RYAN'S RANTS

What Grinds My Gears

You know what really grinds my gears?

-NASCAR. How are NASCAR drivers even mentioned in the same conversations as athletes like Michael Jordan, Babe Ruth, Tiger Woods, and Tom Brady? At least golf is a sport so Tiger can be mentioned in the same sentence as the others, but NASCAR? In what way is NASCAR a sport? Machines do all the work, the drivers are not athletes at all. I’m not saying that I could win the Indy 500 or anything, but it’s driving a car. The competition in that field is incredible, there is a lot that goes into winning a NASCAR race, but it’s a race not a sport. I don’t want to hear Jimmie Johnson being mentioned as the athlete of the year for winning his third consecutive Cup Series Championship, just call him the NASCAR driver of the year.

-College Football Defenses. I’m all in favor of watching exciting games but how come every game involves a score over 50 points. The Oklahoma Sooners have scored over 60 points in their last three games. The most recent game had a score of 61-41 against Oklahoma State. These are the best kinds of games to watch but it makes me wonder… where are all of the defensive prospects going to come from? Will this be a weak NFL draft for defensive players or does each college team have a few great players on the defensive side of the ball but not enough depth around them to hold opposing offenses in check. This was the case for Boston College, whose linebacker group is one of the best in the country. They held Maryland to negative seven rushing yards for the game but the secondary was torched for 360 yards and 2 touchdowns. College football teams should stress open field tackling in every practice.

-Happy Ending Sport Movies. Every sports movie has the most predictable ending. If it’s a football movie, the team will be losing and getting banged around. Then there will be inspirational music playing as the clock winds down and they score the game winning touchdown. How many times do we have to see that? I would say that the best football movie is “Friday Night Lights” which is a true story and it involves them losing in the end. It was the most realistic football movie that I’ve seen. The best football player gets injured and tries to return to the field only to be injured so badly that he can never play football again for the rest of his life. They rally behind his backup and make it to the championship game only to lose to the better team. This gives some reassurance that football is not just a game of fairytales. Please, no more happy ending sports movies unless they are true stories that have to end in such a fashion, in which case I will just avoid.