U mad, bro? Readers fed up with NFLPA gripes, DeSean Jackson, Pirates, umpires

In this week’s “U mad, bro?”, fans are fired up about NFL players balking at a return to play.

Also, emailers are growling at DeSean Jackson, MLB umpire Joe West and the Pirates.

Most importantly, we mourn the absence of Enrico Pallazzo in this time of great American need.

Jim responded to my comments about DeSean Jackson. The Philadelphia Eagles receiver posted an anti-Semitic rant over the weekend on Instagram. And I ripped him for it, as well as those who are silently refusing to call him out.

“Jackson should be given his unconditional release. Someone will sign him, but (owner Jeffrey) Lurie needs to show him who’s the boss.”

He should. And, remember, Lurie is Jewish. If ever there was a time where an owner saying, “You know what? It’s my team. I’ll do what I want. Get lost,” was appropriate, this would be it.

Here’s the problem. Lurie was the owner when former Eagle Riley Cooper — a white wide receiver — was retained even after he was caught on camera using a racial slur at a concert back in 2013.

So if Lurie cuts Jackson now, that becomes the story. Lurie becomes the bad guy. The blame game gets deflected. Everybody who has been silent all week will suddenly log onto Twitter again. Then Lurie is the one that has to go on an apology tour, not Jackson.

While keeping Jackson on the roster may be distasteful to Lurie right now, it’s expeditious. Any other route he would take would become a battle that he couldn’t win.

I recently wrote about MLB umpire “Cowboy” Joe West, and his cowboy approach to working games through the pandemic.

Even though he is in Major League Baseball’s high-risk category.

Brad emails, wondering if MLB is trying to push some of the older umps out the door.

“Is MLB’s pandemic induced semi-retirement plan they have on select umpires a stroke of brilliance, especially given their constant ineptitude in labor relations? Or just a happy accident on the part of Rob Manfred?

My only hope is that West’s replacement is Enrico Pallazzo.”

Unfortunately, Brad, Enrico Pallazzo found himself in a high-risk category himself about 10 years ago.

That high-risk category was being 84 years old. And, sadly, the great Leslie Nielsen (aka Frank Drebin, aka Enrico Pallazzo) died back in 2010.

He passed with friends by his bedside in Florida after battling pneumonia. In other words, much more peaceful than the “Naked Gun” movies when Robert Goulet was eaten by a lion, or when Ricardo Montalbán was trampled by the USC marching band.

So we won’t be seeing Enrico Pallazzo. That’s too bad. Because we all know he’s a better umpire than West.

In fact, Enrico even ejected West once.

What shame. Not only could Pallazzo save umpiring, he could solve the whole national anthem debate, too.

I mean, who could kneel during that masterpiece?

Mike is upset with something I said in my recent column about some “return to play” debates between the NFL and its players.

“In your recent article you mention your view regarding preseason games for the up-coming season (hopefully). While explaining your stance that you would like to see all the preseason games eliminated for this year, you state ‘So why expose players to such extreme risk on game days twice when the results don’t count?’

I can’t help but to wonder how you derived the ‘extreme’ component of your risk assessment. Using Pennsylvania’s DoH own data.

The cases as of the time of this email moment are at 87705. The population of Pennsylvania is 12.8 million. So that equates to 0.69% of Pennsylvania’s population. ‘Extreme??’ I don’t think so.

But then again no one ever offers statistical perspective. It’s more news-worthy to mention five-figure case numbers.”

Mike, no one has been more of an advocate of opening what can be opened and working when you can work more than me. That includes pro sports, if possible.

So if you are trying to “stat shame” someone, look elsewhere.

More to the point, I think you are being too literal with my use of “extreme.”

When I say “extreme risk” on game days, I’m talking about the players’ risk versus that of a normal person. And I’m talking about their heightened exposure to infection on gameday as opposed to the other six days of a work week.

As I outlined in the story, even without fans in the stands, game days will bring hundreds of people to NFL stadiums. With that many people in one place — for up to six hours out of the day while the players are in the building — exposure avails itself more readily.

Not to mention the close contact of actually playing the sport and standing on the sidelines.

You can believe whatever data you want to believe. I’ve been dubious of a lot of the numbers and how they are packaged just like you are.

But — according to the data you want to advance — of the 12.712 million Pennsylvanians who haven’t been infected, a lot more would be likely to catch it under an NFL game day situation, than working their cubicle job from home.

There is no arguing that.

Just like there’s no arguing that regular season football is better than preseason football. So don’t risk the regular season opener in the name of the two preseason games.

That was my logic. Which I don’t find to be the least bit “extreme.”

I attended Pirates practice Tuesday. It just felt good to be in a stadium again, honestly.

So I happily tweeted about it. Jason didn’t share in my moment.

The pirates should be shut down completely till management stops treating it like a joke!!!

— Jason Bertok (@jbertok307) July 7, 2020

Sorry, Jason. I get your angst over the state of the team, its roster and its payroll.

But the lull we have with no sports should remind everybody we are better off with the Pirates being here — and being bad — than we would be if they were gone.

Lastly, Dave sends a message of support from Connecticut. Apparently, he’s a big fan of “U mad, bro?”

“Love this column. I used to do some motivational speaking and was told, if you aren’t getting negative feedback, they aren’t listening!”

Well, Dave, based on the feedback I get, my readers must be listening very closely.

Perfect hearing, it appears.

Yup. Like sonar, these folks.

Picture a dog when it hears the can opener on its Puppy Chow.