The Big Game's non-story
It is completely bewildering to me as to why Peyton Manning doesn’t get the Mark McGwire media treatment. The “ageless wonder” is not a wonder at all, if you buy into the narrative that he used Human Growth Hormone. And why wouldn’t you buy into it? The NFL's model citizen is 39, he’s two and half years removed from major neck surgery, and an employee at a medical clinic in Indianapolis, under secret surveillance, has him just this year ordering packages of HGH to his mansion under his wife’s name.The National Football League schedules 13 days off between the two league championship games and the Super Bowl, six thousand “journalists” have media passes for the Super Bowl and its adjoining events/parties, and nary a soul is talking or writing about this. Nobody in the Associated Press is nosing through Manning’s locker. Could it be that members of our Fourth Estate are more interested in access to power than the delivery of information? One of the NFL’s two biggest stars got caught cheating red-handed this year, and the other one is Tom Brady.
If and when you choose to listen to Jim Nantz on CBS tonight, don't expect him to bring up the topic. He's already avoided it in two other televised Broncos games. Nantz teamed with Manning on a commercial for Sony television years ago, and when asked why he and his broadcast partner didn't broach the subject of Al Jazeera's HGH report on a Broncos/Chargers game last month, he said firmly, ""No, why would we? If we talk about it, we would only continue to breathe life into a story that on all levels is a non-story. Why add another layer to it?"
Why would he? There's a game on.
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When prominent St. Louis businessmen pitched the NFL a new riverfront stadium proposal for their city, the financing plan called for $300 million to be contributed towards construction by the league. At the ownership meeting last month, commissioner Roger Goodell told the collected owners before their vote on Los Angeles relocation that said plan was unacceptable by league standards. The NFL had a hard and fast rule, he warned, that permits no more than $200 million in league money to go towards new team facilities. Goodell told the owners that the proposal should not be taken seriously, and then Rams owner Stan Kroenke said bluntly a day after that the stadium plan-- as well as the entire financial situation in St. Louis-- would be ruinous not only for the Rams if they were forced to stay, but for any other franchise that might think of relocating there.
Last week, under the cover of the Super Bowl's media glare, the NFL agreed to provide the city of San Diego $300 million towards a potential new stadium for the Chargers.
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Stan Kroenke is a bald asshole.
posted by CM @ 4:49 PM
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