More "sports" notes

The NFL lockout has led to a number of arrests of players with nothing better to do but drive around turning up the bass on their car stereo systems to ear-splitting levels. Examples:

Louis Murphy of the Oakland Raiders was pulled over for playing his music too loud, then refused to show his ID, then arrested for resisting arrest. A search of his car revealed an unlabeled bottle of Viagra pills; Murphy claimed he took the label off so that his girlfriend would not know what the pills were, which would have suggested that he required extra assistance to get excited by the idea of sleeping with her.

Jason Peters of the Philadelphia Eagles was charged with violating the Shreveport, Louisiana, loud music policy and resisting arrest. No other reason was given for the arrest.

The Raiders may not have been “bad” on the field lately, but they certainly are bad when it comes to music. Another one of the team’s players, Mario Henderson, was pulled over for—yes—playing his music too loud. He was subsequently arrested for having a gun in his car without a concealed weapons permit handy.

These haven’t been the only arrests, nor for reasons as high-handed, but they are suggestive of the fact that being a high-paid black athlete is nothing to local police save a grinning “I got you.” You think police are not on the look-out for black athletes driving expensive cars, trying to show them who is the real “boss?” Frankly, I can’t stand some of this music blasting out of some of these cars, but besides my feelings, there are other good reasons to turn that bass down.

Meanwhile, remember George Stephanopoulos? He used to be a “player” inside the Clinton administration; after that he became a talking head on television, and now has devolved into a high-paying position on Good Morning America, interviewing so-called “newsmakers” such as Jenn Sterger last week. I don’t know who has the time to watch this stuff, maybe desperate housewives and unemployed people who need a titillating diversion in their lives, but apparently Sterger is still playing the victim (although she admits that she and Brett Favre never actually “met”), claims that she never intended things to go this far (of course not—now that she’s been out of job since she was fired from Versus), and she still claims that she doesn’t know how Deadspin got those voicemails and pictures that she gigglingly confessed to having to that website’s editor (they were “fun to laugh at” betwixt friends). Now, of course, she’s mad that her former manager won’t return the “goods” that Bus Cook claimed were being used to “suggest” a money deal over (i.e. blackmail), and plans on writing a “tell-all” book on the case; she knows that any idea of having a “serious” career would be over.

I’ve talked about this issue many times. What Favre did or alleged to have done was stupid given the fact that he was married. But it also remains true that facts suggest that Sterger was an enthusiastic attention-seeker, using whatever “assets” she had. There she was at those Florida State football games, the very sight of her would convince 5,000 “red-blooded American males” to enroll at the school; before long she was posing in Playboy. The next logical step in her career trajectory? Getting a gig on Sports Illustrated’s website, supposedly to provide “atmosphere” posting about college life, like partying. It was reported in September, 2007 that she had been fired. In her predictable cat-claw way, Sterger denied the charge, although given the fact that she had not been given an assignment for several months prior (in fact, her output consisted of a couple of innocuous items over three months), SI was probably just being nice by firing her without telling her. Then she became a New York Jets “hostess”—not a “team reporter” as was initially claimed. One sports reporter who examined Sterger’s blog noted that all of the posts dating from the Jets period were deleted. I wonder why. Sterger managed to find employment on Versus’ “The Daily Line,” which was already in trouble a month in; if someone thought that Sterger’s connection with Favre would bring ratings, it backfired. In between times, Sterger has been looking for “reality” TV work, which is generally the last option for talentless, self-enamored people looking for fame and a quick buck.

The National Sports Daily reported “rumors” that Sterger was less interested in Favre (the “old man” who was “fun to laugh at”), but in Brady Quinn, who was drafted as the “quarterback of the future” by Cleveland, but who since has been keeping the bench warm for Tim Tebow in Denver. If the story is right, Sterger wanted to have an “adult” relationship, which to Quinn apparently meant “wifing” her-up and having kids (god, this is getting worse and worse). However, Sterger didn’t want to be perceived as a “trophy” wife (Sterger a “trophy wife?” How much worse can things get now?). “He never liked what I did for living,” Sterger supposedly wrote. Does she mean this Notre Dame boy didn’t like her selling her frame for fame? Of course not--she meant her alleged acting and writing career, which frankly is as non-existent today as his football career. But that’s all over; the next time she saw him, there were no butterflies in her stomach; it didn’t matter because he didn’t notice her or say hello anyways. “I ignored him…all was right in the world.”

OK,OK, OK. You win.