Why does everything revolving around sports seem so sad?

There are several things lately that I've noticed that just make me sad about the state of sports and sports fandom (if that's even a word). The first would be the Albert Pujols contract situation. Yes, I am more likely to care about this because I am a St. Louisian. Yet I am upset at the foolishness that both sides present. I support neither Pujols nor the Cardinals because both have royally screwed this pooch. On the one side, the Cardinals have dragged their feet so far in the sand you would think they were trying to make a new Grand Canyon in the midwest. The team should have resigned Pujols before the Matt Holliday deal. They did not. They should have signed him during the season when there were plenty of opportunities to go to Albert and say "let's get this done so we can focus on building around you in the offseason." They did not. They had an entire offseason to negotiate and from all accounts, they gave the public impression that nothing was broached in earnest until the few days before Pujols deadline.

That brings me to this "deadline." I find the idea ridiculous. I understand why Pujols THINKS it is a good idea, but the reality is that it will keep absolutely no media member from asking him about his contract throughout the year. In fact, I would venture to say, it will increase the questions. Think of just about any scenario. Pujols is on fire. Reporters will ask if he thinks he's driving up his asking price come free agency. Pujols is ice-cold. Reporters will ask if not being offered his money by the Cardinals is weighing heavily on him. Everything is a contradiction with this deadline. Reporters will keep asking questions in every new city he goes to, yet he says the deadline was to prevent the circus he faced on his first day at camp. He wants to protect his teammates, yet they will be asked in just about any failing circumstance if it's because of Albert's contract. Pujols wants to focus on playing, yet he himself said that he doesn't have much if anything to do with the negotiations anyway. Every athlete talked to on sports radio has pretty much said the agent deals with the team and only reports what is absolutely necessary to the player to spare them any animosity that would affect their performance. So the idea that he can't have his agent talk to the team and still focus on playing is silly.

Then, as always, it comes down to money. While I would like to believe Mr. Pujols claim that he and ownership laughed at ESPN's reports on the length and financial compensation, I have to believe the money that will be involved in any deal for Albert will be astronomical. How any man can believe they are worth $300 million is beyond me. How any man can think they can perform, naturally, at the age of 42 the same as they did at 32 is beyond me. Yet that is the figure we as fans are left to digest. On the flip side, the Cardinals are reported to be low balling the best player in the game. Say what you will about liking Pujols or not, but offensively no player in history has put up his numbers to begin a career with the same consistancy and he's won gold gloves as well. Yet we are led to believe that St. Louis' offer would not even have made him one of the top 5 paid players. You can't tell me, regardless of being a midwestern city of a mid-market size, that this team hasn't saved up enough money to pay top salary to the best player. Does no one understand the definition of negotiation any more? It seems like everyone has the mentality of it's my way or the highway and if you don't like it they'll take their ball and go home. The Cardinals will survive without Pujols if that is their lot, but it would be sad for a man who could go down as a legend of the game to play in more than one uniform.

Speaking of negotiations being sad, the NFL and it's player's union seem to be locked in the same sort of stalemate. Again, there is little to no movement by either side. We're talking about billions of dollars here. Not millions. Not hundreds of millions. BILLIONS. And these fools want to squabble over how to slice it up. Now no good business man gives away profits, but when we're talking sums as large as the NFL sees, why does it make any sense to even hint at the possibility of labor unrest, let alone a lock-out when the NFL has pretty much taken over as America's true sport? It doesn't. That's why it makes the average fan so sad. As a fan, we can't even focus on our teams for next season because there may not be a season. As such, rosters are being trimmed. Free agency will not happen and the draft takes on a much different role as it will be used to fill spots instead of add depth. With both of these situations, there is always that faint glimmer of hope. That final straw that we can try to hold on to that each side will come to their senses. However, as I age and sports moves ever toward the side of business (if it ever wasn't 100% business) I begin to wonder if sports and sense even go together.

On that note a few briefer things that have saddened me recently in regards to sports. One is the St. Louis Blues. Yes, the team has been disappointing and I as well as many others expected a lot more out of this team. But, I am speaking to the fanbase that is so quick to turn their backs on people that if they were gunslingers, they would fit right in at the OK Corral. So many people have turned on Jaroslav Halak that it makes me wonder what those sort of people want in a goaltender. I write this, not as defense to Halak. He has not lived up to expectations in his short time with the Blues. That much is clear. Many fans, however are already wanting to ship him out of town. One customer at my work even made the asinine comment "yeah, maybe the Blues will win a few now that Halak is out." People need to realize that Halak is only 24. That is the same age as Ben Bishop, who has played the vast majority of his career in the minor leagues. People also need to realize what a difficult position it is. I have played inbetween the pipes in both hockey and soccer. It's a lot more difficult than the average person wants to believe to keep the opponents from scoring. Even the best, such as Patrick Roy or Glenn Hall or Marty Brodeur or Jaque Plante had bad streaks. Staying confident is the key. Whether I'm proven right or wrong, I personally believe what we saw of Halak in the playoffs last year is the true player. Until proven otherwise, I cannot believe someone who shut down both Pittsburgh and Washington and almost defeated Philadelphia (the three top offensive Eastern teams) is a fluke. He just needs to regain his confidence and continue to grow with this team. A team that consists of several defenseman that are in the same age bracket. The Blues cannot continue to swap goaltenders every few years.

Along the topic of St. Louis sports fans, another comment made by a different customer at my work just proved how big of a joke the idea that St. Louis sports fans are the greatest is. Now don't get me wrong. I love the city and will always associate myself with St. Louis and its teams. Outside of the Cardinals though, the Gateway city's teams have had on and off support at best. The comment that riled me up was "I hope the Rams do move away so maybe I can see some good games on Sunday." You don't want to support the Rams, that's your choice. But the NFL only has teams in 32 cities. Even the largest market west of the Mississippi doesn't have an NFL team. To me, that's a pretty big honor. To just throw it away because the team here hasn't been managed properly the last 8-10 years is like throwing the baby out with the bath water. For goodness sake people...support a team. Don't latch on to a winner and then cry about it when they're no good. Only one team wins the final game in every sport and the odds are against even the best.

Lastly, and I apologize for any rambling this post has taken on, but most importantly it saddens and sickens me the lack of perspective some people have. Earlier today, the NHL's facebook page posted a video of the Miracle on Ice game and asked for people's thoughts since it was 31 years ago today that the group of US college kids beat a Soviet team that had won four straight gold medals and not been defeated at all since 1968. The overriding thought is had any team defeated the Soviets, except perhaps Finland, it would have been almost as big a deal. It meant more to the United States at the time because we were not a hockey country except for small patches in the north and northeast. We were in an economic and political crisis. People began to question what it was to be American and then this ragtag team in a sport very few cared about, galvanized an entire nation. If we are to believe the stories, there were no USA chants during sporting events until that game against the Soviets. It was bigger than any one person involved and bigger than just a hockey game. Yet people, unfortunatly the majority were Canadian, had the audacity and gaul to put the game and the US down. Statements were made as dumb as "American vs. Canada rivalry. What rivalry we beat them every time he he," and ones talking about the US' economy today and another saying Ovechkin scoring 65 goals proves Russia is better and even one going on about how if Canada made a movie about every great game they played in, there would be a movie out every day. It honestly made my blood boil. I'm a patriot and a homer and a loyalist when it comes to my country and my sports teams, so I understand the idea of putting down a rival. But do it at the appropriate time. People today are so self-involved, so stupid, so jealous that it would not surprise me to find this sort of sickening dribble being posted even during something such as the death of a president. It makes me sad that people can't put down their differences for just a little while instead of wasting their time trying a dumb putdown that can so easily be crushed by someone with a brain on an online post that was meant to be a celebration of a gream moment in sports and in history.

Whew...I feel a tiny bit better.

Random Thoughts

- Congrats to the WWE on keeping the Rock's return a surprise. It was nice to not know what was coming for once. Too bad they pretty much screwed it all up with the 50th Undertaker return the Raw the following week.

- Why is it the Blues refuse to play for a full 60 minutes? Granted, their game has improved mightily since Oshie and McDonald returned and with the addition of Stewart and Shattenkirk, but there are still so many mistakes. 10 minutes. 10 minutes of poor play out of 60 cost the Blues a game against the Blackhawks. You just can't have that.

- Speaking of not playing consistantly, this year's Kansas basketball team has me fooled. They look like world beaters with talent and depth in one game and then in another it looks like nobody can shoot and they can be stopped by controlling one or two players. I believe they'll make a deep run, but given the lack of a dominant team or teams in college basketball this year it's going to be a stomach churning, nail biting tournament.

Well I figure that's enough rambling for this post. As always, remember it's just my opinion...but I'm right.