Drew_Smith's Blog

   With the final four now set, your bracket may or may not be still alive.  Regardless, I think this year's final four includes four of the best the NCAA has to offer.

    While some folks love the Cinderella stories from time to time in the NCAA pool, I like to see those stories in the first week, maybe into the 16.  But once we are headed to the venue for the final four, give me the best athletes, the best teams, and the best coaches so I can get quality basketball.  Remember when George Mason went to the final four a few years ago?  That was fun to think about, but their final four game wasn't really that competitive.   This year's teams, however, seem to be peaking all at the same time.  I would be good with any of them for a national champion. 

    Who do I think is going to win?  I've had North Carolina all along, and I don't plan to change that now.  I still think they have the best inside/outside combination, and with Lawson on the court, they are the best team left in the competition, though Connecticut is also tough.

      What are your thoughts?

    That’s the thing about college basketball.  It always delivers.  Always.  I can’t remember a single year when there wasn’t a sub-plot that was brewing through the tournament, or a ton of upsets, or at least a spate of buzzer beaters.  I have never been disappointed in March Madness like I am usually with the Super Bowl, or any bowl game ever played (except USC/Texas a couple of years ago- that was a sweet championship game…).   This is why it is, along with the NFL playoffs, the most exciting month of sports.  Toss in the Masters and baseball’s opening day at the end the week after the championship, and we’ve got four weeks of fantastic sports ahead.

     Who will be this year’s Bryce Drew? Or Tate George? Or Tyus Edney?  One thing is for sure- I’ll be watching.  Will you?

    I have to admit, I wasn’t expecting much.  When Sports Illustrated ran the story about Tony Mandarich this week, I knew he was promoting his book, so his “coming clean” and “telling the truth” mantra just wasn’t cutting it with me.  We did a story that night (Wednesday) about how it might be just for publicity.  Then I spoke with him.

    On Thursday, I tracked down his number (yes, I have sources…) and called him up, getting him on the second ring.  He immediately agreed to an interview over the phone, and for the next 20 minutes I quizzed him on his college steroid use, his time with the Packers and how he feels now.  Yes, he did use steroids at Michigan State, and help others use as well (no surprise here).   No, he wasn’t naming names in his book like Jose Canseco.  No, he didn’t use steroids again after starting in the NFL (after holding out an entire training camp.  That, by the way, I think led to his demise more than he or anyone else wants to think).  Yes, he did switch to harder things- pain pills and alcohol, which dragged him down, and almost killed him.  And, yes, he is sorry.

    I asked him what he would say to fans, and he was surprisingly frank.   He acknowledged that he would be mad at himself if he were a Packers fan.  He seemed to understand their level of devotion and anger.  He said he was sorry, and he said he really meant it, and I believe him.

    Perhaps it is time for Packers fans to forgive Tony for something for which he is trying to forgive himself: being an addict, and not admitting it soon enough.  When I asked if he regretted anything in his career, he said something interesting.  He told me everything he did and was made him who he is today, and he likes himself now.  Perhaps, he said, if he hadn’t done those things, he wouldn’t have been able to get to a place in his life where he is comfortable just being Tony Mandarich.  We all would like to get there, I’m sure.

   “Are you not entertained!?”  Those are the words of Maximus Decimus Meridius, as played by Russell Crowe in the Oscar winning Gladiator a few years ago.  Crowe played a general, turned slave, turned gladiator, who was booed when winning, when the crowd felt he had fought less than honorably.  I think of that scene when I think of the whole steroid era of baseball.  Sure, they may have juiced, but weren’t we totally enamored by the flight of the ball, the prodigious blasts, and their alarming frequency?  Didn’t we cheer for Sosa and McGwire, love to hate the bash brothers, and just enjoy baseball during that time period?  And more to the point isn’t that the reason baseball exists?  Were we not entertained?

    Alright, I get that some are up in arms because they feel these players “cheated” when using steroids, and some are calling for Commissioner Bud Selig to punish Rodriguez for his now admitted steroid use.  However, look at the facts.  Steroid use wasn’t against the rules in baseball, any more than a good diet and lifting weights to get an edge, truly, until about 2004.  What he took wasn’t a banned substance at the time (2001-2003), and if it had been, there was no testing, which means no accountability.  For us to all stand on soap boxes and be so “holier than those guys” about the situation, we need to take a step back and realize what a different time it was, and start judging players on what they have done now that it is really against the rules.  In real life, if something becomes illegal, the justice system doesn’t go back and arrest and punish everyone who broke the law before the law existed.

    I’m not excusing the use of the drugs.  I am absolutely anti-drugs of anything stronger than ibuprofen and I feel it is a bad example to set for the youth. While it may not have been against the rules at the time, it certainly doesn’t make it intrinsically right.   We tend to hold our athletes up to a higher standard than we do ourselves.  The baseball players were looking for an edge, but we do that, and break real laws, almost every day.   Have you ever driven over the speed limit to get somewhere on time?  Parked somewhere you knew was illegal, but just hoped you didn’t get caught and get a ticket?  Broken a city ordinance about lawn watering during a drought, or shot off some illegal 4th of July fireworks?   My point is people do things every day that aren’t legal, but don’t get punished. 

     I’ve talked with a number of former players who have used.  Not one of them felt he was “cheating”.  They felt they were doing what they had to do to compete in the game.  They were more interested in their career, and entertaining the fans, than side effects and whether or not it was right.  Remember, for most players, the outcome of the games matters far less to them than it does to the fans.  They get paid either way.  They just want to keep getting paid.

     When you make your opinion and decide if you are outraged, appalled or otherwise aghast at the actions of athletes from the early part of this decade, ask yourself:  Were you entertained?  

     For the first question, I say yes, absolutely.  He needs surgery, and doesn’t want it, and by the time he decides he wants to play again, it will be too late.  He’s done.

    For the second, it seems to be clear: Favre kept playing because of spite.  It’s like the great old Jerry Seinfeld bit, where he tries to return an article of clothing.  They ask what is wrong with it, and he says “Nothing.  I’m returning it out of spite for the salesman.”  They won’t take it back, because spite isn’t a good enough reason to return a shirt!  The same goes with a football career.  It’s a terrible reason to keep playing.

     When the Packers made it clear they had moved on from Brett, he got angry.  He was hurt, and went through all the normal feelings of the jilted.  He denied, he cried, and he tried to find a way around it.  When he called their bluff, and the Packers didn’t blink, Favre had to go through with it, to, as he plainly said, prove them wrong about him.  This is absolute absurdity in its highest form.  What about the other 16 years when they were right about him, even when at times he wasn’t always all that great?  What about the adulation heaped upon him by the fan base, the private dressing area, kid glove handling, and bowing down at the alter of Favre that happened for the last 10 years of his career?  When it was over, Brett needed to accept it.  Instead, he decided, out of spite, to try to prove them wrong.

     When he again didn’t get his way to go to Minnesota (how dumb does he think the Packers are…?), he went to New York because the situation became bigger than the people involved.   He couldn’t back down now, so had to play at least one season.

    As it turns out, the Packers were right. Favre’s arm broke down about 10 games into the season.  It is too bad Brett got so hurt, so angry.  However, spite is never a good basis for a decision, especially one that affects so many people.

   As the NFL season draws to a close, with one of the most useless all-star games in pro sports (The Pro Bowl is terrible football, though it is great to go to in person.  That may have something to do with the whole “Hawaii in February” thing.  And yes, I’m totally wishing I was there this year like last…), it’s time to look back at the season, some plusses and minuses for the Packers and around the league.

PLUS- The season ended with a very entertaining Super Bowl.  OK, so the first three quarters were hit and miss with a great interception return to spice it up before the tremendous halftime show (Yeah, I’m from NJ, and took Springsteen 101 in high school.  A quick re-cap of the Springsteen set: 1st song- 10th Ave Freeze-out- Good choice to open, strong horn section and beginning bars, shows his diehard fans that while he has sold out, it isn’t total, and gives him a chance to sing “The big man joined the band” and let Clarence do his thing.  2nd song- Born to Run. Gotta have it, his signature song, though many Bruce fans would have rather had a “ Thunder Road” or “Rosalita”.  Can’t go wrong with it, though. 3rd song “Working on a Dream” from the new album.  I’m not wild about the song, but when asked, he said he’s doing the halftime show because he has a new album.  Can’t argue with that logic, though it kind of slowed down the set in a way.  Finished up with “Glory Days” with football references thrown into it instead of baseball.  Popular song, sports theme, from his 80’s era, covered all his bases.   Little Steven was great in his bandana, the band rocked, and Bruce hit a camera with his crotch.  What else could be better?).  Would it have been better for the NFL if the Cardinals had won? No. The NFL is about history, and the Steelers have a ton of it.  The Cardinals have been avoiding success like the plague for years, and happened to get there.

MINUS- The Brett Favre saga.  Didn’t help the team, made Brett look terrible, and set a legion of fans against the current management.  Given what we know now, would the Packers have acted differently?  Having spoken to the principles, I don’t think they would have done anything differently.  As it turned out, Rodgers had a solid year, and Favre broke down at the end of the season.  I think the Packers end up coming out of that one on top by a bit.

PLUS- The Packers are set up for a great next year.  I really think they have a chance to do some damage, as long as they make a couple of moves this off-season to set up the Dom Capers defense.  It was a tough personal decision for Mike McCarthy to dump his defensive coaches, but it was the right move, and he managed to upgrade at almost every coaching position.  The offense will be just as good, if not better, and as long as the defense can take a couple of steps, 6-10 to 10-6 is not unreasonable.

MINUS- The uncapped year is probably coming.  The tragic death of Gene Upshaw as head of the players union has suspended negotiations for a new CBA, and with an uncapped 2010 looming, it could throw the economics of the league in a spin, with smaller teams with shallower pockets (like the Packers) ending up on the wrong end.

PLUS- Football is still the national passion.  The playoff teams almost totally rotated from last year, keeping lots of fan bases happy, and giving others hope for the future.  Let’s hope for another rotation back into the playoff times for the Green Bay Packers.