Bad sports, good sports: Favre blows it again
Wow, did I enjoy Sunday night’s NFC championship game. It was a back and forth game that went to overtime, with the New Orleans Saints outlasting the Minnesota Vikings, 31-28. The best part of it for me was late in the 4th quarter, with the game tied and Minnesota driving for what would have been a game-winning field goal. Less than 30 seconds remained, and the Vikings were at the New Orleans 38-yard line after a bad penalty for 12 men in the huddle. Favre rolled to his right after being flushed from the pocket. He could have run, improving the Vikings’ field position. Hell, he could have just fallen down. Instead, he remembered he was Brett Favre. He tried to do way too much, throwing across his body and back toward the middle of the field, and it was an easy interception for Tracy Porter of the Saints. Seeing the Vikings lose because Favre screwed it up at the most critical point in the game was quite enjoyable, I must say.
I have beaten the I-hate-Brett-Favre drum all year. If I had to break it down, I would have to say that what I really hate is the Favre love-fest that I have to put up with on a weekly basis as an avid football fan. I had hoped that some of that would go away with John Madden’s retirement from the broadcast booth in early 2009, but it didn’t. The constant off-season drama surrounding Favre over the last couple of years has led to an even greater amount of attention during the season, which I am sure is a big reason Favre has made us sit through all of that. To his credit, he played exceptionally well this season, leading the Vikings to the brink of Super Bowl, and throwing the fewest interceptions of his career. With the biggest game of the year on the line, though, he reverted to his old ways.
Is Favre to blame for the constant coverage and weekly drooling by the sports media? To some extent, certainly. Like I said, he seems to create the drama, and I don’t think that’s any kind of accident. I can’t absolve the sports media itself, though, particularly ESPN. More than ever before, they seem to thrive on the personalities and off-the-field stories as much or more than they do on the sports themselves. I assume people like that stuff, or it wouldn’t sell.
Late in regulation, when it looked like the Vikings would win, I stated to the friends I was watching with that I simply couldn’t take the two-week, Super Bowl-sized Brett Favre extravaganza that was about to occur. The very thought depressed me. Fortunately, Favre did what he has done so often in his storied career.
Good sports, continued:
2) Abby Sunderland, a 16-year old girl from California, left Saturday on a sailing trip that will take her around the world, if things go as planned. She is attempting to become the youngest person to ever make the trip alone.
3) Every once in a while, a player hits a half-court shot in a basketball game. In hockey, you occasionally see a goal from center ice. I am not a big soccer watcher, so I don’t know how often this happens, but Jamie Milligan, a midfielder for Fleetwood Town, an English soccer club, scored from mid-field on a wildly out-of-place goalkeeper in a match against Farsley Celtic. Very cool.
Bad sports:
1) I am not a religious person, but I do my best to respect the beliefs of others. Still, I am having a hard time understanding the choice made by Grant Desme, a top pitching prospect in the Oakland Athletics farm system. He has decided to leave baseball to become a priest. I don’t get it.
2) Prince, who became irrelevant years ago, apparently decided to support his hometown Minnesota Vikings last week, penning a song called “Purple and Gold.” Wonderful. Please don’t let me ever hear that song.
3) This was awesome. Earlier this week, the Buffalo Bills hired Chan Gailey to be the team’s new head coach. I was surprised by the choice, since Gailey didn’t seem to be a very good coach when he was head coach for the Dallas Cowboys in the late 90s. He was named offensive coordinator for the woeful Kansas City Chiefs last season, and was demoted before the 2009 season even began. Buddy Nix, the Buffalo general manager, was defending his choice of Gailey to reporters, but chose a very odd way to do it. He was attempting to explain that lots of people wanted the head job in Buffalo, despite the team’s bad season, but this is how he said it: “Trust me, it’s a good job. Don’t ever think you can’t fill coaching jobs even if they’re bad. Oakland gets a lot of calls.”
Wow. Not sure I can add to that.
Bad Sports, Good Sports appears every Monday
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Alan, you’re not the only one scratching his head over Desme’s decision. But, while I respect your convictions regarding the separation of church and sports, I don’t understand why that decision ended up in the ‘Bad Sports’ portion of your post.
True, if Desme pursues his call to the priesthood, it would be bad for sports … but maybe it will be good for something or someone else.
As for Favre, for some fans there’s always been interest in, and support for the ol’timer who keeps after it long after others his age have hung up their cleats. When I was younger, it was George Blanda with the Oakland Raiders. I’ve missed most of the media attention paid to Favre … but that’s because I mostly follow the Steelers, and my interest in the game ended – along with their prospects for the post-season – at the end of the regular season.
Thanks for the link to the Milligan goal! True, it’s not as common as a mid-court shot in basketball, but it does happen occasionally … and you were spot-on about the keeper being “wildly out of place.”
Hey Jeff – thanks for reading. I suppose that, despite my intent to be respectful, a decision like that is so outside of my areas of comprehension that it falls into what I would consider a bad area. This kid has incredible talent and is in a position to have a career in professional baseball. If I had ever shown any measurable skill in the field, I would have dedicated my life to it. I realize he is dedicating himself to something that moves him even more than baseball, but it just doesn’t make sense to me. Fortunately for him, what I believe doesn’t mean a whole lot in terms of his world and decision-making.
Also, careers in professional sports are very short, as compared to most other fields. Couldn’t he have become a priest after his playing days were over? Seems like he could do it all.