Welcome back to an extra special Super Bowl episode of Dumping Them Out.
Rings culture is the worst thing that’s ever happened to sports.
This past week, Lamar Jackson missed out on his 3rd MVP.
He was beat out by Josh Allen.
Some people found that to be controversial.
Lamar Jackson had the better season if you’re looking strictly at the numbers.
But Lamar had more talent around him.
He’s already won 2 MVP’s, whereas this was Josh Allen’s first.
I’m a huge Lamar Jackson advocate.
I love everything about the way he plays.
Lamar Jackson is criticized in a way no other QB is.
No it is not.
More MVP’s = better career.
It’s not deeper than that.
No matter how many Super Bowls the player doesn’t win.
Or “rings culture”, as some like to call it.
Obviously championships play a huge role.
you’re free to’t not talk about championships when evaluating a player’s career.
But the emphasis put on championships has gotten out of hand.
If you see football that way, you’ve completely lost the plot of what sports are about.
It’s soft, it’s lazy, it shows no heart, Michael Jordan would never, etc.
But why do you think load management ever became a thing in the first place?
LeBron is the perfect case study for this.
NBA fans incessantly have the"Who’s the GOAT?
Michael Jordan or LeBron James?“debate.
Every single time the debate comes down to “Michael Jordan has 6 rings”.
So why would he waste any unneeded energy on it?
Part of me thinks Barstool is at fault as well.
Barstool Sports grew on the back of Boston sports.
Boston has some of the loudest more obnoxious sports fans in the world.
All lead by Dave Portnoy.
That’s what fits their narrative best.
But sports fans as a collective just rolled over and accepted it.
But also because sports are a team game.
That’s the lesson we should be teaching our kids.
Coming together with your brothers to win a championship seems like “the right thing” to care about.
I’m not saying championships shouldn’t be everyone’s main goal.
But it shouldn’t be the only thing fans and players are allowed to celebrate either.
I could yell between Boob GIFs about this topic forever.
Because what’s the point of making the playoffs if you aren’t going to win the Super Bowl?
College football is a whole weird thing in itself.
People are now complaining about the 12-team playoff devaluing the regular season.
But that isn’t a college football problem.
Why doesn’t winning a conference championship matter?
Why doesn’t going undefeated in the regular season mean anything?
Sports don’t have to be so black & white.
A player can not win the championship and have a better season than a player who does.
But it shouldn’t even be about who’s better.
They’re just different things.
But for some reason, winning a championship has become the ONLY thing that matters.
To the point that not winning one nullifies everything else that player did.
People will read this and think it’s the stupidest take of all time.
It wasn’t only Tom Brady who won those Super Bowls.
Patrick Mahomes isn’t the only reason the Chiefs are great.
There’s so much more that goes into winning than what one player can bring.
Individual accomplishments and team accomplishments are entirely different.
Win or lose, a championship is never on the shoulders of one player.
Sorry I know I’m rambling.
It just drives me crazy the way people talk about sports in absolutes.
Like sports are a binary thing.
I’m not saying we don’t have our priorities in order.
Championships should be the ultimate goal.
