Worse than Irrelevant...

Ryan Succop will forever be known as "Mr. Irrelevant". The final guy picked in the 2009 NFL Draft is a kicker from South Carolina. When his name was called, fans mockingly cheered and ESPN reporters joked as the kicker's highlight reel was played.

Traditionally, the last guy picked never makes it onto the team roster. But this one could be different. Kickers are replaced quickly these days. And Succop will be competing for a job against Conner Barth. At least Succop HAS a highlight reel to be shown.

And compared to some of the other picks made in this year's draft, its really not such a bad call. The Chiefs adressed one of their many needs, although pretty much any position is considered a need for them at this point. And its safe to assume that thier kicker will be getting a lot of playing time in the upcoming season. Odds are they will scoring the bulk of thier points three at a time, rather than 6 at a time.

Ryan Succop can at least say he was drafted by an NFL team. Thats a lot more than we can say about high profile quarterbacks Grahm Harrel and John Parker Wilson. Those guys were the darlings of the NCAA last season. They were in the Heisman hunt until the very end. And this weekend, their names were never called. Thats what I call "Irrelevant."

Global Castration...

If a puck drops on the ice in London, does anybody care? Not in the United States. The NHL opened its season with a couple of games in Europe, and nobody noticed. Few Americans are even aware that the NHL season has started at all.

ESPN said little about the opening games. SportsCenter does view hockey as a sport worthy of its valuable airtime. It would simply be inefficient for them to bother collecting game footage and making a few oversimplified comments while the tape ran for 14 seconds.

The American public lost its taste for the NHL when Gretzky retired. Since then, there has been little attention paid to the sport of hockey. With the exception of the occasional Sidney Crosby sighting, the only time we even hear it mentioned these days is when a player seriously injures someone during a game, or during the Winter Olympics. Other than that, we never hear anyone speak about the sport.

Since the passing of the NHL's glory days, what did the American people find to fill its sports void? Celebrity Dancing.

How pathetic can one nation be? We have abandoned one of the fastes,toughest, most physical, and most violent sports ever played, and replaced with with a modern version of Dance Fever. The public TRIES to convince itself that this is a sport by placing actual athelets on the show each year. Jerry Rice, Emmit Smith, Jason Taylor, Helio Castroneves, and now Warren Sapp all agreed to participate in this fiasco. Sure, it helped their Public Recognition ranking and made them each a bit more marketable as spokesmen. But it certainly did nothing to solidfy our fond memories of thier great carreers.

An entire generation of kids will grow up remembering Jerry Rice as 'that dude who won Dancing with the Stars,' rather than remebering him as the single greatest wide reciever of all time.

Even worse, some of these kids will dream of someday being just like him... holding the championship disco-ball trophy high above thier heads.

Pretenders to the Throne

The LA Lakers have eliminated the San Antonio Spurs from the NBA Playoffs. The defending champs really never stood a chance. The Spurs should feel forutunate the series went five games and was not a complete sweep by the Lakers.

This really should come as no suprise. Many observers point to the overall age of the Spurs team. Their age might be the cause of the team's woes at the moment, but its not because the physical abilities of the players has diminished significantly. Almost every team owner would readily admit to having Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, and Manu Ginobili on the 'Must-have/Wish List'. The Spurs have locked up the trio for another two years. They can all still play at the highest level of the game.

The problem with the Spurs is that they have lost the Fire and the Passion for the game. After four championships in the past decade, what more is left for them to achieve? They were expected to reach the Western Conference Finals, and they did. Nobody doubted they would be a dominant team all season. The Spurs roster is simply loaded with talent and experience.


But you can see the problem when you looked into the faces of the Spurs players during the past few games. They looked tired and fatigued. Tim Duncan looked half asleep during last nights game. They halfheartedly attempted to dispute calls by the ref. They were hesitant under the rim and slow to race backcourt in the transition game. They just looked like they really did not care anymore. They certainly did not look like champions.

The Lakers are the polar opposite of the Spurs right now. They are young and inexperienced, with the exception of Kobe Bryant and Derrik Fisher. Both players stepped up and acted as true leaders throughout the series. The younger guys were excited to be deep in the playoffs, and their enthusiasm showed on the court. They had more energy. The guys on the bench spent more time on their feet in support of thier teammates. The team's hunger was undeniable.

The Lakers motivation dates back to the past offseason. We all know about the drama surrounding Kobe and his attempt to leave the team. We all know about the battle to aquire quality players to support Kobe. We all know about the injury to Bynum and the questions surrounding potential chemistry between Gasol and the rest of the team. And we all know about Kobe's desire to prove he can win without Shaq on the team.

The Lakers are now Kobe's team. There is no doubt about that. The MVP trophy was well deserved. He took the team from the bring of disaster to the NBA Finals. Now we just have to see if they can pull off the biggest win of them all.

Red Rocket!

Roger Clemens has given new life to the phrase "Red Rocket." The late night talk shows will have a blast with this joke the next several weeks. He has done himself no favors with the recent allegations of an affair with an underage girl (who just happened to grow up to become a famous country singer.)

Barricaded behind tightly drawn blinds at her Nashville home Monday, country singer Mindy McCready confirmed a long-term affair with embattled pitcher Roger Clemens. "I cannot refute anything in the story," a tearful but resolute McCready told the Daily News, which broke the story at midnight Sunday. After the teenage McCready met Clemens at a Fort Myers bar called The Hired Hand, she returned with the Rocket to his hotel room, but there was no sex that night, sources told The News. It wasn't until later, after McCready had moved to Nashville and become a country singing star, that the relationship turned intimate.

This could not have come at a worse time for Clemens. Many people question his value as a pitcher these days. The steroid allegations swirling around him are still a hot topic of debate among sports fans and within the halls of Congress. He potentially faces Federal Perjury charges if it can ever be proven that he lied about using performance enhancing drugs. And now he has to deal with being labeled as an adulterer and a predator. He could be slapped with Statutory Rape charges or worse. He may soon be fighting for his freedom on multiple fronts.

Its sad to see just how fast and how far a star can fall. Not too long ago, Clemens was one of the most beloved players in the game. He was an idol to millions of young boys around the nation. Now he is quickly becoming a pariah.

Public disdain and prison might be the least of his problems. Clemens may soon regret all the HGH he 'Allegedly' gave his wife. We have all seen the photos. She looks pretty comfortable with a baseball bat in her hands. As news of his affair comes out, she would seem fully justified in hitting a couple balls out of the yard.