5 Athletes you have the Completely Wrong Opinion about

We’re well into the age of Twitter and sensationalized media and it’s caused people to have absolutely horribly misinformed opinions about everything. It’s frustrating for myself because I end up having arguments with impassioned sports fans that just read a headline or a 160 character Tweet and have developed an extreme opinion. Here are five professional athletes who most sports fans have wrongly formulated opinions about.

1. Tim Tebow is a great quarterback – I never wanted to write anything about Tim Tebow because people are just totally insane about this guy. I recently watched Skip Bayless (who I’m pretty sure ESPN just pays to say inane things) say that he would rather have Tim Tebow for 1 game than reigning NFL MVP and former Super Bowl Champion Aaron Rodgers. This is just example of the total craziness that is surrounding this guy.

Apparently nobody actually watched the games Tim Tebow started this year and I’m pretty sure they didn’t considering Denver isn’t a major media market. What I saw was at times, the worst quarterback play I’ve ever seen. He didn’t complete half the passes he threw this year. That’s not just bad, it’s completely atrocious. Of the 13 games he started his team failed to score over 20 points 9 times while having one of the better running games in the NFL.

He had a 72.9 QB Rating, threw for 1,729 yards and for 12 touchdowns. Outside of the ridiculous luck he had towards the end of football games, he wasn’t even average. There’s a reason John Elway didn’t want this guy to be his quarterback and I’m pretty sure John Elway knows more about football than Skip Bayless.

I'm sorry Tim, Jesus' plan for you is not to be a great quarterback.

I know the Tebow crazies, and that’s what they are crazy, will say, “But he just wins football games!” They will point to his college success and will point to him throwing for 316 yards against the Steelers in the playoffs. He still didn’t complete 50% of his passes in that game and most people would agree if they played that game 5 times, the Steelers probably win 4 of them. He threw a slant for 80 yards and a hit a couple of big plays but didn’t do anything impressive as a quarterback. Yes, he was great in college but that means absolutely nothing in the NFL.

The biggest problem Tebow has right now is he can’t throw a football and he can’t read defenses. This all a quarterback does! The fact that he had to have a college offense installed for him is testament to the fact that he can’t play quarterback in this league. I understand that no matter how rational this argument is Tebow supporters will call me a hater and say he’s the “clutchest” human being on the planet. Until he leads two fourth quarter Super Bowl come backs and sets the NFL record for 4th quarter comebacks in a season, I’m sorry, that title belongs to Eli Manning.

2. Alex Rodriguez isn’t clutch – This is one of the most misinformed media stories in all of sports. A-Rod struggled in a couple of postseasons so he’s a choker. It’s just absolutely ridiculous because it’s a narrative that’s just completely untrue. I don’t know if anyone remembers 2009 (it was so long ago) but A-Rod absolutely demolished the baseball while leading the Yankees to a World Series Championship. He hit a bomb against Joe Nathan for the Twins to put the Yankees ahead in the Divisional Series, hit another clutch home run against the Angels closer Brian Feuentes, and had a huge double off Brad Lidge in the World Series. All these hits directly led the Yankee’s winning huge playoff games. To say this guy folds under pressure is just one of most ridiculous arguments you can make. In his career he’s had 9 walk-off hits, 8 of them were home runs.

A-Rod's as healthy as a horse in the clutch.

This is a totally media driven narrative. Look at his career numbers with runners in scoring position
- 297 AVG - .399 OBP - .537 SLG - .936 OPS. – This is not a guy who’s ever struggled to drive in runs. This can also be evidenced by the fact that he’s routinely had over 100 RBIs just about every year of his career. He also has the most grand slams in baseball history and is probably the best bases loaded hitter of all time period.

So again, how is a guy who led his team to a World Series with clutch hit after clutch hit, has numerous walk off hits, and is the best bases loaded hitter of all time, not clutch? People generally dislike A-Rod so his failures are more emphasized than his successes. How else could anyone ever call a guy with this resume not clutch?

3. Carmelo Anthony is a bad teammate – Despite Carmelo Anthony being a starter for Team USA and never having problems with any of his teammates, the media has written this narrative that Carmelo Anthony is a bad teammate. Yes, he shoots a lot but he’s also a supremely talented offensive player. Remember the same narrative happened surrounding Kobe Bryant and now it’s happening surrounding Carmelo Anthony. It has never stopped anyone from wanting to be his teammate and I doubt Team USA would want a guy who can’t get along with his teammates to compete for a gold medal.

The story we have currently regarding Carmelo Anthony is that he for some reason hates Jeremy Lin. It was widely reported that Anthony was an initial Lin supporter and encouraged D’Antoni to play Lin in the first place, but that story is widely ignored. The current story is that Carmelo Anthony said that the offer the Rockets made for Jeremy Lin is “ridiculous.”

This of course because of Twitter’s character limits and the need to grab headlines. After saying that he would love to have Jeremy Lin back he said, "It's up to the organization to say they want to match that ridiculous contract that's out there,'' This of course, was in reference to the fact that it goes from 5 million to 14.8 million in the final year, however this apparently meant that Anthony hates Jeremy Lin. Just look at the reaction on Twitter.

Now let’s look at the ESPN interview with Anthony and Tyson Chandler after the same game. (Video for the “ridiculous” quote can’t be found) Anthony pretty much says it’s not in his control and that’s what free agency means. Tyson Chandler after the same game called Lin’s contract “surprising.” Can’t interpret Chandlers comments in same way Carmelo’s comments were received say that, “Tyson Chandler is “surprised” Jeremy Lin received such an offer so he clearly doesn’t respect him.” This whole ridiculous thing with Carmelo Anthony is just that, ridiculous.

When you’re in the business of taking quotes out of context this kind of stuff happens. Anthony has done nothing but be supportive of his teammates his entire career and of Jeremy Lin, yet public perception is that he clearly hates him and is a bad teammate.

I’ve watched a ton of Carmelo Anthony’s career, from his college career at Syracuse, through his days in Denver, and now with the Knicks. He’s not the most intelligent or articulate guy, which is well known. Despite this though, he’s never been an outcast or a guy who doesn’t get along with his teammates. He’s never been on a losing team in his entire career and won a National Championship in college when he was 18. These stories are complete media hubris and it’s sad how many people who don’t watch the games fall for it.

4. Lebron James is a bad person for “The Decision” – Yes, it wasn’t the best “decision” to make in the world but Lebron James in no way deserved the criticism he took from deciding to play in Miami. I’ve never seen this country united behind something so uniformly like they’ve been against James, probably since 9/11. It’s been that bad. You would’ve thought he personally took a dump on the doorstep of every person living in Cleveland.

The problem with this perspective that Lebron James is the devil is that by all accounts he’s an extremely likable guy. Hell, I always liked Lebron and I had no reason to cheer for him at all outside of his tremendous talent. We’re really going to blame a guy in his mid-20s for wanting to go live in Miami instead of Cleveland? New Yorkers seem to think Lebron too stabbed them in the back, even though I have no idea who thinks playing for James Dolan is a good idea.

Too often we blame players for things and forget that they have agents and people who manage their careers. I highly doubt Lebron said to his friends, “Hey guys, let’s throw a huge party on national television and shit all over Cleveland’s hopes and dreams.” This was a problem with Lebron’s management for letting this kind of thing go on and telling him this wasn’t going to create a huge backlash. Yeah, Lebron could’ve had better foresight but he’s probably had someone managing his career since he was 14 years old.

The worst part about this situation is that Lebron clearly feels terrible about it. Early last year the criticism clearly affected him on the court and he just didn’t look like the same fun loving basketball player we saw in Cleveland. He’s even tried to show up to Ohio State games and has publicly said how much love he has for the Cleveland and Akron area. I know some people will never forgive him but coming from a cold town with nothing to do as well, I understand Lebron leaving.

Sports do something to people and make them take situations like this too personally. My mom even is disgusted with Lebron saying, “I could never cheer for him or forgive him for what he’s done,” but she seems to have no problem with me leaving my hometown and moving to New York City. Sports fans are just that, fanatics, and our perception of Lebron James proves this more than anything. You don’t know Lebron James, so try to empathize with him a little bit before you assert he’s an awful human being.

5. Dwight Howard has held the Orlando Magic hostage – Now this one is definitely subject to some controversy because much like Lebron, we’ve declared Dwight Howard as a malignant being. Again, much like Lebron this whole situation with Howard comes straight down to the people managing him. Who in the world let Dwight Howard sign that option to keep him in Orlando another year?

All Dwight Howard is guilty of is not wanting to play for the Magic organization anymore and being wishy-washy with this decision. It wasn’t an easy decision, he clearly likes Orlando, the weather is nice, the taxes are low, and this is the organization that drafted him. Howard’s problem is probably that he is too nice of a guy and didn’t stomp on everyone’s throats saying he wanted to leave like Carmelo Anthony did. He kind of backed off this decision and tried to be a good teammate and it has only brought him negative press.

Who can blame him for wanting to leave this organization though? Yes, they made the NBA Finals and lost to the Lakers one year but they were never going to beat that Lakers team. In my opinion, they were extremely fortunate to beat Cleveland that year. The best player he’s ever had on his team alongside him is debatably Hedo Turkalou, that one year that Hedo suddenly became awesome. This is a franchise that traded for Gilbert Arenas only to amnesty his stupidly huge contract and traded Brandon Bass for Glen “Big Baby” Davis. Why should Howard want to stay with this organization that just made stupid move after stupid move while building around the best center in basketball?

I know who's really to blame Dwight, don't worry.

I really think it’s more like the Orlando Magic held Dwight Howard hostage. They put themselves in this situation and to say anything less is simply ridiculous. You think if they could’ve brought in better players than Jameer Nelson, Jason Richardson, and Rashard Lewis he would’ve wanted to leave? I don’t think so. Now the Magic are clearly a team that would have to rebuild around Howard, again. Do you really think the best center in the NBA wants to be part of another rebuilding effort?

I understand Howard hasn’t made the best decisions throughout this whole process but he is absolutely not holding this franchise hostage. The Magic have the best center in basketball and have had a year to trade him and haven’t sealed the deal. I get that they wanted to keep him but that ship probably passed the minute they traded for Gilbert Arenas. How hard is it to trade the best center in basketball, obtain some assets, and move on? The Orlando Magic are the ones who’ve dropped and are still dropping the ball here no matter how much the media wants to blame Dwight Howard.

*Pictures provided via Google Images.

We Must Trash A-Rod to Sell Sports News!

It’s a slow time for writing stories about sports. Baseball is the only sport going on, football hasn’t started yet, and there’s not much you can say about the NBA when it’s likely there’s not going to be a season. There’s not exactly a lot to draw the casual fans interest so in come these respective articles from ESPN New York writers Wallace Matthews and Ian O’Connor regarding Alex Rodriguez allegedly attending a celebrity “illegal” underground poker game. Clearly the thing to do that requires the most journalistic integrity in this situation is to cut this story from Star Magazine and then use anonymous sources to bash Alex Rodriguez. Brilliant, let’s look at these articles that I would say border on slander.

The story was initially published by Wallace Matthews who apparently has a personal vendetta against A-Rod and a deep hatred for the Yankees despite covering the team for ESPN New York. (Seriously, go through his archive then the stuff Fire Joe Morgan made fun of him for. It’s ridiculous he’s still in this business) He was one of the brilliant media types who were leading the charge saying the Yankees were better off without A-Rod despite his multiple MVP efforts.

So the title of Matthew’s article is “A-Rod Ban for Poker?” as to suggest that A-Rod is actually facing some kind of ban from baseball like Pete Rose. In reality, it would probably be a small suspension if these allegations from nameless people from a trashy tabloid are true. I mean let’s look at the evidence Matthews provides.

The allegations, first reported by Star Magazine, are that the New York Yankees third baseman played in at least two of the games, one of which took place at a record executive's Beverly Hills mansion, where "cocaine was openly used" and a fight nearly broke out when one of the players refused to pay after losing "more than a half-million dollars."

According to the story, details of which were reportedly provided by another player at the games, Rodriguez "tried to distance himself from the game," once the violence broke out.

So this is the top story on ESPN right now and to summarize it for you it’s basically MLB investigating whether A-Rod was at this poker game and the only evidence they have is hearsay about him being there. This “other player” or “whistleblower” as he’s called later in the article is really the only source given of this information. It’s also not even mentioned that this probably happened a few years ago as all the stories I’ve read regarding these poker games all point back to 2007-2008 but those are also from trashy tabloids. Alright, that’s the story so the responsible thing to do at this point would be to bring up a bunch of unrelated incidents to convince you A-Rod is an awful human being.

MLB is also concerned that Rodriguez's name will resurface in the ongoing federal investigation of Dr. Anthony Galea, the Toronto physician charged with smuggling human growth hormone and other illegal substances into the United States. Galea has treated numerous professional athletes, including Rodriguez and Tiger Woods.

Another story completely based on hearsay regarding A-Rod? Perfect. He wasn’t charged, his name wasn’t brought up, and he wasn’t convicted of anything but you’re right this is pretty relevant. How else can we slander his name Mr. Matthews?

"It's like there's something new with (Rodriguez) every day and it's impossible to keep up with it," a baseball insider said.

What exactly is a baseball insider? Does he work for MLB, an MLB team, or maybe cover baseball? If we were even slightly less vague with this would it really compromise this person’s identity? This is garbage journalism.

According to the baseball executive, MLB has yet to positively determine that Rodriguez took part in the games, which reportedly included actors Tobey Maguire, Leonardo DiCaprio, Ben Affleck and Matt Damon. The man did not know if baseball's investigators had yet spoken to Rodriguez about the allegations, but he confirmed MLB has at least two investigators working on the case

The “baseball executive” doesn’t know that A-Rod was there and has yet to speak to him about it. MLB has someone working on it though! God A-Rod you’re just so lame with your celebrity high stakes poker games. Nobody wants to do shit like that. I hate you! I wish there was more stuff we could bring up unrelated to this situation that could make me hate you more!

Recently, it was revealed that Rodriguez still employs his cousin, Yuri Sucart, after fingering him as the "mule" who transported his performance-enhancing drugs in 2003 after his steroid usage was revealed in a 2009 Sports Illustrated story, despite being told by the Yankees that Sucart would no longer be allowed in the clubhouse and encouraged to keep his distance from him.

Nice, this is exactly what this article needed, another hearsay story about A-Rod doing nothing illegal just seeing his cousin at a hotel while the Yankees were in town. Seriously, it’s not possible A-Rod would see his cousin without being injected with all kinds of steroids or doing something else equally as sinister.

"You get the feeling that Alex says what he thinks he needs to say to get by, and then goes out and does what he wants," the MLB executive said.

Even though we don’t know when this happened? Even though all the stories we just brought up are hearsay and involve him doing nothing illegal? How dare someone do what they want to do? What a selfish piece of shit. Fantastic piece though Wallace Matthews, you’ve managed to write an article based on anonymous sources and connect it to a bunch of other unrelated stories. How do you write for ESPN? How do you call yourself a journalist? Do we really believe there’s not a systematic effort to sell stories on Alex Rodriguez when a story lacking merit like this one is a top story?

A few hours later fellow ESPN New York writer Ian O’Connor published a piece that is right next to Matthews on the top of ESPN headlines asking whether A-Rod is worth the headache. I can assure you this piece is about of the same quality of Wallace Matthews. Let’s plow through this piece of shit.

"This is classic Alex Rodriguez," one high-ranking baseball official said Wednesday night.

Apparently NOBODY wants to give their name to these journalists. They only work for ESPN.

"In a lot of ways Alex is no different than Lindsay Lohan and Britney Spears. He's a thrill seeker, and he does everything he can to be overt. He's a classic example of where we are in society, the age of celebrity, where everyone loves triumphs and tragedies."

No No No. A-Rod is talented. He’s one of the best baseball players ever. Just because we report everything he does like those people doesn’t actually make him similar to those people. If an actual MLB executive thinks that A-Rod is like Lindsay Lohan, maybe he shouldn’t work for MLB.

"It's always something with Alex," said a second baseball official. "The amount of energy everyone has to devote to him is unbelievable.”

The amount of energy you guys spend trying to convince us all A-Rod is the anti-christ is what’s really unbelievable. He is a legendary baseball player, bangs hot celebrities, and attends poker games with Matt Damon. I’m sure nobody would do the same thing is his shoes. God, what a horrible human being. Also, all the cheap shots at A-Rod are from anonymous officials and insiders, as always.

Following his steroid admissions and his hip surgery in the spring of '09, Rodriguez was ambushed in a Tampa diner by longtime friend Gui Socarras and Yanks PR man Jason Zillo. They shouted at A-Rod over breakfast, told him he had to change his self-absorbed ways.

On the eve of the World Series, Rodriguez credited that intervention for sending his inner diva to the bench. "They showed me tough love," A-Rod said, "and I thought from that breakfast on I've stayed with the plan and it's been a good plan."

But in A-Rod's world, good plans can only be followed for so long. No, a poker game among ultra-famous friends doesn't amount to the crime of the century, not when poker tournaments are all the televised rage.

Okay, we’re actually reporting this story as if A-Rod JUST did this although ESPN never reported when this took place. All other sources say it took place years ago and that would make it in fact before everything you just said happened. Talk about spinning a story to make it more relevant. Also, poker tournaments are not “all the televised rage” and really never were. Where do they get these guys?

For the sake of my sanity I can’t quote anymore from these articles as I’ve rambled on long enough. I mean, is this journalism? We have two completely negative pieces written about A-Rod without one legitimate source. They all reference other incidents also without sources to basically prove that A-Rod is some kind of villain. It’s just terrible the things they will write and say to get people to visit their website and watch their network. There’s not a shred of integrity in either of these articles and it’s disgraceful. That’s all I can say. This is a total disgrace.

A-Rod and Lebron are nothing alike

I’m listening to Colin Cowherd yesterday and during his rant of how Lebron disappeared in the Finals he stated that, “the only player I can even think of that compares to this is Alex Rodriguez.” I was confused by this statement but not terribly offended because Cowherd says baseless and stupid things just about daily. It’s kind of his job. Then I started to hear this comparison thrown around elsewhere in the media and by some of my friends, so I decided to write about it. Listen, Alex Rodriguez isn’t anything like Lebron James.

A-Rod struggled in the ALDS in 2006 and the media made a big deal out of it so of course, he’s the only guy we can compare to Lebron. This is an absolutely ridiculous argument. The most valuable player on a baseball team isn’t nearly as important as the most valuable player on a basketball team. That’s just how it is. Baseball is a series of individual match ups at the plate and A-Rod could have hit 400. in that series and the Yankees still would’ve lost because just about EVERYONE on the Yankees struggled in that series. A-Rod was the scapegoat of the series but “Captain Clutch” was even worse and he failed in every big situation.

I never bought this argument that A-Rod isn’t a clutch player because he’s one of the more clutch players in baseball. He hits very well with runners in scoring position, has several walk off hits in his career, and is probably the best bases loaded hitter of all time. Also, remember that time had one of the best post-season performances in baseball history in 2009 that carried the Yankees to a World Series title? Where’s the argument here?

It’s a fallacy to begin with saying A-Rod isn’t clutch and it’s even more ridiculous to suggest that what Lebron went through in the NBA Finals is even remotely the same. Lebron looked like he was going to poop his pants in the 4^th quarters during the Finals and A-Rod had big hits and crushed the baseball in the 2009 World Series. Lebron averaged 18 points a game in the Finals after averaging almost 28 during the season. Compare him to the other players who’ve choked in the NBA Finals before you compare him to one of the best baseball players ever who has absolutely no problem hitting in the clutch.

Just because both these players have been over scrutinized by the media doesn’t make them remotely the same. The scrutiny of A-Rod was unfair when it was happening and continues to be unfair if people actually think this guy isn’t clutch. Lebron wasn’t the same player in the Finals and A-Rod put the World Series away with his clutch hitting, again, what’s the comparison here? Really, if you know tell me.