Maybe it’s just me. Maybe I’m the only person on Earth right now that sort of feels sorry for Keith Olbermann. Sort of.
His ratings are in the tank and continue to dive. He’s been pwn3d by Tucker Carlson. Even the punks at Journolist don’t like him. (That’s gotta smart.) And the latest attack on his oh so frail self-esteem is the news coming from Sports by Brooks that Olbermann has been removed from the NBC’s Football Night In America. NBC has said it was due to “Olbermann’s weekday commitment to MSNBC’s Countdown with Keith Olbermann” Sure.
Despite his thesaurus fetish and efforts to portray an image of stoic journalistic integrity, Olbermann is an embarrassment to the once fine tradition of news reporting and anchoring. His regular tirades have become nothing more than self-characterizing and only the politically inept and mentally stunted actually take him seriously anymore. For those old enough to remember, I can easily see parallels between his career and that of the funny yet self-destructive Lenny Bruce. Can you say downward spiral?
Now the real question: How does the greatness that is Major League Baseball continue to allow Keith Olbermann to tarnish its blog pages with his musings? His nightly tirades on MSNBC are often aimed at the very people that fill the stands of baseball parks across our great land.
And before anyone gets their hippy panties in a wad, yes, I realize that Olbermann has every right to speak his mind. So do I. How often have have we heard that those in the limelight should be held to a higher standard. This applies to politicians, athletes, musicians, actors and other highly visible personalities including people with daily television shows used to trumpet personal opinions. When your platform of choice is used to smear, distort, and stoke anger, you need to be called on it. Facts are important things that cannot be ignored; if Obermann actually engaged in thoughtful discussion and legitimate debate, this site might not even exist. But he doesn’t.
Well… After watching this video I’ve had a change of heart. I can’t feel sorry for such a hateful, misguided and self-absorbed windbag. If you happen to agree with my opinion, please stop by our Respect The Great Game web site for more info and maybe even donate to our cause.
As a Patriots fan I am having a recurring nightmare. I look at the schedule for the rest of the season and see that the Colts remaining opponents have a combined record as of this week of 29-32.
- Houston (5-5)
- Tenn (4-6)
- Denver (7-4)
- Jacksonville (6-4)
- Jets (4-6)
- Bills (3-7)
How pitiful would it be, how gut wrenching would it be, if the Colts somehow go undefeated for the rest of the season and then power through the playoffs thanks to having one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time leading the way? It is quite possible. We have to count on Denver and Jacksonville — the only winning teams left in the Colts’ schedule — to get the job done. The Denver game is in Indianapolis, I think the Colts win that one. Will Jacksonville have what it takes?
IF they go undefeated and reach 19-0, will Bill Belichik’ now infamous 4th and 2 call elevate him to Bill Buckner status in New England? Or will those three championship trophies save his hide?
I hope we never find out.
I am so sick and tired of people defending criminals solely based on their skin color. It happened during the O.J. trial and the Michael Vick story is stirring it all up again. Logic departs the world and all some people can see is skin color. You hear it on the radio, you see it on the news, you read it in the paper. Race card. Victim mentality. The Man vs. The Oppressed.
My rant is based on some of the viewer comments I’ve seen on ESPN in support of Vick. One said something like “the man made a mistake, but he doesn’t deserve to have his career ruined over it.”
What? Let’s look at some facts.
Vick’s career is that of a star NFL quarterback. He left Virginia Tech after just two years as the top pick overall in the NFL draft and signed the largest rookie contract in sports history at the time: six years, $62 million. This included a guaranteed $15.3M in the first three years. For 99.999% of Americans this would be a dream and certainly enough money to live on for the rest of their days. But Vick is flashy and he has a great agent. So, halfway through his contract he renegotiated and signed a $130M contract with a $37M signing bonus. Yes. A $37M signing bonus.
I haven’t even factored in various endorsement revenues, but my point has already been made: The man is rich beyond belief. And you know what? Damned good for him. If someone can ask for that kind of money and find someone to pay it, way to friggin’ go. More power to you. Seriously. Ditto for A-Rod and Beckham. God Bless America. Capitalism rocks.
But I have to ask all of the Vick supporters: Where am I supposed to find sympathy for a man worth roughly $100M? He has played in the NFL for six years, a dream in and of itself for many men. If he stayed healthy and avoided injury (tough for someone as mobile as he is) he would probably play another 6-8 years. In other words, he’s about halfway through his career already and he’s only 27 years old.
Cry me a friggin’ river. He has committed several crimes and was able to plea out of most of them. (and don’t get me started with that whole “allegedly” crap… he took the plea for a reason. He’s guilty.) Vick will serve a couple of years (maybe) and then have to suffer the fate of returning to his mansion and living off of his seven-figure annual interest payments for the rest of his life.
He had a shot. He was successful. And like his dumb-ass brother, he blew it. At least Michael was able to cash in first.
So shut up Vick supporters… there are bigger things in the world to complain about.
