Gee Whiz! (My reflection on OSU's president and other ramblings)

You know, if he’s not careful, Gordon Gee’s going to end up offending someone.

Apparently, the list of people he has it out for is growing exponentially. In case you don’t know the backstory, it goes like this: In January, at a meeting with some top sports bigwigs at The Ohio State University (there are rumors that there are, in fact, sports bigwigs at OSU involved in sports other than football) Gee said he negotiated personally with Notre Dame to get them to join the Big Ten but he ultimately didn’t “trust those damn Catholics.” Then he bashes the SEC (the Southeastern Conference, not the Securites Exchange Commission -- come to think of it, has anyone ever bashed the Securites Exchance Commission?) saying they need to learn to read and write. THEN he referred to Louisville as not being a “learning institution.” (He said the same thing about Kentucky, but, well, come on now.)

This follows his previous bashing of Boise State, Penn State, Colorado, USC, the Little Sisters of the Poor, My Little Pony*, and any form of true fashion sense.

Here, Gee demonstrates the best attack posture when encountering a nun.

Gee (No, GTE!**) has since gone through some sort of sensitivity seminar, or something, and he’s all better now. Finally.

He’s been praised for being a great school president. He has raised standard at every school he’s run. And he makes a really mean mincemeat pie. But these things are an embarrassment. Especially at a school where, let’s face it, the fans are maybe just a TAD sensitive about how people treat the school.

I’ll be honest. If you start making fun of Ball State’s athletics, I’ll be the first one laughing. After all, I attended the first school that had a baseball player get credit for a home run on a strikeout.*** Once, during a football game, the other team simply tired of beating Ball State so bad and, after kicking off to them, walked off the field, leaving only the BSU offense on the field. Three plays later, Ball State scored a touchdown.*

On the other hand, say ANYTHING derogatory about Ohio State****, and you immediately get gang-raped by a wild, screaming scarlet and gray-clad group of octogenarians ready to smack you silly with their purses and bottles of Preparation H.

Frankly, he needs to go somewhere where they just don’t care what kind of transgressions might fly from your mouth, or your pen, or from any other body part.

I can see the headline now: Gordon Gee agrees to become new president of Rutgers.


On to other ramblings:

Robbie Rogers becomes first openly gay player in American male team sports. In the end, it wasn’t a Jackie Robinson-type thing after all. He came in, accepted his applause, played for a few minutes, then the game ended. Big whoop. Kind of like waiting for years for someone to make Star Wars Episode VII, only to finally go to the theater and find out the movie was made with sock puppets.

Frankly, it says something about our society that such a thing received little fanfare. It shows that, as a group, we’re ready. Even if most of the players aren’t.

(I still can’t get over the fact that one of the biggest anti-gay statements recently was made by a 49er. In San Francisco. Really.)

Actually, the first time I saw this story, I misread the headline and thought it was referring to Robbie Rotten, the villain in the LazyTown kids show. Now THAT would be an entertaining debut.

The clothes were a dead giveaway.

LeBron James fined $5K for flopping. Yeah, that’ll teach him.

Let’s do the math. According to Forbes, LeBum pulled in about $53 million dollars in 2011. He’s fined five thousand dollars. Proportionately, that would be like fining the top breadwinner in the average American household approximately $4.26.

Oooh. That has to hurt.

NBA looking into the fouls called in Game 4 of the Heat/Pacers series. What’s that? LeBron actually fouled OUT? What in the name of Tim Donaghy is going on here?

Keyshawn Johnson chases down a speeding Justin Beiber in his neighborhood. Rumors are not true that Keyshawn just wanted Beiber to “show him some damn ball.”

No, I don’t know what that means, either.

Parent demands apology after pro wrestler rips kids' sign. You read that right. Apparently an eight-year-old was ringside at a WWE event when heel wrestler Alberto Del Rio took a poster of his rival Sheamus out of the kids' hands and ripped it to shreds. Now she's demanding an apology because "Del Rio is a bully" and "he cried all the way home."

(Personally, I think he cried all the way home because he was forced to watch an entire Smackdown episode live, but that's just me.)

Anywho, Del Rio hasn't responded. Apparently, Del Rio's manager has. Ricardo Rodriguez's reaction via twitter: "lol blah blah blah."

Ricardo Rodriguez has just reached Bobby "The Brain" Heenan level on my personal manager-odometer.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

---------
*--I‘m guessing.
**--Been waiting for years to tell that one.
***--I’m not kidding. 1982. The catcher dropped the third strike, and the other team (Purdue) began to leave the field, thinking the inning was over. The batter ran the bases, sliding home just as the catcher realized what was going on.
****--Example: “Hey you silly-brain doo-doo dummy heads! Ohio State is really bad right?”

But it isn't "brand new" enough

But it isn't "brand new" enough...

Just saw that Arthur Blank, the owner of the Atlanta Falcons, managed to con the city of Atlanta into partially funding a new stadium for him.

According to the release, $200 million will come from taxation on things such as hotel rooms. $800 million will come from Blank himself. I guess that gift makes Blank into a bona-fide Rockefeller.

I won't go into the fact that, since Blank was easily able to put up 80% of the bill, then he could just as easily put up 100%. That's too easy.

Nor will I say what you and I both know: it won't stop at $200 million. Somehow, he'll get more out of the city. How? By holding the city hostage. NFL teams are a cash cow. The owners make tons of tons of money. (Not a typo). Cities make money off them. The fans make the city happier overall. Everyone's honky-dory. It's an REM music video.

No, what bothers me is something that sounds silly.

Why does Atlanta need a new stadium?

Think about it. The GeorgiaDome was built in 1992. I was fortunate enough to be in one of the first events ever held there: a national [religion withheld] youth gathering. More than 30,000 screaming, manners-challenged hormone bags running loose in Atlanta. Ah, the good old days.

Point is, the dome was new. And, really, it still is. There aren't any major problems with it. There's been the occasional partial renovation. But that's it. No, it's a victim of the idea that it's not "new enough."

The city of Indianapolis just went through the same thing. They willingly shelled out millions to build a new stadium because the ancient, decrepid RCA Dome was -- gasp -- 35 years old!

I didn't realize 35 years was old for a stadium built to last -- this is a quote -- "100 years or 100 wars." Sadly, it didn't live to see either.

This sounds like an old fogey talking, but, well, they don't make stadiums the way they used to. Old Comiskey Park lasted nearly 90 years. Tiger Stadium lasted even longer. Wrigley Field and Fenway Park are still there, and they were built before my grandparents were born.

New stadiums are good. They're comfy. They have state-of-the-art things like divided seat warmers to heat each bun independently, or a cell-phone access that allows you to "like" the upcoming play call the head coach just beamed into cyberspace, or wherever. But, where's the character?

Please, don't tell Chicago that 21 years is "old" for a stadium. And please don't tell my kids, either. I'm almost twice that.