Kevin Kernan: Overrated Sportswriter

Sportswriters are idiots.

I know that's a news flash to most of you, but as time goes on, I consider most of those who write sports stories for newspapers in the same league as lawyers and politicians as far as the respect scale goes. And I've considered most of them frustrated former wannabe athletes who are jealous of the money current athletes make and write dumb stuff to either make a name for themselves (see Shaughnessy, Dan) or because they just have a hidden agenda.

Just my opinion.

Today I see more palaver in the newspaper, courtesy of my friend Lisa at Subway Squawkers. (She brought it to my attention.) This one is from Kevin Kernan of the New York Post, who lists his 10 "Most Overrated Teams" and naturally being a New York sportswriter, puts the Red Sox on it. (It's also that time of year when writers like him can't write anything else, so they come up with BS columns like this.) But this guy's logic is so faulty as to be beyond belief.

Get this from his blog:
They have only two championships over the last billion years, and both came with Manny on the team. They’ve gone nowhere since he left, yet through the ages, trillions of books and postings and articles and twitters and Bill James' ravings have been written about the brilliance of the Red Sox. It was a beefed up Manny that made the difference for that team that finally enabled them to win some championships. Without Manny they would have missed out.

You've got me as to what this guy is using for brains. The Sox had to divest themselves of Ramirez, for upteen reasons I won't go into here. (And just about everyone has heard them about a million times.) And can I correct you on one of your facts, pal? The Sox have won SEVEN championships in their history, not two. Kernan's another who probably feels the first five the Red Sox won somehow don't count, because they were won before the Yankees won their first in 1923.

And what's this "they've gone nowhere since he left" BS? I guess making to Game 7 of the ALCS in 2008 with an injured ace and three injured regulars counts for nothing, right? The fact Ramirez was gone killed them that year, right? (The Red Sox had the second best record in baseball after August 1st in 2008.) And I guess Jason Bay made no contribution to them getting to the ALCS, right? And a 95-win season in 2009 and another playoff berth means nothing also? Nice of Kernan also to disrespect Theo Epstein and the terrific job he's done putting a yearly competitive team on the field. (Hey, some years you win it all and some you don't. I don't consider a year without a World Series win a lost year. Winning two championships in four years is pretty damn good, no matter how it's done.)

Kernan hints of Manny's steroid use ("beefed up"), but he doesn't come right out and say it. I just don't get this "the Red Sox would have been nowhere without him" logic. They wouldn't have won the Series without Josh Beckett in 2007, or David Ortiz in 2004. The Yankees wouldn't have won the World Series in 2009 without Mariano Rivera, so what's the point in singling Ramirez out? You could do that with so many players on championship teams.

So in short: Kernan says the Red Sox are overrated because they've only won two championships this decade, and haven't won another in two years because Manny Ramirez was traded, conveniently leaving out he acted like a complete ass, made a complete disgrace of himself and forced his way out of town.

And this guy actually gets paid by someone to write such idiotic nonsense like this.

Sounds like Kernan is trying to get some "Curse of Manny Ramirez" thing going. This guy's just another reason why I don't read the New York papers any more. The majority of writers for these papers write stuff that belongs only in my cat's litter box.

And thanks to my friend Lisa for sucking it up and giving the Red Sox a little love on her blog today.