The Sports Curmudgeon®

Last week I wrote that Matt Walsh’s 15 minutes of fame might be ending. Nonetheless, Senator Arlen Specter – representing the great state of Showboating – has issued a statement urging the NFL not to presume that all of this is over and done with. In addition, Specter continues to say that he may push for Senatorial hearings into all of this business. His “cover” for that kind of saber-rattling is that he is a long-time Eagles’ fan – having cut his political teeth as a crusading DA in Philly many many years ago – and that he believes there may have been a violation of the Intelligence Espionage Act by the Pats when they taped opponents’ signals. I do not doubt the former “excuse”; the Eagles lost a Super Bowl game to the Patriots; the latter “excuse” is a real stretch. But there just might be another motivation at work here.

Recall that Comcast is one of the big time cable TV companies that is locked into a stalemate with the NFL Network over access. I do not want to rehash that argument here but it should not surprise anyone to hear that the NFL Network seeks to maximize its revenue and distribution while Comcast seeks to minimize its expenses; therein lies the dispute. How does this relate to threatened Senate hearings on “Spygate”? Well, it turns out that Comcast is one of Arlen Specter’s largest campaign contributors and supporters over the years. Kabeesh?

NFL Network should not feel put upon by Comcast. The Big Ten Network (BTN) is sort of in the same boat. BTN wants to be on Comcast in the basic package but wants to charge Comcast more than basic package rights fees; Comcast has told BTN the same thing it has told NFLN. Maybe BTN will get some Senatorial support if they start to make the right contributions…

In all of this, the NFL and the Big Ten are trying to portray themselves as the helpless victims of the cable TV companies. If you look at the revenues of both football entities, it is hard to see how their existence is remotely threatened in this matter. Nevertheless, the spin-meisters will work overtime to try to convince you that is the case. Don’t believe it.

There may be a quarterback controversy developing that is worth keeping an eye on in San Francisco. Alex Smith and Shaun Hill were thought to be the ones who would “duke it out” in training camp to see who best mastered new offensive coordinator, Mike Martz’, system. However, the Niners also signed JT O’Sullivan who was with the Lions last year and O’Sullivan has been in minicamp and has impressed. I read some Bay Area reports that say he may have the lead in a three-way race to be the Niners starting QB. If he wins that job, it will not be anything near a proud moment for Alex Smith who was the overall #1 pick in the draft not so very long ago.

Compare Smith’s “pedigree” to JT O’Sullivan who has been in the NFL since 2002. Next year will be O’Sullivan’s seventh season and the Niners are his seventh team; O’Sullivan has never started a game in the NFL, and, in fact, has only appeared in five games in his career; he appeared in four games with the Lions last year and earned a QB rating of 48.4. And he may be “in the lead” to become the starting QB in San Francisco!

I also read a puff piece about Josh McCown working hard in Miami to be the starting QB there. He says that he will spare no effort to win that job and is confident he will be under center once the season starts. Good for him; self-confidence is an important attribute for a QB. Nevertheless, I think his agent needs to sit down with him and talk to him about the kinds of teams he signs on with. Let’s review the bidding here:

2002/05: Arizona Cardinals. Team record over 4 years 20-44. That averages out to 5 wins a year.

2006: Detroit Lions. Team record that season 3-13

2007: Oakland Raiders. Team record that season 4-12

2008: Miami Dolphins. Team record in 2008 is still TBD, but the record for 2007 was 1-15.

Josh McCown has not stared and lost all of those games himself to be sure. However, the teams he has found employment with over his career have a cumulative record of 27- 69 going into the 2008 season. Just be sure we are on the same page, that is not good.

I was grazing through the channels this weekend and stumbled across the golf tournament of the week. As I watched a ball fly through the air and disappear into a body of water, I heard the whispering announcer tell me, “his ball found the water”. Excuse me; but no, it did not. The ball went where the goof hit it; the ball found nothing; the player caused the ball to wind up in the drink. I changed channels quickly…

When Shaq was doing his training as a police officer and going out on patrols with the local gendarmes, it was interesting to ponder a confrontation between Shaq and a normal sized ne’er-do-well. That was a vision of “the long arm of the law”. Well, Shaq may have to take second place in that imagery now. There is a pro ‘rassler whose nom de guerre is The Great Khali. He is 7’3” tall and weighs 420 lbs; he was and remains a member of the police force in India. He had been granted a leave of absence by the police there when he came to the US to ‘rassle for the WWE.

I did a Google image search for The Great Khali. He is definitely a large human being…

Finally, Scott Ostler of the SF Chronicle summarized in three short sentences all you need to know about the IOC and the way they plan to prevent athletes’ protests in the China games this summer:

“The International Olympic Committee has issued a decree prohibiting athletes competing at the Games in China from engaging in any kind of political or religious protest or demonstration. As a parent I know that the one sure way to stop kids from doing what you don’t want them to do is by telling them they can’t do it. So, mission accomplished!”

But don’t get me wrong, I love sports…