let me set the record straight. When ARod signed with the Yankees he did something that is unheard of in most athletic circles today. He agreed to change positions for the sake of the team. If he had not later become tainted with the performance-enhancing issue, I think it is a safe bet to say that he would have gone down as the greatest shortstop ever to play the game surpassing greats like Honus Wagner and Ozzie Smith. But the Yankees already had Jeter and no one was moving him out. ARod agreed to play third base and he listened to some jeers the first couple of years from the fans because his defensive abilities at this new position were lacking.
Will ARod one day break the all-time home run record? Probably. But I won’t accept its significance any more than I did for Bonds. They’re both cheats.
My heart broke a little this week people and here’s the reason why- the NBA team I have pulled for since I was a little boy, the Boston Celtics, lowered themselves this week by signing the most overrated player in all NBA history. It will be very difficult for me to pull for them with Shaq on the team. I don’t believe he brings anything to that team and his immobility in the paint will hinder Rondo’s talents. I’ve never understood the fascination with this big blob. Move him 10 feet away from the basket and he’s worthless. Bring back the glory days of Russell, Cousy, Havlicek, and others. Celtics, how could you?
I’ve already mentioned him before in this column but his absurd statements this week about the Pittsburgh Steelers is just another reason why that guy who wears #85 is more about himself than the team. Doesn’t he think the Steelers will use those comments as locker room fodder to motivate them even more when they play the Bengals? There is not supposed to be a bounty on players in the NFL, but you mark my words, someone playing defense for the Steelers will try to decapitate this loud mouth jerk. But, after all, what do you expect from a team that would sign him, TO, and Pacman Jones? I hope they go 0-16 — they won’t but I can still wish.
Finally, on a positive note, if you did not hear the NFL Hall of Fame induction speech given by Emmitt Smith, go to YouTube or somewhere to find it and listen to it. It was absolutely the most moving, inspirational, speech I have ever heard from an athlete. And I was blown away because he did it without any notes whatsoever. I particularly liked his comment that “goals are just dreams until we write them down.” Every young person in America should hear it.
Randy Blalock is a columnist for the Barrow Journal. You can reach him at rblalock@mindspring.com.
I have come to believe that Brett has become one of pro football’s biggest narcissists and I rank him right up there with TO and Chad Johnson. He seems to wallow in the limelight he creates by stirring up the waters each year with his endless “will he or won’t he” episodes.
Supposedly, Favre texted some Viking teammates the other day telling them that he was going to retire because his ankle was not responding as well as he wanted it to. So, for two entire days, that’s all we heard about on Sports Center and other sports shows. The media was playing right into his hands.
I don’t know how this saga will turn out but let’s look at how his response, instead of his no comments, could have been handled. If he is, in fact, going to retire because of his health issues and believe me, from what I have heard and read about how his ankle is doing, he should retire for his own sake, then why did he deny having sent those texts. On the other hand, if he didn’t send those texts and was uncertain what he was going to do at this juncture, then why not come out and say that and deny that he said he was going to retire.
The reason is that he has come to love the attention. Maybe he likes seeing himself cry like he did at his first two retirement press conferences. Maybe he likes the way his name appears on the scroll bar at the bottom of ESPN or maybe he likes seeing all those highlights of his great career and is not ready to give that up. I can understand that so stop with the drama. Either retire or play.
Brett Favre will certainly go into the Hall of Fame if and when he does retire. He is one of the five greatest quarterbacks of all time in my opinion. I, like many fans I’m sure, are simply tired of his yearly shenanigans. Make a decision, even if it is the wrong one — like your last decision in throwing that interception in the playoffs last year.
Will someone please tell me why every baseball game being aired for the last week or so had to cut to the Yankees game each time ARod came up to bat. I realize the significance of 600 home runs as much as anyone but I am a purist and I cannot accept this as being noteworthy because he has cheated to hit many of them. How many? I don’t know and I don’t care.
The record book says that ARod became the seventh player in baseball history to accomplish this feat. I will only acknowledge four: Aaron, Ruth, Mays, and Griffey.
Now, before you think I am a complete ARod basher — let me set the record straight. When ARod signed with the Yankees he did something that is unheard of in most athletic circles today. He agreed to change positions for the sake of the team. If he had not later become tainted with the performance-enhancing issue, I think it is a safe bet to say that he would have gone down as the greatest shortstop ever to play the game surpassing greats like Honus Wagner and Ozzie Smith. But the Yankees already had Jeter and no one was moving him out. ARod agreed to play third base and he listened to some jeers the first couple of years from the fans because his defensive abilities at this new position were lacking.
Will ARod one day break the all-time home run record? Probably. But I won’t accept its significance any more than I did for Bonds. They’re both cheats.
My heart broke a little this week people and here’s the reason why- the NBA team I have pulled for since I was a little boy, the Boston Celtics, lowered themselves this week by signing the most overrated player in all NBA history. It will be very difficult for me to pull for them with Shaq on the team. I don’t believe he brings anything to that team and his immobility in the paint will hinder Rondo’s talents. I’ve never understood the fascination with this big blob. Move him 10 feet away from the basket and he’s worthless. Bring back the glory days of Russell, Cousy, Havlicek, and others. Celtics, how could you?
I’ve already mentioned him before in this column but his absurd statements this week about the Pittsburgh Steelers is just another reason why that guy who wears #85 is more about himself than the team. Doesn’t he think the Steelers will use those comments as locker room fodder to motivate them even more when they play the Bengals? There is not supposed to be a bounty on players in the NFL, but you mark my words, someone playing defense for the Steelers will try to decapitate this loud mouth jerk. But, after all, what do you expect from a team that would sign him, TO, and Pacman Jones? I hope they go 0-16 — they won’t but I can still wish.
Finally, on a positive note, if you did not hear the NFL Hall of Fame induction speech given by Emmitt Smith, go to YouTube or somewhere to find it and listen to it. It was absolutely the most moving, inspirational, speech I have ever heard from an athlete. And I was blown away because he did it without any notes whatsoever. I particularly liked his comment that “goals are just dreams until we write them down.” Every young person in America should hear it.
Randy Blalock is a columnist for the Barrow Journal. You can reach him at rblalock@mindspring.com.
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#1
commercetigers.com
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08/21/10 at 03:03 PM
[Reply]
Took people long enough to catch on to Farve being a complete jerk. Still espn covered it like it was news. The same thing every year is not news. BTW Farve was lucky to win the one Super Bowl he did get. If not for a freakish special teams performance by Desmond Howard he would have zero. Also Doug Williams, Trent Dilfer, and Mark Rypien have the same number of Lombardi Trophes to their credit as the hick from Mississippi.