I’m ashamed to admit it, but I have been caught watching some of “The T.O. Show” when it first came out.  It was like watching a train crashing into the Titanic while an airplane was headed towards them.  As “compelling” as the show is, I think there are better dramas/comedies shaping up in the NFL landscape.  These are my short takes on what should be some new reality shows.  Or maybe they are just me ranting, you decide.  I’d love to hear what shows readers would like to see.

1.  As The Favre Turns

What more can be said about Brett Favre?  I don’t know, but I’ll try.  This week he reported that he may have cracked ribs.  Notice, I didn’t say the team or the media reported that.  First it was him saying he doesn’t know if his body can take another full season.  Next, the torn rotator cuff that may or may not hinder him during the season.  Now he may have cracked ribs also?  I’ve never had cracked ribs.  In fact, I’m lucky enough never to have broken or fractured anything.  I did severely sprain my ankle before, so I’m sure that the pain of cracking a bone won’t come in the form of “might have”.  If that’s the case, why didn’t he go to the training staff or a doctor?  Why did he want to play in the 3^rd pre-season game?  Why would he even consider throwing that dirty block?

As their locker room must surely be already divided, I think that having pre-determined excuses for a poor performance isn’t going over too well either.  All the players say the right things to the media.  But there are still anonymous sources that keep coming forward saying there is a “schism” in their locker room.  Sure, every locker room doesn’t get along 100%, but I know I’d be heated after going through mini camps, “voluntary” workouts, and training camp in order to prove my worth/loyalty to the team and to winning just to have another guy just walk right into a starting role as well as a big paycheck off of a tractor somewhere in Mississippi.  I don’t think I’d have the flowers and gift basket waiting at his locker as a welcome.  And even if there isn’t a lot of animosity towards the great Favre hope, there is surely a loss of respect for Brad Childress.  Why?  He lied to the players.  Coaches lie to the media all the time, but they rarely lie to players.  He flat out said there was no chance of pursuing Favre after he rejected them just to personally drive to the airport to pick him up when he landed.  Even the most important person on the team, Adrian Peterson, doesn’t get anywhere near that kind of servitude from his coach.

But winning cures everything in football.  Unfortunately Brett has thought of all that already, and it’s either going to be his cracked ribs, or torn rotator cuff, or previous arm injury that will cause his performance to be sub-par if they aren’t winning.  I know Vikings fans are relieved that Adrian Peterson is the engine that drives that car.  That being said; Favre’s enablers drive this show.

2.  It’s Always Phony In Philadelphia

Those of you who have read some of my previous columns know that I’m a Philly boy.  I love sports, so I get inundated by our sports media whether I want to or not.  I try to stay objective when I read them and listen to them on the radio but I’ve come to a conclusion.  They are mostly a bunch of whiners and crybabies.  The leader of the whining bunch is Angelo Cataldi.  He calls himself “The voice of the Philly Sports Fan”.  I call him an idiot who couldn’t represent 30% of the real Philly sports fans.  Maybe he’s just a sensationalist who wants ratings.  After all, he was one of the better writers in the past.  Now he’s as close to a yellow journalist as you can get here in Philly.  He takes the smallest things, blows them up, and then yells on the radio for 4 hours in the morning.  He’s the only sports talk host whose show is better when he’s on vacation and his co-hosts are the ones running the show.  He leads the charge in bashing McNabb and often calling him phony because he never reveals his emotions.  He penned an article in the Metro basically telling us how Donovan McNabb currently feels about Michael Vick being in town, and also how he will feel as the season goes on.  It was titled “It’s a ticking timebomb”.  What did he base it on?  The fact that McNabb wanted to stop switching in the 3^rd pre-season game with Vick in order to get a flow going on the offense by using a slashing gesture.  That was fine because they were playing badly and inconsistently, and it really didn’t help to keep switching quarterbacks at that point.  McNabb is a slow starter, and a streaky passer. It’s one of his biggest faults.  When he looked at his coordinator and gave the sign to cut this out, every sports reporter (especially the talkies) looked up on their wall, saw their Psychology PhD’s hanging there and proceeded to put words in McNabb’s mouth and interpret/dissect his emotions.  But that’s a regular thing here.  They are all phony because more than anyone else in this city, 5 puts food on their tables.  When you hear them talking about most other issues with sports in the city, they are seemingly searching for words or interested callers.  But let someone, be it a caller, or some other reporter bring up 5, and it’s on.  The dumbest fans in the area all come out when you mention 5, and they are welcomed on the air, and encouraged to say some of the most idiotic things you’ll ever hear.  If you don’t believe me, go to 610wip.com or 950espn.com (to a lesser extent) sometime and stream them.  I’d like anyone who comments on here to let me know how the sports talk is in their city.  I’m very curious to know if they come close to Philly level.  In my travels, I haven’t heard it like this, maybe only in the NYC.

Philly sports media have written articles about his silence, his blinking, his non-words, his mom and dad, even his haircuts.  I’m not kidding.  And they all claim to be objective.  I’m sorry; most of them claim to be objective.  The ones who shout it loudest are often the most bias ones.  I don’t claim total objectivity.  I know this article isn’t too objective; it’s expressing my disgust at the majority of the Philly sports media who are trying too hard to create news rather than report it.  It’s pitiful, and it lacks integrity.  Their jobs aren’t to psychoanalyze players and try to figure out what they want or are thinking.  They can offer their opinions and editorials based on what is said by the players when they are questioned.  But they don’t, and Cataldi leads the way, even having a megaphone on the air to overpower any of his co-hosts who may have a differing, more intelligent point of view.  Him and those who are like him, and unfortunately there are too many, are the reason why Philly fans have the reputation they have.  They encourage the nut jobs to call, and they try to portray it as passion, as representative of all Philly fans.  It’s a ratings stunt, and I wish they’d just admit it already.

I could go on and on but I’ll end with this last example.  Everyone is happy that the Phillies are world champions and are very busy trying to compare the Eagles to them.  The Eagles haven’t won a Superbowl.  We know that.  We also know the front office didn’t exactly endear themselves to the fans over the years, or do what it would take to win a championship, just enough to be competitive.  There’s still one thing the Eagles can say that the Phillies can’t, and that is that they put a decade of winning seasons together.  The Phillies were a joke before 2007.  They were less than an afterthought and people wanted to filet the previous GM, Ed Wade.  All they did was put them down for not spending money to make the team better and at least win, while all the Eagles did was win and provide excitement for the city.  Hell, even after a world championship, all that has to happen is McNabb to sneeze and nobody remembers there’s another team in town except the Eagles.  If this is such a baseball town as they want to proclaim it to be all of a sudden, then they need to stop talking so much about the Eagles, and focus more on the team that did win a championship, not the team that actually generates ratings and controversy for them, real or not.

3.  Grumpy Old Men

This one’s for you, Jerry Jones.  All you do is try to get attention for your Dallas Cowboys.  I can’t fault you for that at all.  That’s what a good owner does, bring attention to his product.  Unfortunately Jerry, you succeed more in bringing attention to yourself.  Through the years you’ve had your share of TV time, from being on the sidelines screaming at your players and coaches, to now putting a huge TV in your spanking new stadium and telling everyone else to kick rocks cause you ain’t moving it, no sir.  Whatever you did, you got the iron fist of the commissioner to be on your side, and not order you to move it.  You tell punters to punt it towards the sidelines “[like they are supposed to do]”.  You know the players jobs better than they do.  I remember you screaming at T.O. for some reason.  I guess his puzzled look was because he didn’t realize you were a coach too.  I want to see your reaction if punters accidentally keep hitting that video board on purpose and you come under more scrutiny for that screen not being higher.  But hey, more scrutiny is the same as more publicity for your spanking new stadium right?  The more we talk about it, the more people will know it’s there and that they need to come check it out.  So keep up the good work, each show we’ll feature you playing different roles, from owner to GM, and hell, why not get on the field and show ‘em how it’s done while you’re at it.

Oh, I can’t forget Al Davis.  No reality show about grumpy old men would be complete without him.  But I have to admit, he got himself the perfect coach to pilot his ship.  The Raiders were sinking, but at least now they have publicity.  Any coach who will punch out one of his assistants/ Al’s weasel is okay in my book.  I’m a Philly fan after all, and we like our sports figures fiery.  And Al Davis has always had gumption, that’s for sure.  He was the most entertaining part of the Lane Kiffin fiasco and for my money he’s the most entertaining owner in football this side of Gloria Estafan, Jimmy Buffet, Marc Anthony, and the Williams sisters.  You never know what he’ll say, I just wish he was spry enough to punch out some people these days.

4.  BSO TV

We NEED a show just like this site.  We need a show where thoughts, observations and ideas are presented like they are here.  Even if there’s bias, it’s better than what ESPN and the rest offer.  We don’t legislate what should be news and what shouldn’t based on who we like.  We need a show that’s like Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel, only with more style.  And finally, we need BSO TV because you’d watch it, and you’d enjoy it!  We need BSO TV so you the readers can have your voices heard, and you can hear our voices too.