SEC Football Fan…Take a Sabbatical from the Fanatical
Sports fans are great, sometimes. Well some of them are great, sometimes. Well, a few are great; some are fickle, some need professional help. No seriously. Fanatical is defined as being possessed with or motivated by excessive, irrational zeal. Last summer, I tried to participate. I actually got down in the trenches of fandom; but the message boards were not for me. There are way too many people whose whole lives revolve entirely around college football. I totally believe in supporting your team, going to games, the tailgating experience; the great feeling of knowing that these are my people and I am theirs.
I don’t even mind the guys who are ORD, that’s a newly discovered syndrome, first diagnosed by yours truly, Dr Robinson. It stands for Obsessive Recruiting Disorder. You may know a few of these. They stay on Rivals.com or Scout.com for hours on end. Correction, one browser is open to Rivals, one to Scout. The worst cases I have seen, include putting the latest poster of Jamie Newberg, the Recruiting Guru on your wall. I hear he has a Swimsuit Calendar coming in 2010. Now that is scary.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with supporting your school/team with all your heart, mind, soul and strength; that sounds rather Biblical. What I can’t get my arms around, is when that love of the game morphs into something else, something ugly. I have a new word for you.
Fannibilism
It’s when you are so out of control, you can’t be happy ripping the opponents players to shreds, you turn on your own as well. THAT is sick, and I’m not even joking. I don’t know when it happened, but somewhere along the way, our values got turned upside down. At least in the past, you might go after the other guy , on the other team, but you took care of and supported the ones in your “family” (team).
Let me clarify, before I go any further. I believe you can criticize an action(playing football), without attacking the player himself. Let me give you the perfect example. A couple of weeks ago the Orlando Magic and Cleveland Cavaliers were engaged in the Eastern Conference Finals series, a sports writer, appearing on the TV show, “Rome is Burning”, stated that Mo Williams, a Cleveland guard was, “DUMB AS MY SHOE”. Is that insightful sports commentary? No, it’s a personal attack; but at least he was attacking an adult, a professional. There are way too many “fans” who take it upon themselves to attacks kids as well.
Remember those now famous words, “Talk to me! I’m a man! I’m 40!
Coach Mike Gundy took alot of heat for that tirade, but I admire him for it. A reporter had crossed the line and coach put him on blast. I really hope this blog never becomes a place to bash kids, whatever colors they wear on Saturdays. Hey, I almost got sucked into it last week. I posted a short blog about Janoris Jenkins, the UF cornerback that was arrested and tased. That post was up about 15-20 minutes, then I had to take it down. I “detest” Florida, not their kids. Hey, I coached one of their kids, the punter, Chas Henry. You can say what you want, but Tim Tebow is a great kid and is definitely a great football player. He can’t help it if the guys at ESPN have man-crushes on him.
Athletic excellence does not preclude human emotions. Hmm, human. As in human beings, with strengths, weaknesses, and issues, just like the rest of us. Why is that so hard to understand?
Lebron James saving face…literally.
When I saw that Lebron James had gone under the knife, I thought he was getting a much needed saving face-lift. Many are still wondering how James could just walk of the court after Game 6 in the Eastern Conference Finals and not shake hands with the Orlando Magic or do the routine post-game interviews. He played it off as no big thing, but I disagree. (more…)
The Bron…pretty good and getting better
When ESPN announced they were going to be televising high school basketball and specifically LeBron James, my only thought was , “Why”? The ever-increasing scrutiny of high schoolers athletic exploits is one symptom of the values depleted society we live in today. I had no interest in watching this supposed man-child beat up on kids along his National Coming-out Party/ World Tour. This is the kind of skewed value system that promotes kids in an adult fashion. Many parents live in a constant state of hyperbole, because they think their son or daughter is the next great thing. See Is there a scholarship scam?…below. Enough of that, because apparently LeBron which as you know is french for “The Bron” is pretty dog gone good.
I didn’t see the game last night, but have seen the highlights including an improbable 3-pointer by “The” as the buzzer sounded to beat Orlando. As the playoffs have progressed, apparently “The” has found resources within himself that no one knew existed, even “The”. Night after night he performs at a higher level, sometimes winning 1 on 5, sometimes not. Orlando looks to make this a much tougher series than either the Pistons or Hawks even dreamed. Neither club could muster a win versus King James and Associates. Orlando won the first game and it took James’ heroics to win game two. Now they go to Orlando, we’ll see.
The fact that LeBron won his first MVP, emphasis on the first,and the fact that he is coming up bigger and bigger in the big games, means he’s well on his way to supplanting Kobe and dare I say MJ as the best ever. At 24, he is ahead of the curve in terms of the success those two great players experienced. If they get a couple of more pieces, it could be the new dynasty. But will “they” be Cleveland or New York?
And oh yeah, are there any 8th graders we should know about?
Tell me what you really think!