NFL team offices are basically shut down as employees take a breather before the blur of the next six months. Most of the media which covers football is off on vacation as well. The NBA is largely silent. MLB is on their All-Star break.
In other words, there’s not a lot happening in the world of sports right now. Here are some items that caught my attention on a sleepy Tuesday morning.
SLEEPLESS IN PITTSBURGH: I would stand up and clap if Steeler fans somehow wheedled partial ownership in their football team but NFL rules are designed to prevent this. There will be no replay of a Green Bay Packers scenario since that’s not what the NFL wants. The NFL has banned public ownership of teams.
Pittsburgh has nothing to worry about. Like the Steelers would move, LOL. The Steelers would never move.
Ahem.
I’m not seeing anything approaching fan activism in Pittsburgh yet. Low-level nervousness, yes. Activism, no. It will be interesting to see if fan groups start up in Pittsburgh to try to help secure the future of the franchise. They’ll probably need to get the internet first.
ONE HUNDRED MILLION WORDS ABOUT BRETT FAVRE ALL OVER THE FREAKING INTERNET AND ALL MY LITTLE BRAIN CAN THINK OF IT ALL IS THIS: “Please stop, Brett. Thanks”.
MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL FOR FUN AND PROFIT: Another fact to file away when hearing yet more inevitable apologias for Larry Dolan from his brigade of paid spinners: The Yankees will lose money this year.
Yep. The Yankees. You know, that team that everyone is mad at for spending all that money.
The point is simply this: if you can’t afford to lose money don’t buy a freaking baseball team. Owning baseball teams is a hobby for the obscenely rich at this point, and if you aren’t one of those, don’t make fans suffer for your decision to spend beyond your means.
Manny Ramirez, Jim Thomes, CC Sabathia. Ugh. It just goes on and on and on. If Matt LaPorta develops, he’ll be gone before long as well.
As if baseball isn’t screwed up enough, we got to listen to an announcer offer his take on the racial mix of participants in the Home Run Derby last night.
There isn’t anything that Major League Baseball can’t manage to screw up at this point.
The Cleveland Indians were once my favorite team and baseball my favorite sport. Once. Those days are gone.
WHY GOOGLE NEWS WILL MAKE US ALL HATE SETH MACFARLANE: The importance of Google search to news organizations has never been higher, but it's causing some weirdness.
The Google News feed for the Cleveland Browns already features a ton of articles about a cartoon show by the creator of Family Guy.
Yes, "The Cleveland Show" is about a character named "Cleveland Brown", and is spun off from Seth MacFarlane's once-canceled animated program. As almost-amusing as that is (and this is coming from a fan of Family Guy's scattershot humor), it's going to drive me nuts.
Our Cleveland Browns news feed is going to become about half TV show commentary as soon as that program airs.
Not only that, but Google News is causing webmasters and editors to create incredibly convoluted headlines in order to get better placement in the search engine. I'm not immune to it, since I write out "Cleveland Browns" rather than "Browns" or "the Browns" in the titles and decks of stories now for that reason.
I don't hold a candle to the Plain Dealer, though, which titles articles in a manner like this: "The Plain Dealer's Terry Pluto Says Cleveland Browns Wide Receiver Braylon Edwards will be a star in Cleveland Browns Stadium in Cleveland, Ohio".
You realize that we're now writing things for computers to read instead of people, right?
Speaking as a computer nerd who spent part of my real career working in the field of artificial intelligence, I would argue that this is just a natural step in our progression. It's little steps like these which will help us achieve our ultimate destiny as a race: Slave of the machines.
If you think we're not already there, you've never been hollered at for not having your web pages place high enough in Google search results.
MISLEADING HEADLINE ALERT: Speaking of weird headlines, here’s one from this morning: “Milton Bradley Speaks Out on Wedge”.
Contained in the article is this actual quote from Bradley: “Somewhere along the lines our signals got crossed.”
Wow, he's really laying it all on the line there. What will that wacky incorrigible character say next? He's a headline grabber.
I thought what Bradley actually said was safe and innocuous. No biggie.
Far more interesting and valuable was Albert Belle's recent (accurate) criticism of the Indians.
Like Bradley, don't underestimate how smart Belle really is under the bravado and kid-chasing escapades.
On a side note, I have to agree with comments on the above link on Belle. Giving Mo Vaughn the MVP in 1995 was a total joke. Yes, the media's East Coast-centrism is yet another problem with major league baseball.
PROOF THAT THERE’S OTHER THINGS TO DO WHEN SPORTS IS BORING
If there’s little going on in the world of sports, we can be certain that the world around it has not slowed down. Some links to totally random crap, if you’re bored and trying to avoid work.