Who needs a theme? Isn’t it better to just comment on the things that pop into your head, the things occupying the cerebral bits right now? I think so. It’s an intriguing format, especially at the convergence of seasons. I mean, right off the bat, I’m dying to say some more on Plaxico, on Ryan Church, Michael Vick, Brett Favre….maybe even clunker cars.
I can’t help myself, I feel bad for Plaxico. I just heard he accepted a 2-year jail sentence. I hope all you Giants fans remember who put him there. Bloomberg, nobody else. Burress gets two years for stupidity. Bloomberg gets not even a hand slap for obstructing justice, or dictating justice, just the way he’ll be dictating how your kids are educated.
Meanwhile, Plax goes to jail….as an example. Other perpetrators of the same crime don’t get these kinds of sentences. It doesn’t matter though to our “justice” system.
And Plaxico may never get out. With his attitude, he’ll be in solitary for the entire time. While I’m sure that there are people out there who’ll applaud the verdict, the same kind of people who get upset when somebody else is late for work, or who doesn’t always show up a half-hour early, the same kind of people who hate smokers and drinkers and anybody else who seems to be getting away with anything, the officious people who seem to be everywhere these days.
One thing more I’ll say is that Plaxico was a great wide receiver who did his job well. He caught the winning touchdown in the Super Bowl. He accepted his good fortune with grace and humility. He was also a young and impressionable person who may have also been a bit paranoid of his own security. We know he took advantage of rules he thought were stupid.
Plax didn’t deserve to get two years.
In lighter matters, Ryan Church of course comes to mind because he was recently in a tiff about Jerry Manuel saying that David Wright and Church were two different cases. He seemed to think Jerry was insinuating that Wright tried hard all the time and was anxious to return while Church was just a taker, somebody who’d take your money for two years, play lousy baseball and even forget to touch the bases. I mean, what else could he have been thinking? If Jerry didn’t spell it out, Church certainly did.
Michael Vick is another poster boy for dumb, dumb, dumb, at least mostly dumb rather than cruel. I don’t suppose he ever thought about dogs as living beings, but his actions really only mimicked those of countless English (and other cultures) behaviors over many centuries. Sure, it was illegal, but it wasn’t enforced, was it? Until now. I have less sympathy for Vick than Burress but they’re both being used.
Michael Vick was the best college football player I ever saw. He was also a very good QB in the professional ranks, but he too, like Plax, was somebody who couldn’t really fully utilize his natural abilities in a “system”. Vince Young, Tarvaris Jackson, and yes, even Brett Favre also come immediately to mind as having similar situations, albeit not on the same scale. None of these I mention had the athletic ability of Michael Vick.
Anybody who’s ever read my column knows my feelings on Favre. He’s a taker too. He’ll take it all and drink it up. Painkillers, money, adulation, press conferences….pretty much everything but practice. He doesn’t take to that too well, rather like Allen Iverson really. Like others once hooked on painkillers, he’s equal parts narcissist and paranoid. Ask him if he ever dreamed he’s Jesus. My bet is his answer would be in the affirmative.
Favre stunk out the joint as a Jet. But there he was Sunday after Sunday ruining his team’s chances. He turned a playoff run into a road to perdition. He was outplayed by the man he replaced, Chad Pennington, who handled the reins for a less talented football team. But Chad was a leader, much as Eli had been a leader the year before.
But it’s a symbiotic relationship, this love-in of the Vikings and Favre. The Vikings are selling a lot more tickets. That’s their take. Favre gets an opportunity to fulfill one of his dreams, no doubt, to be the hero while he leads his new team over the Packers to take the Division Championship.
Can he do it? I don’t think so. Even with the best running game in the league and the best running back, Adrian Petersen, Favre will throw the big interception much as he’s done so many times before, as a younger man. But he gets to keep number 4. He already took that from the incumbent Viking inhabiting the jersey. And he’ll make one more tired old retirement speech. He’ll have one more tired old season.
Clunker cars? Yeah, I had two but it’s now down to one. I think everybody should take advantage of this program. Under a 2-party system that usually only rewards big corporations, doctors, lawyers, foreign governments and insurance companies, this is a freebie for you, one of the few freebies you’ll ever see. I got $3500 for my 1993 Jeep on a new Scion and could have gotten $4500 if I had bought a Yaris.
Don’t think for a moment that the U.S. government was trying to help you directly though. This was a measure to help the big automakers while we are just contingent beneficiaries. Until we learn to back independents, this will be our fate. And how many Obama’s do you suppose there are? Bush would have found another way, a more patrician-friendly way, something that would have reduced taxes (on the rich) while adding to the national debt.
And then there’s my Mets. The bloom is firmly off the rose after watching Bobby Parnell get blasted by the Braves. We can only hope it was an aberration; even Halladay had a bad day.
Showing posts with label Burress. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Burress. Show all posts
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Sunday, January 11, 2009
No Tears for the Giants
Oh well, the Giants are gone. I’ll have to take my Giants stuff and turn the label down. But things went pretty much as I expected today at Giants Stadium. The offense is gone. Oh, there’s a big running back and a nice offensive line. But geez, the receivers aren’t open that much. Maybe that’s why the Eagles had all those guys stacked up at the line.
I can’t really get that upset about this. The Giants decided they really didn’t need Plaxico that badly. They saw their chance to save some money and took it, a calculated risk. So they lost on that one, but, what the heck, the Stadium’s still selling out (without cheerleaders) and they did get the number 1 seed. So they probably feel pretty good all in all. So why should I get upset.
I’ve been hearing already that the Eagles wanted it more, that from one of the Giants. So maybe it’s true. But I don’t think so. It was just the Eagles and the Giants before they had Plaxico, and before they had Strahan and Umenyiora. A nice little defense and a nice quarterback and some possession-type receivers to complement a massive ground attack.
But it’s not like the Eagles had to guess what was coming that often. It’s not like they had to worry that some really big guy with long arms who could catch a lot of passes with just one hand would streak down the sideline or across the middle. Those Eagles have some nice secondary people too, don’t they?
One of them, a fella named Samuel, (you remember Asante, he used to be with the Pats and then went to the Eagles, he intercepted one on the Vikings last week for a touchdown?) intercepted a Manning fling in the first quarter and took it a very long way. Eli raced about five feet and waited for Samuel around the goal line. Not that I blame him, but that didn’t show that much intensity.
Intensity, just a hair short on intensity yesterday. The defense played great, all things considered, even without any vestige of the pass rush they had last year. But they couldn’t stop everything and it seemed as if they were on the field a lot. (Upon checking, the Eagles ran 68 plays to the Giants 61, the time of possession was about even).
I know most people probably support the Giants decision on Burress. A lot of people don’t like endzone celebrations either, or a guy making a snow angel in the endzone. They like discipline and respect for the game, and showing up ten minutes early all the time. All that stuff.
Of course it wasn’t all about the lack of a Plaxico. The Giants could’ve played better, and smarter, and made it closer at the end. If they did everything right, they may have pulled out the win, but I don’t think so. Derrick Ward could’ve caught a couple of passes and made me happy. There were a couple of misses in the field goal department, and I thought a little lack of intensity on those fourth down plays. Those were really killers.
The Giants were beautiful last year though, when they had all those guys, before Osi got hurt and Strahan retired and Plax shot himself in the butt. This year’s version couldn’t have played New England so tightly in the last week of the season, or beaten Tampa so easily. They never would have got by Dallas as that team did, which sent them off to frigid Green Bay and then on to beautiful Arizona.
So maybe it’s better that this team exited early. Why prolong the agony? Philly’s a better team right now, and I have to think they’ll beat Arizona next week. Whether they can beat either Pittsburgh or Baltimore is problematical, but they certainly show a lot of potential.
The Eagles passing game sure seems to have come a long way in a short period of time. Curtis and DeSean Jackson and Avant and Celek, and then Westbrook too. Lots of targets, much as the Giants seemed to have had last year. The Eagles did everything just right yesterday.
They have the secondary to match up with those Arizona receivers, the offensive line to deal with those tough defenses of whatever team emerges from the AFC, either Pittsburgh or Baltimore. They do all right against the run too. If they can handle that big horse, Jacobs, they might be able to handle Willie Parker or Willis McGahee, even if those two are a lot shiftier.
True fans will wonder about next year. Receivers just don’t grow on trees, and it takes a long time, usually, before they can become really effective in the passing game. Maybe they’ll trade for an established star as they did with Burress years ago. Or maybe Burress will remain with the club, who knows?
Of course the Giants have done quite well in the draft. Look for them to draft another defensive lineman or maybe a linebacker as a number 1. That’s if they don’t decide they need another running back. After all, earth, wind and fire didn’t exactly demolish the Eagles….just some earth and a little bit of wind.
The Giants were very respectable yesterday. That’s more that can be said about the Panthers, the #2 seed that lost to Arizona so easily, with a mad quarterback and two great running backs who never got used.
They looked better than San Diego did as well. The Chargers held the Steelers even for a while before the Steelers turned up the pressure. Of course, the Chargers had their excuse, too; no LaDainian was an awfully big handicap, even though little Darren Sproles did get into the endzone until after the issue had already been decided.
As for those people and radio voices who kept saying “The Giants are the better team so they should win”, what games have you been watching the last few weeks?
I can’t really get that upset about this. The Giants decided they really didn’t need Plaxico that badly. They saw their chance to save some money and took it, a calculated risk. So they lost on that one, but, what the heck, the Stadium’s still selling out (without cheerleaders) and they did get the number 1 seed. So they probably feel pretty good all in all. So why should I get upset.
I’ve been hearing already that the Eagles wanted it more, that from one of the Giants. So maybe it’s true. But I don’t think so. It was just the Eagles and the Giants before they had Plaxico, and before they had Strahan and Umenyiora. A nice little defense and a nice quarterback and some possession-type receivers to complement a massive ground attack.
But it’s not like the Eagles had to guess what was coming that often. It’s not like they had to worry that some really big guy with long arms who could catch a lot of passes with just one hand would streak down the sideline or across the middle. Those Eagles have some nice secondary people too, don’t they?
One of them, a fella named Samuel, (you remember Asante, he used to be with the Pats and then went to the Eagles, he intercepted one on the Vikings last week for a touchdown?) intercepted a Manning fling in the first quarter and took it a very long way. Eli raced about five feet and waited for Samuel around the goal line. Not that I blame him, but that didn’t show that much intensity.
Intensity, just a hair short on intensity yesterday. The defense played great, all things considered, even without any vestige of the pass rush they had last year. But they couldn’t stop everything and it seemed as if they were on the field a lot. (Upon checking, the Eagles ran 68 plays to the Giants 61, the time of possession was about even).
I know most people probably support the Giants decision on Burress. A lot of people don’t like endzone celebrations either, or a guy making a snow angel in the endzone. They like discipline and respect for the game, and showing up ten minutes early all the time. All that stuff.
Of course it wasn’t all about the lack of a Plaxico. The Giants could’ve played better, and smarter, and made it closer at the end. If they did everything right, they may have pulled out the win, but I don’t think so. Derrick Ward could’ve caught a couple of passes and made me happy. There were a couple of misses in the field goal department, and I thought a little lack of intensity on those fourth down plays. Those were really killers.
The Giants were beautiful last year though, when they had all those guys, before Osi got hurt and Strahan retired and Plax shot himself in the butt. This year’s version couldn’t have played New England so tightly in the last week of the season, or beaten Tampa so easily. They never would have got by Dallas as that team did, which sent them off to frigid Green Bay and then on to beautiful Arizona.
So maybe it’s better that this team exited early. Why prolong the agony? Philly’s a better team right now, and I have to think they’ll beat Arizona next week. Whether they can beat either Pittsburgh or Baltimore is problematical, but they certainly show a lot of potential.
The Eagles passing game sure seems to have come a long way in a short period of time. Curtis and DeSean Jackson and Avant and Celek, and then Westbrook too. Lots of targets, much as the Giants seemed to have had last year. The Eagles did everything just right yesterday.
They have the secondary to match up with those Arizona receivers, the offensive line to deal with those tough defenses of whatever team emerges from the AFC, either Pittsburgh or Baltimore. They do all right against the run too. If they can handle that big horse, Jacobs, they might be able to handle Willie Parker or Willis McGahee, even if those two are a lot shiftier.
True fans will wonder about next year. Receivers just don’t grow on trees, and it takes a long time, usually, before they can become really effective in the passing game. Maybe they’ll trade for an established star as they did with Burress years ago. Or maybe Burress will remain with the club, who knows?
Of course the Giants have done quite well in the draft. Look for them to draft another defensive lineman or maybe a linebacker as a number 1. That’s if they don’t decide they need another running back. After all, earth, wind and fire didn’t exactly demolish the Eagles….just some earth and a little bit of wind.
The Giants were very respectable yesterday. That’s more that can be said about the Panthers, the #2 seed that lost to Arizona so easily, with a mad quarterback and two great running backs who never got used.
They looked better than San Diego did as well. The Chargers held the Steelers even for a while before the Steelers turned up the pressure. Of course, the Chargers had their excuse, too; no LaDainian was an awfully big handicap, even though little Darren Sproles did get into the endzone until after the issue had already been decided.
As for those people and radio voices who kept saying “The Giants are the better team so they should win”, what games have you been watching the last few weeks?
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
So You Want Crazy?
So many sports going on and almost no focus this Election Day. How can sports compare with today's Obama-McCain duel? Even with Obama seemingly firmly in control, one must only think back to Bush's surprise win, and his steal of Florida, to keep tonight's interest solidly on election results.
Not that there's nothing happening, especially on the New York sports scene. The Mets picked up Delgado's option, thank God, and are, by all accounts, avidly seeking Brian Fuentes, if not Francisco Rodriguez, to shore up their bullpen. Shore up may not really be the right term; an entire replacement might certainly be in order.
Then, of course, there are the NY Football Giants, yes, your favorite team (probably) and mine, the GEEEE-Men. Even after a decisive win over the Steelers, and then the Romo-less Cowboys, who looked pathetic on Sunday, all the news is about the misbehaving Plaxico Burress, whose production has been down and who has (gasp!) missed meetings and practices (as Iverson says "It's just practice, man").
And speaking of Iverson, you'll notice that the Pistons traded for Iverson, not Stephon Marbury, to replace Chauncey Billups in their backcourt. And a certain N.Y. Times sportswriter says the Knicks have to do something with Marbury. It's apparently more than his sensitivity can bear to see him sitting on the end of the bench, in shorts or in a snazzy 3-piece suit.
Life is crazy. It's always been crazy and seldom is it really fair. It's crazy that one of the Super Bowl heroes should get a nice contract extension and raise, and then seemingly lose all perspective, despite his teammates' pulling for him. But Burress will always be Burress, much as Manny has always been Manny. It can be painful to live with him, but it sure is nice to have him double-covered all the time.
It's crazy that one of the best Knicks guards should occupy the bench when lesser players run around not doing very much. But people make their own beds and Steph is on record as not willing to accept one penny less than the 21 million he has coming to him. And Knicks coach Mike D'Antoni is on record as wanting to play an up-tempo game with good defenders, hardly a Marbury forte.
You want crazy? How about the Browns benching their quarterback Derek Anderson for 2nd-year man Brady Quinn? Anderson's leading receiver, Braylon Edwards, drops more balls than he catches. His All-Star tight end is more concerned with staph infections, and their origins, than with playing. His defense can't stop the run (except, inexplicably, against the Giants) and two of his other potential receivers, Donte Stallworth and Joe Jurevicius, have been hurt. Not only that, but it's a short week, and the Browns need to play Denver on Thursday night. And a loss might kill this year's playoff chances for the Brownies. That's really crazy.
It’s crazy that the Pistons should trade possibly the single biggest reason for their success these last five years or so, point guard Chauncey Billups. Iverson certainly won’t take them over the top. I guess Iverson’s expiring 21 mill contract was a consideration, a huge one, but it certainly isn’t fair to Billups, or the rest of his teammates for that matter.
Of course, all this craziness pales in comparison to other more important considerations in our lives. Take the war in Iraq, for example. A pointless and unwinnable war, it killed and maimed our youth, drained our financial resources, weakened the dollar, and went a long way towards totally destroying our world image.
You want crazy? How about lending billions and billions of dollars to people who couldn’t possibly handle that kind of debt? And then bailing out these criminally-inept companies with our hard-earned money. And doing so without really consulting the populace; after all, we’re too stupid to understand the reasons and the consequences.
You want crazy? One of the questions on my ballot is whether we should take further action to make sure our legislators have to consult the public on any of their fantasy projects, not just some of them. The crooked politicians in New Jersey find a way around everything.
Crazy? How about paying huge site license fees for the right to purchase a seat to a Giants or Jets game? How about the folly of building a new stadium at all? None of these stadiums were really needed, not the Giants/Jets new un-named stadium, not the new Yankee Stadium, not the new Mets home(although it was time for Shea to bite the dust), and not the new arena in Newark that the Devils call home.
Crazy? How about a new stadium for the Rutgers football team? Don’t we have better things on which to spend our money? That this team plays totally forgettable football is not really the point. Who really asked for a new stadium?
Oh, and who can forget the Dallas Cowboys? Jerry Jones is getting a new stadium too, maybe the biggest of them all. Did he really need to take on a guy named Pac-Man? How was that helpful, except to make Terrell Owens look like Mr. Rogers in comparison? Backup quarterbacks? Not for Jerry. Surely, Brad Johnson and that other guy would be able to hold the fort.
Ah hell, I don’t care. Let Marbury stew on the end of the bench. Maybe he can chew on his money, or his contract, while he’s sitting there. Maybe he can contemplate the wisdom of getting himself an agent. I know he’ll enjoy watching Larry Brown come to town on Wednesday.
Play or sit Burress, I don’t care. Personally, I think the Giants would have a lot more trouble winning without him. It’s those long arms, and the speed, and the sticky fingers on those hands, and his teammates really do seem to like him. Is he an idiot? Probably, but I think he’s no crazier than Coughlin in the final analysis.
Yeah, life, it’s as crazy as the choices we have today.
Not that there's nothing happening, especially on the New York sports scene. The Mets picked up Delgado's option, thank God, and are, by all accounts, avidly seeking Brian Fuentes, if not Francisco Rodriguez, to shore up their bullpen. Shore up may not really be the right term; an entire replacement might certainly be in order.
Then, of course, there are the NY Football Giants, yes, your favorite team (probably) and mine, the GEEEE-Men. Even after a decisive win over the Steelers, and then the Romo-less Cowboys, who looked pathetic on Sunday, all the news is about the misbehaving Plaxico Burress, whose production has been down and who has (gasp!) missed meetings and practices (as Iverson says "It's just practice, man").
And speaking of Iverson, you'll notice that the Pistons traded for Iverson, not Stephon Marbury, to replace Chauncey Billups in their backcourt. And a certain N.Y. Times sportswriter says the Knicks have to do something with Marbury. It's apparently more than his sensitivity can bear to see him sitting on the end of the bench, in shorts or in a snazzy 3-piece suit.
Life is crazy. It's always been crazy and seldom is it really fair. It's crazy that one of the Super Bowl heroes should get a nice contract extension and raise, and then seemingly lose all perspective, despite his teammates' pulling for him. But Burress will always be Burress, much as Manny has always been Manny. It can be painful to live with him, but it sure is nice to have him double-covered all the time.
It's crazy that one of the best Knicks guards should occupy the bench when lesser players run around not doing very much. But people make their own beds and Steph is on record as not willing to accept one penny less than the 21 million he has coming to him. And Knicks coach Mike D'Antoni is on record as wanting to play an up-tempo game with good defenders, hardly a Marbury forte.
You want crazy? How about the Browns benching their quarterback Derek Anderson for 2nd-year man Brady Quinn? Anderson's leading receiver, Braylon Edwards, drops more balls than he catches. His All-Star tight end is more concerned with staph infections, and their origins, than with playing. His defense can't stop the run (except, inexplicably, against the Giants) and two of his other potential receivers, Donte Stallworth and Joe Jurevicius, have been hurt. Not only that, but it's a short week, and the Browns need to play Denver on Thursday night. And a loss might kill this year's playoff chances for the Brownies. That's really crazy.
It’s crazy that the Pistons should trade possibly the single biggest reason for their success these last five years or so, point guard Chauncey Billups. Iverson certainly won’t take them over the top. I guess Iverson’s expiring 21 mill contract was a consideration, a huge one, but it certainly isn’t fair to Billups, or the rest of his teammates for that matter.
Of course, all this craziness pales in comparison to other more important considerations in our lives. Take the war in Iraq, for example. A pointless and unwinnable war, it killed and maimed our youth, drained our financial resources, weakened the dollar, and went a long way towards totally destroying our world image.
You want crazy? How about lending billions and billions of dollars to people who couldn’t possibly handle that kind of debt? And then bailing out these criminally-inept companies with our hard-earned money. And doing so without really consulting the populace; after all, we’re too stupid to understand the reasons and the consequences.
You want crazy? One of the questions on my ballot is whether we should take further action to make sure our legislators have to consult the public on any of their fantasy projects, not just some of them. The crooked politicians in New Jersey find a way around everything.
Crazy? How about paying huge site license fees for the right to purchase a seat to a Giants or Jets game? How about the folly of building a new stadium at all? None of these stadiums were really needed, not the Giants/Jets new un-named stadium, not the new Yankee Stadium, not the new Mets home(although it was time for Shea to bite the dust), and not the new arena in Newark that the Devils call home.
Crazy? How about a new stadium for the Rutgers football team? Don’t we have better things on which to spend our money? That this team plays totally forgettable football is not really the point. Who really asked for a new stadium?
Oh, and who can forget the Dallas Cowboys? Jerry Jones is getting a new stadium too, maybe the biggest of them all. Did he really need to take on a guy named Pac-Man? How was that helpful, except to make Terrell Owens look like Mr. Rogers in comparison? Backup quarterbacks? Not for Jerry. Surely, Brad Johnson and that other guy would be able to hold the fort.
Ah hell, I don’t care. Let Marbury stew on the end of the bench. Maybe he can chew on his money, or his contract, while he’s sitting there. Maybe he can contemplate the wisdom of getting himself an agent. I know he’ll enjoy watching Larry Brown come to town on Wednesday.
Play or sit Burress, I don’t care. Personally, I think the Giants would have a lot more trouble winning without him. It’s those long arms, and the speed, and the sticky fingers on those hands, and his teammates really do seem to like him. Is he an idiot? Probably, but I think he’s no crazier than Coughlin in the final analysis.
Yeah, life, it’s as crazy as the choices we have today.
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