* Asterisk, and I'm not talking the European comic book character

"The Spygate thing has diminished what they've accomplished. You would hate to have that attached to your accomplishments. They've got it.
"I guess it will be noted that the Patriots were fined and a No. 1 draft choice was taken away during that year of accomplishment...
"That tells you the seriousness or significance of what they found. I guess you got the same thing as putting an asterisk by Barry Bonds' home run record."

-Don Shula, New York Daily News, November 11, 2007

Welcome to the NFL's version of Grumpy Old Men.

Sure, Shula doesn't directly say that the Patriots accomplishments should have an asterisk next to them - but he comes as close as possible to saying it. Sure, the intention was there to cheat - but the camera man was nailed pretty much in the first quarter of the first game of the season, giving them no opportunity to cheat.

Yes, he backed off that statement later in the week, but still referred to the theoretical undefeated season that the Patriots are possibly on their way to as "tainted."

Let's really consider the implication of Shula's statement - he implies that a team caught violating NFL rules in order to gain a competitive edge should, in essence, come with a footnote in the record books.

Herein lies the questions that creates -

Does that mean that the 1972 Dolphins deserve an asterisk? After all, the Dolphins were penalized a first round draft pick only a year earlier for tampering by a much more lenient commissioner than the current for hiring Shula away from the Colts. In Shula's words, that tells you the seriousness of the offense.

This doesn't consider the fact that the '72 'Phins played the weakest schedule of any champion during the Super Bowl era (opponent winning percentage of .365), and had an average margin of victory around 15 points. Patriots opponents through the bye have had a winning percentage around .480, and the average margin of victory has been in the neighborhood of 23 points. Maybe one, or both of the above deserve to be noted in the record books.

Pittsburgh Steelers offensive lineman Steve Courson, a key member of the team opening holes for Franco Harris and protecting Terry Bradshaw, admitted in 2000 to steroid use on a team where rumors of use were wide spread. Courson noted certain players that would not touch them, like Jack Lambert, but he in no way absolved everyone. Without knowing how long, or how pervasive the steroid culture was in the Steelers locker-room, then don't we as fans, have to assume - like some have suggested about the Patriots - that all of the Steelers titles were tainted?

Former Raiders coach John Madden famously said, "Everybody says the Raiders cheat...OK, we cheat. So, what are you going to do about it?" Does that mean that there should be an asterisk next to everything that the Raiders accomplished under Madden? Not only is it an admission that the team cheated, but he dared anyone to do anything about the fact that his team cheated.

Nobody brings up the fact that the Denver Broncos were in violation of the salary cap both years they won the Super Bowl (last time checked, spending more money than the other teams that are staying under the cap would create an unfair competitive advantage). In addition to that - Mike Shanahan had the gall to send someone to San Diego to tape practices from a hill adjacent to the Chargers practice facility. This isn't like some sideline taping, this is paying extra for a hotel and airfare to illegally scout an opponent's practice.

The Colts? Nobody outside of Indianapolis is buying the CBS glitch excuse. Bettors point out that the network would benefit from closer spreads in the final score by keeping ratings higher throughout the game. Sites from other teams have questioned the validity of the NFL's findings. This doesn't even take into account the fact that Bill Polian, the Colts general manager, pretty much had the way the rules of the game were enforced, because the teams he put together were unable to get over the hump in the playoffs without the extra help? Does that deserve an asterisk?

Under current rules, the Cowboys dynasty of the mid-1990's would never have been able to maintain any sort of continuity in regards to winning because players like Michael Irvin, and Nate Newton, just to name a few, would have constantly been suspended for their criminal activities - and this doesn't even take into account the coach (Barry Switzer) getting nailed trying to bring a hand-gun on a plane. Should that be a footnote?

This is just the tip of the iceberg of what has happened over the last 40+ years in the NFL. I haven't even touched on things like the Detroit Lions gambling scandal in the 1960's, rumors of steroid and amphetimine use with the Cowboys of the 1970's, and countless other little and big scandals throughout the history of the NFL.

Where do the footnotes end? Why doesn't camera-gate go away like all the previous scandals?

One simple reason.

We live in the information age. Like me, everyone has an opinion, and anyone with access to the Internet has the ability to keep any story alive.

Ten years ago, this story would have been dead already. For those of you who don't believe it would have been, once again, check out the Broncos issues and how long those were a big deal. Now, we have news 24-7, and producers that pander to what they think sells.

And let's face it - scandal sells. Even one that was put to rest months ago.

Running it up...

Through out this season there has been a lot of the Patriots running up the scores on teams. Let's really look at this, game by game. One quick note before breaking down the games - Through the Redskins game 20 of Brady's 30 TD passes have come in the first half. The first half! Almost 70 percent of the team's aerial damage was done long before the fourth quarter even started. As a matter of fact, only six of those td passes came in the fourth quarter and five of those were with more than eight minutes on the clock. Only once (the sixth game) was the touchdown thrown with less than 8 min - v the then highly regarded offensive machine in the Bengals (a 14 point lead became 21 with 3:18 on the clock when Brady completed to Moss in the end zone). It wasn't until more recently that everyone realized the Bengals just aren't that good on offense this year. -

Jets, 38-14

With two minutes left on the clock, the Patriots were up by 17 points. A quick touchdown followed by an on-sides kick could put the ball back in the Jets hands with well over a minute left and down only by ten. So, was Heath Evans running the ball in with two minutes remaining running thee score up, or was it icing the game?

However, in this case, with two minutes left, I will grant that this can be considered running up the score.

San Diego, 38-14

The Patriots have been knocked for passing late in games when the contest is out of reach. In this game the team played the highly regarded, then "most talented" team in the league. With 3:18 left, the Patriots ran the ball in from three yards out with career back up Sammy Morris. Like the Colts and the Bengals, the Chargers were expected to have a high octane offense coming into this game. With close to three and a half minutes left, and weapons like Antonio Gates and LaDanian Tomlinson on the other sideline, no coach would consider a two score game out of reach.

Running it up? No. Sealing the deal? Yes.

Buffalo, 38-7

Yeah, they ran it up in this game. There was no reason to throw the deep pass into the end zone to Moss in the fourth quarter already up 31-7 against a team that showed no signs of life after the first quarter. The Pats certainly could have just started handing the ball off and have Matt Cassel in by the start of Q4.

Cincinnati, 34-13

See the introductory paragraph. Against an offense initially considered to be potent, making the game a three score game with more than three minutes left was just prudent. I seem to remember the Colts engineering a 24-point comeback on a Monday night not long ago with only a little more time than 3:18 left on the clock.

Running up the score? I think not.

Cleveland, 34-17

Running it up? Not even close. With a minute left and the Browns in possession of the ball, the Pats had a ten point lead. One big play and an on-side kick and the Browns could be one touchdown, or one field goal away from a tie game - or even one score from winning with possession of the ball. Instead, the Pats D forces the turnover and Randall Gay runs it into the end zone to open an insurmountable lead with about 40 seconds left.

Dallas, 48-27

Outside of the Redskins, these guys have been some of the biggest whiners about the Pats running up the score. Of course going into the fourth quarter Dallas trailed by only a touchdown. Brady lofted his final touchdown pass with more than 12 minutes to go. With ten to go, Dallas kicked a field goal to make it a two score game again. Sure, with four minutes to go, Gostkowski kicked a field goal, increasing the lead to 14 points.

What everyone seems to get upset about is that the Patriots rushed for a touchdown with 19 seconds left. What nobody mentions is that Dallas could have let the clock run out, but Wade Phillips called a time out in hopes of getting the ball back. What nobody mentions is that the vaunted Dallas defense couldn't keep a running back signed off the Patriots practice squad just days earlier out of the end-zone.

Running it up? Borderline at best. When a coach is trying to get the ball back for one final score, you don't just take a knee and give it to his team, you make the team earn it. Dallas couldn't earn it. So, no, I don't put this in the "running it up" category.

Miami, 49-28

After what happened to the Patriots in the playoffs last year, I don't buy this as running it up either. Think about it - you go into the locker room with a 35 point lead. You call off the dogs in the fourth quarter only to see your lead shrink by 14 points in less than five minutes in the stadium that has been your team's personal house of horrors since you took the job. Suddenly that 21 point lead with more than ten minutes left looks kind of tenuous.

What do you do? You slot your A-team back into the game and put one final nail in the coffin - which happened with more than eight minutes left.

Washington, 52-7

In fairness to the pundits, Belichick ran the score up in this one. After this game there was a lot of speculation about payback. Of course no one mentioned that this score probably was payback - the only other time that Belichick faced Gibbs as head coaches was back in 1991, Belichick's first year coaching the Browns. Gibbs' Redskins put a 42-17 thrashing on big bad Bill's Browns.

The pundits are right, coaches should beware of payback. Just ask Joe Gibbs.

Running the score up? Yeah...yeah they did it in this one. Somehow, I don't feel too bad about it.

Indianapolis 24-20

If not for 13 points gifted to the Colts by the refs on imaginary pass interference calls, there would potentially be talk of the Patriots late scores as running it up. Yet, against an explosive offense like Indy's, shouldn't a team try to score as much as possible?

The bottom line - as football fans we might be witnessing something historic with the Patriots. The team might be on the way to an undefeated season, along the way they might set all sorts of offensive records - points scored in a season, touchdowns by a quarterback, yardage by a quarterback, most consecutive games throwing three touchdowns by a qb, average margin of victory, and those are the ones I can think of off the top of my head.

If the team does so, they will prove to be the most dominant team of all time. The 1972Dolphins can put any spin they want on it, but on their way to their Super Bowl, they faced only one winning team during the regular season and their opponents had a combined winning percentage well below .400, and an average margin of victory of 15.3 points. The Patriots have faced four teams with winning records including likely playoff contenders Dallas and Indianapolis. The Pats have faced teams with a winning percentage of .479 - close to .100 points higher than the foes of the Dolphins, and the Patriots are beating that higher quality competition by close to a 23.1 point margin.

Somehow, this team has become the bad guys of the NFL. Excellence is a sin. Nobody vilified the high scoring Vikings or the "Greatest Show on Turf" Rams. We live in a society in which all participants in youth sports are given trophies, actual competition with a goal of winning is avoided because it might be psychologically damaging to our children. Is it any surprise now that when a team excels, that it gets bashed for trying to be the best?

Ultimately, these guys are paid to play at the highest level. If they themselves have a problem with teams scoring on them, then stop them. It's what they're paid to do.

Weekend musings...

Welcome to the Animal Shelter...

Peter King had it right - the Patriots won yesterday in the fourth quarter on 13 key plays, twelve of them came from the Animal Shelter - Wes Welker, Donte Stallworth, and Randy Moss - the other was a great catch-and-I-won't-be-denied-run by scatback Kevin Faulk.

Welker, Stallworth and Moss all made big plays, with Stallworth and Moss catching deep balls to set up touchdowns from Welker and Faulk. Why the "Animal Shelter?"

Stallworth generated almost no interest in the free-agent market, Moss was had for a fourth round draft pick, and Welker, Miami's leading receiver last year and an undrafted free-agent, was tendered the minimum offer from the 'Phins. Like the dogs at an animal shelter, these were the unwanted, and now they're the best receiving corps in football and an integral part of why the Pats are heading into their bye week at 9-0.

Those top three receivers are likely to account for more than 3,600 yards combined at the end of the season. Moss already has 924, Welker is at 651, and Stallworth is at 453. That translates into a season long pace of 1643 for Moss, Welker projects at 1157 and Stallworth at 805 (a total of 3605). That doesn't include another estimated 1300, to 1400 yards in receiving from the rest of the team.

While it's likely that the aerial show will experience some drop-off as the team begins to fight the elements in Foxboro, the idea of a 5,000 yard passing season is not completely out of the realm of possibility. With struggling teams like the Jets, 'Phins, and Eagles still on the schedule, don't be surprised to see a whole bunch of dismantlings a la the first eight games of the season.

What should bother the Colts when they watch film this week, after handed a loss by the Animal Shelter, is that this is what is going to show up on the film - Brady had an off day, throwing at times away from the open man and into coverage. They will see a game in which at least one of their touchdowns was aided and abetted by a phantom call by the referees. They will see a game in which they had to carry their "more physical" defenders off the field twice in the final minutes. They will see a Peyton Manning, circa 2004 instead of circa 2006.

Anyone else hearing strains of that classic "Welcome Back" by John Sebastion.

See you boys in the Razor in January.

Double Standards...

Isn't it time to drop the modifier "fighting" from the now 1-8 Fighting Irish?

Right about now I would like to hear about Ty Willingham filing a lawsuit against the Irish for his dismissal. To wit - in Willingham's three seasons, the Washington alum was fired with an aggregate record of 21-15, with only one losing record (5-7 in 2003). Willingham was dismissed after a 6-5 regular season. Currently, Charlie Weiss is presiding over a 1-8 regular season, putting his current record at 20-12 with three more losses likely on the schedule.

If they fired Willingham after a winning season just for missing a bowl game, not giving him an opportunity to develop the talent he recruited (does the name Brady Quinn mean anything to anybody?), why should Weiss get the same benefit of the doubt as he guides the team to what is likely to be a one win season?

As much as I hate seeing anyone play the card, personally, I have to believe that race played a part in this with Willingham being the only African-American head coach in the history of Notre Dame.

Caveat Emptor

Buyer beware.

Everyone has something to sell. Everyone. Me? I'm trying to sell the idea that I might indeed have a clue as to what I'm writing about...not everyone buys, particularly not my wife.

At least retail is honest about it. For the rest of us...well, let's just say you have to pay closer attention to what's being sold...

Let's go through some of the people and groups making sales pitches out there -

Scott Boras/Alex Rodriguez - A-Rod is the car that Boras is trying to sell. He's like a Jaguar- a sleek, pretty bauble of a car with a 12 cylinder engine that has a tendency to crap out on you at the worst possible moment. In 2004 when the Yankees needed a $30 million bat to save them from Mo Rivera's struggles, A-Rod disappeared like J.D. Salinger from the public eye.

Buyers need to beware of the slick, used-car salesman Boras, and his shiny toy of a product, A-Rod. Consider - even in a (contract) year in which A-Rod set career highs in RBI's (156), OBP (.422), and slugging (.645), hit the second most homers (54), and third highest batting average (.314), Boras is going out of his way to get potential buyers to NOT look at his client's post-season failings in that same career year - in a year in which A-Rod led the league in RBI's, he knocked in one in this year's post season.

So during a season in which A-Rod averaged an RBI per every 3.7 at bats, he had one in 15 during the postseason. Even adding in the 8 he had during the 2004 playoffs, this is what he has done in baseball's second season since then - 9 RBI's in 94 at bats, or one for every 10.4 at bats. For his career he has knocked in a run for every 4.9 at bats in the regular season, that has dropped off to one for every 8.6 at bats in the postseason, a number that has gotten progressively worse with each passing season.

This doesn't include the following facts that I have mentioned in other posts - for the first three seasons after A-Rod left Seattle, the team averaged in the vicinity of 10 more wins per season; after he left Texas, they averaged eight more wins per season; the Yankees have average almost four fewer per season, decreasing from 111 wins per year to 94 this year. And, here's the kicker, he has failed to help any team he has been on advance to the World Series. Buyer beware.

The first half of the Patriots schedule - What they are trying to sell? Professional football. How? By complaining that the Patriots are doing things they shouldn't be...like scoring a lot. The people who need to beware? The fan-bases of the Jets, Dolphins, Cowboys, Chargers, Bills, Bengals, Redskins and Browns. Really, the fans of the Cowboys, Jets, Dolphins, and Redskins in particular.

Those teams, those four mentioned at the bottom of that last paragraph, were the ones that started the complaints of how the Patriots are playing offense this year (well, the Jets complained about something else, and maybe they should be more worried about what's happening on the field than on the sideline - if this were European soccer, they and the Dolphins would be well on their way to playing in a semi-pro league). One Redskin, who shall remain unnamed in this post, accused the Patriots of disrespecting the game in an effort to deflect attention from the fact that what the Patriots really disrespected was the Redskins highly regarded defense.

As just about every former coach, player, and most pundits have said - there's no mercy rule in the NFL, if you don't like a team scoring on you, then do something about it. Rolling over and playing dead when you get down by a couple of touchdowns is what really disrespects the game.

Buyer...beware.

The National Press - The national press, in an effort to build up this weekend's game between the Pats and Colts, are trying to sell the Patriots as the evil empire with the merciless coach who won't take his foot off the pedal once he's driven the opposition into the ground. The Colts are the perennial good guys of the league with the owner doing everything he can to make a stadium happen in his host city, and the brilliant, but nice head coach in Tony Dungy.

Let's look at some of the facts in this - yes, the Patriots are running the score up on people and annihilating their opponents. However, it's not like the Colts under Dungy have never done this. The following was ganked from the Boston Globe's Eric Wilbur, via Dave at The Coffin Corner -

W, 49-14
W, 41-10
W, 41-9
W, 51-24
That quartet of one-sided scores comes to you courtesy of the 2004 Indianapolis Colts from a November-December period during which Peyton Manning and Company annihilated the Texans, Bears, Lions, and Titans, respectively. And, you know it's funny, I don't remember one person whining about them running up the score.

Tony Dungy, the good-guy coach in all of this, did not call off the dogs. Dungy has also publicly associated himself with groups that have well known anti-gay stances (but I suppose that's okay, because everyone knows that on one is gay in the locker room). Focus on Family, the group with which Dungy is most closely associated has been referred to by a number of people as "rabidly anti-gay." Last I checked, Bill Belichick has never aligned himself with any hate groups that hide behind a thin veil of legitimacy by claiming to be family advocates.

Let's look at Jim Irsay - still public enemy number one in Baltimore. Still the only owner that gets more of a rise out of Baltimore fans that Peter Angelos. For those who have forgotten, Irsay, the so-called nice guy owner, packed the Colts up in the dead of night and broke his lease with Baltimore County in an effort to move the team to Indy. Irsay did this against league wishes. Yeah, he's a good guy.

I have no personal issue with the Colts on the field. Manning is a supremely talented quarterback (please take a cue from Brady and cut back on the public endorsements - its annoying enough to make me look forward to seeing you get your head handed to you). The team is talented. However, the general manager and owner have whined whenever things didn't go their way, the head coach is a bigot, and the press is selling a serious double standard here.

Once again...buyer beware.

Flipping the calendar page

'Tis the Day of the Dead, November 1, a holy day of renewal in Mexico's particular brand of Catholicism and time to remember the past while moving on. And that has absolutely nothing to do with the rest of this post...I just wanted to mention that today was the Day of the Dead. Hats off to ya, Mr. Romero.

The first item I wanted to address today is the report that Martina Hingis is retiring from tennis amid allegations of cocaine use which include a positive test of both A and B samples taken during her recent run at Wimbledon. Hingis, of course, denies the allegations, and even hired a lab to perform a test, clearing her name. Unfortunately, even if she is telling the truth, there is doubt in as much as her money paid for the test clearing her name. Would the lab get paid if it didn't clear her.

Honestly, I've always liked Hingis. Admittedly, I'm not much of a tennis fan, but I was always surprised that she didn't land the endorsement deals that Anna Kournikova did. Hingis is an attractive woman that was at the top of the tennis world at one point -arguably the best player over a one year span in the women's game.

Unfortunately, I have a problem with the way she is responding to this - enough of a problem that I think it's likely that she's been caught with the straw up her nose. This is what she said when the report hit the wire -

"I find this accusation so horrendous, so monstrous that I've decided to confront it head on by talking to the press," she said. "I am frustrated and angry. I believe that I am absolutely 100 percent innocent."

She believes she's innocent? Believe? No, when you are innocent, you don't tell somebody you believe you're innocent like you're waiting for proof to the contrary. You state unequivocally, "I am innocent, and these allegations are ridiculous."

There's just something about this that doesn't pass the smell test from her end.

Some other quick hits -

We'll know within the next week whether or not Pacman Jones will be returning to football this season. Tomorrow the Titans' problem child will meet with Roger Goodell in order to state his case for reinstatement. Considering some of the bone-headed, potentially contract-cancelling issues he engaged in with professional wrestling, there may be some issues. Goodell might also look at the fact that Jones has kept off the police blotter favorably. It should be interesting, to say the least.

Speaking of police, is there any doubt that the issues in Andy Reid's personal life have had an impact on the way he runs the Eagles? For the first time in years, Reid's Eagles look horrible, and about as unlikely to make the playoffs as the Jets, Dolphins, Bengals, or Rams. All of this has coincided with a series of drug issues tied to both his sons. Could this be the first step towards an unceremonious exit from the league for Reid? It certainly would be if he were a player and the same thing were happening.

Reality check

From Redskins defensive lineman Phillip Daniels about this past weekend's 52-7 thrashing at the hands of the Patriots - "That's running up the score, there isn't any other way to look at that. C'mon, man, you're going for it on fourth down and you're up by 38 points. You're throwing the ball late in the game. Most teams just run the clock out to get the win. They don't think like that, but I guess it's our job to stop them. You can't do anything about it, just go out and play defense and try to stop them."

Daniels went on to say that he talked to Belichick after the game, accusing the Patriots coach of having no respect for the game, and saying that coaches like Bill Parcells and Bill Walsh would never have run up the score that way. Part of the point being that the old-school coaches wouldn't run the score up on anyone.

Let's take a quick look at a sampling of what Walsh did during his tenure (1979-1988) with the 'Niners (gotta love having the NFL Record & Fact Book) -

Beat the following by the following scores -
Minn, 1988, 34-9
Seattle, 1988 38-7
Tampa, 1986 31-7
Wash, 1985 35-8
Dallas, 1981 45-14
Dallas, 1983 42-17

Average margin of victory in just this cross-section? 27.2 points per game (ppg).

And of course his protege, George Seifert annihilated the Broncos in the Super Bowl in '89 (the year after Walsh retired from coaching) 55-10, after beating the Rams (30-3) and Vikings (41-13) in the playoffs. Average margin? 33.3.

Speaking of Dallas, how about the old-school coach Tom Landry -

San Fran, 1980 59-14
Seattle, 1980 51-7
Denver, 1980 41-20

Average margin? 36.7.

As for Parcells -

St Louis, 1985 34-3
Phoenix, 1988 44-7

Average margin? 34.

Gibbs himself ran up the score on the Falcons in a 1985 contest to the tune of 44-10 and again in 1991 with the result an impressive 56-17 for an average in those two contests of 36.5 ppg. And this doesn't include the 42-17 thrashing Gibbs put on Belichick's Browns in 1991.

People are talking a lot right now about payback for running up the score. Belichick has a long memory, and I think Gibbs just got that payback. It's a bitch, ain't it.

As for Daniels...know your football history before shooting your mouth off, fool.

Champions and looking forward...

"Dustin Pedroia and Jon Lester are doing something Alex has never done - play in a World Series game," said Peter Gammons last night about newly minted free-agent Alex Rodriguez. "It might be a little bit of a 'buyer beware'. Because, again, he has never played in a World Series game - maybe there's a reason."

Think about that statement from Gammons - the so-called best player in baseball has never helped a team get to the World Series. Never.

On a night when the Sox clinched the World Series in a sweep for the second time in four seasons, A-Rod's agent Scott Boras announced that the Yankees third baseman was opting out of his contract. Never mind that there was no reason this announcement couldn't wait until this morning. In a clear effort by Boras to, in some way, keep the focus on his client rather than the World Series, A-Rod and/or his agent engaged in a classless move there, making the announcement during game four. Gammons himself referred to the incident as a complete lack of respect for the game of baseball.

Let's face it, the best thing to happen to the Red Sox in the last five years was the MLB Player's Association nixing the contract renegotiation between the Red Sox and the would-be Red Sox short stop. The Sox would have sent Manny Ramirez - the Manny of the almost .500 post season batting average - for A-Rod, who has been brutally bad during baseball's second season. Where would the Sox be with A-Rod's anemic post-season bat in the middle of the line-up instead of ManRam's?

I'm guessing, as Red Sox fans, the Nation would still be waiting for the first World Series title since 1918.

Once each of his previous teams, the Mariners and the Rangers, rid themselves of A-Rod, those teams averaged somewhere around eight more wins per season for the first three seasons after Rodriguez's departure. The Yankees averaged 96.75 wins per season with A-Rod. The three seasons prior to his arrival? 99.67. Sure, a drop-off of three games per year isn't huge, but it's still a drop off and when combined with the following fact, it's a serious indictment of what his impact on a team really is - for the three seasons he played for the Rangers, Texas won 73, 72, and 71 games respectively (the Yankees won 101 his first season with the team, a total down to 94 this season), but for the first three seasons after A-Rod left the confines of Arlington, the Rangers 89, 79, and 80 games respectively - an average improvement of eight games per year.

Theo - stay the hell away from A-Rod! Let the Giants go get him. Resign Mike Lowell...hell, move Lugo to third. Whatever you do, don't sign A-Rod.

As for Lowell - congratulations to the World Series MVP. I'm glad you won, man, considering you probably won't win AL MVP in a season where you picked up the slack for an ailing pair of sluggers in Big Papi and ManRam. You might have been the most important piece at the plate for the BoSox this season. I hope to see you back again next year. If not, then thanks for one incredible run from a guy that the Marlins thought was done and was a throw-in in the Beckett deal.

I said it before and I'll say it again - hey Curt, thanks again, big guy. It's been almost a century since we had two titles in baseball and you were integral to bringing us two this decade. Good luck wherever you end up next year - you're never going to have to pay for another drink anywhere in Red Sox Nation again.

It was tough to see Okajima run out of gas those last two games, but what a way to crank through the Rockies in game two, when the Sox were hanging onto a one-run lead. It didn't feel like anyone on the roster failed to contribute. Hell, Bobby Kielty, the late-season addition on the bench for the stretch run, hit a pinch-hit game winning homer. The Red Sox rookies, Jacoby Ellsbury and Dustin Pedroia sparked the top of the line-up.

They were clicking on all cylinders for four games, and now it's time for the amphibious vehicles to drive the Sox through the Back Bay.

The Monster of the Mid-Way...

Somewhere along the line the Patriots signed a career back-up line-backer away from the Pittsburgh Steelers and he became the best 'backer on one of the top defenses in the NFL.

For all the talk about Adalius Thomas coming to the team (and don't get me wrong, it was an important signing), Vrabel has been a beast. In yesterday's 52-7 thrashing of the Secondstrings, I'm sorry, I mean Redskins, Vrabel caught a pass for a touchdown, accounted for 11 tackles, three sacks for 20 yards in losses, and forced three fumbles - one on each sack.

Vrabel currently leads the team with 7.5 sacks (a pace to get 15 for the season), and is second on the team with 42 total tackles (Tedy Bruschi leads with 49).

Marketing faux-pas...

One last note before I get some sleep because my two-month old is finally napping...

The autumn after the NFL cancelled NFL Europe, the league played their first ever regular season game on European soil in order to expand the game's fan base. After watching yesterday's exercise in tedium at London's Wembley Stadium, a place where NFL Europe abandoned for lack of interest, the NFL did itself no favors and likely garnered no new fans.

From a marketing stand-point, why would the NFL even pick a Dolphins team that has been moribund for about half-a-decade in an effort to bring new fans to the table? And why London?

Originally the World League of American Football, and eventually NFL Europa, the league slowly, but surely migrated from London, to Scotland, to Germany. Why didn't this happen in Germany? There's already a fan base there, there are NFL ready stadiums there, and this would have been a great bone to throw to a German fan base that set an attendance record for NFLE this past spring.

Yes, I get that the idea that it's about growing the sport - but start with where there's already a foothold. Grow that fan-base a little more, ensure its loyalty, then move onto the more fringe areas.

And, fergodsakes, send them two quality teams.

Rapture!

Exposed!

Welcome to post 300. Nothing special, just some thoughts on Sunday...

The NFC East is a division of frauds.

The Giants, the second best the division has to offer, barely scraped by the winless Dolphins in London with a 13-10 victory. The Eagles scored more than 20 for only the second time all season en route to their third victory of the season against four losses. The best the division had to offer dropped their contest with the Patriots by a 21 point margin.

Then there are the Redskins.

The trash talking Redskins. The Redskins that kept saying during the week that the Patriots had never faced a defense like theirs. A defense that had given up only 88 points through six games - an average of 14.7 points per game.

Today they were lit up to the tune of 52 points.

It was the fourth worst loss in the history of the Redskins - 52-7.

This is the division that most pundits think that will represent the NFC in the Super Bowl.

Right now the division doesn't even qualify to be called the not ready for prime-time players. In two games against potential playoff contenders, the Patriots have combined to score 100 points.

100!

In the two games Tom Brady has passed for eight touchdowns, and quarterbacks have accounted for a total of 11 touchdowns (including rushing). Sixty-six points came from the QB position, twenty-two from the kicker, six from the defense, and six out of the running backs.

This was against a top ten defense.

I said it in a previous post, I don't feel that the 'Skins have put together that ranking against tough competition - and I think that, like the rest of their division, they've just been exposed.

On the brink...

Of a Rocky Mountain winter...

The problem with Cinderella stories is that at some point the clock strikes midnight. Somewhere in Colorado a bell tower has chimed for the eleventh time, the twelfth chime is only seconds away.

The Rockies' offense showed signs of life for the first time during the World Series last night. Unfortunately, for the second time in three games Colorado's pitching didn't show. Through three games, Colorado has scored a total of seven runs to the Red Sox 25.

With Jon Lester on the mound, the Rockies have their best chance of taking a game from the Sox...but only if they get the pitching performance from their starter and bullpen that they got in game two. Otherwise, the celebrations will begin from Abington to Yarmouth.

It will be the second time this decade that the Sox will have won MLB's championship - the only team that will be able to claim multiple World Series wins since the start of the century in 2001. It gives me a warm fuzzy that the Sox will have won two titles since the last time the Yankees won one - and boy is that franchise looking dysfunctional right about now.

For Yankees fans that think next year is going to be the year, get a reality check - they are carrying an aging, prone to break-down, erratic first-baseman/DH in Jason Giambi. They have a left-fielder in Johnny Damon who's another year older and also having his share of health problems, they might have issues retaining their best catcher in Posada who had a career year heading into free-agency. The Bronx brain-trust plans on pulling Chamberlain out of an already undermanned/overworked bullpen and into the rotation - and all of this is just the tip of the ice-berg.

Get used to the following term in New York - rebuilding.

As for Colorado - there's a lot of young talent over there. If this year wasn't just the serendipitous convergence of career years, the Rockies should contend for some time to come. Like a bad horror film villain, they'll be back.

Lateral movement on the brink of defeat...

This has to be seen to be believed...Division III Trinity U. puts the nail in the coffin in the last 30 seconds for one helluva come-back.

Stern problems on the brink of irrelevance...

David Stern has officially sunk the NBA to a new level. After years of issues and accusations about games being fixed to get the best match-ups in the play-offs and finals it has come out that more than half of the NBA's 56 officials have violated the league's anti-gambling statutes.

Stern's reaction? He has decided that the rule is too out of date and needs to be changed.

Rather than remove the doubt that he could have up to 30 officials that might have been involved in fixing games, Stern has decided he wants to accommodate the officials' collective penchant for visiting casinos. Then to compound matters, Detroit Piston center Rasheed Wallace hits the press with the following rant -

"I still don't think they (Cavaliers) beat us, we beat ourselves," Wallace said. "And I think we also fell victim to that personal NBA thing where they are trying to make it a world game and get (television) ratings. They wanted to put their darling in there (the NBA Finals) and they did, and look what ended up happening.
"This game ain't basketball anymore, it's entertainment," Wallace said. "It's starting to get like the WWF. There ain't no real wrestling anymore either. It's all fake."

Yeah, this has been a good off-season for the NBA (note the sarcasm). After managing the league to unprecedented popularity in the 1990's Stern is now managing basketball into the ground - above and beyond the image problems caused by players like Allen Iverson, the infamous Portland "Jailblazers," and the thugs involved in the incident in Detroit a few years ago (author Jeff Benedict, writer of the book Out of Bounds: Inside the NBA's Culture of Rape, Violence & Crime, said in 2004 that 40 percent of NBA players have criminal records - that's two players out of every starting five in the league, not including the bench). This is who the NBA is trying to market to people who have to pay on average $51.00 to get a seat to a game.

Not exactly a great group to market to the people that can afford half-a-C-note to go see a game (and that doesn't even include parking, so think more like $70.00, $75.00 per game).

What do you suppose the over-under is on when the NBA starts to feel like the NHL?

D-Fence

Living in the greater Washington, DC area I am hearing a lot about how this weekend is going to be telling for the Patriots. I remember a couple of weeks ago a lot of people talked about how the Cowboys were their first real test. The Dallas D was not up to the task.

All the people saying this is going to be a tough game for the Patriots point to the Redskins 5th ranked defense as to why. Sports writer Kevin Blackistone said Washington is, "the best defense they will be facing all year."

What none of these people are doing is looking at who Washington has done this against -

Miami (0-7) - 15th in yardage (333.1 ypg), 12th in scoring (22.3 ppg)

Philadelphia (2-4) - 8th in yardage (349.3 ypg), 21st in scoring (19.3 ppg)

NY Giants (5-2) - 9th in yardage (347.7 ypg), T-6th in scoring (26.7 ppg), (beat Washington 24-17)

Detroit (4-2) - 16th in yardage (328.5 ypg), 10th in scoring (23.3. ppg)

Green Bay (5-1) - 11th in yardage (339.3 ypg), 9th in scoring (23.7 ppg) (beat Washington 17-14)

Arizona (3-4) - 12th in yardage (337.0 ypg), T-14th in scoring (21.0 ppg)

Currently the Patriots are first in both categories with 432.9 ypg and 39.9 ppg. The 'Skins haven't faced a team like this yet. They haven't face receivers, an O-line, or a quarterback playing on this level yet.

The only winning team that the 'Skins managed to beat? Detroit, whom I still don't buy as legit. The two teams that beat them still came within a score of their average ppg. The teams they have beat each have major problems - the Eagles barely have a passing game, Miami barely has wideouts and is pitiful on defense, not to mention issues at quarterback. And of course Arizona has its own images at quarterback.

The Patriots have none of those issues.

Let the games begin.

Don't go into stand-up

Miami Dolphins linebacker Channing Crowder either thinks he was being funny, or he's just a moron.

During the week preceding the 'Phins game in London, Crowder claimed that he had no idea the people in London spoke English and then had the following to say to the Palm Beach Post -

“I couldn’t find London on a map if they didn’t have the names of the countries,” Crowder said. “I swear to God. I don’t know what nothing is. I know Italy looks like a boot. I learned that.
“I know (Washington Redskins linebacker) London Fletcher. We did a football camp together. So I know him. That’s the closest thing I know to London. He’s black, so I’m sure he’s not from London. I’m sure that’s a coincidental name.”

If he was purposely being obtuse because he thought it would be funny...well, then he's still a moron.

In high school in Georgia, Crowder carried a 3.5 grade point average and was a member of the National Honor Society with that GPA. Of course he carried that GPA in a state recently ranked 41st out of 50 in educational rankings. Crowder is not listed for any academic excellence for his time at Florida, a school not exactly known for its academics.

He is, however, listed for several mind-bogglingly stupid run-ins with the law while in college - assault, fighting with the police, vandalism.

If this is willful ignorance, or a joke, then Crowder should be admonished for perpetuating a damaging stereotype.

If he was being serious, then his high school needs to be taken to task for padding his grades.

Other than a high Wonderlic (which tests football intelligence), this guy hasn't demonstrated two brain-cells firing at the same time since college. And considering what he has demonstrated since high school, one has to wonder about the quality of education he received there.

Joke or not, right now there are a lot of people who should be embarrassed - Crowder being the first and foremost among them. His father, a former 'Phins player and former assistant coach at Penn State, every teacher he has ever had, and even his mother.

If he's doing it because he feels that being smart or demonstrating knowledge diminishes him in the eyes of the kids he hung with in Atlanta, then that's just sad.

Idiot.

The Schill is gone, baby...

or
My Life With the Thrill Schill Cult...

We have very likely witnessed Curt Schilling pitching his last game as a member of the Red Sox.

Sure, we could see him again in this series, but with the way things are going, I think it's unlikely. If Matsuzaka wins tomorrow, I wouldn't be surprised to see Beckett going in game four in order to shut the door.

If it was Schilling's last game, it was a four year run for the Sox that rivals that of any Boston home-grown product in recent history (for those who forgot, Schilling did come up through the Red Sox minor league system). The man is 6-1 with one no decision in the post-season for the Red Sox with the only loss coming against the Yankees in his first start of the bloody-sock series.

He has been clutch in the post season for Boston, more so than any Sox ace in recent memory (although Josh Beckett is pretty much right there with him after this post season). He sacrificed his body for the team, at the time, possibly his career for a ring, in order to bring the World Series trophy to Boston for the first time in 86 years.

He stuck it to the Yankees in a bloody sock and on a bad ankle.

The 40-year old Schilling will always be remembered fondly in Boston for being instrumental in breaking the World Series drought for the Hub of the Universe and Red Sox Nation. But it is time to cut ties. Schilling more often than not looked old during the regular season, and the Sox have young pitchers waiting in the wings like Jon Lester and Clay Buchholz.

It is time to move on.

Thank you, Curt. You've taken us on a helluva ride.

Georgia on my mind...

The Georgia State Supreme Court this morning ordered Genarlow Wilson freed, upholding a ruling by a Monroe County judge's finding that the 10-year sentence constituted "cruel and unusual punishment." In the 4-3 ruling, the court released the opinion that the intention of the law was misapplied in the Wilson case which was to prosecute those who preyed on children, not to moderate sexual activity between consenting minors.

It's about time they got that right.

Capital punishment...

Living in the greater DC area I have heard sports talk show hosts talk about how tough the Redskins defense is. At least two defenders have indirectly said they would win because the Patriots have yet to face anyone like them. My ten cents? I have no doubt the Patriots will win. My only question is whether or not DC can keep it close. I give their defense a shot at holding the Patriots below 30. However, I don't think that the 'Skins have enough offense to seal the deal against a team like the Pats.

The 'Skins are one of only two teams in the league that has not a single touchdown among the receiver corps. That's not going to get it done.

Rocked

The first game of the World Series decisively went the way of the Red Sox in a 13-1 thrashing of the hottest team in baseball.

Terry Francona, evidently is given to understatement. "I thought the whole night we did a good job taking what [they] gave us, laying off pitches out of the zone," said the Boston manager. A good job? Every Boston starter with the exception of Mike Lowell had at least one RBI, and Lowell still doubled, walked twice and scored a run. Every Boston starter with the exception of Jacoby Ellsbury had a hit, and he still had a run scored and a RBI.

Rockies manager Clint Hurdle in his post game comments said that the Rockies are, "a no excuse ball club." Were I a fan of the C-Rocks, I would be thinking this morning that there was no excuse for that performance last night.

From the first inning until the Rockies pitching put up donuts from the sixth inning on, Colorado held the Sox scoreless in only the third inning and of the innings in which the Sox scored, only the second wasn't a multi-run inning.

A lot has been written recently about how good the Rockies pitching was this year. Several pundits said that the Rockies led the National League in ERA. As a matter of fact, ESPN's Jason Stark gives the Rockies an advantage both at the plate and in the rotation for the series.

From what I have been able to find, they were eighth out of 16 National League clubs in ERA with a 4.32 team ERA. Their hitters, however, led the NL with a .280 batting average in what is generally considered the MLB JV.

The Sox, on the other hand, led the AL with a 3.87 team ERA, and were fifth in the AL with a .279 batting average. Overall, the Red Sox had the second best pitching in the majors.

Stark even pointed out that the Rockies had more players in their lineup with more than 80 RBI's than the Sox. He didn't, however, point out that the Sox were fourth in the majors in RBI production with 829. The Rockies were fifth with 823...once again, playing in the inferior NL.

With the possibility of their mojo having been broken, even shattered last night, the Rockies might have a tough uphill fight to bring the first World Series trophy back to Colorado. I'm not saying it can't happen, but it's looking like the Red Sox are going to have the same sort of series against the Rockies they had against the Cardinals.

Sorry, Mr. Helton, maybe if the trade had worked out...

The sporting gods love irony....

Consider the following in the NFL -

The following head coaches, former offensive coordinators, were hired for their offensive acumen. These men were supposed to bring the "O" to teams that already had the defense in place -

Brian Billick, Ravens - offensive coordinator of the record setting Minnesota offense that featured Chris Carter and Randy Moss at wide receiver. Currently the 24th overall offense and head coach of team that at no time under his tenure was a top 16 offense.

Scott Linehan, Rams - Former offensive coordinator of the Vikings and Dolphins is head coach of the dead last offense in the league right now.

John Gruden, Buccaneers - The former Eagles offensive coordinator is presiding over a team that's 26th overall.

Sean Payton, Saints - This former Giants offensive coordinator currently has the 27th ranked offense.

Mike Shanahan, Broncos - Shanahan was an offensive coordinator many times over between college and the pros including previous stints with Denver and Oakland. Right now his offense is ranked 25th.

Andy Reid, Eagles - The former Green Bay offensive coordinator now presides over the 21st ranked offense.

Brad Childress, Vikings - The former Eagles coordinator was the hot commodity during the off-season coaching carousel before the 2006 season. Now there are whispers that he's already on his way out in Minnesota as his team struggles along with the 22nd ranked offense.

On the other side of the coin are former defensive coordinators Eric Mangini, Marvin Lewis, Wade Phillips, and Romeo Crennel whose teams are all ranked 20th or worse in overall defense.

Mangini, Jets - Those calling for the ouster of quarterback Chad Pennington might want to take a closer look at the Jets defense, currently ranked 28th overall.

Lewis, Bengals - The architect of the championship defense in Baltimore currently presides over the second worst defense in the league. Only the Dolphins are statistically worse.

Phillips, Cowboys - The man calling the plays on the sidelines in San Diego last year is now coaching a team with the 21st defense. Why again are so many people calling this the third best team in the league right now?

Crennel, Browns - The beleaguered Crennel has a legitimate chance of bringing the long-suffering Browns to the post-season in spite of a defense that currently ranks 30th due to a soft schedule. However, if the team fails to straighten out some the defensive failings between now and then, it's going to be one and done in the playoffs.

As for why I wrote this? The way the Patriots are going this season, Josh McDaniels is going to be the hot coaching commodity come the off-season. Of course general managers will ignore what they ignored with Brian Billick - the personnel. Does this make McDaniel a bad coach with good players?

Of course not.

However, in their quest to find their man, GM's make more out of results on the field in regards to a coach's hand in player performance in order to justify their hire. Sometimes the coach just has shinier toys to play with where they were.

Byrd-brained

The early information that's trickling out paints Cleveland's Paul Byrd as a fraud.

The self-proclaimed good Christian who says he would never cheat, said he was on a hormone treatment regimen that he claimed MLB and his team were aware of. He has been thrown under the bus by the Indians and MLB. The Indians who disavowed knowledge of his treatment regimen, and MLB who said he never had an exemption to receive hormone treatment with HGh. As a matter of fact, Indians GM Mark Shapiro said that his contact with Byrd concerning this issue began on Friday.

To make matters worse, Byrd obtained his prescription not from a medical doctor, but from a Florida dentist who was disbarred for fraud and incompetence.

Byrd reportedly spent $25,000.00 out of pocket for what he called a legitimate treatment for a pituitary problem. Personally, I'm a little surprised that the player's union has that bad a health insurance plan. Twenty-five grand out of pocket for a legit prescription? Yikes. That's one shitty co-pay he's got there.

Then of course there's the issue of the doctor who isn't a medical doctor and the fact that Byrd is evasive about when the problem was identified.

I would say, at this point, there is an outside chance he's telling the truth. Unfortunately, too much of what's coming out makes no sense - the doctor, the money, the source of the HGh, the evasiveness as to when it was determined he needed the treatment - in regards to a legitimate reason for taking the hormone.

Yankees braintrust - an oxymoron if ever there was one...

From 1977, Joe Torre's first year as a manager, until 1995 he had only five winning seasons. He was largely a mediocre manager until he was given the biggest freakin' payrolls in the history of American sport.

Since 1996 Torre has managed the Yankees to twelve straight playoff appearances and four World Series titles.

I am of the school that just about anybody could have success managing a line-up of all-stars either drafted or bought at every position. However, the last two seasons Joe Torre might have been the best manager in baseball.

As a Red Sox fan it pains me to say it, but given the Yankees pitching staff for the last two seasons, the fact that he got these yahoos to the playoffs both seasons is nothing short of amazing.

And as much as the Yankees are trying to make it appear that Torre turned them down, they made him an offer he had to refuse. He was fired. Twelve straight seasons in the post-season dance, and the man gets fired.

People that think that manager of the Yankees is the best job in major league sports hasn't taken a close look at the ownership they would have to answer to.

Rooked

On a night when Julio Lugo did everything he could to give the game away defensively, and JD Drew reverted for the first seven innings to being, well, JD Drew, Boston's rookies came up big. The AL East champions saw the rookie tandem from the far East, Daisuke Matsuzaka and Hideki Okajima, combine for seven innings and two earned runs.

Dustin Pedroia and Jacoby Ellsbury combined for three of Boston's eleven runs, with Pedroia knocking in five. In the seventh Ellsbury made a play on a ball hit to the triangle in center that normal mortals wouldn't have been able to run down, and then one helluva diving catch for the first out of the ninth. Way for the rooks to stand up and be counted.

Realistically, though, this game may well have turned on the call of a certain third base coach that might find himself collecting unemployment in Cleveland this winter.

Kenny Lofton likely would have scored from second on the hit to left in the top of the seventh inning, tying the game up. There's no telling how that might have changed the dynamic of the late innings when the Sox came to bat. That's the kind of mistake that gets coaches fired.

Instead of a tie game, the wheels fell off in the eighth as the Indians imploded.

Adjusted...

For those keeping track - through seven games Tom Brady has 27 touchdowns. The new adjustment for the pace he's on? 61 for the season.

He's gotta slow down, right?

I've heard that Roger Goodell

Wants to bring professional football to South Florida and is considering Miami for an expansion franchise. The NFL figures there's a usable stadium, they just need a team.

42-7 by the half? That's just brutal.

Everything old is new again...

Is it just me, or did the last two Sundays of NFL action feel like 2002. The following quarterbacks either started, or replaced ineffective starters during those two days - Sage Rosenfels, Kurt Warner, Jeff Garcia, Vinny Testaverde, Kerry Collins, Tim Ratay and Damon Huard. Feel like yesterday, anyone?

Getting defensive...

When your team jumps out to a 42-7 lead by half-time, normally there's not a whole helluva lot to complain about...except in this case.

After half-time it was like the Patriots defense was thinking about what movie they were going to rent when they got home on Sunday night. After largely shutting down Miami through the first two quarters, the D spent much of the third and fourth quarters on their heels, getting ripped up by bottom of the roster running backs. It resulted in 14 points given up to a struggling Miami offense.

It's the second straight week that the Pats defense struggled against the run.

Bill Belichick is going to go to town on his defense this week. They deserve it. Up 49-14, these guys should have been playing with reckless abandon. Instead, they were just playing like wrecks.

Hard hits

Last night the Sox absolutely pasted the Indians 12-2. The offense? JD Drew knocked in five runs on a night when Manny and Big Papi struggled a little at the plate. Drew! In some quarters of Red Sox Nation that might be considered the fourth sign of the impending Apocalypse. Of course none of those people care because the Sox are one game closer to the World Series.

The Indians have now gone from up 3-1, to being on the brink. Yes the teams are tied 3-3, but all the pressure is on the Tribe now. After winning three straight by a combined score of 24-11, they have dropped two straight potential clinchers by a combined 19-3.

Overall, the Indians are 12 for 64 (.188) in those two games. They were 33 of 112 (.295) in their three wins. Somebody is wilting as the heat is getting turned up.

On top of all that, the Indians are about to get slammed with a major locker-room distraction.

Now I have to wonder about the Indians' chances.

Tonight is gonna be fun.


Maxwell's Silver Hammer...

A little piece of living football history was lost yesterday.

Former Green Bay Packer wide receiver Max McGee fell off the roof of his house while prepping it for the Minnesota winter. According to reports, efforts to revive McGee by Police who reported to the scene of the accident at 5:20 PM were unsuccessful.

McGee was the unlikely hero of Super Bowl I. Hung-over from the night before (he didn't think he was going to see the field), McGee caught the first touchdown in Super Bowl history after entering the game for Packers receiver Boyd Dowler who left the game with a shoulder injury. He went on to rack up 47 more yards in the big game (138), than he had for the entire 1967 season (91).

Rest well, big guy.

It's elementary, Watson...


The pundits are calling today's Patriots game a cake-walk, a gimme. They're already pencilling in the W. Do I think they're going to win? Yes. Do I think it's going to be easy? When's the last time that the Pats had an easy game in Miami?

The former Joe Robbie Stadium has been a personal house of horrors for Tom Brady (the team is 4-14 in its last 18 visits to Miami and Brady is 2-4).


Granted, Brady has not had the weapons at receiver he has this season. However, they're going into this game without Sammy Morris or Ben Watson and even with Laurence Maroney there's a fair chance that he will at least be limited due to the groin injury. This might be Kyle Eckel's chance to show the NFL he belongs. This is also going to be an opportunity for Marcellus Rivers to show the rest of the NFL that they made a mistake by letting him languish in the free-agent market.


It's supposed to be a hot and humid one in Miami today - a good day for sprinters, a good day for wide-outs.

It should be interesting.

Whatta week

National Impact...

As my regulars know, last weekend I spent in Louisville, KY for the US Australian Football Nationals tournament in which I participated as a member of the Baltimore/Washington Eagles. Unfortunately last Wednesday I started to get sick and ended up playing with flu-like symptoms through the course of the weekend.

Last year we won the Division II title. This year we were in Division I.

On Saturday we defeated the Boston Demons and then the Orange County Bombers to extend our winning streak to 13 games going back to September of 2006.

We fared less well on Sunday, dropping the game we needed to get into the finals to the Denver Bulldogs. The Bulldogs, eventual winners of the Division I title, took advantage of mistakes. We did not. As such, they outplayed us and deserved the win.

A future in stand-up...

Patrick Crayton - Tony Romo's fourth receiving option behind Terrell Owens, Terry Glenn and Jason Witten - claims to not be impressed with a defense that held his offense, which until last week was a top two offense, to 20 points. He claimed that the Patriots defense only stopped them when Dallas committed penalties on third down. I guess he didn't watch the first quarter when his team couldn't manage a first down...and none of that was because of penalties on third down.

I will not say that the Pats defense was without problems, but let's face some facts here - Dallas buzz-sawed through its first four opponents, never scoring less than 34 points in a game. Then they come up against Buffalo (whose defense got smoked by the Patriots) and New England. Against each of these teams the Dallas offense could score only two touchdowns and a handful of field goals.

Makes one wonder, to use Crayton's term, whether the Dallas offense is the "real deal."

The only thing the Cowboys proved to me is that they are the best of the junior varsity circuit, and that their players need to worry about playing, not mouthing off.

One last note - Crayton was partially right - there were a lot of penalties his team committed on third down. Thing is, notice that the Patriots didn't commit them. That's what good teams do - they remain disciplined and they take advantage of other team's mistakes.

Dallas is overrated.

He should be wearing a big red S on his chest...

Josh Beckett has been Superman in the post-season.

With the way rest of the Red Sox pitching has seemed like they've been pitching batting practice, Beckett has, in essence, extended the Sox post-season run by two games. Unless someone else comes up big tonight, the Sox will finish their season in front of the Fenway Faithful.

Honestly, I think I'm okay with that.

Would I prefer to see them get another ring? Yes. But with the way this team played for the last six weeks of the season, I didn't think they would get past the first round. Everything has been icing for me since the end of the season.

Should they lose, I will live with it and likely root for the Rockies in the World Series. It's hard not to root for a team that voted a full playoff share for the widow of a minor league first-base coach.

That said, Go Sox!

A busy weekend...

So, I'm Tivo-ing the Pats game on Sunday, and will be catching up on all the relevant playoff info sometime on Monday as I am road-tripping tomorrow to the Aussie Rules Nationals in Louisville, KY.

I will have two games on Saturday, and at least one game on Sunday (possibly more depending on how well we - the Baltimore/Washington Eagles - perform in the preliminary rounds).

I will do my best to blog this weekend, but I wouldn't count on a whole lot happening. Also, welcome Indians fan Liz. Yeah, the next couple of days are going to be fun.

If you're unfamiliar, you might want to check out bitterfans.com - it's Cleveland heavy in its coverage.

The Big Tease and other thoughts

The big tease...the New York Yankees. That's what they've become. They're the Buffalo Bills of the early 1990's, the Philadelphia Eagles of the first part of this century. They have become the American League version of the Atlanta Braves.

They make it to the post-season, they just can't do anything when they're there.

And this time Yankees' fans can't blame A-Rod who batted a vaguely respectable .267 with one home-run, two runs scored, and one RBI.

By contrast, Derek Jeter, the Yankee-who-can-do-no-wrong with Yankee fans - .176, no runs, one RBI. The Yankees had five starters bat below .200 for the series with their starting first baseman at a rousing .000.

Maybe George Steinbrenner should take a closer look at the talent he forces Cashman to pursue before he cans Joe Torre. The fact that they removed Roger Clemens from the post-season roster is a pretty strong indictment of Steinbrenner's personnel wants and needs.

Bring on the Indians.

They had a bad day...

And still scored 34. The defense came up big when needed, but gave up more yardage to the Browns than to any other team so far this year. Tom Brady, however, looked distracted and frustrated the whole game.

When Brady missed his mark, it was generally his fault. Very few of his passes were dropped, and several of the times that they were (passes primarily to Moss) the receptions would have been highlight reel sort of plays.

Next week the Pats play the Cowboys who barely escaped from Buffalo with a win last night. Is this another indictment of the quality of football in the NFC, that Dallas was within seconds of losing to one of the worst teams in the AFC East?

Running on empty...

There's no other way to say this than - the organizers of the Chicago Marathon are idiots. Complete morons. And they need to keep sponsors of the event from making stupid comments to the press.

For those of you who don't know, the Chicago Marathon was run in close to 90 degree heat without adequate water supplies.

This is from the CNN report -

Organizers insisted they adjusted their plans for the heat and boosted the number of drink servings at the race's 15 aid stations to 1.8 million from 1.6 million, as well as adding misting areas, extra ice and water-soaked sponges.
"We did feel we had more than adequate water supplies out there," said Shawn Platt, senior vice president of LaSalle Bank, the marathon's sponsor.
Platt said planners did not anticipate runners would use drinking water to cool themselves when misting stations and sponges weren't available. He acknowledged many stations and sponges were set up toward the end of the route instead of early on when runners first started showing signs of fatigue.

I have been running in road races since I ran track in high school...some 23 or 24 years now, and that includes at least one marathon. I have never been in a road race where runners didn't use drinking water to cool themselves. It happens in every road race.

Now this guy Platt is a senior VP at a bank, but I guess he is not a particularly gifted mathematician. His argument is that they increased the total number of drink servings at the marathon by a total of 200,000 for the 35,000 runners. Let's run through the math on this. That's an additional 200 servings per 35 runners, or a total of an additional 5.7 servings throughout the course of the marathon. Split between the 15 aid stations? That's less than half a cup additional per runner per aid station. That means they went from 3 cups per station per runner to approximately 3.4 cups on a 90 degree day.

Part of what's amazing about this is that the organizers continue to try and defend themselves instead of coming out and owning up to the fact that they completely fucked this up.

All that glitters is not gold...

The Yankees are potentially nine innings from thinking about 2008. Nine innings and maybe just a couple of days from learning whether there will be a bidding war for their star third baseman/shortstop, or if he will just play out his contract.

Alex Rodriguez will be the pretty bauble on the free-agent market.

There is reason after regular season reason for pursuing him. A-Rod is a perennial MVP candidate and an RBI producer. This year he had better late inning production than any other time in his career.

It is not exactly a secret that Theo covets A-Rod and his production. He sees A-Rod as the successor to Manny Ramirez in the line-up behind Ortiz, and can have him bat behind Man-Ram in his final year in a Sox uniform in Mike Lowell's spot.

There is a major reason to stay as far away from this money pit as possible. It's called the post-season.

This is a man that melts in a cauldron like a wax monkey.

Since his home-run against the Red Sox in the 2004 play-offs A-Rod is more FRod (yeah, do the phonetic pronunciation for the double entendre). He is a raging 4 for 50. That's a blazing post-season average of .080.

I can't help but think that signing him away from the Yankees would essentially be the Red Sox taking the monkey of the Bronx Bommahs' collective backs (not that any of his teammates have been doing any damage - check out my last post).

Two down, one to go...

The Yankees are one game away from being swept. One game from being bounced in the first round...again.

In the first game their pitching - starters and bullpen alike - failed them. In this game their bullpen once again failed them.

More importantly, in consecutive post-seasons, their all-star starting line-up has failed them.

This is what we've seen from the Yankees starters -

Johnny Damon, 1 for 9 (.111)
Derek Jeter, 1 for 8 (.125)
Bobby Abreu, 2 for 6 (.333)
Alex Rodriguez, 0 for 6 (.000)
Hideki Matsui, 0 for 7 (.000)
Jorge Posada, 0 for 7 (.000)
Robinson Cano, 1 for7 (.143)
Melky Cabrera, 1 for 8 (.125)
Doug Mientkiewicz, 0 for 4 (.000)

That means Yankee starters are batting .o97 for the ALDS thus far. Against a team they swept in the regular season. Against a team against which New York batted .348 and outscored 49-17 during the regular season - an average of 8 runs per game to Cleveland's 2.83 runs per game.

Right now they're averaging 2 runs to Cleveland's 7 per game in the playoffs.

What was Steinbrenner's name for A-Rod again? Mr. April?

This

Is

Awesome.

Interesting week...

I'm gonna start with the bad and work my way back to the good....

Do The Right Thing...

Thirty-seven years ago I was born to Lawrence and Elaine Smith in the City of Brotherly Love. At the age of three my parents moved to Sudbury, MA. Growing up we would visit my extended family, almost all of whom remained in the Philadelphia area.

I remember being taken to see the Phillies at Veteran's Stadium when growing up. I may have seen more Phillies games in person while living just outside of Boston than I did Sox games.

I rooted for the Phillies during the 1980 World Series (familial ties and all).

That said, I have to admit, in light of recent actions by the Colorado Rockies players, I am rooting for the Coors Field crew this year. During an era filled with "me-first" players, this is one of those stories about players doing the right thing for the right reasons.

For those of you who don't know, a first-base coach, Mike Coolbaugh, for one of the Rockies' minor league affiliates was struck in the head and killed by a line-drive earlier this season. Coolbaugh was survived by his pregnant wife and two small children. The players voted Coolbaugh's widow, Amanda, a full playoff share.

For more on this, check out this article.

Sorry Philly, but the playoff share is bigger for the winner than for the loser, and I think the Rockies are playing for more right now than you are.

Spankees...

Chien-Ming Wang is supposed to be the Yankees' Ace. The roster Joe Torre and Brian Cashman activated for the playoffs is supposed to give the Bommahs their best chance to win.

Wang gave up eight earned in four-and-two-thirds innings.

The pitcher who relieved him, Ross Ohlendorf, gave up another four in just an inning of work.

At this point I'm unwilling to count out the Yankees due to their record against the Indians this year (6-0), however, a team that has struggled to get quality starting pitching like the Yankees have, this sort of performance from the team's ace cannot be reassuring to the Yankees faithful.

About as surprising as a bad Yankees pitching performance...

Track star Marion Jones is reportedly admitting to doping use after years of vehement denials.

For anyone familiar with Jones, she has been fighting allegations since before the 2004 Olympics, however they were heard the loudest at the '04 Games. Her denials always rang hollow with me.

I'm a track and field guy. I was a quarter-miler and hurdler in high school and college. I used to follow the sport much more closely than I do now, but now it seems as though for all the biggest names in the sport that it's not a matter of whether or not they're doping so much as when they'll be caught doping.

Marion Jones should come as no surprise.

Her former coach Trevor Graham was a reputed supplier, she has links to Victor Conte and BALCO, her former boyfriend Tim Montgomery is serving a two-year ban for doping, her then-husband, shot-putter CJ Hunter and fellow Olympian at the time of the 2004 Olympics was dismissed from the world's biggest sporting event when he tested positive. Graham also coached fellow banned track stars Michelle Collins and Justin Gatlin. Jones also hired Canadian coach Charlie Francis, who had already admitted providing drugs to banned Canadian track-star Ben Johnson when she hired him.

She has surrounded herself with people of questionable character. Is it really any surprise that she is too?

Welcome to the old boy network...

Ah...the NBA. Providing a woman a place where she can be called "bitch," or "ho" without any ramifications for the man.

Yup.

You heard right.

A jury found Isiah Thomas guilty of sexual harassment and the league says that it won't discipline Thomas because its system does not account for civil matters. Women of America, welcome to a great place to work...if you're a guy.

This is just another black-eye for a league that has been steadily declining in popularity since the mid-Nineties. Does anyone think Roger Goodell would claim impotence under the rules if Tom Heckert in Philadelphia, or even Scott Pioli in New England were convicted of the same? Paul Tagliabue would have had to deal with the 49ers and their "training tape" were it not for the fact that 49ers ownership acted swiftly and decisively in canning the man responsible for the tape.

Thank you, don't let the door hit your ass on the way out. Don't collect $200.00.

There's the rub.

No matter what Thomas does, he's James Dolan's golden boy. He can do no wrong.

Never mind the fact that he has put together some of the worst teams the NBA has ever seen and completely destroyed viewership in the nation's largest television market (and Dolan supposedly fired the plaintiff for incompetence? HAH!). Never mind the fact that Thomas has spent a record amount of money in putting these putrescent teams together (her incompetence had to do with budget management? And Thomas has shown such a gift for this?). And now, never mind the fact that a jury unanimously found him guilty of creating a hostile work environment for this woman.

Dolan will stand by his man and David Stern will stand by and do nothing.

Dolan will stand by, inarguably, the worst executive in professional sports right now (and that includes Matt Millen).

Dolan's loyalty is an admirable quality in an employer...when the employee has shown that he/she is worthy of such loyalty. But there are two problems with Dolan's loyalty - he has put it in a man whose every action has destroyed the Knick reputation, and in an effort to defend his delinquent team president, accused another employee of almost everything that Thomas is guilty of - incompetence, and an inability to manage a budget. The only thing Dolan didn't accuse her of was sexual harassment.

Yup...welcome to the old boy network.

So, that's what an off game looks like...

Patriots 34, Bengals 13.

Tom Brady had his lowest completion percentage of the season at a gaudy 78.1.

Randy Moss had his lowest yardage total at 102.

The offense put up only 34 points.

For other teams these offensive numbers would increase the respective averages associated with each. On the Patriots its bringing the overall numbers down.

And, oddly, in spite of the 21-point loss, the Bengals defense did appear to slow down the Patriots a little. Of course the only time Cincy really stopped them they had 12 men on the field.

A lot can happen between now and the end of the season, and the Patriots have yet to face their toughest opposition, but could 16-0 really be within reach? Not something I would normally put out there, but with this team you have to wonder.

The weekend that was...

What a weird weekend.

There are a lot of things that happened in the last three days that I would not have thought possible, or even likely four days ago -

• The Phillies, looking every bit the champion in taking advantage of the Mets' woes in managing to overtake New York to win the East. Now New York teams bear two dubious honors - the worst post-season collapse in the history (see Yankees), and now the worst regular season collapse in the history of baseball with the Mets coughing up a seven game lead with seventeen left to play. No team in the history of baseball has done that.
• New York fans can look at the bright side - the Giants took revenge on the Eagles on the Mets behalf. That Sunday night game was just ugly, and unless the Eagles make adjustments, every team they face is going to attack that turnstile they call a left tackle. Actually, to call Winston Justice a turnstile is to pay him a compliment - turnstiles slow people down when they have to drop a token in the slot. Osi Umenyiori would at least have had to break stride on his way to McNabb had he encountered a turnstile. He blocked like a kicker tackles...ole.
• Anyone here see the Cardinals win over the Steelers coming? Anyone? Ken Wisenhut, put your hand down.
• The Chicago Bears offense was...well...offensive. I said it last week, Greise is not the answer. Let's face it, the Bears are hoping that a guy who failed to make the grade in four previous spots would bail them out of their quarterbacking predicament. This is going to be a long, long season for the Chicago faithful. If Greise has another start like this one, get used to the following words Bears fans; Welcome to the Kyle Orton era.
• Reportedly JP Losman is worried about his job as the starter in Buffalo. He should be. From the little I have seen of his back-up, Trent Edwards, the rookie looks to be as far along as the now veteran Losman in terms of development, and that should worry Losman. Of the two, right now I think Edwards gives the team the best chance to win over the long haul.
• Brett Favre looks like he has found the fountain of youth.
• When a team blows a first round pick on a glorified kick returner when in desperate need of a quarterback, is it any surprise to see that team start 0-4. I'm talking about you Miami, I'm talking about you.
• Could Cleveland (2-2) have turned a corner? They are currently 2-1 in their division, putting them in second place in the AFC North ahead of the 2-2 Ravens. It's still early, but Cincy and Baltimore are giving the Browns hope. In their next three they have a tough game against the Patriots, winnable games against the Dolphins and Rams, and if they can steal a game from the Seahawks, they could go into their rematch against the Steelers at a respectible 5-3. If they keep playing like this, ten wins might not be out of the question. I'm guessing eight, but ten wouldn't surprise me, not at this point. Looks like Romeo Crennel might be well on his way to saving his job.
• Take heart Denver fans - as bad as the final score looked, the Broncos did a lot of good things on offense that will pay dividends down the road if and when the defense comes together. Granted, Jay Cutler can use more seasoning, but there was nothing wrong with that running game.

Just a few thoughts.

Exposed

AJ Smith has been exposed.

He has been exposed as arrogant and conceited. He has been exposed as nothing more than a glorified scout that should not be allowed to make personnel decisions in regards to coaching staffs. He has been exposed as a man who obviously believes that HE is the most important cog in constructing a winning NFL franchise.

He is not.

Worse - he probably still doesn't get it.

Because he couldn't stand his Hall of Fame Coach or the thought that his HOF Coach wanted to hire his own brother as the defensive coordinator. So, he fired him.

Smith replaced Marty Shottenheimer with the man Shottenheimer replaced in Washington DC - Norv Turner. Somehow Smith missed that Shottenheimer was successful with the same roster that Turner couldn't win with.

Now, Turner is showing how he can once again fail to win with the same personnel that Shottenheimer had.

Ted Cottrell has coached the Chargers once aggressive, attacking defense into a mess that gave up 23 of 30 points to a team that had scored a record low 26 points in the first three weeks of the season. Turner has presided over a team that looked barely ready for prime time in their one win against the Bears, and has given up over 30 points per game during their three game slide.

Turner, the so-called offensive genius has managed to turn one the best teams from last season to one of the worst in the AFC...only quarter of the way through the season. They are last in their division and only one team, the 0-4 Dolphins have a worse record in the AFC. In their own division the Raiders have outscored them by over 40 points, and in the entire conference only three teams have given up more - Jets (103), Browns (118), and Dolphins (109).

The Chargers today lost to a rebuilding Chiefs team that has struggled to move the ball...well, until they met the Chargers.

And the bottom line is that AJ Smith is responsible for this mess. If Chargers owner Alex Spanos is smart, he gives Turner and Smith until the bye on October 21. If the team blows games to either Denver or Oakland, both divisional foes, it is likely done for the season unless a radical change is made. That change needs to be both Smith and Turner, because if there is one thing that has become painfully obvious, it's that the Chargers weren't amongst the most talented last season - but they were among the best coached.

For those who dispute that. Other than Antonio Gates and LaDainian Tomlinson, who on that offense instills fear in opponents? And right now, no one on that defense is instilling any fear either. So maybe Smith, as opposed to him being the great talent evaluator, and his players were a product of Shottenheimer's coaching.

Are these the two dumbest Jets fans ever?

Some people just don't get it.

These guys are in that group.

NEW YORK (AP) -- A New York Jets season-ticket holder filed a class-action lawsuit Friday against the New England Patriots and coach Bill Belichick for "deceiving customers."
The lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Newark, N.J., by Carl Mayer of Princeton
Township, N.J., stems from the Patriots being caught illegally videotaping signals from Jets coaches in New England's 38-14 season-opening win Sept. 9.
"They violated the integrity of the game," Mayer's attorney, Bruce Afran, told The Associated Press. "This is a way of punishing Belichick and the Patriots."
Mayer is seeking more than $184 million in damages for Jets ticket holders.

According to the AP article, the two have a history of frivolous lawsuits that often fail to make it to court. Of course they note here that the Patriots action was illegal, which is already an inaccurate statement. Sure it's against the rules of the game, but I would love to see the state statute that the Pats would have had to violate to make their action "illegal."

This doesn't even tap into the can of worms that this would open up if the case did make it to court. Do these people really think that the Jets have been completely innocent during the time period that is in question? Do they really think that other teams don't know what the Jets might have engaged in?

If this makes it to court it's going to open a gate to Hell for the NFL because the Patriots, in their defense will unearth every other team's dirty little secrets.

Idiots.

Some quick thoughts

I've got that sinkin' feeling...

I can't help but think that the Red Sox are going to be one and done in the post season. Over the last month the team has struggled against quality opposition. By the same token, none of the entrants in the American League thrill me. The ones playing the best baseball lately I have to admit appear to be the Yankees, but even they have fatal flaws in regards to the post-season.

Sweet home Chicago...

While I think the benching of Rex Grossman in Chicago is long overdue, I don't think that Brian Griese is the answer. Griese has never been the answer where ever he has played - why should he be the answer in Chi-town?

With Grossman's contract up at the end of the season, what do you suppose the over/under is on the Bears drafting their quarterback of the future (again) next April?

.38 Special...

In the land of prognostication, the plentiful predictors of the pigskin press tend to be calling for a high scoring affair in the Patriots' Monday night tilt in Cincinnati. The last time the two teams played, there were questions as to whether or not the Patriots defense would be able to hold the Bengals high-octane offense. The final of that game? 38-13 in favor of the Patriots.

After successive scores of 38-14 (over the Jets), 38-14 (over the Chargers), and 38-7 (over the Bills), anyone want to predict a result significantly different than what happened the last time these two teams faced off?

Questionable call...

Having coached sports, I was puzzled by the Briana Scurry start against Brazil in the Women's World Cup tournament. I understand why Greg Ryan started Scurry, given her past record against Brazil, but I still see it as a move that is indefensible. As such, the man needs to stop defending the decision, admit he fucked up and move on.

For those of you who don't know - US goalkeeper Hope Solo had beaten Scurry out for the starting position entering tournament play. Solo had a 300 minute stretch going back to the first game in the tournament during which she hadn't given up a goal. Scurry hadn't started and played a full game in over three months.

The United States lost to Brazil 4-0. In soccer terms, a blow-out.

If they had lost 1-0, even 2-0, maybe Ryan's position is defensible. Four-nil? Suck it up and admit your mistake. You benched the hot-hand in order to put the veteran near the end of the line into a game she had no business starting.

For those of you who think I'm being too harsh on Scurry, I just want to say - she was one of the goalies for the Philadelphia Charge when I was a beat writer covering the team for a suburban Philadelphia newspaper. Personally, I like her. However, when she played for Philadelphia, she was inconsistent. Alternately she was the best goalie I had ever seen in the women's game, or she was a definitive second stringer.

The other day the second stringer showed up.

It's a shame the team's greatest Hope in winning was on the bench.

Stupid is as stupid does...again

Michael Vick must be a special sort of stupid.

The beleaguered quarterback awaits sentencing from a judge reputed to sentence with a heavy hand and gets his ass nailed for a bail violation, testing positive for marijuana usage.

Never mind that this will result in an add-on to any suspension Roger Goodell deemed appropriate for Vick, it was in the man's best interest to keep the sentencing judge happy and this certainly will be viewed as the judge as an act that flouts the law. It also shows the lie in his words of contrition on the day he entered his plea.

Now, morally, I don't have an issue with pot use. I don't think it's any worse than tobacco use, however, tobacco is legal, pot isn't. And anyone with half a brain cell should know not to piss off their sentencing judge.

Of course in his little speech during he talked about learning from his experiences and how he found God. Maybe he meant he found Jah. That would at least explain the pot.

Race

There has been a bit of a brouhaha this past week over comments made by Donovan McNabb that black quarterbacks receive more scrutiny than their white counterparts. A number of writers have taken issue with Donny Mac, partially because the comment can be construed as an attack on the press - a statement that the press treats the two groups differently. I don't think McNabb was trying to be quite so specific as to single out the press.

And while I don't think McNabb's comments are completely accurate, I take a dissenting view from many of the other press who feel that McNabb is being overly sensitive to the criticisms and complaints that come with playing in Philadelphia. To wit - until recently, Michael Vick was often praised as the most exciting player in the NFL...in spite of the fact that he is a horrible quarterback. McNabb, who has been a perennial pro-bowler, however, has been slammed... Ironically, not by the predominantly white press, but by African American civil rights leaders who seem hell-bent on perpetuating an athletic stereotype on the football field. For whatever reason that I cannot fathom, Vick seems to merit the same organization's sympathies in spite of giving the African-American community in the South a black-eye (no pun intended - and more on Vick later).

Do I think black quarterbacks get an unfair amount of scrutiny? Only in as much as there have been fewer successful ones - but that's attributable to the total number of black men who have been allowed to play the position on the professional level. The jury is still out on Vince Young, Tavaris Jackson, David Garrard, and Jason Campbell. Byron Leftwich is still a work in progress and is not going to be helped by playing behind Atlanta's porous offensive line. Daunte Culpepper is a one-time league MVP, but is at the tail-end of his effectiveness due to injuries. Steve McNair can still win games, but has also struggled in recent years due to injuries (and don't be surprised if the injury bug causes him to miss significant time this season as well).

Fifteen, even twenty years ago when it was Doug Williams, Randall Cunningham, and Warren Moon and no others, color was a common issue in the criticism of those in the position. Just ask Doug Williams who was famously asked, "how does it feel to be a black quarterback?"

Now...less so. Just ask Rex Grossman.

Race II

Nike, the company with the horrible human rights record in Southeast Asia, has introduced the first sneaker ever designed for a specific racial demographic's feet. The shoe is designed specifically for the feet of Native Americans.

A strong emphasis was placed on providing a performance product that would cater to the specific needs of Native American foot shapes and help provide motivation to Native Americans predisposed to, or suffering from, health issues that can be improved by leading physically active lifestyles.

Evidently Nike, a company that makes shoes narrower than a Boston back alley, has created a shoe for the Native population which they say is a broader than the average foot of the European descended citizens of the United States.

As someone whose ancestors come from Ireland and Italy and has trouble finding comfortable sneakers and shoes due to his EE-width foot, may I be the first to say...Fuckers.

I admire the fact that Nike is trying to support the Native American communities (proceeds go to programs on Native American lands that leverage sport to promote an active and healthy lifestyle), but given Nike's track record in other parts of the world, I can almost picture a very inappropriate marketing session as they try to name the shoe -

"Hmmmm...how about the Nike Wahoo?"

"Nah, too Cleveland."

"Nike Redskin?"

"Too Washington."

"Nike Reservation?"

"Too passive."

"Air Tonto?"

"Current generation wouldn't get the reference."

"Well we have to do something that references the Native American community."

"That's it!"

Suh-mokin'!

So...as the Red Sox seem to be doing their best to tank the end of the season, the Patriots have entered a zone that New England has never seen. Thirty-eight points scored per game - 38 in each game. No more. No less.

It's bordering on creepy now. I'll have to see if I can find out whether or not there has ever been a team through the history of the NFL to put up the exact same offensive score for three games in a row.

It's like a team that has come to be known for its defense this decade is just toying with the rest of the league on offense - they're trying to show they can score on anybody from anywhere. And to top it off, the defense appears to be as good as ever, taking away what the opponents do best.

So far, the offense has done this without always looking sharp. As a matter of fact the Patriots wasted three scoring chances in the first quarter of today's game, and still smoked the Bills to the tune of 38-7.

This translates to the offense averaging 38 points per game while the defense is holding opponents to 11.67 per game - an average margin of victory exceeding 26 points per game.

On D they're doing it without big guns Rodney Harrison and Richard Seymour, and Asante Samuel only got his first start of the season today. The offense? They keep claiming they haven't hit their stride yet.

AFC East...be afraid. Be very afraid.