It's that time of year again. The time between the Super Bowl and the beginning of Major League Baseball when there is precious little to talk about especially when you fear losing your entire readership with another article about BC hoops. There is the NBA, but on this coast it's hard to get excited about sub-500 teams that will likely make the playoffs in the pathetic Eastern Conference, but will ultimately get swept in the first round by the Heat or Pistons. There's hockey...college hockey...youth hockey...European hockey...okay there's no hockey.
This is never more present than on ESPN's Sportscenter, which tragically strives to fill far too many hours each day for it to be maintained merely by college and professional basketball. Thus, this week's five part series on steroids, which looks oddly similar to previous multi-part series on the same topic. Today's topic: steroid use among kids. Cue the dramatic post-tragedy music and add the regretful tone in Andrea Kreamer's voice and you have the makings of a heart wrenching tale of lives ruined by the evil steroid empire. They make it sound like the steroids were given to these kids by Darth Vadar with a swastika logo imprinted on the side of the box. Note to Sportscenter, steroids are not a conspiracy to destroy our youth, the integrity of our games, or our faith in mankind. They are the device of cheaters, competitive athletes who believe that they need an edge on their competition and will sacrifice the legitimacy of their accomplishments to get it. These are isolated incidents perpetrated by insecure players who are afraid of hearing the silence after the cheering stops. Yes it is a problem, especially in baseball and something needs to be done about it but let's stop trying to make this a human interest story because it isn't. Start the games and this stuff will fall off the radar. Steroids are bad, but they are not cancer, they are not AIDS, they are not hunger, let's keep this in perspective.
Next "Sportscenter Relevant" topic, NFL trades and signings. As the roomate Minnesota Dave's sports interests command a bit of attention and respect, especially on our TiVo, and as such I find myself with more than a passing interest in the Vikings, Twins, and Wolves. The big news out of the frozen tundra of the Twin Cities is the trade of the troublesome Randy Moss to the Raiders for Napoleon Harris (3rd year linebacker with a history of disappointment), the 7th overall selection, and a "late round pick". As sports magazine shows are likely to do during this down time in sports news Sportscenter has made this into a huge story, which in some respects it is, but come next January we will be looking at this deal as a wash. The Vikings needed to dump Moss and his baggage to finally allow Daunte Culpepper to be the leader of the team. Culpepper is a top tier quarterback and a solid personality to build a team around. He is not a vocal whip cracker who will keep Moss in line. With Moss in the locker room there was always dissention and no true leader, now this is Culpepper's team without question. With a big time QB, a shallow but talented receiving core of Campbell and Burleson, and a deep and diversely talented backfield the Viking's O should be fine once they get used to playing without the idea of Moss coming back.
The fact remains however that this team just cannot stop anybody, and nothing they have done here will change that. Harris is just another young defensive player with loads of talent who is prone to mistakes (see EJ Henderson, Chris Hovan etc.) and is likely not the solution to the Viking's problems. They could draft defense at #7 and likely will, but they have been drafting defense every year under Tice and it hasn't made a lick of difference.
Maybe they will finally stop drafting big mobile defensive players who aren't quite big and mobile enough and trade down to #10, draft Mike Williams and go right back to where they were this past season offensively except without Moss's drama.
On paper this deal looks much better for the Raiders. They already have a deep threat with Jerry Porter and a QB who can throw it a mile in Kerry Collins. Couple that with the offensive minded Norv Turner and the silver and black should be fun to watch, but they are still not a playoff team in my mind. There are too many egos here, Porter and Moss will spat with each other over catches and Collins is a career underachiever who is by no means a congenial locker room presence. If they start the season 0-2 it's over and Turner will be out of the job, forced out by his owner's desire for the biggest name / biggest story possible and the subsequent melt down / shut down by his team's "stars". And don't forget Moss can't play defense (ahem...Troy Brown)...neither can the Raiders.
The other big "story" out of the NFL this week is the reunion (geez this laughable to a Pat's fan) of Bill Parcells and Mr. Fleet of Foot Drew Bledsoe in Dallas. Now to be fair there is only one guy who knows Drew Bledsoe better than Bill Parcells, and that is Bill Belichick (evidence: how bad Bledsoe looks everytime they meet), and Parcells did get a lot out of Bledsoe years ago in New England, but this is a match made in hell. Bill must be getting old and losing it. Bledsoe is in his mid-thirties, throws like he's in his mid-twenties, has vision like he's in his mid-fifties, and moves like he's cemented into the ground. Seriously, I hate to blast the guy but have you ever seen a professional athlete with less mobility? The guy who lost both of his legs to steroids would torch Bledsoe in a 40 yard dash (see Sportscenter steroid series part 2).
Yes this is an upgrade from Vinny Testaverde, but he was in his forties for Chrissake! Now if Parcells can find a way to keep Bledsoe upright and statuesque (he'll be a statue regardless) in the pocket then they could find some success here, at least at first. Let's not forget however, how Drew "loves" the big game, and by loves I mean loves to choke it away. Just look at the last game of this season against the Steelers. The game meant nothing to the Steelers, the Bills needed it to have a shot at the playoffs. The Bills were the hottest team in the NFL, the Steelers played like half their guys. The Bills just had to show up in front of their 73,000 blood thirsty fans, even a little bit, and they would have won easily. Drew never got out of bed. He looked awful, pathetic even, going 16-30 for just 189 yards, with no TD's and an INT. Don't forget that Dallas and don't forget that the best game Drew ever played was a meaningless week 17 game against the Dolphins in the mid '90's where he threw up something like 50 completions in Foxboro. After an 8-8 year Parcells will quit or start tanking the team like he did before the '96 Super Bowl in New England, Jones will hire someone who will finally start Henson and down the road the Boys will be back in business, and finally the NFL will realize that it's all done for Bledsoe.
Hey, I might be a wrong about all this, and I wouldn't bet my house on any of this prognostication, but if I have half a clue the Raiders and Cowboys will be viewing next years playoffs from the same seats they watched last years, right in front of their TV's. And come next February we'll all be saying that the Moss / Bledsoe deals were a wash.
Thank you Sportscenter for providing us with mid-February "relevant" news which will be ultimately "not". Who am I to criticize, I'm talking about it too.
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