Thinking out loud...

1. I watched a half hour of the Michael Vick "Town meeting" on the worldwide leader last night. Deadspin has a ton of pertinent links for those that missed it. I turned it off once it became obvious that it was nothing more than a race baiting screamfest, with those on both sides of the issue not bothering to consider the opposing viewpoint.

I felt badly for Bob Ley, the moderator, as there was no way he could keep a lid on the audience, as those in attendance were 99% pro Mike Vick. He was stuck in a no-win situation. The audience angry mob spent the majority of their time hooting in derision, and shouting down anyone saying Vick was anything other than a victim of "The Man." It was highly disturbing television, to say the very least.

I needed to take a shower afterwards, just to scrub all the closed minded ugliness off of me.

2. Ian does an excellent job today over at Bless You Boys, stepping into my shoes, posting a deconstruction of Rob Parker's latest piece of hackery, saving me the trouble. Parker's claims that Gary Sheffield may retire is full of pure speculation and innuendo, but no facts.

There's nothing new here, as Parker is just taking past quotes to come up with a scenario that fits his "Controversial" topic. This quote Parker uses from Sheffield says it all, "I really haven't thought about just walking away." Yet Parker picks up the ball, and runs with it all the way to "Sheff may retire!" Parker is a hack, period. He represents all that's wrong with the MSM.

3. Demonoid has been down for 2 days, and I'm going through severe withdrawal issues...

4. Michael Wilbon is afraid of blogs? Good, as he should be. Well, actually Wilbon has nothing to fear, as he's one of the best columnists around. But the MSM in general? They are quaking in their boots, for good reason. How many of you go to the blogosphere first for the vast majority of your sports pontificating? I know I do.

Should I care, as Wilbon does, that most blogs have no accountability? No, because I'm aware of that fact going in. I wouldn't expect anyone that reads TWFE to think that I answer to anyone, that I have any sort of inside connections, or that my opinions are anything other than that, just my opinions.

Of course the MSM has a different set of standards, and I'm glad they do. Report the facts, and only the facts, leave the bias at home. Blogs, on the other hand, are almost exclusively opinion, commentary, and totally biased, with a dash of satire, attitude, and cynicism thrown in. There's room for both, and if anything, blogs are making the MSM step up their game. And that's a damn good thing...

5. Golf's President's Cup starts tomorrow. I didn't even realize it, till I read about it in today's Detroit News. Now I enjoy golf as much as anyone, and find the Ryder Cup to be highly entertaining theater. But the President's Cup has a created for TV feel about it, trying to recreate the atmosphere of the Ryder Cup, without any of the history or emotion that comes along with it's spiritual father. Actually, you could say the same about the PGA's faux playoffs, the mostly ignored Fed Ex Cup. No one really cares, as the only thing that matters are the 4 majors, and the bi-annual Ryder Cup.

Plus, it's football season, and the MLB playoffs are just around the corner. The NHL is in camp, and just about to face off, and the NBA won't be far behind. No matter what sort of silly season stuff they create in the PGA Tour boardroom, golf just can't compare. honestly, I find what interest I do have in golf ends the moment a winner of the final major of the season, the PGA, is crowned. So Tiger, Phil, and the rest of the PGA tour? No offense, but I'll see you in April, when you tee off at Augusta.

6. The Bears have benched Rex Grossman, and Brian Griese is going to start against the Lions. With Griese under center, he'll be able to keep turnovers to a bare minimum. I think only chance the Lions had in beating the Bears rode on the inaccurate and inconsistent arm of Grossman. Without Rex giving the Lions a short field, and keeping the Lions defense off the field, the odds that the Lions can beat the Bears became long.

There's more to being sincere than just saying so

When it comes to Mike Vick's apology, I find it as sincere as when I say that I care who wins the WNBA title. In other words, not very sincere at all.

Vick is just taking the first baby steps in trying to get back into the NFL's good graces. That's all, nothing more. Honestly, I find it hard to believe anything that comes out of that loser's mouth. The apology is damage control, an attempt to spin the story even a little in his favor.

Vick lied to the Falcons, he lied to the NFL commissioner, he lied to the media, and he's lying now when he says he's "Sorry." If he had added, "Because I got caught," then I might have believed him.

Vick is degenerate gambler who showed no remorse in executing dogs, and associating with a criminal element. But it's all good, because he says he has changed for the better, thanks to finding Jesus? Give me a damn break. People who are truly good at heart don't get involved in the training, torturing and killing of fighting dogs, then bet on the results of dogfights.

Sociopaths, on the other hand...

Vick pulled out all the stops. He brought up forgiveness, kids, Jeebus, maturity, all the bullet points I'm sure his lawyers made sure he hit upon during the so-called "Apology." Saying you are sincerely sorry really doesn't mean a thing at this point, other than making for a nice Sportscenter sound bite.

You know when I might believe Vick is sincerely remorseful? In 10-15 years down the line. His post prison actions will tell us volumes more than the current cover your ass speechifying currently taking place.

Till that time, when we see actions to back up the words, it's nothing more than pure bullshit.

Have a low IQ? Lack common sense? Pro sports is the career for you!

Turns out that being involved in big time sports doesn't require much in the way of brainpower, IQ, or common sense.

I know this is Marcus Vick, but it's a hysterical pic, and considering the genius moves made by the Vick brothers, it's proof positive that the Vick gene pool is on the shallow side...

Look at that most prominent example of upstanding citizenship, Michael Vick. With the God awful decision making skills Vick has continually shown, combined with the fact that most anyone with even a below average IQ would know enough to NOT risk their long-term, multi-million dollar Atlanta Falcons and endorsement contracts by involving themselves in activities that are frowned upon by federal prosecutors, it begs a question.

How on earth did Vick manage to get into a school of higher learning? In his case, that august institute was Virginia Tech. They must be so proud. Vick comes off as if he'd have scholastic trouble at your local community college. He sure as Hell wouldn't pass Logic 101.

Oh yeah, he's an elite athlete. The education bar is lowered considerably.

Still, you'd think that someone around him would have enough synapses firing to bring up the fact that animal brutality is not an activity that a person with so much at stake should be involved. That in fact, if he had any modicum of sense, Vick should stay far, far, far away from such brutality. Even if much of his entourage felt otherwise.

Think Vick, think! Should I raise pit bulls to fight to the death, while killing off the weak ones, or keep my image and money intact? Killer dogs FTW!

That lack of sense tells me that his low rent entourage / posse / so-called friends aren't any brighter than Vick. If those "Friends" did have the normal amount of brainpower, they'd have keep their meal ticket's hands clean of dog blood.

You know, it's not all that hard to tell from right and wrong. Dog fighting is as wrong as it gets. So what if it happens all over, that it's part of a certain segment of society, that it's not enough to make you distance yourself from your "Friends."

Bullshit. Dog fighting is disgusting. Any sane person would agree.

Deep down, when you look inside yourself, you have to know that the barbaric act of training dogs to fight, then having them do so to the death, let alone betting on the result, is NOT A GOOD THING.

If you do think that this is a natural and acceptable activity, you're either dumb as a rock, or have no soul. I'm not sure which category Vick fits yet. Maybe both.

I know that Vick and his cronies are "Innocent till proven guilty" in a court of law. But where's there's smoke, there's fire. In this case, it's a raging inferno. The feds don't screw around. Vick is in deep with the federal prosecutor for a reason.

The general consensus is that for Vick, prison may be unavoidable. To be honest, that wouldn't exactly break my heart. If the feds would go for a deal, the smart thing for Vick to do would be to plea, ASAP, and hope to avoid serious prison time. But from what we’ve seen of Vick, being smart isn’t one of his strong points.

It’ll be a race to the prosecutor’s office between Vick’s dog fighting cronies to see who can flip on Vick first. Some friends, huh?

Then the other paragon of virtue in sports is disgraced NBA ref Tim Donaghy. Today, David Stern all but confirmed that Donaghy bet on, and fixed, NBA games. The college educated Donaghy, making well over 6 figures to referee NBA games, somehow got himself in so deep in gambling debt, that the mafia took notice, and took advantage.

When the mob first reached out to him, you'd think that Donaghy could have gone to the FBI then and there. Considering the odds great are that the FBI already knew anyway, considering wiretaps, it would have been the prudent thing to do. It sure as Hell would have been the smart thing to do.

But it bears repeating, you don't have to be a rocket scientist to make it in pro sports.

If Donaghy had done the smart thing, (Other than not gamble to begin with) he would have lost his NBA job, but probably avoided jail time. Losing your NBA job in disgrace is infinitely better than having to endure death threats from the mob, and spend several years in PMITA prison.

It's bad enough he's going to the joint. Donaghy has David Stern pissed! Now that's the true kiss of death...

It makes you wonder though, did Donaghy honestly think he could get away with point fixing? He had to know that as he kept betting, and got deeper in debt, that even if he did manage to win enough to get himself out of debt, the ending was not going to be pretty.

You either have to be an idiot, or self delusional, to think otherwise. I vote idiot.

Once he took that step in cooperating with the mob, that was the end. Much like the government, when you give the mob an inch, they are going to take a yard. Unlike the government, the mob will then take a mile.

Donaghy did the wrong thing, the stupid thing, and ended up fixing games for the mob. Thus ruining his career, his reputation, his entire life. and took NBA down down in the muck with him. Just because he liked to gamble. Because he was too dumb to stop.

You know, I love to gamble. Las Vegas is one of my favorite places in the entire world. I could sit at a blackjack table for hours on end. In my mind, a sports book is a wonderful place to hang out. I'll never deny that betting is fun!

But being on disability, I no longer have that kind of discretionary income. I can't afford the risk. So guess what?

I DON'T GAMBLE ANYMORE.

Donaghy knew he wasn't supposed to gamble. He had so much at risk, more than most people, and yet he gambled anyway. He ended up losing much more than his shirt.

Just like Vick, deep, deep down inside, Donaghy had to know that what he was doing was extremely wrong. Bad wrong. Fuck up your life royally wrong. Stupid wrong.

Thing is, we all know right from wrong.

That's why I don't feel sorry for Donaghy, same for Vick. It's impossible to feel sorry for such stupid people.