Moohead Radio

January 20, 2007 8:32 am

I saw that it was Muhammad Ali’s 65th birthday a few days ago, and I remembered how entertaining he was. I thought of the story of his first fight with Joe Frazier. Ali lay on a table aching from head to toe after the fight. His jaw was swollen like a balloon. Beside him lay an African American woman crying hysterically. It was Diana Ross. Today I found this photo

I then realized how long ago my story was. My age showing, I started thinking how things had changed. When was the last great heavyweight fight I’d seen? Who was the new Ali? I figured if there was one, he’d be plastered all over ESPN1, 2 ,ESPN News, ESPN Classic, ESPN Desportes, ESPN U, or the new ESPN Lunch (it’s only on during lunch). But there is no new Ali. What I do see are the 16 year old high school basketball players on ESPN.

So who’s the next Wilt Chamberlain? Remember 2 things:

1) Wilt slept with 20,000 women (one was Diana Ross)

2) Wilt went to college AND the Globetrotters

It is unlikely that Greg Oden will sleep with 20,000 women due to new penicillin resistant strains of STD’s. It’s more likely he won’t be in college for more than a year. He’ll make more money than Outback Steak House (my least favorite of all the beef places) without a perimeter game or solid jump shot. But in today’s world, to heck with the “J”…it’s the money that matters.

Dick Vitale lives down the street from me. Really. He lives in a 12,000 square foot house. His walk in closet’s bigger than my garage. I’m serious. Here’s proof

How can Dick Vitale afford this kind of house? Well…he’s the pimp of college basketball. He’s the constant reminder that it’s ok to get all gushy about coaches that illegally recruit (have you EVER heard Vitale say: “He’s a lousy coach. He got the kid’s Mom to sign by giving her a Jag, baby”) and players that never go to class and leave after a year or two. If the pimp announcer can afford a 12,000 square foot home, imagine the college coaches…even the high school coaches who lend a hand in the process. They all create a 17 year old Frankenstein, ready to hire an agent, skip college, and go straight to the NBA. Once there, they can get into gun shooting incidents outside of bars, and complain about a lack of playing time or offensive touches. All while making Dick Vitale’s house look like Diana Ross first thing in the morning.

We got high school kids with no fundamental skills in the NBA. Not just dribbling. I mean READING. We got DH’s in MLB that look like Popeye AFTER spinach ingestion. We got guys eligible for Cooperstown who pumped themselves up with HGH and steroids. We got NFL players punching team mates, kicking opponents, slamming their coaches and going on strike. NBA brawls with fans. A baseball commissioner who owns one of the teams. 52 million dollar deals just to TALK to a Japanese baseball player who doesn’t even speak English. Where does it end?

It isn’t just Cleveland sports. The whole thing is out of whack. It makes my radio show a lot easier to prep for.

But something tells me that a closer look at big league sports would be a lot like Diana Ross’s picture. Without the hype, the money and the drama, it’s just getting really old.

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