By From the Archives

Published: January 14, 2008

That might sound funny coming from a sports journalist; then again, it might not. Some of the most irritating things to the average sports fan reside within the sports world. We all have our biases and dislikes, whether they be teams, players or entire sports.
Many of mine reside within the same medium in which I work. I have no more time to write about all the ways in which I disagree with the national media’s coverage of athletics than you have to read about it, but one topic at a time doesn’t hurt.
Specifically, today’s rant is against those things that are reported that have basically nothing to do with sports but are treated as actual news. What I’m thinking of in particular is the love lives of our favorite competitors being given print or broadcast time as though it’s really the public’s business.
To wit: I realize she hasn’t had a hit movie in years, but why is it necessary for Ashley Judd to pop up in broadcasts for two different sports? It’s nice that she went to Kentucky, it’s nice she’s true to her school and supports the Wildcats’ basketball team, but who cares if she’s in the stands at Rupp arena?
Furthermore, I hope her marriage to Indy 500 champ Dario Franchitti is a happy one and brings their family a lifetime of joy. However, putting a picture of Franchitti in the newspaper using one that also had little misses in it was harder than drawing a watercolor of the guy with the Borg-Warner trophy myeself. It was almost as bad as reading about what Sheryl Crow was doing every day during the Tour de France while she was dating Lance Armstrong.
Maybe Tom Brady really is a nice guy, maybe he is as humble as all the NFL Kool-Aid sippers at ESPN, Fox and the Associated Press believe him to be. But why should we care which model he’s dating this week and which one is having his child? At least Cardinals quarterback Matt Leinart’s baby making involved another athlete, but it’s still not public business.
Which brings me to the dumbest story of the NFL postseason: The impact of Jessica Simpson on the Dallas Cowboys’ failure, more directly the way she supposedly caused QB Tony Romo implosion.
Since we journalists love this sort of thing, the blond bombshell already has a sporting nickname.
Yoko Romo.
First off, I’m not sure I’d compare this year’s edition of the Cowboys to the Beatles, nor would I compare Romo to Troy Aikman, let alone John Lennon. But, since they’re the Cowboys and everything that exists in the NFL world is a big deal in our business, somebody needed to put the blame on the team’s most famous girlfriend.
I guess it could be worse. At least Simpson is taking some of the attention away from Terrell Owens, which is good for all of us.
The question is, do these people really think the Cowboys lost to the Giants because their QB has a famous main squeeze?
The Cowboys had the advantage in almost every statistical category, yet still managed to lose. They were penalized 11 times for 83 yards in the game, so maybe Jessica caused everyone else’s attention to wander, not just Romo.
Since the team frowned on their star QB having a public fling with a famous girl, perhaps Jerry Jones should put a “no pop singers” clause in Romo contract.
Should the A-list affair end during the offseason, what will the headlines be the first time Romo stinks up the joint?
Whatever they are, there will be headlines.