A Boy Named Suh

The NFL has a credibility problem. Again. They promote the most violent multiplayer game in the land, yet continually change the rules to protect players, and pretend that their business has a smattering of integrity.

Ndamukong Suh's very NFL existence is a contradiction. He brings elite defensive skill and a contrary behavioral conduct track record, a rap sheet of unmitigated unsportsmanlike. Off the field, he looks like a professor. On it, he resembles Dr. Frankenstein's monster.

In his most recent "fine" play, he tramples upon Green Bay MVP candidate Aaron Rodgers, gets suspended and fined (his career fine totals finance a small country), and then gets it overturned on appeal. Why?

Was his play less irresponsible because he was going into the playoffs? Was the reality that the Lions make the playoffs about as often as the Hunger Games Quarter Quell a factor? Does Suh have compromising pictures of NFL leadership?

The NFL always seems to outdo itself in seeking the lowest common denominator. It's not about competition, winning, sacrifice, or honor. As always, it's about the money.

Wasted Youth

"A wasted youth is better by far than a wise and productive old age." - Meatloaf 

What the world needs is another sports blog. Right. As much as sports reflects life, it simply doesn't. 

We celebrate the Tom Bradys of the world as though they have no talent (199th NFL draft choice in 2000), when he was a Division I star at then mighty Michigan and a professional baseball prospect. If anyone had talent, it was Brady. But celebrity didn't anoint Brady, he found it at the intersection of mental toughness and a work ethic that produced championships. The process produced the superstar, the supermodel wife, the tens of millions, and barrels of ink. 

Fast forward to 2014 and the sad case of the Cleveland Browns, chronicled by Peter King at Monday Morning Quarterback. Add to the strange case of Josh Gordon the pathos demonstrated by Johnny Manziel and Justin Gilbert. "The work ethic of first-round picks should never be questioned."

Of course it isn't too late for Manziel and Gilbert to turn their careers around, but will they? 

As a mediocre but not average end-of-the-roster pitcher at Harvard, I found myself in a locker room across a partition from the Boston Bruins. One anonymous voice to another asks, "what's the definition of a successful road trip?" Another voice replies, "when you get laid four times." So when I hear that the Bruins had a 'successful' road trip, I ask, "did they win any games?" 

The message may just be the sanctimonious BS of a wannabe pushing sixty. All the tape measures, stop watches, and videotape in the world don't define sports destiny. Decisions determine destiny. There are work and determination and opportunity and luck. An errant fastball or a vulnerable ACL can fell the most gifted athlete. 

Pasteur's reminder that "chance favors the prepared mind" might translate into greatness for a young athlete. But you would think that the brightest minds in sports would be able to spot the dimmest.