I admit it. Turn me in. I stole the first post. I wanted it. Craved it. Borderline needed to have it. It took me a long time to think about it. Weigh my options. Had some other bloggers come pitch ideas to me, but in the end, I decided to take my talents to Chasey T. In the end, it was the best decision for me, and for my family. I had to look out for myself.
If the previous paragraph sounds familiar, it may be because bits and pieces have been recycled through the mouths of different athletes and superstars for years. Athletes have been so well-coached on how to deal with the media that you could probably write a general statement and hand it out to every player to read for whatever problem or issue arises during their careers. When players like Karl Malone or Terrell Owens would give honest interviews, typically the media hype over their comments would end up boiling over to a point where the player ended up acting like a spurned boyfriend, stating the media was a dirty pirate hooker and that he was only using it anyway. In turn, the media would respond by pointing out how the player was childish and petty, and was probably on performance enhancers. Feel free to take my little metaphor and run with it on your own time.
This post isn't going to be about LeBron's recent PR disaster. I won't ponder on paper the upcoming Favre watch, which will probably increase my heartburn with every day it drags on, nor is it about any camp holdouts. In fact, despite the first three paragraphs, the core of it isn't even about an athlete. The foundation of my first post, and hopefully most if not all of my future posts, is the most important piece to professional sports, the fan.
Without television viewership, Utah's recent move to the PAC-10 never happens, ESPN doesn't exist, and "The Situation" is just another code word that guys use to further keep girls wondering what we are talking about. Without fans devoting half of every paycheck to buying "alternate" jerseys of their favorite players only to have that player sign a free agent deal elsewhere, Carlos Boozer might have to settle on one single car to drive to work every day, Kobe Bryant would have to park the chopper and deal with L.A. traffic like everyone else, and Dwight Howard would probably end up being the world's most-yoked lumberjack. Without fans need to feel the open air of the ballpark, or enjoy an authentic dodger dog, or feel the pain of an eight dollar beer, that one Native American guy I see standing outside of ESA might have to get a real job.
Fans have more power in sports these days than ever before, and so few athletes actually realize this, (If you are looking for an example, I suggest following Chad OchoCinco on twitter. He may be slightly crazy, but not a day goes by that he doesn't remember to somehow recognize his fans.)and even more Owners are capitalizing on the fact that a lack of union between fans makes it easier for them to exploit us individually. I may revisit that topic at a later date, but I wanted to start this blog out on the right foot, not so much for me, but for you, the reader, because really, without you, there is no me, and as corny as this sounds, I need your feedback and comments to survive, at least in the blogging world. So this is more or less my mission statement, to try and write and come up with perspectives and arguments that will either open your eyes or make you scream in rage and make up a voodoo doll of me that you regularly torture. Either way, like the great Christopher Wallace said, "I just speak my peace", because, deep down, I know thats how you want me to be.