FALCON POINTS

Astros scandal just the latest meaningless media frenzy, and we are all buying in

"Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player,
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing."

- William Shakespeare

You might wonder why there is a puppy picture on a story about the Astros scandal. This little beauty is my Dalmatian, Dynamo. Why is she here? To distract you. To dazzle you. Who doesn't love a puppy picture? Who cares if it has anything to do with the story? She made you look.

And the point is...

Sadly, that is the role of the media these days. Please listen to my rant. Please click on my story. Who cares if the headline isn't accurate? None of that matters. Look at me! I need likes and retweets!

The Astros cheating scandal is the latest story to be overblown, overanalyzed and overexposed. Why? Page views. Ratings. A failing media.

Exploring every angle

None of that is meant to excuse the team. Let's be honest; the Astros cheated. They will be punished, and they should. Draft picks, fines, suspensions. All are possible, and whatever they get is probably warranted.

And that is where the story should end. But that is not what the world is about anymore. It has to be endlessly debated. Pictures of a laptop on a table become the Zapruder film. There HAS to be a conspiracy. Every detail has to be debated. Which side you come down on depends on your biases.

Stupid takes

Some have even said the Astros should be stripped of their World Series title. This isn't college. It's a dumb, look at me take. It will never happen. This is not Avengers: Endgame where you can enter the quantum realm and change the past. It is real life, where events can't be changed. Did the cheating help them win? Who knows? You still have to hit the ball, even if you know what is coming. And it did not make a difference for the Astros pitchers. And harkening back to the steroid era, how do you know the other teams did not do it too and just did not get caught?

The big argument about PEDs was "oh, look at the big numbers the hitters put up." But how do you know the pitchers weren't doing it, too? The same goes here.

Truth is, you don't know. Which is why results can't and shouldn't be changed. Period. To suggest it is just dumb.

More stupid takes

On the Astros fan side, the defenses are just as silly. "They did nothing wrong. Where is your proof? Why aren't there other players coming forward?"

As an aside, let's not leave out the great misleading phrases. "Due diligence." (In other words, we know this is a bad idea, but we want to sound like we know what we are doing). "Witch hunt." (Yes, I am guilty, but this is how I deflect it).

As another aside, if you find an actual witch on your hunt, let me know. I always wanted to meet one.

They cheated. Period. And they will be punished. But the point is not that at all. It's to find every possible angle to get people to read and react. To care more about something than we should, when there are far more important things we should be riled up about. But you are being told to care, so you will keep clicking. It's the new normal, where reporters make themselves the stories and insert themselves into it. And that's why they turn stories like this into major issues. For their own benefit.

Nothing new

This is just the latest media distraction. The Patriots deflated balls saga was the most overplayed, overanalyzed scandal in sports history. Why was it so important? Because hot takes, web sites and analysts told us so. Many hinted at even bigger conspiracies. Why? Because we are a society dazzled by puppies.

Just this past weekend, the entire Colin Kaepernick story was over reported from all sides. The NFL was just doing a PR move. He just wants to be a martyr.

The NFL's waiver was broken down word by word.

Over a guy who hasn't played in three years.

The reason? He gets page views and clicks. And ratings. We keep getting told how important every aspect of the story is to our lives. In truth, it's just another distraction, a false narrative created to keep us dazzled and up in arms. Do we really care about these things? And if we do, what the hell is wrong with us?

Just like the Astros scandal. Is it a bad look? Of course. Are they guilty? Sure looks like it. But punish them and let's move on. We get it. They banged trashed cans. But punishment is never enough. People have to post pictures that might be something. Videos that might be something. Emails that might be something. Add it all up and it doesn't make things any worse. It just creates talking points. And people wonder why so many people consider the media - and social media, as the lines are completely blurred - "fake news."

In the end...

It's not fake news. It's misguided attempts to to keep us coming back for more. And too many of us fall into the trap. We are too distracted by everyone telling us these things are so important that we keep clicking. It takes on a life of its own, and then any theory is possible. Any conspiracy is possible. So we keep reading and digging and we are immersed in it. Look at this! Click on me! In a few weeks the Astros will be the most evil organization that ever lived and should be disbanded. And some of you will believe it and buy in, because that's how distractions work. And once we are distracted? We can believe anything.

Hence the picture of Dynamo. To distract you. By the way, did you notice one of her spots looks like Mickey Mouse? Let the Disney conspiracy begin. We shall start our own tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury.

And we all know what that signifies.

Most Popular

SportsMap Emails
Are Awesome

Listen Live

ESPN Houston 97.5 FM
Saying people get carried away is an understatement. Composite image by Jack Brame.


It's early April. Spring has sprung. Birds are chirping. We're experiencing the last few days of temps in the 60s. Allergies are running rampant and causing havoc. It's also in the prime of the NFL offseason. The new league year has started. Free agency has been in full effect for about a month or so. All the top guys have been signed. Vets have been cut for cap casualty purposes, or to make room for newer/cheaper talent. It's also draft season, and you know what that means!

ESPN 97.5's own Lance Zierlein put out his mock draft 3.0 for the 2023 NFL Draft. Per the usual, fans of just about all 32 teams were ready to do awful things to LZ. The things they said were even worse! Two of his 27 kids joined in on the beatdown! Our crack staff at Gow Media captured the segment from The Bench with John and Lance where the guys played audio of an AI voice reading the mean tweets:

There's something about a mock draft that sets people off. I'm not sure why. If you look at the adjective definition of mock, it states: not authentic or real, but without the intention to deceive. People tend to forget that part of the term “mock draft” and take it way too serious. They act as if this mock draft is a prediction, or a spoiler. As if these draft analysts are somehow inside the war rooms and meetings; taking the info they absorb from talking to coaches, scouts, and GMs; then formulating their mock drafts. I can assure you this is FAR from the truth.

Do some of these draft analysts pass on their mocks as gospel? Of course they do! They have egos just like any other paid professional. Do they take their jobs too seriously? Absolutely. If you don't believe in you, why would you expect anyone else to believe in you? Do they get sensitive when called out? Yes. I would too if some of you responded the way you do. Threatening people, making personal attacks, and cyber-bullying are very real. Some take it way too far.

One thing I want to emphasize is this: the people who do this for a living will get it wrong more than they get it right. LZ and I have had these discussions on and off since like 2009/2010. He once told me if you can predict the pick, player, and team eight to ten times out of the 32 picks in the first round, you're doing great. I got about six or seven right one year and acted like my bleep didn't stink! Others hated and only wanted to talk about how many I missed. They, too, missed the whole point.

I often wonder why people dislike draft analysts and mock drafts. My old co-host/mentor/great friend Craig Shelton (RIP) and I would regularly get into heated debates over draft analysts and stuff. We'd agree to disagree, then get into it again! His stance was that they don't know what they're talking about, since they can't accurately predict how it'll go. He also felt many would blame teams for doing something different and make it seem as if the analyst was smarter than the actual teams making the picks. While there are draft analysts out there like that, many are here to provide insight into what teams could possibly do.

One thing I know about LZ is he prides himself more on his player evaluations than his mocks. He's responsible for writing the evaluations you see on NFL.com and on NFL Network. That's what he thinks of all the players that are draft eligible. He has to study their game film and make the best assessment possible on their projected potential at the next level. Imagine doing this for well over 300 players over the course of about a year, sometimes more, only for some schlub on Twitter to tell you they think you should be fired for having the Raiders not draft a quarterback in the first round?

Weather forecasters get the weather wrong every day! Yet, we still go back to them every day to see what the weather will be like. Computers often fail us. Yet we use them every day. Our smartphones frequently do dumb things. Yet we won't give up on them either. People will often disappoint us. Yet we will give them chance after chance. My question is: why do we give draft analysts so much grief? Especially over something we're supposed to enjoy? I think it's time we start looking in the mirror and realizing we allow ourselves to get too worked up over something that's meant to entertain and help inform. Weed out the fakes, phonies, and pay attention to the ones who actually give a damn about their work.

SportsMap Emails
Are Awesome