It is the last month of 2009. Wow, time flies. The holidays should be a time for family, forgiveness and love, instead, for me, it is about disappointment and absurdity; at least for the next ten minutes.

     I am going on five months now with my soon-to-be-copyrighted monthly article entitled MANstruation. The great thing about sports is I will never run out of stupid people to laugh at. I love sports just as much as anyone, but let’s be honest, it is rare to find intelligence in the world of sports. It should come as no surprise that it is an entertainment business much like Hollywood; a popularity contest moreso than talent driven. So why then, do we hold our athletes to a higher standard? Are they better human beings than the rest of us? No. Are they smarter than us? No. The only thing they have going for them is their bank statements. If you expect someone with a wallet so thick it can’t close to not take advantage of their situation in every way possible, even at times when it is the wrong thing to do, you are dreaming. Not that it makes it right, but…

     With all the shocking (*gasp*) allegations about Tiger and the subsequent verbal beating he has taken from a handful of his colleagues, as well as the media and the general public, one might think he was a murderer or rapist. Was anyone really surprised to hear about this? First of all, it’s none of my business, or yours. He is an entertainer. Without him, golf may not even exist anymore. Look at the LPGA, they are losing sponsors and tournaments almost weekly without a recognizable face to hang their hat on. Secondly, for all (or the few) of the fellow players on tour who chastised him for his off the course shenanigans, who are you to denounce the very person who is responsible for your job? If you are not involved with the situation (and this goes for any situation in life) or know the affected parties personally, it is not your place to judge. It’s called prejudice; something that is no better than racism.

     How many of you realize that 50% of marriages end in divorce? Obviously not all of them are caused by infidelity, but I’d bet that is a major contributor. When someone has money thrown at them everywhere they go, along with the adoration and over-bearing attention, their ego will grow. The bigger the ego gets, the worse decisions are made. Should it surprise you that professional athletes are willing to take advantage of the situation they are in? I sincerely hope not. You cannot say, without a doubt, you would not act that way if you were in his position. It has been a long time since kids looked up to professional athletes, I never did. Maybe that is because I was raised to believe everyone is equal, stupid me. Thinking the selfish, greedy humans that most of them are, will change, just makes the rest of us look ignorant.

     Besides, what kind of screwed up civilization have we constructed where the ladies who make the decision to “interact in private” with rich men are essentially glorified? Book deals, appearance’s on Oprah (who does little to curb the problem), and a thousand magazine’s begging at the feet of those who are “taken advantage of” for a story, make it okay for the cocktail waitress’s to crawl into bed willingly but not for the superstar. That’s bogus. They may not deserve the majority of blame but no one likes a gold digger.

     Just so you don’t think I am another ‘hater’, LeBron James is arguably the best player in the NBA, I have no problem admitting that. His talents are out of this world amazing. That said, his act is growing old and tired. I know he is young and vibrant. I know he is not a Rhodes Scholar, having not even attended college (let alone being pushed to the educational limit in high school). None of that matters. There is no room for dancing around at any point during a basketball game. This isn’t So You Think You Can Dance. Yeah, he’s got some moves, he can cut the rug with the best of ‘em, he definitely could dance circles around me, but there is a time and a place. Like they say in football, act like you’ve been there before. Win something before thinking you are entitled to anything. You are the king of nothing as of right now. King Diva maybe.

     It’s not all James’ fault though; I shouldn’t condemn only his actions. It is also the people around him who cater to his every need and egg him on while he does it. It is a game and you should have fun, but when you are beating an inferior opponent by 20+ points late in the game, that is not the time or the place. He knows it (and doesn’t care) and so does everyone else. Grow up ‘Bron ‘Bron. I feel like I have expressed these feelings before, oh yeah, I have.

     The defending Super Bowl Champions are not going to make the playoffs this season. They are 6-7 after suffering a humiliating 13-6 loss to the Cleveland Browns on a dreadful Thursday night in Ohio which came on the heels of a loss at home to the Raiders. That makes five straight losses (one was also to the Chiefs). I'm not concerned with the losing though, seeing as how I don't care for Mike Tomlin's boys. I am more concerned with Hines Ward calling out Ben Roethlisberger for sitting out the game at Baltimore with symptoms from a concussion he previously sustained. That’s bush league Mr. Ward. He is the reason you won a Super Bowl, twice.

     I understand the warrior mentality and I know football players have been hit in the head too many times to care about living a life after football, but for the few who realize that head injuries are extremely serious, like Big Ben, criticizing them is not the way to go. I don’t care if Ward apologized to the entire team. Even if it is true that Ben fakes injuries (or at least making them a bigger deal than they really are), what good does it do to call out your superstar QB? None. Hines Ward is just jealous that his career is on the decline and Santonio Holmes is now the favorite target at wideout. Hines is just butt hurt.

     Speaking of concussions, the NFL, or more specifically, Roger Goodell, suddenly cares about head injuries, huh? I think it is just a front to make me think they care, but I’m no fool. With all the money that rolls in from this modern day gladiator sport, they don’t want to change it. Concussions have been a part of football since people started banging heads together and it will never change. If you don’t like it, don’t play (or watch). It won’t be long before so many rules are implemented, that players will be running around with flags at their hips. If you watch closely, most players already hang one from their waste. So what if it’s a towel, what’s the difference?

     It has been a year chalk full of apologies, not even sports figures were spared. Obviously the latest was Tiger Woods, but ESPN’s Steve Phillips did it, Michael Phelps, Mark Sanchez, and Alex Rodriguez all expressed remorse, just to name a few. I’ve heard the saying it’s better to ask forgiveness than permission, but this is getting ridiculous. Phillips was in Woods’ boat, with the whole affair thing. Phelps was caught smoking the devastating drug marijuana in has become known as Waterbongate. A-Roid apologized for lying about, then admitting to, taking performance enhancing drugs (using his cousin as a scape goat, but we all know who the real goat was). By far, the worst apology was NYJ rookie QB Mark Sanchez though. Apologizing for eating a hot dog on the sidelines during a game? Are you kidding me? They tell me we are a forgiving nation, but I’ve had it with all the apologies. It is like crying wolf. Just because one group of people take offense to something doesn’t mean it warrants an apology. Pretty soon, players will be saying sorry for fashion faux pas, a la Broadway Joe in the fur coat, to which PETA would have destroyed him for, or something stupid like wearing the jersey of a rival at a charity benefit, a la Jeff Fischer. Our nation has become so sissified it makes me want to vomit.

     The 2010 free agent class in the NBA will no doubt be the greatest free agent class in the history of sports. Awesome (*rolls eyes*). Hundreds of millions of dollars are sure to be spent on three or four players, yet our country is trillions of dollars in debt, good ol’ capitalism, right? You know the names, so I won’t go there, but I do want to point something out. The contracts these guys are going to get will be enormous, yet they say they want an opportunity to win. I’m all for “gettin' yours”, but when you make so much money the team can not afford to sign anyone else, that tells me you don’t care about winning.

     I’m not going to propose they take the league minimum because that would be unconscionable, but why not take a pay cut so your team can sign a few other good players making the Larry O’Brien trophy reachable, as opposed to only being attainable in a dream world. Endorsements will more than make up for any money that might be left on the table by these superstars, so what’s the hold up? It makes me question their desire to win. If you’re in it for the money, that’s fine, just quit blowing smoke up our you know what, making us think you care about a ring. Maybe they look at it this way, with all that money, they can just have a replica trophy made, an even bigger and better one. They can also alter their high school class ring with a little more bling, pretending it is a championship ring.

     It makes me sick how spoiled professional athletes are today. It never used to be this way. My grandfather was the sports writer for a local paper decades ago, covering the Oakland Raiders. He would have players over to his house (like Ken Stabler, Ben Richardson, etc.) for dinner more than once in a while. My Mother was young at the time, but remembers the players coming over. I have it on good authority that they were pleasant human beings, nothing like the primadonnas today. Where did we go wrong? When did greed and selfishness and total disregard for others become so prevalent? Thanks a lot, now my Christmas is ruined.