National Football? League

I haven't blogged for a while but while watching the Vikings, Eagles game Tuesday night, I've had enough. A Sidney Rice touchdown just got overturned. It literally was a touchdown. It was overturned because some 8D TV saw the ball move an inch after Rice leaped three feet in the air, came down with two feet on the ground, and was landed on by a 6'2" 240 machine. Good thing the TV saw it, because I didn't, my buddy didn't, the refs didn't originally, even Al and Chris didn't see it. But all of this got me to thinking. What the hell has the NFL become. It's no longer a game. Let's review some instances in the past year. There are most likely a lot more, but I'm just going off the top of my head.

Calvin Johnson's Touchdown taken away for the same reason as Rices. Every commentator, fan, and player in the league agreed that it should have been a touchdown. That would have given the Lions a win, and with the way they've played this year who knows where they'd be. But when again with these wide receivers how long do they need to hold onto the ball. The run at ungodly speeds leaping high enough to win Olympic medals at times, and land with the ball. But if and only then the ball wiggles. They don't lose control but it wiggles, enough that the refs overturn or rule it incomplete. What the hell is possession? If the ball doesn't hit the ground but wiggles a bit during impact what's the problem. Should these receivers take the ball home with them, and mail a picture to the ref showing them sleeping with the ball.

The league has been all over illegal hits, like leading with the head. I agree with this rule, I do. But what is a defensive player supposed to do at times. A receiver ducks or changes directions unexpectedly the defensive player is dead in the water. What about the offense not throwing those passes over the middle. They have no fear. They call Austin Collie fearless. I call him an idiot. Go ahead and be fearless, a few more concussions and you won't remember it anyway. When a dog with a shock collar on repeatedly gets shocked at the property line, they soon learn to stop going there. Why can't these human beings learn the same thing. Yes the NFL has to clean up the dirty hits, but they also have to keep the integrity of the game. It's a violent game. You know what else if violent....roofing. So if they don't want to make the millions playing football, they can grab some shingles.

What's the deal with the Eagles game being moved? 4 inches of snow? We had 15 inches of snow, and I know of squirt hockey practices that still happened. These are 8 year old kids that wet the bed, practicing for a sport that they won't play for more than another 5-6 years. The parents weighed the options, and ventured out in their cars, and went to practice. But the NFL felt this was too dangerous for everyone involved? They didn't feel the same way the previous week when the Vikings played. What if the Patriots are playing in the AFC championship game at home, and the same thing happens. Are we going to just move that game too? They've set a precedent now. The NHL played games at Madison Square Garden and Newark where they got in some areas four times as much snow as Philly did. So where does the league go from here? They have to be consistent.

What's the deal with the replay's. You can't have a big play without worrying about a flag somewhere on the field. Every touchdown turns into a game of Photo Hunt on the replay TV. While I want to the calls to be correct, I also want the games to have some flow, and not turn into four hour death marches. Why do we at home know the result two and a half minutes before the referee? What are they looking at? Coaching now has as much to do with when to challenge as X's and O's. Would we view Lombardi, Madden, Shula, and Bud Grant in the same light if they were terrible at challenging. Wheres the logic in that. The coaches have to gamble on when to check to see if the referee is doing there job. Not only do they have to be the best coach on the field, they have to know when to call out a ref. Call out an ump in baseball you'll get tossed. Call out a ref and prove him wrong in the NFL and get your timeout back. Do it twice and get another challenge. What's with these referees. Why are they so bad. I understand they're dealing with giant humans with amazing athletic ability. If that is the case, than why do they have 50-60 year old men trying to do the job. Asher Allen a can't keep up with an NFL receiver, so how can 59 year old Pete Morelli?

This is just the tip of the iceberg. I didn't even touch on the likely lockout on the horizon. I watch the NFL every week, I have the NFL ticket, own jersey's, play in fantasy leagues, and bet on the league. So I'm as big a fan as most people. But I don't like the way the game is going. I call it a game lightly, because it seems like that is they area that is in jeopardy. The game, the game that a lot of us still play or wish we can. It's a multi billion dollar business, and needs to be ran and managed properly and efficiently. While the fans know that they don't want to be reminded of that on each and every play. Fans want to know that some of the guys hit on the attractive sideline reporters, they want to know when a scantily clad reporter from Mexico walks into a locker room, she gets heckled. They want to believe that these guys love the game, and love the city they play in. So don't ruin that for us. We all wish we had half the athletic ability and a fraction of their salary's. That is why Madden is such a popular video game. Don't turn the NFL into real life version of Madden controlled by the owners, commissioner's, or "NFL offices", whatever that means.

KG

Kevin Garnett is an idiot. I was watching the game he played in last night against the Bucks. He has an emphatic dunk over Andrew Bogut and afterwards throws his forearms towards Bogut's head. Luckily for Bogut he missed, but Bogut took exception to the forearm and shoved Garnett. Garnett then acted like he had been innocently victimized, walking away in haste. This to me describes Kevin Garnett. He is an uneducated thug. Add in his recent slur towards Pistons Charlie Villanueva, and you'll see he say's and does whatever he wants.

He's the player that lead the lowly Timberwolves to the Playoffs for six straight years before advancing past the first round. While that is a huge accomplishment with that franchise, he also proved that he was unable to be a leader and put a team on his back and carry them to success. He in my opinion is one of the NBA's best role players of all time, and that's it. Yes he's won an NBA championship, but only after the Celtics, to their credit took advantage of the monkey's running the Sonics and Timberwolves assembled an all-star team. He has often been compared to Tim Duncan. While they are almost statistically the same player, they are within one of each other in points, rebounds, steals, blocks, and assists. They to me are worlds apart. Duncan has stayed in San Antonio and made players around him better, leading them to multiple NBA championships. Garnett had to leave and join a team of two potential hall of famers to win a championship. Sure Duncan's had David Robinson, Tony Parker, and Manu Ginobli. But Garnett also had Wally Sczerbiak, Stephon Marbury, Sam Cassell, Tom Gugliata, and Latrell Sprewell. He didn't have them for as long as Duncan had his guys, but maybe if Garnett had the ability to make guys better or lead them to success, they'd be more willing to stick around and play with him longer.

For Garnett it's always been about himself. He's the same guy who when interviewed during the Timberwolves playoff run, said he's bringing his ammo, glock, nine-deuce, got some shell's for his oozi. Even though I'm paraphrasing you get the point. I think he's clinically insane. He didn't go to college, and I'm assuming that his high school career wasn't filled with honors classes, and math bowl. To his credit he's chosen the right career path, to the tune of $251,315,354. So he's got that going for him. But watch him on the court, what he calls passion, I call insanity. He's the guy that bangs his head on the pad below the net to start the second quarter of the fourth game of the year against the Bucks. It's the type of behavior that as a fan, you love for a while, until you find out their might actually be something wrong with him. The TV networks can't have microphones near the court when he's playing because of his vulgarity. And now he's calling player's "cancer patient". I love the fact when asked about call Villanueva a "Cancer Patient". He said that his actual quote was, "You are cancerous to your team and our league." Ok, KG we believe you, that seems to match up with the type of stuff you typically say on the course.

Yes he's won a championship, yes he's made over 250 Million Dollars not counting endorsements. But to me he's a thug. A human being that lacks social skills or knowledge of life. He's been able to mask this with athletic talent and money. I'm sure he's not the only athlete doing this. But every time I watch him I think how crazy he is, and that maybe a year or two of college would have done him some good. I am not a KG fan, I loved him for a while when he was a Timberwolve, but I grew tired of his antics while he was here, and now that he's gone I can't stand him.

Lost Control

Randy Moss has been released. First off I wonder what questions he'll ask himself and what answers he'll give. One thing for sure, is it has become apparent to me that Brad Childress has lost control of the locker room. It's time he needs to be fired. He has lost control, and he's over his head. He can't handle the chaos or ego's that go along with being a head coach of an NFL team. While I don't have a problem with him going for the touchdown instead of a field goal at the end of the half against the patriots, that is just the tip of the iceberg in his laundry list of issues.
I'm not hard on Leslie Frazier like everyone else is. Remember this guy leads a defense that hasn't had a sack in three straight games. But this would be a perfect time to see if he can coach. Let him finish the year, and see what he can do. If he does a good job, hire him. If he fails it was a decent tryout, and you don't lose much. Remember we are the team that let Brian Billick, Tony Dungy, and Mike Tomlin go and win super bowls.
But if he does fail, then we need to hire a Jon Gruden/Bill Cowher type. A proven leader. It will no doubt be a different team next year, but one things for sure, Randy Moss won't be there. I just hope that Brad Childress won't either.

The Honeymoon’s Over

For years and years I was taught to hate Brett Favre. He was the QB for the enemy, the Green Bay Packers. Last year Vikings fans went on a magical ride captained by the enemy himself. We took him in. We thought he was the missing piece to the Super Bowl puzzle. Favre played better than anyone could have asked of him and then some. So last year was as good as it gets.

Well that was last year. I don’t share those feelings anymore. I wish he’d go back to Green Bay, so it would be easier to hate him again. He is the Vikings biggest problem right now. He’s 40+ years old. He’s got a bad ankle, a bad elbow, and by the looks of the pictures a bad penis too. He’s going through a scandal, and I’m guessing his home life isn’t great. So he’s got some baggage. He’s obviously injured enough that sitting out a game is in his best interest. But he’s got this streak of consecutive games. We wouldn’t want to break that. He’s like that guy that refuses to go to the doctor, until eventually he dies, and it was something that had he gone in, it would have been an easy fix. Instead of death, it’s interceptions and losses.

So maybe a suspension is the best thing that can happen to the Vikes. I’m not saying T-Jack’s the answer either, but we won’t win as long as Favre continues to play like this.

It's snowing tonight in Ron Washington's Tampa Hotel Room

Ron Washington should be manager of the year. I know that is not received well in Minnesota. Our beloved Ron Gardenhire has been overlooked so many times, that this has to be his year. Well maybe he hasn't been overlooked, he's just been properly evaluated. I'm not sure if the voting includes the postseason, but if it does, in my opinion it's a no brainer. Ron Washington didn't something I'm not sure "Gaardy" is capable of. Well I'm almost certain Gaardy couldn't do it, because I'm not sure he's capable of taking a 2-0 lead in a series. But Washington let his guys into a game 5 on the road, and came out with a win. Washington's taken a team that for the past few years, had an indentity of all power, no pitching, no defense, no "small ball". They didn't do the little thing's that Gaardy loves so much. Well whatever they're doing now, they are doing it right. And you have to give the manager credit. We give Gaardy so much credit for every good thing the Twins accomplish, and usually it's deserving. But to say that Gaardy should win this award hands down is just moronic.
While it's obvious that Cliff Lee was the difference for the Rangers, and Washington couldn't have done it without him. Remember about a month after the trade deadline, and the papers, and FSN would run stats of what Cliff Lee had done since the trade deadline, and what Brian Duensing had done. Duensing had better numbers at one point, so they were leading us to believe that not trading for Cliff Lee was a good decision for the Twins. Instead we traded for a closer that was never used, and set up guy that wasn't brought in (We brought in Mijares in Game #1 instead). So Cliff Lee didn't go 2-0 with a 1.13 ERA, and 21 strikeouts in his first two starts with the Rangers in August. He just did that in the first round of the playoffs instead!!!! Imagine a Cliff Lee starting game #1 at Target Field, and dominating and giving the Twinks some confidence, and Liriano pitching game #2. And always knowing that if things get hairy, we always have Cliff Lee we could bring in 3-4 days rest.
Who knows how the Rangers will do against the Yanks, but they have pitchers that strike guys out. Hitters that hit. So that in my opinion gives them a chance in any game they play. So congrats to the Rangers, good luck against the yanks.