Yep, this is coming from a lifelong Kentucky resident who threw off his Tasmanian Devil UK shirt and cried in the floor when the Wildcats lost in overtime in the 1997 national championship. Fortunately times have changed at least a smidgen, and while I rarely miss a UK game, I've become more and more disgusted by the sports landscape. After UK blows a team out by 20 points and I hear endless bitching about how we won but played like shit I start wishing for the return of Billy Gillespie. At least then we had halfway legitimate claims to bitching. If UK doesn't win the national title the whole year is a failure and the team and coaches should be lucky they aren't executed. But that shit is small potatoes compared to this latest greatness from Rodney Harrison.
The short story is at the Patriots post-Super Bowl party, Rob Gronkowski and Matt Light decided to do a little dancing. This is apparently unacceptable because the Patriots lost, DAMN IT! Wallowing in misery is the only acceptable response and if you act in contrast, no matter your other successes, you are misguided at best and offensive at worst. Listen to this garbage:
"When we lost the Super Bowl, any of my Super Bowl losses, I was so devastated the last thing I ever wanted to do was party, let alone dance or take off your shirt," he added. "It's just immaturity. It's not right. He made a mistake and I'm sure he feels absolutely stupid about it at this point. There's a time and place for everything."
Apparently a jovial attitude after a hell of season and a close game doesn't cut it. I feel weird talking about this, because I do think sometimes I take sports too seriously in general. I think that a majority of the disdain shown towards sports fans is sad, insecure elitism. That said, come the fuck on Mr. Harrison. Professional sports players work hard and make sacrifices in return for making damn good money and playing a game for a living. Rob Gronkowski just had one of the greatest seasons a tight end has had in NFL history. I'd say that guy's got a few reasons after the season is over to exhale and bust a move for a bit if he feels like it.
Harrison again:
"The leadership has to step up and someone has to pull [Gronkowski] to the side and say, 'Look young man, this is inappropriate, this is not the time nor the place. You need to grow up,'" Harrison said. "And that's what it comes down to. I like this kid. I think he's a good kid, works hard, is unselfish. But he made a mistake ...
Grow up? I know that competition at the highest level is going to be taken very seriously. Maybe if Gronkowski had been remixing the Super Bowl Shuffle during a close game on the sideline somebody somewhere might have a point (then again I remember the Derek Anderson debacle from a while back, so yeah, nevermind). Unfortunately for Harrison making any sense is the fact that the game and the season were over! Is there some mandatory grief period where the fun machine is temporarily deactivated? This isn't the followup to a funeral. Grow up? No thanks if this is what's in store, somebody bust out that giraffe and that dumbass song we all sung until they quit running the ads.
Harrison to play us out: "There's a certain way of representing yourself and your family and that's not the right way."
WHAT THE FUCK DOES THIS HAVE TO DO WITH LIGHT AND GRONKOWSKI'S FAMILIES? Oh no, pro football has absorbed the UFC/boxing standby of invoking family every second so we can over saturate your brain to the point where when you hear family, the only one you wish you were a part of is the Mansons. I think at this point we've taken the "Team as Family" concept way too far! "This guy is dancing! I KNOW SOME KIDDOS THAT AREN'T COMING TO THE NEXT SLEEPOVER! HIS WIFE WAS ALWAYS GANGBANG FODDER!"
Just quit, please.
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