Every week the Dropkicks do a segment called "Dick of the Week" where we select an athlete or someone involved in sports who has done something really stupid or harmful to themselves or others and "boo" them. If they're really bad we add them to the Willie Mason Hall of Fame. (We also do an "Athlete" of the Week for those who were wondering.)
Usually choosing a DotW is pretty simple. For example previous "winners" include awful referees (not Wayne Barnes though), racist fans, and Wendell Sailor. But this week was different; this week we had an argument, and it was a real humdinger.
On one side was Jimmy Cowan (gentleman about town) and on the other was Justin Gimelstob (defender of feminine grace).
The argument for Jimmy Cowan runs like this:
Cowan is currently the third-string All Black halfback who has been promoted to second-string by an injury to Brendon Leonard. So instead of trying to secure his position in the squad he goes out and causes a drunken incident on the beautiful streets of Invercargill.
The incident was an altercation with a bouncer who wouldn't let a very drunk Cowan into a club (they have nightclubs in Invercargill?) at 4am. The police were called, and Cowan was arrested.
The real kick in the nuts came afterwards though, when he was cleared to play by the All Black judiciary (albeit fined $3,000). The cynical amongst you might notice that Cowan is our last good option at halfback. The question has been asked: "Who would they call up if we dropped Cowan?" Piri Weepu? Danny Lee? Jamie Nutbrown? The options get pretty thin pretty quickly (note to South Africa, you may want to cause injuries at that particular position).
Now we can't say that Cowan intentionally used this situation to leverage his way into the team, but Graham Henry looked pretty annoyed by the whole thing. Also, like it or not, kids still look up to the All Blacks as role models and what's the message here? Cause trouble and as long as you're important enough to make the team you'll get off? That's not cool.
The argument for Gimelstob runs like this:
Gimelstob is a player representative for the ATP. In a recent interview he said that certain female tennis players were "sexpots" and gave commentary on their bottoms. He then called Anna Kournikova a "bitch" and he would like his "stud" brother to date her and "reap the benefits".
Beyond the clear fact that this is the kind of guy who gets turned down in a bar and then calls the girl a slut for doing it; this sexualisation of sportswomen has to stop. As Megan points out on her blog (yes she was part of this argument) a Google News search about Maria Sharapova's exit from Wimbledon contains too many headlines that make mention of her fashion rather than her tennis. Meanwhile the equally whored-out Andy Roddick and Raphael Nadal don't get the same treatment.
Dan Carter gets as much attention for his good looks as he does for his rugby, however unlike Sharapova and Daniela Hantuchova, when Carter steps onto the field no one (except maybe the opposition) are making comments about his prettiness, nobody suggests a poor performance is anything to do with his clothes.
Gimelstob's comments are more of the same kind of bullshit from a no-name (see Don Imus and his "nappy-headed hoes" comment) trying to generate self-publicity and we should not tolerate it.
The argument against Gimelstob:
He is just a no-name who will most likely lose his job and be forced to make a public apology before he heads down to some nightclub with a bag of coke to "hit up the bitches"
The argument against Cowan:
He is just a no-name who will most likely lose his job and be forced to make a public apology before he heads down to some nightclub with a bag of coke to "hit up the bitches"
So my question to you is this: who is the bigger dick?