Grinds My Gears: Overvaluing Preseason Football (Or Any Sport)

Been a while since I've had a reason to bring this back but this past week or so reminded me about something that has bugged me for years. Why do we place so much value on a preseason performance or game?

Every year, you hear "So-and-so is making their professional debut" but it's in a PRESEASON game. Andrew Luck, for example, played his first game as a professional last week and threw for a TD on his first pass. That's great but it's not his debut. It doesn't count in his stat sheet. Yes he got paid for it like everyone else but it's no different than a scrimmage in pads.

Grinds My Gears: "There Are More Important Things to Worry About"

People say this all the time whenever people trip out about what appears to be a superficial issue. I’ve done it too. Typically, the way it should be used is when somebody is complaining about something that really is a minor issue in the grand scheme.

Example: “So-and-so didn’t tweet me back. Isn’t that sad?” ----- “I broke a nail and am having a fit over it” ---- “[Insert celebrity couple] broke up and the world should stop or who can I trust for longterm commitment.”

It’s for those kind of things that we’d expect little kids to say since they don’t know any better. That’s the definition of ignorance by the way. As you get older, you realize certain things aren’t worth crying or getting mad over. But times have changed.

Nowadays it seems like we say this want to belittle you for caring about something that isn’t important in our eyes, instead of what’s universally accepted as insignificant. It’s a phrase that’s become opinionated to fit our tastes and condemn someone as much as it is to remind them of the bigger picture.

To be fair, we live in times where a lot of insignificant things get a lot of attention. Like Lupe Fiasco said in "Words I Never Said", TV is filled with WTF's and it's not just MTV, it's CNN/MSNBC. Pop Culture has become major news thanks to public demand and various outlets and it has made the typical American viewer a lot less informed compared to the international one. I think we are typically more distracted than ever.

What someone cares about may be insignificant to someone else. But I hate how this phrase is used to try and force people to get over things that aren’t as superficial. It’s a cop out that cheapens those important things  by making us care as if we need to 24/7, which only a rare few do.

Mainly people do this when it’s a point of view they don’t want to hear. Sometimes it is really for something that’s important but when we start weighing big stories that are discussed (tragedies and such…), then it borders on shame instead of shared sympathy – something I discussed when Amy Winehouse died the same day as the shooting in Norway.

I’ll show 2 cases of this.

Writer Christopher Hitchens passed away after a long battle with cancer. Hitchens wrote a piece called “God is Not Great” which became a trending topic last night. Naturally this would anger many people of faith but I saw people of faith and others who said focus on bigger things like poverty and other injustices instead of someone’s opinion of God.

This is true but does someone not have the right to be upset when someone speaks wrong about something that may mean much to them? An atheist and a Christian both have strong reasons for what they believe and it’s okay for both to explain why. Both can be emotional but in matters of faith, a lot of it is emotion, not just reason.

Me personally, I might get upset and just share my views on how I feel about God. If someone has a disagreement, so what. I still spoke my mind cause….it’s important to me.

2^nd Case: Every year Christian folk get up in arms over the War on Christmas – the idea where people say Happy Holidays instead of Merry Christmas. To me this is insignificant and I said as much a few years ago on my Myspace blog.

1^st, as much as we feel that Christ is being taken out of Christmas, we can do better by injecting Christ instead of being mad he’s gone. The body of Christ is better served by reminding people what the reason is about instead of being mad you are forgetting.

2nd, I give you an example from my job. One of the kids I tutor walked up to me last week after she initially left. She said, “Feliz Navidad”. It was so cute and heartfelt that it made me smile. We shouldn’t be mad but instead just do our thing. It’s a pointless fight because we all know what this holiday season is called and we could be spent trying to remind people instead of fight them.

So my question for you is this. When you say there are more important things to worry about, is it because 1) you think it’s insignificant cause it’s a point of view you don’t want to hear or 2) you think somebody is missing the big picture that we can all see? If it’s #1, it better match up with #2 or ask why you don’t want to entertain the idea.  

Grinds My Gears: Sports Edition

I was thinking about this last night while reading Sports Illustrated's Joe Posnanski's take on MLB postseason records being asterisked in this day and age. There's a lot of things I see reported or discussed that I feel get overstated and I've tried to steer away from them.

I'll start with MLB postseason records. There's no surprise that guys within the last 15 years have owned postseason records and you know why? Guys are playing more games. So I don't give career records the same legitimacy that I give old school guys before the creation of the LCS in 1969 and the LDS in 1995.

Those are definitely some inflated numbers in the grand scheme of baseball but at the same time, I would give guys props for stepping up in October. Albert Pujols, Manny Ramirez and other guys of my era who have huge power numbers deserve all of their credit.

I'd rather divide up those postseason numbers by series. Like LCS records for HR's and RBI's, LDS records and then World Series records. That'd put things in proper context. Here's some other peeves, mostly stemming from the 24/7 news cycle

- Preseason debuts: I hate when announcers say so-and-so is making their professional debut in a preseason game. It's true but a preseason game isn't exactly a high stakes debut like when the games actually matter. It's us putting way more stock in preseason games than we should. It's fascinating to watch of course but what do we remember more? Cam Newton's first preseason game or his first NFL game?

- Must wins in the 1st half of a season: I don't know when this started but it has to stop. I understand the NFL is a 16-game season but week 4 isn't a must-win. I love the NBA but there aren't many mustwins in January as opposed to March or April.

This matters in college football when every game matters thanks to polls and the BCS. But in college basketball, NBA, NFL, NHL or any major sport, how a team performs early is usually no indicator of how they'll be at the end. Heck, we're watching a World Series where the Cardinals raced in due to a hot September. Again, a problem of creating too much hype and stories instead of letting stuff play out.

- Superteam Backlash. I blame the Miami Heat for this. They became the villains for a lot of reasons yet I think they never fully embraced the hated role. Yet everybody hated them, wanted to see them fail and as soon as they lost, hell fury came on them. (They did bring some of it on themselves though - 4th Quarter anyone?)

Now it's happening to the Eagles, all because Vince Young said it felt like a Dream Team. Nevermind the fact that the old axiom of "Chemistry trumps talent" has been true for years for a reason. I remember this all too well with the 2004 Lakers and losing to a better team in Detroit.

Nevermind also that there have been superteams for years and they were also hated for winning. Know why I hated the old Bulls? They won. Know why I hated the Celtics? They won. Yet 3 years ago, I don't remember anyone saying that Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen ruined the game with their sacrifice.

I don't mind hating superteams. But every time they lose, you don't have to throw their words in their face unless certain parts aren't living up to expectations (and remember, you can put up good numbers and still lose). It makes you look like a sarcastic fool instead of a sports fan who knows good and well you don't just throw parts together and expect to win right away.

Now arrogance is a whole different part to this but for the most part, teams disappoint more than fail. I get the occasional joke but the constant overkill gets on my nerves like no other. It distracts from us being able to actually break down why they're failing.

What your biggest pet peeves in sports? It can be fan or media-related.

Grinds My Gears: Judging Folks By Their Sign

Something that bugs me when I tell people what month I was born, they immediately figure out what sign I am. Well actually that's not it, it's when they try to assume things about my character/personality based on it.

Growing up, I never really cared much about signs. Most of it was faith based and I didn't believe in somebody telling you how to live your life like a slave to fate. The only reason that I even found out I was a Virgo was because of a Nas song that sounded dope. Enter my nickname - initially Virgo Diamond and then the name I go by here. Virgo Kent.

I only do it because its the sign I was born under. I couldn't tell you anything about what being a Virgo means and I don't care.

What I do care about is people trying to say I act a certain way because of my sign. Or if people try to date because of sign compatibility (and figure out that you broke up b/c of it). It's all fate and frankly I'd like to give life more credit for shaping me and people around me than something I had no control over.

If you say I'm acting a certain way because of my sign, you ignore the fact that I worked hard to become the person I am now and the same with other people. I'm not this way by chance or accident, it's because of my circumstances. If you don't want to date somebody based on their sign or fear being incompatible because of it - GET OVER IT. You date people and their personality, not a sign.

And people don't act a certain way because of what month they were born. It almost shortchanges their circumstances and makes them feel like they can't help who they are - one of the biggest cardinal sins ever uttered.

I guess that what it boils down to. People making another excuse that they can't help who they are. And I'm tired of it.