A-Rod, and Brett Favre too

Please tell me I'm not the only one who is sick and tired of seeing these two clowns' names plastered all over the news. There are few things that irritate more than stupid athletes doing stupid things and making stupid headlines regarding those stupid actions.

So A-Rod finally decided that he had no other option than to come clean and admit he used PEDs (aka performance-enhancing drugs... by the way, when did this become the official abbreviation? I must have missed this). In an exclusive interview with ESPN's Peter Gammons on Monday, he spilled the beans. For a nearly 3-year period between 2001-03, he claims that he used banned substances. Prior to the 2001 season, A-Rod signed his record-breaking 10-year $252 million contract. His excuse for taking the drugs? He felt an enormous amount of pressure. Seriously? I can safely say that he brought that on himself by demanding $25 million per year over the next 10 years. He felt he needed to perform at a high level every day. He claims he doesn't know exactly what substances he took or where they came from, saying it was a "loosey-goosey era". The interview came just over two years after an interview with Katie Couric, in which he stated that he has never taken any illegal substances.

My question is: does anyone really care what this guy says anymore? Does he really have any credibility left? The only thing he had going for him before this interview was that he was the "clean one". He was the one who would eventually break the all-time home run record, and he would do it without taking steroids. Well all that's gone now. He hit 159 home runs during his time in Texas and whether or not the substances influenced that will never be known. He was the White Knight, the Harvey Dent of Major League Baseball. This guy has been the center of so much controversy, from his contract opt-out debacle in Texas, to his "alleged" affair with Madonna that eventually led to the divorce from his wife, to this latest incident. Can anybody believe anything that comes out of this guy's mouth? I personally have never liked him and now I just find him downright despicable.

Future All-time home run leader*

Now, on to Brett Favre. He announced yesterday that he was retiring. Again. Does anyone really care? He had a sub-par season in 2008, a very un-Favre-like campaign. In his last five games with the Jets, he threw 8 interceptions and just 2 touchdowns. The low point of the season came in the final week when Chad Pennington, the QB the Jets dropped to get Favre, led Miami to a victory and a playoff berth, effectively knocking Brett's Jets out of the postseason picture. Favre's season totals came to 22 TDs, 22 INTs. I guess that's fitting for the guy who holds the NFL's all-time records for both touchdown passes and interceptions in a career. Brett, get over yourself. You're 39 years old which, in football years, is about 70. You're a senior citizen. You're almost eligible for your AARP card. And the worst part is, despite how much he loves the game, he just can't cut it anymore. The game has passed him by and the 2008 season was something that never should have happened for him.

And if I have to see another tear-filled press conference where he openly bawls like a little girl over retiring or one more article about how "the league is never going to be the same", I'm going to lose it. That press conference last year was a joke. It was not sad or emotional. It was a complete joke. If he felt that passionately about continuing to play football, he should have just marched right up to the Packers' front office and demanded a trade. No, instead, he mulled it over for months and in the process almost ruined the Packers off-season moves by burdening them with unnecessary salary cap considerations. At the same time, he alienated himself from the rest of the team and the upper management of the Packers, while putting additional, unneeded pressure on the new starter Aaron Rodgers. He thoroughly insulted the Packers front office in an interview and left a sour taste in just about everyone's mouth over the situation. After pouting for a couple weeks, the Packers obliged and traded him to Jets, where he maintained the same selfish, crybaby attitude. That's right, I said it. He is selfish. One of the more selfish athletes in sports, actually. When the Packers drafted Aaron Rodgers, what seems like about 10 years ago now, Favre was quoted as saying that he wasn't interested in mentoring Rodgers. What a great guy. What veteran quarterback wouldn't want to take a rookie under his wing and show him the ropes? A selfish, conceited one like Favre, who only cared about his own interests (and, apparently, Michael Strahan's). The reason he stayed for a 17th season was to break the touchdown record. The reason he came back for an 18th was to try to prove he could hack it somewhere else. And as for all these sports writers penning article after article about how he changed the game and how the game will never be the same without him, spare me. You already wrote these articles, a year ago. It's recycled material. We all know how great he was and how he changed the game because you already told us. I'm sick of this even being a news story.

Cry me a river Brett. Just please don't do it in public this time.

So you know what? I'm glad he fell on his face in New York. He was never cut out for the Jets and his heart was never in it. He alienated himself from the rest of the Jets team all of last season and some of their star players (ahem, Thomas Jones) were calling for him to not come back in 2009. And I'm glad he isn't coming back. To me, this retirement is at least a year overdue and I say good riddance to him. I won't deny he is one of the best quarterbacks of all time, because he is. He is, without a doubt, a first-ballot Hall of Famer. I just wish his attitude during his years in the league (especially toward the end) was a little better. But maybe the worst part about this retirement is that we will all probably be subjected to watching him on some network's pre-game and/or post-game coverage eventually. Good thing I usually don't watch that crap.


* On steroids for roughly 159 of those home runs