Overrated Sporting Events

                          

With the Indy 500 looming....I can't help but think about how the Great American Race is just something that, well, I don't care a lick about.  Sure, you could say it's because I'm not into racing....and that's a fair take.  But even most racing fans I know don't watch that race.

I think that with the emergence of NASCAR as the primo racing extravaganza in our culture....the Indy 500 is just a niche thing. 

So, in light of that....here, to me, are the overrated sporting events.

1-INDIANAPOLIS 500:  Like I said, Sunday will come and go without me giving a crap about this race.  I mean, they take....what.....a month to run qualifying on it?  I have no idea who is actually races in this thing [oh, yeah....that chick who gets all the run, Dana Kirkpatrick does].  If I wanna watch some racin' on Memorial Day Eve....it will take place in Charlotte with a bunch of Coca-Cola ads flying around.

2-NFL PRO BOWL:  I've said my piece on this before.  It's the dumbest of all the All Star events.  It takes place after the season....five weeks after half of the players out there last played.  About 60% of the people actually named to the team show up.  And it is the least important NFL game held one week after the most important, the Super Bowl.  Sorry, but the NFC/AFC battle is played on the Super stage....not one in Hawaii.

3-THE NIT:  Okay, I am actually FOR the tournament.  There is nothing wrong with letting these guys play some more hoops.  For many of them, this is the last chance that they get to play on such a stage.  However, it is about as important as the New Orleans Bowl.  Winning this tournament isn't a "championship" thing.  You are the best team that couldn't get into the real tournament.  Again, this isn't against the teams and players actually in it....but to ESPN and the like that act like it's important. 

4-THE X GAMES:  I like the X Games in theory.  But I don't watch them.  And can they at least wait awhile for the next one.  The have the Winter and Summer X games each year.  Space them out just a little bit, huh?  Oh, and in those Winter X games, can they stop with the "chillin' in a cabin with a bunch of tatted up skiiers" view on ESPN???

5-WINTER OLYMPICS:  Again, I've said my piece on this too.  The events in these games suck.  Only hockey gauges my interest....and only figure skating reels in everyones elses.  The USA needed to place those Winter X sports into the fun just to come back with a few extra medals. 

6-THE ARMY - NAVY GAME:  I have the ultimate respect for those who serve[d] in our armed forces.  I have various family members who have served.  But this game means relatively nothing anymore.  In my lifetime [1975-  ], this game hasn't meant a lick on the national level.  Only recently, has either team even sniffed the bowls.  It may as well be the Harvard-Yale game....only with a much more raucous "student section". 

7-BOXING WEIGH INS/PRESS CONFERENCES:  These have become even more cliche the more that they are allowed.  The press conferences consist of barbs thrown at each other to make us [the people they need to fork $50] believe they really hate each other and that their fight will be an all-out brawl.  Of course, it's mostly garbage.  Then, the day before the fight....we get to go out to the casino and witness chisled dudes wearing banana hammocks weigh in like it is Celebrity Fit Club.  Does this need to be a public deal??  Do football players put their pads on for all of us to see??  Look, in a sport which pretty much everything is suspect to foul play....showing us a weigh-in is completely moronic. 

8-THE NFL DRAFT:  Do we really need 15 minutes between picks??  Does the draft coverage need to look like I'm watching the Bloomberg Network???  Sure, in the first hour or two [read: 8 picks] there is some freshness to the coverage.  But after that, we've heard all the nonsense already.  The draft is held several months after the Super Bowl....so we've all heard everything already.  Chris Berman gets bent trying to keep (a) us interested and (b) the analysts on the same page.  And if any of these people really were "experts", they'd be working for an NFL team right now. 

9-THE NHL SEASON:  Do we really need an 82-game season??  Most NHL fans and passers by will tell you that the Stanley Cup playoffs are where it is at.  So let the NHL just be a playoff thing.  Have a 40-50 game regular season....then seed EVERYONE in the NHL for a playoff berth.  It's just one extra round. 

10-A HEAVYWEIGHT FIGHT:  Look, back in the 1990s....I had madd fight parties.  I still love having fight parties.  They are fun, easy, and a good excuse to (a) have people over and (b) in charging $5 a head, getting to see the fight for free.  But those heavyweight fights can just go away.  Unless someone plows thru for the knockout in the first 4 rounds....it will just look like two drunks dancing until one falls down.