another rant from the couch,
by Bill Ribas
It’d be interesting to have been a fly on the wall when Favre was confronted by a few teammates and questioned on his career, and would he be coming back, or was this going to get ugly. I wonder though, just how did Favre get so important that his pals in purple had to stage an intervention to get him back on the field? Or was this just another heavily scripted move?
Now that might be a hasty thought, because, really, who benefits from the attention of the press? Unless Favre opens a chain of waffle houses, in which case, the potential is enormous. But in the day to day world, has there ever been so much concern over a yes or no question? Yeah, well, excluding shows like “The Bachelor”, but you at least know there you’re getting strung along for a payoff.
The only angle I can see here is ego, about the size of a wheel of cheese, but one that also has horns sticking out of it. Because there is no shortage of stories about the NFL, like TO & Ochocinco, to name one, and there have to be tons. But for some reason, the media hangs their hat on Favre, and his decision. Or non decision. Or waffling. It’s just sooo confusing.
One thing that’s not so confusing is the future of Francisco Rodriguez. After an altercation with his father-in-law, a long cooling off period at the gulag known as Citifield, an arraignment, and a hasty surgery, he’ll be sidelined for the rest of the year. The Mets have placed him on the DQ list (that’s disqualified, not Dairy Queen), and are looking to get out of paying him for nothing. And while I’m usually against management (such as the Yankees begging for 400 million in public assistance for their stadium, while at the same time signing two players for that amount), this time I am with them. I mean, this is more than just your average workman’s comp issue. While Rodriguez got into it with his father-in-law (and anyone who is married knows how short a fuse can be in an instance like that), it is the domestic abuse laws that come into play, because he had to be taken into custody regardless of the victim’s wishes (and I don’t know whether the dad of his girlfriend wanted to cut him loose or not). And that’s a factor that will certainly affect the outcome when negotiations get underway.
What is at stake here, aside from K-Rod’s salary, could be a serious attack on the player’s union, and sports agents as well, or it could just be a precedent setting case that favors the owners. I am sure there is nothing owners love more than paying players who don’t perform up to their abilities or history (paging Mo Vaughn, etc.), but here is a case where an incident happened outside of the game, rendered a player useless, and why should the team suffer from it? In the case of the Mets, the last thing they need this year is a kick to their collective frank and beans. Last year’s injury riddled season is long gone but not forgotten, and this year’s inability to score despite some better than average pitching (18 shutouts so far, or Santana’s sub 2.0 era in his last 9 games or so) has been painful enough. Now, the top dog you signed to close out games has anger management issues, and messed up his thumb beating an in-law? Sheesh, what’s next, Favre saying he’s coming to the National league to pitch?
Yet perhaps the biggest story of the week was Dustin Johnson being penalized for grounding his club in a hazard. Touching the ground with his club, yeah, well, you can just feel the hair on my neck bristling at a heretical action such as this. Can you imagine? How exactly, does a rule like this, which probably came about some time during the renaissance, cause a two-stroke penalty? If you’re going to enforce a rule such as this, please enact an equally stupid one fining players for garish displays of polyester. What an utterly meaningless rule that cost this kid a crack at a title. I mean, if you thought that blown safe call that nixed a perfect game a while back was ridiculous, this one definitely tops it.
Golf fans have always bothered me, and I don’t know why. Maybe it’s the exclusivity, maybe the bad clothes, maybe it’s the need for authenticity that requires a British commentator on the tee vee, I mean, I get it, I get the game, but when I hear some announcer pining about just what a severe course this is, or how tough it is, I check out. But what I really want to know, was who called in this observation? Who made the call to the PGA officials, saying, “look, this guy’s club touched the ground, and uh, that’s against the rules. I gotta go before you trace this line.” Of course, I have my suspicions about that caller, and my guess is his name is Favre. Remember – ego; it’s all about the ego. And if Favre does start his waffle chain restaurants, their slogan could be, “Let go of my ego.” That’s assuming he makes up his mind. Or not.
Bill,
Great article!! That being said – Give Brett Farve any day of the week!! Does it get old – sure. But after 2 years of this, I just waited until I heard he was coming back. Who didn’t know it was going to turn out like it did? The guy is getting up there and he doesn’t want to go to training camp – end of story. Now if he said that , he would be absolutely slammed in the press, so this is the alternative. A football soap opera that always finishes with a happy ending… not that kind of happy ending.
As for K-Fraud – I am with you on this and applaud the Mets for their stance on this situation. It is interesting that none of the Mets have really come to his defense and that may have something to do with the incident happening in front of some of players’ families.
But…. the Mets are still partially to blame. Didn’t they do their homework on this guy? You can’t tell me there weren’t warning signs. I think it said something when the Angels pretty much let him walkaway during the free agency. So in some ways, the Mets shouldn’t get off scott free.
But when it comes to the two topics – Give me Farve any day! I am sicking of reading about another athlete in legal trouble. Honestly what has Farve done wrong? Defying odds and continuing to perform well after most QBs have hung it up??? Sure he has an Ego – but which QBs don’t ? Which athlete doesn’t have an ego. I am alright with it. If this is truly last year, I will enjoy watching him play.
As for golf.. The grounding rule is where golf loses the average fan. I want to feel for Dustin, but let’s take two things into consideration:
1. In the locker room a huge sign was posted for all golfers to be careful of the 1,200+ bunkers on the golf course. They warned that every bunker was in play and considered a hazard. Johnson and other golfers admitted not reading the sign. Shame on him for that. I hate to say it – but it is your job and thousands of dollars are riding on it – let alone a major championship. Wouldn’t you want to know everything about the golf course? Well it cost him
2. In the final round, the final groups are assigned a rules official to follow the group and be there for any scenarios such as this one. The rules official in his group was standing right behind him. Johnson never bothered to check with him. Of course when you don’t read the rules, you don’t know what questions to ask. That rules official was the whistle blower.. I wish I could say it was someone more elaborate like Tiger Woods or Sergio Garcia – but I can’t .
Recently the USGA sent some rules officials out in the wild or the public if you will and they randomly played a couple of rounds of golf at different public course. What they found was on average at least 50 different rules violations.
I find that pretty comical.
Golf with its rules, really relies on its professional players being honest about the rules and calling penalties on themselves. There is no other sport that is like that.
Can you imagine A-Rod calling himself out for slapping the ball out of Brandon Arroyo ( oops, I was channeling my Inner Tim McCarver – it kind comes out like gas) – Bronson Arroyo’s glove? “Sorry ump, I my bad. I am out.”
The fact is most people aren’t willing to call a penalty on themselves – especially in a game that is so damn hard. I have seen it.. Guys giving their ball the old foot wedge or fluffing their ball for a better line. Me? On a bad day of golf – guilty.. But even I know not to ground my club in a bunker.
Thanks Smitty, but let me ask you to clarify the golf thing, because the last time I played golf I think Reagan was president – by grounding, they mean just touching the club to the ground, correct? My guess is it’s like patting down the area behind the ball, but suppose a golfer loses his balance, and touches the ground with his club like a cane, same penalty, right? I understand the rules were posted, I have no problem with that at all, or some angus beef fed country club type not taking the time to read it, I just don’t get the benefit of the rule, or the accompanying penalty. When what’s his name in the baseball brawl got a week off for doing his impersonation of a Rockette, well, that made sense to me. But it’s not like Johnson lifted his ball up and placed it on a tee to make it easier to hit. Anyway, that’s the angle I was going for, and maybe it didn’t come out clearly enough.
As for Favre, what’s the over under for number of games until he’s injured and out? 3?
Give Favre credit he knows how to feed the NFL pr monster. Goodell and co. have to love him. They probably hire one less intern because they know Favre will grab enough headlines on his own.
Oh fer sure Favre understands pr. I’d just hate to be living in the same house with him when the axe does come down, and he’s not going to play anymore. My guess is there might be a lot of broken pottery for a day or so.
Bill, I am not 100% sure, but my interpretation is that it is to prevent guys from improving their lie in the hazard. Ball can go into the bunker and can be in a horrible position. The guy walks up, taps the sands behind the ball and the ball suddenly runs down into a better position or even maybe out of the hazard.
Or you have a ball that is surrounded by sand – and a guy walks up, pats the sand down and suddenly can make better contact with the ball..
Now did Dustin Johnson do any of that? No. Did I think the penalty fit the crime. No. But them the rules and as much as I didn’t like it – I guess they had to do it.
Smitty & Bill —
Actually the rule is intended to prevent the golfer from “testing” the hazard for things like depth, consistency. In other words, if you’re in a bunker, they want to make it as difficult as possible for you … with this rule that prevents grounding the club in a hazard, they limit your knowledge of the surface surrounding and under the ball. As a golfer sitting in a sand trap, i want to know if it’s a thin layer of sand and hard underneath, or is there plenty of loose sand so i can dig in and loft it out.
It’s “illegal” to improve your lie anywhere on the golf course … even in the middle of the fairway … even if you’re sitting in someone else’s divot. But it’s only in the bunkers that you cannot ground your club during the address.
Hope this was helpful.
Bill – thank you for ruining the validity of this web site. We had a Non-Fahvuh policy here and upheld it for years until you succumbed to his temptation.
On a serious note, ego is the issue here. I think sports and reality TV have mixed so badly that athletes cannot imagine a world where they are not relevant. I think it scares Favre to leave football because he then can’t send pictures of himself to young, beautiful reporters and get away with it, because, well, he’s the starting QB for a team she reports for. And reality TV is out of the equation for him because who will watch an indecisive grandfather who still longs for his HS football days and speaks with a drawl? Not me.
Exactly why Jordan can’t get out of basketball. He will never sign a big name player. Why? Because he wants to make decisions that don’t seem obvious because he thinks he knows something others don’t. He is slowly ruining a good nucleus there. DJ Augustin running point in the NBA? Come on; please.
C’mon Rey! Keep up with things. Bill did Cash for Clunkers last summer.
Do I get demerits if I admit that I will watch Favre every chance I get?
I hang my head in shame, Rey, but it’s like potato chips, you try just one, say you won’t eat any more, and the next thing you know there’s a case of empty beer bottles next to the couch, it’s 3 in the morning, and the tee vee is showing QVC, and they’re selling Eat, Pray, Love jewelry. But dammit, I only had one chip. Wait, what was the question?
Oh yeah. I remember that. So that’s two pieces on Favre? I’m going to have to prepare the guillotine (too lazy to check the spelling for that).