Of Myths, Legends, and Bullshit

As I'm finishing up Dan Brown's lastest tome ("The Lost Symbol") about symbology, legend, lore, etc., I couldn't help but think about just how much nonsense is going on in sports right now.

Viral video of Joe Mauer "stealing signs" is all over the web, TV, and radio shows right now. If Mauer was stealing signs and relaying them to his teammates, so what! Teams are always trying to steal opponents signs. Why do you think a catcher changes up the signs when an opposing runner is on 2nd base.

If indeed Mauer was stealing signs, it is not cheating. In an SNL Joe Bidensque way- let me say that again- Joe Mauer was not cheating. When the Giants admitted they had an employee up in the Polo Grounds scoreboard stealing signs during the 1951 baseball season that was indeed cheating.

Eric Wedge paid the price for the Cleveland Indians failures the last two seasons. But why hasn't anyone else, namely GM Mark Shapiro, been dealt a blow as well? Ownership didn't want to give big payouts to CC Sabathia, Cliff Lee, and Victor Martinez, so Shapiro was ordered to move them. What he got in return is quite questionable.

In return for the most recent castoff, Martinez, Shapiro got next to nothing (no matter what ESPN or Peter Gammons) may have insisted. The Indians came away with no top tier prospects. Justin Masterson is the only player with some real MLB experience and he is nothing special.

Shapiro did better on the Lee deal, getting upper echelon prosepcts Carlos Carrasco and Lou Marson from the Phils. As for the Sabathia deal, it remains to be seen if Matt LaPorta will pan out as a regular. When you deal top flight pitching, you had better get something good in return, so the jury is still out on both of these deals. The Indians look to be mediocre for quite some time.

ESPN's Sports Nation is renaming their show Favre Nation this Monday. OVERKILL.

It's only taken three games for USC product Mark Sanchez to prove he's a much better pro QB than fellow alum Matt Leinart.

The new show "Modern Family" on ABC is hilarious. NBC's much ballyhooed "Community" sucks.

Chicago lost out on the 2016 Olympics to Rio. While Chicagoans seem to be upset, imagine how upset they would be when the Olympics basically shut down their town and fecked up everything.

That's all for now sports fans.