Since Stank-0 did such a masterful job of the
sports hate list, I, Werdsworth, have decided to contribute a few things of my own. I'm gonna push some unconventional ideas, here we go.
1.
That MJ is the single greatest basketball player of all time. MJ is great, he was competitive about everything, but MJ was the next in the evolution of the sport. He is the latest in a long line. The lineage goes something like this: Oscar>Elgin>the Logo>Dr. J>Magic & Bird>MJ>Kobe>Lebron>? The MJ phenomenom is a convergence of a lot of things at the same time such as the mainstreaming of the NBA, the lucrative endorsement deals that are now standard, the release date for shoes being on par with the release date for music, allowing NBA players to compete in the Olympics, NBA players purposefully creating an "image", etc. MJ was savvy enough to take advantage of the opportunities before him.
2.
That "professional" wrestling does not have an offseason. How hard is that to accomplish? Let the B teamers get some shine while the A-listers heal up. These men (and women) are getting addicted to painkillers with murderous results. The WWE is using them up and spitting them out.
3.
That we realize that Barry Sanders would be the clear best back of all time with Emmitt's line, but we never give Tim Brown the same consideration vis-a-vis Jerry Rice. Think about it. Brown played with about 12 different quarterbacks in his career and still managed to have 1000 yard receiving each of those seasons. Imagine if Brown had had at least one clear HOF signal caller for his career?
4.
That Barry Bonds has become the poster child for the steriods era. That's a tad unfair since the steriod era stretches at least since the 1970s, if not before. We want to make Bonds the bad guy, but he didn't come along until the end.
5.
That the rest of the world (and many in the US) think that the rest of the world has "caught up" to the US in basketball. Let's be very very real about this right here. When the US brings less than stellar teams to international competition they lost. That does not mean any country has caught up, it means the US is sending its B or C team. The elite players, naturally, wanted to rest for the NBA season because that's a ring. For the 2008 Olympics, the US sent Kobe, LeBron, Wade, and Melo, the best wing players in the NBA. Then the two best young point guards CP3 and DWill got to be tutored by JKidd. What happened? The US fast break was disgusting. I'm gonna say this right here and right now. The US has the best wing players in the world and I can't even think of what country is #2 because the gap is that huge.
The US isn't as clearly dominant as it was in 1992, but that doesn't mean the US isn't the undisputed basketball superpower. Got it? Good.
6.
The US isn't good at football (soccer). The US is getting steadily better at football (soccer), don't let the last World Cup fool ya. The US was in the Group of Death from time to time the luck of draw comes up snake eyes. US national players are increasingly playing in Europe (where the best football is played) and it's having an effect on their performance.
7.
That black athletes have natural physical abilities and white athletes are naturally savvy and smart. Wrong on both counts. This is actually a nature/nurture argument. Some people may have innate physical gifts but to be a professional athlete requires years of hours of practice and training, nothing about that is natural. For an example of a smart black athlete, peep "Kobe doin work." Kobe is a basketball scholar, he processes all this information in seconds and reacts. White athletes also have innate physical gifts as well.
I truly believe that you try to model what you see. If you're seeing certain behavior, you start to believe that you can do that as well.
8.
That young basketball players are being forced to do things that young tennis and baseball players and gymnasts are not. NBA has required that before a basketball player may declare for the NBA he must wait a year, basically requiring a year of college. They are thinking of extending that by another year. Yet nothing is said when young tennis players and gymnasts drop out of school to begin training, sometimes as early as 6 years old. A baseball player can be drafted right out of high school, maybe even before. At least the basketball players is a legal adult and able to make a decision for himself.
9.
That the NFL does not guarantee contracts. This would eliminate alot of problems if the contracts were guaranteed and not just the signing bonus. Fans, analysts, and the media want to get mad when a player will sit out because they don't like their contract, but these guys have no guarantee of anything. Their contract can be backloaded or outright voided at the discretion of the organization.
10.
That golf is the only sport where the fans are required to be quiet. Golfers need to man the f**k up. Fans can even be vocal in gymnastics but we have to be quiet on the gallery before the swing. If a professional golfer can't focus because of the gallery talking, you might want to quit playing.
Well, Stank-0 what do you think? Thoughts? Suggestions? Omissions?
Carl de Souza/AFP/Getty Images
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