There will be a team from California in the 2014 World Series and no it won’t be the Dodgers or Angels; it will be the San Francisco Giants. Again. It hurts me to say, but the Giants are the most complete team in the league, and are better than their Southern California counterparts. Since winning two World Series titles in the last four seasons, the Giants have quietly been one of the better teams in baseball but haven’t got the recognition they deserved because of all the hype of their So-Cal rivals. I’ve got to give credit where credit is due.

Madison Bumgarner has lead the Giants back to the fall classic in 2014. By SD Dirk on Flickr, via Wikimedia Commons

They handily beat the Pittsburgh Pirates in the Wild Card game in Pittsburgh, then the Washington Nationals who had the best record in the National League. The Giants dispatched them in four games.

The pipe dream would have been to finally see a Dodgers-Giants NLCS, but the Dodgers couldn’t live up to their part of the deal and handed the Cardinals a series win thus setting up another Cardinals-Giants NLCS showdown.

A combination of great pitching from the Giants and injuries and mistakes for the Cardinals gave San Francisco the series win and another World Series appearance.

The San Francisco Giants will meet the red-hot — and surprising — Kansas City Royals in the World Series starting October 21^st in Kansas City. Recent history favors the Giants to win the series, but the way the Royals are playing anything is possible. My advice to the Royals would be to make sure to take the first two games in Kansas City, otherwise the Giants might get to party in San Francisco, celebrating a third consecutive even-year World Series title.

Over a year after the Dodgers’ last World Series appearance, their glorious 1988 championship, the Berlin Wall fell.

The Dodgers have not been in a World Series since the Berlin Wall fell.

— Parker Evans (@parker_d_evans) October 8, 2014

The last time the Dodgers won the World Series, the Berlin Wall still stood.

So, I thought about who hasn’t been in the Series since the Dodgers last made it. When the Dodgers won the 1988 series, Pete Rose was the manager of the Cincinnati Reds.

When Gibson hit his famous home run, Masahiro Tanaka was weeks away from being born and Mike Trout wasn’t even a sparkle in his father’s eye. Trout, in fact, was three years away from being born.

Here is a list of the teams that have not been to the World Series since 1988

* Los Angeles Dodgers

* Seattle Mariners

* Milwaukee Brewers

* Pittsburgh Pirates

* Chicago Cubs

* Baltimore Orioles

* Kansas City Royals

* Washington Nationals

Eight teams, in case you didn’t count. This season, the number is guaranteed to go down by at least one, and maybe two.

There have been four expansion teams since 1988. All have made the World Series and two have won. Everyone in the National League West EXCEPT for the Dodgers have made the Series this century.

I’m not asking anyone to take pity, just trying to contextualize tonight. If I didn’t, I think I might fall into an endless cascade of sorry and self-pity.

I will likely stay off Facebook for the next 24 hours or so to avoid the trollsmanship that’s sure to occur. If you have something to say, go ahead and comment. Pile on, whatever.

Like Chad Moriyama, I’m pretty numb right now. Instead of having a meltdown myself, I’ll just link you to him there.

The Red Sox weren’t a very good team in 2012, but I was lucky enough to be able to attend a game at Fenway Park last season. I went to Fenway in early September for a game against the Blue Jays, shortly after the huge Red Sox-Dodgers trade happened.

It was a rainy night in Boston yet the stadium was packed eager to watch their beloved Red Sox. When I left Fenway that night, never did I think in a million years would the Red Sox be crowned champions of the baseball world the next season, especially after a trade that saw Adrian Gonzalez, Carl Crawford and Josh Beckett pack their bags and head west. But it happened. What an incredible story for the city of Boston, for its fans and for baseball fans all over the world, except for maybe Cardinal and Yankee fans of course.

David Ortiz led the Red Sox to their third World Series title in the last 10 years. By Googie man at the English language Wikipedia, via Wikimedia Commons

The Boston Marathon bombing and the city’s reaction to it has, in many ways, redefined the “Boston Strong” mindset of Beantown.

Earlier in the year, the Celtics couldn’t bring a title back, the Bruins lost in the Stanley Cup Finals and finally the Red Sox broke through. After clinching the American League-East title with slight ease, they took on the Tampa Bay Rays and beat them in four games before taking out the Tigers in six games in the American League Championship Series.

Finally, the Red Sox would meet up with the St. Louis Cardinals after the red birds beat the Dodgers in the NLCS in six games as well. Last night, the Sox clinched and Boston partied.

They started the season off strong and never looked back, which is rare to do in the grueling 162-game season. This team was destined for greatness all season long and they earned the right to call themselves champions. For the first time in awhile, the absolute best team in baseball all season won the title — they weren’t just some “hot” team who climbed into the playoffs and went on some magical run. The 2013 baseball season is over but won’t be forgotten and we all are looking forward to opening day 2014. For now, Boston is partying like its 1918.

The new ownership couldn’t wait to make a splash.

The day was August 25, 2012 and nobody knew the kind of storm that was about to rock Major League Baseball. The Boston Red Sox and Los Angeles Dodgers agreed on a trade that sent Adrian Gonzalez, Carl Crawford, Josh Beckett, Nick Punto and their combined $260 million-plus contracts to Los Angeles. It was one of the biggest deals in sports history just because of the money involved, not to mention the players.

In exchange for Gonzalez, Beckett, Punto, and Cawford, the Dodgers traded long-time first baseman James Loney and minor leaguers. From a skill standpoint, the Dodgers got a steal but the deal helped the Red Sox shed a ton of salary to put them in a more flexible financial position.

Could Dodger Stadium host a World Series game in 2013 for the first time since 1988? By Frederick Dennstedt, via Wikimedia Commons

The Red Sox started off the 2013 season hot and haven’t looked back.

The Dodgers, on the other hand, were 9.5 games back of the division lead in June. Injuries and a lack of excitement in the clubhouse made things pretty glum for the bums and their fans.

With injuries to multiple outfielders, Yasiel Puig was called-up. Since he and Hanley Ramirez started playing together, the Dodgers have been on a hot streak and don’t seem to be looking back. The Dodgers now hold a 9.5 game lead of their own in a miraculous and historic turnaround. Before a few recent losses, they had gone 42-8 over a 50 game stretch, something that hadn’t been done in the past 100 years.

Could it be possible for the Dodgers and Red Sox to meet up in the fall classic just a year after the huge trade? Yes, it is very possible and many people would love to watch that matchup. But for now, all we as fans can do is sit back and watch because both of these teams in their own way are fun to watch.

Now that the poor excuse for America’s favorite sport has finished its season with a blackout rather than a bang, it’s time for Major League Baseball teams to report for Spring Training in preparation for what could be one of the greatest seasons in the sport’s history.  For the second time in three years the World Series champion came out of the National League West. The only problem with this is that it was the San Francisco Giants, both times.  2013 is a new season, and as the rest of the teams in the NL West demonstrated this past offseason, it is going to be very difficult for the Giants to repeat as division winners or World Series champions.  Here’s everything you need know about the National League West as Spring Training gets underway.

Arizona Diamondbacks

2012 Roundup:

Record: 81-81 (38-34 vs. NL West); finished 3^rd, 13 games behind the Giants.

Team BA: .259

Team ERA: 3.93

The 2012 Diamondbacks started the regular season on a very positive note with a three game sweep of the eventual champion Giants, but after a 5-1 start they found themselves with a 23-28 record at the end of May.  They were never able to find their stride, hovering around the .500 mark throughout the rest of the season. Nevertheless, these Diamondbacks showed the rest of the division that they will be competitive in 2013.

Key Offseason Moves:

• Traded Justin Upton and Chris Johnson to the Braves for Martin Prado, Randall Delgado and three minor leaguers; they subsequently signed Prado to a four year contract.
• In a three team trade with the Oakland Athletics and Miami Marlins, the Diamondbacks traded Chris Young and cash to Oakland for Cliff Pennington and minor leaguer Yordy Cabrera, then turned around and sent Cabrera to Miami for Heath Bell.
• In a three team, nine player trade with the Cleveland Indians and Cincinnati Reds, the Diamondbacks sent Trevor Bauer, Matt Albers, and Bryan Shaw to the Indians in exchange for Tony Sipp and Lars Anderson, and Didi Gregorius from Cincinnati.  Anderson was later cut.
• Signed J.J. Putz to a two year extension after picking up his option.
• Traded Ryan Wheeler to the Rockies for Matt Reynolds.
• Signed free agent Brandon McCarthy to a two year contract.
• Signed free agent Cody Ross to a three year contract.
• Signed free agent Eric Chavez to a one year contract.
• Signed free agent Eric Hinske to a one year contract.
• Signed free agent Rod Barajas to a minor league contract.

After showing a lot of promise in 2012, the Diamondbacks are looking to capitalize on a strong offseason by putting together a 2013 regular season worthy of winning the NL West.  This roster has a lot of versatility with guys who can play everywhere, and a pitching staff that has the ability to surprise a lot of people.  However, it could be harder than ever to win the division this season with the deep pockets in Los Angeles hell-bent on winning it all right away.

Colorado Rockies

2012 Roundup:

Record: 64-98 (28-44 vs. NL West); finished 5^th, 30 games behind the Giants.

Team BA: .274

Team ERA: 5.22

The Rockies began the 2012 season with a fairly decent April, finishing with a respectable 11-11 record. With the benefit of hindsight, they probably would have preferred if the season ended then.  May, June, and July brought a combined record of 26-53 with the team reaching double digit wins in only one of the three months.  Injuries took their toll throughout the entire season as the Rockies stumbled to a last place finish for the first time since 2005.

Key Offseason Moves:

• Signed Dexter Fowler to a two year contract.
• Traded Matt Reynolds to Arizona for Ryan Wheeler.
• Signed Jeff Francis to a one year contract.
• Signed Chris Volstad, Manny Corpas and Yorvit Torrealba to minor league contracts.
• Named Walt Weiss manager.

A quick look at the projected lineup for the 2013 Colorado Rockies shows what could be a very strong team offensively, but there are questions surrounding the team’s pitching.  The Rockies switched to a four-man pitching rotation in mid-June, and reports out of Denver late last season were saying the team planned on utilizing this strategy in 2013 as well.  With superstar players such as Troy Tulowitzki and Carlos González locked up long term, the Rockies have put together a solid base for success in the future, it’s just a matter of placing the correct pieces around them, and that starts with pitching.

Can Clayton Kershaw round back into Cy Young form and lead a voracious starting rotation to the promised land in 2013? By SD Dirk on Flickr (Originally posted to Flickr as “Clayton Kershaw”) [CC-BY-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

2012 Roundup:

Record: 86-76 (35-37 vs. NL West); finished 2^nd, 8 games behind the Giants.

Team BA: .252

Team ERA: 3.34

The 2012 regular season could not have gotten off to a better start for the Los Angeles Dodgers.  After starting 9-1, the Dodgers finished 16-7 in the month of April, marking the most wins in franchise history in the first month of the season.  A ten-inning victory over the Chicago White Sox gave them a 42-25 record on June 17, which was quite impressive considering the injuries (specifically to Matt Kemp) the team had endured up until this point.  Alas, this marked the beginning of the end for the Dodgers; they lost fifteen of their next twenty games leading into the all-star break, and played .500 baseball throughout the second half of the season.  In mid August, the new owners attempted to salvage the season in a blockbuster trade with the Boston Red Sox, but it proved too be late.  In the trade, the Dodgers acquired Adrian Gonzalez, Josh Beckett, Carl Crawford and Nick Punto, along with their contracts that totaled over $260 million.

Key Offseason Moves:

• Signed free agent Zack Greinke to a six year contract.
• Signed free agent Ryu Hyun-jin to a six year contract.
• Re-signed free agent Brandon League to a three year contract.
• Signed free agent J.P. Howell to a one year contract.
• Traded Jake Lemmerman to the Cardinals for Skip Schumaker.
• Signed Mark McGwire as hitting coach.
• Named Sandy Koufax advisor to the chairman.
• Agreed to a one year extension with Vin Scully.
• Reports of a $7 billion Television deal with Time Warner (reports last week said Major League Baseball still has not received the paperwork to review this deal).

Although 2012 did not finish the way Dodgers fans would have liked, the events that transpired throughout the regular season and well into the offseason have provided renewed hope that the Dodgers organization can finally rise out of the ashes left behind from the oppressive reign of Frank McCourt. One of the most important additions in all of baseball this past offseason could be the addition of Mark McGwire to Don Mattingly‘s coaching staff. His legacy is tainted with steroids, but his talent as a pure hitter was matched by few and his insight will be important to the Dodgers lineup. This roster has the potential to be the best in baseball.

San Diego Padres

2012 Roundup:

Record: 76-86 (34-38 vs. NL West); finished 4^th, 18 games behind the Giants.

Team BA: .247

Team ERA: 4.01

It seemed as if the San Diego Padres were doomed from the very beginning of the season; a 3-12 start led to a 34-53 record at the end of the first half. They followed this up with a 42-33 record in the second half of the season, and made a strong push at the end in an attempt to finish with a .500 record before they dropped six of their last 8, ultimately finishing with a 76-86 record.

Key Offseason Moves:

• Traded Andrew Werner and Andy Parrino to Athletics in exchange for Tyson Ross.
• Re-signed free agent Jason Marquis.
• Signed free agent Freddy Garcia.
• Signed Chase Headley to a one year extension.

The Padres did little this past offseason to help their chances in the NL West, and the one year contract to Headley seems to send the signal they have zero interest on keeping him long term. With that being said, this is not a bad team by any means, it just doesn’t help that other teams in the division have gotten much better as of late. The pitching rotation needs to get better if the team wants any chance of contending late in the season.

To win the NL West, you’ve got to go through AT&T Park. By Coasttocoast at the English language Wikipedia, via Wikimedia Commons

San Francisco Giants

2012 Roundup:

Record: 94-68 (45-27 vs. NL West); finished 1^st, tied for the third best record in the NL.

Team BA: .269

Team ERA: 3.68

At the start of the 2012 regular season it did not seem as if Buster Posey was going to win his second World Series title.  The Giants limped out to a 24-23 record by May 27. From then on they went 70-45 to finish a top the NL West for the second time in three years.  In the first two rounds of the postseason, the Giants went 6-0 in elimination games after coming back from series deficits of 0-2 and 1-3 against Cincinnati and St. Louis, respectively. Against the Tigers in the World Series, the Giants pitching posted a 1.46 ERA and held Detroit to a .156 batting average, clinching the World Series with ease.

Key Offseason Moves:

• Re-signed free agent Angel Pagan to a four year contract.
• Re-signed free agents Jeremy Affeldt and Marco Scutaro to a three year contracts.
• Signed free agent Andres Torres.
• Lost Melky Cabrera, Brian Wilson and Aubrey Huff.

In 2012 the Giants once again showed the baseball world that pitching is the key to winning in the playoffs, but will their passive offseason plan payoff?  Similar to the offseason after their World Series title in 2010, the Giants opted to keep the core of their team intact and focused on keeping the chemistry together; this plan clearly did not work in the 2011 season, so who’s to say it will work now? This past season the Giants got a lot of help since their number one hitter, for much of the season, was using steroids.  This offseason approach has created a number of questions that they Giants will be forced to answer this season.  With the roster the Dodgers have put together, making a case for the Giants to win the division has become much harder, but their pitching, once again, gives them the best chance to do that.

Is San Luis Obispo, CA a “Giants town”, or a “Dodgers town”?

That was the question I had as I trolled Higuera Street during Farmer’s Market on Thursday. Since the Giants’ World Series trophy was on display, and with the baseball season fast-approaching, I thought it might be a good setting to ask the question.

The World Series Trophy came to SLO Thursday night

Having grown up in San Luis Obispo County, I have always had a balanced picture of baseball fansmanship in this county. While SLO is clearly a Lakers town, the Dodgers-Giants rivalry cuts through the heart of the county, from the vineyards on the east side, to the beaches, and the Five-Cities area. If you were to draw a horizontal line of demarcation through California, the line would go from somewhere in SLO County, eastward between Fresno (Giants country) and Bakersfield (Dodgers country).

While the Mains have always bled Dodger blue, many of my best friends were Giants fans. The best example was my buddy Miles, whose father always had the voice of Giants broadcasters blaring in the garage as he did weekend work. Miles and I always got along, especially when it came to baseball. Despite baseball nearly always being a topic, there was never vitriol or animosity surrounding the Dodgers and Giants. I now realize that to an outsider, it must have looked like cats and dogs or snakes and mongooses living together in peace.

The moment I got to college, my view of the Giants changed. At UC-San Diego, I found that my three roommates freshman year were all from northern California and, more importantly, were all big Giants fans. I learned a lot about Giants fans that year. They were used to losing and the main thing that mattered to them at that time was beating the Dodgers and rooting for number 25- Barry Bonds: the greatest Giant ever. Bonds was already becoming a colossus – in 2001 he would break the all-time single season record.

Coming from SLO County- the Dodgers-Giants demilitarized zone, I wasn’t prepared for what I was in for. The accepted hatred level of all-things-Dodgers was palpable. I quickly learned that Giants fans hated the Dodgers seemingly more than they liked their own team. A Dodgers’ loss seemed to make them happier than a Giants’ win. Not only did my Bay Area roommates hate everything Dodgers-related, they seemed to hate everything Los Angeles-related.

In 2000, the Spring of my freshman year of college, the Giants opened their new stadium. Kevin Elster cemented his Dodgers legacy that year by hitting three home runs in the Giants’ first game in their new park. After listening to my roomates’ anti-Dodgers rants all Winter and Spring, I fell to their level. For a long time after that, my response to their jeers was simply, “Kevin Elster.” While I didn’t hate the Giants as much as they hated the Dodgers, I began to dislike the Giants and their battery-chucking, hate-filled fans more than I ever had in the past.

So in the summer of 2010, I found myself back in San Luis Obispo watching the Giants (whoI had learned to hate so much in adulthood) win the World Series. Fans who I didn’t know even cared about baseball all of a sudden had plenty to say around town. Orange and black became more common colors than ever. While I always thought of SLO as evenly distributed between Dodgers and Giants fans, it seemed that the tide might be turning.

The Giants winning the World Series was compounded for Dodgers fans by the turmoil the Dodgers ownership was in. With the Dodgers operating like a small or mid-market team and the Giants winning the World Series, my sports-depression ran deep. Not even a lingering memory of the Lakers victory could counteract how bad I felt about sports for months after the Giants won the Series. With the trophy in San Luis Obispo on Thursday night, I thought mingling with Giants fans might serve a dual purpose – finding out which baseball team ruled San Luis Obispo while also providing an opportunity for personal catharsis.

It didn’t start well. I couldn’t help but to wear my Dodgers hat. Still two blocks away from the site of the trophy, some Giants fan walking the other way said to me, “Hey, did you see what’s down there?…” When he got just a confused smile in response from me, he finished his sentence: “It’s the GIANTS World Series trophy.”

Approaching the corner of Higuera and Chorro streets, the scene was really incredible. A line a half-mile long stretched well past the mission and probably around the corner. Milling about with those not in line, two distinct comments from orange and black-clad folks came my way:

“That’s ballsy,” pointing to my hat.

And, “Dude, you’re gonna get shot.”

Obviously someone had not been in the happiest city in America very long.

After two “Beat LA” chants (one of which had an angry-looking mob of about 20 people pointing at me and my hat as they chanted) and one “Let’s Go Giants” chant, the crowd got what they were waiting for, a chance to take their picture with the trophy.

With the crowd’s attention diverted away from Dodger-hating and back to their world championship, I thought it a good time to start asking people around Farmer’s Market whether SLO belonged to the Dodgers or Giants.

This old-timer, whose name I think was Bram – a Giants fan since the 40’s – described how he thought SLO might be shifting its fansmanship to the North.

Steven and Bob, originally from Salinas, were a little more sure about SLO being a Giants town than Bram.

Tyler, originally from Santa Cruz, isn’t happy about SLO being what he says is a Dodgers town. While he isn’t happy about the Dodgers games being shown on television in SLO County, he probably gives the most coherent and reasonable response I got all night.

After a few interviews, I walked down the street. I saw lots of fun things, got a few more sideways glances for my Dodgers hat, and saw what other “attractions” Farmers Market had on this night. While the Giants crowd probably saw at least 3,000 people, this good old-timey band had about 15 people watching them…

On the other end of Farmer’s Market, I saw a group that I first mistook for the Dodgers’ ownership. I’m still not sure whether they were, but I’ll let you watch the video and make the call.

Where is Mark Cuban when you need him?

Larry, who lives in the South County, grew up a Giants fan in Fresno and later came to root for the Dodgers. He also seems pretty reasonable in his assessment.

The final interview of the night was with Dave K. In the spirit of full disclosure, Dave is a friend of mine. He likes to push my sports-related buttons and I push his (he is a Redskins fan, after all). He is another transplant and tries to reason that it’s a Giants town due to the recent Giants success. I don’t buy it.

So what’s the real answer to the question? I expected most of the response at this Farmers Market to lean toward orange and black rather than blue. I didn’t do a poll beforehand, but I have lived on the Central Coast for 23 of my almost 30 years on the planet. After interviewing people in SLO and talking to lots of people over the past few weeks, it’s clear that the county has a pretty even mixture of support.

Over the past year, I’ve seen more Giants gear around town than ever. The Giants were more successful last season and recently the fansmanship in the county is certainly trending toward them.

Despite the Giants’ recent success, I think the Dodgers still maintain fansmanship over fifty percent in SLO County. Given the fact that I have an Andre Ethier T-Shirt on as I write this, my conclusion shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone. The final piece of logic is this – if the Dodgers would have won the championship and brought the trophy to San Luis Obispo, there would have been even more fans lined up. The sea of Dodger blue might have gone all the way down Chorro to the 101.

I will say this: If the McCourt ownership drama continues for another year or two, the Dodgers could continue to act like a small-market team. If the Giants continue to make the playoffs and outspend their rivals from the South, any lead the Dodgers have could close faster than Frank McCourt’s credit line.

Despite the few jeers, threats, and comments I received, I still think SLO County Dodgers and Giants fans have much less anger toward one another than anyone will find in the left field pavillion in Chavez Ravine or up North by the bay. Whether it’s a Dodgers or Giants town, perhaps cats and dogs really can get along in the happiest city in America.

First of all, how this situation was even picked up by the media comes highly into question. Could something have been intentionally leaked by Favre’s long-time yenta, his agent Bus Cook, in an attempt to try and upstage Rodgers during his moment on top of the quarterbacking world?

The events of this situation are eerily similar to Alex Rodriguez choosing to announce his free agency when the Boston Red Sox were winning their most recent World Series a few years ago. Both Favre and Rodriguez are equally transparent and pathetically out of touch as to the right way to handle yourself with even the slightest amount of integrity.

Honestly, ask yourself how the media would even know if Favre were about to give Rodgers a stupid phone call? How would something this simple and personal to the parties involved end up on national media radar? Why this is a relevant discussion point on the afternoon talking head forums of the evil-four-letter defies explanation.

Charles Woodson said in a recent interview that Favre had plenty of opportunities over the past few years to reach out to Rodgers, as most mentors with even a speckle of class would generally do. Did he choose to reach out at any other random time that wasn’t Super Bowl championship time? Of course not. He had to play the role of the spiteful juvenile who was losing the attention to his little brother. It is becoming ever that much more clear that Favre’s only motivation is to try and strategize for the benefit of his now tainted legacy.

My question is, why does Rodgers even need Favre’s approval? He doesn’t. The misconception that he does is only a creation of the media and Favre’s massive, unsubstantiated ego.

Do you think Rodgers cares about getting some sort of blessing from Favre? Of course not. He now has the same amount of rings that Favre won in his entire career. He has only been a full-time starter for three years and is only 28 years of age. With Rodgers’ talent level and the fact that he could possibly display that level of talent for another decade or more, inevitability says there are more rings to come. This should scare Favre’s over-inflated head, and it’s blatently obvious that it does.

There is also a good chance Rodgers will go down in history someday as a greater Packer quarterback than Favre. I guarantee you a personality like Rodgers will not end his career in Green Bay by trying to be bigger than the franchise, and hold it hostage in the final three offseasons of his tenure.

Favre grew up in the sticks of Southwest Mississippi. He stayed in Southwest Mississippi to go to college. I’m no pyschologist, and I only play one on the internet – but I believe Favre’s disconnect as a youth from competing with the world outside of the swamp and mud played a major role in the immaturity he has displayed as a grown-man.

With this recent “news,” Favre wants nothing more than to steal some of the spotlight from Rodgers, like a junior high “it” girl would, who becomes outlandishly envious and jealous when she is overtaken by the next “it” in the eyes of the peers.

The timing of this supposed reach-out, right after Rodgers is “going to Disneyland,” is a clear cry for “please, still look at me” by Favre. He wants everyone to know that he still holds something over the Super Bowl-winning quarterback – well at least something he thinks he still holds over Rodgers. Rodgers was Favre’s understudy in his final three years in Green Bay, and Favre wants everyone to know that. To a certain extent, he wants everyone to think that Rodgers wouldn’t be what he is today without being that understudy.

All this aside, what really is disappointing is how a legend like Favre has wilted away to nothing but a grasping pub-hound that oozes desparation, and how this kind of behavior only cements the answer to the question of whether or not Favre has created all the drama we have seen over the past few years, or if the media simply had over-sensationalized the entire saga.

The link of egomaniacal behavior between the off-season holdouts and this current drama with Rodgers, which cleary bares no semblence of relevancy, significance or time and place, only confirms the personality flaw Favre suffers from. You have become the senile old man, Brett. Nobody has actually cared for quite a few years now.

But what should we really expect? Favre was always the epitome of chuck and duck, going for broke when it means the most, just closing his eyes and letting it rip. So in that regard, I guess it’s not suprising that on the way out the door, he has managed to throw one final embarrassing and befuddling interception, one we have all picked off.

The next move for the ol’ gun-slingin’ “Silver Fox?” You’re a shoe-in for the daytime soap opera circut.

Let me explain.

The sports media is there to show me a game or talk about a game. If there is some analysis, fine. Especially when it’s Charles Barkley or Charlie Sheen doing the analysis, and especially when they’re analyzing the game itself. The media should be, well, the media – a conduit – through which sports can be transmitted to my eyes and then into brain.

Charlie Sheen’s Baseball Analysis pt. 1

Charlie Sheen baseball analysis part 2

Love when Barkley’s on TV.

Sometimes, though, the media forgets their role. Sometimes they think they ARE the story. Sometimes, unfortunately, they report on themselves.

For people with dissenting opinions, there is one main time that it is OK for the ratings to be reported on—the Super Bowl. The Super Bowl is an event bigger than just the game, so reporting on how many people watched it (over 100 million this year, according to Yahoo! Sports) is fine. The ratings for the Super Bowl are a newsworthy story.

Here is another example of where reporting on ratings is OK—in a magazine in the Business section. Ratings affect the business of advertising, and so it would be appropriate to have an article in the Business section of, in this case, Time Magazine.

Let’s look at inappropriate places to report ratings. The first, is on a sports page of a newspaper or a sports website. In this case, Yahoo! Sports reported on ratings like it’s something that should matter to me as a sports fan. In the story, they give the facts, that the viewership for the World Series was down this year. Great. What the hell am I supposed to do with that information? How should I interpret it?  Should I feel bad because I did not watch it (and am still trying to forget)? Should I feel badly for Major League Baseball? Should I have a worse impression of the sport because other people do not watch it? Should I be worried for the players? The owners? The network that carried that sport? Should I watch a certain network more, to make up for the guilt I feel from knowing that their ratings weren’t good?

Like everything else, there are shades of gray when it comes to reporting on ratings. A blurb like this one in the LA Times probably wasn’t in the Sports section, so might pass my litmus test of being OK. But again, it’s borderline. Crossing that border here, a Times blogger talks all about the ratings for Game 7. I like Diane Pucin and the Fabulous Forum, but it’s inappropriate.

The NCAA Basketball Tournament is reported-on, non-stop, for the revenue it makes the NCAA. If it is reported on as part of an illustration of the effect gambling has on viewership or to illustrate why NCAA players should be paid for their services, then that is fine. When it’s reported on just to be reported on, then we have an issue.

Print media reports on the ratings, but sports radio may be the worst of all offenders. When I hear someone making a point about sports by using the ratings that particular sport gets (here’s looking at you Herd), I can’t stand it. It is almost instant cause for station surfing. For someone to make the point, for instance, that College Football is better off without a playoff because regular season games get more viewers, is like saying it is better for someone to be heinously injured in a car accident because it causes more people to slow down and look.

If my career was in advertising, information about ratings might be meaningful and useful to me. I would consume it, then I would move on. If I was an “Advertising Fan” and not a “Sports Fan,” then I might even need the information about the World Series ratings or NBA Finals ratings, or overnight ratings after a big Sunday in the NFL. But I’m not an advertising fan. I am a sports fan.

Side note- I would love to see something along the lines of Terry Tate—Office Linebacker for fans of advertising… but I digress…

Ratings can be a good way to tell which sport is most popular. Here is a blog from the Washington Post talking about whether the Capitals or the Wizards get better ratings. Again, unless you’re trying to decide where to advertise, why would it matter?

As a fan, I either like the team/sport or I do not. I watch the team/sport or I do not. I will follow the team/sport or I will not. The more important question than ratings, is whether a sport is on TV and in this day and age, the answer is usually that it is. If not, I can probably find it online.

As a consumer of sports, I do not need ratings to tell me what to do. I will not watch sports based on its high ratings, nor will I not watch it if because other people don’t. This is not a popularity contest. It makes no difference to me and (for me) makes the sports websites that feature ratings articles, the equivalent of 24-hour news networks: in other words, media diarrhea. And media members that continue to spout out ratings stats to back up their opinions about sports either a) have an all-advertising industry audience or b) are narcissists. What other conclusion could I come to for a media that uses its power of reporting to report on… itself.

As I conclude, I wonder to myself, “If I hate media talking about ratings, isn’t my blog (when I post this) going to be media talking about media talking about the ratings?” We need to stop the madness. Please.