Wednesday, April 15, 2009

It Doesn't Matter; Not A Story

I get it, the NBA & NHL playoffs are looming, your not in baseball mode just yet, and the NFL draft is still two weeks away. However, it doesn't mean you just start drumming up stories we could care less about:

Oscar De La Hoya retiring, not a story. He isn't what Michael Jordan was to basketball, he wasn't what Curt Schilling was to curse breaking, and pardon me, but his biggest hit was on a reality show. This is more of ESPN trying to force another sport we don't care about down our throat. NEWSFLASH: No one watches bowling on Sunday afternoons, we don't care about trick shots in pool, and we sure as hell aren't watching Friday Night Fights. Boxing is a mess, more people are watching comparable sports like MMA and Ultimate Fighting. Boxers, De La Hoya included, predominantly destroy their top dog legacy by staying in too long for several more pay days. He gets tooled on by Manny Pacquiao earlier this year, lost to the likes of Shane Mosley, Bernard Hopkins, and Floyd Mayweather over the last several years. No disrespect, he's a highly decorated boxer and I get that, but do the masses give a damn about an over the hill boxer retiring? Will De La Hoya be followed around like Brett Favre was last year? Will we rush out and by tickets to Wizards v. Celtics when Jordan reappears in The Garden? Come on, before we make this the lead, how many people are staying to watch it? I'm saying it, the only reason this is a big story is because ESPN just set up shop in Los Angeles, De La Hoya has his own statue outside Staples Center, which is in Los Angeles, and it fits for The World Wide Leader. If not for that, this is not a story.

Isiah Thomas has a job, not a story. Sure, in the worst economic times since the early 80's with the unemployment rate close to double digits, of course Isiah Thomas would get hired. Has a hand in sinking the CBA, torpedoed the New York Knicks which included a multi-million dollar sexual harassment law suit, of course the university of Florida International chooses him as their new men's basketball head coach, brilliant. What's the story here? Shock and awe? This is the United States, we put "W" at the head of the table for eight years, and you thought Isiah would be collecting long? However, this time I'm actually concerned, I could care less about what Donnie Walsh and Steph Marbury think about Isiah being employed, that's irrelevant. I'm concerned because now he's in charge of young minds, and if he tanks college hoops, then what the hell am I going to do in the month of March? I've got an idea what we can do with this story . . . BURY IT! I'm sure everyone who just lost their job in the last couple months is jacked up to hear Isiah is back in the workforce. Like I said, BURY IT!!!!!

The 2009 NFL Schedule is out, not a story. One would think that after watching the Steelers bludgeon through the NFL in 2008 on their way to a Super Bowl Championship, we'd be over this scheduling day thing. Pittsburgh had the toughest schedule in '08, and it didn't matter. The Lions were terrible, didn't matter who they played. The Cowboys, Patriots, and Giants get on national television, that's who the masses watch. Furthermore, there is a reason we watch the Padres play at CitiField, not because their good but because the Mets were opening their new home. Why is this relevant? Because no kidding the Cowboys will show their multi-million dollar facility to the world, not a surprise! Everything else having to do with the schedule, is a bit over hyped. Biggest NFL offseason story, Jay Cutler and the Broncos, yet somehow schedulers can't make a swap and send Cutler back to Denver to play against his old team? Now that is a story we could talk about. Who cares if we wait two weeks till after the NFL draft to select this schedule, make things even more interesting. You wouldn't make a cookie and forget the flour, and you sure as hell wouldn't forget to add the chocolate chips. Scheduling before the draft (that's the flour) not watching Bears @ Broncos, that would be the chocolate chips. Ugh, keep this story where it belongs, on the back pages.

Wait, I guess that I just finished writing about a bunch of stories I didn't want to read about. Errrrrrr, until next time folks.

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