This Deadspin post stopped me in my tracks today. Mike and Mike are going to host the National Spelling Bee. Dear god help us. The spelling bee is already a ratings hit with a bunch of nerds calling the action why do they need these two toolbags?
The Arena Football League has some fans I’ll give it that; lonely, sad, bored, nothing better to do on the weekend fans. I'm not one of them, but I wouldn't make fun of anyone who was. The sport just isn't for me. The AFL is a garbage sport much like pro wrestling, tractor pulling, and the NHL, but now that ESPN has the television rights to the Arena League it has become "cool" and "trendy" and "fun" and "exciting". The Worldwide Leader is telling sports fans to care about the AFL, not because it offers a diversion from spending time with your family and an excuse to drink (which has been its appeal in the past), but because it's a true and relevant sport.
The big push is happening with the AFL season about to kickoff. ESPN will force feed its audience the AFL whether we want it or not, they stand to make too much cash. If you watch ESPN you know they excel at one thing: promoting their product, so here's what to expect: They will brag about the ratings no matter how small, Around the Horn and PTI will talk about the league with reverence, and Stu Scott will hype the players to no end. Mike and Mike, the ESPN radio dinks and new AFL announcers already stammer and stutter about the AFL ceaselessly, and today it popped up on ESPN.com's AM JUMP (the poor man's version of the now defunct Daily Quickie). It's just another reason to hate the network I used to love.
For some reason I torture myself every morning by waking up to Mike & Mike in the Morning on ESPN radio. Mike Greenberg’s hyperbole and Mike Golic’s stammering do not make for an enjoyable wake up call, but it beats the shrieking high pitched alarm, barely. Anyway, earlier this week the show was having Scott Boras on as a guest. In typical ESPN ass kiss fashion Greenie was repeating all morning that Boras was "playing the Red Sox like a fiddle" going as far as calling him Tevye from Fiddler on the Roof. Needless to say this pissed me off; the fact the Greenie was calling my home team suckers while at the same time sucking up to one of the most reprehensible characters in all of sports turned my stomach. He was being a bigger douche than normal and that's saying something.*
Today brings good news, however. Daisuke “Dice-K” Matsuzaka is all but signed (pending a physical) for the sum of $52 million over 6 years ($8.7 million per) including escalator clauses that quite frankly I hope he reaches (because they kick in if he finishes high in Cy Young and MVP voting) that could boost the contract to an average of about $10 million per year. The Red Sox initially offered $8 million a year and ended up signing him for 8.7 million per year. In comparison, Gil Meche, he of the a career ERA of 4.65, was just signed for $11 million dollars per year.
The Dice-K deal with the posting fee included averages out to over $17 million per year. No small potatoes to be sure, but that’s the kind of money Boras was initially hoping to sign Matsuzaka for, not $8.6 million. Boras had said he wasn’t going to consider the posting fee in his negotiations, clearly he had to. Other than over bidding the posting fee by $10 million the Dice-K deal couldn’t have worked out any better for the Sox.
So, Mike “Greenie” Greenberg, can we hear more about this fiddle that Boras was supposedly playing the Red Sox like because the music I hear sounds like the Sox got exactly the deal they wanted.
*(via Deadspin)
After listening to Mike & Mike spar verbal diarrhea, about Bobby Knight, in between stutters and their typical ass kissing, I pretty much had it. I now officially hate sports. The media, with a few exceptions, have driven all the fun out of following it, and I fucking hate them for it. Check out ESPN today, a whole fucking section of a non-incident, and an important “Day later” video.
