As I was sifting through the latest news, scores and highlights for the past week or so, trying to decide what mind-blowing analysis I would drop on the Bloglin faithful for my next post…I reached a stalemate.  The baseball post-season was wrapped up, I had taken care of the previews for the NBA and NHL and checked in with multiple college football updates so I wondered where to go next.  Then my good friend Joel sent me a message simply saying:

“DEREK JETER JUST WON A GOLD GLOVE (link).  FOR DEFENSE.  IN 2010.  THAT ACTUALLY HAPPENED.  Jeter now has more Gold Glove awards than every shortstop in the history of baseball save for Ozzie Smith, Omar Vizquel, Luis Aparicio, and Mark Bellanger.  I hate that asshole.  And it’s mostly because of assholes who still reward him for playing like he’s still the best player.  FUCK.  ANGER OVERLOAD.”

And then it hit me.  There are an ever-growing amount of stories swirling around the sporting world as of late that cause you to have a conversation like the one above (except substitute any player and topic in the place of “Derek Jeter” and “Gold Glove winner”) that end in outright rage.  As the conversation continued, along with my perusal of the world wide internet, like clockwork, I began stumbling across a barrage of articles that upon finishing warranted a “you’ve got to be fucking kidding me” response.  I’m only 26 years old; I can hardly sit back and pontificate about the “good ol’ days” when athletes were loyal to their team and city and tough as nails and not a bunch of arrogant, money-grubbing prima donnas.  Or that they played in leagues that were more laissez-faire than Communist regime and were still respected for some semblance of integrity by the general public.

So I’ve been filling with a sports rage for the past week, my outlook becoming more and more along the lines of Atrocitus (what’s up Caffeine Powered!) with each ridiculous story I’ve read.  The plague is not an isolated incident within one sports league either.  Look first at the NBA where Golden State Warrior guard, and often on the receiving end of a Billy Crystal technical spree, Stephen Jackson was fined $50,000 for talking shit on the officials after a heated game against the Pistons.  Seems like an average day for Stephen Jackson, until I went on to find out that the comments he was fined for were made to himself on the way to the locker room after the game and Jackson and Coach Larry Brown both maintain that the referees gathered the information BY READING JACKSON’S LIPS, then reported the infraction where the fine was handed down from the league shortly after.   This coming from the league that is going to have to put a lot of work into avoiding a lockout or contraction in the near future, as well as the black eye the league’s former most likeable player (LeBron) gave them in the off-season.

But that’s just the NBA, right? I mean they’ve been struggling to stay relevant since the departure of MJ.  Oh, what’s that?  The MLB wants in on the action?  Gold Glove awards came out? Derek Sanderson Jeter won a Gold Glove?  I’m going to get a little nerdy with the stats here, so if you are a sabermetrician, this is the stuff that your pants cream is made of.  According to the advanced defensive metric scales, Derek Jeter ended the season with a -4.7 UZR rating (Ultimate Zone Rating, or the number runs above or below average in both range runs and error runs combine and Jeter had one of the lowest in the AL), a 3.62 range factor per game (his lowest since his rookie year) and -12 DRS (defensive runs saved above average).  This puts him in the same company as players like Yuniesky Betancourt (widely regarded year in and year out as one of the worst shortstops in baseball), not exactly Gold Glove caliber company.  The naked eye makes you say things like, “Oh, Jeter made that great diving play, he’s an outstanding defensive short stop!”  False.  He had to dive for a routine ground ball because in his geriatric state, his lateral range has reduced to a radius of about two and a half feet on each side.  Let’s see what else….Brian Wilson’s cleats are TOO ORANGE so he has to color them in with a black Sharpie.  You can’t take steroids because it makes you better at baseball (still out for debate).  Boo-fucking-hoo, Bud Selig.

And of course the NFL has to get in on the action as well.  Obviously, there is a burgeoning amount of controversy hovering over the enforcement of helmet to helmet hits and protecting the “defenseless receiver” but at what point do they sacrifice the savage passion of the attack and compromise the nature of the game of football for the sake of a player who ends up “defenseless?”

In an abrupt turn around, less than four weeks after making the trade, Brad Childress and the Vikings decide they doesn’t need Randy Moss on the squad anymore and Minnesota outright releases the soft-spoken superstar and crushes hopes of salvaging their season (who was claimed by the Tennessee Titans).  This was after Moss refused to talk to the press after his last game and fined $25,000 for “failure to cooperate with the media.”  Straight cash, homie.

Pile this all on top of the fact that Zenyatta lost her undefeated record at the Breeder’s Cup and it was a week of me fuming about the disappointment and sad state of sports.  But in the end, this is all just a temporary rant. Sure, this stuff pisses me off now but there are also redeeming qualities as well that keep me hooked.

Ending on a positive note (that started as a note of rage) one of my favorite Kansas City Royals players of all time, the consummate under-appreciated working man, David DeJesus, was traded yesterday to the Oakland A’s for Vin Mazzaro and Justin Marks.  I was saddened by the news, while also upset that it seemed like we jumped the gun on a trade that maybe could have gotten more attention come spring when teams new DeJesus would be fully recovered from last year’s wrist injury but then I was directed to this tweet from DDJ’s ex-Royal teammate, Coco Crisp:

“Yeaha!!!! We (A’s) just got my boy David Dejesus from KC. We gotta have the best looking OF in the league lol… No homo.”

Thanks guys.  Now everyone else, shape up or ship out!