The Big Hockey Debate, with an Introduction Into Town Stereotypes

Sigh. I have been away from this for a while.  Essays upon essays upon essays upon essays upon physical injury....equals me being away from The Grog.


As a result though, I've had plenty of time to collect my thoughts....and my Pet Peeves.  I originally had titled this post "A Whole Slew of Pet Peeves" where I planned on taking on about 10 pet peeves per usual to make up for my time away from The Grog.

However, one of my pet peeves has proven to be irresistible for me to focus on.

Thus, we're just going to look at this ridiculous story coming out of a hockey game.

This new Hockey story is taking the cake on my list of Pet Peeves.  It started out as a virtually small story, then grew big enough to be put on national news services like YahooNews<--You can read the news story there.

If you haven't heard already, a Duxbury (MA) hockey player/his parents are leveling an Assault and Battery charge against a Scituate (MA) player for a late hit during a hockey match.  This hit resulted in the "victim," a Thomas Hannon, suffering from a severe concussion.  The A&B charge only came after the Scituate player, Alex Way, did not apologize to the Hannon's and Scituate High School did not suspend the player for two games.  Hannon's father stating "We didn't come out of the clear blue with this...this could have all been taken care of with a small meeting between coaches and players. No one on their end wanted to do that."

Granted, throughout all of this, the Massachussetts Interscholatic Athletic Association and Scituate High School both share skepticism that the player did anything wrong during a contact sport where shit happens.


So what makes more sense here.  Is it Hannon's lawyer saying: "If this (check) was off the rink, on a public way, that is gross, negligent assault and battery."

Or is it the comment from the Scituate side, stating "It was an intentional hit, but every check is an intentional hit. When players sign up for hockey, they acquiesce to hits."

First of all.  Hannon's lawyer is a moron.  He basically just undermined the entire argument the Hannon family is trying to make by stating if the check was off the rink it would be Assault and Battery.

Late hit or not I'm clearly going to agree with Way's lawyer.  We're talking about hockey.  Shit happens.  Is this going to become a regular thing?  That's ridiculous.  Leveling an A&B charge against a hockey play for a hit in a contact sport?  Based off of this logic everyone in the sport of MMA should be arrested immediately.

When you sign up to do a contact sport....you might want to be aware that there comes some physical risks.  Would I be happy about a concussion?  Or getting lit the fuck up and having it caught on camera? No.  But I'm not going to sit around and mope and feel sorry for myself, or let my parents file a criminal suit against the guy.

This is going to go down in history as that single moment in time where every stereotype about Duxbury was reaffirmed in the minds everyone in the South Shore of MA.  Granted, for the Duxbury (or Suxbury...take your pick) side this incident probably reaffirms the stereotypes they have about Scituate.

If you're not from MA I'll narrow down the town dynamics for you on perceptions of each Town's teenage population:

Duxbury: Also called Suxbury.  Duxbury guys are generally received as sucky douchebags who fit the category of "that guy," but still come off as wussy douchebags at that.  Duxbury 7s will treat themselves like 10s while actual 10s will treat themselves as 2s (like in a "no you're lying, I am actually fat" kind of way).

Bottom Line: Its called Suxbury for a reason.  There's a theory that somewhere in Duxbury, the residents guard a tree that grows assholes at a yearly rate.  

Scituate:  Scituate is just....Scituate.  Despite being named "The Most Irish Town in America" its pretty bland.  Big on fishing.  Not much else to say.  Pretty bland town.  Perceived scummy by some, but generally considered higher than Weymouth and Hull.

Bottom Line: More bland then it's perceived scummy.

Also on the South Shore:

Weymouth: Defined as a working-class town with the "hicks of the North."  If you want all the benefits the stereotypical American-South backwoods provide; like woodland camo hats and flannel, big trucks and hobbies that other towns deem retarded, Weymouth is the place to be.  Also has some social niches which come off as misguided borderline neo-nazis with shaved heads and distinct Germanic pride.  While not a big part of Weymouth, this social niche received notoriety after two homeless men were beaten to death with baseball bats for fun in Hingham's BareCove Park.  One guy's hand was cut off and then taken to a Weymouth party as proof for the confirmed kill, and after being arrested one of the murderers conspired to kill witnesses who would take the stand against him.

Bottom Line: Weymouth youth stay classy.  

Hingham:  Seen as a rich white suburbia with zero diversity and white people who get offended by everything for other people.  Stereotypes within the town itself split  it up into two sections: North Hingham and South Hingham.  Half of North Hingham is normal, the other half however being populated with upper/upper middle class douches that live in extravagant harbor-side houses near the Yacht club.  Despite being given cars by mom and dad, Rich Northern Hinghamites proceed to become troublesome pricks that fall into drugs, alcohol and stealing.  Tend to make up the Lax and Hockey douchebag ranks of Hingham High who listen to rap and subsequently as a result dress like thugs, and take Facebook profile pictures of dipping+no shirts to heart.

Also hailing from North Hingham: weird perverse sexual stories.  Comments towards "Couch-Boy," "Cucumber-man," "Razor Scooter Girl"  or "The Frozen Hot Dog," "Lax Trophy," "Private Gym Session" and the "Best-Friend" incidences are noted.  Pictures of the "hook-up couch" are forever grained into the memories of all, while "private-sexts" flame out of control and go to everyone in the school.  Stories of losing virginity in graveyards, public streets or party skiing and frequent trips to the Eiffel tower are not uncommon when talking about North Hinghamites.  Also not uncommon: Hockey and Lax bros committing stat rape.  Because nothing says "I'm a badass" like being a high school senior drinking a normal water bottle while watching freshmen girls get blackout drunk off of vodka water bottles.

South Hingham is generally populated with solid-middle class or recent middle-class types who hate to say they hail from Hingham because of the negative stigma attached to it courtesy of the Rich North (regular Northerners generally share the same characteristics of South Hinghamites).  They get shit on by Rich North Hinghamites for being "poor," unless they live in Black Rock.  Tend to drive shittier cars than the Rich Northerners and either work physical labor in other towns or caddy at Black Rock.  That's not to say there isn't a fair share of Southern douchebags who desperately try to attach themselves to the Northern niches.

Bottom Line: If you're not a rich North Hinghamite, chances are you just tell people you're from Boston or South of Boston.

Cohassett:  Also called Coho, known for a preppy attitude mixed with hot bids and crazy parties.  Generally upper class but somehow not as douchey about it as North Hinghamites.  Victoria's Subs is the best eating establishment on the planet, and if someone tells you to go to Hingham's Sub Galley instead they deserve prompt slapping.  JJ's Icecream is also a highlight of Coho.

Bottom Line:  Probably just as rich as North Hingham, yet not filled with tyrannous PC soccer moms, self-righteous activists, or rich metrosexual adopted douchebags who will make fun of you for driving a Ford.   

Hull: Associated with grunge.  Referred to as a shit-hole.  If you want to hit up some drugs, or promiscuous behavior with a side order of disease, go to Hull.  

Bottom Line: Don't go to Hull.

Why?

Because http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4F4qzPbcFiA, that's why.

Norwell:  An equally bland neighboring South Shore town.  Norwellians are either normal folk or weirdos.  Like I'm 27 and I'm screwing your 17 year old classmate kind of weirdos.

Bottom Line: Norwell is more bland than Scituate.

Hanover:  Only useful for its mall and movie theater.

Bottom Line: No one knows anything about Hanover other than that it has a mall and a movie theater.  Also, the people who run Hanover's Patriot Cinemas theater are Nazis.

So there ya go.  This is basically the nasty little dynamic that runs in between the towns of the South Shore. Can stereotypes be proven wrong?  For the most part there are always exceptions, yes.  Do we generally perceive each other as these statements before we get to know each other however? Yes.  Perception is Reality until proved otherwise.

So what's the bottom line here.

This hockey story reaffirmed the stereotype about Duxbury youth.

This is one of those moments where "Nut up and Shut Up" is more in order than "Point the finger and Blame."  Maybe this all falls on the parents of the guy, maybe he actually isn't a soft-wad who doesn't want to be associated with this outcome and actually is angry with parents for being of the-"easily offended, whitepeopleproblems suburbia types."

Regardless of whether or not this kid is an active part of the criminal suit, that whole list of stereotypes above is the reason why this sort of action is an ultimate failure.  That kid is going to get shit on for the rest of his life.  Everyone in Duxbury is going to be shit on even more than before.  Parents of Duxbury are now going to be perceived as worse than the parents of Marblehead (and that's saying a lot).


Duxbury might as well just disband as a town in light of this event....nobody in their right mind would want to be tied to this stupid drama clamoring of white-people-problems. 

You have to love the mom of the Scituate player telling it how it is when describing what happened after her own son got a concussion earlier in football: "We did not point fingers because its a contact sport. Its one of the risks of playing a contact sport."

Good for her, good for Scituate, and good for Alex Way.

Bad for Duxbury.  Extremely bad for the parents of Hannon.  Even worse for Hannon himself.

I can already envision the chants and signs that are going to show up at Duxbury hockey games next season...

--Fin--

Dealing With Defeat

          Okay Boston, everybody take a deep breath. Inhale first; make sure that all of today’s fresh air fills up your lungs to replace the pain of last night. Then exhale the anger away and drink some Gatorade to help with the hangover.

            Alright, so you probably don’t feel much better. You probably still feel cheated by  the same Bruins team that brought you such great joy 369 days ago. You want to forget that the Washington Captials ended your Bruins season in Boston. Many of you want to wake up thinking that the final score was just the outcome of a nightmare. 

            It makes sense why you want nothing more than to call Felger and Mazz and vent. You want somebody to blame for your defeat, and there are a few candidates for your anger.

Curse Joel Ward for driving the dagger into the heart of your title hopes. Curse the Bruins power play for being worse than it was last year. Curse Tim Thomas for only being great instead of godly. Curse Milan Lucic and Patrice Bergeron for not having a goal between them the entire series.

            It is okay to hate the Capitals for ending your season, just respect how Joel Ward and his teammates delivered when it mattered most.

The Capitals came into this series as the underdogs and they pulled off an upset that will earn a spot on ESPN Classic. Ward only scored six goals in the entire season before putting the goal of his life in the back of the net. For the first time in NHL history, every game was decided by one goal. It sucks when someone has to lose a series this great.

In the end the better team won, as it always does.

There is nothing that the Bruins have to be ashamed of. At no point did the puck trickle through Buckner’s legs. This loss is not a ‘Brady threw the ball over the wrong shoulder or Welker dropped a ball in his hands’ debate. Both teams made plenty of mistakes throughout the series, it is just the Capitals were able to execute better at the game’s tipping point.

It is quite possible that Nathan Horton and a healthy Patrice Bergeron would have made for an entirely different series. It would have been nice if the Bruins could have been 3-23 with a man advantage this series instead of 2-23. However, those are excuses for the bitter.

Oddly enough, similar pain offers perspective. As much as it hurts, there is no way that this loss even comes close to the most painful in Boston sports history.

Bucky bleeping Dent hurt more feelings then than the Capitals did last night. Aaron Boone sending the Yankees to the World Series in 2003 was worse than Joel Ward sending the Caps to the second round. If The Giants ending the Patriots run at perfection blew a hole in the hearts of New England then the Bruins loss last night was a paper cut by comparison.

            So before you make plans to throw themselves off the top of Blue Hills, replay your own misery on TiVo, or say something incredibly stupid via Twitter, remember that the players on both sides of the result are human too.

            But that very often is forgotten after a tough loss. Sadly, somebody is going to be turned into a scapegoat to spare the rest of the franchise the wrath of the defeated.

            And that is the worst part of all sports.

Made of Honor

Everyone who dies gets to keep their bodies; it is the legacies of the dead that are left over for the living.

The more complex the person it is far harder to write the epilogue of their life. Many of us live relatively mundane lives that appear irrelevant to those who were not close to the person. It takes something either infamous or extraordinary or sometimes even extraordinarily infamous for the masses to remember their existence. 

In the case of Patrick Daniel Tillman, his legacy is defined by his complex character. Tillman was a reported atheist who read every religious text from the Book of Mormon to the Qur'an. He was a transcendentalist that Ralph Waldo Emerson would have been proud of. Tillman was a friend, husband, and a brother to those who loved him, as well as a Sun Devil, a Cardinal, and a Corporal to the public. 

Most notably, Pat Tillman was a man who denied fame, fortune, and personal security to protect the rights our forefathers fought and died for.

Tillman had to fight a lot during the limelight of his life. But with every fight, Tillman got stronger. He fought and got the very last scholarship at Arizona State University. Tillman rewarded the Sun Devils by winning the Pac-10 defensive player of the year. Tillman was barely drafted in 1998, but he made Rod Graves look like Scott Pioli when he was named an All-Pro in 2000.  

A hair under six feet and a pair of cleats over 200 pounds Tillman was too small to be a linebacker, but his ability to track the ball carrier was on a different level. At safety, Tillman racked up 238 tackles, two and a half sacks, three interceptions, and three fumble recoveries in 60 career games with the Arizona Cardinals. Opponents could see his hair from the huddle, yet Tillman got his tackles anyway through effort and hard work.

Then 2001 brought that horrid September day that will never be forgotten. The twin towers were reduced to rubble and nearly 3,000 Americans were taken from their loved ones. 

There were no words to comfort the suffering. Nobody could explain to the mothers, fathers, sons, daughters, cousins, nieces, nephews, uncles, aunts, parents, and grandparents, who was responsible or why they attacked. The remorse for the victims was soon followed by national outrage towards the enemy. And what Pat Tillman did just eight months later left the football world in shock.

He turned down a 3.6 million dollar contract offer from the Cardinals to enlist in the U.S. Army.

Tillman was not the first football player to serve his country. He did not have the iconic influence on his sport like Joe DiMaggio or Ted Williams when they went to fight in World War II. He did not shatter the color barrier in sports like Jackie Robinson after his service. Tillman did not even make the Hall of Fame after serving like 'Night Train' Lane. 

But none of that mattered.

Even when Tillman became a part of the 2nd Battalion, he didn't turn back. When he and his brother invaded Iraq in Operation Iraqi Freedom, Tillman did not run away. Even when he was redeployed toAfghanistan, Tillman was aware that death was omnipresent in War.

Then on April 22nd, 2004 the grim reaper took Tillman's life by way of friendly fire.

It's hard to understand the mentality behind Tillman's decision. Why a man who had worked for his dream career would throw away his personal security to risk his life for people he didn't even know. How a sense of duty to the nation he lived in superseded his love for the game he spent his entire life playing. 

Regardless of the reason, Tillman's sacrifice should be remembered as an act of valor.

Every team Tillman was a part of has honored his life in some way. Tillman's former high school renamed their field after him. The Sun Devils and Cardinals both retired his number. The Pacific 10 conference renamed its defensive player of the year award to the Pat Tillman defensive player of the year. And fellow ranger Roy Fanning began a walk across the country to try and raise 3.6 million dollars for the Pat Tillman Foundation.

Even with these honors and tributes there remains a gaping hole in the household of Tillman and every other family that has lost someone to war. The Silver Star that is somewhere in the Tillman family is not going to fill the void left by their departed son. No Purple Heart is going to reanimate a man or woman who died to protect the citizens of the United States. Regardless of the circumstances death sucks.

Dealing with the premature death of a loved one is far and away the hardest thing anyone would ever have to do in life. There is no pain that comes close to it. Nothing ever makes it fully better, humans just learn to deal with the loss rather than let it destroy us.

But like the legacies of the fallen, the awards are as much for the living as they are for the person who served. Even though the medals will not return the deceased, they represent symbols of honor that the recipient had. The families that remain get to keep a token of their soldier's bravery with them at all times, and keep them alive in their own memories.

So may Pat Tillman and the other 1,346,000+ men and women who gave their lives to protect their countrymen be remembered for their sacrifices, and may tomorrow bring the day where nobody dies. 

Behavior Behind the Bounty

Right in the middle of football's tug of war between the need for violence and the desire for safety resides the bounty issue. 

Defensive coordinator Greg Williams offered cash rewards for big hits that sidelined opposing players. That much has been proven, but what has not been resolved is how the game gets just the right amount of violence to keep people watching and the desire for everyone to walk off the field under their own power.

That ideal middle ground between violence and safety will never be bridged no matter what the league does. 

Football is a multi-billion dollar industry that is entirely dependent on grown men exerting their physical will on each other for entertainment purposes. Without these hulks running into each other at full speed, football would have the exact same national appeal as competitive crocheting. There is no football without physically jarring hits that end up on Youtube. 

Still, it's the fan's love of football's violence that breeds, nurtures, and has helped the game grow to it's unfathomable heights. Anyone who thinks that is not the case, can look at what the game would look like if guys were not allowed to tackle (start watching at :41) and make a case that it is a better game. 

Simply put you can't not tackle people in football and expect the fans to stay committed to the game. Besides, there are so many rewards for NFL players who make the violent hits the league is so afraid of.

Let's take a look at what a person can get for running into a person with the force of a wrecking ball at the speed of a train. The rewards for leveling people in football include millions of dollars, your last name on the backs of countless jerseys across the country, and opportunities for more money by making yourself the face of a food chain or (and there could not be any more irony here) and insurance company. Just ask Justin Tuck and Ndamukong Suh, the NFL's faces of Subway. Both of these men were chosen to represent the chain while holding a job that is based on driving men into the ground at full force. 

Besides, the voices of the players have been neglected throughout the assault on their culture. From Ravens safety Bernard Pollard blasted Goodell for the punishments to Cardinals kicker Jay Feely saying the NFL only cares about defending themselves against lawsuits the voices of the players have been muffled. There is the argument that the players are so engulfed in their own culture that they are ignorant to the dangers they face. Yet in order for the argument to be resolved, all sides of the issue need to be heard, not just the sides that are convenient for the league to hear.

The league has made the predictable, and correct, move of hammering the Saints for the program. Goodell has made an example of the Saints in hope that the culture gets curbed. It will not, but the people who watch the game will mistake the punishment as progress and patiently wait to be breastfed more violence in 2012-2013.

The fans got what they want, now it is up to the league to figure out what they want their game to become before everyone stops watching all together.

Becoming a Judgmental Bastard

Sigh.

This is about my fourth attempt at finishing a post completely.

I'm going to try and hang in here for you.

Forewarning: It's shaping up that this post will seem self-centered and all about "me"---that is, the "old me," the "new me," and etc.

I hate putting serious posts on The Grog.  I'm trying to edit this so y'all can read some "dry-satire" rather than  "rantyness."

I've tried everything from "Seeing the World Through a Critical Eye" to "Ten-Tale Signs You're An Asshole."  I suppose at this point we've reached a culmination of those two posts.

Plain and simple; I'm apparently becoming a critical, blunt, and sometimes judgmental bastard.  More judgmental than in the past it seems.

I'm not going to go on some long-sob-story blah blah blah rant about what created this personality change, but I do recognize that I had a revelation some point down the road of life that created this "new-me."

Now I should note at this point before I further things that I don't view myself as different "me's" like you'd see in a case of multiple-personality-disorder (although that stuff is tragically interesting---we watched a portion of this full documentary in psychology class at highschool); but that my philosophy teacher in college once asked us if we agreed with the theory that for every single second that passes by you are a new person.  As in, the personality of one second ago got old and withered away and a new you was born again.

Hopefully not in the sense of Evil-Ash from "Army of Darkness" with some head-exploding-from-shoulder action. (Source)

At this point, I can see that to an extent, despite at the time thinking "Lady, I can't believe you got a job that requires you to simply ask questions that can never be proved."  I can see it--not due to seconds passing by, but after life-altering events, sure, I can see it.

Some people change for the better, while some people change for the worse.  I've seen both.

Personally, I think I changed for the better.  I cut out a lot of the cancerous activity in my life...but was it at a cost?  Some folks tend to think I've become a bit of an ass. If I had to put down an assessment of myself here I'd say I'm an equalizer of social interaction.  I've become, in my own words, a blunt observer, that...if deemed necessary, doesn't mind making unapologetic observations.

I suppose this would be a good time for a clarification here.  This post isn't something all of you can relate to.  The Grog just so happens to obviously be the most immediate medium where I can reach out to the majority of people who know me and say "Hey.  This is the deal."

So, this is the deal.

I'm still an inner-child.  I still love making people laugh.  I still try to have an inclusive environment.  I'm still the same guy in every manner except:

If you're being an asshole, I'm going to be blunt about it.  I'm not going to try and fix the unfixable, I'll simply cut you loose and move on.

Which, apparently, makes me a real asshole. (Source)

Now don't go all clamoring at once about what I'm referring to here.  I'm not referring to anything.  Personally, sure I've already cut some people loose (yes..both in high-school and college. God forbid someone thinks I'm targeting them with this post).  However, just seeing a lot of other people's friendo problems that can be solved with a simple dose of nut-up-and-just-be-blunt is annoying.  Don't be afraid to play the part of "the asshole" and be the pioneer of that action of dissociation. 

Live your life with people you want to spend your time with folks.  No point in doing the two-faced dance routine until you have to punch in the final ticket.  You might get labeled as "sensitive" for cutting some people loose by your douchey-mc-douchestein friendos that are the ones who keep creating problems for you, but trust me...there are worse things in life.

Like being the asshole that lives in Douchebagistan (Source)

--FIN--

Dwight Enough

Stan Van Gundy has had to put up with a lot of crap for a coach with a career .651 winning percentage.

Van Gundy molded the play of young men at six different colleges from 1981 until 1995. When he coached the Miami Heat in 2005, he was jettisoned by a coaching icon who wanted to prove he could literally come out of the general manager's booth and win a title. In 2008, Van Gundy was called the master of panic by a former Magic center that used the franchise as toilet paper when he left for Los Angeles. 

But none of it can hold a candle to the tornado of feces that was conjured up by the man with the biggest shoulders on the planet. 

Dwight Howard has been the poster child for NBA players who can't get out of their own way. It has felt like the 'will he stay and be good or screw the Magic over?' question has enveloped the entire season. 

Howard's play (20.6 points, 14.4 rebounds, 2.2 blocks per game) has been great during the self generated controversy. His rebounds have never been higher than during a shortened season that has been dragged out by sources questioning will he or won't he leave. Howard's flip flopping ability challenges Mitt Romney's. 

Maybe he is better when he is torturing management and fans by publicly pondering his future. Perhaps Howard has to make a list of possible teams he wants to play for for him to have his third best scoring season. If that is the case, teams should either sign Howard for eternity or avoid making him the face of their franchise.

There is no questioning that Howard is the best center in the NBA right now. Even if his range has not expanded much beyond dunking and closer. The center position in the NBA is historically weak, and Howard resembles the closest thing to the ghosts of Shaq, Kareem, and Wilt in today's game. 

Howard's talent undeniable, his behavior is inexcusable.

There is a better example of how Howard should be handling himself two spots above his team in the standings. Rajon Rondo had his fair share of trade speculation in the first half of the year, yet he kept his mouth shut and let his play determine his paycheck. As great of a season Howard has been having on paper,  his words and lack of ability to quell the issue in public have haunted his club for the entire season.

Perhaps the more pathetic part of this situation is Magic management. A multi million dollar franchise run by plenty of people should never be dominated by one employee. There was no reasonable trade market for Howard because there was no good counter offer; but Howard's name remained on the trade block. If you can't get good value for a guy, don't offer to trade him because it will generate distraction. 

Magic management didn't get that part and now they are left with the ruins of their credibility. 

Howard is holding his team hostage, and anything short of being able to run the franchise himself will result in his departure. And a man who came to the NBA straight out of high school is going to enjoy being openly courted in free agency. Instead of college campuses, teams will pitch their cities as wholes to make D12 want to live there. And when that time comes, Howard will lavish in the spotlight surrounding the debate as to where he will be taking his talents. 

But as usual, teams are so blinded by talent that character takes a back seat. If Lakers, Bulls, Celtics, Nets, and Mavericks are willing to make Howard the player a crazy offer, they should be questioning on how much to invest in Howard the man. Hypothetically speaking, there is nothing to stop Howard from pulling this crap for his new team. 

So good luck to whoever wins the Dwight Howard sweepstakes, they are going to need it. 

It's Missing Something

There used to be a time in Sports when the post game press conference meant something. The coach or manager would trudge to the podium to atone for his team’s sins. And if a pesky journalist asked a question that the manager were not in the mood for, he would let the reporter hear about it in an expletive ridden tirade. 

Apparently those days are behind us. 

No more Dennis Green flipping out because the Chicago Bears were who he thought they were. Long gone are the days when Jim Mora yelled the answer a question about the playoffs. Mike Gundy will no longer challenge a reporter on the grounds that he was a man. And Lee Elia, the man who turned the entire Cubs fan base against him, would be blackballed from baseball today.

Because the post game tirade is an endangered species on the verge of going extinct. 

The post game tirade has been the reason people who are not watching the presser because of work bother to tune in at all. Every one of these men created a story that overshadowed their respective games in less than ten minutes. The ranting and raving showed a human side to the men behind the podium. They gave us the illusion that they cared about the loss as much as the fans who buy their team's jerseys. 

Sure Pat Knight at Lamar had a moment in which the nostalgia of tirades came back. Knight lambasted his seniors for their unsatisfactory work ethic. It did lack the volume of Gundy's rant, and the profanities of Elia's tirade. Knight shared the disappointment of his school's fans and boosters had after that loss, and it was nice to see that the pulse of the post game tirade can still be felt by the media and fans alike.

Unfortunately, the same men who passionately yell on the sidelines during the games are reduced to clichés and one sentence answers after it. Everyone who knows these coaches, or even watch their games casually know that when they take questions, are putting up walls. If the coaches behind the podiums were the same men who led their teams on the field, they would not have been hired. 

The vanishing act of the post game tirade can be directly linked to the ever growing business culture that is devouring sports at an alarming rate.

Every coach and manager has been trained to say all the 'right things' to the media. Coaches do not want to be responsible for costing their team money by saying something that would result in a large fine. The men who sign all the paychecks do not want their employees to say anything that would jeopardize the public relations of their businesses. 

That logic is rational on Wall Street, yet this business type attitude being programmed into the minds of the coaches after the game hurts the game itself.

Yes the owners rely on these coaches to make their brand look presentable. And yes the coaches saying anything discriminatory prejudice, or blatantly ignorant would harm their employers. But the people who truly care about what these coaches have to say are wearing team attire instead of business suits.

Individuals who go to sporting events want to know that they are getting some kind of return on their investment. The fans who don jerseys want to know that the players and coaches on their favorite teams experience the same feelings of agony in defeat. 

The lack of coaches and managers getting upset in front of the cameras saps the human side of sports that make it watchable. If the line that separates entertainment and business gets erased, then sports will become sport. And the only people who enjoy sport are the elitists who probably own the teams.

The post game tirade is not just about watching coaches flip out after a tough loss, or the subsequent ability to make hilarious musical remixes of the tirade on Youtube. A coach or manager loosing his cool for a moment reminds everyone who watches sports that the men in charge care about the outcome too.

And if these businessmen who own teams can't understand that, then their clientele will look elsewhere for both business and entertainment.