J.P. AND JFJ, FEMINISTS? A 'TROPHY' WIVES FOLLOW-UP (OH, AND NICK KYPREOS? STILL A DUNDERHEAD)

Today's Toronto Star offers a tailor-made follow-up to last week's Sticking Up for 'Trophy' Wives, and without directly saying so, points out that Rogers Sportsnet's Nick Kypreos really was acting like a bit of an idiot last week.

Just to reiterate, with words delivered in a kind, soothing tone used to address a petulant child, which in way, I am: Nick, no one's saying you're an idiot. You just played one on TV. Love the photo, though. It really captures your intensity, your focus. How did the photographer get that out of you. "Nick, why don't you do some long division in your head?"

The article by Mark Zwolinski called "Wives Deciding Athletes' Moves," but if you're the type of astute reader who usually makes it past the headline, you'll see the story's much more even-handed and in-depth. (You came here, so obviously you're astute... right? Please say yes. I really need validation right now.)

Here's Toronto Blue Jays GM J.P. Ricciardi on the matter of sports wives, "It's like any family situation now. There are wives that need to be heard and the wife has a big say in (her) husband's life.

"A lot depends on what the hopes and expectations are for the entire family when you deal with an athlete. ... For any of us (in pro sports management) to sit there and say the wife doesn't matter is basically keeping our head in the sand."

Even Leafs GM John Ferguson Jr., whose intellect has come into question from time to time, gets it with respect to a pro team having to acknowledge a player's family: "That kind of support is always a factor in anyone's ability to be at their best."

Now contrast that with some of the dunderheads, namely Kypreos, who criticized the Carolina Hurricanes for including the players' spouses in the on-ice celebrations after their Stanley Cup win last week. You have to wonder when it seems to be completely lost on someone billed as a "hockey insider" that this is an accepted part of running a pro sports team in the year 2006.
Players' spouses need to feel like they're part of the grand scheme. They even have a support group that claims to have over 7,000 members.

(Digression: Not sure how long this has been on the Interweb, but there's an online petition calling for Sportsnet to fire Kypreos and replace him with a cabbage, "which would provide much more insightful commentary ... and would be more aesthetically pleasing.")

Sports isn't that far removed from the days when the prevailing mindsight was best summed up by that lovable misanthrope Billy Martin, who in 1975 -- as quoted in Mike Shropshire's book Seasons In Hell, said, "The wives will poison a ball club if you let 'em. The last thing you need is them getting organized!"

However, those days are over. It's possible Kypreos is aware of this, but just decided to pretend otherwise because he plays viewers for idiots, assuming many would chuckle and nod in agreeement when he started going on about, "Who are all these people?" as footage of Carolina's celebration appeared on screen. Or worse yet, he was just doing the time-honoured TV clown's trick of, I'm just going to be loud for loud's sake. I bring nothing to the table, but if I'm loud enough, maybe no one will notice.

Perhaps that makes for "good TV" in the mind of some functionally illiterate producer, but that doesn't make Kypreos any less of a dunderhead.

Wives Deciding Athletes' Moves (Toronto Star)
Sticking Up For 'Trophy' Wives (June 22)
Professional Sports Wives Association
Replace Nick Kypreos With a Cabbage (PetitionOnline)

That's all for now. Send your thoughts to neatesager@yahoo.ca.