Tomlinson unfairly ripped: Other thoughts

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Random notes, idle thoughts and zinging the zing-fest around the sports world ...-- The storm of criticism that the Chargers All-Pro running back LaDainian Tomlinson has taken for his early departure from Sunday's AFC Championship Game isn't really about him. It's about the nature of the sports media beast that needs to devour something -- anything -- 24 hours a day. And this week the favorite meal has been a BLT. Bash LaDainian Tomlinson. Please, spare us the nonsense. Unless you can show me your medical degree and tell me when you examined Tomlinson, or you've got a tape with the running back secretly confessing that he just didn't feel like playing Sunday, then your assertion that he should have "gutted it out" is based solely on the enormity of your overactive imagination. But, of course, that's exactly what drives sports talk radio and TV blather shows, the blog-osphere, Internet chatter, and, yes, the occasional newspaper column. Bloated opinions. Close your eyes, pull the trigger and see if you hit something. Blah, blah, blah. Tomlinson has been the most durable of running backs over his career, in addition to being the best. If he says his knee was too banged up for him to be more effective than his backups, end of story. Quarterback Philip Rivers has nothing to do with it. Nor does tight end Antonio Gates, nor Willis Reed, nor amputee Heather Mills' gutsy performance on "Dancing With The Stars." Different jobs. If an NFL running back can't accelerate, cut, or take on a tackler, he shouldn't be on the field. But legions of blowhards from Deion Sanders to "Hi, this is first-time-caller Bubba from Gopher Hump" have decided that Tomlinson is a Hall of Fame pansy, a colossal coward. All they need for their foolishness is an audience, and there is no shortage of them today. Oh, and by the way, for everyone who thinks Tomlinson at least should have been visibly cheerleading on the sidelines or whipping up hot chocolate for his teammates, well, sure, I guess we would have liked to have seen more of that. But, really, folks, just how many backsides would Tomlinson have to have slapped for the Chargers to win that game? The Chargers didn't do Tomlinson any favors by announcing to the media in the second quarter that he was able to play. The duplicity -- hardly shocking in pro sports where injuries are routinely buried or obfuscated for competitive advantages -- contributed to the perception that he was able-bodied.TIGER'S TAKE: Some people would like to see Tiger Woods take a more active role in shaping social opinion, given his iconic stature. It's a legitimate suggestion, but killing Kelly Tilghman's career wasn't the place to start.Woods talked to the Golf Channel analyst, and determined that her lynching comment was a dumb and unfortunate slip, but was not intended as a racial reference. So he wisely granted her a mulligan. Woods understands -- better than some high-profile activists -- that when you challenge racism, you need to challenge the real thing, or risk undermining your own credibility.BRUINS BARREL: Who knows what kind of results Rick Neuheisel will produce at UCLA, but he's already a barrel of fun, talking like a guy who expects to beat USC. He also has notched his first two "upsets," talking two of his competitors for the Bruins job -- holdover defensive coordinator DeWayne Walker and former Trojans offensive coordinator Norm Chow -- into headlining his staff.The Bruins should only be about a two-touchdown underdog by the time they meet USC next year.VERDICT AWAITS: The dreaded stretch begins for the Lakers Wednesday night in San Antonio -- 14 of their next 17 games are on the road -- with developing center Andrew Bynum expected to miss them all. Official prediction: The Lakers go at least 9-8, probably 10-7, maintain a spot in the Western Conference's top four, and start the postseason with a home game.It's only taken him 12 years, but it appears that Kobe Bryant has finally figured things out. In his defense, those first eight years with Shaquille O'Neal were too easy, and not much of a learn-how-to-win environment. HAPPY ANNIVERSARY: It's going to be a hallmark season for the Dodgers, a celebration of their 50th anniversary in Los Angeles. Or, as we like to call it, a celebration of 30 years of great baseball.(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)