Hater, by Calvin Klein

Many ridiculous blog posts ago I wrote about how I define the word, and usage of the word, "hater." My definition of hater can be summed up by the Harry Truman quote, "I never did give them hell. I just told the truth and they thought it was hell." When someone gets called a hater, it's usually because they are saying something of truth that the other person knows has truth, but can't or won't admit to.

Some of this inability to admit to things comes from the hard line stances people take, seemingly now more than ever. Most debates have become , "either/or" propositions. Some debates necessitate such stances because the two sides are diametrically opposed to each other, while other debates devolve into hard line stances because people seem to have a need to search for ultimate truth. Once someone has found his or her ultimate truth, it follows that everything else must be opposing to what he or she has found to be truth. To oppose someone's ultimate truth is to be a hater.

The other contributing factor to the labeling of the hater is the new way of the world to accept things, almost blindly, as they are sold to us at an ever quickening pace. There seems to be so much superficiality now that true quality has all but been erased in the name expedience and marketability. To question anything is to be called a hater, when in years past that person may have only been a skeptic.

I am a skeptic. I like calling something what it is and having an honest talk about the pros and cons of something. For me, it always goes back to sports for examples because I feel that sports encapsulates what is happening in the greater society.

I have to turn now to sports to put Tim Tebow squarely in the example crosshairs. Tim Tebow is a polarizing figure. To criticize him is to be a hater. I can understand this, because he engenders strong emotions from his supporters. I am a confessed hater of the media creation known as Tim Tebow: Legendary Quarterback. This is entirely different from hating the person. I take issue with the media obsession with him and their unfettered desire to proclaim him legendary. Can't we call him what he is? He is likable, and by all accounts works very hard in practice and games; he just isn't good at quarterback. Can't I say that he isn't a good quarterback without it being an attack on the other stuff? Can't I want to take a wait and see approach on him to see if he can make a career out of how he plays? Why does it have to be I either accept all of it or none of it? I just want to see if his skills can match his marketability.

This is just one current example of the problem of the search for ultimate black and white truth. There is no ultimate truth, there is only truth with all the shades of gray that come with it. To be a hater is to understand that it's ok to take issue with something and talk about it. A hater understands that truth is found in the gray between the sides of ultimate black and white truth.

Sci-Fi

I constantly wonder why people dismiss sci-fi movies and books as geeky flights of fancy. In years past I could understand this, but in 2011 it boggles my mind. Here I sit, typing this blog on a personal computer in preparation for posting it on my Facebook page; until a few years ago this was a notion that would only have been from the realm of geeky sci-fi ideas.

Saying sci-fi isn't your thing while you are checking news, stocks and pictures on your smart phone while posting on Twitter is such a contradiction I don't even know how to address it.

Usually people that say they don't like sci-fi will also say that they like books and movies that are more "real." My question would be, what could be more real than stories that incorporate interesting new sciences and technologies that fundamentally alter the way the world works? The old saying goes that truth is stranger than fiction; the proof of this is all around us. If I was to show the people of the 1960's Facebook and tell them a story of a world of people obsessed with posting updates of their lives in pursuit of a level of narcissism that has no equal in human history, they would ask me if Asimov or Bradbury wrote that one.

So much of our current culture has been informed and shaped by sci-fi; just look to Star Trek and it's portable communicator for the inspiration of the cell phone. Give sci-fi a chance. After all, one day it may be Scotty on the other side of that cell phone making preparations to beam you up.

Perspective

Perspective is a funny thing. Being able to grasp the larger picture is often difficult, especially when emotion plays a role. This is the only reason I can imagine the Penn State students and alumni are so outraged over the Joe Paterno firing. It is obviously a political decision, given the current circumstances, but that doesn't mean it isn't the right one as well.

Yesterday I wrote a lengthy post about Joe Paterno needing to be removed immediately and that he should not be allowed to go out on his terms after the end of this season. Despite horribly screwing up every decision of importance related to this case, Penn State got that one right. This decision was more than just political necessity, it was moral duty.

We find ourselves talking about perspective in the wake of Joe Pa's firing. Many people are arguing that this is unfair and that we must keep perspective and remember that Jerry Sandusky is the criminal and not Paterno. Students have begun rioting and tipping over cars in State College because their beloved demi-god is being removed. I ask those people, and anyone that still supports Paterno to have some perspective of their own and consider this: did Joe Paterno fulfill his bare minimum legal obligation and report what he was told to his superior? Yes. Did he fulfill his role as a man, as a father, as a role model? In no way shape or form can you answer yes to that. He failed completely.

Many of his supporters will point to all the work he has done. They will tell you he and his family have donated more than $4 million dollars to the school and that his program is clean and his players graduate. All of that is fine. Those things are what he has done with people watching. Those things were done to enhance his own legacy. I don't judge him on those things. I judge people on what they do when they don't believe anyone is watching. No one knew of the allegations when they were first reported, and clearly the goal was to keep it quiet. It ended there because it was not brought to public light.

He must be judged for that terrible indiscretion as much as anything else he has done in his career. He is Joe Paterno. He had the clout and power to go over people if needed and do the right thing to protect the children that were being abused by Sandusky. He chose to do nothing. Make no mistake, this wasn't about the kids or the school, this was about Joe Paterno covering his own ass. He did his legal duty and was off the hook.

The American President is one of my favorite and most often quoted movies. One of my favorite lines comes at the end when Michael Douglas gives his big moving speech. He starts the speech by saying,

"That's all right, you can keep your seats. For the last couple of months, Senator Rumson has suggested that being president of this country was, to a certain extent, about character and although I have not been willing to engage in his attacks on me, I've been here three years and three days, and I can tell you without hesitation: Being President of this country is entirely about character."

Being a leader of any kind, let alone an iconic football coach at a major university, has to be about character as Douglas suggests. A failing of character like this has to count heavily against someone. It must overshadow many of the other things because this type of failure goes to the very core of who Paterno is and what he was supposed to stand for.

Finally, the students and alumni that continue to treat themselves and the larger Penn State community as victims need to have some perspective. The Penn State family lost a long time football coach who failed to protect young boys when he had the chance. He may not have raped the children, but he stood by and did nothing while it was going on under his roof.

The victims lost the chance to have a happy life. The damage done to them is many times more serious than having a football coach fired. Students and alumni should feel terrible not for his leaving, but for why it was that he left.

When I see people writing comments like,

"Aside from the fact that the blame doesn't belong on Paterno here in the first place, Joe Paterno is a legend, whereas a few boys are just that, a few boys. Paterno deserves more respect." (actually taken from the ESPN comments section), it's clear people are missing the point.

People writing things online like," Joe Pa shouldn't go, Penn State Forever!" clearly don't have any perspective on what they are saying.

You can't want to keep Joe Paterno and continue to take pride in your institution. Paterno represents everything that is wrong with big program football. He put himself above the school and above the safety of children He failed himself and everything he claimed to have stood for. If he was allowed to stay, it would be just another black eye to the tradition that everyone involved wants so badly to protect. Try to keep that in perspective the next time you yell, "We are...Penn State."

WE ARE...PENN STATE!....And That's the Problem

I am angry over the Penn State scandal for a number of reasons. We can start with the obvious reasons like Jerry Sandusky molesting kids in Penn State showers. Or the fact that Sandusky was on campus as recently as last week after having free run of the campus for years after the initial allegations against him were made.

Some of my anger goes toward the school administrators that covered this up and the board of directors that seems to be concerned now with covering their own asses. They have been formally charged and will, most likely, pay for their role in the cover up. The one person caught in limbo is, the head coach, Joe Paterno.

Though it seems clear that, when Paterno became aware of the situation he passed it along to his superiors thus fulfilling his legal obligation, he stopped there. He never followed up and more importantly let Sandusky continue on in the school for years. For Paterno to say now that if the allegations are true, "we were all fooled" is a total joke. He obviously knew about something. It shouldn't come as a surprise to him, since he was involved in the legal chain when the allegations were first brought to him.

Now Paterno is going to retire and save the school the effort of asking him to resign, right after he coaches the last game of the season because he is, "devastated." Is this guy for real? Talk about not getting it. The school shouldn't let him get away with walking out on his terms, given the situation. They should remove him immediately pending a full scale investigation.

Finally, my extreme anger is directed at the Penn State family and a large number of the students. I'd like to take a moment to acknowledge that I have a number of friends who went to Penn State. They should not count themselves as part of this tirade as I've not seen or heard them say anything along the lines of the following. With that out of the way, let's take a moment to consider what the student body and alumni have done since this scandal unfolded. They have taken to organizing outside Paterno's house in show of solidarity and support as well as echoing the Penn State rallying cry, "WE ARE...PENN STATE!" I can understand the love for Paterno, he is nearly a god in Happy Valley, but the support is misplaced. He may not have molested anyone, but he certainly has to be counted as an accomplice to the cover up for not taking more steps to ensure something was done about Sandusky. He should not be supported and should not be allowed to get off so easily.

The Penn State alumni that are portraying the PSU community as the victims are crazy for this and their continued admiration for the disgraced leader is absurd. Paterno must shoulder blame and using the rallying cry in this context should be re thought. Paterno put the school, and to an extent himself, above the welfare of children. The collective attitude of "We are!..." is the mindset that school officials subscribed to when they swept this under the carpet in the first place. I don't even know what it means that PSU folks are using this as some kind of rallying cry. Basically these actions amount to them saying, "we just found out one of our uncles was a child molester and our dad and other uncles have kept it hush hush all these years, but we are still a determined happy family and have some sympathy for us that we just found out there is a wolf in the fold." Have some humility and respect for the victims. This isn't about you and the school right now. If anything I would be ashamed to count myself as a part of this family right now. Blindly flocking to support the school is the worst possible action that can be taken right now.

To me, this is an indirect endorsement of the what has transpired. If I was part of the student body or alumni, I would be calling for people's heads and for those responsible to be tossed out the door at the first opportunity. The rallying cry starts with, "we are..." Perhaps it is time for PSU to take a hard look and find out what they are.

That's All Folks! (Porky Pig Voice)

It's always easier to have an argument when you have the truth on your side. For the last few years and, more intensely, the last few weeks there has been a constant argument on whether Tim Tebow is any good at, well, anything. This week pretty much sealed the deal. I'm right. When you get hosed by Detroit 45-10 and look bad doing it, that tells us something.

This week there would be no Miracle in Miami, no late game "heroics", just total dominance by the Lions. In this ass chewing, I'd like to say the Lions held Tim Tebow to 18/39 and two turnovers, but that would imply Tebow's own suckage didn't factor into it. Make no mistake, he is bad and lacks basic skills that are needed to play quarterback. Routine overthrowing of receivers and bad decisions can't all be placed on solid Detroit defense. A lot of the blame has to be place on Tebow for his total inability to play the position. Maybe he didn't pray hard enough before the game this week. Maybe he didn't stretch enough without all that time on the sideline to undermine Kyle Orton.

I'm sorry that was petty. Good. I hate this guy. He is totally undeserving of a shot at being a starting quarterback in the NFL. I would be this mad at any other person getting a job they shouldn't get. You need only look to my outrage about Mike Brown being hired to coach the Lakers or Mike Shanahan being hired to coach any team without John Elway at quarterback.

My hate for Tebow goes slightly further because I hate all his religious bullshit too. If you want to be religious fine. Do it on your own time and keep it out of the workplace. You don't see cops getting down on one knee every time they write a parking ticket, do you? That might be funny, and I would pay to see Nick Maletto do it, but it shouldn't happen. If there is a god, he doesn't pick sides or favorites in football.

This is perhaps the part that drives me nuts about this clown even more than his offensive play (you love that pun). When he wins it's all prayers and getting down on one knee. What about when he loses? Does he love his god a little less? Tebow supporters, who often conflate his beliefs and his play will point to his religion and the fact that he is one of the few good people in the NFL. What? Are you overlooking the size of the ego that is needed to believe that the all powerful being you believe in is backing you over other people in a football game? Please. And don't tell me that Tebow doesn't play this to his advantage.

You only need look to his comments after the game. "I'm just going to get up early and go to work and try to get better tomorrow and consistently improve and be the best person-slash-quarterback for this organization," Tebow said. What does that mean? I don't care about you as a person and your play at quarterback has nothing to do with it. Cut the shit. Being a good person doesn't mean anything if you can't throw the ball.

I despise that is his defense. He plays the sympathy card like no other while at the same time being one of the most subtly ego-maniacal, "I think I'm better than everyone" people in the league. One can only hope that he is brushed into the footnotes of bad quarterback history as soon as possible while hopefully continuing to look terrible while doing it.

The Second Coming

The "Great Tim Tebow"

And God said, "On the seventh day, you shall play football."

There is a word that has become all too common in today's super sensitive, "everyone on the team gets a trophy for trying hard" culture and that word is hater. You've heard it, or one of it's many forms, I'm sure. Things like, "stop hating" or "you're just being a hater" are directed at anyone who decides to step out of line with the mass opinion and offer up some criticism.

Urban Dictionary defines a hater as, "A person that simply cannot be happy for another person's success. So rather than be happy they make a point of exposing a flaw in that person." That's an interesting take, but I'd like to offer my definition for consideration. I define a hater as, "someone who speaks the truth, you and/or other people know to be true, but don't want to admit." Mine definition often comes into play when people back someone or something so much, that any criticism is taken as an attack on the person.

Admittedly, this may be more of a commentary on the sad state of the society we live in, rather than just what I perceive to be wrong with sports and the sports media, but when did it go out of fashion to critique and offer up dissenting view points? It seems that there are figures in the media, especially athletes, that are given some kind of tag that gives them a free pass from any criticism, simply because they are being pushed as "the next big thing" and have been anointed, none more so than Tim Tebow.You only need to do a quick search on Google for Tim Tebow and you find images like the one to the right of this passage.

I will grant you that images like this have a lot to do with Tebow's well document and deeply held religious beliefs as much as the fervor of his fan base, but the point is still valid that Tebow has been given the "media darling" tag. Coverage of him is non stop and the media certainly plays up the religious angle of his personality.

And the preacher said, "keep holy the sabbath".

The legend of Tebow began during his time as a member of the Florida Gators. Granted, he had great stats and racked up awards in his college career. He also had an unconventional throwing style and relied heavily on his running abilities and sheer physical size to impact the game. The media marveled at his "heart", "desire" and leadership abilities. They sat as if they were a congregation while Tebow expounded on his deeply held religious beliefs and how they drive his work ethic and play at every opportunity. Finally, he was drafted by the Denver Broncos and this is where we find him today.

Tebow's professional career has largely amounted to nothing at this point. To be fair he has spent most of it as a backup, only recently pushing his way into the starting lineup. I say he pushed his was in because he is exactly what he did. DISCLAIMER: this is the part of the article where I lower the hammer.

The fact that Tim Tebow is now starting, even for a team as bad as the Broncos, is a travesty. Kyle Orton is a solid quarterback that by all accounts clearly defined himself as the best quarterback on the team during training camp. Even Brady Quinn seemed to have jumped ahead of Tebow early on. Losing set in and the call was made to put Tebow in as the fans and media have been calling for him to play since he was drafted. All you would hear from the media and Tebow's loyal flock was, "give the kid a chance, he is a natural leader and has a ton of heart and desire." My question is why? Why should he get a chance? I have heart and desire, just like Tebow. And, like Tebow, I lack the ability to play quarterback in the NFL. So after looking bad in preseason, Tebow was sent in and, to use the media's words, "Performed the Miracle in Miami" this weekend by defeating the WINLESS Dolphins. I don't care that he threw for two touchdowns, the team he was playing is perhaps the worst in the NFL and it took a good amount of choking the game out on the part of the Dolphins to make this happen.

I have heart, desire, and turf paint all over me.

I wouldn't take such issue with this if he wasn't talked about like he was the second coming and the world is just trying to keep him from the success that is rightfully his. But he is and he actively works this angle to his benefit. People have been very harsh on this media darling and the media in turn has been waiting for any opportunity to showcase him and prove all the "haters" wrong. We can no longer qualify anything, a win is a win. Well, yes for the team it is a win. For Tebow, though, shouldn't there be some standard by which to judge his play. It is a disservice to the actual great quarterbacks to do otherwise. Watching someone like Peyton Manning play quarterback is like watching a master artist paint. Watching Tebow just hurts. His throwing mechanics are awful and he relies on running around and hoping to make something happen. He isn't even average. But I'm a hater for saying that.

The thing that I find most disgusting is how Tebow has used religion to promote his cause. Because of his religion he is viewed as moral and superior in some way. And don't tell me I'm making that up, you only need to look at ESPN or any other major sports outlet to see the tone of the articles that are written about him. Some say he has charisma. I say he knows how to work people to gain sympathy and draw attention to himself. We can forget the fact that playing a violent gladiator sport on a the day of the week the Bible says God decree for rest goes totally against the religion Tebow holds so dear. None of that matters when it's about promoting a brand.

I hate that Tebow's play is judged with his morality in mind just as much as I hate how much Michael Vick's play is judged with his immoral dog killing ways as part of his quarterback rating. Give me a break. You can like or not like a guy, but to talk about them as a player with these things in the discussion is wrong.

All I want to talk about is whether Tim Tebow can "play" quarterback. Not whether he is a nice guy, or a religious guy, or a hard worker. Everyone in the NFL is a hard worker, and I don't want to be friends with him, I want to talk about his awful play at quarterback. I don't think he has the skills or understanding of the position required to be a starting quarterback in the NFL. I think that Kyle Orton is much better than him and is getting a raw deal. I think that the Broncos gave into public pressure to play him because of his fan base. You can call me a hater for all of this, but if you subscribe to my definition of the word, that means you know, somewhere deep down, that I'm right.

Witness? How About Gutless?

It's been nearly a year since I wrote on the subject of LeBron James. Since he has just recently added to his legacy, I felt it was the right time. Before I get into all things LeBron, I must point out that Dirk Nowitzki won a championship. Though I maintain the NBA is fixed or, even worse, incompetent, he has to get his due. I have routinely said I think Dirk is a great guy with a ton of skills that seemed like he could never get it done. Regardless of how he did it, he did beat LeBron and get it done. He immediately vaults into the conversation of top NBA guys of his generation. Now let's get to LeBron.

The above picture I found while playing around with Google Image

s, pretty much sums the Finals for Dirk and LeBron. He lost. Again. Badly. This guy doesn't do anything small. W

hen he goes down in flames, it's a total tailspin. Fate, it seems, has a sense of irony, or at the very least dark humor because of how it all went down with the Heat losing to the team they took out in 2006. I also find it ironic on a personal

level because Dirk is a guy who I've compared LeBron to in the past.

Before this year, I argued that they were the same player in terms of accomplishments. Both had MVP awards, a Finals appearance in whic

h they got toasted and great regular season numbers. The difference was the media spin and the public perception. Dirk was viewed as an underachiever and it was a forgone conclusion that LeBron was going to win 10+ championships. It's amazing how quickly the script can be flipped. Dirk is now being flung up into the stratosphere as a greatest ever candidate and LeBron is getting kicked by every news reporter with a spare foot. I have three words for these people, cut the shit. You made him, now you get to keep him. Let him cry on your collective shoulder.

I might feel bad for LeBron, as I have for Dirk, if I thought he was a guy that "gets it", but he clearly do

esn't. This is obvious from his post Finals comm

ents that basically amount to, "you can all say what you want but I have millions of dollars and so what if I was exposed as a fraud for the second year in a row?" In a way I feel like Denny Green in full on press conference profanity laced tirade mode. To paraphrase Mr. Green, LeBron, at least to me and few of my buddies, is who we thought he was. He isn't the best ever, he's not even the best on his team.

LeBron fail

ed for a few reasons. Primarily, he failed because he doesn't have a hyper developed skill to rely on. All the great ones have it. In the case of Dirk it's his shooting. He will get you to his spot and hit mid range jumpers all day. Jordan and now Kobe will post you or pick and roll you to death. LeBron doesn't have a skill like this. Despite being built like a defensive end, his post game is atrocious and he isn't a good enough shooter to rely on it for long stretches. When the defense decides to take away his athletic drives to the basket he has no plan B and it showed. Blame him for planning parades when he should have been in the gym working on his moves. He has never put the time in to develop his skills and it's catching up to him.

The bigger issue is the heart and

desire that weren't to be found. LeBron was scared. One of his teammates should have told him that "Checkout is at 11" only meant from his hotel room, not the 4th quarter. He wanted nothing to do with it. Zero. No one who embraces the best player ever role shrinks from a moment like that. Those are THE moments for players like that. No one told Jordan that games were big or 4th quarters were huge, that came from within. LeBron doesn't have that. The heart is like any other muscle, if you exercise it, it doesn't develop. LeBron is such an athlete that he has never had to dig deep to g

et it done and develop the heart needed to overcome. He doesn't have it in him. He has global icon crap and a serious lack of guts. I could have respected him if he shot every single time and went into full on chuck mode, he's paid to do that and should as "the best player on the Heat". He didn't because he couldn't.

It's like when your mom told you to get your room clean by the weekend. You had all week to clean it and be fine. What did you do? You walked around like a king all week, blowing it off. Then Friday came and you realized you were screwed and by that time it was too late, Saturday was pulled from your clutches. That's how LeBron was delivered into Finals. He's spent the last seven years walking around like a king and

when the big moment finally came, the one that would shut every doubter he have up, he blew it because he set himself up to fail. He never worked to put himself in a position to succeed.

Maybe he will learn, like Dirk did, from his failures but I doubt it. He'll deflect blame, make excuses and hope the long summer and possible lock out help people forget that on the biggest stage the biggest players brought their best and LeBron had to run home to clean his room.