Fraudulent Sports News

Every once in a while, I hear some news in the sports arena that I consider absolute garbage. Sometimes its a stat; oftentimes its an injury report. There were a few things today that I think are pretty much lies given to the public and/or extreme optimism. First example, Chris Cooley of the Washington Redskins. Dude broke his ankle during this past Monday Night Football game against the Philadelphia Eagles. Usually when a player gets hurt, you very quickly hear how long he's expected to be out. In this case, nothing. Until the other day, Zorn finally said he might get put on IR. Today, I hear something about 4 weeks. My man broke. His. Ankle. AND he needs surgery to fix it. Four weeks? Thats among the more absurd things I've ever heard in terms of injury length. I've broken my ankle and have 2 screws in it from the surgery to repair it. If this dude is back to playing football in 4 weeks, I will buy a box of Grape Nuts and PAINFULLY eat this TERRIBLE TERRIBLE cereal every day until I finish it. The thought of doing this already is bringing me down. Thats how much I hate this cereal. But THATS how sure I am that there is no way on God's green Earth that this guy can play football in 4 weeks. 8 weeks? Maybe. 4? HAIL NAW!! Next example.

This example has to do with the NBA season having started last night. First, thank the lord for THAT. I miss basketball. BUT, I dont miss the CONSTANT jocking of LeBron James. Count me out. That said, he passed a milestone yesterday by reaching the 13,000 point mark and is apparently the youngest to do so (beating out Kobe). I HATE this stat. I think its fraudulent and lame. You have these guys coming out of high school and you're saying they were the youngest to do something? Its meaningless. To make this stat meaningful, base it on how many GAMES it took them to reach this plateau. THAT gives you a fair and honest comparison. Otherwise, you're just feeding the public garbage. Get your shit right, ESPN.

Another example of injury fraud...Troy Polamalu of the Pittsburgh Steelers. No, not his hair. This guy sprained his Medial Collateral Ligament during the 1st game of the season. When that happened, we were told he'd be out for 3 weeks. 3 weeks? How gullible or stupid do they think we are? If you sprain a ligament in your knee, it will HURT for 2 weeks, AT LEAST. Let alone you be able to rehab it and then be back to playing. And now look at him. I wanna say he was out for 4 weeks and then wound up hurting it again during his first game back. I wouldnt go as far as to say he's a liability out there right now, since he IS healing, but he isnt Polamalu yet b/c how could he be? The NFL commonly lies about injuries and rushes players back onto the field. If you watch the Steelers play, Polamalu is a GLARING example.

Lastly, something that really bothers me and should bother you to your very core. The NFL and concussions. The NFL is going to need to SERIOUSLY address this concussion issue...instead of trying to discredit published studies showing links b/w multiple concussions and the early onset of Alzheimer's Disease and dementia. First, not to be crass but the link b/w the two is a no-brainer. Seriously, we're talking about a person's mental processes and ability to FUNCTION in their later years. The NFL already doesnt do a whole lot to protect player's bodies, unless they play QB. PROTECT THEIR BRAIN AT LEAST. It is CRIMINAL that this is continually going on. We watched Brian Westbrook get a concussion during the MNF game. I'd be willing to bet that there's a player at least knocked dizzy in EVERY game, if not one that suffers a concussion. And having one concussion makes you susceptible to having another. I really cant stress enough how critical this is and I really hope it one day is adequately addressed.