The worlds of football, baseball, basketball and something called hockey are colliding, so there’s lots to talk about. Well in the case of the NBA and NHL there's stuff to make fun of.
Football Versus Baseball. I’m a huge football fan. I played. I coach. I watch. But there’s something about football that’s starting to bug me. Everything in football – especially the NFL – is so damned “figured out” and analyzed to the minutest level that the game seems almost soulless at times. There’s no better example of this trend than the goings on that surround the NFL draft where experts, general managers, and coaches alike all obsess over how many repetitions a guy does on the bench press or over a few tenths of a second in the 40 yard dash. When was the last time you heard of a coach or a GM, or anyone involved in a football game, play a hunch? Contrast this to baseball where mangers like Bobby Cox and Joe Torre have made their bones playing hunches. And they win, too.
The NFL Draft. There’s too much emphasis placed on the first few picks in the draft when you consider that the teams that earn that pick need way more than what that one player can give them. A high first round draft pick eats up a ton of cap dollars, dollars that could be better spent spread out among several pieces of the team puzzle.
The pressure to produce that’s put on a high first round pick – combined with the huge investment – can make the already difficult job of adapting to the pro game impossible. The Texans and the Saints are two great examples of teams that need way more than one guy, and would be better off trading down and adding depth. Although Reggie Bush is a very big temptation and might be special enough to turn the Texans around if they can do enough to protect David Carr a little better this season.
Allen Iverson and Chris Webber. The 76’ers failed to make the playoffs this year and these two malcontents decided that they weren’t going to play in their team’s final home game the other night. Head coach Mo Cheeks and team president Billy King weren’t very happy when the two also decided not to show up to fan appreciation night until tip off. The Sixers underachieved this season, and with two losers like Iverson and Webber on the roster it’s no wonder. Iverson – one of the most overrated players in pro sports – is nothing more than a ball hog.
Article comments
1 - RJ Elliott
Allen Iverson and Chris Webber are both losers, I agree. Iverson is an over-rated ball-hogging malcontent, and Webber is a moron as well as a proven loser. As long as the 76ers make Iverson and Webber their focus, they will fail...
Isiah Thomas has to be the most incompetent person in a high position in all of professional basketball...how in the hell did he get to be the President of a big-market NBA team? He sucked at Toronto, he underperformed as coach of the Pacers, and he pretty much single-handedly destroyed the CBA. With a resume like that, what in the hell were the Knicks thinking?
2 - Matthew T. Sussman
I do believe this was the first four sport ramble.
3 - r. david
everyone's a critic -- and now I am, as well. We should all get a life.
4 - sal m
very deep...everyone IS a critic and makes critical decisions everyday, that is correct...the nature of a sports fan is to be critical and analytical....the idea is to add something to the criticism or analysis.
5 - Tan The Man
Isiah Thomas should be fired.
6 - Matthew T. Sussman
He was always known for passing the ball, too bad he doesn't know how to do that with a franchise.
Dumars, on the other hand, kept making baskets...