I can speak again! So, Greg and I will actually talk about Lance Armstrong and Manti Te'o this time.
Sports Desk 18
Friday, January 25, 2013
Tuesday, January 22, 2013
Lance Armstrong is Still Cool and Manti Te'o is Still a Great Football Player
The Sports Desk podcast has been on a temporary break as I battle the most debilitating injury a talk show host can succumb to: laryngitis. While my inability to speak has kept me from recording mine and Greg's banter, my brain refuses to shut off on the topic of a couple of sports' more famous liars: Lane Armstrong and Manti Te'o.
It is time for me to spew out my thoughts in written form to quell my desire to express my opinion. Plus, I know all you Notre Dame haters out there want to hear my thoughts on imaginary girlfriends.
But before we get to what you all will certainly call a homer's tainted view, let's begin with my thoughts on Lance Armstrong and his admittance to cheating.
What?! Lance Armstrong was doping? No freakin' way! #sarcasm. Unless you were in extreme denial, everyone already knew that the greatest cyclist in history, along with the vast majority of his competition, were using some form of performance enhancing drug. This should not have come as a surprise. He may have spent countless resources fighting for the contrary, but it was pretty clear that he was cheating when he chose to give up his battle over the summer.
Lance is still a hero in my book, as I wrote back then. And that hasn't changed with his very long interview with Oprah. He still fought and defeated cancer, he still raised millions for cancer research, and he still won seven Tours de France.
I, frankly, do not give a damn that he was on drugs the whole time. Mostly because everyone else was too. If you take Lance, and every other doped up cyclist, off the stuff he probably still wins each one of those races.
Cycling's doping cartel makes Major League Baseball look like a small time high school drug ring. Everyone is doping. So Armstrong was simply leveling the playing field.
And anyone who says Livestrong wasn't worth it because of this scandal should just shut up now. He was saving lives damn it. His cycling cheating had nothing to do with his desire to see others win the fight against cancer like he did.
Now, on to the juicier Manti Te'o stuff.
No need to recap the story you all know that Te'o either fell for an internet lady who didn't exist or conjured up a fake person to fall in love with to drum up Heisman support.
I know that you will all be shocked to read that I believe Te'o was the victim of a cruel joke that got out of hand. I believe that Te'o met this "woman" online and started some kind of strange new age internet relationship with her. Turns out this person never existed. This sort of thing happens more often then most people know.
I, however, do also believe that Te'o exaggerated this love affair for publicity's sake. I think he may have stretched the details out to make this look a little more like a conventional romance on the eyes of the media. He may have learned about the hoax earlier than he claims to have, and simply played it out for one reason or another.
I could also be completely wrong and he made her up from the start.
And even if I am, I will tell you that I really don't care. Manti Te'o was still a key part in my team making it into the BCS National Championship game. He was still a Heisman caliber linebacker. And he is still going to be a first round pick in the NFL draft.
All of this is because whether or not he made up, and subsequently killed off, an internet girlfriend, he is still a damn good linebacker. And that is all NFL teams should care about.
It is time for me to spew out my thoughts in written form to quell my desire to express my opinion. Plus, I know all you Notre Dame haters out there want to hear my thoughts on imaginary girlfriends.
But before we get to what you all will certainly call a homer's tainted view, let's begin with my thoughts on Lance Armstrong and his admittance to cheating.
What?! Lance Armstrong was doping? No freakin' way! #sarcasm. Unless you were in extreme denial, everyone already knew that the greatest cyclist in history, along with the vast majority of his competition, were using some form of performance enhancing drug. This should not have come as a surprise. He may have spent countless resources fighting for the contrary, but it was pretty clear that he was cheating when he chose to give up his battle over the summer.
Lance is still a hero in my book, as I wrote back then. And that hasn't changed with his very long interview with Oprah. He still fought and defeated cancer, he still raised millions for cancer research, and he still won seven Tours de France.
I, frankly, do not give a damn that he was on drugs the whole time. Mostly because everyone else was too. If you take Lance, and every other doped up cyclist, off the stuff he probably still wins each one of those races.
Cycling's doping cartel makes Major League Baseball look like a small time high school drug ring. Everyone is doping. So Armstrong was simply leveling the playing field.
And anyone who says Livestrong wasn't worth it because of this scandal should just shut up now. He was saving lives damn it. His cycling cheating had nothing to do with his desire to see others win the fight against cancer like he did.
Now, on to the juicier Manti Te'o stuff.
No need to recap the story you all know that Te'o either fell for an internet lady who didn't exist or conjured up a fake person to fall in love with to drum up Heisman support.
I know that you will all be shocked to read that I believe Te'o was the victim of a cruel joke that got out of hand. I believe that Te'o met this "woman" online and started some kind of strange new age internet relationship with her. Turns out this person never existed. This sort of thing happens more often then most people know.
I, however, do also believe that Te'o exaggerated this love affair for publicity's sake. I think he may have stretched the details out to make this look a little more like a conventional romance on the eyes of the media. He may have learned about the hoax earlier than he claims to have, and simply played it out for one reason or another.
I could also be completely wrong and he made her up from the start.
And even if I am, I will tell you that I really don't care. Manti Te'o was still a key part in my team making it into the BCS National Championship game. He was still a Heisman caliber linebacker. And he is still going to be a first round pick in the NFL draft.
All of this is because whether or not he made up, and subsequently killed off, an internet girlfriend, he is still a damn good linebacker. And that is all NFL teams should care about.
Friday, January 11, 2013
Thursday, January 3, 2013
Sports Desk Podcast Episode 16
Greg and I get the new year started by discussing what we learned about the Lions in their disappointing 4-12 season and how we think they can recover from it. We also discuss Notre Dame's impending National Championship and the NFL Playoffs.
Sports Desk 16
Sports Desk 16
Tuesday, January 1, 2013
Sports Desk Solo: Black Monday
I decide to yak about the NFL's Black Monday firings for five minutes as the Bears can Lovie Smith and the Jets hang on to the buffoon known as Rex Ryan.
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