War Machine — né Jon Koppenhaver — got dropped by the UFC in part for insensitive comments about the death of former UFC fighter Evan Tanner, and judging from his latest MySpace blog post, I’m gonna go out on a limb and say he probably won’t get picked back up any time soon. That is, unless publicly announcing that you hope the nation’s first black president gets assassinated is seen as a good thing. It seems like a bad idea to me, but then I’m not very politically astute.
But seriously, why should the media keep pushing this story about some stupid new president taking office down our throats? wtf indeed, War Machine. wtf indeed.
From the littlest blogger to ESPN, everyone in the sports world is trying to take a sports angle on Inauguration Day and Barack Obama’s impending presidency. And it’s times like this that make me want to slap the shit out of sports fans for their selfish and narrow perspective on the world. More than usual, that is.
Yes, Obama plays basketball. Yes, he wants a college football playoff. Is that really so remarkable? Is the elimination of the BCS somehow more important to people than refocusing the war on terror to Afghanistan? Call me a bad fan, but if the president puts sports ahead of the economy, or education, or changing our reliance on fossil fuels, or international affairs, or anything that happens to actually affect our lives in tangible ways, I will be one pissed-off citizen.
I understand the need to write stories relevant to the day’s biggest news (just last week I worked some plane crash jokes into sports stories), but I’d prefer some deference to the issues over trying to shoehorn the frivolity of sports into something momentous, something with real gravity.
One of the crappier traditions in American sports is for mayors of opposing cities to make friendly wagers that support famous local commerce. But there’s simply too much animosity between the Steelers and Ravens to accomplish such a feat. In fact, Pittsburgh mayor Luke Ravenstahl is dropping the “Raven” from his surname and changing it to “Steelerstahl” in anticipation of this weekend’s AFC Championship Game. Pointless and idiotic, you say? Well, how else is he gonna get re-elected?
On Wednesday morning, the mayor began, but did not complete, an official name change petition, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported. Civil court staff gave the petition a docket number but said they did not expect to file it, in part because they did not receive the required check for $108 to process the change, the newspaper reported.
In other words, it was a half-assed attempt at an empty gesture. And Pittsburgh loves him for it!
Ravenstahl said he did not come up with the idea… That honor, he said, belonged to callers to a local radio station’s morning show… “As soon as I heard it, I thought it was a great idea.”
Oh yes, people who call in to morning radio shows are known to have all sorts of great ideas. Why, Franklin Roosevelt only implemented the New Deal after someone suggested it to Scooter and the Zoo Crew on Wacky 101. Scooter’s slide whistle and fart noises are what sold the President on it.
The Brooklyn Cyclones, a Single-A Mets farm club and the first pro baseball team in Brooklyn since the Dodgers left, will host what will become the most popular minor league promotion in the borough’s history when they become the “Baracklyn” Cyclones for one night in June. Here’s just part of what the club is offering:
-Alternate red, white, and blue jerseys adorned with the team’s new name
-FREE Barack Obama bobbleheads to the first 2,500 fans in attendance, featuring the President in a Baracklyn Cyclones Jersey
-The Economic Stimulus Package: From 10am on January 20th – Inauguration Day – to midnight on January 23rd, ticket prices for the June 23rd game will be “rolled back” to the Cyclones’ inaugural 2001 season rates: $10 Field Box Seats, $8 Box Seats, $5 Bleacher Seats. Beginning January 24th, tickets will be priced at the regular 2009 rates ($15, $12, $8)
-Universal Health Care: Free Band-Aids to the first 1,000 fans
I can’t even begin to describe the extent to which this is a wet dream for every set of parents in gentrified Brooklyn. There are two staples of Brooklyn fashion: hooded sweatshirts that say “Brooklyn” (I own at least twelve), and anything with the word “Obama” on it. They could sell those jerseys for $1000 apiece and they’d still sell out in 40 seconds.
[Curbed via Big League Stew]
Now THAT is change I can believe in.
Oh my God, did you guys see the crazy stuff on TV last night? MTV totally had a marathon of Paris Hilton’s “My New BFF.” So awesome.
