Thursday, April 01, 2010

20 Questions / 10

Q. Could the worst Division 2 mens team beat the UConn girls team or any other good girls basketball team ?

A. Will and I were watching a D2 game last Thursday, and the play seemed sloppy. The Tennessee girls practice against guys who just missed earning scholarships. I’m not sure.

Q. If a sports athlete refuses to sign any autographs ( Woods , Jordan ), does that affect their popularity?

A. Not signing autographs and treating fans rudely definitely affects popularity, at least on the fan chatter level. It may not affect an athlete’s “Q-score” or endorsements much, just the word on the street. Pre-wreck Tiger & MJ fell under this category. Once you reach their status, stopping for autographs creates a quick mob scene. So many autograph seekers these days want them to sell. Tiger & MJ got to where they are not by being nice guys, but being focused only on being the best…often at the expense family and friends. They’ll always have people sucking up to them.

I try to remember I love watching them because they’re so good. Neither would probably be a good buddy, due to their selfishness. Same with many in the sports & entertainment industry, who sacrifice everything to be famous. There are exceptions, like Phil Micholson and Cal Ripken Junior. I’ve heard bad things about Glavine, and good things about McCann. At what point can a celebrity watch a little league game or eat dinner without being bothered? Such is the price of fame, I guess.

Commercials can make an athlete appear to be fun and outgoing, and engaging to fans. What’s different about Paul Johnson? I love him because he’s a winner, but reading between the lines, he doesn’t care for anyone’s opinion but his own. That’s great for a head coach, lousy for a friend. He’ll be popular as long as he wins…then he’ll get unpopular quickly. Mark Richt seems to be much nicer and caring. Is this keeping the Dawgs just under teams coached by Meyer and Saban?

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