The Point After
I must admit as a sports fan that sometimes my bias causes me to be rather callus. I wish terrible injury onto rival teams. I dream of plague-like circumstances to affect the players that cause me so much grief and stadiums of teams I don’t much care for.
I would like to think I am the only one, but I have a feeling I am not.
With that said, I need help distinguishing who has had the worst year in sports so far this year: myself or my suitemate Wes.
Wes has a soft spot for just five things: Vols football, NBA basketball, the New York Yankees, and former Tennessee football players Eric Berry and Peyton Manning.
I, on the other hand, fully invest my support in Boston College football, the Boston Red Sox, the New England Patriots and the Boston Celtics. (The Boston Bruins are my hockey team, but I do not really follow hockey that closely.)
So who’s had a worse year?
Let us start with Wes. Peyton Manning, his favorite player, has had three neck surgeries in the last four months and, essentially, will not play football this season. Eric Berry suffered a season-ending injury in the second week of the football season. The Yankees made it to the playoffs, but even $260 million in payroll this year couldn’t stop the irreplaceable Detroit Tigers pitcher Doug Fister.
The Vols, though showing promise in the first two games, have been hampered by injuries. They are essentially the “Kendrick Perkins” of college football. (Wes will appreciate the basketball reference.) Justin Hunter, their best wide receiver, and Tyler Bray, their starting quarterback, both appear to be out for substantial amounts of time, causing their offensive production to stall during the toughest stretch of their schedule.
And to top it all off, Wes’ favorite sport, professional basketball, may not even have a season, with the ownership and players still being unable to agree on revenue sharing.
It has been a rough year for Wes.
But, I still do not think it compares with the abomination that has been my sports year.
The Boston College Eagles have not won a game against a Division I team yet this year, losing to annual ACC cellar-dwellers Wake Forest and Duke. Yes, I am still talking about football.
New England has been on a tear offensively this year but was unable to take care of the Buffalo Bills, who are guided by an Ivy League-educated quarterback and Georgia Tech’s old ball coach. It was the first time in 15 tries that the Buffalo Bills have been victorious.
The Boston Celtics will probably not play this year, meaning Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen and Paul Pierce will gain another year in age without winning any games.
The icing on the cake is the Boston Red Sox’s September meltdown that I am sure you have all heard about.
After reviewing all the facts, I must say that I think have suffered the most this year. Wes has one more playoff team and two more college-football victories. We are equal in the NBA lockout situation that is screwing all fans of basketball. Though he does have more injuries affecting the teams that he loves, we all know being a fan is all about loving teams and not players. Which, I, with the Redsox and the Boston College Eagles, win hands-down.
Quick Hits:
–Al Davis, owner of the Oakland Raiders, passed away two weeks ago. To honor him, the NFL announced all NFL teams this year must use at least one first-round draft pick on a third-to-fourth round prospect who is either very fast or extremely strong.
–After watching Tennessee and Ole Miss play football this weekend against LSU and Alabama, respectively, it has become rather obvious that the SEC in 2012 will have three Big 12 teams in the conference.
–Conference USA and the Mountain West conference have agreed to merge into a new conference, in hopes of bolstering their application for an automatic BCS bid. The name of the new conference, which will be composed of over 18 teams across the entire country, will be HBSI conference. HBSI stands for “Huge but Still Irrelevant.”
–Kudos to all of our senior athletes in all the fall sports. You all have done tremendous jobs representing Maryville College over the past four years, and I am nothing but grateful for and do nothing but admire everything you all have accomplished. Thank you.