Beer, football, Hooters and cereal are in big trouble if you believe this trend.
Recent data would suggest that millennials don’t care much for these things anymore. At least not in the way that they have traditionally been consumed. I know plenty of millennials. Heck, I technically am one. I was born in 1985 and squeezed right into the very top end of the age division as one of its oldest members. I have read that the Millennial-age began in 1984. If so, I barely qualify. But, knowing many millennials, I think I can speak to what they do and do not like. Both of my siblings are millennials. My wife coaches high school kids. I know for a fact that they like Instagram, beaches and artsy-farsty things that are boutique-y in nature. Also, they (ahem, we) like anything labeled “organic”. Apparently, beer is out. So is football. If that’s the case, then Sundays will be freed up for more church and family visits to the park. I’m not sure if millennials are choosing to spend their newfound free time in those places. Perhaps that data will be scrounged up in the next survey. The things on this list that surprise me: Fabric softener. Do you not do laundry, millennials? Cereal. Do you not like Frosted Flakes? Diamonds. Do you not want engagement rings? Listen, I get that lifestyles are different for younger people. They are in the beginning stages of being able to spend their discretionary income and choosing entertainment choices that are faster and cheaper. I understand the delay in homeownership and thus the subsequent decline in home improvement stores. But bars of soap? You dirty millennials need to wake up and clean up your act. Then tweet about it.
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Hey Odell… please shut up.
Your comments the last few days have been, shall we say, missing the mark. I understand you’re talented. I get it, you score a lot of touchdowns. I totally am not surprised that you want to be the highest paid player in the NFL. But, dude. Some of these quotes? You need to realize who is going to hear these comments. More importantly, you need to realize how these comments are going to land with your fans. He recently told the Huffington Post: “I think that we should make more money, personally.” The comment came during an interview in which he pointed out that pro baseball, hockey and basketball players earn more on average than NFL guys despite the large disparity in injuries due to violent, physical contact. That is, in fact, all true. There is no disputing that fact. He also added that he wanted to be the highest paid NFL-er. Again, I have no problem with that. But, today, when chatting with NYC media, he said this: “There are people in the NFL who deserve that”, talking about making absurd NBA-type salaries. “We put ourselves through a lot. We deserve it.” That’s where I chime in with a resounding, “shut up”. (FYI, this is Beckham's fourth year of pro football for the New York Giants. His rookie deal guaranteed him $10.4 million over the first four years.) First of all, you only “deserve” what you can negotiate in life. Your agent will take care of that for you. Secondly, nobody “deserves” $10, $20, $30, $40 million per year to play football. Oh, you’ll get it because collectively we’re entertainment gluttons who are starved for football in this country. We bet on it. We buy 80-inch televisions so we can scream at it. We live-and-die with Sunday’s results. Monday is ruined (for a lot of people) if Sunday doesn’t bring a victory. But, that doesn’t mean you “deserve” anything. NFL ticket prices skyrocket each year. Season-tickets are unaffordable for most “Average Joes”. The game experience is becoming increasingly more corporate. I’d imagine the Maryland father of three teenage boys, who works hard as a middle school teacher, can’t swing a $1,000 Sunday to get his boys tickets, food, shirts and hats at the stadium on top of parking in Baltimore to see the Ravens play the Jets in Week 4. It’s unrealistic to expect that father to hear your “we deserve more money” comments and not roll his eyes in a combination of disgust and disappointment. A Social Security Administration report says “the national average wage index for 2015 is $48,098.63. Personally, I was surprised to read that it was THAT high. You think there are any firefighters out there who love the NFL? They earn about 48-grand per year in most parts of the county. Electricians? $20 an hour. Police officers? About $50,000 a year. Teachers? MAYBE $40k. The average adult in this country would need about 50 years to earn the guaranteed cash Odell earns in just 16 Sundays. And remember, he’s not even one of the highest paid guys yet. Multiply that annual American’s salary by 45 years, the amount of time most people will work in a lifetime, and that’s $2.25 million. Oh! That’s still less than Odell’s guaranteed rookie deal money over a 16-week season. Even for the veteran player’s minimum salary in the NFL, which is about $400,000 per season, most Americans just cannot relate to that kind of wealth in their bank accounts. I get it. You want to be rightly compensated for being incredible at what you do on the field. I’m all for that. You should get paid well. I think everyone should earn as much money as they can so that they can in turn become as big of a blessing to their friends and family as possible. But, if you’re trying to convince the rest of the country, your fans, that you don’t get enough money for playing a game that many of those same fans would trade their left arm to play for just one weekend, it’s going to be tough. You want more money? Talk to your agent about it. GET PAID… but don’t do it in public where the die-hard Dolphins fan working two jobs just to by pencils and paper for his daughter’s first grade class has to hear it. It won’t relate. It won’t connect. It will make you sound like an ungrateful punk. Don’t worry, Odell, Your $18 million per year is coming when it’s time for your next contract. My advice for now? Enjoy the spoils of your freak athleticism and fame now. Someday, those will all be over and you may need a regular-paying job like everyone else. Thanks for nothing, Rickie Fowler.
Oh, you are one of the most popular players on Tour… but was it too much to ask for you to just win The Open Championship? You’ve ruined what would have been one of the greatest golf gambling… heck SPORTS gambling… stories of all-time. Jordan Baker (a.ka. @OfficialBakes) ... no, not of Great Gatsby fame… is a pro golfer from London and one gutsy gambler. He wagered two pounds at one-million-to-one odds that Sergio Garcia, Brooks Koepka, Rickie and Justin Thomas would all win majors in 2017 and halfway home it looked like young Mr. Baker was golden. Sergio slipped on the green jacket. Brooks won at Erin Hills and Jordan could almost taste the sweet $2.5 million bucks coming to him if these two guys held up their end of the bargain. But another Jordan ruined it all. Actually, Rickie, you ruined it all. Maybe that’s why Spieth stiffed you on the congratulatory high-five while walking off the green on 18 with the 3rd leg of the grand slam under his belt… Coincidence? Tied for 22 Rickie? Come on man… Jordan Baker was counting on you! Oh , and now… he’s just two pounds lighter. It’s a tough time to be a meat-eater around here.
In the past week, here in my neck of the woods, TWICE a group of “animal rights activists” has barged in and interrupted an otherwise peaceful demonstration of man’s dominance over our four-legged counterparts. First, at a Chick-Fil-A restaurant, a group of animals lovers showed up during lunch time wearing animals costumes and wielding bloody knives to get a point across – I assume that point was, they’re CRAAAAAZY” Then, a few days later, a family fishing at the park had their lovely afternoon thwarted when more of those tricky activist-types showed up and STOLE the fish that the family had just caught and proceeded to chuck it back in the lake! All the while screaming things like, “Fish want to live!” Well, of course they do. But, they’re not in charge, are they? What gives? YOU, Mr. Activist Person, don’t like that others eat (delicious) animals? So, you’ve decided that in order to ensure that the world conforms to your viewpoint, you turn to public displays of arrogance and charmless yelling to, hopefully, morally shame those who love the taste of (juicy) fried chicken smothered in honey mustard and pickles with waffle fries on the side? Are you kidding me? What’s with all this “animal rights activist” friction lately? I totally get that you want all living things to be treated with respect. Dude, that’s great. I’m for that, too. But, animals are food. Sorry, they always have been food and always will be food. Man is in charge of the animals on the earth. Always has been. Consult Genesis for proof. It won't even require that you read past the first chapter! I’m sorry you don’t want people to eat animals. (YOU’RE MISSING OUT ON BACON!!!!) I’m even more sorry you don’t want ANYONE to eat animals, apparently. NEWSFLASH: You’ll never stop people from eating meat. It’s just too darn tasty. Furthermore, please stop forcing your perspective on the innocent burger-lovers and piggy-enjoyers of this planet! We love beef, chicken and pork. Nothing you say can change that. John McEnroe opened his mouth again. Yep, he said something “salacious”! He said something “controversial”! He said something… True. This week, the famed tennis player of yesteryear told NPR (while on a book-promotion tour) that, GASP, current female tennis superstar Serena Williams is the best female tennis player in the world. Oh. No. He. Didn’t. The interviewer asked him why he qualified his statement by saying best "female". His answer was, again, honest. From NPR: Is there something disrespectful about that?
Men and women are different. Can we please stop pretending that they are the same? This discussion is SOLELY meant to be had in the realm of a sports conversation. This is in no way meant to demean women as people, citizens of any nation or downgrade their ability to contribute to society just as well, if not better, then any man. But, in the sports world, it’s not a fair fight. Men are superior athletes than women. There really is no denying nor debating that. That does not mean that women are not good athletes. As McEnroe stated, Serena is a phenomenal athlete – probably the best female athlete on the planet, on or off the tennis court. Surely there are outstanding female athletes all over the world who are incredible at what they do. My stance is this: at the highest levels of sports, women don’t measure up to men… AND THAT’S OKAY. God made men to be the bigger, stronger sex. They are. Women don’t run as fast. They don’t jump as high. They don’t lift as much. AND THAT’S OKAY. Anyone upset about McEnroe’s words, or mine, just haven’t examined the evidence. How about running? Usain Bolt owns the world record for fastest 100 meter dash at 9.58 seconds. The women’s record holder? Florence Griffith-Joyner’s 10.49. Nearly a second slower and, per this site I found, a time that wouldn’t even crack the top-2,600+ top men’s times ever. Weightlifting? Men’s record holder is Wu Jingbiao’s 306 lb snatch. Yang Liau snatched 216.05 lbs to earn the women’s record. Even in sports like golf, which is designed with handicaps and varied tee box distances to even the playing field as much as possible, the average distance off the tee is absurdly skewed. Dustin Johnson averages over 312 yards with the driver. Joanna Klatten averages 280 yards off the teen on the LPGA Tour – a mark that would edge Carl Pettersson for 174th in the men’s game. Yes, there are other factors to playing good golf besides driving, but this is a big difference. I heard a debate on the radio about women’s basketball players and how they’d stack up in the NBA. Umm.. they wouldn’t. Not even a bit. They’d simply be too small, slow and grounded (no dunking) to compete. Like golf, tennis is a game for individuals. Could Williams beat McEnroe? Today? Yes. He’s older now and she still in peak physical condition. Back in his prime? No, she couldn’t. Samuel Groth is ranked No. 139 in the world but holds the fastest men’s serve ever – 163.7 mph. Serena’s fastest? 128.3 mph. The fastest women’s serve ever was 131 mph. It’s not a slight to say that women couldn’t compete with men at the highest level of sports. McEnroe isn’t saying anything controversial this time. He's even said things like this in the past! Anyone who is upset by his words is simply trying to make a controversy out of nothing. All good things must come to an end, right? Unless you’re talking about marriage, the answer is yes.
Phil Mickelson and the caddie best-known as “Bones” have split. No worries. It was mutual and there are no hard feelings. This duo had a VERY impressive run in an age where golfer-caddie relationships sometimes sour before the milk in your fridge. Lefty and Bones, whose real name is Jim Mackay, began their partnership just before the 1992 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach. They did not get to partake in this year’s U.S. Open (won by WHO?). It’s about the only tournament the duo DIDN’T win together. Of Phil’s 42 Tour wins, Bones was on the bag for 41. They only ‘W’ Bones missed? A 1991 Mickelson win, when he was still just an amateur golfer. It’s the end of an era. It likely won’t be matched again. Here are some of the career highlights for the duo over the past 25 years on Tour:
Photo: GolfChannel.com Brooks Koepka wins the 117th U.S. Open, played June 15-18 at Erin Hills. Photo: sportsbuzzbusiness Golf isn’t going to make it with this bunch of no-namers.
Don’t get me wrong. I know who Brooks Koepka is. I know of Brian Harman and Patrick Reed. The casual golf fan doesn’t. They know Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson. Ask they about Tommy Fleetwood and you’ll be met with an immediate, “Who?”. That’s why, I say, golf needs a shot of adrenaline to keep up with our tiny 140-character attention spans, these days. No disrespect to guys like Charlie Hoffman. It’s just that, most sports fans couldn’t pick you out of a 3-man lineup. Even Hideki Matsuyama, the soon-to-be No. 2 ranked player in the world, is largely anonymous unless you carry multiple Pro-V1s in your lunchbox, you know… just in case. So, on Sunday at the U.S. Open, the most memorable thing about the nation's top annual tournament was announcer Joe Buck butchering the name of the champion’s girlfriend (which I say, is no big deal). Oh, Twitter reacted to that. They just didn’t WATCH the tournament. Brooks Koepka tied Rory McIlroy's (who missed the cut) record for the lowest score by a U.S. Open champion and become the seventh straight first-time major winner. Snooze. That is NOT good for golf. The ratings bear it out. The final round, (granted it was Father’s Day and people may have been out doing other things besides watching golf on TV) only got a 3.6 rating nationwide. That’s the second-smallest ever. At least it beat this. That’s pathetic. You know why the ratings were so low? The top-3 ranked players in the world missed the cut, and none were ever really that close to the weekend. Nope, No Dustin Johnson, McIlroy or Jason Day. Jordan Spieth, America’s golfing heartthrob from two years ago, has faded away when it counts lately. He started the year red hot. The last three months he’s averaging 71ish on the scorecard. He was tied for 11th at the Masters. He missed the cut at The Players and was done golfing at this weekend's U.S. Open before most of us finished our Father’s Day hot dog lunches. I'm sure Under Armour loved that. Die-hards, like me, watched every swing. Casual fans, like most everyone else, were turned off by many different factors. The main one? No brand names on TV to keep you interested. As popular as Rickie Fowler is, even he wasn’t enough to keep people watching. When the "best to never win a major" star began to fade off the pace, FOX, naturally, decided not to show as many of his shots. Why? He had no chance to win. The problem with that? It didn't give many people reason to watch. That left viewers with the combination of names like Harman, Koepka and Fleetwood to keep their interests peaked. Hence the tiny TV numbers. I was cruising around town today and flipped on the local sports talk show. I don’t listen to it much these days but stayed with it for a few minutes upon hearing them discuss the U.S. Open. Here’s how the :90 of coverage sounded: “Harman? That’s not going to do it for me.” “Between idiots yelling at the TV and a bunch of names I didn’t know, I couldn’t watch for more than three or four minutes at a time. Sorry I just couldn’t!” “Fleetwood? Who are these guys? That’s why golf’s in trouble, man.” Can you blame them? The most damning line of the back and forth between the two radio hosts was when one guy mispronounced Koepka’s last name. If you don’t know how to SAY a major champion’s name, clearly you didn't give a rip about the event. It’s not like this string of 7-straight newbie winners in majors are stiffs. Each of them was ranked as a Top-50 player in the world when they hoisted the trophy. But, they were, mostly, no-namers. If you’re trying to compete for the attention of an already crowded sports viewing landscape littered with shorter attention spans than ever, you’d better gives those fleeting few something better than Xander Schauffele. Step your game up, stars. By the way, I think Paul Azinger did a nice job as color analyst. Well done, Zinger. |
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June 2018
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