In my Small opinion . . .
Polling is one of the most useless exercises ever created.
You give framed questions to a couple of thousand of people and then extrapolate that data as representative of the feelings of more than 300 million Americans -- with a margin for error of four to six points, of course.So on Tuesday, Q Scores released its latest data, which revealed LeBron James is the sixth-most disliked figure in American pro sports.
According to the report, James is viewed in a negative light by 39 percent of the general population.
The indication is that this drop in "LeBronmania" is due to his free-agency move from the Cleveland Cavaliers to the Miami Heat.
In January, Q Scores said James was viewed positively by 24 percent of the people and negatively by 22 percent.
Now James is considered as viewed in a positive light by only 14 percent of those polled, a 41.6 percent drop in popularity in seven months.
My specialty isn't math, but if 39 percent have a negative view and 14 have a positive view, then it seems that 47 percent have no opinion of James at all.
So we're being told that a small sample in which 47 percent were neutral is representative of the public's feelings about James.
Who knew the heartbreak of Cleveland weighed so heavily on the nation?
Too often, polls don't reflect actual reality.
Some experts predict that James' new Miami Heat jersey could vault him to No. 1 in NBA jersey sales -- finally moving him past Kobe Bryant, who is considered the fifth-most disliked athlete in America by the same poll.
The Q score's most disliked sports personality?
Michael Vick, who will start at quarterback for the Eagles on Sunday and whose jersey at one point was the top seller after he was signed.
Tiger Woods was second, which certainly explains why golf ratings plummet when he isn't playing at an event.
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In my Small opinion . . .
Reggie Bush still is and always will be the 2005 Heisman Trophy winner.
Bush did the honorable thing by returning the trophy to the Heisman Trophy Trust, sparing the organization the decision of possibly making him the first winner to be stripped of the award.
Still, the NCAA's magic eraser can't change what my eyes saw Bush do on the field for the University of Southern California in 2005.
He was the best collegiate player in the land. The fact the NCAA retroactively ruled him ineligible for his dealings with a sports agent doesn't change that.
This isn't like Barry Bonds and Mark McGwire using illegal performance-enhancing drugs to steal home-run records.
This isn't Marion Jones winning gold at the 2000 Olympics while competing juiced up.
Performance-enhancing drugs change the playing field. Nothing achieved while using them is credible.
Bush is alleged to have taken money and gifts. That didn't give him an advantage on the playing field.
The NCAA's now-blank pages can't tell me what my eyes saw.
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In my Small opinion . . .
No one knows whether the Eagles will receive any reprimand from the NFL for their handling of the concussions of quarterback Kevin Kolb and linebacker Stewart Bradley on Sunday.
With Congress having held hearings on sport concussions, head injuries are a high priority for the NFL this season.
The Birds have the unfortunate luck of being the first team that authorities can make an example of to let everyone know this is being taken seriously.
I'm not saying the Eagles were right to put Kolb and Bradley, the latter of whom stumbled like a punch-drunk boxer, back in the game.
But the NFL's protocols are almost impossible to be administered properly during the flow of a live game.
Unless you want to drastically alter the nature of football and say that any player who has his bell even slightly rung must immediately be ruled out for the rest of the game, situations such as what happened with the Eagles will recur.
Football is a violent game. It inherently requires men to play hurt. Everyone, from players to coaches to ownership and even medical personnel, understands this is part of the culture.
In dealing with something as complicated as concussion symptoms, it's almost impossible to ask these people to distinguish between pushing the envelope and stepping over the line.
The only practical solution I can see, beyond disqualification, is for the NFL to have a neutral head-trauma specialist at each game. If a player suffers a head injury, only that doctor, who is free from the pressure of being employed by a team, would be allowed to say when or whether the player can return to the game.
Somehow, I don't think that kind of solution will seem practical when the NFL considers the cost and that a star player could be ruled out of a key game because he was momentarily woozy.
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