Learn From Your Mistakes

So all along I knew moving the Pro Bowl from Hawaii wasn’t a good idea. Maybe I’m a homer, and just didn’t want the Pro Bowl to leave since I grew up going to the game every year. As time went by and the reality of the game set in I looked for excuses as to why it wasn’t a good idea. Ray Lewis said Miami is home, Hawaii is a vacation, a reward. Peyton Manning said if this continues in a few years the game will be in Indy, and who wants to go there in January? I thought who’s going to Miami for two weeks? People are going for the Super Bowl, or the Pro Bowl, but not both. All of the previously mentioned are great reasons why the game never should have been moved.

Yesterday it finally dawned on me. The NFL even announced it when they announced the move. But reading a rule and seeing the rule in effect are two totally different things. Imagine this for a second and you’ll figure out what I mean. What if the NBA All-Star game was played without Kobe Bryant and Dwight Howard? This also means Howard could not participate in the dunk contest. Or what if MLB told Derek Jeter, A-Rod and Mariano Rivera they couldn’t play? Oh that also means Ryan Howard, Chase Utley, Shane Victorino and Raul Ibanez can’t play either.

Take a guess who won’t be playing in the Pro Bowl? The league MVP won’t be playing. An all-star game being held and the league MVP is being told to stay away? Sorry Kobe, you’re one of the leagues most recognizable stars but you can’t play in our all-star showcase. Stupid. So no Peyton Manning. The second best QB in the league? Oh yeah, he won’t be playing too. Neither will Dallas Clark, Reggie Wayne or Darren Sharper. Five players who were named First Team All-Pro won’t be playing in the Pro Bowl, simply because the league told them they can’t. Not because of injury, not because of personal reasons or prior commitments, because they simply have been told they cannot participate. In total 14 players (7 Colts and 7 Saints) were taken off the Pro Bowl rosters yesterday. Fourteen! Mathematically that's 15% of the players chosen who are not able to play in the Pro Bowl because their teams made it to the Super Bowl. Take into consideration the amount of players not playing due to injury or other reasons and we all of a sudden have a joke of a game.

Isn’t the Pro Bowl supposed to be for us, the fans? For starters, attendance was down this year and there were blackouts threatened in areas that had no problem selling out games. The economy sucks, ticket prices are high, and with technology I can watch any game in the comfort of my own home and avoid other add-on fees like parking. With that in mind, the average fan cannot afford a Pro Bowl ticket AND a Super Bowl ticket, two weeks of hotel accommodations and sky high prices on everything “touristy” with the big game in town. How is that fan friendly? I know people who made vacations out of Hawaii. We’re going to Hawaii, and oh yeah the Pro Bowl is in town as well.

Back to the fans, they voted for the players they want to see in the game and now the league takes the fun out of it all and says well even though you voted Peyton Manning in, sorry he can’t play. I remember they used to “threaten” to fine guys like Troy Aikman who said they didn’t think they were going to play because the league said they had a fan obligation to fulfill. Yesterday alone, 17 roster changes were made! I remember when a handful of players would pull out, that was it. Both Rookies of the Year’s won’t be there. The MVP, Defensive and Comeback Player of the Year’s won’t be there. Using the “Mom Test” (if your Mom knows the player, then he’s a superstar) I don’t think my Mom can name a player in the game. For the record she’d be able to name Peyton Manning, Reggie Wayne, Dallas Clark (only because my Dad is a huge Colts fan, so Wayne and Clark don’t really count) and Tom Brady. And all four were selected, but aren’t playing, Brady due to injury. I mean come on, David f’ing Garrard is playing!!! How does the quarterback from a team that finished in last place (7-9) make the Pro Bowl? Well duh! Because he threw for 15 touchdowns to only 10 interceptions, that’s how! Seriously this is how that happens.

Peyton Manning voted in as the starter.
Philip Rivers named as a reserve.
Tom Brady named as a reserve.
Philip Rivers unable to play due to injury.
Ben Roethlisberger first alternate.
Ben Roethlisberger unable to play due to injury.
Matt Schaub second alternate.
Tom Brady unable to play due to injury.
Carson Palmer third alternate.
Carson Palmer unable to play due to injury.
Vince Young forth alternate.
Peyton Manning selected, but unable to play.
David Garrard fifth alternate.

So we get treated to a game featuring the AFC’s fifth, seventh and eighth best quarterbacks! Injuries are one thing, but toss out this stupid rule and you have Manning, Schaub and Young on the AFC roster. Much more respectable in terms of all-star’s. What if Schaub or VY couldn’t play? I didn’t know they had fifth alternates, but who would’ve been next? Trent Edwards? Derek Anderson? And what’s next, the winner of this game gets home field for next week’s game?

So Mr. Goodell, please make this a one and done experiment. None of the other 3 major pro sports would do this to their fans. If players want to bow out of the game, that’s their choice, but don’t take the choice out of the hands of the players.

The First Stupid Thing of 2010

For the past five months or so, I’ve wanted to jump off of my co-workers roof and into her pool. The idea became public I believe on Labor Day of 2009, after an afternoon of drinking and an evening of driving around San Diego paying random, unannounced visits to people. For the record, no, I wasn’t driving. A little drunk, we showed up at Shari’s and were given a tour of the house. I saw the pool, saw the proximity to the roof, and immediately knew even in my drunken state that I could climb up on the roof, jump and land safely in the pool. For five months I was given every single piss poor excuse to not jump. You have to jump over the fence. You can’t stand on the patio covering. You won’t make it. The construction workers are working. I have a ladder you can jump off instead. My home owners insurance won’t cover you. Blah, blah, blah.

Then the El Nino rains arrived. A week of cold temps, heavy rains, thunder, lightning, flash flood warnings and high surf hit San Diego and most of California. Shari invites me over for s’mores. And I’m jumping. As it got later in the day, I was starting to think too much. I was mentally defeating myself before I had even begun. I started to feel cold, wondered about getting sick, and most of all driving in the bad weather. I put on my brand new L & L boardshorts that my sisters got me for Christmas. Those are so fucking sick! Stopped at Clem’s Bottle House and got myself a six pack and a beer and Michael some pond water and I was on my way.

Just before jump time we checked weatherbug and through the GPS reading the outside temperature was 47 degrees. The picture accompanying the weather was a cloud with a lightning bolt. Just before my arrival it poured rain and hail the size of marbles fell. There was thunder and lightning. As funny as the buildup was, even Shari tried to talk me out of jumping and told me not to do it.

Bringing back memories of being kicked out of Aquatics class in college by Dr. Silva, who was also my advisor and head of the PE department, here’s the video of my jump.

Welcome To Blutopia

My blog has finally arrived! Although 24 days late, as you enter my world, you’ll soon realize that 24 days is actually pretty darn close to being on time. Either that or you will just come to the conclusion that I’m a talker, and like Tevin Campbell said, “nothing comes from talkers but sound.”

The idea for my blog originally started a while back as a way to host my own Around The Horn-style debate with myself about what’s going on, particularly in the sports world. Rather than argue with the radio and television announcers I’ll just blog and argue with…well, myself.

Then I wanted to log my travels, become a food critic, and tell the world of my autograph collection as inspired by Jim from gcrl. It is amazing what typing “lee lacy ttm success” in the yahoo search bar brings you!

Then finally, as a new year’s resolution, I decided to put together a bucket list for 2010 that I have dubbed 10 for ’10, and there are those who have told me I should update my list through a blog. Not only will I be updating my 10 for ’10, but also sharing stories of the insanely idiotic things that I do as dares, challenges or just for the heck of it.

So here it is. I’ll try to update as much as I can. During baseball season, you’ll experience my love for the Los Angeles Dodgers and my obsession with autograph collecting and the hobby. You will also hear tales of stupidity and glutton as it relates to food and my life.

I hope you enjoy reading my blog as much as I will enjoy coming up with the material for it. If you don’t, quit coming back sucka!