Quite Frankly

I caught the new sports talk show from Stephen A. Smith yesterday afternoon called Quite Frankly. Quite Frankly, and I am no Stephen A. hater, it sucked. Do we really need to see an hour long interview with Allen Iverson? Stephen needs to know the attention spans of his target audience. It was a very timely interview in which they decided to discuss things like Iverson’s “we talkin bout practice” press conference as well as Iverson and Larry Brown’s relationship. Come on Stephen A. we all know you are friends with Iverson you don’t need to brag. Why you would choose to have him on for your first ever episode is beyond me. As you all know I am not an Iverson hater either (I have the jersey and next fantasy season will be at least his third year on my team) but the interview showed me that he is a mess. He was crying like a baby when they talked about Larry Brown. Also he kept talking about how he’s just this regular guy and he’s gonna be a soldier for his new coach Mo Cheeks but while talking about how regular he is gonna be the whole time he is referring to himself in the third person. Hopefully it gets better because I thought I liked these two.
In honor of Stephen A’s new show I have a rant of my own. I am so tired of all these sports reporters always taking managements side when there is a contract dispute. What do these sports reporters have to gain from this besides covertly sharing their beliefs that they think (mostly black) athletes are lazy, greedy and without moral values. Sports reporters for the most part are such clones, incapable of having a thought that is not in line with a corporate point of view. All we ever hear about is the greedy athlete who plays a kids game for millions (which is true). But the owners are making billions to their millions. You never hear about the greedy owners. The people who deserve the money the most are the players. They are the ones providing the entertainment. They are the reason the owners are making hundreds of millions of dollars. I am not crying over the poor athlete that is not getting what they are due. I’m just saying I am sick of always hearing the one sided reporting.
Good for Terrell Owens for trying to get what his market value is. If the owners in the NFL are upset they should have guaranteed contracts. No one complains when the owners give players pay cuts because they are not living up to what they are being paid. They cut salaries even when the players are not underperforming. NFL contracts don’t mean anything. But when an athlete tries to renegotiate then he is greedy. Owens signed a terrible contract last year. If the Eagles weren’t greedy they would have given him a more fair contract to begin with.
The NFL treats running backs as if they were work animals. They over work running backs for the first five years of their careers. Then when its time for the back to get paid, to sign a new contract, after carrying a team for so long and taking the worst beating on the field they claim the back is too old and damaged goods. Edgerrin James has been a star for Indy for years. The Colts give Peyton Manning a huge contract. They give Marvin Harrison a huge contract. But they can’t give Edgerrin a contract? They put these one year franchise tags on them just in case the player gets hurt. Then they often don’t get to make as much as they could have because running backs don’t last as long.

When ever a player is trying to get a bigger payday they are “selfish”. But when the owners feel they don’t want a player anymore then it’s called a “business.” A lot of this has to do with the fact that the media has a vested interest in the status quo where corporations rule individuals. And of course race plays a part. Why is the quarterback usually the highest paid player on the team? Brett Farve is pissing me off with this Javon Walker situation. Brett is calling Walker out for threatening to hold out. Rather than stick up for his teammate Brett sides with management stating he has never threatened to hold out. DUH Brett! We can’t all be the golden child. We can’t all be handed the biggest contract on the team. Some people have to twist arms to get what they are due. Of course (with Brett’s help) Javon Walker is labeled as greedy but then again he is not a white quarterback so what do we expect.