It’s neither the time nor the place to start skewering the experts for their preseason picks. That can wait, but I will discuss the folly of early season overreactions, both good and bad.
Can you imagine a baseball player starting the year 3-18 and hearing murmurs about skills eroding? That same guy, Luis Arraez, now a member of the Padres is leading the NL in batting (.317) and likely on the way to a third consecutive title. While Arraez got off to an iffy start, most reasonable fans and baseball minds saw this to be a bump in the road, some with the power of the internet saw things differently.
Sometime in the past couple of days, I caught a few minutes of an NFL radio show forecasting the weekend’s games and the larger picture of the season. Some young lady on the panel (no idea who she is or what qualifies her as an expert) said that she believed Derek Carr of the Saints is her MVP. Dang, how many professional athletes merit an MVP after only two games? A better, more reasoned statement might have been, “the biggest surprise” after the first two games.
106% of the folks covering sports speak in hyperbole. They can’t help themselves from using the superlative instead of the superior case and not because it’s grammatically correct. Unless I’m describing the quality of the weather or a person’s kindness, I only use the superlative, greatest, or best to emphasize the absurdity of the claim. I’m usually mocking the foolishness of the hype.
Without delving into the specifics, I’ve stated that I can’t stand my fantasy QB because he’s stunk up the joint so badly despite his ranking. He’s been that God-awful that I’m considering replacing him with Tom Brady.