Escape From Reality

Rangers Ballpark Arlinton, Texas

TV networks are flooded with these so-called “reality” and “voting” shows that are so terrible, we can’t stop watching.

I admit my fifth grade sense of humor takes pure enjoyment out of watching more of these shows than I’ll ever confess to watching. After multiple seasons of watching those shows where the viewers vote chooses the outcome, I believe that you should never trust a show that doesn’t show you the results.

I’ll explain- I struggle to trust that the winner is really chosen at the season finale. I’ve always questioned any show that prides themselves by claiming that “your vote” counts, but then they never actually tell you the scores of the votes. They just announce who is going home that week. If the show is based on “your vote” then show the real scores… just saying.

This is just another reason why I vote for sports. There’s a score that results in a win or a loss. The numbers are posted on huge jumbo-trons in ballparks, stadiums and arenas, TV screens, websites and announcers remind you play-by-play. There’s no results show where only the producers know the score (number of callers/voters) and then decide what “scores” they want to announce. In sports you see the score; you can hear the score and your butterflies and adrenalin rushes are reminders that you can feel the score.

The vote that really matters in America is deciding the team you will call your team. This is usually a vote that is cast early on in ones life and regardless weekly performances or the season record- you continue to support your team. Even when your team loses back-to-back World Series you still believe in next year.

So thank you sports gods for 162 days of baseball and 4,860 regular season games of Major League Baseball! Now that its baseball season again, there’s always something better on TV: baseball- a true escape from reality TV.

Joy Ridding

A sunny day and long blond hair blowing in the wind- it’s all fun and games until you lose control of the ride that ultimately gets you fired.

Was this an April Fools joke? Nope, it was just the ride of his life for the former University of Arkansas head football Coach Bobby Petrino. Most men who are 51 years-old would fantasize about escorting a beautiful 25 year-old blond on the back of his Harley. Shift gears and Petrino’s joy ride ended with four broken ribs, a cracked vertebra and more skid marks on his face than the pavement.

Jeff Long, the school's athletics director said Tuesday that Petrino's lack of candor about his "personal and professional relationship" with a female employee (Jessica Dorrell) who was riding with him on a motorcycle was the key to the decision to fire Petrino.

"Coach Petrino knowingly misled the athletic department and the university about the circumstances related to his accident," Long said in a news conference at the university's basketball arena in Fayetteville. Petrino had "multiple opportunities" over four days after the accident to be forthcoming, "he chose not to."

Maybe Petrino was just trying to protect his wife Becky, his four children, and his mistress by misleading Long and the University about the investigation. If it was just a joy ride with a pretty girl who may have never been on a motorcycle and just wanted to go for a ride then no big deal. (Maybe some could find the age difference slightly awkward, but if this was his daughter, sister or even just a friend- all platonic relationships, this wouldn’t seem so creepy.)

The difference is that Petrino maintained an inappropriate relationship with Dorrell and according to Long the relationship with Dorrell had been for a “significant” amount of time and Petrino had given her $20,000. He would not disclose details of the payment, or when the money changed hands, but said both parties confirmed the "gift." Kevin Trainor, a spokesman for Long, said the money came from Petrino, not university funds.

Petrino has held 15 jobs for 11 different programs/organizations in 24 seasons. Ding, Ding, RED FLAG Becky! If your husband has commitment issues on the field, he probably has them off the field. However, there’s no excuse for Petrino’s infidelity and his failure to disclose the truth.

I’m sure his ego from building a program in just four seasons that ranked in the top five college teams in the nation and coming off an 11-2 record with a Cotton Bowl victory could make any SEC coach feel like they were Tiger Woods or Jack Dawson. We all know how well it worked out for Tiger and Dawson was just a fictional character that went down with the ship.

NCAA violations are never ending, but ethics and moral violations can end everything.

How does Otha Peters feel now? He was a top inside linebacker recruit who decommitted from Tennessee to sign with Arkansas over concerns about the coaching stability of Derek Dooley after his losing records in his first two seasons. Great sales pitch Petrino- karma is a biotch.

Knight School

I’ll be honest- my favorite moment from this year’s March Madness festivities was listening to all the mass media attention that focused on The General, my hero- Coach Bob Knight. While most people only know Coach Knight as the coach who moved a chair out of his way during a college basketball game or being the master of a four letter word, others of us know Coach Knight as being a basketball genius, a what you see is what you get kind of guy and a man who proved that doing things his way isn’t so bad after all.

Coach Knight’s basketball success is a product of running a clean program and placing value on his players graduating. Funny, how those two important standards and keys to success seem to be non-factors in college sports today. Knowing where The General stands and his sense of humor- are you really surprised he refused to say the word “Kentucky”? Instead he referred to the Wildcats as “the team playing from the SEC”. HA- Classic Knightisms!

John Calipari is known for running a “one and done” program in Lexington and who seems to recruit for the NBA and not the classroom makes Calipari a coach and a program that would not pass in the Coach Knight School of basketball. It’s simple people- Coach Knight respects the game of college basketball. And I happen to respect his sense of humor.

Kentucky is the first team to win the NCAA National Championship with a team loaded with one and done players- proving now that it can be done. But how is this good for the game of college basketball? At first, I thought that maybe Calipari has commitment issues. According to VH1’s Basketball Wives- it’s a common characteristic in the NBA. His track record of one and done is pretty impressive unless you are a Wizard’s fan.

We can all assume that NCAA rules were broken in the Calipari strategy to be crowned king at the dance, but what happens if there’s an investigation and players were paid, they never went to class or what if they exchanged merchandise for tattoos? The players will be gone and Calipari might even be Knicks too. Ultimately, the team playing from the SEC wins and history is left with an asterisk. Take notes- this is the new model for an ego driven program of short success, but college basketball should really consider taking Knight Classes.