Nurse the Hate: Hate Weekend Sports

I hate the NBA. Those players seem like the biggest shitbags on the planet to me. Their sense of entitlement is really second to none in sports. All the tough guy posturing... the "me first" attitude... the relentless marketing of the individual players instead of teams can't help the attitude either. But here's a real eye opener for those guys. "ESPN's coverage of the NFL draft outdrew the two NBA playoffs on TNT last night. An ESPN spokesman said the draft was seen in 5.4% of households in the top 56 U.S. markets. A TNT rep said the Cavaliers-Bulls game had a 2.1 rating, and the later Lakers-Thunder playoff earned a 3.0."

LeBron may have a"Chosen One" tattoo on his back, but more than twice as many people would rather watch college football prospects walk up to a podium than actually watch him play. So what do you want? Kevin Garnett posing in front of the crowd in Miami, or Mel Kiper speculating on some second tier offensive guard from Georgia Southern University? The people have spoken. Apparently Mel Kiper... Don't even get me started on how Dateline beat the NBA Playoffs in the ratings. However, when Dateline runs those "Catch a Predator" segments, I think we all agree that is much better than pro basketball. Seeing if a tall guy can hit a jump shot at the end of the game is dramatic, but not as dramatic as watching a guy explain why he has a bottle of vodka and condoms while visiting what he thinks is a 14 year old girl.

Quick aside: Can Brady Quinn ever catch a break? He handled himself with class in Cleveland while being totally jerked around by the organization. He finally escapes by being traded to Denver where he can compete with Kyle Orton to actually QB a real offensive football team. Denver promptly trades one of the best receivers in football to Miami. Then he gets totally screwed when they draft Tebow! I think that Quinn has been labeled as a "career backup" based on just a few games for the historically bad 2009 Browns offense. He'll need to get lucky and hope the guys in front of him break their spines to get back on the field. The NFL is a cruel mistress...