Every now and then, there comes a span of time where everything seems to go wrong in the sports world in terms of bad publicity. We've had one of those spans.
First, there was legendary Florida State University football coach Bobby Bowden retirement. Nothing wrong with that, except that it seems as if he was forced out. Yeah, I said it! The man was forced out because they school thinks they're entitled to win, rather than giving the man the respect he deserves and let him go out on his own terms, when he is truly ready. Yeah, sure he chose to retire, but this was after a meeting with the powers that be, where they told him that he could come back with less power.
Having said that, I should also mention that the coach in waiting, Jimbo Fisher, who is a good friend of Bowden and his wife, has to be put in a tough position with all this. They push Bowden out, and the pressure is on him. Yeah, he's supposed to be ready for this, and all, but I can't help but feel sorry for both men...Bowden for the way he was treated on his way out and Fisher for the ridiculous amount of pressure that will be on him.
The next thing, just broke this morning. Apparently, Tiger Woods did have a madam. He gave this big long spiel this morning saying how he was sorry for his transgression, a disappointment to his friends and fans...blah, blah, blah. The usual stuff we've heard from politicians and other sports stars in similar situations. The thing is that, and I hate to make this comparison, but like no one thought O. J. could have killed his wife (allegedly), it is inconceivable that an upstanding man such as Tiger would do such a thing, but I suppose each man has a weakness, and the women he was with aren't too shabby. Not condoning what he did, just saying.
One thing that Tiger said in his statement that needs to be said more often is that his private life should be his private life. As I said in a blog before, this story should not have been covered like 9/11 or if the man died. The amount of coverage it received has been ridiculous, especially since this happened on his own property. Personally, I could care less what he does in his personal life, and I'm sure there are more than a few people in the world that agree with me, but for some reason the media seems to think this was worthy of oversaturation. When will they learn to leave people alone? They've already killed Princess Di. Is it going to take another death to get them to back off?
*AHEM* sorry about that. Also in the sports world atrocity category, is the fact the the overrated New Orleans Saints are undefeated. I can't tell you how tired I am of hearing about these guys. As bad as you think you have it, unless you live in Louisiana, like I do, you don't have it as bad as I do.
What makes it worse is that since Katrina, people seem to think that the Saints and the city of New Orleans are entitled to a championship because the city was nearly destroyed. Look, I'm all for a fee good story and all, but these people need to get real. They need to earn it just like teams from Dallas, Miami, Denver, Tampa, Pittsburgh, Green Bay, etc. That's just how I see it.
So, what do you guys think?