Why all the Bill Romanowski Love?
Flipping through the radio this morning, we caught an interview with Bill Romanowski on the Sarah and No Name show. No Name pretty much fawned over him while Sarah fawned not necessarily over him but over his new protein drinks. Callers, however, didn't just fawn over him but slathered over him too, mainly for what they kept on saying was for "bringing passion to the Raiders." The subtle dig, of course, being that the Raiders don't have any passion anymore and need another Romanowski type to step up and give the Raiders a swift kick in the patootie.
Now, here's the thing about Romanowski-- he might just be the biggest douche in football history. Among the incidents on his rap sheet: spitting on JJ Stokes, kicking a kicker in the head, breaking then Panthers QB jaw in a preseason game, throwing a football at Jets linebacker Bryan Cox, and for being fined for three illegal hits and punching Chiefs TE Tony Gonzalez. Oh, and there's the incident in which he punched fellow Raider Marcus Williams in the face during training camp, breaking Williams' eye socket and causing him to retire. He was last season getting kicked out of a Pee Wee football game for yelling at another kid who tripped up his son. Talk about the passion.
Now why is Romo getting all this praise and attention? Is it because he's a football player and football players are expected to be a bit on the nasty side, the nastier the better? Is it because he played for the Raiders and 49ers and won with both of them? Who doesn't like a winner? One could even bring up the race issue because it's far easier to be a douche when you're white than a douche when you're not. See Bonds, Barry.
Which brings up another thing, mainly that Romanowski has admitted to doing steroids. Or at least during the last three years of his career, something for which a lot of people doubt. He has also been linked to BALCO and was one of Victor Conte's earliest clients. In fact, one of the things Williams' attorneys tried to show was that Romo's beat down of their client was "'roid rage" and if there is anybody who defines 'roid rage, it's Romo.
So once again, the question is raised why all the hand wringing over steroids in baseball but nothing in football? Shouldn't all the cries about what should we tell the children be applicable for steroids in football too? And hell, why do we wish that athletes upheld some sort of pristine standards yet praise Bill Romanowski?
We guess what we're saying is that we hate Bill Romanowski and the fact all those callers were showering him with love got our blood pressure up. We hate when that happens.