Crabtree: Shut Up and Play

Michael Crabtree is reportedly prepared to hold out for the entire season.

The explosive 6-3 Texas Tech standout was projected as high as the fourth overall pick in April's draft — and some even slotted him as the top overall prospect in the entire '09 class.

But Crabtree slipped into the San Francisco 49ers' hands at the 10th overall position. A steal, right?

Wrong.

It looks like Crabtree, or maybe just the people talking in Crabtree's ears, have completely disregarded where Crabtree ended up. Instead, they seem more fixated on where Crabtree was supposed to be selected.

And thus, Crabtree is in the process of holding out. Of course, he isn't the only player in the league holding out. It's not a new trend, either. Holdouts go back to the days of dual-athlete Bo Jackson. However, it's not very likely that Crabtree could simply bolt to the MLB and become a multiple time All-Star selection, only to return to the NFL for another team as a Pro Bowler, like Jackson did.

Crabtree is reportedly not willing to settle for anything less than "top-three" cash, and is apparently willing to sit out the entire season before reentering next year's draft.

But this is likely an empty threat. And if it isn't, that's just a dumb move by Crabtree.

Refusing to play this season would only see Crabtree slide once again on draft day — but this time around, it would be much more dramatic of a drop. Instead of going 10th overall, Crabtree could see an extra zero added onto that. Then try getting "top-three" money. Hell, try getting even first-round money.

Now I know we are in an era of sports, particularly in the NFL, where salaries continue to climb and climb, rookie salaries in particular. But whatever happened to the days of being excited to play? Being passionate about the game? Settling for a guaranteed $10 million instead of $20 million?

It's arrogant for a rookie to be holding out, in general, let alone in a time like this when many people are struggling to reel in enough money to make ends meet, let alone get a steady job.

But God forbid Crabtree gets paid any less than Darrius Heyward-Bey, the receiver who was controversially selected ahead of him by the Oakland Raiders.

I don't care how many trophies you won. I don't care how many times you helped lead your alma-matter to victory over their most-hated rival. And I don't care how dominant you were at the college level.

College football is great and all, don't get me wrong. But the NFL is a completely different beast.

And sure, plenty of first-round wideouts have gone on to have successful careers, just look at Larry Fitzgerald, Santonio Holmes, Roddy White, and many others. But there have also been plenty that have been miserable disappointments. See: Charles Rodgers, Mike Williams, Peter Warrick, etc.

So here's my advice for Michael Crabtree:

Shut up and play.

photo credit ESPN.com

Reality Check

Ahh, yes, the internet. A gateway to so many amazing things.

And yet for every single one of these amazing items on the internet, there are at least 10 that are not-so-amazing.

Here's perhaps the latest and greatest of those — former NBA player Stephon Marbury's self-produced reality television show — Starbury TV.

It lends nearly 24/7 access to the life of Stephon Marbury to anyone with an internet connection and a computer.

Sounds pretty intriguing doesn't it? Exciting? Maybe entertaining even?

It might very well be all three of those things. But it only takes a half-hour of watching Marbury's shenanigans to see it qualifies all three of those adjectives for all the wrong reasons.

Those shenanigans include but are not limited to: Marbury ingesting Vaseline (new Vaseline commercial featuring Stephon Marbury - you can EAT it too!) , random prayer (which often leads to full-out crying), and drunken dancing (which is possibly the most entertaining thing I've seen yet on the stream).

Don't get me wrong, it's good for a laugh. It's not a complete sob-story, and surely not as dramatic as ESPN's J.A. Adande makes it out to be. Perhaps Marbury really is just doing it for the publicity. He's gotten plenty of that, such as Adande's front-page story on ESPN.com, or even tweets from Shaquille O'Neal regarding Marbury's baffling behavior. I honestly hope it's just for the publicity. It would be better for Steph. A self-absorbed production? Surely.

But much better than the alternative — Marbury has legitimately lost his marbles.

Unfortunately it's a legitimate possibility. Hearing him say he is "covered in the blood of Christ," one has to wonder, and can only hope Steph is truly alright.

THE T.O. SHOW

No it's not Owens' new VH1 reality show I'm referring to, it's his USTREAM account. While T.O. didn't make the smartest move by failing to differentiate his stream from his television show, his broadcasts do a much better job of lending a down-to-earth look at a pro athlete than do Marbury's or Ocho Cinco's.

Granted, it's probably jumping the gun on this one, as at this time Owens has only made one streaming appearance. For all I know, he may never do it again. But after seeing T.O. constantly say "I'm liking this USTREAM," it's very likely that #81 will continue to use it.

Instead of self-promotion or ridiculous triple-dog-dare type acts, Owens focused his time on simply interacting with his fans in the form of answering questions and giving shoutouts.

His stream, coupled with his new reality show, may simply be a well-played PR ploy by Owens and his publicists. It even probably is.

Nonetheless, hats off to T.O. — well played.

THE OCHO CINCO SHOW

You really thought Chad Ocho Cinco, would let guys like Marbury and T.O. get away with all the live streaming fun?

Apparently you aren't very familiar with the Cincinnati Bengals wide-out formerly known as Chad Johnson.

Chad's product is a mixing of the styles of both Marbury's and Owens' shows. It promotes the same kind of fan interactivity as T.O.'s streams do, but also contains a lot of nonsensical rambling — ala Starbury.

Chad could be seen late Wednesday night and into early Thursday morning urging his viewers to not goto work tomorrow. He said he would do the same, implying an absence from Training Camp (satire on yourself much?).

Instead of focusing on camp, Ocho Cinco was more interested in getting slogan ideas from the hundreds of viewers peeping his USTREAM. But is it really that surprising that Ocho Cinco is more concerned with branding himself than preparing himself to have a successful football season?

LINKS

Regardless of whatever negative things I may have had to say about any three of these streams, they are all worth a good watch. Marbury's feed is virtually 24/7, while you'll have to catch T.O. and Ocho Cinco at specific times — follow their twitters and look for tweets regarding when they're streaming.

Starbury TV, featuring Stephon Marbury
Starbury on Twitter

The Ocho Cinco Show, featuring Chad Ocho Cinco
Ocho Cinco on Twitter

The T.O. Show, featuring Terrell Owens
T.O. on Twitter

photo credit to ESPN.com/Shareif Ziyadat/FilmMagic

Pete Rose/Hall of Fame

Click here for ESPN.com's latest on Selig's stance on Rose

This past Sunday, the great Rickey Henderson — regarded by many as the best lead-off man of all-time — was inducted into Baseball's Hall of Fame. And deservedly so.

Yet, a man that had nearly 1,200 more career hits than Henderson and at least 400 more hits than anyone to ever play the game not named Ty Cobb remains not only banished from the game, but excluded from receiving Hall of Fame honors.

Of course I'm talking about baseball's all-time hit king, the infamous Pete Rose.

Rose not being included in the Hall of Fame is a sad story. "Charlie Hustle" only knew one way to play the game of baseball, and that was the way it was meant to be played — full-throttle at 100 mph, giving it your very best day-in and day-out.

Pete Rose may have bet on baseball. Rose may have gambled on games he played and managed in. Hell, he's admitted to these things.

But with the public learning more and more each day of various players who have used performance-enhancing drugs, specifically in the last 20 years or so, what's it even matter?

The current era of baseball has been aptly dubbed the "Steroid Era." And despite all the talk of future Hall of Fame candidates not receiving votes because of their names being linked to PEDs, do you really think there will not be a single player from the era inducted into the Hall? Because there will be plenty.

And whether those athletes were tied specifically to steroids or not, in almost every case there will be a question mark surrounding their name, simply because they played in this era. Is it fair? No. But it's true.

Pete Rose's name has already been scarred for life. It will forever be linked to illegal gambling on baseball, and many will know him simply as "the guy who bet on baseball, then lied about it for years." He will also be known by many as baseball's all-time hit king, and one of the greatest to ever play the game.

Reinstating Rose and putting him in the Hall of Fame will not change those things.

According to the ESPN article, former MLB commissioner Fay Vincent said, "The deterrent for gambling is uppermost and it works.Amidst enormous gambling in this country, if you touch the 'gambling third rail' in baseball, you die. Nobody has ever been reinstated. If you change that, you run the risk of a spate of episodes like Tim Donaghy in the NBA."

Fay misses the mark here. Reinstating Rose will not promote a positive-reinforcement for gambling, or anything similar. Rose's name has already been shamed and Rose himself ostracized, and pretty much all of that is Rose's own fault.

But in 15 years, when the Hall of Fame candidacy of the likes of Alex Rodriguez, Gary Sheffield, Ivan Rodriguez and others is being debated, don't tell me you can put any of those guys or any other players whose names are so much as barely associated with steroids in the Hall of Fame, but not put Pete Rose in.

That's an insult.

Some facts about Pete Rose's playing career: (http://www.peterose.com/records.aspx)

• 17 career All-Star appearances (at five different positions, only player ever to accomplish this feat)
• Most career games played (3,562)
• Most seasons of 200 or more hits (10)
• Most consecutive 100+ hit seasons (23)
• Only player in MLB history to play in more than 500 games at five different positions
• Most career runs in National League history (2,165)

-photo credit Bill Waugh/AP