i ain't mad at 'cha

i was having a discussion with a friend recently. not an actual discussion...just a series of text messages, the whole of which constitute the average 21st century discussion. but i digress.

the topic was performance enhancing drugs and the men who love them. he was partially filled with moderate indignation that a whole generation of players could cheat the game.

i didn't care.

he said they only way they should get into the hall of fame is if they buy a ticket.

i didn't care.

he had no problem if a generation of hall of fame classes looked like this guy.

i kinda cared. but not enough.

you see, i'm burned out on cheaters and scum. i've had my fill of scandal and situations. some days the sports world feels as foreign (and dangerous) as mos eisley.

in short...my anger reservoir is dry.

baseball player busted for 'roids? yawn. football player gets caught packing heat? ho-hum. basketball player smokes two joints before he smokes two joints? whatever. let him smoke two more.

as i get older, my sports philosophy borrows from frank cushman. you remember cush; jerry maguire's quarterback prodigy who tried to remove himself from the maguire-sugar feud with one simple phrase.

"i just want to play football."

that's where i am right now. i've heard all the arguments ad nauseum. they're cheaters! they're criminals! kick 'em out, lock 'em up and let 'em rot! my response can be summed up in a pair of simple if-then questions.

a) if they are playing, then how will they help the team?

or

b) if they are not playing, then how will it hurt the team?

in short (with all apologies to jerry o'connell) i just want to watch ball.

there have always been cheaters, criminals and miscreants in professional sports and no amount of finger pointing and spotlighting bad behavior is going to prevent it in the future. it has little to do with money, talent or entitlement. some people have a knack for finding trouble. some of them just happen to run, jump, throw, hit, catch better than the rest of us. the sooner we accept it, the sooner we can all move on.

of course, if this attitude catches on, the 24-hour sports news cycle that thrives on creating, reporting and exasperating train wrecks might cannibalize itself. which most likely would put me on the bread line.

that's a scandal i'd certainly care about that.

when the angels play the padres, who does god cheer for?

we've seen and heard it plenty of times. an athlete succeeds at something - sets a record, wins a big game, takes home a trophy - then thanks god.

it's a practice that rankles people for various reasons. some people find it disingenuous. others believe in the separation of church and State College. still others just wonder if god really picks a side and if he helped your team, was he going against my team?

it never bothered me one way or another. until recently.

maybe i'm getting a complex, but i'm starting to think god hates the san francisco 49ers. these feelings of inadequacy have become heightened in the wake of noted god-squadder kurt warner stopping in san francisco to talk with niner management about a possible contract. days later, he re-signed with the arizona cardinals saying god told him "you're supposed to be in arizona."

i immediately flashed back to 1993 when reggie white was shopping his wares around the nfl. it seemed a virtual lock that he was going to end up in the bay area. right up until the moment he didn't. instead he signed with the green bay packers because god told him in a dream that he should go to green bay.

does god love some players or cities more than others? can san franciscans consider themselves saved since god didn't send his disciples to their town? should cardinal and packer fans pray harder?

look, i don't ridicule anyone's beliefs. i myself have prayed over difficult decisions asking for guidance. perhaps you were given clarity. shown something negative about one of your options. felt a higher level of comfort in one place. but i'm not believing that contract negotiations are being decided from above.

i like kurt warner. i think he's a good football player and an even better human being. and (except when he's playing the 49ers) i generally wish him well on the football field. but his decision to remain in the desert may have been inspired, but it wasn't divine.

random thoughts for a tuesday

i began my day by wondering if anyone in the government actually pays their taxes. i ended it by wondering exactly how large the world of underground hip-hop really is. afterward i wondered if there was a connection. maybe it's another offshoot of having a black president. after all, doesn't congress need to try and prove some "street cred" to get in good with the White House?

we'll see if incidences of snitching in the government decrease...

winter in southern california rocks even more than i remember it.

thank you, global warming.

remember being a kid and going to the dentist? you jumped in the chair, the person with the white coat and surgical mask did their business all about you teeth and gums, you got a new toothbrush and case of floss and were sent on your merry way without any knowledge of the details that ...all while (hopefully) missing a bit of school time in the process.

well i took a visit to my local dental professional for the first time in...uh...let's just say awhile. and now that i apparently have to check off the box that says "respectable adult", i get to handle all of the details myself. suddenly a trip to the dentist resembled a trip to the mechanic much more than i ever knew.

see here? you're gonna need a new inlay for your flux capacitor. you wanna get that done today?

few people are happier to see super bowl week end than the people who work at 24-hour sports networks.

let the countdown begin to the opening weekend of The Tournament...truly the greatest sporting days of the year.

as usual, this year's super bowl was flooded with all sorts of new movie trailers. it's become even more evident that hollywood has stopped trying. transformers 2, star trek, fast & furious...haven't we seen these in some form before? by the way, here's a tip... destroying g.i. joe doesn't mean you've made a new movie. it just means you've rehashed an old favorite with a crappy storyline.

there are plenty of people out there with fresh new ideas. perhaps they don't always come screen ready, but that's why you pay writers, isn't it? of all the things we do in this country, our entertainment industry traditionally has been second to none. but with the litany of remakes, adapations and copycat films nowadays, we're apparently outsourcing freshness and creativity as well.

now you know...and knowing is half the battle!

why are british girls so good at sounding like black american soul singers? i'm not complaining. actually, i think it's kinda hot.

i'm looking at you, alice russell.

a friend of mine made a valid observation. what's happened to the nfl's bad guys? ray lewis is doing ballet and lawrence taylor is going to appear on dancing with the stars (following in the footsteps of that lovable villain, warren sapp).

rae carruth sits unimpressed.