It’s another Tuesday, it’s raining, there’s nothing particularly that needs doing so I’ll just vedge(sp) and take the hour or so it will take me to whine.
First of all, the Monday Night Football game was horrid…totally unwatchable. Why can’t anybody figure out in advance that Arizona is just barely a professional team at all? To match them up with any team is risky. What team wouldn’t have beaten the Cardinals last night? Detroit plays harder. Buffalo definitely plays harder, and smarter too. The Rams, now that they have a real live quarterback, would dance rings around that sorry bunch from Arizona.
Of course, the Giants won. That makes me happy since I thought it would take their best effort to knock off even the likes of Jacksonville. It’s really a tribute to them from the coaches to all the remaining healthy players that they were able to come from behind to take the lead and then hold it against a Jaguar team that was still trying to show some fight. The Jets won too on Thanksgiving but they were once again nothing to write home about.
The Knicks have been doing better than expected and the Nets started really slow but are showing signs of life. All of the above is promising better times for New York fans this winter, and maybe even into the March Madness of college basketball. And by that time, spring training will have started. Life is good if you’re into sports and not so much into shopping and Cyber Monday crapola, the teetering economy or global warming.
Another melodrama that will keep the NY area humming until the wee hours of February is the Derek Jeter negotiation. I’m enjoying it immensely so far. The one question, it seems to me, that no one is asking is how the Players Union and the MLB Commissioner’s office feel about rewarding a player for his marketing value. There is the power of precedent to be considered. Why shouldn’t every player want to add value to their contracts? Wouldn’t the Commissioner want the Yanks to take a hard line on this icon talk?
All this is great stuff for a Mets fan. There couldn’t be a wider division between the parties. And, while it’s hard to envision Jeter playing for any other team, the Yankees have essentially told Jeter to get other offers. But other teams will be skittish about being a pawn in that game. So any offers will come late, only after they are convinced Jeter may really consider a uniform without stripes. How great would it be for some team that would be willing to pay Jeter a premium for his market value? A Detroit or a Boston (just to drive the Yanks crazy) might enjoy getting some attention and more fannies in their seats for just a few million dollars premium per year. Then the question will really be how much the Yankees want Jeter and how much Jeter wants the Yankees.
The team is clearly in the driver’s seat. The Yankees can function quite nicely without Jeter. While they’d take a lot of heat in the first Jeter-less year, especially when he’d get his 3000th hit for say, Kansas City. Heh-heh,. They’d look better and better as Jeter would get older and older. It’d be virtually impossible for Jeter to score his hundred runs per year for any other team but the Yankees, who have continually surrounded him with hitters in their own right.
Juan Uribe, about five years younger than Jeter and the San Francisco Giants postseason wunderkind, just signed a 3-year contract with the Dodgers for 21 million. Based on that figure, I’d say Jeter’s worth about 10 to 11 million per year. The Yankees offered him 15 mill for 3 years, a figure already that included market value. I’d understand totally if the Yankees felt that Jeter was holding them up. They would be entitled to be thinking Jeter should accept a pay cut from his last contract, his 10-year 189 million deal. The Yankees should stick to their guns, and if they do, things should get really interesting. And what if they withdraw their 15 million offer? Then what?
Meanwhile, the Mets have done almost nothing. Today I heard that their pretty fine left-handed specialist in the bullpen, Pedro Feliciano, turned down arbitration, which would seem to indicate that the market is good. It would also seem the Mets want to keep their better players, definitely a good sign for us Mets fans. The Mets need pitching though and I’m not crazy about the free agent starters. I wouldn’t mind seeing them shop Jason Bay and/or Carlos Beltran for a couple of pitchers. And I’d rather see them get young guns with limitless potential than see them go for broke with a veteran commanding a high salary.
A second baseman wouldn’t hurt either. But there are plenty of second basemen. It’s just not that critical a position. I was happy to see Florida’s slugging Dan Uggla go elsewhere. His fielding has always been atrocious and the Mets fans wouldn’t be tolerant of that. Uggla will be fine in Atlanta though, and Atlanta may be ready next year to challenge the Phillies seriously for the Division Championship. Whatever the Mets do next year, it’s difficult to think they’ll overtake either of the top two contenders.
The Knicks play the Nets tonight and it should be a barn-burner. Although the Knicks are the better team, they’ll be without their starting center Ronnie Turiaf, a factor that should hurt them a lot being that the Nets Lopez will be firing from all directions. But the Knicks have found an unlikely answer to their 2 guard spot in Landry Fields, who doesn’t really score so often as he does all the other things. He shoots well though when he does shoot, he rebounds and assists, goes for loose balls and, well, you get the idea.
The Nets need two more players to compete. Newark anyone?
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Saturday, November 27, 2010
Gotta Have Skin in the Game
How can you be interested in a sport if you have no team in the hunt?
In the case of college football, I don’t know why I watch college football at all. If it were just for Rutgers, there would be no way I could watch it. It’s hard to get interested in a game for which your local representative plays so poorly. Speaking as a Rutgers alumnus, thank you very much but I’d rather have no football program at all than have to be embarrassed every week by Rutgers and the complacent Greg Schiano. Just to put perspective around how bad Rutgers really is, Schiano’s defense against the likes of Cincinnati was torched for 60 or so points while Connecticut just held them to 17 points. I could grab a couple of kids off the street who’d play better pass defense than Schiano’s sorry group in the secondary.
Nevertheless, I’m sitting here watching Michigan State start to pound Penn State (it’s now 21-10) . And why exactly? Well, Penn State after all has Joe Paterno as the head coach and it’s a clean program too, as far as anyone can tell. What’s not to like about Penn State? They always play defense and very seldom embarrass themselves. They are the anti-Rutgers.
Ohio State too in the Big Ten gets some of my attention if only because my son went to school in Ohio and I can recall a great time watching an OSU game in a shopping mall in Columbus. I also had a friend and co-worker whose daily fervor for the Buckeyes was easily enough to get me excited. But if it weren’t for those two teams, I wouldn’t be watching at all. You have to have a team in the hunt…some skin in the game. That rooting interest can spring from locale of course but only as modified by a team’s ownership and management and players from year to year. Oh yeah, and whether they win or not.
If loyalties depended entirely on wins and losses though, everybody’d be a Yankee fan. Happily for human nature and pocket books everywhere, that is not the case.
My chief interest this time of year goes to professional football, mostly, to be honest, because that’s where my skin in the game resides. We live in the New York area, of course, so why would I like any other team besides the Giants or Jets?
The answer lies in fantasy football, of course, a place to field my very own team. So my rooting interest this Thanksgiving was firmly with the Saints and Drew Brees, who had the skill and moxy to throw long down the field on a third down to hit Bobby Meachem in stride for about 60 yards before delivering a perfect strike to, who else, Lance Moore for a touchdown. And I managed to get a glimpse in the 4 o’clock game of Miles Austin, wide receiver for Dallas and Dem Crabs, racing around the end for about 60 yards and a TD against the Lions.
But overall it was a bad day. The Saints scored mostly on the ground and Jahvid Best didn’t play at all, making my decision to bench Ahmad Bradshaw look ridiculous, despite Coughlin’s foolish decision to punish him. My opponent didn’t fare too well either though, starting with Mark Sanchez, who didn’t exactly shine in the Jets victory over the Bungles. And his star player, Jacksonville’s Maurice Jones-Drew, has to face the Giants on Sunday, a matchup that should favor the Giants, who aren’t as yet totally decimated on the defensive side of the ball.
If I can be said to have a team at all in the NFL, it is the Giants, who are in trouble now after losing several key players to injuries. The Giants are owned by one of the most venerable football families in the universe, the Maras. They’ve won multiple Super Bowls and have brought us great players and great management too. They have a long-time philosophy that stresses the running game and defense. Their GM’s and coaches have generally excelled over the years. Although they might not quite match the Rooneys in Pittsburgh, they are a team well worthy of commanding my attention.
On the other hand are the Jets. Although I like the head coach, the owner’s a little too theatrical for me. He’ll always take the hit in my mind for Brett Favre becoming a Jet, thus single-handedly taking them out of the playoffs. Their GM is totally heartless, a reflection of ownership too, I guess, as he has shown year after year, most recently in the dumping of Leon Washington. The players themselves are a mixed bunch. They have a bunch of guys that are hard to warm up to, Bart Scott, Braylon Edwards, and yes, even Santonio Holmes and his remarkable elusiveness in the end zone. But their success is hard to ignore despite their frailties in the character department.
My point is, it’s easy to be an NFL fan, less so for NCAA football and, heretofore at least, it’s been almost impossible to follow any brand of basketball, be it NBA, NCAA or otherwise. Once again, those feelings can be directly traced to the sorry state of the Knicks, Nets, Rutgers and Seton Hall. If our local team in either MLB league were the likes of the Chicago Cubs, it’d surely affect your love for the game and the league bringing it to you.
Happily for basketball fans, the Knicks mismanagement has considerably improved and the Nets have changed dramatically for the better. The Knicks finally have some players D’Antoni actually likes and the Nets under Avery Johnson have begun to show some predilection for playing on the defensive side of the ball. I’m enjoying basketball again.
I now find myself watching the local games, the NBA Network and yes, I even crave the witticisms of Charles Barkley. I even joined a public fantasy basketball league. Who’s next? Hubie Brown?
In the case of college football, I don’t know why I watch college football at all. If it were just for Rutgers, there would be no way I could watch it. It’s hard to get interested in a game for which your local representative plays so poorly. Speaking as a Rutgers alumnus, thank you very much but I’d rather have no football program at all than have to be embarrassed every week by Rutgers and the complacent Greg Schiano. Just to put perspective around how bad Rutgers really is, Schiano’s defense against the likes of Cincinnati was torched for 60 or so points while Connecticut just held them to 17 points. I could grab a couple of kids off the street who’d play better pass defense than Schiano’s sorry group in the secondary.
Nevertheless, I’m sitting here watching Michigan State start to pound Penn State (it’s now 21-10) . And why exactly? Well, Penn State after all has Joe Paterno as the head coach and it’s a clean program too, as far as anyone can tell. What’s not to like about Penn State? They always play defense and very seldom embarrass themselves. They are the anti-Rutgers.
Ohio State too in the Big Ten gets some of my attention if only because my son went to school in Ohio and I can recall a great time watching an OSU game in a shopping mall in Columbus. I also had a friend and co-worker whose daily fervor for the Buckeyes was easily enough to get me excited. But if it weren’t for those two teams, I wouldn’t be watching at all. You have to have a team in the hunt…some skin in the game. That rooting interest can spring from locale of course but only as modified by a team’s ownership and management and players from year to year. Oh yeah, and whether they win or not.
If loyalties depended entirely on wins and losses though, everybody’d be a Yankee fan. Happily for human nature and pocket books everywhere, that is not the case.
My chief interest this time of year goes to professional football, mostly, to be honest, because that’s where my skin in the game resides. We live in the New York area, of course, so why would I like any other team besides the Giants or Jets?
The answer lies in fantasy football, of course, a place to field my very own team. So my rooting interest this Thanksgiving was firmly with the Saints and Drew Brees, who had the skill and moxy to throw long down the field on a third down to hit Bobby Meachem in stride for about 60 yards before delivering a perfect strike to, who else, Lance Moore for a touchdown. And I managed to get a glimpse in the 4 o’clock game of Miles Austin, wide receiver for Dallas and Dem Crabs, racing around the end for about 60 yards and a TD against the Lions.
But overall it was a bad day. The Saints scored mostly on the ground and Jahvid Best didn’t play at all, making my decision to bench Ahmad Bradshaw look ridiculous, despite Coughlin’s foolish decision to punish him. My opponent didn’t fare too well either though, starting with Mark Sanchez, who didn’t exactly shine in the Jets victory over the Bungles. And his star player, Jacksonville’s Maurice Jones-Drew, has to face the Giants on Sunday, a matchup that should favor the Giants, who aren’t as yet totally decimated on the defensive side of the ball.
If I can be said to have a team at all in the NFL, it is the Giants, who are in trouble now after losing several key players to injuries. The Giants are owned by one of the most venerable football families in the universe, the Maras. They’ve won multiple Super Bowls and have brought us great players and great management too. They have a long-time philosophy that stresses the running game and defense. Their GM’s and coaches have generally excelled over the years. Although they might not quite match the Rooneys in Pittsburgh, they are a team well worthy of commanding my attention.
On the other hand are the Jets. Although I like the head coach, the owner’s a little too theatrical for me. He’ll always take the hit in my mind for Brett Favre becoming a Jet, thus single-handedly taking them out of the playoffs. Their GM is totally heartless, a reflection of ownership too, I guess, as he has shown year after year, most recently in the dumping of Leon Washington. The players themselves are a mixed bunch. They have a bunch of guys that are hard to warm up to, Bart Scott, Braylon Edwards, and yes, even Santonio Holmes and his remarkable elusiveness in the end zone. But their success is hard to ignore despite their frailties in the character department.
My point is, it’s easy to be an NFL fan, less so for NCAA football and, heretofore at least, it’s been almost impossible to follow any brand of basketball, be it NBA, NCAA or otherwise. Once again, those feelings can be directly traced to the sorry state of the Knicks, Nets, Rutgers and Seton Hall. If our local team in either MLB league were the likes of the Chicago Cubs, it’d surely affect your love for the game and the league bringing it to you.
Happily for basketball fans, the Knicks mismanagement has considerably improved and the Nets have changed dramatically for the better. The Knicks finally have some players D’Antoni actually likes and the Nets under Avery Johnson have begun to show some predilection for playing on the defensive side of the ball. I’m enjoying basketball again.
I now find myself watching the local games, the NBA Network and yes, I even crave the witticisms of Charles Barkley. I even joined a public fantasy basketball league. Who’s next? Hubie Brown?
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
On Injuries and Luck
So here we are again on another Tuesday. Everything in the NFL is all too clear. This is title time. December will determine the playoff spots and eventual Super Bowl participants. Those spots will go to the lucky, those teams with fewer injuries and an easier schedule. Every fantasy player knows that. For example, if you were unlucky enough to be including Jahvid Best or Vernon Davis on your week 11 roster, you probably lost.
For the local teams, the Jets so far seem to be far luckier than the Giants. The Giants are fast becoming a shambles. Much of their star receiving corps is decimated. No Steve Smith and no Hakeem Nicks means serious hurt for the G-Men. The offensive line keeps getting made over, seemingly every week. Their defense has been healthier but has had to experience the added pressure of having an offense that can’t stay on the field long enough for them to rest.
Here’s the injury list, courtesy of Yahoo: Check out the players who are out. Diehl is the left tackle, big hurt not to have him; Madison Hedgecock is the fullback. He ordinarily makes holes or makes them wider for the running backs. Shaun O’Hara is their center and he was a pretty damned good one. Steve Smith is their bigtime receiver and the key player when third down rolls around. Shawn Andrews played well under difficult circumstances. The return guy, Hixon, is out. The reserve receivers, Barden and Cruz, are out. Mathias Kiwanuka, another guy who could pressure opposing passers, is out. Quite simply, these remaining Giants are not the Giants.
Player Date Status Injury
Domenik Hixon
Aug 23, 2010 injured-rese Torn right ACL
Adrian Tracy
Aug 31, 2010 injured-rese Elbow
Jim Sorgi
Aug 31, 2010 injured-rese Right shoulder
Courtney Brown
Sep 5, 2010 injured-rese Ankle
Michael Johnson
Sep 28, 2010 injured-rese Back
Victor Cruz
Oct 16, 2010 injured-rese Hamstring
Mathias Kiwanuka
Oct 28, 2010 injured-rese Neck
Bruce Johnson
Nov 2, 2010 injured-rese Knee
Adam Koets
Nov 9, 2010 injured-rese Torn left ACL
Ramses Barden
Nov 16, 2010 injured-rese Left leg, left foot
David Diehl
Nov 19, 2010 Out Hip, hamstring
Madison Hedgecock
Nov 19, 2010 Out Hamstring
Shaun O'Hara
Nov 19, 2010 Out Foot
Steve Smith
Nov 19, 2010 Out Pectoral
Shawn Andrews
Nov 19, 2010 Questionable Back
Kevin Boss
Nov 19, 2010 Probable Back
Darius Reynaud
Nov 19, 2010 Probable Hamstring
Osi Umenyiora
Nov 19, 2010 Probable Knee
Corey Webster
Nov 19, 2010 Probable Toe
Gerris Wilkinson
Nov 19, 2010 Probable Hand
All that bad luck was certainly in evidence against the Eagles. At first glance, Ahmad Bradshaw and Brandon Jacobs were terrible but when you consider who was blocking for them, maybe they had given a valiant effort against overwhelming odds. The only holes that opened up were in the passing game as Eagles blitzers found the paths to Eli surprisingly wide. Eli was pretty good too when you consider the constant pressure, not to mention the fact he was throwing to receivers who either didn’t get open or weren’t in the right place. It was a pretty sad story on Sunday and it doesn’t figure to get better in a hurry.
The Jets have everybody they need, especially Mark Sanchez and Santonio Holmes. For comparison, the following is their injury list:
Ropati Pitoitua Aug 26, 2010 injured-rese Left Achilles
Kris Jenkins Sep 15, 2010 injured-rese Torn left ACL
Darrelle Revis Nov 19, 2010 Probable Hamstring
Mark Sanchez Nov 19, 2010 Probable Calf
Matt Slauson Nov 19, 2010 Probable Knee
Brad Smith Nov 19, 2010 Probable Low back
Eric Smith Nov 19, 2010 Probable Ankle
Damien Woody Nov 19, 2010 Probable Knee
Calvin Pace Nov 19, 2010 Probable Foot
Dwight Lowery Nov 19, 2010 Out Concussion
Marquice Cole Nov 19, 2010 Out Hamstring
Jerricho Cotchery Nov 19, 2010 Out Groin
David Harris Nov 19, 2010 Probable Calf
Nick Mangold Nov 19, 2010 Probable Shoulder
Josh Mauga Nov 19, 2010 Probable Hamstring
Except possibly for Jerricho Cotchery at wideout, the Jets have everybody they need. The Giants situation is ridiculous.
As for the schedule, the Giants upcoming opponents have a record of 33-27 and that includes Minnesota, a team that will probably play a lot better under a new coach. They’ll see Philadelphia again and Washington twice. They’ll see the Packers and the Jaguars and Vikings, and maybe even Brett Favre. I’d be pleasantly surprised if they finish 3-3 over the next six. That would probably get them a playoff spot, but 9-7 is never a lock. As things stand right now, the Packers, Bears, Saints, Falcons and Bucs all have better records and fewer injuries.
The Jets have opponents with a 31-29 record including the Pats again and Pittsburgh and Chicago. If those all result in losses, the Jets could be in trouble too but that’s unlikely. I expect the Jets to be there at the end, if not as AFC East Champions then as a wildcard, and maybe even the second one.
They say people make their own luck. I never believed that. You can be sure the Giants don’t either. It’s amazing they’ve been able to play as well as they have, given that horrific injury list. It speaks well to the quality of their reserves and general management. But reserves are reserves. Even a gifted reserve player hasn’t had the reps required to function as a regular.
I can’t speak of injuries these days without conjuring up images of the sorrowful Mets injuries these last few years. Carlos Beltran, Johan Santana, Jason Bay, Reyes on and off, relief pitchers, the list goes on and on. Three of those four will be back to kick off 2011 but that’s not a sure thing either given the new management situation. Speaking as a longtime Mets fan, a few trades involving a few or even several of these players, wouldn’t necessarily be a bad thing.
But the Mets situation is a column in itself. This was supposed to be about football.
For the local teams, the Jets so far seem to be far luckier than the Giants. The Giants are fast becoming a shambles. Much of their star receiving corps is decimated. No Steve Smith and no Hakeem Nicks means serious hurt for the G-Men. The offensive line keeps getting made over, seemingly every week. Their defense has been healthier but has had to experience the added pressure of having an offense that can’t stay on the field long enough for them to rest.
Here’s the injury list, courtesy of Yahoo: Check out the players who are out. Diehl is the left tackle, big hurt not to have him; Madison Hedgecock is the fullback. He ordinarily makes holes or makes them wider for the running backs. Shaun O’Hara is their center and he was a pretty damned good one. Steve Smith is their bigtime receiver and the key player when third down rolls around. Shawn Andrews played well under difficult circumstances. The return guy, Hixon, is out. The reserve receivers, Barden and Cruz, are out. Mathias Kiwanuka, another guy who could pressure opposing passers, is out. Quite simply, these remaining Giants are not the Giants.
Player Date Status Injury
Domenik Hixon
Aug 23, 2010 injured-rese Torn right ACL
Adrian Tracy
Aug 31, 2010 injured-rese Elbow
Jim Sorgi
Aug 31, 2010 injured-rese Right shoulder
Courtney Brown
Sep 5, 2010 injured-rese Ankle
Michael Johnson
Sep 28, 2010 injured-rese Back
Victor Cruz
Oct 16, 2010 injured-rese Hamstring
Mathias Kiwanuka
Oct 28, 2010 injured-rese Neck
Bruce Johnson
Nov 2, 2010 injured-rese Knee
Adam Koets
Nov 9, 2010 injured-rese Torn left ACL
Ramses Barden
Nov 16, 2010 injured-rese Left leg, left foot
David Diehl
Nov 19, 2010 Out Hip, hamstring
Madison Hedgecock
Nov 19, 2010 Out Hamstring
Shaun O'Hara
Nov 19, 2010 Out Foot
Steve Smith
Nov 19, 2010 Out Pectoral
Shawn Andrews
Nov 19, 2010 Questionable Back
Kevin Boss
Nov 19, 2010 Probable Back
Darius Reynaud
Nov 19, 2010 Probable Hamstring
Osi Umenyiora
Nov 19, 2010 Probable Knee
Corey Webster
Nov 19, 2010 Probable Toe
Gerris Wilkinson
Nov 19, 2010 Probable Hand
All that bad luck was certainly in evidence against the Eagles. At first glance, Ahmad Bradshaw and Brandon Jacobs were terrible but when you consider who was blocking for them, maybe they had given a valiant effort against overwhelming odds. The only holes that opened up were in the passing game as Eagles blitzers found the paths to Eli surprisingly wide. Eli was pretty good too when you consider the constant pressure, not to mention the fact he was throwing to receivers who either didn’t get open or weren’t in the right place. It was a pretty sad story on Sunday and it doesn’t figure to get better in a hurry.
The Jets have everybody they need, especially Mark Sanchez and Santonio Holmes. For comparison, the following is their injury list:
Ropati Pitoitua Aug 26, 2010 injured-rese Left Achilles
Kris Jenkins Sep 15, 2010 injured-rese Torn left ACL
Darrelle Revis Nov 19, 2010 Probable Hamstring
Mark Sanchez Nov 19, 2010 Probable Calf
Matt Slauson Nov 19, 2010 Probable Knee
Brad Smith Nov 19, 2010 Probable Low back
Eric Smith Nov 19, 2010 Probable Ankle
Damien Woody Nov 19, 2010 Probable Knee
Calvin Pace Nov 19, 2010 Probable Foot
Dwight Lowery Nov 19, 2010 Out Concussion
Marquice Cole Nov 19, 2010 Out Hamstring
Jerricho Cotchery Nov 19, 2010 Out Groin
David Harris Nov 19, 2010 Probable Calf
Nick Mangold Nov 19, 2010 Probable Shoulder
Josh Mauga Nov 19, 2010 Probable Hamstring
Except possibly for Jerricho Cotchery at wideout, the Jets have everybody they need. The Giants situation is ridiculous.
As for the schedule, the Giants upcoming opponents have a record of 33-27 and that includes Minnesota, a team that will probably play a lot better under a new coach. They’ll see Philadelphia again and Washington twice. They’ll see the Packers and the Jaguars and Vikings, and maybe even Brett Favre. I’d be pleasantly surprised if they finish 3-3 over the next six. That would probably get them a playoff spot, but 9-7 is never a lock. As things stand right now, the Packers, Bears, Saints, Falcons and Bucs all have better records and fewer injuries.
The Jets have opponents with a 31-29 record including the Pats again and Pittsburgh and Chicago. If those all result in losses, the Jets could be in trouble too but that’s unlikely. I expect the Jets to be there at the end, if not as AFC East Champions then as a wildcard, and maybe even the second one.
They say people make their own luck. I never believed that. You can be sure the Giants don’t either. It’s amazing they’ve been able to play as well as they have, given that horrific injury list. It speaks well to the quality of their reserves and general management. But reserves are reserves. Even a gifted reserve player hasn’t had the reps required to function as a regular.
I can’t speak of injuries these days without conjuring up images of the sorrowful Mets injuries these last few years. Carlos Beltran, Johan Santana, Jason Bay, Reyes on and off, relief pitchers, the list goes on and on. Three of those four will be back to kick off 2011 but that’s not a sure thing either given the new management situation. Speaking as a longtime Mets fan, a few trades involving a few or even several of these players, wouldn’t necessarily be a bad thing.
But the Mets situation is a column in itself. This was supposed to be about football.
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Uncertainty the Only Certainty
Now I know I’m a baseball fan. It’s all I can do to muster any enthusiasm for football anymore. It’s totally unpredictable.
This week it was Dallas and Buffalo who came back from the dead. Teams I expected to come back from the dead didn’t. There was the dreadful Minnesota totally striking out against the Bears, a real juggernaut. There was Brett Favre running around, getting hit, dropping the ball, then running around, throwing on the run, getting intercepted. And then there was Washington on Monday night, Washington, I thought, with that defense that gives up yards but not points. Surely they’ll stop Michael Vick. You know what happened there.
And then there were the “good” teams, such as the Steelers, getting lambasted by Tom Brady, and our Giants, ballyhooed all week for being the best team in the NFC, decidedly NOT covering the best wide receivers in the game, Dez Bryant and Miles Austin, Roy Williams and Jason Witten. Oh, and they didn’t get to the quarterback either. After all, it was only Jon Kitna. You know how that one turned out.
Of course I belong to one of those Yahoo football groups, making picks for each week’s games, just the winners, no point spreads to make things more difficult. This year, the spreads aren’t necessary. Anything can happen and usually will, but only when you’re absolutely SURE of a very different outcome.
Being that I’m one of those analytical types, I need to put this uncertainty into some kind of box. Surely there are underlying reasons for it. I’ve got it narrowed down to two basic factors. Coaches and players. Not bad, huh?
The Cowboys changed coaches after losing became a way of life. Boom! They won, convincingly. You wondered how they could have looked so abysmal all those other weeks. You wonder if they’ll go undefeated for the rest of the season. You wondered how they ever won with a lily-livered coach. You wondered why it took Jerry Jones so long to act. You wonder much the same thing about that Bengals coach, Marvin Lewis. What’s the owner thinking? Oops, there’s another factor, owners.
A subset of owners might be stadiums, new stadiums, and seat licenses, especially unsold seat licenses, to be exact. The Jets sure stocked up on players this year, LaDainian and Santonio and the rest. The Giants actually went out and bought a secondary, not that it looked that way last Sunday. Of course, Kitna had all day to throw. Jerry Jones too had that gigantic edifice in Big D built to accommodate all those rabid Cowboys fans. He figured they had as much talent as they needed, so he didn’t need to go crazy, especially on defense. He figured, as Wade did, that any sorry bunch of bodies could comprise a well thought out system of defense. Heh-heh.
Another factor seems to be the betting line itself. Maybe it’s the Internet betting that’s made the spread more important. Those heavy favorites just never seem to pan out, except when they do, once again totally inexplicably.
Let’s recap. There’re coaches and players and owners and stadiums and the betting line itself. Oh, and maybe the fact that there’s a whole TV network dedicated to football, 24/7, and endless analysis, if you could call it that, of everything you ever wanted to know about, well, mostly about Brett Favre, or Chad Ochochinco or T.O. Oh yeah, there’re those reality shows too, starring the aforementioned, of course, but there are others too, like for Shawn Merriman, I understand.
Of course there’s ESPN too, not that I watch those guys anymore. I wonder, does anybody? I mean…why? There’s a baseball channel and a football channel and teams with their own channels. There’re even channels for tennis and golf, for Pete’s sake. (Pete’s a bigtime golfer and tennis enthusiast, take my word for it). If it’s a sport, chances are it’s got its own channel. Horseracing and soccer, of course, and even fishing and fitness and wildlife and, omigosh, as I write this, there’s a woman getting into dressage. Honestly.
Maybe I should just stop trying to pick game winners and just concentrate on my fantasy team. There’s quite enough uncertainty there alone. Replacing Drew Brees on his bye week with Brett Favre was my brain-fart of the season. And to compound that mistake, I had dumped Jon Kitna for him. After all, he’d be facing those ferocious G-Men. And surely Jahvid Best would finally start producing against the lowly Bills, right? Surely he’d be a better start than Miles Austin, who never did establish any kind of rapport with Kitna. Romo used to love him but not Kitna. He loved Dez Bryant. And besides, they were facing the feared G-Men.
Luckily for me, my other players played great, Percy Harvin and Ahmad Bradshaw, Brandon Lloyd and Knowshow Moreno. But the really fortunate thing was my opponent’s decision to take his chances that his running back, Clinton Portis, listed as questionable all week, would actually play on Monday night, even if Skins coach Mike Shanahan had been saying for days that he wouldn’t play. After all, isn’t it true that Shanahan’s the biggest phony in the NFL, except for Belichick maybe? Shanahan saying he wouldn’t play only kind of guaranteed that he would. Of course we know how that one turned out.
Oh yeah, one more factor, a big one, injuries, even after you figure out the enigmatic code that basically says “doubtful” players are the only ones who won’t play. “Questionable” guys figure significantly in their team’s fortunes week after week, hence my opponent’s hesitation to go with anyone else in that spot. (Yeah, he would have had to drop a player with a bye to replace him but still…).
There are just so few things you can count on. That uncertainty might be the biggest winning factor of them all, the only thing on which you can rely.
I’ll take baseball anytime, and especially those Mets.
This week it was Dallas and Buffalo who came back from the dead. Teams I expected to come back from the dead didn’t. There was the dreadful Minnesota totally striking out against the Bears, a real juggernaut. There was Brett Favre running around, getting hit, dropping the ball, then running around, throwing on the run, getting intercepted. And then there was Washington on Monday night, Washington, I thought, with that defense that gives up yards but not points. Surely they’ll stop Michael Vick. You know what happened there.
And then there were the “good” teams, such as the Steelers, getting lambasted by Tom Brady, and our Giants, ballyhooed all week for being the best team in the NFC, decidedly NOT covering the best wide receivers in the game, Dez Bryant and Miles Austin, Roy Williams and Jason Witten. Oh, and they didn’t get to the quarterback either. After all, it was only Jon Kitna. You know how that one turned out.
Of course I belong to one of those Yahoo football groups, making picks for each week’s games, just the winners, no point spreads to make things more difficult. This year, the spreads aren’t necessary. Anything can happen and usually will, but only when you’re absolutely SURE of a very different outcome.
Being that I’m one of those analytical types, I need to put this uncertainty into some kind of box. Surely there are underlying reasons for it. I’ve got it narrowed down to two basic factors. Coaches and players. Not bad, huh?
The Cowboys changed coaches after losing became a way of life. Boom! They won, convincingly. You wondered how they could have looked so abysmal all those other weeks. You wonder if they’ll go undefeated for the rest of the season. You wondered how they ever won with a lily-livered coach. You wondered why it took Jerry Jones so long to act. You wonder much the same thing about that Bengals coach, Marvin Lewis. What’s the owner thinking? Oops, there’s another factor, owners.
A subset of owners might be stadiums, new stadiums, and seat licenses, especially unsold seat licenses, to be exact. The Jets sure stocked up on players this year, LaDainian and Santonio and the rest. The Giants actually went out and bought a secondary, not that it looked that way last Sunday. Of course, Kitna had all day to throw. Jerry Jones too had that gigantic edifice in Big D built to accommodate all those rabid Cowboys fans. He figured they had as much talent as they needed, so he didn’t need to go crazy, especially on defense. He figured, as Wade did, that any sorry bunch of bodies could comprise a well thought out system of defense. Heh-heh.
Another factor seems to be the betting line itself. Maybe it’s the Internet betting that’s made the spread more important. Those heavy favorites just never seem to pan out, except when they do, once again totally inexplicably.
Let’s recap. There’re coaches and players and owners and stadiums and the betting line itself. Oh, and maybe the fact that there’s a whole TV network dedicated to football, 24/7, and endless analysis, if you could call it that, of everything you ever wanted to know about, well, mostly about Brett Favre, or Chad Ochochinco or T.O. Oh yeah, there’re those reality shows too, starring the aforementioned, of course, but there are others too, like for Shawn Merriman, I understand.
Of course there’s ESPN too, not that I watch those guys anymore. I wonder, does anybody? I mean…why? There’s a baseball channel and a football channel and teams with their own channels. There’re even channels for tennis and golf, for Pete’s sake. (Pete’s a bigtime golfer and tennis enthusiast, take my word for it). If it’s a sport, chances are it’s got its own channel. Horseracing and soccer, of course, and even fishing and fitness and wildlife and, omigosh, as I write this, there’s a woman getting into dressage. Honestly.
Maybe I should just stop trying to pick game winners and just concentrate on my fantasy team. There’s quite enough uncertainty there alone. Replacing Drew Brees on his bye week with Brett Favre was my brain-fart of the season. And to compound that mistake, I had dumped Jon Kitna for him. After all, he’d be facing those ferocious G-Men. And surely Jahvid Best would finally start producing against the lowly Bills, right? Surely he’d be a better start than Miles Austin, who never did establish any kind of rapport with Kitna. Romo used to love him but not Kitna. He loved Dez Bryant. And besides, they were facing the feared G-Men.
Luckily for me, my other players played great, Percy Harvin and Ahmad Bradshaw, Brandon Lloyd and Knowshow Moreno. But the really fortunate thing was my opponent’s decision to take his chances that his running back, Clinton Portis, listed as questionable all week, would actually play on Monday night, even if Skins coach Mike Shanahan had been saying for days that he wouldn’t play. After all, isn’t it true that Shanahan’s the biggest phony in the NFL, except for Belichick maybe? Shanahan saying he wouldn’t play only kind of guaranteed that he would. Of course we know how that one turned out.
Oh yeah, one more factor, a big one, injuries, even after you figure out the enigmatic code that basically says “doubtful” players are the only ones who won’t play. “Questionable” guys figure significantly in their team’s fortunes week after week, hence my opponent’s hesitation to go with anyone else in that spot. (Yeah, he would have had to drop a player with a bye to replace him but still…).
There are just so few things you can count on. That uncertainty might be the biggest winning factor of them all, the only thing on which you can rely.
I’ll take baseball anytime, and especially those Mets.
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
And Down the Stretch They Come
Okay, first of all, Zenyatta was robbed. Hey Mike Smith, could you have taken her any further back? The wondrous Z danced her way to the paddock and seemingly all the way to the starting gate. She seemed to acknowledge the crowd throughout, wanting only to squeeze one more hurrah out of thousands of racing fans, and make good on their winning tickets. Even if a lot of them would never be cashed. She seemed sure this’d be a walk in the park, another day at the office, sashaying her way to the winners circle while all the boys were still hangin’ by the water fountain. This would be her 2oth in a row….no problemo.
That was all before her longtime jock strangled her coming out of the gate. Before she could say “dumbass jock”, she was 20 lengths behind, getting clumps of real dirt pounding into her gorgeous peepers. But the queen kept her cool, if somewhat surprised by her rider’s strange reluctance, and wondering when he’d pull out a pair of goggles for her? She cut the lead from 20 to about 12 lengths at the mile pole but by then there was only a quarter mile to go. And those young colts ahead of her didn’t even seem tired.
It was about then that Mike finally took her outside where she could turn it on and, in the space of about 11 seconds, the time it took her to charge through that next to last (who says penultimate anymore?) furlong, she had cut that monstrous lead to about two lengths and she could see that finish line (I’m convinced). She had that chassis moving now with just one horse to beat, but geez, that young stud, a colt named Blame, was rolling too.
So down the stretch they came, as they say. That lead became 2 lengths, then 1 ½, then 1 and then just about nothin’ at all. And there was the pole.
The crowd was cheering but she could feel her rider’s anguish. She seemed to hang her head and she definitely stopped dancing. She probably wondered what the crowd was thinking. Why did thay all still seem so excited?
It probably didn’t occur to her that she had just gobbled up a 12-length lead in a quarter mile, that she had restored hope to all those bettors and fans whose heads had drooped after seeing her hopes diminishing with each succeeding pole for that first mile or so. “She’ll never make it”, I had said to my lovely wife, who had almost never watched TV with me before. She said sumthin’ like “but she always comes from behind, doesn’t she” and I said sumthin’ like “but she’s too far back, she’ll never catch them now”. I remember thinking about an old stretch-runner named Carry Back, who would sweep the field in the last furlong or so, but that was a long time ago, and Carry Back was a colt.
And then I was yelling, “Go! Go! Go!” as Zenyatta’s profile slowly, inexorably, advanced on that lead colt’s flanks all the way to that damned final pole. It was the best horse race I had seen in many a year, and I knew I had seen one of the best horses I would ever see.
They say she had her chance and couldn’t get her head in front. They say she won’t be the Horse of the Year. I say she’s been the Horse of the Decade at least and no other horse had evoked as much admiration out of a crowd since, well, Secretariat in that insane Belmont of the early Seventies. Yeah, there were other big ones too, there was Ruffian of course, and Affirmed and Stevie Cauthen wearin’ out Alydar for the Triple Crown. But that’s about it. I wasn’t around for Seabiscuit. And none of them could dance. (Actually, Secretariat and Seabiscuit both played to the crowd).
So go ahead, racing intelligentsia, make Blame the Horse of the Year. After all, he did keep his head in front at that finish line. It won’t change anybody’s mind, not anyone who had been there at Churchill or anybody who had just watched on TV. Zenyatta’s the Horse of the Year and one of the horses of the century.
There. All that had to be said. I feel better now.
That seemed more important to me than what the Jets or Giants did, or what has developed in the Mets front offices. Of course, all’s quiet on the football front, at least locally, as the Giants have been rolling and the Jets more or less just surviving in good form. The Mets new guy, Sandy Alderson, will probably wind up being a good hire and he’s supposed to be evaluating fiery coaches. (I have almost no hope in that regard, I liked Jerry Manuel). Oh, and I don’t care what the Yankees do. Whatever they do, it won’t be enough, not with trying to carry all that dead weight. (Okay, not dead, just twitching ever more slowly).
The big intrigue in football is in Dallas and Minnesota, what with Wade Phillips finally hitting the dusty trail and Brad Childress hanging on like that cat hangin’ on to that chinning bar in all those cheap reproductions. Both of their jobs were in trouble going into Week 9. Favre and Adrian Peterson, Percy Harvin and even Bernard Berrian for Minnesota rallied the Vikings to victory in a thrilling comeback win. The Boyz flopped historically, and nary a Dallas cornerback or linebacker could be found. They lost 41-7. Wade Phillips needed a secondary to show up in what would turn out to be his final game. He didn’t get it.
But the Vikings still breathe, even if they’re way behind and that finish line seems so close. Down the stretch they come.
They could take a lesson from a magnificent dancing mare who faced the same odds but fought valiantly to that finish line, despite the bad ride.
That was all before her longtime jock strangled her coming out of the gate. Before she could say “dumbass jock”, she was 20 lengths behind, getting clumps of real dirt pounding into her gorgeous peepers. But the queen kept her cool, if somewhat surprised by her rider’s strange reluctance, and wondering when he’d pull out a pair of goggles for her? She cut the lead from 20 to about 12 lengths at the mile pole but by then there was only a quarter mile to go. And those young colts ahead of her didn’t even seem tired.
It was about then that Mike finally took her outside where she could turn it on and, in the space of about 11 seconds, the time it took her to charge through that next to last (who says penultimate anymore?) furlong, she had cut that monstrous lead to about two lengths and she could see that finish line (I’m convinced). She had that chassis moving now with just one horse to beat, but geez, that young stud, a colt named Blame, was rolling too.
So down the stretch they came, as they say. That lead became 2 lengths, then 1 ½, then 1 and then just about nothin’ at all. And there was the pole.
The crowd was cheering but she could feel her rider’s anguish. She seemed to hang her head and she definitely stopped dancing. She probably wondered what the crowd was thinking. Why did thay all still seem so excited?
It probably didn’t occur to her that she had just gobbled up a 12-length lead in a quarter mile, that she had restored hope to all those bettors and fans whose heads had drooped after seeing her hopes diminishing with each succeeding pole for that first mile or so. “She’ll never make it”, I had said to my lovely wife, who had almost never watched TV with me before. She said sumthin’ like “but she always comes from behind, doesn’t she” and I said sumthin’ like “but she’s too far back, she’ll never catch them now”. I remember thinking about an old stretch-runner named Carry Back, who would sweep the field in the last furlong or so, but that was a long time ago, and Carry Back was a colt.
And then I was yelling, “Go! Go! Go!” as Zenyatta’s profile slowly, inexorably, advanced on that lead colt’s flanks all the way to that damned final pole. It was the best horse race I had seen in many a year, and I knew I had seen one of the best horses I would ever see.
They say she had her chance and couldn’t get her head in front. They say she won’t be the Horse of the Year. I say she’s been the Horse of the Decade at least and no other horse had evoked as much admiration out of a crowd since, well, Secretariat in that insane Belmont of the early Seventies. Yeah, there were other big ones too, there was Ruffian of course, and Affirmed and Stevie Cauthen wearin’ out Alydar for the Triple Crown. But that’s about it. I wasn’t around for Seabiscuit. And none of them could dance. (Actually, Secretariat and Seabiscuit both played to the crowd).
So go ahead, racing intelligentsia, make Blame the Horse of the Year. After all, he did keep his head in front at that finish line. It won’t change anybody’s mind, not anyone who had been there at Churchill or anybody who had just watched on TV. Zenyatta’s the Horse of the Year and one of the horses of the century.
There. All that had to be said. I feel better now.
That seemed more important to me than what the Jets or Giants did, or what has developed in the Mets front offices. Of course, all’s quiet on the football front, at least locally, as the Giants have been rolling and the Jets more or less just surviving in good form. The Mets new guy, Sandy Alderson, will probably wind up being a good hire and he’s supposed to be evaluating fiery coaches. (I have almost no hope in that regard, I liked Jerry Manuel). Oh, and I don’t care what the Yankees do. Whatever they do, it won’t be enough, not with trying to carry all that dead weight. (Okay, not dead, just twitching ever more slowly).
The big intrigue in football is in Dallas and Minnesota, what with Wade Phillips finally hitting the dusty trail and Brad Childress hanging on like that cat hangin’ on to that chinning bar in all those cheap reproductions. Both of their jobs were in trouble going into Week 9. Favre and Adrian Peterson, Percy Harvin and even Bernard Berrian for Minnesota rallied the Vikings to victory in a thrilling comeback win. The Boyz flopped historically, and nary a Dallas cornerback or linebacker could be found. They lost 41-7. Wade Phillips needed a secondary to show up in what would turn out to be his final game. He didn’t get it.
But the Vikings still breathe, even if they’re way behind and that finish line seems so close. Down the stretch they come.
They could take a lesson from a magnificent dancing mare who faced the same odds but fought valiantly to that finish line, despite the bad ride.
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
A Question of Balance
Was there ever a better World Series? Well, yes. The Rangers were very quiet. All those bats did nothing. That wasn’t Yankee pitching out there on the hill. Those were the best pitchers in the National League. And it showed. Whiff, whiff, whiff went the Rangers. Tim Lincecum beat the great Cliff Lee twice. Matt Cain won Game 2 and would have won more had the Series been extended. The very young Madison Bumgarner was lights out too. Only Jonathan Sanchez was touched up for some runs.
While the Rangers were mostly striking out, the Giants did just enough to win at the plate and sometimes did more than that. They were really very good at the plate, certainly better than they had been all season, starting with the World Series MVP, Edgar Renteria. He’d been hurt most of the season. The real stalwarts in the batting order all season had been Aubrey Huff and Juan Uribe. Andres Torres had also shown himself to be a real pain in the neck to opposing pitchers and catchers both. Otherwise, that team just didn’t hit at all.
There was no Cody Ross, no Pat Burrell.. ….just guys like the Panda, Pablo Sandoval, who had a horrible year. Freddy Sanchez didn’t do much either. In the Series, they all decided to be world beaters. Go figure, not that they had to do much in this Series. The Rangers, who had looked so awesome versus Tampa Bay and New York, couldn’t touch the Giants pitching most games.
But at least the Series managers let their teams play. They didn’t impose their wills on the game beyond what was needed. The Giants won because they pitched better, they batted better and they fielded better. Nobody pitched on 3 days rest. There were no outrageous decisions. The managers seemed happy to fade into the woodwork, or the dugout as the case may be. While Bruce Bochy got credit for making all the right moves, his choices weren’t made to call attention to himself.
Contrast that to some or almost all of these NFL coaches. Bonehead of the week went hands down to Mike Shanahan, who took out his fine starting quarterback, Donovan McNabb, in the final two minutes, only to insert one Rex Grossman, formerly of Bears fame and mostly notable for bad throws. Rex was hit and immediately fumbled, thus ensuring defeat in a game that had only seconds ago been winnable.
Shortly thereafter, Brad Childress, already somewhat infamous for being a boob, at least in this column, waived the incomparable Randy Moss, who committed the unpardonable sin of all time by questioning one of Brad’s brain farts that didn’t work in their loss to Moss’s former team, the New England Patriots.
Now don’t get me wrong. Randy Moss is an idiot. But he did make the Vikings a better team, no matter that the Vikings hadn’t been able to parlay his receiving skills into wins. But the Vikings still have a chance to turn their season around. It’s not likely that cutting Randy will prove to be any help in that regard. If nothing else, Moss’s presence completely opened the field for the dangerous Percy Harvin.
Cutting himself would have been a much better idea. Everybody knows it’s Favre’s team anyway. Childress has no football instincts whatsoever. Until and unless Sidney Rice returns to the Vikings lineup, the Vikings will have no deep threat on the field, nobody to keep the opposition off Harvin. And I don’t think we can count Bernard Berrian, or Greg Lewis or Camarillo. Oh yeah, there’s Hank Baskett too.
Childress cut Moss because he could. It’s as simple as that. (As this is written, Moss’s name still isn’t on the list so maybe it’s not so simple after all). Even given Moss’s rather huge indiscretions in the locker room, a warning or other disciplinary action would have been more appropriate at this time, especially if Childress were really interested in what’s best for the Vikings. Childress’s insecurities notwithstanding (and he certainly has ample reason for those), the timing of Moss’s release was poor.
Mike Shanahan is a different kind of case. He removed McNabb from the game totally for the sake of his own ego. He couldn’t stand the thought of the Skins winning another game and having McNabb get the credit for it. Again. But if Grossman could have achieved the same result, then the credit would have reverted to Shanahan. The only other possibility is that the Skins winning too many games in Shanahan’s first contract year is not part of his 5-year plan.
Either way, Shanahan’s taking McNabb out of the game was despicable. That his bonehead move was so spectacularly unsuccessful just proves that there is a God….in case you were wondering.
Meanwhile, closer to home, the Jets coaching staff once again proved its free and easy coaching style sometimes doesn’t work. The Jets punter, totally of his own volition, faked a punt from the shadows of his own goal posts. Of course he didn’t make the first down. But he surely did surprise both head coach Rex Ryan and the special teams coach, Mike Westhoff. Did he really have a green light? The punter, Steve Weatherford, seemed to think so.
All I know is that these things don’t happen to Bill Belichick. And these Jets seem to be playing their season as if they’re still doing a reality show.
In Dallas, Wade Phillips, in response to a question as to whether he had lost control of his team, responded that he certainly hoped not. What the hell kind of an answer is that? He could have ripped his secondary new butt-holes. He could have picked on guys like Miles Austin and other receivers who either tipped catchable balls or simply weren’t looking.
Phillips is the other extreme of the NFL coaching continuum, a total wuss. With all those candidates out there, can’t these teams find a balanced guy?
You can’t make this stuff up.
While the Rangers were mostly striking out, the Giants did just enough to win at the plate and sometimes did more than that. They were really very good at the plate, certainly better than they had been all season, starting with the World Series MVP, Edgar Renteria. He’d been hurt most of the season. The real stalwarts in the batting order all season had been Aubrey Huff and Juan Uribe. Andres Torres had also shown himself to be a real pain in the neck to opposing pitchers and catchers both. Otherwise, that team just didn’t hit at all.
There was no Cody Ross, no Pat Burrell.. ….just guys like the Panda, Pablo Sandoval, who had a horrible year. Freddy Sanchez didn’t do much either. In the Series, they all decided to be world beaters. Go figure, not that they had to do much in this Series. The Rangers, who had looked so awesome versus Tampa Bay and New York, couldn’t touch the Giants pitching most games.
But at least the Series managers let their teams play. They didn’t impose their wills on the game beyond what was needed. The Giants won because they pitched better, they batted better and they fielded better. Nobody pitched on 3 days rest. There were no outrageous decisions. The managers seemed happy to fade into the woodwork, or the dugout as the case may be. While Bruce Bochy got credit for making all the right moves, his choices weren’t made to call attention to himself.
Contrast that to some or almost all of these NFL coaches. Bonehead of the week went hands down to Mike Shanahan, who took out his fine starting quarterback, Donovan McNabb, in the final two minutes, only to insert one Rex Grossman, formerly of Bears fame and mostly notable for bad throws. Rex was hit and immediately fumbled, thus ensuring defeat in a game that had only seconds ago been winnable.
Shortly thereafter, Brad Childress, already somewhat infamous for being a boob, at least in this column, waived the incomparable Randy Moss, who committed the unpardonable sin of all time by questioning one of Brad’s brain farts that didn’t work in their loss to Moss’s former team, the New England Patriots.
Now don’t get me wrong. Randy Moss is an idiot. But he did make the Vikings a better team, no matter that the Vikings hadn’t been able to parlay his receiving skills into wins. But the Vikings still have a chance to turn their season around. It’s not likely that cutting Randy will prove to be any help in that regard. If nothing else, Moss’s presence completely opened the field for the dangerous Percy Harvin.
Cutting himself would have been a much better idea. Everybody knows it’s Favre’s team anyway. Childress has no football instincts whatsoever. Until and unless Sidney Rice returns to the Vikings lineup, the Vikings will have no deep threat on the field, nobody to keep the opposition off Harvin. And I don’t think we can count Bernard Berrian, or Greg Lewis or Camarillo. Oh yeah, there’s Hank Baskett too.
Childress cut Moss because he could. It’s as simple as that. (As this is written, Moss’s name still isn’t on the list so maybe it’s not so simple after all). Even given Moss’s rather huge indiscretions in the locker room, a warning or other disciplinary action would have been more appropriate at this time, especially if Childress were really interested in what’s best for the Vikings. Childress’s insecurities notwithstanding (and he certainly has ample reason for those), the timing of Moss’s release was poor.
Mike Shanahan is a different kind of case. He removed McNabb from the game totally for the sake of his own ego. He couldn’t stand the thought of the Skins winning another game and having McNabb get the credit for it. Again. But if Grossman could have achieved the same result, then the credit would have reverted to Shanahan. The only other possibility is that the Skins winning too many games in Shanahan’s first contract year is not part of his 5-year plan.
Either way, Shanahan’s taking McNabb out of the game was despicable. That his bonehead move was so spectacularly unsuccessful just proves that there is a God….in case you were wondering.
Meanwhile, closer to home, the Jets coaching staff once again proved its free and easy coaching style sometimes doesn’t work. The Jets punter, totally of his own volition, faked a punt from the shadows of his own goal posts. Of course he didn’t make the first down. But he surely did surprise both head coach Rex Ryan and the special teams coach, Mike Westhoff. Did he really have a green light? The punter, Steve Weatherford, seemed to think so.
All I know is that these things don’t happen to Bill Belichick. And these Jets seem to be playing their season as if they’re still doing a reality show.
In Dallas, Wade Phillips, in response to a question as to whether he had lost control of his team, responded that he certainly hoped not. What the hell kind of an answer is that? He could have ripped his secondary new butt-holes. He could have picked on guys like Miles Austin and other receivers who either tipped catchable balls or simply weren’t looking.
Phillips is the other extreme of the NFL coaching continuum, a total wuss. With all those candidates out there, can’t these teams find a balanced guy?
You can’t make this stuff up.
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