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Whine of the Week: Biggest baby in sports this week
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Mike Roemer / AP
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Among the things people who coach kids’ sports should teach their teams is how to act when you lose. And the better the kids are — or think they are — the more important it is.
The first rule is not to whine. They don’t say the other guys were lucky or the officials were lousy or they caught your team on a bad day. And before your players get the talking about how much better they are than the team that just beat them, tell them to keep Bill Parcells’ standard line in mind:
You are what your record says you are.
If LaDainian Tomlinson had gotten such advice, he wouldn’t be our choice for Whiner of the Week.
Tomlinson is the reigning MVP, the star running back of the San Diego Chargers, who finished 14-2 last year, but managed to cost their coach, Marty Schottenheimer, his job by failing to beat New England in the playoffs. But this year isn’t going so well for him or the Chargers under new coach Norv Turner. After losing Sunday to the Packers, the Lightning Bolts are 1-2.
Tomlinson has been whining from the beginning, and after losing to the Favres, he got in some preemptive whining about what he expected the media to say about his team.
"There’s a lot of people that’s going to try to divide this team, and there’s going to be talk about we’re not as good as a lot of people think we are," Tomlinson said after the game.
During the game, he got into a heated discussion — it looked a lot like an argument — with his quarterback, Philip Rivers, but Tomlinson whimpered his way around that, too. "It wasn’t really arguing," he pouted. "It was competitive talk."
We supposed that’s a start. First competitive talk, then maybe competitive football. It’s a concept he and his teammates might consider trying out.
ALSO ON THIS STORY
VOTE: Who is the Whiner of the Week?
Dishonorable mentions
Donovan McNabb
The Eagles quarterback has had a pretty good career –- five Pro Bowl appearances, those Campbell’s Soup commercials, a trip to the Super Bowl, four straight trips to the NFC Championship game. But he’s never won the big one, and that’s a fact that gets mentioned when people talk about him, same as they used to say it about Peyton Manning. But, McNabb whined to HBO’s Real Sports, he gets picked on more because he’s African-American. That may be, but he was missing the point, which is that he still hasn’t won the big game. Everything else is just being a crybaby.
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Lastings Milledge
The Mets outfielder can be an exciting player. He can also be a knucklehead.
Like last week, when, in the midst of a tight pennant race, he violently argued balls and strikes with an umpire, getting himself thrown out of not just that game, but the next three as well. Way to help your team, Lastings.
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Isiah Thomas
In a videotaped deposition played during his sexual harassment trial in New York, the Knicks president admitted that he called the woman suing him the “B” word. But, he whined, since he’s a black man and she’s a black woman, it’s all right. Bet that went over well with the jury.
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Floyd Landis
The disgraced and defrocked champion of the 2006 Tour de France, lost his appeal of doping charges to a three-judge panel and was ordered to give back his yellow jersey. Instead of fading off into the gloom, he instead starting whining again that he has no idea how all that testosterone got into his system. Why can’t he just go away?
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Cubs’ opponents
Wrigley Field hasn’t been the same since the ballpark hosted two Police concerts in July. The outfield is trampled and lumpy and hard. The Cubs admit it and deal with it every day. But opponents have been whining about the field. “It’s worse than playing in a parking lot,” the Reds’ Adam Dunn cried. We suggest he come and try out our local softball field before he whines again. It might give him some perspective.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mike Roemer / AP
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Among the things people who coach kids’ sports should teach their teams is how to act when you lose. And the better the kids are — or think they are — the more important it is.
The first rule is not to whine. They don’t say the other guys were lucky or the officials were lousy or they caught your team on a bad day. And before your players get the talking about how much better they are than the team that just beat them, tell them to keep Bill Parcells’ standard line in mind:
You are what your record says you are.
If LaDainian Tomlinson had gotten such advice, he wouldn’t be our choice for Whiner of the Week.
Tomlinson is the reigning MVP, the star running back of the San Diego Chargers, who finished 14-2 last year, but managed to cost their coach, Marty Schottenheimer, his job by failing to beat New England in the playoffs. But this year isn’t going so well for him or the Chargers under new coach Norv Turner. After losing Sunday to the Packers, the Lightning Bolts are 1-2.
Tomlinson has been whining from the beginning, and after losing to the Favres, he got in some preemptive whining about what he expected the media to say about his team.
"There’s a lot of people that’s going to try to divide this team, and there’s going to be talk about we’re not as good as a lot of people think we are," Tomlinson said after the game.
During the game, he got into a heated discussion — it looked a lot like an argument — with his quarterback, Philip Rivers, but Tomlinson whimpered his way around that, too. "It wasn’t really arguing," he pouted. "It was competitive talk."
We supposed that’s a start. First competitive talk, then maybe competitive football. It’s a concept he and his teammates might consider trying out.
ALSO ON THIS STORY
VOTE: Who is the Whiner of the Week?
Dishonorable mentions
Donovan McNabb
The Eagles quarterback has had a pretty good career –- five Pro Bowl appearances, those Campbell’s Soup commercials, a trip to the Super Bowl, four straight trips to the NFC Championship game. But he’s never won the big one, and that’s a fact that gets mentioned when people talk about him, same as they used to say it about Peyton Manning. But, McNabb whined to HBO’s Real Sports, he gets picked on more because he’s African-American. That may be, but he was missing the point, which is that he still hasn’t won the big game. Everything else is just being a crybaby.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lastings Milledge
The Mets outfielder can be an exciting player. He can also be a knucklehead.
Like last week, when, in the midst of a tight pennant race, he violently argued balls and strikes with an umpire, getting himself thrown out of not just that game, but the next three as well. Way to help your team, Lastings.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Isiah Thomas
In a videotaped deposition played during his sexual harassment trial in New York, the Knicks president admitted that he called the woman suing him the “B” word. But, he whined, since he’s a black man and she’s a black woman, it’s all right. Bet that went over well with the jury.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Floyd Landis
The disgraced and defrocked champion of the 2006 Tour de France, lost his appeal of doping charges to a three-judge panel and was ordered to give back his yellow jersey. Instead of fading off into the gloom, he instead starting whining again that he has no idea how all that testosterone got into his system. Why can’t he just go away?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Cubs’ opponents
Wrigley Field hasn’t been the same since the ballpark hosted two Police concerts in July. The outfield is trampled and lumpy and hard. The Cubs admit it and deal with it every day. But opponents have been whining about the field. “It’s worse than playing in a parking lot,” the Reds’ Adam Dunn cried. We suggest he come and try out our local softball field before he whines again. It might give him some perspective.
