I've had it with Donovan McNabb. I think he is one of the finest pure talents in the NFL, with a great arm, terrific accuracy and nearly unparalleled mobility, but I've had enough. I watched this man lead his team to incredible success in both NCAA football and the NFL, but this is it. Donovan McNabb is fully qualified to speak on the situation of black Quarterbacks in the NFL, but sadly his thoughts are mis-placed. McNabb is a highly criticized player, but contrary to his opinion, being black has little to do with it.
The first and most glaring issue facing McNabb is not his skin color, it's the city he plays in. Philadelphia is unquestionably the toughest town to play football in. The fans are loud and they crazy(show me another stadium with a freaking jail in it) and the media is merciless. the print media, TV and radio sports shows take an almost perverse pleasure in tearing it's own players to pieces. With McNabb being selected second overall in the 1999 draft, he may as well have tattooed a giant bulls-eye on his back and chest.
Thing is, McNabb proved a lot of his critics wrong, leading the Eagles to three consecutive NFC Championship games, and then on to SuperBowl Thirty-Nine. And with the exception of that tip to the big game, he did it with limited help from an obviously inferior receiving corps. He walked into Lambeau Field in 2003 and bitch slapped the Packers(4th and 26 anyone?) en route to his third straight NFC title game. He came within a completion of tying, if not winning, the Superbowl. But that was three years ago, since then McNabb has been nothing to write home about.
It is the last two years of his career that are the focal points for his critics now. Mind you, McNabb has had several injuries and surgeries(and his favorite target running Terrel Owens himself out of town), but even when healthy he has not been very effective. The reason McNabb is savaged so often in Philly these days is because both fans and media alike want to know if McNabb will ever lead the Eagles back to the playoffs and another shot at the Lombardi Trophy. And these days there is little to give them optimism.
The biggest problem I have with McNabb is the timing of his interview with Bryant Gumbel. It wasn't after the week one loss, or the week two beat down. It was back in August, before the season had even started. Worse still, the two white quarterbacks he named are easily amongst the most heavily critiqued in the game.
Carson Palmer and Peyton Manning. According to McNabb they are not has heavily criticized as black quarterbacks. Suuuuuure they aren't. Was any QB in the game more dumped on then Manning prior to his Superbowl win? Carson Palmer had a team built around him and many in Cincinnati want to know when the goods are coming home. The most widely smacked on QB today isn't black, it's a white, cardiac inducing pivot named Rex Grossman. The butt of most jokes is Joey Harrington. It's true there aren't many black quarterbacks, but one of the most highly praised QB's is Vince Young. Jamarcus Aldridge went first over all in the draft. Is the media or the coaches supposed to somehow defend a lead-footed pylon like Byron Leftwitch? It can't be done.
You want a prime example of how being black isn't as big an issue as some make it out to be? How about Kurt Warner? A Superbowl champ and league MVP. A man who through for over 40 touch downs in a season, and two 4,000 yard seasons, but run out of town the second his arm went in the tank. Warner was the poster boy one year and a back-up in Arizona the next.
It's true there are still some meat heads in the league, media and the stands that have a problem with black quarterbacks, but to say it's a major reason for criticism is ludicrous in this day in age. Warren Moon is in the Hall of Fame. Mike Vick(pre dog fighting) was the face of the NFL. Jamarcus Aldridge just signed a 60 million plus entry level contract. The reasons quarterbacks are heavily scrutinized these has less to do with black and white and more to do with the green they're costing the team.
Saturday, September 22, 2007
Monday, September 17, 2007
Cheaters Never Prosper *wink wink* * nudge nudge*
Sorry for the delay. Had a wedding to attend this weekend. You want to see a party stick about a hundred Irish and Spanish into a dance hall with an open bar. Anyway, on to this weeks rant...
So Bill Belichik got caught using a camera to steal signals from the New York Jets. One question, so freaking what? OK, so he used recording devices, you wanna tell me why that's such a big deal? Maybe you could also try to explain to me how this somehow taints his Superbowl legacy? That the sports media would make such a huge deal over this and attempt to paint a scarlet letter on Belichik's hoodie while ignoring the actions of other teams shows just how slow a month it's been for news.
Every team cheats. It's a fact of life in the sporting world. Every team tries to steal signals, be it in football, baseball, or any major sport. Every team tries to get an edge somehow. Any great face-off man in the NHL is bending the rules just as all great baseball managers try to read the signs being flashed to a pitcher. The idea that the sport is being played within the rules is laughable. For Ladanian Tomlinson to burst out laughing when he said the Patriots live by the motto "If you're not cheating you're not trying" shows us just that. The true humor in Tomlinson's giggle fest is that he knows that given the opportunity, the Chargers would do the same thing as many times as they could.
It's funny how the NFL allows what it calls "advanced scouting" by teams, where assistants and scouts go to opposing teams practices and watch their play-calling and formations(for weeks if they want to), but this is somehow a violation of an expressly written rule. That a team cannot focus a camera on a coach during a game yet the coordinators, head coaches and assistant coaches all have a dedicated television broadcast camera on them at all times is a ludicrous situation to create. These days head coaches now cover their mouths with play sheets while talking to the QB and coordinators have second stringers holding towels up to cover the hand signals because of the sheer volume of cameras in a stadium every Sunday. The message seems to be cheat, but don't get caught.
Look at baseball. At least once a year some team gets warned about the positioning of a camera in or around the dugouts, yet the only actions I've ever seen taken are to throw a towel over it, or have its angle changed. No team that I know of has been fined or punished for it, heck the Toronto Blue Jays once had a camera perched just over the centerfield wall and pointed straight at the catcher and no fuss was made once they took it down. The answer to any hockeys teams poor face-off performance is to start cheating more, be it lifting sticks, pushing the opposing center or a false start to get your counter-part thrown out and replaced with a winger. And let's not even start with soccer, I don't have the stomach for it.
Look, I'm not defending this in any way. I'd rather see the games played out based on the merit and talents of the players involved, but that's a pipe dream. But then, so is the idea that the Patriots legacy in this decade is somehow dirtied. It's a fruitless debate really. Belichik's success in the post season is simple to understand. While other teams were doing the interviews and hitting the town, the Patriots were studying hours of video, learning a teams plays, their tendencies, formations, tactics. Belichik and his staff had two weeks to break down their opponents and that's what they did. They didn't need to steal signals because by the time the game started the Patriots new their opponents inside and out.
Tomlinson and others can yell all they want that the Patriots were cheating when they defeated them, fact is they didn't need to. Sure they were last week, and probably in previous games. Heck, it's probably been going on for years. But then, it's also been going on with other teams in every other sport and in the NFL. The Patriots are just an easy and convenient target. I the NFL wants to stop this sort of thing, then take the cameras off the sidelines. Take the recording devices off the coaches and coodinators. Actually, that won't stop anything really. Teams are going to try and find an edge, the least the NFL could do is stop acting like it didn;t know it was such a problem.
So Bill Belichik got caught using a camera to steal signals from the New York Jets. One question, so freaking what? OK, so he used recording devices, you wanna tell me why that's such a big deal? Maybe you could also try to explain to me how this somehow taints his Superbowl legacy? That the sports media would make such a huge deal over this and attempt to paint a scarlet letter on Belichik's hoodie while ignoring the actions of other teams shows just how slow a month it's been for news.
Every team cheats. It's a fact of life in the sporting world. Every team tries to steal signals, be it in football, baseball, or any major sport. Every team tries to get an edge somehow. Any great face-off man in the NHL is bending the rules just as all great baseball managers try to read the signs being flashed to a pitcher. The idea that the sport is being played within the rules is laughable. For Ladanian Tomlinson to burst out laughing when he said the Patriots live by the motto "If you're not cheating you're not trying" shows us just that. The true humor in Tomlinson's giggle fest is that he knows that given the opportunity, the Chargers would do the same thing as many times as they could.
It's funny how the NFL allows what it calls "advanced scouting" by teams, where assistants and scouts go to opposing teams practices and watch their play-calling and formations(for weeks if they want to), but this is somehow a violation of an expressly written rule. That a team cannot focus a camera on a coach during a game yet the coordinators, head coaches and assistant coaches all have a dedicated television broadcast camera on them at all times is a ludicrous situation to create. These days head coaches now cover their mouths with play sheets while talking to the QB and coordinators have second stringers holding towels up to cover the hand signals because of the sheer volume of cameras in a stadium every Sunday. The message seems to be cheat, but don't get caught.
Look at baseball. At least once a year some team gets warned about the positioning of a camera in or around the dugouts, yet the only actions I've ever seen taken are to throw a towel over it, or have its angle changed. No team that I know of has been fined or punished for it, heck the Toronto Blue Jays once had a camera perched just over the centerfield wall and pointed straight at the catcher and no fuss was made once they took it down. The answer to any hockeys teams poor face-off performance is to start cheating more, be it lifting sticks, pushing the opposing center or a false start to get your counter-part thrown out and replaced with a winger. And let's not even start with soccer, I don't have the stomach for it.
Look, I'm not defending this in any way. I'd rather see the games played out based on the merit and talents of the players involved, but that's a pipe dream. But then, so is the idea that the Patriots legacy in this decade is somehow dirtied. It's a fruitless debate really. Belichik's success in the post season is simple to understand. While other teams were doing the interviews and hitting the town, the Patriots were studying hours of video, learning a teams plays, their tendencies, formations, tactics. Belichik and his staff had two weeks to break down their opponents and that's what they did. They didn't need to steal signals because by the time the game started the Patriots new their opponents inside and out.
Tomlinson and others can yell all they want that the Patriots were cheating when they defeated them, fact is they didn't need to. Sure they were last week, and probably in previous games. Heck, it's probably been going on for years. But then, it's also been going on with other teams in every other sport and in the NFL. The Patriots are just an easy and convenient target. I the NFL wants to stop this sort of thing, then take the cameras off the sidelines. Take the recording devices off the coaches and coodinators. Actually, that won't stop anything really. Teams are going to try and find an edge, the least the NFL could do is stop acting like it didn;t know it was such a problem.
Saturday, September 8, 2007
Will the Real Peyton Manning Please Stand up?
With the start of football season this week I now get to partake in one of a least favorite pastimes, trying to find a channel on a Sunday afternoon that doesn't have a half dozen commercials featuring Peyton Manning. This is no slap in the face to Mannings acting abilities, he obviously possesses talent that is vastly superior to most on television(not to mention the cast he had to work with on SNL), my problem is the image we get of Manning.
The Peyton Manning that you see in commercials and SNL is a very carefully constructed personality designed to be appealing to as many people as possible. The cheesy mustache while selling wireless updates, the guy slapping movers on the back and telling them everyone has bad days now and again, "Cut that meat!!!", the Manning family cooking together, all done to give Peyton the image of the everyday guy who just happens to play football. Thing is, he isn't.
The Peyton Manning stupidly grinning beside some guy in a cubicle while selling fantasy football isn't the real deal. In order to see the real Peyton Manning you have to find game tapes the NFL would rather you didn't know about. Those would be the ones showing what Manning is like on the field and, by extent, what he is truly like as a person.
That would be the Peyton Manning who rolls his eyes when a kicker misses a forty-five yard field goal, who shrugs his shoulders or throws his hands up when a receiver drops or misses a pass. The Peyton Manning who walks off the field shaking his head when a pass is missed in the end-zone, even if the intended target is in double coverage. The Peyton Manning who threw his offensive line under the bus after the loss to Pittsburgh two years ago despite the fact it was his own predictable and repetitive play calling that allowed the Stealers defense to run roughshod over them. That's the real Peyton Manning and I'd have a lot less trouble with the guy if he just came clean on it.
Athletes are not always nice guys. In fact a lot of the greatest players ever have been complete jackholes. Ty Cobb was a racist slob, Reggie Jackson an arrogant prick while Maurice Richard and Gordie Howe were lumberjacks with their sticks. Michael Jordan was an condescending taskmaster with his fellow players and the less said about Emmit Smiths massive ego the better. Thing is, none of those guy's ever tried to hide it. That's who they were and they were not about to apologize for it.
I understand that at it's core the NFL is just one giant marketing machine, the Suberbowl takes second stage to the half-time show these days, and Manning is their golden boy(particularly with Vick out of the picture now), but enough already. You're a winner now Manning. You have a ring, the single season TD record, a career that will eclipse every QB record imaginable by the time you retire. Drop the act and just come clean. I don't have a problem if you're a jerk, odds are that's how you got to where you are right now just like most superstar athletes. Who cares if you're more Mark Messier then Joe Sacik? Both are still going to the Hall of Fame regardless of their personalities. Hell, I'll respect you a lot more on the field and off if you stopped insulting my intelligence by pretending to be someone you're not.
The Peyton Manning that you see in commercials and SNL is a very carefully constructed personality designed to be appealing to as many people as possible. The cheesy mustache while selling wireless updates, the guy slapping movers on the back and telling them everyone has bad days now and again, "Cut that meat!!!", the Manning family cooking together, all done to give Peyton the image of the everyday guy who just happens to play football. Thing is, he isn't.
The Peyton Manning stupidly grinning beside some guy in a cubicle while selling fantasy football isn't the real deal. In order to see the real Peyton Manning you have to find game tapes the NFL would rather you didn't know about. Those would be the ones showing what Manning is like on the field and, by extent, what he is truly like as a person.
That would be the Peyton Manning who rolls his eyes when a kicker misses a forty-five yard field goal, who shrugs his shoulders or throws his hands up when a receiver drops or misses a pass. The Peyton Manning who walks off the field shaking his head when a pass is missed in the end-zone, even if the intended target is in double coverage. The Peyton Manning who threw his offensive line under the bus after the loss to Pittsburgh two years ago despite the fact it was his own predictable and repetitive play calling that allowed the Stealers defense to run roughshod over them. That's the real Peyton Manning and I'd have a lot less trouble with the guy if he just came clean on it.
Athletes are not always nice guys. In fact a lot of the greatest players ever have been complete jackholes. Ty Cobb was a racist slob, Reggie Jackson an arrogant prick while Maurice Richard and Gordie Howe were lumberjacks with their sticks. Michael Jordan was an condescending taskmaster with his fellow players and the less said about Emmit Smiths massive ego the better. Thing is, none of those guy's ever tried to hide it. That's who they were and they were not about to apologize for it.
I understand that at it's core the NFL is just one giant marketing machine, the Suberbowl takes second stage to the half-time show these days, and Manning is their golden boy(particularly with Vick out of the picture now), but enough already. You're a winner now Manning. You have a ring, the single season TD record, a career that will eclipse every QB record imaginable by the time you retire. Drop the act and just come clean. I don't have a problem if you're a jerk, odds are that's how you got to where you are right now just like most superstar athletes. Who cares if you're more Mark Messier then Joe Sacik? Both are still going to the Hall of Fame regardless of their personalities. Hell, I'll respect you a lot more on the field and off if you stopped insulting my intelligence by pretending to be someone you're not.
Saturday, September 1, 2007
One of These Things is Not Like the Other....
Mark Bell has no business playing hockey this year. He should be in jail. He should be serving his sentence for his DUI and hit and run one year ago this weekend. He's not though. Instead he gets to play this season, collect his 2 million dollar salary and serve his time(which will be anywhere between 4-6 months) after hockey is done. Great, just great. No sooner does Roger Gooddell put his foot down and say "enough is enough" then Garry Bettman drags the NHL down another level.
Let's look at this case. Last year Mark Bell was involved in a two car accident over the Labour Day weekend. He rear-ended a truck and left the forty year old driver with head injuries and cuts to his face. Bell left the scene and was shortly arrested in the general area. He was given a breathalyser and blew a .15, the legal limit being .08. He was booked on DUI and leaving the scene of an accident. One year later he plead no contest to the charges and had the felony dropped to a misdemeanor.
While I have no problem with the plea bargain, I take issue with Bettman allowing Bell to play this season. The precedent set by the NFL regarding Mike Vick and Pacman Jones should have been enough to put some balls on Canada's favorite midget, but it didn't. Instead Bettman is going to keep the status quo and allow a man who broke the law back on the ice. Way to go Garry. You keep that game honest my man.
Let's go back a few years and re-visit the sad and brutal story of Steve Moore. Moore was one of a few hundred players in the NHL, not a whole lot of talent but good speed and some jam in his game. He played a hard nosed style that earned him around 10 minutes a game and a few hundred thousand dollars a year. A lot of players(Kent Manderville is a great example), have carved out long and prosperous careers like that. I don't know if Moore could have, but we'll never know now.
Thanks to Todd Bertuzzis famous attack on Moore, the young man will never play again. As a result of Bertuzzis sucker punch he was formally charged with and plead guilty to assault. He was suspended by the NHL following the on ice attack for what amounted to 13 regular season games and 7 playoff games. The following season was the lock out, and on August 8, 2005 Bertuzzi was re-instated into the NHL. Moore was still in re-hab for three fractured vertebrae. the NHL cited the following reasons why Betuzzi was allowed back in.
Basically, while the hockey world was talking about the Great One, Bettman slipped a tiny press release around announcing Bertuzzi was back in the NHL, deliberately using the biggest announcement of the summer to slip that mortar shell in the back door. It was painfully obvious that Bettman had done so to insure minimal press devoted to the story, meaning he knew what he was doing would set people off.
Remember the public outcry over the attack? The View of all TV shows devoted almost a week to it. For the first time since the Rangers won the Stanley Cup in 1994 ESPN and FOXSports were leading their updates with NHL talk. Bettman knew full well what would happen if he had announced Bertuzzis return on any other date, so he waited and use Gretzky to avoid the problem.
And now it's happening again. Bettman is allowing a criminal to play to game and make his money when Mark Bell should be in a California jail cell. He's silently issuing a statement that tells players they can do what they like, he'll let them back in. Hell, he'll even let them serve their sentences whenever they feel like it. Bell is by no means a star player like Bertuzzi once was, but the example is still the same. If sports leagues want their players to stop embarrassing the sport, then they need to stop allowing those very players to break the law and still collect a check. If athletes are just like you and me, then it's high time they started going to jail like we do.
Let's look at this case. Last year Mark Bell was involved in a two car accident over the Labour Day weekend. He rear-ended a truck and left the forty year old driver with head injuries and cuts to his face. Bell left the scene and was shortly arrested in the general area. He was given a breathalyser and blew a .15, the legal limit being .08. He was booked on DUI and leaving the scene of an accident. One year later he plead no contest to the charges and had the felony dropped to a misdemeanor.
While I have no problem with the plea bargain, I take issue with Bettman allowing Bell to play this season. The precedent set by the NFL regarding Mike Vick and Pacman Jones should have been enough to put some balls on Canada's favorite midget, but it didn't. Instead Bettman is going to keep the status quo and allow a man who broke the law back on the ice. Way to go Garry. You keep that game honest my man.
Let's go back a few years and re-visit the sad and brutal story of Steve Moore. Moore was one of a few hundred players in the NHL, not a whole lot of talent but good speed and some jam in his game. He played a hard nosed style that earned him around 10 minutes a game and a few hundred thousand dollars a year. A lot of players(Kent Manderville is a great example), have carved out long and prosperous careers like that. I don't know if Moore could have, but we'll never know now.
Thanks to Todd Bertuzzis famous attack on Moore, the young man will never play again. As a result of Bertuzzis sucker punch he was formally charged with and plead guilty to assault. He was suspended by the NHL following the on ice attack for what amounted to 13 regular season games and 7 playoff games. The following season was the lock out, and on August 8, 2005 Bertuzzi was re-instated into the NHL. Moore was still in re-hab for three fractured vertebrae. the NHL cited the following reasons why Betuzzi was allowed back in.
- Bertuzzi serving a suspension of 20 games, tied for 4th longest in NHL history (13 regular season games, 7 playoff games)
- Bertuzzi's repeated attempts to apologize to Mr. Moore personally
- Bertuzzi's forfeited salary ($501,926.39 USD)
- Lost endorsements (approximately $350,000.00 USD)
- Significant uncertainty, anxiety, stress and emotional pain caused to Bertuzzi's family
- The commissioner's belief that Bertuzzi was genuinely remorseful and apologetic for his actions
Basically, while the hockey world was talking about the Great One, Bettman slipped a tiny press release around announcing Bertuzzi was back in the NHL, deliberately using the biggest announcement of the summer to slip that mortar shell in the back door. It was painfully obvious that Bettman had done so to insure minimal press devoted to the story, meaning he knew what he was doing would set people off.
Remember the public outcry over the attack? The View of all TV shows devoted almost a week to it. For the first time since the Rangers won the Stanley Cup in 1994 ESPN and FOXSports were leading their updates with NHL talk. Bettman knew full well what would happen if he had announced Bertuzzis return on any other date, so he waited and use Gretzky to avoid the problem.
And now it's happening again. Bettman is allowing a criminal to play to game and make his money when Mark Bell should be in a California jail cell. He's silently issuing a statement that tells players they can do what they like, he'll let them back in. Hell, he'll even let them serve their sentences whenever they feel like it. Bell is by no means a star player like Bertuzzi once was, but the example is still the same. If sports leagues want their players to stop embarrassing the sport, then they need to stop allowing those very players to break the law and still collect a check. If athletes are just like you and me, then it's high time they started going to jail like we do.
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