It's not Roger Goodell, and it's not Ray Rice. It's us.

As long as there's a shit-ton of money out there buying tickets, apparel, and eyes watching games players will misbehave. Oh hell, they'll misbehave whether we're there or not. They're people like us, and we misbehave. Ray Rice, sadly, wasn't the first person to hit his fiance/wife. Adrian Peterson was not the first person to whip a 4 yr old with a switch either. Roger Goodell, and Ravens ownership weren't the first people to try to sweep the issue under the rug, and hope it goes away either. Penn State anyone?

Elite athletes who make universities, and professional franchise owners piles - PILES - of money are coddled. They have been for a long time. Owners want their stars on the field because they sell tickets, apparel, and drive ratings. Why are we even surprised that there was a video of one of them punching his fiance? I'm surprised this didn't happen years ago. As shitty as what Ray Rice did was, at least he didn't lie about it - which is the only positive you can credit it him for. So the Ravens wanted to put this to bed before it blew up. Roger Goodell works for the owners, and he decided to help the owner put it away. He perpetuated the status-quo. It was the same way Florida State did a half-assed investigation into the Jameis Winston rape allegation last year. It was the same way Penn State looked the other way in the Sandusky episode. The program and the franchise are gold mines to a lot of people, and if your access to a gold mine depends on you looking the other way, as we've seen, too many people are willing to get along to get along.

You could google and find out how many arrests NFL players have. Never mind. San Diego Union-Tribune did it. I'm reminded of the Col Jessup monologue from A Few Good Men; "Deep down inside, you don't wanna know." So, yes, athletes do the same terrible things that many others do, but WE coddle them, because WE want our teams to win, not because we don't care, but indirectly because we buy tickets to winning teams, and jerseys of winning players, and tune in to games of those teams and players more than other teams with smaller stars, and fewer wins. Owners, boosters, GMs, university presidents, and commissioners know this. Knowing this they've sheltered people that do monstrous things from real consequences so their gold mine is protected.

So instead of getting all indignant about these people while wearing a jersey, tuned in to a game, maybe we should not look the other way when we see some child, or woman with a suspicious bruise.

OH MY GOD!!! GAY FOOTBALL PLAYER!!!!

In case you haven't heard Michael Sam is homosexual. Who is Michael Sam? Michael Sam is a football player for the University of Missouri. He's really good - reeeeeeaaaaaally good. He's 6 foot 3, and weighs 260 lbs. He won 2013 SEC Defensive player of the year along with C.J. Mosely of Alabama.

Most of the draft experts had him projected to go in rounds 3 - 5. He's one of those "tweeners' as a defensive end in college. Questions like "Can he get to be big enough to play DE in the NF?" or "Is he fast enough to convert to LB?" You know - GM type questions. Such is it is, he could be a guy that goes in the middle rounds, or a guy some team reaches for, or a guy who doesn't get drafted.

Based on that alone, his coming out was a display of HUUUUUGE balls. A 1st round talent is probably going in the 1st round/early 2nd, whether he come out pre draft or not. Projected late round selections are going late, or pinning hopes on free agency. Mr. Sam is risking a lot of money on this, and that's really brave.

He's going to be drafted lower than he would have been. That's not a bold prediction, and it's not an indictment on NFL GMs. Football guys want football players, and they typically don't want to answer questions that have nothing to do with football. There will be no shortage of them in the time that passes between now and the NFL draft. One, it only takes one, will bet on him, and the door will be kicked down.

That's not a reflection on the NFL. That's a reflection on all of us. It used to be "Oh my god - that dude's gay." Now it's "Oh my god - that dude's gay, AND doesn't care who knows it." We're the problem, not the "manly" culture of professional sports.

Michael Sam is a brave man - far braver than most. He's the 1st openly gay football player at his level. Things will be harder for him for that reason. They're always harder on the one's who are first. They were harder for Jackie Robinson than they were for the African American players who came after him in the Major Leagues. Jackie Robinson not only had to put up with the bullshit, he had to be good. Michael Sam has to be good. He also has to be bigger than the small minds in some other players, front office people, and fans.

Here's hoping his talent is as big as his balls are.

Why am I even surprised.........

Did you see this?



Deadspin covered it pretty good - here - here - aaaaand here. The whos and whats are established. But why?!?!?!

I'll tell you why, The Tide lost. She lost her shit because the Tide lost, AND she has to go back to Alabama. You'd lose it too if you lived in Alabama, got out, and had to go back. Have you been to Alabama? Alabama is called the "Heart of Dixie." Do you know why? Because the brain isn't there. Deliverance is a documentary. There's nothing else in Alabama.  It sucks. Don't be all "Gulf Shores is nice" either, because they're a teeny part of the state. Hell, they were almost part of Florida. The only reason that little toe of land extending down from Cletus-ville is even part of Alabama is a 17th century political land sale scandal. Mississippi, and Arkansas talk shit about Alabama. The biggest deal in Alabama is when Auburn and Alabama play football. This year Auburn won on a freak play - already threatening Tide fans' over inflated sense of self. Getting rolled (see what I did there?) by Oklahoma just cinched the meltdown.

'Bama fans are the biggest bunch of asspipes in the totality of fandom. Worse than Cowboy fans. Worse than Notre Dame fans. Worse than Yankee fans. They're the worst. For some reason they think the U of Alabama football team holds some rarefied air in sport, and that its rightful spot is at the top of football mountain. It doesn't, and isn't. Bear Bryant has been worm food for decades, and Nick Saban will leave when he gets bored. Get over yourselves.

Here's an idea; make Alabama less sucky. That way the next time the Tide gets its ass kicked you all won't lose it because you have to go back.

Who gives a shit? Really - why do we even care?

This is getting old.

Manti T'eo had a girlfriend. According to him she was the love of his life. She died. Coincidentally, she died the same day as his grandmother. Now the story breaks that this girlfriend was fictitious. Whether he made her up, or she was made up to begin with, and he fell in love online for the phony person, and - ARRGHH - who gives a shit how the details shake out. Story goes on that maybe the made up dead girlfriend story was all to engender sympathy on the part of Heisman voters. Really? Are Heisman voters really that soft-hearted? I'm actually inclined to believe he was duped, because being dumb explains EVERYTHING. First off, was the Gramma even real? I assume she was, because if they found out about the girlfriend, they had to have looked into the Gramma right? If Gramma was real, how dumb is it to think you need a dead girlfriend in the story because the drama of playing through a beloved dead Gramma is just not sad enough. Is this the NCAA or All My Children?

Also, Lance Armstrong has come clean. Yeah - I don't care about him either. Whoop de fuckin do. Lance cheated. Sorry. I really don't even care if he doped while competing. Seems this was a pretty widespread problem in professional cycling. Not sure why. I mean it's professional cycling for fuck sake. Very few cyclist become enormously wealthy. Not sure why you'd take the needle, and risk raisining your nuts for a cyclists paycheck. I don't know, maybe I'm wrong and elite cyclists rake it in. Lance's problem wasn't cheating, or using PEDs. His problem is being a self-important cock-wad. His problem was using his name and celebrity to crush people who criticized him by telling, what turns out to be, the truth. All I know is that I can never watch Dodgeball the same way again. I'll have to tell Vince Vaughan not to listen to Lance because he's a big headed, self-serving, lying little douche-nozzle. Fuck him and his little bracelet. Being a colossal dick, and ruining others' lives doesn't get wiped away because of charity. Dick - there's your legacy Capt One Nut.

It's really ridiculous that this is even a story. I mean, I get that it is. It's big because it's a freak show, and we all love a freak show, but why are we surprised? There are millions of dollars at the end, or even in the middle of, the sports star rainbow. You get to bang Sheryl Crow. Brent Musberger crows on TV how hot football player girlfriends are - because they are. Hello!!! You get to earn millions playing. Then you get to make more doing Wrangler ads - even after you text your dick to a girl in the PR dept. Who wouldn't lie, and cheat their way to that. We lie and cheat for even less. OF COURSE professional, and elite college athletes, lie. Of course they take PEDs by a large margin. And we love it. We love big, fast collisions. We love athletes dominate the competition. We love touchdowns, and long home runs. That's what we want. So, that's what we get. So quit fucking belly-aching when the curtain is pulled back showing it's all a put on.

You're welcome.