AJC > Sports > Columnists > Archives > 2007 > January > 30 > Entry
DEL.ICIO.USLowering our standards
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Jeff Schultz
THE TUESDAY COUNTDOWN…
10: The last time a horse’s death moved me was in “The Godfather”. So unless you can somehow tie Barbaro into the Corleone family - sorry, this is the most overblown sports story of the decade.
9: I like Lovie Smith, the Bears, their defense, their toughness, their story. But I can’t get past that Indianapolis is the team that bounced Bill Belichick and Tom Brady from the playoffs. And Peyton Manning vs. Rex Grossman?
8: Then again, it is the year of the Gator, isn’t it? Manning was 0-3 against Florida (Grossman’s alma mater).
7: Greg Knapp apparently was so worn down after his firing from the Falcons that he decided to leave football. He has taken a job with the Raiders.
6: Cam Cameron to Miami. Lane Kiffin to Oakland. Norv Turner potentially to Dallas. Has there ever been a weaker crop of coaches in NFL history?
5: Sat with NHL commissioner Gary Bettman the other day. Asked him about the ratings for the NHL All-Star Game being 76 percent lower this year on Versus (474,298 households) than three years ago on ABC (1,985,000). He said Versus officials were “thrilled.” Well, yeah, but what would the cable network have had on otherwise? Cycling? Camp cooking? A horse funeral?
4: I see AJC.com has posted a behind-the-scenes look at our swimsuit pictorial. I’m not sure at what point in time women’s bathing suits became a news story. But Sports Illustrated has made a lot of money selling its soul once a year and every sports website now has soft porn links. So I guess we’ve fallen in line. Personally, I’m repulsed by the whole thing, at least until such time that they need a writer for the photo shoot.
3: Everybody’s jumped ship. One of the judges at the Miss America pageant Monday night: Chris Matthews of MSNBC’s “Hardball.” Coming next: swimsuit competition at the Pulitzers.
2: It took nearly two months for Barry Bonds and the Giants to agree to contract language that effectively banned his personal trainers from the clubhouse and protected the team in certain court matters. Seems like a long time to work something out with such an innocent man, don’t you think?
1: Colts 27, Bears 16.
Permalink | Comments (22) | Post your comment | Categories: Jeff Schultz, Quick Hit
Comments
By ICEMAN
January 30, 2007 11:55 AM | Link to this
They should have euthanized Barbaro at the moment of his injury like they do every other horse. Unfortunately, because of fame and special treatment, he had to endure months of excrutiating(I guess that’s how you spell it)pain.
By Olde Guye
January 30, 2007 12:17 PM | Link to this
The fact the Giants will still do business with Bonds says a lot about the innocence of major league baseball as a whole.
By ChampDawg
January 30, 2007 12:21 PM | Link to this
Babies are killed (aborted) everyday in this country and it is perfectly fine and acceptable to do so…. yet, we morn the death of horses and pandas, etc. Millions enter our country illegally, pay no taxes and have no respect for our language and laws…. yet, our own citizens can’t come back into their own country without a passport. What a absolutely f*ed up country and society we have!
By Magneto
January 30, 2007 12:30 PM | Link to this
Tiger Woods is the greatest golfer ever!!
By T
January 30, 2007 12:57 PM | Link to this
nice post ChampDawg, not! You know you can always get the h*ll out of the country if you don’t like it? And don’t take your passport please.
Also AJC, do you think it’s time to take down the video of Barbaro’s first walk without a cast on your front web page? C’mon people, let’s pay a little attention to detail!
By @@
January 30, 2007 01:11 PM | Link to this
Excruciating. And frankly, we should can babies and export them to China to even out the trade deficit.
Baby up!
Lighten up…
By Boots
January 30, 2007 01:16 PM | Link to this
SUre would like to see Manning win this one. It is interesting to compare Vick and Grossman —- particularly, since Grossman has been disrepected so much.
By Boots
January 30, 2007 01:22 PM | Link to this
Sports Blogg Guy: Thanks for letting me back on. I promise to behave!
By INcredibility
January 30, 2007 01:27 PM | Link to this
Jeff - seriously? I am no tree-hugging animal lover, but still. The best thing you can come up with to say is that you wished Barbaro was related to Don Corleone??
By ChampDawg
January 30, 2007 01:33 PM | Link to this
Hey T— You idiot… I love this country so shut up your pie-hole. I was saying was that our society has a lot of screwed up priorities these days. Where else except the good ‘ol USA and our f*ed up culture could the media and public make millionaires out of such washed up, no-talent weirdos as Paris Hilton, Rosie ODonnell, Paula Abdul, Hulk Hogan, and the list just goes on and on. Why should the death of a horse be worthy of such media and public attention? We are a bunch of crazy people.
By Braves20
January 30, 2007 01:36 PM | Link to this
re: item 6 - you missed tomlin to pittsburgh. a first year defensive coordinator - is this is the best the steelers could come up with?
By Najeh Davenpoop
January 30, 2007 05:25 PM | Link to this
Ah, yeah, we slaughter and eat cows and chickens on a daily basis, but when horses break their legs and dogs are microwaved we scream in outrage. I’m not some kind of hippie animal rights activist, but I just look at that logically and wonder how exactly people draw the line. Logic tells me either you eat anything that moves, or you go completely vegetarian. I don’t see why they shouldn’t ship Barbaro to Darfur and let the refugees have a good meal for a change.
Out of left field prediction: Bears 30, Colts 24. Devin Hester MVP.
And I see a lot of sub-30 QB ratings in Andrew Walter’s and Aaron Brooks’ futures.
By ChampDawg
January 30, 2007 05:45 PM | Link to this
najeh— logic huh! god, you are a moron. logic tells me that some folks prefer “tasteful” meats and others prefer no meats at all, i.e. veggietarians. go back to sleep or go take another puff of whatever you’re on!
By tokyobrave
January 30, 2007 05:49 PM | Link to this
Well said Jeff. I said months ago that the Barbaro thing is just weird. Sad, sure, but worthy of news flash and on-going commentary? For MONTHS and MONTHS? No way. And what is it with horses anyway? Such wimpy animals. Everytime you talk to a horse owner, they have a huge list of things that go wrong with them. A couple other things: What’s Versus and do they still play Hockey? Finally: I get it: Lovie and Tony are Black. Congratulations, lets move on to how good they are as coaches and men of the community…..
By De-Cider
January 30, 2007 06:42 PM | Link to this
It is absolutely amazing to me how someone can read a blog and interject their own personal beliefs into it. Fortuantely, ChumpDawg abortions are still legal in this country but guess what, you don’t have to have one if you don’t want to. Personally, I don’t want to see this country go back to a time when they were performed in a back room. It is a woman’t right to choose. Get over it.
By Covington,Ga
January 30, 2007 07:02 PM | Link to this
WHO cares what Jeff Schultz has to say…you lost all your repsect when you jump the gun on vick…i refuse to buy another ajc newspaper until your out of atlanta
By Poor ole Bob
January 30, 2007 11:08 PM | Link to this
Yammering by morons. God help us, the blog spells the beginning of the end of standards, reason, sanity and most implotrantly, speleng.
By Najeh Davenpoop
January 31, 2007 01:28 AM | Link to this
My post wasn’t about what animals taste good and what animals taste bad. Even if horse meat was tasty, people would still be mourning over Barbaro while eating their steaks and chicken wings for dinner. As far as I’m concerned, Barbaro is no different than any other animal, including cows, chickens, dogs, whatever. And like any other animal, I don’t see why some humans shouldn’t get to eat him now that he’s dead. Ship his body to Darfur and get some protein in the diet of some poor Africans. I’m sure the refugees in Darfur would prefer some nice, juicy Barbaro meat over the crumbs they are eating right now, regardless of how it tastes, ChampDawg.
By Gene
January 31, 2007 09:09 AM | Link to this
People keep bashing Manning for Tennessee’s inability to beat Florida. Who was successful against Florida during that time?
By Gold'nWhite
January 31, 2007 09:11 AM | Link to this
What ChampDawg was saying is that it is incomprehensible to some of us that in our sad society many people are more concerned with the pain a horse (or other animals, Najeh) endures than with that of the 4000 or so unborn children that are sacrificed every day in our country for the sake of sexual freedom. I rarely commiserate with a dawg fan, but couldn’t agree more on this issue. God have mercy on us. PS. Colts 31 - 17
By Gene
January 31, 2007 09:16 AM | Link to this
Our priorities are somewhat off when we pay more attention to a horse than to 25 or 30 young Americans being blown to pieces each week and another 100 or so maimed. The horse was a great story and worthy of sympathy, but as a country, we need to focus on taking care of our people, and in particular, our disabled veterans.
By Buddy El
January 31, 2007 11:36 AM | Link to this
I got my teenage children to give up eating steaks. They were costing me a fortune until I decided to feed and raise my own pretty little calf into a delicious 600 pond heifer named “Hamburger” by my steak loving kids. When we had “Hamburger” processed for the freezer my wife and three teenagers gave up steak because they couldn’t bear to eat what had become the family pet. It was like getting a nice promtion and raise as a result of their actions.