SportsGirl

Summer is a time for relaxation. People go on vacation, leaving the responsibility of their jobs behind in favor of lounging on a beach somewhere. The Sports Girl has taken something of a vacation as well. It’s not that I haven’t been watching sports; quite the contrary actually. I’ve watched more baseball this year than ever before. And I’ve developed a bit of a fancy for the sport. But baseball is difficult to blog about. It’s too stats driven. And you can read those stats anywhere. Why recap them here in this space? Well, lo and behold, football season (or really pre-season) is upon us again. And though the Hall of Fame game isn’t exactly the road to the playoffs, it’s enough to officially end my summer vacation. It’s back to work for the Sports Girl. And what better place to start then by declaring my new-found disgust for Brett Favre. 

Yes, it takes one of the greatest players making one of the largest mistakes to draw me out of relaxation mode. I can’t seem to wrap my brain around what Brett is doing with his current stunt. Two seasons ago, when he hemmed and hawed for months during the off-season about whether or not to return, I was annoyed but figured he had earned the right to take his time with the decision.  I thought it was fairly clear at the end of last season that he was going to retire, and retire he did. And at the time I thought “good for him! It was a heck of a career and you ended it in good fashion”. Why, then, dear Brett, have you decided less than 6 months later that you still have the competitive drive and want to play the game? Really? You miss the game that much based on 6 months of off-season? You miss it more now than when you ended the season with a loss in the NFC Championship game? One would think that the ubiquitous fire in the belly would burn strongest right after a loss like that and would die down the further removed one got from that game. Apparently Brett defies logic. He’s decided he wants to come back and has been officially reinstated by the league.

That alone is enough to draw my ire and place him atop my “persona non grata” list. What earns him a life-long space on the list is the fact that he’s even considering taking the “marketing agreement” he’s discussing with Green Bay brass, where he would receive approximately $20 million over the next several years just to remain retired. If the whole point of this dramatic exercise is that he just can’t stay away from the game, then this wouldn’t even be on the table. If what he really wanted was to play the game he loves so dearly, he would have requested a trade at the end of last season. But to allow Green Bay to go through the draft and get nearly to the beginning of training camp and then decide it’s time to think about coming back is just poor taste at best. I might even deem it calculated and malicious. And thus, if he does come back to play this season in the NFL, I will actively root against him and will hope he shows his age with every throw.  

Another person on the dislike list is Manny Ramirez. I can’t stand that guy! Yes, he’s an amazing hitter and a pretty good outfielder. He has won the Red Sox more than a few games this season. What I dislike the most about him is that you can actually see that he’s bought into his own hype. He stands and admires his handiwork when he knocks one out of the park. He apparently finds it acceptable to knock down the support staff of the team when he doesn’t think he’s getting the star treatment. And he speaks out publicly to air his grievances with his team instead of keeping them a private matter. I guess Boston finally took the Roberto Duran route and said “no mas”. Because Ramirez is now in Hollywood, which really is a good fit for him, and Jason Bay has replaced him on the team. I’m frankly a little surprised at that move. Most of the analysts figured the Bo Sox would deal him when the season was over so they could get more for their money. I guess the situation deteriorated faster than expected and the deal is now done, making Manny persona non grata in Bean Town. 

Watching the Hall of Fame game brought me a surprising amount of joy this evening. Normally in a Colts-Red Skins match-up I’d be pulling for the Colts but since Manning wasn’t playing past minute 2, my interest swung to a different colt–watching Colt Brennan lead the Skins.  He looked surprisingly sharp! I think out of the group of QB’s from this year’s draft, Brennan’s stock dropped the most at the NFL Combine. I really figured he’d be a bust, and not the kind you find in the Hall of Fame there in Canton. But tonight he ran an efficient offense and completed some impressive passes. Granted, that was while facing the second-or third-string Indy defense, but a good pass is a good pass. Last season we had a bit of a Todd Collins resurgence there in DC which, by law, I should support seeing as how he played his college ball at U of M. With the Brennan performance tonight, you can’t help but wonder if Collins won’t become persona non grata in our nation’s capital. 

So, while the vacation mode was nice, I’m all too happy to return to the blogosphere for another season of my favorite sport. I will be attending the Cowboys-Texans pre-season game on August 22 which should be quite interesting, since I may openly root for the Texans. There will be a full report as it will be my first change to get a feel for the Boys this season. Now let’s just hope I can manage to unpack my suitcases by the time the game rolls around!