Football Fans

I will readily admit that I am a pro football fan, following my home team faithfully and watching the games and paying attention any news about the team. I assume that I'm one of thousands and thousands of pro football fans that share the same enthusiasm for their favorite teams. However in watching the playoffs this year I noticed what seemed to be an inordinate number of people in the stands that were wearing team jersey's with what I assume was the number of their favorite player. There were also lots and lots of people in the stands with their faces (or more) painted with team colors, favorite numbers, clever sayings, etc. And I'm not even going to get started on the signs encouraging their team to kill the bad guys. The spirit these fans show is great. However these are middle aged and older men! College kids can get away with this stuff, usually because they're generously lubricated and well, it's college! Little kids all have their sports hero's and always want so-and-so's jersey for their birthday or Christmas or something. I have to laugh when I see men at the home improvement store wearing a Tom Brady jersey. I almost want to ask them "Do you think you are Tom Brady?" or "Are you hoping Giselle will walk down the aisle from the lumber department and think you're Tom and take you home with her?". If you're middle aged or more you don't play football any more unless it's with your kids in the back yard or your relatives at a summer reunion. I don't care who or what you were in middle school or high school or even college - it's OVER! If I tried to play right now there would be a loud snapping sound and somebody would have to sit on the ground with me until the paramedics arrived. I think it's great that you enjoy the game and support your team but unless you're an Oakland Raiders fan - don't dress up. We can see you and you won't like what we're thinking.

Guns & Roses

Plaxico Burress always struck me as a pretty good football player, albeit a little "odd". He caught the pass that was ultimately the winning score in last years Super Bowl I believe. He's a pro football player which also means he makes lots of money. So now he goes to a nightclub and decides to bring along an unregistered handgun to protect himself. Maybe I'm different, but I don't usually go to places where I think I'll need a gun to defend myself. Now I realize that pro athletes can be easy targets because of the money they make. But a gun? And he tops off the evening by shooting himself! Maybe he tried to rob himself. Maybe it was just mistaken identity. Maybe he had too much to drink and didn't remember which end of the gun the bullet came out of. I read yesterday that he's being sued by some woman that he rear-ended and that his auto insurance had lapsed. Are you serious? This guy needs to have a guardian appointed to make sure he doesn't go out and lie down on a highway somewhere.

Bet you're wondering about the roses part, aren't you? Those will have to be shared by the New York Yankees, agent Scott Boras and first baseman Mark Teixeira. Teixeira is a good ball player, he was a free agent and he was able to accept bids and go to the one he thought best. He seems like a nice enough guy whenever I've seen him interviews , so good for him. Scott Boras is what people see to call a "super agent" because he only seems to represent elite players. Upper level players who have other agents, like Manny Ramirez, fire their existing agents and go to Boras so he can represent (read: squeeze every last nickel from teams) them. Nobody really knows what is said behind closed doors in negotiations and I'm sure there's posturing and bluffing on both sides but this guy always seems to come out a winner. I just have a feeling that if I shook his hand the next thing I'd want to do is make sure I still had my wallet. And the final recipient of the roses is the Yankees. I can only fantasize what it must be like to be able to print your own money, to be able to just get anything you want by simply paying more for it than anyone else can or will. They are playing by the rules so good for them. I believe they've had the highest payroll in baseball for a number of years and still haven't won anything lately. There must be a lesson in that somewhere. In 2009 the Yankees will have 9 players being paid a combined $159.1 million - more than any other team in baseball. For that kind of money they should win their division by 20 plus games, blow through the playoffs and take the World Series in 3 games. I know it's a best of seven series but I think the other team will be so disheartened that they won't even show up for the fourth game.