Hall of Blame

Awards that were once prestigious have essentially been rendered meaningless. The Oscars, the Hall of Fame and the Pulitzer Prize all now worth little if not worthless, (I mean Drown wasn't even nominated for the Pulitzer). The reason for their demise is twofold. First, awards are being given to people who don't deserve them. No one is better at this than the Grammy music awards (except maybe the MTV "Astronaut"). Then there are people who deserve awards who haven't received them. Pete Rose, Shoeless Joe Jackson, Mark Maguire, Roger Clemens and Barry Bonds all belong in the Baseball Hall of Fame. Pete Rose earned it on the field. The fact he liked a pony or two, or three or four off the field has nothing to do with his baseball performance. Shoeless Joe never did anything wrong. As for the steroid generation Major League Baseball was not only complicit in the use of performance drugs, by not banning them, Major League Baseball condoned their use. Also it was a level playing field as it is now clear everyone from the batboy to the bullpen catcher were "juicing".

The other problem is in this politically correct world everyone is a "winner". Everyone in my eight-year old nephew's soccer league gets trophies. This by definition is not possible. As my nephew correctly asked, "If we are all winners, who are the losers?" Elaborate kindergarten graduation ceremonies and unearned rewards are not a good precedent for the real, cruel, winner take all world.

So I was amused but not surprised when the New England Patriots inducted Drew (as in Nancy Drew) Bledsoe into their Hall of Fame. If you're wondering what Drew did to earn such accolades, I'll tell you: nothing. He was a much heralded draft pick who never improved and neither did his teams. His incompetence in tight spots was legendary. Remember the reverse lateral in the Pittsburgh playoff game? I'm not sure if he could read a book but he sure as hell couldn't read defenses. Fortunately the football gods smiled on us and the injured Drew was replaced by the greatest NFL player of all time, Tom Brady. Looking back its hard to believe there was actually a quarterback controversy at the time.

I personally met Drew once. His shortcomings as a player were equal to his shortcomings as an individual. We were both drinking backstage at a Fleetwood Mac concert. Fleetwood Mac would not take the stage until the backstage area was clear. Drew and I were the last two. A rather large bodyguard asked why I was still there. "Free booze", I said. It appeared like the correct answer. He then asked Drew the same question. Drew said, "I'm famous." "What's your name?" the bouncer asked. "Drew Bledsoe". "Never heard of you," the bodyguard said looking at me. "Do you know who he is?" "Yeah," I said. "Some jerk who thinks he's famous. I'd tell him to get out of here." Which somewhat to my surprise the bouncer did. Drew protested that with the house lights still up he would get, "mobbed". We watched him walk all the way down the aisle. A few people recognized him. They booed.

Come to think of it I didn't hear any cheers when they announced his induction.

KOKO