The Sports Curmudgeon®

Yesterday, I wrote that it would be interesting to see if Jacksonville supported minor league football (the resurrected Arena League) because it does not support major league football (the NFL) very well. A former colleague and long-time reader who has retired to northern Florida sent me a link to an article in the Jacksonville Daily Record, a newspaper I had never read until yesterday. The article reported that former Jaguars’ All-Pro OT, Tony Boselli, gave a speech to a local Rotary Club luncheon recently urging the business community there to lend support to the Jags. Boselli’s speech was full of data showing how the Jags’ presence in Jax is good for the community as one might expect.

He also said that the Jags helped to put Jax on the map and into the national discourse. He is right about that. Fifteen years ago when Pete Rozelle announced that one of two expansion franchises was going to Jacksonville, a widespread reaction around the nation was:

“WTF?”

Notwithstanding the exactitude of his remarks on that point, here is where Tony Boselli went around the bend. He also said:

“Even if you don’t like football, if you’re in business in Jacksonville you need to support the Jaguars. It’s the duty of anyone who can afford season tickets to buy them.”

Excuse me. A duty is some kind of an obligation – legal or moral – which should compel one to act in a certain way. Clearly, there is no legal obligation to buy Jags tickets; therefore, I will have to wait to hear the moral impetus that demands ticket purchases by “anyone who can afford season tickets.”

Once again, Jacksonville Florida has engendered the reaction:

“WTF?”

It must be “National WTF Day” – - and no one told me – - because that has to be the reaction to the reason given by the LA Clippers for firing GM, Mike Dunleavy, yesterday. Believe me, I am not going to make an argument that Dunleavy should not have been fired; he had been the GM and/or the coach there for seven years and the team was more than 100 games under .500 for that time-span. However, it is the reason given by the Clippers that is stunning – - not that they need to give any reason in the first place; basketball coaches and GM are not tenured in their jobs.

Here is part of the statement by the LA Clippers on this matter:

“The Clippers want to win now.”

That statement is stunning; when I first ran across it, I shook my head in disbelief and went back to read the statement again thinking I may have developed dyslexia and read it incorrectly. After re-reading it, let me summarize my thoughts:

Say what?

You mean they have not wanted to win for the last 25 years?

Are they going to give refunds to the saps who paid to watch all of those games?

WTF?

The statement by the Clippers reminds me of a hugely comical moment in NFL football history. Back in the 90s, an aging Leon Hess owned the NY Jets. Hess decided on a coaching change for the Jets and announced that he wanted to win a Super Bowl now because he did not have much time left on the planet. [Aside: Mr., Hess was correct on that score; he died about five years after making his coaching change.] However, Mr. Hess’ selection as the coach that would take the Jets to the Super Bowl “now” was the one and only, Richard Edward Kotite.

At this point, I feel compelled to remind Clippers’ owner, Donald Sterling, of the words of British philosopher, Edmund Burke:

“Those who don’t know history are destined to repeat it.”

Speaking obliquely of the NY Jets, their new cornerback, Antonio Cromartie, looks as if he might be an interesting character. Only in his mid-20s, Cromartie has sired seven children with six women in five states. Whatever the Jets do, they have to put a security blanket around this guy to assure that he never hooks up with Octomom.

When it was revealed that the Jets gave him an advance on his salary for next season to take care of some “paternity issues”, Cromartie – via his people – issued a statement which said, in part:

“I made some wrong decisions in my first two years [in the NFL] and I have to take on that responsibility.”

Excuse me. He made wrong decisions? Making a decision demands the consideration of alternative means to achieve an end. Did he consider the possibility of contraception and consciously choose not to use it? Seven times? In the spirit of today as a national celebration, I must ask again:

“WTF?”

Finally, here is an item from Dwight Perry in the Seattle Times:

“Veteran NFL nose tackle Jason Ferguson has been given an eight-game ban next season for violating the league’s performance-enhancing drug policy.

“Adding further insult, during his suspension he’ll be listed as a dislocated nose.”

But don’t get me wrong, I love sports…