It is only July and it has already been one of the longest, strangest, most miserable summers for a sports fan. This is especially true for a Steelers fan stuck living in New York City where there are losing teams, whining athletes, and celebrity-jock scandals in the tabloids everyday. Exactly when does the football season begin again?
The crack staff at Steeler Parody was excited when Summer officially began on May 21st thinking we just came out of a great NFL draft and were looking forward to an exciting 2008 season. All we had to do was wait for training camp to start. Then we woke up…camp starts in August! August...August...that was THREE MONTHS AWAY! Three months of what? The NHL and NBA playoffs; Arena Football; Wimbledon; the Indy 500; and oh my God, GOLF! (We were sure hoping Tiger Woods won EVERYTHING)
Then we got a bright shining moment…the Pittsburgh Penguins were actually playing for the championship! We Pittsburghers around the globe could actually walk away with a trophy and the Steelers weren't even playing! Of course, we all know the results. But at least the boys from the Igloo made us proud.
What was left? The Celtics and the Lakers? Pittsburgh hasn't had a basketball team since the ABA, so we had about as much interest in the winner as who was going to win "The Bachelor" (Okay, I was kind of interested in that one).
Then sports in New York turned ugly. The Yankees, the most viable winning team in this city, lost. And lost. And kept losing. So we at Steeler Parody started watching the Mets. And they lost. And lost. And lost again. Hey, at least they still had Willie Randolph, a former Pirate. At least they did until 3:15 AM on a Monday morning via email. Oops.
But it was okay, the Giants, who we were weren't real big fans of (okay we hate them), were getting their Super Bowl rings. That is always entertaining, especially when Michael Strahan, the life of the party, is there. But he didn't show up. A week later a bunch of the rings were stolen. Oops.
Okay the Knicks could cheer up the city. They would get the number one draft pick this year as all they had to do is have a ping-pong ball bounce their way. Oops.
At least we could watch Alex Rodriguez play. Sure, the Yankees were losing, but there was a great baseball player, a guy who was a team player dedicated to his wife, and so lucky to just have become a father again a few weeks ago. Wait, he's been texting with Pete Rose? Oh, there's nothing to that, he's just getting some hitting tips. Wait, what's he's doing with Madonna? Oh, they're just friends. That's cool. Wait, his wife is moving in with Lenny Kravitz. Getting divorced? He's cheating on her? Oops.
So here we are, only THREE MORE WEEKS to camp. Oh, thank Goodness. One more loss, one more scandal, one more miserable ANYTHING, and I swear, I"M MOVING BACK TO PITTSBURGH.
I guess there is only one thing left to do for three more weeks in New York City:
Keep Laughing.
Comments welcome:
jim_aronson@yahoo.com