THANK YOU, BOB COSTAS

I've long considered Bob Costas to be the poet of Sportscasting. I actually prefer listening to him during the months that entertain the boys of summer.  He describes my favorite sport with lyrical brilliance and when I hear his voice I know it's time to "play ball."

Many years ago I was at County Stadium in Milwaukee (now a parking lot that serves "Miller Park")  As I strolled through the crowd I passed someone with a face so familiar I just lit up with joy and said "Hey, how ya doing?"  I was struggling to come up with his name but couldn't.  He, in turn, grinned as if he'd known me forever and said, "Great!  Beautiful day."  I walked about 10 feet and stopped dead in my tracks.  I'd just said hello to Bob Costas.

Yes, he's an icon and has long been on my list of highest favor. But never have I been so impressed with a sportscaster as I was Sunday night, December 2nd, during halftime.  Knowing full well the blow-back that would ensue, Bob Costas spoke out about the tragedy of the Jovan Belcher murder/ suicide.  He stated the triteness of the "bringing it all into perspective" commentary and showed no fear in expressing what he knew was going to be a very controversial opinion.  (Why this opinion is controversial will always be beyond my grasp of reason and common sense.)

True to form, the right slammed him, misquoted him and even called for his immediate termination.  What's ironic is that Bob Costas, while expressing an opinion, was actually quoting a Kansas City Fox Sports writer - Jason Whitlock - whose commentary went much further than Costas' and whose article deserves a read.  http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/jovan-belcher-kansas-city-chiefs-murder-suicide-tragedy-girlfriend-self-leave-orphan-daughter-why-still-playing-sunday-120112

We need to make a serious assessment of our priorities and our attitudes.  Greed, misplaced hero worship, compassion deprivation, and our overall lack of sensitivity to violence is beyond disturbing.  We need to stand for something more.  We need to stand for one another.  And that's precisely what Bob Costas did last night. Yes, it takes courage to go out there and face those defenders on the football field.  It takes a lot more courage to take a stand, knowing full well that the repercussions could last for years to come and may well affect your career.

I'm proud of Bob Costas. I'm proud of Jason Whitlock. Seems to me that maybe these are the guys we should be emulating.

TOLD YA SO!!!

For all of you who thought I was over reacting to the absolute distraction and circus that the presence of Tim Tebow brings to any team stupid enough to sign him, please read the following editorial from “Fireman Ed.”  In case you don’t know who he is, he’s been a NY Fire Fighter for decades and has been a Jets fan and led the stadium in the J-E-T-S- JETS-JETS-JETS chant since 1975. 

Don’t get me wrong.  I’m not crazy about “Papa” John Schnatter and his “Obamacare” nonsense talk coming out after he teamed up with my quarterback, Peyton Manning (OH THANK YOU, JESUS) to sell pizza.  However, if it ever came down to it and somewhere down the road there was a controversy as to whether Brock Osweiler or Peyton Manning should be the quarterback of the Broncos, I will bet not only my life but the life of my parents, my son, my three dogs, three cats, and my pristine collection of Frank Sinatra LP’s that have only been played once (and that was to dub them onto cassette…yeah, that long ago) that if I wore a Brock Osweiler jersey to the stadium pizza fanatics would not make it impossible for me to enjoy the game.  They would belch.  Some of them would, sadly, undo their belts, and even more of them would eat another slice. But they would not cause me to leave the stadium, though I might have to move over a seat or two, if you get my drift.  Cause I’d be getting theirs.

However, when Josh McAsshole drafted Tebow, any Broncos fan who dared to support Kyle Orton or wanted any quarterback other than Jesus Pants...like one who could actually throw a pass...was met with everything from outright confrontation to biblical quotes that somehow showed that God designated the righteous place Tebow owned as the leader of our team. For Christ's sake, Pat Robertson went so far as to predict that God might even want Peyton to have another neck injury!  REALLY???  It was a three ring circus with a Te-bot who spouted platitudes, all to the elation of dogmatic idiots when it was supposed to be about FOOTBALL!!! 

So, I completely understand and sympathize with Ed Anzalone  I had to live with this crap in Denver... endless shit that was supported by the wacko religious right from Colorado Springs just chanting and churning.  Believe me, I feel your pain.  I know what you mean about loving your team but reaching a point where you just can’t take it anymore.  It’s a load of garbage.  By the way, Ed…Mark Sanchez is a good quarterback. I wish that the Jacksonville/Tebow trade rumor had been true - or even the hints about that tight end or running back stuff - it would have been the best thing that could have happened for everyone and it's actually what should have happened in the first place. 

So, after all this time, I am facing some of the biggest decisions I'll make in my life...real things to blog about... and what do I choose?  Football.  I know it's total avoidance.  However, when I read Ed's editorial I just felt so VINDICATED!!!  I think it’s because I took a whole lot of crap last year about not being a good fan, and not supporting my team and “bringing politics into it” when I WASN’T THE ONE DOING IT!!  

So as Ed - whom I've never met, but with whom I've sadly shared the Tebow experience - and I will attest, here's the absolute truth:  if you show up at a stadium that happens to house Tebow, God ain’t gonna getcha but the loonies will.  Here’s the link to his editorial.

http://www.metro.us/newyork/sports/article/1156831--guest-column-fireman-ed-steps-away-but-not-as-fan 

Timmy might continue to Tebow, but I Manninged and God ANSWERED!

JESUS LOVES YOU, THIS I KNOW

Well, I guess Tom was Bradying harder than Tim was Tebowing.  If we use the thought process that's been recently applied to Denver Broncos football, the results would dictate that on Saturday, January  14, 2012 Jesus liked Tom Brady a whole lot more than he liked Timmy.

See how silly this is?  Perhaps we can all get back to reality now.  God loves us all, Jesus loves us all, Buddha loves us all, Allah loves us all, and the Great Spirit loves us all.  None of them care who wins a football game.

Now let's watch the playoffs and the Superbowl and wait for Baseball season to start.

Why I Detest Tim Tebow

People are having a difficult time understanding why I didn't enjoy seeing the Broncos defeat the Pittsburgh Steelers yesterday.  Well, it all has to do with the Bronco's illustrious quarterback.

These are portions of an article actually written by another very right wing, Southern Baptist preacher who has a blog - so it's not some liberal I'm quoting here.

"The problem Tom Krattenmaker, the writer of the article, has with Tebow is the staunchly conservative brand of Christianity that Tebow promotes. He points out that Tebow takes off-season missionary trips to Asia under the auspices of his father’s organization, The Bob Tebow Evangelistic Association. According to Krattenmaker, the bottom line of that organization is: “Only those who assent to its version of Christianity will avoid eternal punishment.” He then cites two examples of the concerns he has with the organization. First, the ministry boldly states, “We reject the modern ecumenical movement.” Second, the ministry’s literature estimates that 75% of the inhabitants of the Philippines “have never once heard the gospel of Christ,” even though more than 80% of Philippine citizens identify themselves as Roman Catholic."

In another passage, he discusses athletes and thanking Jesus.  These are the points I keep trying to make.  What kills me about this guy is that he then reiterates his agreement with the bigotry of fundamentalism and  gets in another dig at Catholics not being Christian:

"Tebow can talk all he wants about the power of the Lord, but when it came time for him to choose a college team to play for, this home-schooled son of a missionary didn’t pick a small, Christian, ultra conservative, non-ecumenical school that barely had a football team. He picked one of the most secular ”football factories” in the United States. Think about that. There’s the power of the Lord, and then there’s the power of incredibly gifted teammates. It’s easy to shine for Jesus when the greatest disappointment you have to face in a season is the gap between winning a national championship or having to settle for finishing second in your conference and in the top five nationally.

"My son Ryan is a Christian. His belief in Christ is real and he is a great kid. He’s also a good athlete whose best sport might very well be football. However, through no fault of his own, he suffers from attending a school system that rates very low in sports. He never won a football game during his 5th-grade season. Likewise for his 6th. That 6th-grade team scored three touchdowns total. Ryan ran for two and threw for the other one. This season was his middle-school, 7th-grade season. He made all-conference, but his team won one game.

"Since Ryan and Tim Tebow both claim the same Savior, why does that Savior work so hard to get Tebow his wins and acclaim but allows Ryan to get gang-tackled season after season? I submit that Tebow’s natural ability and otherworldly teammates have much more to do with his athletic success than Jesus. I say that Jesus isn’t nearly as personally involved in the outcome of sporting events as Christian athletes want to believe. Put a batter up against a pitcher and the outcome will depend much more upon how good the pitcher’s stuff is than how often the batter prays.

"Please understand that I’m not trying to completely eliminate Jesus from sports. After all, His sovereignty knows no limits. And let’s face it, any Savior who knows the number of hairs on a person’s head has to be interested in all of life, right down to the minutest details. But we need to get back into the realm of reality on this subject. If an athlete wants to thank Jesus for allowing him the health to compete, that’s fine. If He wants to give Him praise for dying on the cross for his sins, that’s a form of witnessing. When it comes to final scores, though, he needs to keep his mouth shut about Jesus. If Jesus was really that actively involved in that department, Notre Dame would never lose a game. Remember, that’s the school with the famous “Touchdown Jesus” shrine. Oh, wait, scratch what I just said. I forgot, they’re Catholics."

Now you know that I'm not someone who is exactly "Rah, rah Catholicism" but the audacity of any fundamentalist who proselytizes on a belief system that picks and chooses who gets to go to Heaven just frosts my ass. You can go online to research a complete list of those they find unworthy for Heaven but why get yourself as worked up as I am?  I find these people to be evil and dangerous. My 85 year old Mother has been a devout Catholic from birth.  I sincerely doubt that Tim Tebow gets to go to Heaven and my tiny Catholic mother is going to Hell.


I also wanted to make clear why Tebow's presence in Denver does not bring me any joy. I will use my own faith to pray for the day when he and his Jesus Pants head back to Florida. Jacksonville can have him, I'm sure he'd be happy there.