The Crow's Nest

Judging by what Facebook was telling me, the conclusion of the most recent installment of Monday Night Football, which is no longer on network television and is on cable (don’t get me started), was marred in controversy.

So what?

Referees are humans, and humans make mistakes. I’d contend the first few weeks of the season was must-see television because you had no idea what was going to happen. I can’t tell you exactly what happened, but simply: there was a bad call.

A few days later, the No-Fun League and Referee’s Union came to an agreement. Commissioner Goodell’s press conference was seen live on CNBC, Faux News Channel, CNN, ESPN, ESPN NEWS, and we no longer get MSNBC in RHO, but I reckon it was on there as well. It was front-page news in the Thursday’s Tampa Bay Times, USA Today, New York Times and in The Oracle.

Was it really that slow of a news day?

I love sports as much as and probably more than the next guy. Where I choose to work is evident of that: Tropicana Field, Raymond James Stadium, Al Lang Field and Bright House Networks Stadium. I’m also writing this while wearing a Jack Kemp jersey—if you don’t know who Jack Kemp is ask your dad—and I’m listening to Gene Dekerhoff calling the Buc’s game on WDAE.

With that said, lets be honest: sports are the men’s version of “Keeping up with the Kardashians.”

Now, look around campus. Administration has some funny numbers when it comes to the new University Revenue Building. Or, administration is asking Student Government to legitimize the budget with said numbers. Or, voting for yours truly for Homecoming King.

Look at the city: the Pier’s days are numbered, and a lot of the community disagrees over the $50 million set to build a new one.

Look at Pinellas County, which no longer has fluoride in our water (at least the City of St. Petersburg still does).

Take another step back and look at our state: our incumbent senior senator of 12 years, Bill Nelson, is facing a legitimate challenger.

Our governor cut over a billion dollars for education from his first budget only to increase education spending by less than a billion dollars, goes on a “listening tour” and suddenly he is the “Education Governor.” Please. There are non-citizens on the voter roll. We continue to lose precious acres of pristine Florida to development every day. Counties are reducing impact fees forcing those who already live in an area to pay for its growth. We spend billions on beach renourishment.

Three Florida Supreme Court Justices are under attack from the Florida Republican Party in their retention elections, because two of them were nominated by the late Governor “Walkin’” Lawton Chiles and a joint appointee of Governor Chiles and his successor Jeb Bush.

Then a look at the USA: A sitting president is running for re-election, Congress is as deadlocked as it was during the build up to the War Between the States or during the Civil Rights standoffs.

Earth: Russia is apparently our number one geopolitical foe, the Chinese continue to manipulate their currency, and it looks like either Iran is going to decimate Israel or Israel is going to strike first. But let’s focus instead on the Duchess of Cambridge’s topless photographs published in the French press.

As I said earlier, I’m a sports fan and we got some great entertainment coming up: the SEC regular season, ALCS & NLCS, Midnight Madness, the World’s Series, the Breeders Cup will be held at Santa Anita this year (even though there won’t be a rematch of I’ll Have Another and Union Rags in The Classic), the Bowl Season, Big East and ACC basketball, Super Bowl, and the Winter Classic if there is a resolution of between the NHL and the NHLPA.

But sports are just sports. They are distractions from everyday life. When distractions start mattering in real life, especially in something as trivial as replacement refs (its not like the Black Sox Scandal of 1919), society needs to check itself and take a civics class.

fkurtz@mail.usf.edu