Saturday, July 07, 2007

Who's Now in a good way, besides Barry Bonds.

Here's the problem with "Who's Now." I know, I know, all of you love it so much, because over 140,000 of you voted Peyton Manning more Now over Amanda Beard. But, unfortunately, there is a problem. It's not Who's Now, it's really What's Now. What is Now? For example if, your boss told you that he needed the report now, would you give it to him 32 days from when he required it? That is what ESPN is doing. It's hard to figure out who is Now when you're taking a month to do it. What if in a months time Amanda Beard signed a 10-day deal with the Yankees in which she batted .346 with 10 home runs and 25 rbi's. That would be pretty damn Now, way more now than Peyton Manning, who is currently doing nothing right Now.

Looking at the bigger picture, Peyton Manning is the opposite of Now. He will never be Now. As with some other people on the list, like Tiger Woods, or Tom Brady to name a few. There's a certain level of accomplishment that transcends Now. Now implies to me that this person is in the spotlight at this current moment for whatever reason, but will someday fade. Some sports figures will always be on our mind, just because they deserve to be. Now is not relevant to certain people, because anything they do will make them now. If Michael Jordan did something today, he would be in the news, because he is always Now, beyond Now.

Now, that being said, being Now according to ESPN just means being the most popular athlete. If ESPN really wanted to make this interesting, they would promise to devote coverage accordingly to the place in which these people finish. So, if Brady beats out Manning, you will get 5 minutes of Tom Brady coverage for every three minutes of Peyton Manning coverage. After all, he is Now, right? Since he's Now, I want to hear more about him. Peyton Manning should have been more Now, now, he's just not as Now as Brady, and he's going to have to live with it until ESPN wants to fill some time with a popularity contest.

And who does ESPN think they are kidding putting Barry Bonds as a five seed? Is there ANYONE more deserving of the Now title than him? He is the only person to my knowledge that has a team of ESPN reporters (led by Pedro Gomez), the only person who's at bats are always listed on the bottom line, the only person who's upcoming pitching matchups are shown after every highlight of the game he just finished.

Here's another thing about Now that chaps my ass. It should be called Who's Now in a good way. I don't care what you say, Michael Vick should be in the final four of Who's Now right now. Name me the last NFL QB that is at a crossroads in his career, attempting to prove to the whole world he can still play, while trying to combat an illegal dog-fighting federal indictment? Oh, but he can't be Now because that isn't a good reason to be Now. In fact, as I traveled to Page 2 yo research Who's Now, here were the top headlines that appeared on that page:


None are even up for being Now. There is no Now on this list to my knowledge. You know why? Neither do I, because these people and stories, according to ESPN, are Now. It is ESPN's responsibility to bring us Now, that's the idea of Sportscenter. I want to see what is going on...NOW. One single athlete is never Now, because Now is always moving, transitioning, rising and falling. Something could happen Now and make someone more Now than we ever could have known. That is the beauty of sport, that is the beauty of the unknown. This is just a popularity contest.

Sorry to burst your bubble. I'll go Now.

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