Seven Things I Don’t Care About Anymore
August 4, 2025
One of the few advantages of getting old is the ability to separate what matters in sports from what doesn’t. For me, this new skill is especially impactful because I spent so many years having, by the nature of my job, to care about pretty much everything in sports.
Now I can see that much of it is just another way to keep the fans interested until something that actually deserves our attention comes along. Never is this reality clearer than right now, at the end of the MLB trade deadline and the beginning of preseason football.
So, for better or worse, these are the seven things I spend no time worrying about as a lifetime fan of the four major sports:
- Preseason football
The NFL wants me not to care, and now that I don’t have to, I don’t. What’s the point?
Oh, don’t get me wrong. I will still watch, because it’s football, it’s the Eagles, and there’s nothing wrong with scoping out the players who were added to the roster since the championship parade.
But the biggest rip-off, by far, in professional sports is a ticket to exhibition football, which once featured six games every summer, with the regular players on the field at least half the time. Back then, a generation ago, you could get a good seat for $10. Now most fans have to pay top dollar for the games as part of a season-ticket package. Ugh.
Of course, they get a lot less for paying a lot more. In the spirit of load managing and bogus analytics, the best players won’t take an actual snap until the first series of the opening game. Only the NFL could get away with this kind of blatant consumer fraud.
No, thanks.
- What coaches and managers have to say
In Philadelphia, I can end the suspense right now. Nothing. The coaches and manager here have nothing to add to what you just saw. They are too fearful that they will say something that shakes the delicate psyches of their sensitive players.
Five years ago, Eagles coach Nick Sirianni actually gave talk-show hosts something to talk about – OK, a better word is mock – when he used tortured references to watering plants and the hunger of dogs – but now, forget it. He’s got nothing to say other than hollow platitudes for all his players, good and bad.
And Thomson is even worse. There’s a huge debate going on right now about when to use artificial intelligence to replace humans. Well, this is one case where I would recommend it. Thomson manages like a robot anyway. He might as well be one.
- Halls of Fame
I’m thrilled that Dick Allen finally got into the Baseball Hall of Fame, but I know why – and it’s the wrong reason. Allen got in because of the tireless work of Mark Carfagno, who was a member of the Phillies ground crew for many years and who may be the biggest Allen fan ever.
The man better known as Froggy politicked for years before the Hall begrudgingly opened its doors to a man who deserved induction long before his passing in 2020. The same thing happened when Ray Didinger championed the cause of his boyhood idol, Tommy MacDonald, more than a decade ago. Most recently, Eagle great Eric Allen just got inducted after a 19-year fan campaign.
The Hall of Fame is not politics – or at least it shouldn’t be. But now clearly it is, leaving me with the obvious question of how many other deserving players never got in because they had no one to argue their case.
- The so-called experts
One of the questions I get asked every year, without fail, is how I feel about the low ranking that Jalen Hurts has received from self-appointed NFL experts like high-paid talking heads Chris Simms and Colin Cowherd. The answer should be obvious. I feel nothing because their opinions don’t matter.
There is a whole subset of so-called authorities who either have altered their actual views to get more social-media attention or who are just plain stupid. Watch the games. Hurts is a winner. You don’t need any stat-crunchers or media hacks to tell you that.
The only expert that really matters is the fan. If you’re a Philly sports fan, you know who can play.
And unlike the “experts,” you have no agenda.
- Baseball prospects
There is no group of athletes more overvalued in any sport than young baseball players. There are so many levels to overcome before the big leagues, and every stop along the way is a major obstacle for even the most talented kids.
So why, every single year around the trade deadline, are there all of these debates about whether the Phillies, for example, should deal one of their top 10 prospects for an actual big leaguer?
The answer is yes. With very few exceptions, it is always yes.
That’s why, say what you want about Phils GM Dave Dombrowski, he understands that the closest he can get to a sure thing is to acquire a player already functioning successfully as a big leaguer.
When is the last time the Phillies regretting trading a prospect?
I don’t recall, either. Because it rarely happens.
- All-Star Games
I know, I know. This is low-hanging fruit, for sure. All-Star Games have sucked for years, but not like now. These travesties have degenerated into a whole new era of awful sports events.
In fact, the NFL now holds a Pro Bowl with no actual tackling. It’s touch football. If you didn’t know this, congratulations. You managed to avoid the ultimate example of the softening of today’s games. Just keep doing what you’re doing. You aren’t missing anything.
Meanwhile, the winter sports are no better. The NBA All-Star weekend is a festival for egomaniac players, and the NHL festivities, well . . . . I’m proud to say I don’t indulge. Even a retired curmudgeon like me has something better to do than watch that slop.
Until the past decade or so, the baseball All-Star Game was worth watching for an inning or two, while the actual stars were playing. But last month the game ended in a tie, and MLB actually decided the outcome with a Home Run Derby.
No, no, no, no, no. Never.
- The Kelly-Green Uniforms
I understand that I’m venturing onto sacred ground with this one, but hear me out. I have nothing against the Eagles honoring their past. I even like the color. My problem is that the occasional switch back to the team’s original color is based on an entirely different kind of green. You know. Money.
When Jeff Lurie bought the Eagles 30 years ago, one of his first moves was to change the color to Midnight Green. Why? New owner, new era. Back then, he made a very strong case for the deeper, richer new shade of green.
After profiting from the boom in sports apparel in the late 90s and early aughts, Lurie saw a marketing bonanza by bringing back Kelly Green for the 50thanniversary of the championship team in 2010. He even got an exemption from the rules to allow it. Cha-ching.
Then in 2023, when NFL ended regulations requiring helmets to match uniforms, the never-rich-enough owner stuffed his coffers with the proceeds from a second boom of uniform sales – inspired by Kelly Green, of course. Cha-cha ching.
I don’t really care what color the Eagles wear. I just feel a need to remind people that it’s wasn’t out of Lurie’s new-found nostalgia for the franchise’s past. It was for the usual reason – to get even richer.