I realize Cowboys fans are frustrated with Tony Romo for making a few bone-headed decisions yesterday that allowed the Detroit Lions back into the game, but I really cannot fathom any excuse for a grown man to decide he should teach his son to burn Romo’s jersey in retaliation.

Watch the video, which I just saw over at Black Sports Online courtesy of Robert Littal, and then let’s talk about it.

I tend to think that jersey burning of any kind is pretty stupid and pointless. For example, though I was disappointed myself that LeBron left Cleveland, I thought that Cavs fans burning his jersey – and thus disrespecting all of the things LeBron did do in Cleveland – was beyond ridiculous.

But for a Cowboys fan to burn the jersey of one of the five best quarterbacks in franchise history? There is just zero reason or rationalization for it.

And to set that kind of example for your son? Really? I suppose being a single guy with no kids, I have no basis for judging how other people raise their kids, so feel free to criticize me for discussing a topic for which I have no perspective. But you can be damn sure when when I do have kids, I’ll try really hard to instill a little more respect and perspective in them than this.

In the video, jackwagon dad says: “Tony, I’m sorry. But we just had to do this. The time has come.”

Yes, you had to do this.

You had to burn the jersey of a guy who played with cracked ribs so you could experience the thrill of victory. You had to set fire to the jersey of a guy who you should hold up to your son as an example of perseverance and self-belief. You had to light fire to the jersey of a guy who has never been in trouble, always displays respect for the game and sportsmanship, and who never shirks responsibility when he screws up.

Yes, you had to burn that guy’s jersey…with your young son who doesn’t know any better and isn’t in a position to make up his own mind about such things yet (but who will now be predisposed to such infantile acts of fan lunacy).

Forgive my language here, but give me a fucking break. Seriously.

As Rob points out in his article, “fan” is short for “fanatic”. I get that. We all do. And I know that I’m not always the most objective when it comes to the teams I love. But for goodness sakes have some perspective.

Just from a football sense, the vitriol tossed at Tony Romo is ridiculous. Sure, he does stupid things sometimes, and deserves criticism for them, but would you rather go back to the Chad Hutchinson/Drew Henson/Quincy Carter/et al days? If you’re going to lambaste Romo, at least offer up an alternative that would be 50% as good as he has been.

There are at least 15, and maybe more, franchises that would love to have Tony Romo as their QB. For all those in Dallas wishing for a new signal caller, just remember the old adage “Be careful what you wish for…you just might get it.” Life is a hell of a lot better now for Cowboys fans than it was before Romo came along.

And moving beyond football, just think about what you’re doing here: you are burning a replica of another man’s work uniform because you are angry at how he performed his job. How pathetic is that?

Sometimes some of us take sports just a wee bit too seriously and do really dumb things because of it. Exhibit A is the video in the post. Rob summed it up best:

“Cowboys fan need to get a grip, it is just a football game. The whole thing is sick and demented.“

And it’s far from just this guy or Cowboys fans, many of whom are reasonable and even-keeled (even if a bit fair-weather, in general). Any sports fans who lose sight of the fact that ultimately these are actual people playing games, which just happen to be for really, really high stakes, need a reality check.

And Cowboys fans need to lay off Tony Romo. The guy is a good quarterback. He’s erratic, but he’s a good quarterback. And with the right team around him, he can take a team to the Super Bowl. Time will tell if it ever happens, but good luck even having a prayer at getting back to the big game without him.

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Update: I just read Bill Barnwell’s latest “Upon Further Review” article over at Grantland, which did a great job of summing up just how misguided it is to blame all of the Cowboys’ Week 4 woes on Romo:

“The reality is that the Cowboys could easily be 4-0 or 0-4 with a few small breaks going in either direction for them in any of their four games. Romo has been inconsistent, a mix of big plays with some poor decision-making, injury limitations, and communication issues with his receivers. If you truly believe that Romo is holding back the Cowboys and that they lost on Sunday because he blew the game, you’re kidding yourself. He’s carrying them.”

Click play on the player below to listen:

What do you think?

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“LeBron James Will Be Fine Once He Embraces His Role as The Villain” — BSO

Excerpt:

If he didn’t understand before, he understand now he is the VILLAIN.

There is two ways to handle that: he can embrace it or he can run from it, like he ran from all the 4th quarters of the NBA Finals.  Lebron is 26 years old. and even though he has been in the league for eight years, I don’t think he has even hit is “prime”.

The Heat will be competing for titles for the upcoming years, but if this year taught us anything it is that they aren’t going to be given anything— and no one is afraid of them.

To quote Tyrese (and don’t ask me why), there are a lot of players and teams who are “HONGRY” and want to eat. The meal will be especially sweet if they take Lebron’s cornbread in the process of their Sunday dinner.

There is no way the Jason Terrys & DeShawn Stevensons of the world should be eating off Lebron’s plate and leaving him to wash the dishes.

Kobe wouldn’t allow his legacy to just be the guy who won titles with Shaq— will Lebron allow his legacy to be of the best player on the planet who shrinks in the biggest moments?

This week we have unveiled the fantasy-only portion of the site, our Fantasy Football 3-2-1 video series (Click here for Episode 1 and Episode 2), and later today we’ll have our first fantasy football Friday live chat.

This morning we add to that list our weekly Friday Football Preview Podcast.

Each week on Friday morning I’ll be giving you my NFL locks of the week (ATS, of course), the must-watch game, and an upset alert. I’ll also be bringing in guests to preview the biggest games and storylines for that weekend.

And if the first episode is any indication, the Friday Football Preview is going to be a hell of a lot of fun on a weekly basis.

Listen to this week’s Friday Football Preview Podcast:

• You can also listen to the MSF Podcast on iTunes and subscribe to future episodes.
• Podcast Intro Song credit: “Superstar Struttin’” by .Records. (Indianapolis)

Note of correction: On a couple of occasions I refer to the Dallas-Washington game as being the Monday nighter. This is incorrect. It’s the Sunday night game. The Jets and Ravens play Monday. night. I would have realized this had I paid more attention to the NFL TV schedule that I posted earlier this week.

This is what we cover in Episode 1:

• 3 NFL lock spread picks, my must-watch game of the week, and the upset alert
• Ohio State-Miami discussion with Robert Littal of Black Sports Online and our very own KVB, who wrote the Ohio State-Miami preview earlier this week.
• We discuss the Dallas-Washington Sunday night game with Matt Lawrence of Dallas Sports Fans.
• Finally, we bring in a surprise special guest expert to discuss the Kansas City Chiefs.

I hope you enjoy the podcast. Feel free to use the comment section to provide your thoughts on any of the topics discussed, as well as to suggest features for future editions of the Friday Football Preview.

Have a great weekend of football everyone.

I always have been, and I probably always be.

I enjoy playing the game, although I do not play it all that much. And I enjoy watching the game, although I do not watch it all that much if Tiger is not playing nor a prominent story.

For me, Tiger Woods is golf, and I have followed him as much as I’ve followed any athlete over the last decade.

Part of the reason for that is because Tiger is so dominant at his sport, so fascinating to watch from an athletic perspective, so famous, so wrapped in sporting mythology, and so ubiquitous.

And part of the reason is that, like many men my age (I am 28), Tiger has always been like the high school senior that most of us probably looked up to as freshman.

• He was finishing college and joining the PGA Tour as I finished high school and looked towards college.
• He was establishing himself as the dominant force in his chosen profession as I was finishing college and searching for a chosen profession.
• He was getting married to a beautiful woman and having a family as I was finally starting to gain a solid post-collegiate footing.
• And now…

Well…now…what, exactly?

I think for many people who have watched Tiger, cheered for Tiger, and bought into the mythology of Tiger, the past week has probably seemed far more surreal than it has real.

If you would have told me at any point before last week that Tiger’s name would someday be linked to an affair, I would have scoffed and called you crazy, despite the readily accepted notion that all athletes cheat.

And maybe MSF’s good friend Robert Littal from Black Sports Online was right when he said via Twitter:

Certain athletes people “want” to believe are perfect..Tiger was one of them which is why white people are shocked..lol

Well, I am certainly “white people” and I am certainly shocked. And truth be told, after I read the alleged “sexting” text messages from Tiger, I immediately began to find every single aspect of this story distasteful whereas I had previously found every little nugget of info fascinating.

I can’t really explain the sudden change, except to say that I have always been predisposed to athlete worship. My dad was a college football coach, I grew up in locker rooms, I had prominent (mostly African-American, as my dad was a defensive secondary coach) Big Ten athletes as my baby sitters and the guys who picked me up front school, and I always considered athletes “better” somehow than the rest of us.

And even though I’ve learned over the years that, rationally, these expectations, inferences, and judgments were subjective at best and flat out wrong at worst, it’s still hard to change first impressions and predispositions.

So I’m not sure exactly how I feel about the Tiger Woods story right now. One of my favorite athletes has been tainted…but by what exactly? His athletic achievements are not being called into question. He is not being accused of drug abuse, or murder, or something as egregious as failing to support a child.

He has been, according to reports that still may or may not be true (but probably are, in my opinion), linked to numerous affairs. And while, as a man, I know that is bad and worthy or rancor, I still sit here rationally wondering a) why I really care and b) how soon we can just move past all of this.

The fact of the matter is that Tiger Woods is not my dad, my brother, or my friend. He’s not married to my mom, my sister, or my friend. He’s just a guy with marital and perhaps self-control issues, and he just happens to have an other-worldly gift to play golf.

His golfing ability is what I cheer. It’s why I even know his name. So why do I, or should I, care about the other stuff?

I don’t know. I guess I’m one of those “white people” that Robert was referring to. If my reaction to this past week has taught me anything, it’s that I did — subconsciously or otherwise – want Tiger to be perfect, on the course and off of it. I don’t know if it has anything to do with Tiger being a minority, but I wouldn’t rule it out as a part of the reason.

Why do I care that Tiger is alleged to have cheated away from the golf course, when my only connection to him is on the golf course? I don’t know. I just do. Someone else, someone further removed from my Tiger-worship, might be more qualified to answer the why than I am.

I do know this: I got caught up hook, line, and sinker in the marketing machine that created Tiger Woods, and I rooted for the kid, and then the man, without ever really knowing much of anything about the real Eldrick “Tiger” Woods.

And you know what? That’s precisely how it was supposed to be.

I was one of the minions, and I certainly wasn’t alone.

But I do wish that I had read the articles that I have posted below before tonight. None of them, either individually or collectively, would have caused me to stop rooting for Tiger Woods, but they would have added a much needed layer of perspective to my Tiger fandom.

You see, when Earl Woods and IMG imagined who they were selling Tiger Woods to, it was probably someone a lot like me. I think I’m probably about as middle-of-the-road America as you can get. And I bought into Tiger Woods, wholeheartedly.

And you know what? Even with what I “know” now, I’m still a buyer and still would have bought in retrospect. But I do wish I’d been a more savvy and informed — and less naive — consumer.

If this week has taught us anything, it’s that Tiger Woods is just a man. We can all decide for ourselves now if we believe him to be a good man, a bad man, or simply a flawed man, but he is, contrary to the mythology, a man.

And you know what? That’s what he should have been all along.

Here are the articles I was referring to above. Read them. I spent a decent chunk of tonight reading them and am quite glad I did.

• The Man. Amen. — Controversial 1997 Esquire piece by Charles P. Price
• Is This the End of Tiger Woods? — A reflection, posted 12/1/09, by Charles Price on his 1997 piece linked above
• The Tiger Woods Creation Myth — by Charles P. Price in March, 2009
• My Vacation From Hating Tiger Woods — by Chris Jones
• Why Tiger Woods is the Opposite of Hope — by Tom Chiarella
• In a Kind of Biblical Awe of Tiger Woods — by Scott Raab

As a post script, I will simply tell you what I would tell Tiger if given the opportunity to provide him with one piece of advice: come clean, 100%. Fess up to whatever it is will end up coming to light anyway. Do right — at least, as right as you can, all things considered — by your wife, your children, and the rest of your family.

In the process of telling the truth, I suppose that you would also be doing right by your fans.

I don’t believe that Tiger owes me anything, per se. He entertains me, I consume his entertainment, and it’s a pretty even deal. But as someone who will undoubtedly continue cheering for Tiger to get Majors #15, #16, #17, #18, and #19, I would like to see this salacious sideshow left in the past. And there is only one way for that happen:

Tiger needs to get out in front of the truth.

If recent history has taught us anything in this ever-evolving age of the media, it’s that the truth is truly the only thing that shall truly set you free (repetition purposeful and for effect). Tiger and his team missed their opportunity to get out in front of the story from the beginning and frame the narrative. All they have left now is a chance to dictate the epilogue.

If the current accusations being floated about prove true, even if they are only “proven” true in the court of public opinion, that epilogue must be written with the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

There is perhaps no subset of America (other than music fans) more forgiving than sports fans. Tiger, you’d be wise to do whatever it takes to help us all accept and move past this salacious off-course nonsense and quickly as humanly possible.

Ultimately, we didn’t start cheering for you because you are, or were, a good father and husband. And though many may now question their previous level of Tiger Woods idolatry, the majority will simply be looking for a reason to accept the events and accusations of this past week and move forward so that they can resume cheering Tiger Woods, the golfer.

We’re used to forgiving athletes for far worse than what Tiger Woods is alleged to have done. Perhaps that is sad to say, but it certainly is realistic and true. Yet, we are not used to seeing an athlete of Tiger’s stature and previously omnipotent control face such an onslaught of unexpected negativity in such a short time.

Welcome to 2009-10, the age of the Internet, blogs, TMZ, and Twitter.

In the end, we started cheering for Tiger Woods because of his wizardry from tee to green. Whenever he steps onto a golf course again, most of us will continue to cheer this golfing greatness.

Right now though, Tiger Woods’ life, past and present, is like an onion, and every day is the peeling of another layer. The quicker Tiger can peel it all himself, and become the owner of the truth, the quicker we can all go back to following him for what were really interested in all along.

Without the golf, there would have been no mythology in the first place.

Now, there is simply no mythology.

So all we are left with is the golf.

And that’s fine by me, because the golf has always been mythic enough.

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* – Elin and Sam Alexis photo credit: Damian Dovarganes/AP via Golf.com

* – Tiger celebrating photo credit: Baltimore Sun

CBS promises that Keteyian’s findings will expose “critical flaws in the police investigation and raises troubling questions about the events leading up to the two deaths.”

My reaction after reading?

“I wonder what Robert Littal has to say about this.”

And if you want to know why Robert’s name was the first I thought of, take a quick minute to review Littal’s coverage of the Steve McNair murder investigation at Black Sports Online (this post in particular).

So I asked Robert what he thought these “new developments” might be (obvious teaser: the former boyfriend?!?), and he graciously agreed to answer via the burgeoning MSF Podcast, with the resulting insight just a click away.

MSF Podcast with Robert Littal of Black Sports Online

[Note: You can also download/subscribe to the MSF podcast via iTunes. Music credit for the intro and outro song snippet go to our good friend Davey Heritier and his old band -- still one of my all-time faves -- Austin Bridges. The song is called Awake the Day.]

In addition to discussing the Steve McNair case — which Robert and BSO were on top of with timely and insightful reporting/commentary from the very beginning — we discuss a subject near and dear to Robert’s heart: Ohio State football.

Unfortunately for Robert, our very own KVB, and Buckeye fans worldwide, this discussion came on the same day that the Buckeyes laid an egg in West Lafayette and were upended by a terrible team that was actually picked below Indiana in many preseason Big Ten prognostications.

Ouch.

We also touch on a topic that, seemingly by the day, becomes more woven into the fabric of sports and journalism: Twitter.

Both Robert and I are obviously rabid Twitter users (@blksportsonline and @jerodmsf) and we discuss how the Twitter phenomenon has changed the way sports fans receive and digest information, plus where the Twitter trend is headed.

Hopefully you enjoy the interview. Once you’re done with it, be sure to bookmark Black Sports Online. Not that Robert needs the extra traffic, but you do need the extra knowledge.

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* – Steve McNair / Sahel Kazemi photo credit: BlackPower.com

1. His content is almost always interesting and compelling;
2. He’s not afraid to speak his mind and back it up;
3. Even white guys can dream, can’t we?

The first two reasons are obviously the most important, and what makes BSO one of my favorite sports blogs, and Robert certainly did not disappoint today.

If you’ve been following the sad story of Steve McNair’s murder, you know that the Nashville police recently determined and announced that it was a murder-suicide. Yet, I’ve read many posts by other bloggers that have communicated unease with this conclusion, with most of the lingering questions centering on the ex-boyfriend of the now deceased girlfriend of McNair who was implicated by Nashville PD as the lone shooter the morning she and McNair died.

And today, Robert posted the most expository and logical of all of the posts that have taken issue with the Nashville PD’s announcement.

I don’t know enough about the case to pass judgment one way or another with any semblance of authority, and in truth Robert does not pass specific judgment either. But he does raise a number of interesting questions, and has his own set of sources to make the questions legitimate. He’s been at the forefront of blogger coverage of the McNair shooting, and I applaud him for continuing to dig for information and for posting his honest thoughts about the case.

I’ll let his post speak for itself now. Excerpt and link below. Go there and read the post. As C&C Music Factory once said, things that make you go hmm…

Who Really Murdered Steve McNair? I’ve Broken The Case — (Black Sports Online)

I wasn’t in the room when McNair and Miss Kazemi was murdered so I can never say 100% I know who did it. That would be irresponsible but I do know this:

Mr. Norfleet is a very disgruntled ex. Mr. Norfleet was in the middle of the DUI arrest and was the last person to see Miss Kazemi before she decided to buy a gun. Mr. Norfleet hated Steve McNair. Mr. Norfleet tries to expose the relationship to the media. Mr. Norfleet has violent tendencies. Mr. Norfleet wrote a song describing the murder of his ex and her lover. Mr. Norfleet knew Miss Kazemi was selling her furniture to plan to move in with McNair. Mr. Norfleet on the night of the murder states Miss Kazemi came to see him, but he didn’t answer the door. Mr. Norfleet had a key to her Condo.

LASTLY MR. NORFLEET HAS NO ALIBI THAT ANYONE CAN CONFIRM.