Super Bowl Brings Out The Stiffs

There almost wasn't enough time to watch the game. There were so many stiffs to look at, categorize and attempt to make some sense of. Let's start at the beginning:

1. Christina Aguilera, who admits to having sung the National Anthem since she was 7 years old, butchered the lyrics, repeated the lyrics, changed a few words such as "gleaming" to " reaming", and in general set an all new low standard for performances. She was so worried about free-lancing a song that should never be free-lanced, so made a fool of herself in front of tens of million fans. Her performance bordered closely to the Roseanne Barr debacle years ago.

2. Deion Sanders, who as usual, thinks it's always about him. His fellow inductees were all dressed beautifully, very proper and low key, while Neon Deion lived up to his nickname, looking for all to see as if he were trying to pimp out the blonde bombshell butcher of the anthem.

3. Troy Aikman, who seemed disinterested at best and lethargic at best, during his pre-game, in-game and post-game conversations. He showed no animation whatsoever, referring to players as "he" and "him" and the teams as " they". Did he even know who was playing?

4. Joe Buck, who I actually felt sorry for all the years he did baseball with that senile fragment of a player, Tim McCarver, who stumbled and stuttered through every inning, now messing up names and dates and places all on his own, misreading cue cards, and in general seeming very uncomfortable in front of the cameras.

5. Finally we get to the game. Troy Polamalu needed to spend more time reading the scouting report and less time making hair commercials for that useless doo he piles into his helmet. He was two steps late on every coverage, misread several coverages, and just seemed to constantly stare at the big board after every play to see how bad it all was.

6. Big Ben Wanna Come Into My Stall Roethlisberger gets the ultimate stiff of the week. Beleive it or not, it isn't for his poor performance, the two INTS, the overthrows and more overthrows. No, it's not for any of that. Anyone can have a bad game. Heck, he's had two in a row where his QB rating barely reaches his age. No, it's for his newfound habit of calling out his teammates on the field. He has learned from Peyton Manning very well. Every time he missed a pass, not some of the time - every time, the camera showed him pointing down the field and gesturing in all directions to his receivers, as if to say " You ran the wrong route ". That is Manning's calling card, but Ben is getting good at it. He's calling out Hines Ward - are you serious? I think after 13 years, Hines knows the routes to run. Roethlisberger was forthcoming after the game, but it's too late Mr. Bathroom Date-in-Waiting. You messed up bigtime and you kept pointing at your teammates. That's bush league, buddy. You are not Tom Brady, you are not Peyton Manning, you are not Joe Montana. You are lucky to be where you are. Your defense and running backs won you one Super Bowl ring where you barely showed up. They also won the game getting you into Superbowl XLV. You had a 36QB rating 2 weeks ago....36....... closer to 0 than respectibility. Your diehard fans just keep looking past all of your nonsense, because you have a black and gold jersey on. They're loyal, but you don't deserve them.

7. Bad but not least - Kurt Menofe - when they came back to do a Superbowl recap, he looked like the deer in the headlights. He seemed shocked that they wanted him to speak and he stumbled through a few lines until he finally just signed off to Glee.

8. Jerry Jones - $1.2B for this place, Jerry - really?....really?... PA system failure....temporary seats not safe enough for 400 paying customers so they couldn't sit down at $2000 per seat they paid....snow falling off the roof and injuring workers...really? Jerry, really?..... did you use the Metrodome as a model? I'm surprised you weren't on the field trying to get some face time as you always do.

9. How about those $60 pizzas? Good?????

10. A-Rod can't stay away from bad press,eh? The camera just loves to show what a fool he is. His 40+ year old honey of the month is feeding him popcorn. He's laying back like the male? version of Cleopatra, minus the grapes. And he wonders why people think he is such a fool.

11. John Madden - texting????? - really John?????? - do you know how to text or were you just calling luxury box service for another hoagie or two?

12. Someone wake up John Travolta and tell him there's a game going on...John!!!!!...wake up John!!!! He thought it was a Scientology Convention I bet.

13. George W. Bush and Ms. Laura - how cute they were, sitting with that frozen grin on their faces. Did GW think it was a Texas Rangers game?...wrong sport W.....

14. Frank Caliendo - why are you imitating Barkley? - that is so yesterday and half the people watching the FOOTBALL game didn't know who Sir Charles was.....what was that about?

It was a very forgettable Superbowl, but I know one in the future that will be more forgettable. Superbowl XLVIII will be in the Meadowlands at New Giants/Jets whatever the freak the name is Stadium. It will be in February, 75 inches of snow on the ground, snowing during the game, 7 degrees below zero with 40 mph winds and Howie Long will be sitting there with a light sweater and plastic hair talking about real football and this is how it should be . Ask the 2,000 people in the stands how they're feeling......

When does baseball start? Soon, I hope !!!!!!!

MLB and MLBPA need to sit down NOW!!!!!!

Let me preface my remarks by stating unequivocably that I am now and always have been a die-hard Boston Red Sox fan. I have been through the decades of "bad" and the decade of "good" . We all want our team to win, but let's look at what is happening in Major League Baseball. As you know, there is no salary cap in this sport, so the teams that have the financial resources are going to be more successful overall. Occasionally, a team with a low payroll, has some young up-and-coming players, who perform above and beyond the norm and the team is competitive briefly. Later on, those players leave for " greener pastures" with the rich teams.

But let's look at the big picture. The "richest" teams are clearly the Yankees, Red Sox, Angels, Dodgers and the "poorest" teams are the Royals, A's,Orioles, Astros and Pirates. Which ones do we always talk about as "winners" or "potential winners" and which ones never are in the discussion?

How would you like to be a fan of the KC Royals, knowing that the before the season started, you entire team's payroll is less than that of just Jeter and A-Rod. You have no chance, so unless you are just a fan of the game, you don't go to many or any games and attendance figures are horrible, meaning even less revenue.

During the season, teams such as the Yankees have the luxury of constant re-evaluation and additions to the roster and payroll. Their contract with the YES Network, their advertisers and huge fan base basically make it so that there is NO CEILING whatsoever to what they can spend. They are already this year at $230M, which is at least $75M more than the next team in line and more than 5 times as much as the majority of other major league teams. They have a struggling pitcher. That's OK; let's go buy another one or trade for another one. A player gets hurt; OK, let's go get a replacement player. When you look at the Yankees, you see A-Rod, Teixeira, Granderson, Sabathia, Petitte, Swisher, Burnett and realize that these guys all came to the Yankees as free agents and other teams could not afford to pay what the Yankees could. The Yankees were the highest bidder for each of them, by a mile. Paying a luxury ( overspending ) tax is of no issue to the Yankees. They could literally run their payroll to $400M and still be in the black, just with media deals. They have a city of 15M people and a new park with nice seats and expensive souvenirs and food. Tickets run up to $750 per game and they still nearly fill it. Some of the poor teams are offering 10 game blocks of tickets for $99, just to get people in the park.

Does anyone think that this disparity is going to get better? It's not. The Yankees have an all-star team. One of their worst regular players is Swisher, a virtual star on any other team. With no salary cap, their potential to win World Championships increases each year as more teams fall behind.

Worse than the thought of the Yankees winning the world Series multiple years or decades in a row, is the thought that bankruptcy looms in the future for many low budget teams. It's hard to atract fans when you always lose. The Pittsburgh Pirates, once a proud franchise, is drawing under 11,000 fans per game. They won't last very much longer that way. They are on their way to their 20th consecutive losing season. It's the same for KC, Oakland, Houston and a host of other clubs. We don't need to lose baseball in major cities now and head back to only having 8 teams.

The 19-39 year olds are not that interested in baseball now, because of its lack of constant action. This is a generation that needs a reason to come back. Losing won't help that happen in the cities they reside.

Some teams should be getting better, because when the rich teams play a luxury tax, the money goes to the poorer teams, supposedly to go out and buy free agents. The last few years has shown that this isn't happening. The money is being used to pay regular bills that otherwise unpaid, would push the teams toward bankruptcy. The system is broken and it needs to be fixed.

Remember, I am a Sox fan, and I know that a salary cap would bring all the teams to the approximate same level. That's OK with me, because I like real competition.

Some people beleive that it has nothing to do with the teams, but rather it's the hiring of good managers. This is total nonsense. Look at the successful managers recently.

Terry Francona was a horrible manager in Philadelphia, when they wouldn't spend any money. He comes to Boston and wins 2 titles. Did he suddenly get smart? No, he sudden;y had money behind him to get players ( Ramirez, Ortiz,Beckett, etc ).

Is Joe Girardi some kind of brain child? Anyone could coach that team in NY right now. Just fill out the card and send them out there. Everyone thought Joe Torre was a briliant manager. That's not true. How was he before the Yankees and now with the LA Dodgers? Did he suddenly get stupid or did the money pit run dry?

Is Lou Piniella a bad manager or does he just have a bad team? Why can't anyone win in Baltimore? The answer is clear. They don't spend money for players. You can't make chicken salad out of chicken shE#$^%@.

Every fall, fans of the NFL in nearly every city really beleive that their team can make it to the Super Bowl, because there is a cap on spending. In these games, talent wins out, the talent you already have, not the talent that you can spend freely to get later on.

I am naming MLB and the MLBPA my stiffs of the week, for failing to see what is happening to baseball and what will ultimately result in its demise. No player needs to make $20M+ a year to hit a ball. The integrity of this game is in serious jeopardy and something needs to be done now.