ESPN's Interactive Tuesday has to go away!

Over the last few years, there have been a few things about ESPN that has really annoyed me to the point that I developed a twitch in my right eye.
In fact, when ESPN first took over Monday Night Football and Joe Theismann was the color commentator (he is the worst ever), my overall health took a turn for the worst and I eventually had to go see a shrink, who decided to erase a selective part of my memory so I could once again enjoy all things ESPN.
Unfortunately that twitch came back last night during ESPN's broadcast of the Nebraska, Texas A&M basketball game.
I only caught the tail end of that matchup but saw enough of it to know that the game was awful and I say that knowing the Aggies came-from-behind and eventually hit a buzzer-beater to steal the game with an undeserved 57-55 victory.
And don't get me wrong, typically buzzer-beaters are exciting.
The come-from-behind method of winning is exciting.
But the Aggies did not win, Nebraska just choked so much that A&M was practically forced to take the lead, and then thankfully time ran out.
The game was not what caused my eye to start twitching, however.
See, the problem was what was happening at the top of my screen. Courtesy of ESPN, morons of both schools were able to chime in their worthless homage.
Basically, there was an interactive thing streaming for fans to log onto ESPN's website and put their comments on national television. I think ESPN is calling it Interactive Tuesday.
I was enraged with rage.
They were taking up a portion of my screen with a streaming message from some bozo named Roughneckman24 who just wanted to say "Goooooo Aggs!!!!!!"
Are you kidding me?
I don't know how long this has been going on but it needs to stop.
Is ESPN hurting that bad?
No!
No, it's not.
It's the world wide leader in sports and 19 out of 11 people I know watch ESPN at least nine times (only counting once per day) a week.
People pour into the networks by the masses.
I don't understand why they have to add all the extra garbage?
I realize the word Entertainment is what the E stands for in ESPN but to me, 90 percent of the entertainment portion is the actual sport.
The funny commercials are the entertainment.
Pardon the Interruption and other programs like PTI are what I consider to be entertaining.
Live message streaming is not entertainment!
After I stuck my finger in the wall socket four times, I was able to calm down again and start taking notes on the last 1:30 of the game.
There were comments from the following people: CMaster, GoBigRed, MidnightClubLA, MandoHusker, and Cody Pastorella, which was my name. I said, "hi mom."
(That last part was a lie.)
Anyway, my two favorite comments were from Gatorbait who said, "this is one of the best games ever."
Around the same time CYMBlue said, "this is frustrating."
Gatorbait was obviously an Aggie fan because I've never seen an episode of the Steve Irwin show that took place in Nebraska. And the only person who could have possibly thought last night's game was the best basketball game ever, would have had to be rooting for the team that needed the other team to turn the ball over 11 times in about five minutes to get back into the contest.
CYMBlue was obviously a Nebraska fan because after the "buzzer beeterr" as one fan called it, CYMBlue logged on for one last message that said his life was over and that he was not going to bother planting any corn this season.
(That last part was another lie.)
Interactive Tuesday is completely unnecessary and otherwise annoying.
I hate it. It's in the way and it doesn't make any sense how they do it.
They leave it up during live action but take it down during replays and timeouts.
If ESPN is going to continue with Interactive Tuesdays, however, I think they should leave the streamer up all day, even during regular programming, especially during the live editions of SportsCenter so I can tell Josh Elliot to stop using the word "aplenty" 3,600 times an hour, every hour.

Was A-Rod genuine? No!

I want to come clean about my first three years of college (2001-2003). I had a very distant cousin from Sicily, the homeland I've never been too, inject me, twice a month, with a supplement of oatmeal and fish oil to enhance my wittiness. It was stupid. We didn't know what we were doing. One time, we stuck my psychology book in a blender, mixed it with orange juice and then injected me with that too. Unfortunately, there was an open-book test in psychology later that day. We did not consult anyone about our idea but it was our understanding that it was harmless. It was just a book we found in a store off the streets called Psychology or I think the locals might call it Psychologe (smirk here).
Anyway, I hope this sounds as ridiculous as A-Rod's interview did yesterday. I must admit that I missed 14 seconds of it because I left to pay my water bill while A-Rod took that awkward and unnecessary pause in which he attempted to be emotional. That was the most pathetic and funny thing I think I have ever seen in my entire life.
Before yesterday's interview, I was ready to move on. I didn't really care that A-Rod did steroids. It was not shocking news to me because steroids have been such a huge part of baseball the last 10-15 years. Whatever A-Rod admitted to yesterday, I don't think it would have mattered in the grand scheme of things, so long as he confessed it all, I mean. And I really think the general public would have forgiven him had he been honest. I also think if he would have come completely clean, his chances with Hall of Fame voters would have gone a lot better down the road.
Instead, he took a typcial A-Rod road and dug himself a bigger hole.
I've never taken A-Rod seriously and yesterday was no different. He's a joke and my disdain for him increased by 146 percent. Having said that, I would still love for him to be an Astro.

In basketball news, Tracy McGrady is out for the season (knee) but I don't think that is the end of the Rockets this season. This just makes Houston less of a contender unless they can make a deal for another scorer before the trade deadline is over. I do think T-Mac is done in Houston, as he has basically called it quits without the teams knowledge. I suspect this will get messy in the coming days.
Speaking of basketball and the Rockets, there is an absolutely wonderful article on the NY Times website (nytimes.com). It's about Shane Battier and how analyzing stats that don't show up in the box score is becoming a big deal for front offices. Reviewing these overlooked stats and how management uses the stats to evaluate a players skill level is basically a phenomenon in all sports right now, and this story breaks it all down. It's really long but interesting and I suggest checking it out. The story is called The No Stats All-Star.

A-Rod ruins lives

I just want to start by saying I have the flu and am also behind with my regular responsibilities, so excuse this week's blog. I never really think things out before I start writing, this week is no exception, but with the flu — things could get messy. I will press on, however, just as Joe Montana did when he led the Irish to a come-from-behind victory over the Houston Cougars while suffering from hypothermia.
I will press on just as Michael Jordan did when he was battling the flu during Game 5 of the 1997 NBA Finals with the Utah Jazz. The series was tied at 2-2 and Jordan was a physical wreck, if you recall, but scored 38 points to lead the Bulls to an 88-85 victory.
I will press on as Pete Sampras did in the 1996 US Open when he was sick to his stomach in every sense of the phrase but still won the match, which went all the way to a tiebreaker.
I will rise to the occasion just as Tiger Woods did with a torn ACL in the US Open last year.
Alright. That's enough rambling.
Alex Rodriguez is a jerk, a bum, a steroid user, a liar, I don't like him but he is still the best baseball player in the MLB right now and I would welcome him with open arms to Houston if for some reason he was to be fired by the Yankees.
The fact that he has done steroids does not surprise me at all. I don't know why others are shocked. His ego is as big or bigger than Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens put together.
Plus, the way things were in the late 90s and early 2000s, if you were a clean baseball player, you were cheating yourself and your team.
Their were umpires who were probably even doing steroids in the early 2000s. I know the guys behind the plate always have a massive, terminator type physique in the shoulder and chest area.
I don't think that is a coincidence at all.
Anyway, I wish that steroids would have never been involved in the sport I love so much because it has left a bad taste in my mouth and it has put an asterisks on any records that have been broken — basically — in my lifetime — so far.
I mean, I can picture sitting around the house with my grandchildren one day, talking about the good ole days and all the records and the children's responses will be, 'but grandpa, they all did steroids.'
Then they will make fun of the fact that I am an Astros fan, which will lead me to putting them up for adoption for being disrespectful.
The road ahead is looking dark for baseball and even worse for me.
Three of the best baseball players in my lifetime did steroids and are already having a negative effect on the grandchildren I may not even have.
The nerve.

Football season is over: Lets move on.

Football season is over. Pittsburgh won the Super Bowl and there is nothing left to talk about despite what ESPN may think. There is no reason to further discuss Arizona's great season. No need to discuss the final play or whether Kurt Warner fumbled or not or why the play was not reviewed. There is no reason to talk about how great Super Bowl XLIII was or how wonderful a catch Santonio Holmes made for the Steelers, a catch that won the game and one that will be shown in highlight reels for a long long time.
Honestly, football season is over.
You're not going to find anything in this blog about my thoughts on Warner and whether he is a future Hall of Famer. Besides, there is not much room for debate anyway.
If you lead a cellar dweller like the Arizona Cardinals to the Super Bowl, throwing for 4,588 yards and 30 touchdowns along the way and then almost upset the favored opponent, you should already be in the Hall of Fame discussion.
Then when you consider his 28,591 career passing yards and 182 career touchdowns and his two MVP seasons with the St. Louis Rams where he won a Super Bowl, this should be a no-brainer.
And Warner has done all this as a hobby. If you've forgotten, his real job is bagging groceries. I know he has Larry Fitzgerald and before Fitzgerald there was Tory Holt, but who is not going to vote for a guy whose just passing the time in between shifts at the grocery store.
If Warner leads Arizona back to the playoffs next year and has similar numbers, I say he is a lock for the HOF.
Anyway, it's time to start thinking about March Madness, the start of baseball, Tiger's return to golf and if he will be ready for the Masters. That's what we should be thinking about — not football.
I don't want to waste your time talking about the NFL draft or even hint at the idea that if the Cowboys could trade up to the first round or get a franchise offensive tackle to sure up the left side of the line that they could bounce back from the disappointments of 2008 and become a real contender next year.
That discussion is for another day.
There is no reason to talk about next year, at least not until April when the draft comes around.
Then we can hash out what else Dallas needs before next season, if the Steelers are good enough to repeat or if Ben Roethlisberger deserves to be mentioned among the other great Super Bowl winning quarterbacks in the league right now.
However, if I did talk about Big Ben, I'd have to say he is a second tier guy for the moment because his defense is so good. But I will give the guy props for throwing for more than 3,000 yards in three of his first five seasons as a starter.
But I'm just not ready to call him elite or put him in the same class as Peyton Manning or Tom Brady.
Moving on to something else, something more news worthy than football — well first — I would like to just briefly mention that I'd like to see Dallas and Pittsburgh in Miami for Super Bowl XLIV.
It would be a treat of historical and traditional value.
And if the Cowboys could get that offensive lineman I refused to talk about earlier and maybe even a strong safety and a solid backup quarterback, who could end up replacing a highly overrated Tony Romo, then I think the Cowboys are very much in place for a run to Miami next year.
But again, the NFL regular season doesn't start for another 240 something days. I couldn't care less about football right now. It's the offseason. Nothing to talk about. Lets move on.
Unless of course, you guys (readers) want to then maybe I could warm up to the idea.