From Class to Crass

Class..

Not much can be said here. Vivre Le Lance!!

To Crass...

Terrell Owens is an arrogant jerk. I can't stand him. He's a phenomenal athlete who thinks the sun revolves around him. He recent whinings about his contract have me shaking my head (and my middle finger).

But then I read this little bit of information: he had to sign an injury waiver indemnifying the Eagles in case he reinjure his ankle while playing in the Super Bowl. That means if T.O. was on the hook financially if he reinjured his ankle. Apparently, that's not standard operating procedure, but I don't know. It does put his little spat with the Eagles in a different light, however.

The Final Kenny Rogers Post (I Hope)

I'm officially letting go of Kenny Rogers and his wacky behavior. Instead, I'm going to letting somebody else write about it. Here is Bill Simmons and his take on Kenny:


The Sean Penn Award for "Best Meltdown"
You know me by now -- I'm the same guy who gave the Artest Melee "Save Until I Delete" TiVo status. So I didn't want to weigh in after the meltdown happened, mainly because I think athletes and celebrities should be able to assault cameraman and paparazzi whenever they want. But there were a number of things I loved about the Kenny Rogers incident, including …

1. The way Rogers's demeanor never changed -- he was like one of those 80's movie serial killers in the way he icily went about his business (you could almost imagine him grimly dispatching camp counselors with an ax on Crystal Lake).
2. The aggrieved cameraman appearing on roughly 732 radio and TV shows the following day with that glazed, "I'm getting paid for this, right?" look on his face. You could tell he was thinking, "Damn, if he had just opened a 50-stitch cut on my head, I could have gotten on 'Regis and Kelly!'"
3. ESPN showing the clip at least 500,000 times over the next 48 hours. In fact, I think they replaced the overnight "SportsCenter" with a continuous clip of Rogers assaulting the cameraman. I also enjoyed how so many columnists, TV hosts and radio hosts needed to take positions like there was something to argue here. Lemme tell you something, you cannot attack a cameraman on the field. Really, doctor?
4. Kenny's fantastic apology this week, which somehow made matters worse as the media lambasted him all over again. What were they expecting from Kenny, a tearjerking speech along the lines of Billy Dee Williams in "Brian's Song"? The guy's a baseball player! These are the dumbest athletes of any professional sport! You think baseball players sit around on the team plane discussing Raymond Carver stories and the AIDS problem in Africa? This is the only sport where a star player could release a book titled "Idiot" … and nobody would bat an eyelash. And you're surprised that Kenny's speech sucked? Gimme a break.

The blog is officially closed on Mister Rogers.

Apology Accepted. Now Skip the All-Star Game.

This is a nice piece from today's Dallas Morning News that sums up my feelings about the recent Kenny Rogers apology:

With Super Nanny in reruns, parents can follow the Kenny Rogers mess this summer to get their fill on advice for the kids. The fallout from the Rangers pitcher's outburst last week is full of life lessons: Don't resort to violence, ever. Don't lose control of your emotions. Don't expect to get away with bad behavior.

But, finally, a "do" – do apologize, as Mr. Rogers did Wednesday.

Some say it came too late. Others quibble that he had an ulterior motive. But parents can point to his brief Wednesday news conference as a model apology.

He said, "Against the advice of my legal counsel, and regardless of potential litigation, I feel compelled to come before you and express my deep regret for my actions."

He offered no excuses, saying that he comes to the ballpark every day knowing he needs to keep his emotions in check and admitting, "I failed miserably."

If only politicians could be so frank. Instead, how often do we hear apologies for how actions were "perceived" or for "unintended consequences"? Please.

Rare are the apologies that shoulder all the blame. Let's accept those that do.

Forgiveness does not let Mr. Rogers off the hook, though. There's one more important lesson here: Actions have consequences.

Mr. Rogers should drop the appeal of his 20-game suspension. He should not play in the All-Star Game.

Let young fans see that the best apologies are followed by the acceptance of responsibility.

And another thing:
What is it about Rogers that makes everybody so hands-off about this ordeal? First Rangers management basically left any punishment up to Da Commish. Now that he's still eligible for the All-Star Game, AL manager Terry Francona is saying that it's up to Rogers to decide whether or not he wants to attend the game.

The CBA in MLB has such a stranglehold on ownership's nutsack that everybody is afraid to drop the hammer on Rogers. Only Da Commish levied any kind of punishment, and he had to just to cover MLB's butt. And he knew full well that the punishment would be appealed and that it may even not stick.

I'm just glad children aren't members of MLB's Players Association.

You Call THAT Punishment?

Wait, wait, wait. Let me get this straight. Texas Rangers pitcher Kenny Rogers gets to assault two cameramen who were just doing their jobs and he still gets to go to work?

Two days ago, Rogers went ballistic and assaulted two cameramen who were filming the Rangers during the team’s warm-ups before a game against the Angels. Rogers has been hostile to the media all year, with several circumstances that have made him hostile to nearly everybody it seems.

But these were cameramen, not reporters. These aren’t the guys who stick a microphone in his face after a bad pitching night. These are not the radio talk show hosts who question whether or not Rogers is ducking starts because the team has stopped contract negotiations.

These are guys doing their jobs at the invitation of the Texas Rangers. And Rogers assaulted them. If not for catcher Rod Barajas, Rogers would have attacked a couple of other cameramen. And this was all caught on tape.

But it gets worse.

First, team management decides to wash their hands of situation by letting MLB determine the punishment for Rogers. Sure, the general manager and owner put for the necessary “we don’t condone this sort of behavior” blah, blah, blah. But what else did they do? They sent Rogers to his room that night to think about what he had done.

Next, Rogers has been absent from the public eye other than being present during games while awaiting Commissioner Selig’s punishment. A statement was released through his attorney about how sorry he is:

In a statement Friday before the ruling, Rogers' attorneys said: "Kenny Rogers would like to make a statement. However, in light of the ongoing investigation, it is not advisable for Kenny to comment directly and publicly at this time.

"On Kenny's behalf, though, we would like to express to Mr. Rodriguez, Ranger fans, all baseball fans and his teammates that Kenny is truly sorry for the incident that occurred and regrets that it happened."

Still, the Gambler has yet to apologize personally or take responsibility for his actions.

Finally, da Commish rendered his verdict: A 20 game suspension (with pay, I might add) along with a $50,000 fine—the longest suspension in some time.

The tragedy is that it won’t stick. The Player’s Union is appealing the suspension, which means Kenny gets to pitch if he wants to. And as I wrote about before, both the fine and suspension will most likely be reduced.

And Congress is worried about steroids in baseball? What about the message being sent that rich, spoiled athletes can get away with behavior that would otherwise land them in jail or on probation? What about the message of entitlement being taught to young athletes that say no matter what you do, as long as you’re a star or at least a productive member of the team, you will be protected from everyday rules and commonsense?

What is damaging the youth of this country is not “the national public-health crisis" of steroids that Virginia Representative Tom Davis and his buddies in Congress are flapping their slack jaws about. It’s the lack of discipline levied out to professional athletes.

Kenny Rogers should be suspended 20 games without pay, fined $100,000, barred from participating in the All-Star Game, sentenced to anger management classes, and brought up on assault charges. But I guess the wind isn’t blowing hard enough for Da Commish to send a true message. Congress hasn’t gotten involved.