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If you watch the media carefully, they have abdicated their responsibility as watch dogs of the powers that lord over our existence–the government, the corporation, the “league.”

Today’s media, save for the occasional Olberman, or “watch blog”, have assumed the position of cheerleader for whoever signs their pay check.

Rewind your TIVO of Super Bowl 43. How many shots of the crowd, during the game, do you see? My son brought this up after the Steelers pulled ahead 20-7. He theorized it was because the league, namely head honcho, Roger Goodell, was determined not to show the world what was, by several anecdotal accounts, a sea of Terrible Towels.

Wow, Roger, is more of a prick than I gave him credit for. (And I think he’s a huge prick with balls as big as pumpkins.)

First, he steps on one of the most loyal, free spending, international fan bases in the world by denying them some prime time exposure. Truth be told, I can understand, even accept, the need for the league to minimize even the appearance of partiality. But no shots of Steeler fans? Disgraceful.

Oh, and Roger, don’t think I didn’t notice the audio being muted when the Steelers scored or when the refs made a call against them.

Continue Reading Medi-acrity

How many times do you see two incredible sporting events in one day?

Almost lost here in the US amongst the hype and hoopla of Super Bowl XLIII–and for the second year in a row the big game actually lived up to that hype–was the epic showdown between Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal for the men’s title at the Australian Open. The two behemoths of men’s tennis squared off in another five-set masterpiece, a worthy (if not quite as dramatic) sequel to last year’s absolute edge-of-you-seat Wimbledon final.

These two phenomenal players are finding themselves on a collision course to the finals of every Grand Slam tournament, and each finale is living up to its billing. The men’s final of Wimbledon 2008 was quite simply the greatest tennis match I have ever seen. And if you don’t take my opinion that seriously, take John McEnroe’s. He knows a thing or two about the sport.

If anything can revive interest in tennis in the United States short of another American rising to the top, these repeated clashes between the two titans of the sport deserve to do so. Red Sox-Yankees, Celtics-Lakers, Ali-Frazier… there’s something about repeated battles between two top performers that absolutely energizes a sport. Especially when every showdown goes the distance.

Can’t say enough about the character, coaching and big play execution of the Arizona Cardinals and Pittsburgh Steelers.

To bad the pre and post-game analyses seldom match the on field excellence very often witnessed in Super Bowls.

PRE-GAME BLATHER

Why do all the experts so often miss the mark? What made any of them think Edgerrin James would have success running the ball?

Arizona has been one-dimensional on offense all year. Fortunately for the Red Birds, that dimension was in its own twilight zone with Warner giving the league Fitz like no tandem since Montana and Rice.

All it took was LeBeau and the Steeler defense to back off on the gas in the fourth quarter and Warner put his pedal to the medal and damn near crushed the Black and Gold’s Adam’s apple in the process.

95% of the time, Super Bowl teams will find success by doing what they have done all year.

When they don’t, very bad things usually happen.

Continue Reading Super Bowl Recap

Super Bowl Sunday means greasy, fatty, meaty, cheesy food, anything that tastes great, health be damned.  So, in preparation for the big game, I got lunch at Philly’s Best, THE place for cheesesteaks in Los Angeles. Philly’s Best imports all their critical ingredients from Philadelphia, so they are as authentic as you can find in LA (Los Angeles Magazine deemed them “Best Cheese Steak in LA”, and rightfully so).

Since many of the employees at Philly’s Best actually are from Philadelphia, I asked who they were rooting for in the Super Bowl. Considering that the Steelers are cross-state rivals but the Cardinals defeated the Eagles to make it to the big game, this decision could very well be a crisis of conscience.

Unequivocally, the answer was Arizona.

Our own P.K. is originally from Philly–P.K., do you agree?

This is a cross-post of an article I wrote for FierceAndNerdy.com. 

Yes, it’s finally almost here. February 1, 2009–Super Bowl Sunday. The big day of the big game, America’s television-viewing and pizza-munching apex of the year. Whether you watch for the football or you watch for the commercials, you watch. And by you, I mean almost a third of the population of the United States as well as countless others across the word.

(By the way, for those of you watching only for the commercials, seriously? For four hours this one day, you actually sit in anticipation of and willingly watch those 30- to 60-second advertisements that you otherwise TIVO past every other day of the year? You do realize just how ridiculous that is, don’t you?)

I, of course, care about the sport. Deeply. Even when my team isn’t playing.

Continue Reading Fierce And Nerdy: Super Bowl Preview