I Swear I've Seen This Movie Before

I've gotten a few emails like this lately. Not a huge pile of them, but about half a dozen or more. It gets a bit exasperating at times, but then I step back and just enjoy the fact that people can be so damn invested in sports.

Steve,

I live in Omaha and we used to have the Czabe Show every day and I listened every day. We lost it when Fox Radio decided not to keep the show. I have continued following you through The Daily Czabe, Sporting News Radio and now Yahoo. I have told many people about the greatness of this show and I have admired your strong efforts on staying on the air and your strong efforts of the Daily Czabe.

That being said, after your current freaky, hate-mongering of Tim Tebow, you\'ve finally lost me. I don't consider myself a Tebite, but I do like the fellow. I'd prefer my daughter enjoy watching him than a tatted-up, pot smoking, womanizing wife-beater. I also enjoyed hearing critics whine and pull out whatever hair they had since Tebow was going against all their professed expertise. 

At any rate, it was more your absolute hatred that has turned me off. You might be right on Tebow's skillset weaknesses, but your rants have pushed me over the edge of saying good bye to your fine show. If you were still on the air in Omaha, I might be listening, but since I have to make an effort to find you, I find it is no longer worth the effort. Good luck in the future, Czabe, I still agree with you on most things, but I can\'t take the hate. 

Paul Reece

MY RESPONSE:

Dear Paul,

I am saddened to lose such a dedicated listener. Even more sad, is that a single player, and a single difference of opinion could cause such a dramatic, and final decision to leave me and my show. I understand that my opinion on Tebow is unflinching, but I don't think it is mean. Well, at least not in the context of any athlete who is a public figure. I also find it puzzling that the good things about this guy that I readily concede, are not counted in the "big picture" on where I stand. 

If I may ask, what in your mind would constitute "fair criticism" of Tebow, that does not cross over into the category of "hate?" Furthermore, would you prefer a host who is not afraid to be wrong  and stakes out an opinion (Tim certainly will have a chance to shove it down my throat in the coming months and years), or somebody who merely floats along with a stance that is considered "mainstream" and "acceptable?"

I recall similar emails during the ascendant hype of one Michelle Wie. I was steadfast in my opinion that she was nothing more than an over-hyped marketing vehicle, who was destroying her long term prospects in the game by playing hopelessly above her appropriate level.

Yet the media clamor for Michelle Wie was loud and un-relenting, and I was shouted down by many corners of the sports opinionsphere. I also pointed out how graceless and entitled she could be, and again, I was dubbed a "hater" by some.

Well, fast forward about 5 years, and it turns out I was dead-nuts right about nearly ALL of it! Not that she's "done" as a golfer, but Wie has STILL won virtually NOTHING as a pro (2 LPGA tour event).

When a player like Yani Tseng comes along - same age as Wie, 22, by the way - and just starts DESTROYING the competition (22 professional wins and counting) and the media barely bats an eye, it just makes my previous points about Wie all the more valid.

Tseng isn't a "marketable" star like Wie was once upon a time. She's quiet. Humble. Doesn't talk about playing vs. the men. She is short and plain, not tall and pretty. And her mastery of the english language remains a barrier to any endorsement opportunities.

I found out once and for all during the whole "Wie episode" in sports history, that it doesn't really "pay" to be RIGHT about things in sports that go contrary to the accepted mainstream. After all, the same herd of sports writers and pundits who lapped up every Michelle Wie (non)-milestone, didn't come back after reality set in and admit how and where they were wrong.

They just kind of wandered off to the next "big thing."

Personally, I have this delusional notion that my job as a sports talk radio host, entails trying to have as many "correct" opinions on players, teams, and games as possible. To analyze the sports landscape, and call things as I see them.

Knowing full well, that I will be WRONGER and look DUMBER than the local town drunk MANY TIMES over as the years pile up.

I don't mind being wrong. I don't mind being ripped, lampooned and skewered for being wrong.

I just don't have the stomach to "go along" with the "easy" opinion on things in sports, if I just don't feel it's going to pan out as everyone says. And I don't like to just be a contrarian, for the sake of pissing people off.

So we'll see about Tebow.

If he wins, and becomes a very good NFL starter at QB, the spoils of "I-Told-You-So" victory will belong to everyone who has railed against my Tebowian stance on Timmy Rah Rah.

I don't just want you to redeem those "how do you like him now" apples, I fully EXPECT you to!

And if I'm right after a few years, then well, I'll just shut up and move on.

I've learned my lesson. You just can't win.