Whatever Happened To....

Time to try a new segment. It is called "Whatever Happened To...?"


- The Nats spending money? Thomas Boswell has it right in his column today. Ted Lerner is dropping the ball as an owner. We missed out on Mark Buehrle, CJ Wilson, Yu Darvish, and pretty much any other FA we targeted before the Winter Meetings. It isn't that we just got outbid. That could be understandable. It is that we didn't even offer fair value. We didn't post for Darvish. We low-balled Buehrle. We aren't trying to get young Cuban outfielders. The Marlins passed us in terms of talent now. We are back to 4th. This isn't good.

- The importance of breaking records in the NFL? I know Aaron Rodgers is having an amazing year, and is the leader of the best team. However, Drew Brees is on pace not just to beat Dan Marino's 1984 passing yardage record- he could shatter it. That should count for something! He should be mentioned more in the MVP discussion, and not just as the guy who should be second.

- Journalistic integrity? ESPN has made a bunch of questionable calls recently, most notably sitting on the Bobby Davis tape for 8 years and not reporting it or investigating it further. The SU administration did. The Syracuse police did. Had this tape been turned into them, they could have had enough to expose Bernie Fine years ago. And yet they didn't, instead waiting to report it when it was most advantageous to their programming. It is far too suspicious that they waited to do their Outside the Lines report for 8 years, only to suddenly air it two weeks after the Penn State Scandal ruled the headlines (a story, you will remember, that ESPN did NOT break). Ethics seem to matter less than website hits and TV ratings.

- The Capitals being a regular season powerhouse? I miss that. That Cup just looks further and further away...

- Big League Chew bubblegum? I haven't had that in over a decade.

- Being able to criticize Uber-Christians for their beliefs if they are blatantly bigoted? But JFLAN, you say, that isn't sports-related! Sure it is. I have two words for you- Tim Tebow. There is a great Grantland article discussing how Tebow has made his own bed with his beliefs and his affiliations with certain anti-gay anti-choice groups, and how it is fair to then criticize him. Read it here. I also don't think that winning a few games against bad defenses and injured offenses should cause everyone to go so crazy about him, especially when Matt Prater is bailing his holy ass out most games. Just listen to SNL.

- Touchdown dances? I know the NFL tried to crack down on those, but I haven't seen a creative one in a while.

That's it for tonight. Think it went well?