No Glove No Love

A day after being eliminated from my fantasy football playoffs, losing to a team with a concussed Aaron Rodgers, I have been trying to avoid watching anything to do with sports, but felt I needed to make a post. Really poor team management was my demise, I didn't have much confidence in the team that got me to the playoffs and was matched up against the team I felt was the best in the league, so I made some bone-head manuevers that ended up killing me. Jay Cutler in a blizzard was a fatal mistake, Chris Ivory blew a hammy and killed me, and actually picking up and playing Roy Williams was an amateur move. I didn't deserve to win fielding a team like that.

Which gets me to the point of this whole post, I was watching the Dallas/Philly game hoping that Roy Williams could outscore a combination of Jeremy Maclin and Jason Witten by more than 2.5 points. Roy Williams stinks. How was this guy ever an actual decent receiver. Anyways I watched the whole game and even noticed after the game that during the obligatory handshakes Cowboys RB Tashard Choice, with Sharpie in tow, approached Eagles QB Michael Vick and had him sign his glove. At the time I didn't think anything was wrong with this happening, and to be honest, I still don't. TV personalities have been killing Choice for doing this. Why?

I have always been fascinated by the post-game handshakes, it is interesting to see who meets up with who, and then I try to figure out how they know each other and wonder how good of friends they really are. Do you think that some clown special teamer goes up to Peyton Manning and gives him a hug, and Manning gives him a pat on the shoulder and as he walks away goes, "Who the hell was that?" I'm sure it happens all the time. Do you think Jets strength and conditioning coach Sal Alosi goes around ball tapping unsuspecting players from the opposing team?

You see it all the time, former teammates or players of the same position meet up at the 50 after the games, smile, say some words, do a goofy handshake and go on their ways. It seems that after beating each other up for 60 minutes they forget all of what happened during the game and become people again; friends, teammates, and ultimaely fans of the game.

This is why I don't see what Choice did as wrong. Yeah his team just lost, but they are not a playoff team and lost to a superior opponent. Choice grew up in Thomasville, Georgia, presumably rooting for the Atlanta Falcons. During Choice's high school and college (he went to Georgia Tech) years, who was the Falcons' QB? Michael Vick, the most explosive and exciting player in the game; the savior of the Falcons' franchise.

Choice probably grew up admiring and emulating Vick's game. He probably had a #7 Atlanta Falcons jersey in his closet. So what is wrong with getting the autograph of presumably his favorite player growing up? Nothing. The only thing that was wrong was it was captured on TV.

The TV personalities that are bashing Choice are who I have a problem with. What makes these guys so high and mighty that they can sit in their tailored suits and makeup and pass judgement on people they don't know. They are on TV, that is it. Thousands of people are on TV. Even George Lopez is on TV, so being on TV isn't saying much. But because they are on TV or write for a website, people adhere to their words as though they were gospel. Chris Mortensen could say that the sky is purple, and because he is on ESPN, some sports fans would believe him. Shannon Sharpe is a "respected" analyst. The guy can't even talk, it sounds like he has a mouth full of shit or is trying his hardest to be Lou Holtz. Frank Caliendo, a Frank that wasn't even considered for the top-Franks list, makes weekly picks on Fox. What? Just because he can do a John Madden voice he is somehow a football expert. This is what I can't stand about these TV personalities, their television and journalistic credentials are no different from Joe Schmo on the corner, but because they played in the NFL or can do perform a skit that only Dane Cook fans would laugh at, they are somehow experts.