Newz Forum: OTHER: The Sports Curmudgeon on Lying weasle Reggie Fowler, Tonya Harding, Muhammad Ali

The attempted purchase of the Minnesota Vikings by Reggie Fowler has already taken an interesting twist. There is no other way to say it, but Reggie Fowler is the 2005 incarnation of George O'Leary. The PR spinners are out in force using phrases such as "misspoke"; but given the facts as reported in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Reggie Fowler is as much of a lying weasel as George O'Leary was.

Interestingly, George O'Leary lost his job at Notre Dame over his mendacity. It will be interesting to see how the PR folks handle that aspect of this situation as Fowler goes through the NFL owners approval processes.

Let me be clear here. According to the report in the Star-Tribune, the phony curriculum vitae he handed out was written by his Arizona company - the one where he worked all the years that it took for him to amass however many hundreds of millions of dollars he needs to make this purchase. So don't fall for the argument that the new PR firm handling his affairs in Minnesota got some of the things crosswise. He said he played in the Little League World Series. Actually, he made a Little League All-Star team in Tucson, AZ and played in a game that the locals called the World Series. He said he played for the Cincy Bengals and the Calgary Stampeders. He went to camp there several times but was cut every time. He also tried out for the Jets and the Eagles but they didn't even let him come to camp. He said he has a business degree with an emphasis in finance from Wyoming; his degree is in social work.

He also claimed that in the sixth grade he received a "Presidential Accommodation" from Richard Nixon. Does that mean he slept in the Lincoln bedroom or does that mean he got fixed up on a date with one of Nixon's daughters?

That's all bad stuff but then there is the weaseling that he has done when confronted by reporters about the "inaccuracies". And as is always the case, the weaseling only makes it worse. He said that he was in the school of business at Wyoming but his degree was indeed in social work. OK, that might be an honest mistake -- except the University of Wyoming says that department is now in the College of Health Sciences and was in the College of Arts and Sciences when Fowler was a student there. Translation: he did not major in business and was never in the business school at Wyoming. He's made a boatload of money without that business degree but seems to need to claim academic training in business. Why?

Now there is some question about his marital status and whether or not he is in the midst of divorce proceedings, which could easily have some impact on the numbers on his personal balance sheet - assuming that his spouse has a lawyer more competent in a courtroom than Colin Ferguson. And in case anyone wonders why these peripheral questions ought to be of interest to anyone other than voyeurs, here's why:

Fowler says he wants to move to Minnesota and become a resident there and get a new stadium for the team - even if he has to build it himself - and he has no plans whatsoever for moving the Vikings.

Should anyone believe that?

Here's the good news about the Reggie Fowler situation. At least he did not claim to have invented the Internet in his abundant spare time after all those football teams cut him.
Can you imagine the confrontation he would have had with Al Gore over that?

This weekend, the NBA All-Star Extravaganza descends on Denver. To call this extravaganza a colossal waste of time and space would be to put it on a higher rung of the relevance ladder than it could possibly deserve. Bernie Lincicome had the following summary of what this nonsense is all about:

"Beyond the game Sunday, there are events Friday and Saturday at the Pepsi Center, sponsored and presented without shame so that no basketball player under contract now or ever will miss an opportunity to stuff a little bit of someone else's cash in his pockets for doing what he does already for an absurd amount of money."

Amen, Brother Lincicome! Preach on!!

The Political Correctness Police are on the prowl again. This time the NCAA is working hand in glove with them by sending out a letter to the 31 colleges and universities that continue to use Native American nicknames and/or logos. The letter asks the schools to explain why they continue to do this and gives them until 1 May to respond. Stand by for rhetorical bloviating on this issue yet one more time in the latter days of April and the early days of May.

Elliott Harris reported in the Chicago Sun-Times, that Tonya Harding has another fight scheduled. She will fight on 10 March in Fort Lauderdale and her opponent will be "Daisy D". In case you thought that Harding's boxing efforts had hit rock bottom already, here's the scoop on this fight. "Daisy D" is a female impersonator. I have only one question. Why isn't this match part of Wrestlemania?

According to Jerry Greene in the Orlando Sentinel, a South African yacht preparing to race in the America's Cup trials ran into a whale. Jerry Greene advised the whale to get a good lawyer. I'm wondering why PETA hasn't jumped in here and protested the cruelty represented by boating and hasn't demanded that the America's Cup races be cancelled and every ocean-going vessel be scuttled.

Finally, Muhammad Ali is about to release a book called The Soul of the Butterfly. In that book, he recounts a story on an airplane flight where a flight attendant told him to fasten his seatbelt. Ali responded by saying that Superman didn't need a seat belt. The flight attendant had the last word telling the champ:

"Superman don't need no plane either."

But don't get me wrong, I love sports...

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