Exposing various sports myths

You hear common adages and ideas talked about when it pertains to sports. You either a) Assume it makes sense because you don’t know any different or b) It makes you get on your soapbox.

Having been a sports fan for about 35 years and reporter for 18 years, I have heard many cliches, adages and myths. I’m not a reporter by profession anymore but remain a sports fan. Some of these ideas, adages, clinches and/or myths, I still believe but others get me on my soapbox. At age 43, I find the soapbox list getting longer. The scary thing about this column is, I could make the list even longer but in the interest of space, I won’t.

Without further adieu:

• Common opponent theory

I am definitely not blameless in this because as a reporter I would point out scores from common opponents but not because I believed it was an accurate predictor of the upcoming game. I simply needed to fill space. Timing, circumstances, etc. debunk this argument.

• If they play like that next week theory

Anyone that buys this theory is either stupid, ignorant or naive. Perhaps all of the above. You know, Team A beat Team B by 21 points and Team C by 44 points. Team B beat Team C by 17 points. By that logic, Team A should beat Team C by 61 points. Sorry folks, it rarely works out that way. Just because a football team wins 44-10, commits only four penalties and no turnovers against a team that was 3-1 entering Week 5 on Oct. 5 does not mean they will take the exact same performance three weeks later against a 1-7 team and win 77-10. In fact, the chances of a team performing exactly the same way for consecutive weeks is about 1-to-13,000,000.

• Defending champions

When a team wins a championship whether it’s Super Bowl, NBA title, Worlds Series, NCAA or pie-eating title, I hear the word “defending” in front of the word “champion.” What exactly about the title is the team defending? They won the title. There is nothing to defend. You can talk about all the asterisks, player injuries to other teams, etc. The team won the damn title.

• Draft grades/recruiting rankings

Whether it’s the NFL Draft, NBA Draft or college football recruiting rankings, very few things defy common sense more than this garbage. So you are evaluating a player before they even play at the next level. That’s like grading a test that hasn’t been taken yet.

• College football preseason rankings

This ranks right up there with post-draft and post-recruiting rankings. There are some that would give rankings to boot regardless of what time of year. While rankings are conjecture-filled, I can at least live with rankings after four games because it is done after teams have established a body of work.

• Random clueless Little League parents

A) Kid is having trouble throwing strikes. Adult goes, "C'mon throw strikes." Like the kid is trying to throw pitches out of the strike zone.

b) Kid at bat pops up to second base. Clueless adult goes, "Nice hit!" No, he made contact. That doesn't make it a hit.

• Tarnish his legacy

“(Insert any random future Hall-of-Famer) is tarnishing his legacy by playing too long.” I give that statement the middle digit twice. For one, who are you to decide if a player should retire? If a player continues to play for the right reasons, I’m all for it. If it is to help the team win even if it means taking a secondary role, I don’t care if he plays until he’s 65. If he’s doing it to pad stats, go away.

Secondly, this argument is bogus because, for example, what you are saying is that just because Jerry Rice’s last two seasons (2003-2004) in Oakland and his half-season in Seattle (also 2004) were nondescript, I have to suddenly forget about his 16 great years as a San Francisco 49er and two Pro Bowl seasons as a Raider?

So what you are saying is that just because Michael Jordan looked like an oridary player as a Washington Wizard, I suddenly have to forget that game-winning shot he made in the 1998 NBA Finals over Bryon Russell?

• Score too soon

Pick any random football game when a team scores a touchdown with a minute and change left to go ahead, for example, 27-23. Listen to clueless commentator say, “You don’t want to score too soon. You’ll give the other team time to score.”

Here’s a novel concept. True, you’d love to score the winning points with no time on the clock but that’s not reality. The offense’s job is to score, if you have the chance, you score. Period. End of discussion. You have no control over what your team’s defense does after you score.