Money-grubbing draft picks

The way that contracts in professional sports are doled out is ridiculous. With the National Football League draft this weekend, the best college athletes will learn what the results of their college careers and NFL combines have done for their football futures. New millionaires will be born.

But in no other profession does a person earn an ultra-high salary like in the NFL before they have even proved themselves at a professional level. You must learn, experience and grow in your profession of choice and then prove to a prospective employer that you are worthy of a chance to make a difference in their business.

Yet, athletes going into the drafts and securing millions of dollars in guaranteed money before they even step onto the field. Where do these amateur athletes and their agents get the mind-set that they are entitled to big-dollar contracts?

Soda at the root of Appalachian decay

Over the weekend, ABC News broadcast a special report called “The Children of the Mountains.” It was a stirring and haunting report on the challenges of not only the children, but of many people, who live in heart of Appalachia.

Besides the abject poverty, high teen pregnancy rate and high rate of drug abuse, another part of the story was very striking – the high rate of tooth loss and toothlessness in this region. It turns out this is related to something local dentists call “Mountain Dew Mouth.”

Bryan: The more quick research I did on this topic, the more it confirms our earlier suspicions about soda’s toxicity. Essentially, Mountain Dew is poison. Of course, the Pepsi company (PepsiCo), which makes this acid and markets it towards this community, has said that its product is harmless.

As for me, I haven’t had a drink of soda since I watched this special and I probably will never purchase another Mountain Dew in my life.

Anthony: How can the soda industry possibly deny the fact that its product is harmless? It is a fact that you can use it to clean an engine block. If you can clean off burnt-on grim, how could it not do damage to the human body?

 Of course, I heard that these Appalachian parents are feeding Mountain Dew to their babies in bottles. How stupid can you be?

Photos of American dead should be public

This recent Washington Post story on the subject of whether or not President Obama should allow the press to publish photos of caskets of soldiers who have died in Iraq and Afghanistan really struck me today.

One particular reaction from a family member of a deceased soldier concerned me most of all:   

Other family members strongly disagreed [on allowing the photos to be published]; however, saying they felt media coverage would allow their lost loved ones to be politically exploited.

“This is very much Democratically driven to make it available to the public so they can publicize the negative side of the war and show the American public there is a high cost to be paid here,” said Cal Peters, whose stepson, Marine Capt. Garret Lawton, died Aug. 4 in Afghanistan. “I think this is the ultimate disrespect.”

As long as we are on the subject of respect – respectfully – I must strongly disagree with Cal Peters. The “ultimate disrespect” in my opinion, is to continue to allow the American people to believe that there is no cost to war. In addition, it is also the ultimate disrespect that we, as Americans, will not acknowledge publicly the ultimate sacrifice that these individuals made in the name of freedom.

No matter what the photographer’s political intention, these photos should be published. Let the American people decide for themselves their impact. That’s what it means to be free and that’s what these brave Americans died protecting.

I believe that if these photos were published on the front page of every American newspaper on a daily basis, these two wars would have ended a long time ago. That’s not “publicizing the negative side of war,” that’s just publishing the truth.  And if it’s not, perhaps Mr. Peters could explain to other the families of all of those who have died in these two conflicts or on America’s battlefields of the past what exactly is the positive side of war.

Neil O’Donnell’s final super salvation

On Sunday, after their latest Super Bowl win, the Pittsburgh Steelers became the most successful football franchise in modern era NFL history. But is success enough to heal the old wounds created by one Neil O’Donnell?

O’Donnell lead the Steelers to Super Bowl XXX in 1995-96, but threw three interceptions in the game, two of them went to the same player – MVP Larry Brown – which the Cowboys converted into scores. O’Donnell was released from the Steelers via free agency that offseason and has since been reviled by all Steelers fans. He is the Steelers Bill Buckner.

Bryan: In retrospect, O’Donnell had a stellar 1995 season – he completed 246 out of 416 passes for 2,970 yards and 17 touchdowns, with only 7 interceptions.

Should Steelers fans forgive O’Donnell?

The Columbus Blue Jackets; a town’s dream deferred

The Columbus Blue Jackets lost to the New York Rangers last night with a final score of 3-1. I was in the stands for this latest debacle. What I witnessed was a hapless and passionless effort that lacked intensity and discipline. I left the game last night feeling bitter and plain old pissed off at this franchise. It’s taken some time to become a jaded Blue Jackets fan.  

I grew up in Columbus, Ohio. Born and raised. I have lived in different parts of the country and traveled all over the world, but there has always been a special place in my heart for the city of Columbus. That’s why in 1997, when it was announced that we would get our very own professional sports franchise, I was the first in line support this team. We finally had something special to call our own outside of the college football juggernaut – The Ohio State Buckeyes. We had a real pro-team. 

I was a fan from day one. I was in the seats for their inaugural home game in 2000. I have been at every opening home game since, as well as many other regular season games. I have seen players, coaches and front office people all come and go. One thing that has remained the same over these past 8-years is that this team just plain old stinks.

That brings me back to last night’s latest and incredible loss. In what is becoming a tradition of sorts, two former Blue Jackets, who were traded during the off-season – Nikolai Zherdev and Ohio native Dan Fritsche – turned in great performances against their old team. Zherdev, who is perhaps the most talented player to ever wear a Blue Jackets jersey, had a career night contributing two assists and a goal of his own to the bottom line.