Yes, we have a new pope. Pope Bob I.
Huh? What? His name is Francis, you say.
Not that pope. Not the one that was anointed by the College of Cardinals to lead the Roman Catholic Church. That was the big news this week.
However, lost in the noise, as it should be, was Adam Collyer of sports blog conglomerate SB Nation’s Black Shoes Diary subsidiary anointing Bob Costas as pope of the Church of Sports Opinion.
“It’s time for Bob Costas to stand up and be counted.” —Adam Collyer, Black Shoes Diary
Verily, on Tuesday this turkey stated with some incredulity that Costas has changed his stand on Penn State, which was made clear in an interview with Kevin Slater of KQQZ in St. Louis last week. Indeed, we are seeing others in the sports media softening or even reversing their stances on the Penn State debacle. However, this notion of “when Costas speaks, people listen” is pure hogwash.
Opinionated people react to public figures pretty uniformly. If the public figure voices an opinion similar to theirs, they place the public figure’s utterances in their catalog of corroborative vacuosity, just to add weight to their meaningless opinions. If the public figure espouses an opposite opinion, they immediately declare him a Commie liberal asshole or a conservative troglodyte asshole, depending on their own political orientation, or in the case of sports opinions, merely proclaim him an incompetent, self-important asshole.
Because they’re stubborn and opinionated, they are not swayed. Pope Francis himself could appear in their South Side sports bar and issue a papal proclamation, but these people would not be moved. They’re opinionated, they’re stubborn, and they don’t listen to anyone who presents even a slightly contrasting opinion. These are the type of people who get into fights about sports. Maybe if you don’t want to listen to their words, you’ll listen to their fists. They hang their hat on obscure facts that they think elevate them to sports guruhood. “If Connie Mack hadn’t pissed him off, Home Run Baker would have been better than Babe Ruth!” Yeah, well, who’s listening?
When Collyer says Bob Costas matters, I have to wonder which brand of legal Colorado reefer he’s been smoking.
Bob Costas matters. His words and opinions matter. In early-December, in the wake of the Jovan Belcher murder-suicide, Costas unexpectedly spoke for a minute and a half on the merits of gun control, and engendered a strong reaction from the conservative political community.
Simply put, Bob Costas has been the voice of American sports for a generation. That’s why his public comments about the Jerry Sandusky child abuse scandal have been significant.
The voice of American sports for a generation? OMG. WTF?
Let’s beatify him now. Sainthood is right around the corner.
Yeah, when Costas spoke about gun control, every NRA member heard about it and pounced. You know, like the guys in that South Side sports bar. Costas has a differing opinion; therefore, he is an incompetent Commie liberal asshole. That summarizes the strong reaction he engendered from the so-called conservative political community, whatever the hell that is. (I suppose that’s the group Obama accused of clinging to its guns and religion.) So, do you think Costas swayed any of the NRA crowd?
Hell, no!
Let me ask you this. When Costas originally spoke about Penn State way back when the Sandusky scandal was breaking, did he sway you? Did you say, “Hey! This guy’s Bob Costas! Hell, he must know what he’s talking about! I’ll just stop believing in the righteousness of Penn State and listen to him. Because he’s Bob Costas!”
No, he didn’t change your mind about anything.
So why does Collyer think that if Bob Costas speaks up, anyone of the opposing viewpoint will prick up his ears and suddenly examine his own viewpoint? Screw dat — it ain’t gonna happen.
“It’s time for Bob Costas to stand up and be counted.”
So says Adam Collyer. LMAO. I guess there’s nothing to write about until spring practice starts Monday.
Painting Costas as the Che Guevara of a cultural revolution that will suddenly transform the sports world into a docile group of Penn State supporters singing Kumbaya around the campfire is sheer folly. It’s wishful thinking. Bob Costas ain’t going to suddenly become our spiritual leader and save all of our asses. Jesus Christ, he ain’t.
He ain’t even Pope Francis.
In summation, this turkey disputes the notion that when Bob Costas speaks, people listen. They might react, but they sure as hell don’t listen. There are none so blind as those who will not see, and Costas ain’t no Seeing Eye dog, either. In any case, don’t hang your expectations on Costas for exoneration of Penn State in the court of public sports opinionation.
I’m treading on dangerous ground here, because AS likes Bob Costas. But she’s highly intelligent, so she listens to me more.
