CRITIQUING THE CRITICS

You know what? I am just sick to death of these critics and so-called experts who sit there behind their cozy desks assassinating the skills or character of those actually doing the things which they only wish they could do.

Take sports critics for instance. The great majority of them are these less than physically impressive sports geeks, who probably never even got picked for the dodge ball team in elementary school. They expound upon the virtues and/or faults of professional athletes who have spent their entire lives getting to the point in which they are able to live their dreams. Many of these athletes are not only playing for themselves. Many of them have the dreams and financial well-being of their parents and families on their shoulders as well. Where the hell were these critics through the hours, days, weeks, months, nay, years of rigorous training, practices, two- a -days, conditioning, injuries, rehab, sleepless nights, and achievements? Who the hell are they to criticize the performance of a player who may be having an off time in an otherwise stellar career? I would literally pay to see one of these old, fat, balding, five foot nothing, one hundred nothing pound sports writers catch one of Brett Favre's shotgun passes, take a hit from Lincoln Kennedy, or even attempt to stop Reggie Bush. How about going mano-a-mano with the Big Easy Ernie Els, or toe-to-toe with Oscar Dela Hoya? Granted, I too think many of these athletes are grossly over paid to play a game. However, in some of these sports, where a person's career or life as they know it can come to an end with one too many shots to the head, or one spine crushing hit, it gives one pause.

Then, there are these movie critics who once did a play in high school, and didn't even have the lead. Who do these no-talent individuals think they are that can brutally trash an actor who just spent the last six months or a year of their life shooting 15 hours a day, getting up at ungodly hours to go through 5 hours of makeup, sometimes suffering injuries for their art? If they didn't like the movie, then they didn't like the movie, but don't assume that one assholes derogatory words are the end all, be all of the movies. I think it's bad enough for a director, producer, actor, or studio to see less than favorable ticket sales. It must really suck to spend $100,000,000 to make a movie and have it only make $50,000,000. Isn't that painful enough?

There are many more types of critics out there and I can't urge people enough to make their own decisions about things. Just because a critic writes or says something, it really doesn't make it so. After all, the average Joe has opinions as well and the true success or failure of much lays in the hands of the fans and public at large. So, Mister and Miss Critic, up yours and the rock you crawled up from under.