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Moron-at-large and crybaby Plaxico Burress drew a two year prison sentence today, for his self-inflicted stupidity from November 2008. Personally, I'm surprised that he drew that much time. Evidently the judge is a Jets fan? Burress was suspended by the NFL and the NY Giants pending the outcome of today's legal festivities.
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Anyway, the unsurprising part is that Roger Goddell, the NFL Commissioner and America's best known employer of idiot, no shootin' felons, said that Burress would be re-instated to the league when he's done his jail time. No shock there, huh?
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Would your boss want you back?
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As I've stated here before, I am not America's number 1 spots fan. I don't skip church, family events, anniversaries or kids b'day parties for sports events. I despise those who do. I think college sports is even more over rated than Barrack Obama's opinion of Barrack Obama. Pro sports is for the elites now. Ya'll can have it all.
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Bottom line though, you don't have to be a non-sports fan to see the cockeyed thinking that would allow a 32 y/o child to get caught breaking numerous laws, across state lines, then gaining a light sentence for it, with probable re-instatement to his old career, with the open invitation of his old bosses, to see that the world has gone pear shaped.
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Plaxico Burress should be relegated to washing cars at the local Auto Bell Carwash for his paycheck post prison. Or working at the bodega sweeping up chicken feathers and goat fur, just like every other ex-felon.
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Schteveo
15 comments:
Now Steve... As I've told you before, both of my kids were college athletes. I think college sports is even more over rated than Barrack Obama's opinion of Barrack Obama??? Those is fightin' words! If I were there, I'd claw your eyes out!
Is that a gauntlet my sweet?
Then here's the question for you, did I ever have to hear HOW MUCH GREATER your kids are than mine because they played college sports, and mine JUST went to Iraq, Horn of Africa, Indian Ocean etc, etc, etc? I mean I totally understand how 4 consecutive 100 yard games, or a .321 batting average keeps America great. But kids are only joining the military because they don't have any other opportunities, they're too lame to play college sports and too dumb too pass the SAT / ACT.
If I've not had to suffer that tripe concerning your kids, then we have no problem.
However, that IS the conventionl wisdom among most college sports families / fans / sports journalists. I just get sick of hearing how great they are, what great lives they lead and what marvelous families they come from. Usually from some willing Channel 6 Sports Announcer, shilling, during the court case for am innocent dine-and-bolt or post game date rape.
For the most part I think the majority of college athletes are more exploited than $3.00-a-day, Guatemalan textile workers.
But, feel free to just pass off my newest sports tirade, I tend to be a little opinionated.
Scratch that, I tend to be VERY opinionated.
BO says glib speech is a sport
How about snotty speech, is that sport? I was shooting for snotty.
Football? Just wait until olympic vagina lifing catches on.
I didn't say "how much greater my your kids are than yours", nor would I ever. But PLEASE don't lump us all in the same bunch. Me, Mr. Bug, AND my kids all realize they never would have had the opportunity to even have a chance at a college scholarship if it weren't for kids like yours defending their freedom.
However, I don't think you can appreciate how hard scholarship kids work for their "free" education (granted... not as hard as yours, and without putting themselves in harms way), and the players who had "4 consecutive 100 yard games" paid for my kids' scholarships... So.... if you want to call that exploited, then so be it.
I happen to be of the opinion that sports - high school, college, and even pro - tends to build more character than it destroys.
The 'failures' are spotlighted because they stand out (in a bad way) from the norm. Athletes are expected to have character and be role models - so when they fail EVERYONE notices.
Steve - I've heard you come unglued when someone pins the term 'terrorist' on "all Muslims".
IMO, you should show the same respect to athletes as you do Muslims - if not, you are being somewhat, uh, what's that word?
Losers will be losers - whether their name is Plaxico Burress, Kenneth Lay, Mohamed Atta, or Barraaaaaack (excuse me) Hobama.
And that's all I have to say about that.
HOW 'BOUT THEM LONGHORNS!!!!!!!!!
C-Bug,
then, the obvious given is that your kids and your family are NOT part of the problem of athletics over every other career track in America. The reason I lump it together, 95% of the people I've encountered, including two instances in my own family, are that type. Arrogant, chest puffed out, "...my kid, my kid, my kid..., the parents strutting around, "...hey, look what I DID!! We contributed eggs and sperm to help the University of ??? win a National Championship...". It gets on my nerves.
I was not trying to offend you, or the kids, but I really do think the kids get exploited.
When I see teenagers, and adults, wearing a jersey, with YOUR kids name and number on the back, and I know the players themselves got NOTHING of the profits, to me that's exploiting them. When I hear that UNC Basketball program, or any of another hundred such schools or sports, makes $50 or $60 MILLION a year, on "X" sport, and again the players get ZERO, but, the coach gets half a million, PLUS has the ability to make endorsement deals, I see it as exploitation. Most of them are public schools, WE pay for the stadium via taxes, then the school makes a ton of bucks and keeps it all. That's cockeyed to me.
Yes I know the schools spread that money around, but it does not seem to adequately feed anything to the players who actually make the money.
Jimbo,
I think character is built at home. Kids from good homes become good, grounded, appreciative athletes. Kids from crappy, or now, IMHO, typical homes become Michael Vick and Plaxico Burress, et al.
As to lumping them together. My personal experience is that the majority of Muslims are NOT terrorists, nor are they militant about ME becoming Muslim.
Likewise my personal experience is that the majority of HS and College athletes, and their families are arrogantly and vociferously head and shoulders above the rest of us, are better people and give the country greater overall good. That of course, is in their own never humble opinions.
I've had several athlete parents openly tell me it's too bad my kids weren't better at ??? sport, and that they HAD to JUST join the military. So, yeah I've got an axe to grind here, and I'll admit it repeatedly. But those other parents won't shut the hell up about Johnnies batting average or Janies last winning track meet long enough for me to have my say.
Listen, I'll openly admit to seeing the same arrogance thing among HS Marching Band families and men's church softball and church affiliated kids athletics organizations.
For that matter I've seen it in Cub Scouting and Boy Scouting families. Which to me is the WORST case basis. Baden Powell must be spinning in his grave.
I honestly think all of the arrogance and chest thumping are part of the, "...me, me, me..." thinking in our country. Sports just happens to be way at the top of American self-affiliation thinking, so it stands out and the MSM pumps it up. And it gets compounded that if it bleeds, it leads in that media.
Burress' leg and Vick's dogs were bloody events, so we hear about it. Truly, I'd love to see a daily story about one of the 99% who play the games, do good things, serve on the Church Building Committee, teach at the Jewish Center, feed the hungry at the Harlem Muslim Outreach, attend meetings at The Fellowship of Christian Athletes, etc. But that's not fun or sexy to the MSM, so I'm not holding my breath.
So C-Bug's kids, and many others I'm sure, play in anonymity, because the bad kids get the press. Just because that's the current system and state of affairs, doesn't mean I'm required to like it or keep it to myself.
And there's something in me that keeps me from shutting the hell up about "stuff".
and again the players get ZERO
How about a FREE education worth at least $100,000??
Truly, I'd love to see a daily story about one of the 99% who play the games, do good things
The percentages are MUCH, MUCH more than that, and they ARE reported on during games. You don't watch so you don't know.
Given your hatred of athletics, I'd venture to say that I've encountered MANY more athlete's families than you have. 99% of them are good, decent, God fearing people whose kids graduate in something other than athletics. They are simply there to get a "FREE" education. They/we all know that there is life after athletics. Case in point: Texas A&M has the nation's 7th largest student body (just 5000 behind #1). There are MAYBE 2 football players each year that actually make it into the NFL (total of 22 currently on rosters), MAYBE one every 3 years on NBA rosters (3 total), and the numbers go drastically down from there.
Sooooo.... I like ya but I think I have more experience on the subject than you do.
HOW ABOUT THEM AGGIES!!!!!!!!!
Although I was rooting for the Longhorns vs. Tech and they'll probably "beat the hell outta" A&M. :-)
NO,NO,NO, I have no hatred of athletics. I have no typical fawning LOVE like I see in the majority, that's all.
Your response is exactly what I usually get. But consider, the opposite of LIKE isn't HATE, it's dislike or uncaring. And I continue to dislike, but that is as far as I go, except for da' hoops. I watch most of the baseball and football playoff games. Especially if there are a team or two that are regionally or past living affiliation. I watch San Diego teams (that's tough most of the time) I watch Atlanta, I watched some of the Durham Bulls game on ESPN last night. I'm just not a FANATIC about sports like the majority of people I encounter.
It probably doesn't help my sports opinions, living here in NC and having grown up in KY, and I do despise basketball, admittedly. Hate it. But I watch women's b'ball, m wife loves that.
I see that $100K number alot. How is it that I can go to college, here at a state school for way less than that, but student athlete's cost $100K? Maybe your kids did get that amount, but I contend that most don't. And even if they do, and the school nets $200 million during their 4 yrs on the team, it seems small compensation for their efforts as a prime money draw.
And like I said, I've got family members who were college athletes, so I realize that your closer to it than I am, but the ones I've been around, living 4 blocks from a university for 30 years, fit the roles as I've defined them.
All I have to go on is MY experiences. And I'm bot a stay at home type, it's what I've seen all over the country.
OK.... This is my last comment on the subject:
The AVERAGE cost is $20,531/yr for a RESIDENT at Texas A&M, which is a state school. Baylor, which is a private school, $42,898/yr. Since it takes 4+ yrs. for most athletes to graduate (and scholarships pay for 5), I'd say $100,000 is a very realistic average. (My son went to private school, my daughter went to a state school.)
And as for the $200 mil NET...
University of Michigan (who has the nation's largest stadium)
Grand Total Revenues $99,027,105
Grand Total Expenses $78,584,994
NET $20,442,111
Your precious NC schools barely get by.
This information is available for any school at:
http://ope.ed.gov/athletics/GetOneInstitutionData.aspx
Feel free to try and find a school that nets $200 mil. from their athletic programs.
OK, then I leave it be too, that's JUST the stadium revenue. Most schools gain buckets of money from jerseys, jackets, etc, that outstrip the attendance money.
I bandy that $50 to $60 million as that's the number the UNC System reported for B'Ball TOTAL revenue.
Okay - I'll interject one more thing, too.
Mack Brown, UT Head Football Coach makes +/- $4 million a year. Heaps of folks on both sides of the political aisle decry this as completely absurd.
"Do you know how many books you can buy for that? Do you know how many under-privileged students you could support? Do you realize the campus improvements you could make??!!!!"
The critics fail to understand good old fashion Capitalism. The revenues from UT football, because they have a winning program directed by Mack Brown, is up around $50 million - that includes ticket sales, revenue from Longhorn 'paraphernalia', and endorsements. The school gets a cut from everything. So - without Mack, they could cut that income back by half or more. What's not included is increased student population (because of UT fame) which equals increased tuition income.
The same may be said for Oklahoma, Tennesse, USC, Florida - all of these schools benefit immensely from successful athletic programs.
Hell - even ultra-conservative Brigham Young, and ultra-liberal Berkeley (Cal Bears) reap the rewards of capitalism with better student facilities... better EVERYTHING due to good old Capitalistic income generated by their athletic departments.
I might add - just for my very good friend el Schteveo de Grate - Texas AM - the 'M' part (Military Academy) reaps those rewards with more cash to buy shinier buttons for their uniforms. :-)
Okay - ONE MORE THING! :-)
Former Notre Dame football coach Lou Holtz (and FOX Sports analyst) was on Hannity's "Great American Panel" again tonight - he spoke up for 'good old fashioned capitalism', American ideals, and Sarah Palin.
That's the kind of 'character building' college athletes are exposed to. They sit in front of Marxist professors all day - then go to 'character building' under real men like Lou Holtz.
*sigh* Who do you think has a greater influence on their lives? I bet 90% of the athletes who graduated Notre Dame can't tell you who the name of their economics professor during their junior year. But they ALL remember Lou.
I'm done now. Really! I'm off to Lulu's Surf Club for a prime rib and a beer. Getting on a plane tomorrow night for Austin. If you hear a big SPLASH!!!! tomorrow night coming from the middle of the Specific - call 911. Tell them I'm the big pink guy with white hair in the orange raft, and that I'll need vodka. :-)
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