Nascar and legless runners

For those of you that know me, I'm very much a football first sports fan.  Then football second.  Then third.  You get the point.  So right now is a fairly down sports time for me;  I don't get excited about the NFL combine, the Daytona 500 doesn't drop my panties, and the NBA doesn't do a whole lot for me... for now.

However, regardless of how I feel about these events, they are dominating the sports world right now - as they rightly should.  It can't be NFL all year... or can it?

I'll start with Speed Week, the term given for the week leading up to the Daytona 500.  I avoided this like the plague.  Why?  Not because it is not a personal interest, but because of Danica Patrick.  Is it cool that she won the pole?  You betcha, and I bet she's proud as hell for that, hell, I would be.  But I am so sick and tired of hearing about her.  Anytime she does anything remotely good, you hear about it.  Ok, she's a woman breaking into a mans sport, that's not easy, I get that, but she's been in it for 3 years now (longer if you count her Indy car time).  It's not a new sight to see her on the track. 

What's happening with Patrick is the same thing that happened to Michelle Wie, but I don't think the end result will be the same.  I know there are some of you out there thinking to yourself "Who's Michelle Wie?"

Exactly.

Michelle Wie was a very young, very talented (and very pretty) golfing phenom.  At 16 she was performing well in the LPGA as an amateur.  But then her father (whom she should rightfully blame here), who was also her manager, pushed for her to participate in PGA events.  She began getting sponsor exception invites to random PGA events here and there, and a quick perusal of her career record reveals... she either missed the cut in all of them or withdrew.  She was mediocre at best as a golfer on her own tour, yet she found herslef constantly in the media spotlight because of her desire to play in the mens tour (which may or may not have actually been hers.).  She has never dominated the sport at any level in any division, yet she was a constant media darling because, here was a girl - a girl, not a woman - playing with the big boys.  Shit, if you wanted to get someone to play just well enough to miss the cut, I could do that standing on my head - and it might get better ratings. 

So why do I compare Michelle Wie, who has never had any major success to Danica Patrick?  Because of the media saturation surrounding them.  Danica Patrick is a good driver, and in fact, she belongs in NASCAR, her abilities have proven that.  But when she has even the slightest modicum of success, all we here about is Danica Patrick.  It gets old really, really quickly. 

Think about this a bit more though.  It's not just female athletes that this happens to.  Tim Tebow, who apparently is the second coming of Christ, can't hide at all from the spotlight.  When he completes a damn pass he's hailed as a savior.  If he breaks wind too loudly it's news.  Media saturation for bad athletes is... bad!  Patrick's situation is unique because there is no women's race circuit;  she's going to have to race against the boys from the get go to prove that she belongs there.  But for crying out loud, treat her like any other driver, don't focus on her because she has boobs.  Hell, I have boobs, I'm not getting love for that.  When she actually does something worthy of massive media coverage, then give her that.  Tell me when she wins a major race, hell, tell me if she makes the chase at the end of the season.  Just stop telling me that she might finally win.

Ok, that covers the first part of what has been on my mind in the sports world, here's the second part.

The strange case of Oscar Pistorius.

Damn, that's a movie title if I ever heard one.

So by now I'm sure most people are familiar with the extreme basics of the case:  Oscar Pistorious shot his girlfriend to death through a door, and he claims that he thought she was an intruder.  While this is terrible on a couple of levels, I want to address something that has more annoyed me then anything.

I am sick and tired of hearing him called "Blade Runner."

Don't act clever, dammit.  That's corny as hell.  You watched that movie recently?  It's terrible.  I was bored and watched it on Netflix about three months ago.  It took me 2 days to finish it, I was bored out of my mind.  And that's what we are calling the man who is (err, was...) one of the greatest stories in sports? Give me a break.

But onto his legal troubles:  This is bad.  I'm not a legal expert, but I live with someone who's job it is to pretend to be one (love you babe) and this is just... bad.  A loved one doesn't hide in a confined, locked room because they think it's fun.  They do that in fear.  If Pistorious indeed fired through a locked door several (I think three) times to stop "an intruder," he's not the brightest crayon in the box.  His story just doesn't pass the smell test.  A loved one fleeing into, and then locking themselves into, a bathroom screams domestic violence.  I really hope that that is not the case, the story of Oscar Pistorious is so amazing, that it would be a shame to see him brought down by a terrible decision of his.  But if what it seems like is indeed the case, I have no pity for this man despite the obstacles he's overcome.  I have few rules in my life that I will not break, but one of them is never, ever, EVER, hit a woman.  I don't care how much she deserves it, if she hit you first, whatever.  There is never an excuse to hit a woman. 

I have loved to read the Oscar Pistorious story.  I loved watching him in the London Olympics after winning his lengthy battle against the IOC.  I loved watching him hold his head high at his accomplishments despite not making the 400m final.  But this... this taints everything.  I hope the truth comes out.  I naively hope that this was indeed a terrible accident.  I want to root for this man.

But right now, I can't.

In the Beginning

In an effort to further my writing career, I have created this, my mighty mighty blog.  I am a Seattleite who has been thrust deep into the heart of Texas, and have struggled mightily adapting to the sports scene here.  Being of sound mind, I do not enjoy the Cowboys at all, and have received an endlessd amount of grief for proudly sporting Seahawks and Mariners gear around town. 

In case you haven't guessed, the theme of this bad boy will be mostly sports related, with a dash of my life thrown in for good measure.  I plan on talking about my personal opinions of various sports news that occur in the world during the week, and how my current alienation from my favorite teams is effecting me. 

So if this is something that you think may be interesting, then follow along in the weeks, months, and hopefully years ahead.  Yeehaw!