With so much political and social turbulence happening around the world right now – the situations in Iraq and Ferguson, Mo., immediately come to mind – there’s no shortage of debate.
Everyone – from political pundits on television and professors at America’s most esteemed universities, to your next-door neighbor and the woman ringing up your groceries at the supermarket – has something to say about it all.
But one of the most polarizing debates in the country happened earlier this week, and you know the talking heads and pretty much everyone else are going to start yapping again.
Brian Hoyer was named the Cleveland Browns’ starting quarterback over rookie Johnny Manziel.
Can this be? Not Johnny Football – heck, the kid even has “Football” in his name! He and LeBron James were supposed to singlehandedly make Cleveland the premier destination in the Western hemisphere.
Looks like the guy America hates to love and loves to hate has finally been told he’s not the best – at least for now.
You can all but guarantee this will be a topic of discussion on SportsCenter for the next few weeks, if not months, and it’ll be brought up each Monday until Manziel is inevitably named the starter – which could be soon, based on the Browns’ tough first half and how poorly they’ve fared in recent seasons.
But this is the best part about having an open forum for discussion: No matter how much an item of interest is debated, even until it’s talked about ad nauseam, there will always be two people with opposing viewpoints willing to duke it out once more.
The viability of Johnny Manziel as an NFL quarterback. The risks versus the rewards of playing high-level football. Whether or not Tiger Woods will win one more major, let alone catch Jack Nicklaus.
All these debates go on around the country each day, and they are all debates that you can read about in this column, Sports Authority, in each issue of The Observer. Every day, you can read a fresh opinion from one of our 10 writers about a countless number of controversial topics that make up so much of what you love about sports.
This column is not called “Sports Authority” because our writers think they’re the definitive sources for sporting news. But we have the passion and dedication to sports to research and read up on pressing issues, and we have opinions that are worth recording.
So each day, we will come up with another point to add to the discussion. Sometimes, it will be funny. Other times, it will be serious. But every time, it will be worth reading.
And just because we all write for the same column does not mean we will all have the same opinions. We will sometimes have debates within the column, from day to day and writer to writer, about topics like the greatest athlete of the 21st century and the best sports venue.
We promise not to be one-sided. We have writers who want Johnny Manziel to succeed and ones who want him to fail. Some of us think LeBron is the best to ever step foot on the hardwood, while others say he has a ways to go before he catches MJ. A few writers think the best way to spend a summer afternoon is perched atop the Green Monster at Fenway; others say nothing’s better than a July day in the friendly confines of Wrigley.
And that’s where you come in, because we know you have an opinion about all of this. Agree with us? Great, let us know. Think we’re off our rockers? Let us know that, too. Email the writer. Conjure up a strongly-worded letter to the editor. Tweet at us (@ObserverSports). We’re here to talk, but we’re also hear to listen and to hear other opinions that make us look at things from a different perspective.
After all, only one quarterback will be able to start for the Browns, but so many people can have their voices heard when they debate which one it should be.
