The Sports Suckers

We are such chumps. For a shining Sunday moment we believed the Browns really had a shot.

We should know better.

The latest from MSNBC and WFAN, New York's sports talk station, with reports Titans backup QB Kerry Collins says Tennessee coach Jeff Fisher and Indianapolis Colts coach Tony Dungy must have been talking because it was clear Indy wasn't going to contest losing Sunday's game. The Titans win knocked the Browns out of the NFL playoffs since Cleveland needed an Indy win to slip in.

Now the fact the Browns had to depend on another team to beat the roadblock standing between postseason and playing golf in January should be enough to throw some cold water on those playoff dreams for Cleveland fans; anytime you depend on the "other guys" to do your work for you it's a sure signal you put yourself in a crappy position. Having said that, however, doesn't get the Titans and Colts coaches off the hook for what looks, sounds and smells like collusion, especially given Dungy's postgame comments that three division teams made the playoffs.

So what's worse: the crooks on the sidelines or us suckers sidelined?

Keep telling yourself it's a game, just a game.

It isn't your kid making the honor roll at school -- that actually has a payoff later when they get accepted on a full scholarship to some pricey university and embark on a career that leaves you in retirement in Boca Raton.

It isn't whether your employer has a heart and vision as well as a constant eye on the bottom line -- that has more to do with your personal happiness and ability to pay your bills than whether a gang of millionaires owned by a group of billionaires claw their way up the ladder to play in-between :30 second ads as Big Sports hooks up with Big Media for the Big Game.

It sure as hell isn't as important as the time you spend helping your parents fix stuff around the house you grew up in or your neighbors dig out from the latest snowfall -- those are the "pay it forward" things most of us do without a second thought because it makes us feel better and besides they're the right things to do.

Is it possible the NFL had the fix in ahead of the Indy-Tennessee game? Is there a remote chance the Colts understood winning the game that meant nothing to them was a favor to a team they didn't really care about? Could the pitch we hear from professional sports on how "winning is the only thing" really be convenient sales babble anyone with a lick of intelligence would dismiss out of hand in a heartbeat?

Count me among the reformed sports suckers: believe the worst, watch for entertainment, but don't give 'em your heart. Leave the love for folks who deserve it.