Sportsman of the Year
Sports Illustrated named Dwayne Wade its Sportsman of the Year last week, but Bill Simmons makes a pretty good case that it should have been New Orleans quarterback Drew Brees:
Brees exemplified everything you'd ever want from a sportsman in a given year: He took an enormous gamble by signing with the Saints last spring when they were in shambles; he fought back from a serious injury and ended up playing his position about as well as it could be played; he gave himself to a wounded city, played a huge role in its ongoing recovery process and turned a below-average team into a playoff contender; and his consistency from week to week was remarkable. With the possible exception of Roger Federer, was there a more memorable, inspirational, talented and influential sportsman in 2006 than Drew Brees? I say no.
posted by JMW at 9:40 PM
11 Comments:
If I hear another Fing word about how the New Orleans Saints are helping heal a Fing wounded city I am going to Fing puke. These pieces of SHT are Fing millionaire athletes that get paid to play a motherFing game. F You motherfathers. They are helping sht other than themselves. Cry me a fing river. Drew Brees couldn't give two shts about New Orleans. F him and F the Saints and F the NFL for beating this dead Fing horse into the Fing ground for TWO MOTHERFATHER FING SEASONS - JESUS FING CHRIST. F you - please Jesus for Xmas bring me saome other mediocre NFL player to die in friendly fire in Iraq so we can forget this Katrina bullsht. F!
Goddammit - do you really think that some fing schmuck who lost everything in the worst flood in history actually cares if the Saints make the playoffs? Will Reggie Bush live with only 3 Escalades so he can give a majority of his salary to give the man back his life? Hey - the Saints are 8 and 4 - well maybe I won't fcking blow my brains out. The NFL needs to shut up and sit the F down. Jesus - the Giants didn't milk 9/11 like this. A winning season will make getting a hang nail feel less important but I guaran-fcking-tee you that if you are homeless, living in a box, and pissing yourself to keep warm at nights - I am pretty sure the local sports team is the last fcking thing on your mind.
Sorry for the profanity Powder - you can ban me if need be.
I would never ban you, Pirate. But two thoughts:
1. I agree with you. At the same time, all Simmons is saying is that Brees has helped around the city, as an individual, not as a "symbol." Not all players do that, I imagine, or at least to varying degrees, so why not praise him for it?
2. I just thought my readers who don't follow sports would want to know that your rant might have been given some extra fuel by the fact that those Saints are kicking the fing life out of your Cowboys on national TV tonight.
True the Saints are killing the cowboys but to be honest that did not come into consideration when writing the comments - the cowboys are going to lose games - it happens - a lot lately - thank God the heroin problem in Plano has passed - otherwise we'd have kids ODing left and right due to this loss.
Bill Simmons guesses that Drew Brees is helping the city - but how? He lists no examples. I cannot find one article that says Drew lended a hand to clear debris or handed out jerseys to underpriviledged homeless kids. From NOLA.com
While many of the team's players and their families live in the suburbs, Drew and Brittany Brees are restoring a 100-year-old home Uptown near Audubon Park. Through the Brees Dream Foundation they plan to help cancer research, youth athletics and scholarships programs. And they have plunged into our most popular sport: eating out (snicker) -- -- from beignets at Cafe du Monde to dinners at some of the city's fabulous restaurants to sno-ball stands around town.
From Drew himself - "The best single thing I could probably do at this point to help this city is win football games."
Every athlete that makes as much money as he does has a foundation -whoopteeshit.
My problem is that I am honestly tired of hearing the same song over and over. Hey Katrina sucked - yes it is a tragedy - the rest of the country has moved on - why can't the NFL? Do they gush that the Bobcats are 9 and 10 and likely to miss the playoffs once again.
If the Saints sucked, Simmons would have FUCKING NEVER mentioned Brees for Sportsman of the year. He signed with New Orleans because they offered him THE MOST MONEY - 6 yrs 60 mil - not out of the goodness of his heart.
I have nothing against Drew Brees or the Saints - I am just tired of the grandstanding. They are a football team not Mother Fucking Teresa.
God help us if they make it to the Super Bowl when we will have montage after montage of Reggie Bush singlehandedly fixing the levees with a stiff arm. I love the football but the NFL makes me sick. I swear to god that if Katrina had not of occurred they still be milking Pat Tillman's dead teat - may he rest in peace. Pat Tillman didn't join the Army to become a spokesman for the NFL and it wasn't until he was killed that they championed him. Fucking sick.
In other words - Simmons can eat me.
I love you and hope all is well.
Dang. Initially I was just going to post taht Drew's dad was my boss at my old firm. He's a fantastic guy, the dad (Chip). Impeccable character, ideal boss. Don't know Drew personally, although he's a local hero for winning the state championship in HS football before going on to bigger things. As for his NOLA Sainthood, eh, I say, whatever makes that city feel good, let them feel good. Sometimes people need to just rally around a symbol, and why scrutinize their symbol.
The "pirate" is right about one thing--the rest of the country HAS indeed moved on from Katrina--EXCEPT for the gulf region, which is still very devastated. And forget about the small towns wiped off of the map in Mississippi. NOLA at least has a lot of public attention going for it (although not enough to save it). This isn't a bad relationship to "move on" from, it's the worst crisis nationally in our lifetime to our fellow citizens, and it deserves a little prologned attention. In other words, what the hell have you done for NOLA, et al, lately? Lay off of their symbol. Dead horse? Sounds more like wishful, whiny thinking.
What I have I done for New Orleans - not a goddamned thing nor do I intend to do anything. Fuck em - I have my own problems.
Besides that - you miss the point. I am sure Drew is the greatest human being ever to play in New Orleans but the truth of the matter is that he is a football player on a football team not the second coming of Christ. What happened in New Orleans - a terrible, horrible thing (aside from my snide comment above.) The NFL championing belittles what real people have done to help out. Saying that a football player or even the whole team is bringing back hope to a city is ludicrous and insulting as well as harmful to New Orleans. I'm saying that the NFL and media outlets touting that the Saints being 8-4 has helped in healing the city actually causes people around the nation to NOT send in money, time, whatever. I'm saying that the people that "feel good" because they have a good quarterback in town for the first time in years are small, petty pieces of shit that didn't spend weeks stuck in the Superdome. I'm saying that if the Saints played in San Antonio or Portland or LA, the NFL would not have ever mentioned Katrina. I'm saying that it is too bad Mississippi has no NFL team so that they too could be healed by a 10 million dollar quarterback and a winning season. What I am saying is that this is the same typical bullshit way that this country responds to all of its problems - we rally around the inane and concern ourselves with the vaginas of whorish teen starlets rather than face the harsh reality that other fucking humans are suffering while we all try to figure out if we should get a plasma or and LCD high def television.
If that is whiny then so fucking be it. If Drew Brees is New Orleans symbol of hope then god help. They are a lot worse off than I thought they were.
Well, true. I'm not saying that there's any logical connection to the city feeling better. And I'm the last person on earth to understand why sports means so much to so many people. But it does. Why else would they send the President (at the time not such a pariah) to throw out the first pitch at a Yankees game after 9/11? It's just an easy way for the city to a) feel happy temporarily and b) feel united around a common cause that doesn't have so many hard questions and difficult answers. Obviously there's no real connection between Brees and rebuilding NOLA other than a spiritual one. But sometimes those spiritual movements lead to concrete, lasting change. It doesn't mean it's not an important contribution if it's an indirect one. And besides, like I said, when you've been so down for so long, feeling better does matter in and of itself.
As long as the good feeling doesn't lead to complancency or evolve into an inflated sense of importance, then we agree.
You'll forgive me, Laurie, if I assume to watch much more football than you. The Saints have been horrible forever. I just wonder if they were 2 and 10 if we would be touting the city rebuilding proficiency of any of their playes. I am guessing no.
Complacency Complacency Complacency
I realize this is an old thread, but I am a woman who lives in NOLA and yes, we have been living on the energy of the Saints this season. That first game in the Superdome brought something to this city that nothing else has been able to do in the last year plus. It is difficult to live here. Progress is slow and crime is rampant. We don't need pity, we do still need support, though. But I'll tell you unequivocally, the emotional lift this team has brought our city is palpable, measurable and appreciated immensely. We thank them all... especially Sean Peyton... Athletes make what they make. That's a social issue that can be argued and changed as our culture dictates. Meanwhile, God bless our Saints. They have kept us alive this year, you just best believe it. If you don't, tune in to that first play off game on Saturday and watch that Superdome explode!!!
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