Off the Field is Off the Field

I despise Rex Ryan as a coach.  I hate Rex Ryan as an enemy on the field.  I am embarrassed at Rex Ryan as an NFL leader.  BUT Rex Ryan the person is a non-issue to me.

Today a video came out of a woman who is probably Ryan’s wife talking to a man that is probably Rex Ryan engaging in a foot fetish video.  Great! I…Don’t…Care.  And neither should you.

If Rex and his wife rekindle their love with foot fetish videos, good for them.  It’s gross, and the image of Rex Ryan engaging in any sexual act makes me want to vomit, but good for them.  It’s not my business.

The media shouldn’t mess with a man and his wife.

-          No one grilled Bill Bellichick about his separation with his wife in 2005

-          No one badgered Tony Dungy with questions about his son’s death

-          No one dares to get into it with Bill Cowers about his wife’s death

Many may say it is apples and oranges, but what happens off the field if exactly that; OFF THE FIELD! Marriage, divorce, life, death, sex, or whatever.  A foot fetish has nothing to do with the Jets winning or losing, so it’s off limits. 

What happened in this world that made human beings decided that if they found or took video of a famous person in a compromising position they owe it to the world to put it on YouTube or twitter to get a cheap laugh or a quick buck. 

Hypothetically, you are friends with, oh let’s just say, Miley Cyrus.  You go out and get high together and videotape the escapades.  What made you think posting that video, which makes your friend look like a total moron, was a good idea?  Some friend you are.

Now you’re at an MMA fight and you start taunting an NFL coach who is just trying to relax for a night.  You piss him off enough so he flips you the bird.  You put it on YouTube because why? You want to show how annoying you are.  You are obnoxious enough that a famous person with give you the finger?!

Finally, let’s say you dated a married man.  He gets caught.  You have a voicemail from him saying, ‘Crap, I got caught.  You need to delete my number or I’m in deep dooo-doo’.    Are you self-loathing enough to sell that message to TMZ for your 15 minutes?

The simple, well known, rule of glass houses apply here.  Until you feel comfortable enough with everything you have ever done being put on the front page of the New York Time…just shut up.

Let Rex and his wife have a private life.  Just because he coaches an NFL team doesn’t mean he’s not a person, and it certainly doesn’t mean he shouldn’t be allowed privacy. 

Tom Brady - MVP

I’m going to make this very easy.   Despite all the manufactured, TV personality drama there is no discussion of who the NFL MVP should be. 

Some have said wait and see what happens over the next 2 games to decide, but I say that is bull-donkey…Horse Manure!

Reason 1: Tom Brady has been unstoppable in a prolific way never duplicated by any quarterback in the history of the NFL.  Yes, EVER.  I’m not going GOAT Flu on this one. I’m just right!  Most consecutive home wins of all time? Mr. Tom Brady.  All-Time record for 2TD no INT games?  Brady.  The record for most passes without an INT? Tommy Uggs.  Oh, and the Pats are 12-2 with the best record in the entire NFL.   Right then and there…game over

Reason 2:  The season is 16 games.   The award goes to the individual who has been most important to his team for the course of the entire season.  So far, Tom Brady has been THE MAN for the Pats. He makes the no-names around him seem prolific.  Danny Woodhead wasn’t good enough to make the Jets roster.  Brady makes him a potential Pro-Bowler. Deion Branch was all but dead in Seattle. Now he’s a top-20 wide receiver.  And who the heck was Benjarvis Green-Ellis?  Without Brady the Pats would barely have a shot against the Carolina Panthers.  

Then there is Vick.  He’s had a great season and I personally am glad to see him on the field doing what he used to do in ATL.  But, where would the Eagles be without Vick?  Well, look no further than Weeks 5 through 7.  With a nasty rib injury Vick was stuck on the sidelines.  Yet the Eagles still won, and won some big games too.  31-17 over the NFC leading Falcons!  No disrespect to Michael Vick, but if Brady went down this season (THIS SEASON I repeat to everyone yapping about Matt Cassel back in 2008) would the Patriots have beaten the Ravens, Steelers, or Jets?  Not so sure. 

Reason 3:  Schedule.  Let’s go NCAA March Madness on this one.  Signature wins.  Brady first:

Brady’s Signature Wins:

Jets, Baltimore, San Diego, Pittsburg, Indianapolis, Chicago, Green Bay…7 potential playoff team!

Vick’s Signature Wins:

Indianapolis and the NY Giants twice. 

I’m sorry but beating Detroit, Jacksonville, Washington, Houston or Dallas just doesn’t excite me.

Head to Head:

Keep this in mind.  Vick also lost to Green Bay and Chicago.  If you are looking head-to-head Vick can’t touch Brady.

Reason 4: Stats don’t lie!

Vick: 20 Passing TDs, 8 Rushing TDs.  2,755 passing yards.  613 Rushing Yards. 5 INTs

Brady: 31 Passing TDs, 1 Rushing TD. 3,561 passing yards. 17 Rushing yards. 4 INTs

Just incase you’re not paying attention:

Brady has more total TDs:  32 vs. 28  (31 vs. 20 passing TDs)

Brady has more total yards: 3,578 vs. 3368

Brady has fewer interceptions: 4 vs. 5

Brady’s Team has a far better record:  12-2 vs. 10-4

Brady has more wins:  12 wins vs. 8 wins

There should be no doubt remaining in your brain whether Tom Brady is the run-away MVP of the 2010 NFL season.  End of discussion

GateGate

Call the investigators!  Call the police! Call the FBI!  I am convinced someone is behind GateGate.

What is GateGate?  GateGate is a scandal few have looked into where writers and journalists all over the world are mysteriously ignoring common sense and the English language in order to use an outdated, incorrect, unoriginal phase;  “Gate”.  Someone is behind this I’m sure of it.

History Lesson:  In the 1970’s Richard Nixon was caught in the “Watergate Scandal”.  He snooped and cheated and ultimately left office never to return to politics again. (If you want to know more, watch the History Channel).  It was called Watergate because his henchmen broke into the DNC Headquarters at the Watergate complex in D.C.  The end.  

And thus started the overuse of the made-up suffix ‘–Gate’ to express it’s a scandal.

SpyGate:  The Patriots filming practices. 

NippleGate:  Most memorable SuperBowl halftime show ever.

SpyGate 2: Josh McDaniels trying to be more like Bill Bellichick to save his job.  Didn’t work.

TripGate: The newest tool-bag move by the New York Jets.

A.)   Gate is not a word.  It’s not a real suffix.  It’s the last part of the name of a building.  It does not mean “scandal” or “controversy”.  There are thousands of other words. Find a real one and use it.  Or if a real word just doesn’t cut it, at least make up an original phrase.  Call is Spy-a-Paloza, or NippleGripple, or TripsyDaisy.  I don’t care.  Let’s just move off the 1970’s lingo and be unique.

B.)    Why is everything a Gate? SpyGate was just a team getting caught cheating.  No scandal, just blatant cheating. NippleGate wasn’t a controversy. It was just an aging star trying to make headlines.  You don’t hear about WhoHawGate every time Britney Spears gets out of a car and flashes her you know what at the cameras.  In fact, why wasn’t the Brett Farve issue named PeckerGate? 

C.)    Richard Nixon is dead.  Let the man rest in peace.  Everytime a lazy journalist names something ‘Whatever-Gate’ people think back to the worst mistake he ever made.  I wouldn’t want that after I pass. No one would.  Let the man sleep and put a stop the GateGate.

R-E-X-P-E-C-T

Granted, I’m a New England homer, but what on Earth is Rex Ryan doing?!  I’m not going to touch his gross mis-management of the past few games.  That’s X’s and O’s and he probably knows more than I do about that. But when it comes to being a leader he has failed miserably.

Take a simple concept we all learned in grade school; Respect. All year long he has been preaching respect and demanding that the Jets be respected.  Well my over-eating friend, respect is not given, it’s earned. 

And so, the season begins and “Double-Rex-L” wastes no time allowing his players a little sexual harassment of a female reporter.  Just because her pants were wearing tighter than…well.. his own, he felt it was no problem to be disrespectful to a woman. It didn't even cross his mind to stop his players. No, he joined in!. If any boss or manager in any other profession did that there would be HR on him quicker than Miley Cyrus on a water bong.   

Dodging punishment on that one he proceeds to run his yap every week about how he’s going to crush teams and how he’s going to kick the other coaches “butt” (p.s. Rex, 45-3!)  That’s not respect.  You don’t see Marvin Lewis, Norv Turner, Mike Shanahan or any other coach act like that about any of their colleagues?  Win or lose, they do their best to remain respectful.  Rex goes out of his way to do the opposite.   If Rex isn’t going to show respect how can anyone respect him.

(I bet Lane Kiffin and Rex hang out...Just a gut feeling on that.)

Further more, if his colleagues can’t respect him how can his player and coaches.  Rex shows no respect, no control, and no discipline.  That is why people around him find it so easy to follow his lead.  No example is more clear than the repulsive display of selfish disrespect shown by the Strength and Conditioning coach this week.  This dimwit, has-been, muscle head felt he had the right to trip and injure an opposing player while trying to make a play IN THE GAME!   Somewhere Marty McSorley, Mike Tyson and Zinadine Zidane are watching the replay aghast at how disgusting and cheap that was. 

I’m not going to rant all about how awful it was and how pathetic that man is, but rather I want to point out what Rex did about it. Nothing.  Nothing at all.  It was turned over to the league and the Jets will take whatever punishment is given.  Just like when Braylan Edwards picked up his DUI, the Jets did next to nothing.  If this was on John Gruden’s watch the coach would have been gone before the postgame press conference. Bill Parcell’s would have probably called security to escort him out during the game!   But Rex is quiet.  He won’t say anything about it and let someone else take action. And that is why Gruden and Parcell's led (and I emphasis LED) their team to a Super Bowl and Rex will sit back and hope his team carries him to one. 

Rex is a big man, with a big mouth, and huge potential.  But until he realizes respect is more important than a win or loss he’ll just remain a loud mouth joke of a leader.

Boston Claims Victory Over New York!

I know it’s only Friday, but I am ready to say that this was one of the best weeks for Boston sports I can remember.  The Celtics won every game.  The Bruins are undefeated for the week, and the Patriots won on Monday Night Football.  The icing on the cake was Sunday’s signing of Adrian Gonzalez and the Carl Crawford deal. 

But those events are not why this is more than a good week, but rather a GREAT week.  What makes it great is how most of this success is at the expense of…you guessed it…New York.

Bruins:   Two quality wins both against New York Teams.   Buffalo Sabers and the NY Islanders.    I don’t even care that the Islanders are the worst team in the NHL.  They were the enemy and the B’s beat them like rented mules.  Boston 1 – New York 0

Celtics:  The Celts have run their winning streak to 9 games, and I’m happy to report that the first win was against New York-lite; The New Jersey Nets.  New Jersey is to New York what Connecticut should be to Massachusetts (but isn’t because it’s an awful state.)  New Jersey is in every what other than geographically the same as New York.  So much so that the stadium where the Jets and Giants play is located in the Garden State.  I hate New York and therefore I hate New Jersey.   Boston 2 – New York 0

Sidebar:  Allow me to clarify why Connecticut is terrible and should be sold to New York for a Snickers bar.  When the Hartford Whalers left the state it left them all without a pro sport team to call their own.  So what did the hearty souls of the big C-T do.  They became the most aggravating flip-floppers of all time.  Walk down the streets of Hartford and A.) Hope to God you don’t get mugged and B.) Ask a person who their favorite baseball team is.  Many will say the Red Sox and many will say the Mets or Yankees.  That’s fine.  To each their own.  But ask the same person who said he is a Yankees fan who his favorite football team is and he will more than likely say The Patriots.  Basketball: The Celtics.  Pick a side 2-0-3!   You won’t find anyone in Massachusetts saying they are Bruins and Sox fans but rout for the Knicks and Jets.  You are either for New England teams or against them!  …But I digress

Patriots: 45-3.  Enough said.  I love you Tom Brady!   Boston 3 – New York 0

Red Sox:  Yankee fans around my office are trying to shield their pain with comments like, “Now you know what it feels to be like us.” Or “How does it feel to spend money like a Yankee”.    But, you see, this was bigger than just spending money.  It was an epic changing of the tides.  While the Yankees brass was so focused on the Jeter deal and stressing over Cliff Lee the Sox pounced and locked up two all-stars for 7 years!  (..and yes, Gonzalez will be signed long term).   The Red Sox won and the Yankees failed.  The Red Sox now have maybe the best lineup in the bigs as well as 4 stud starting pitchers. All the Yankees are left with is a hope that Cliff Lee signing will make up for overpaying for an aging shortstop who held them hostage, a pretty-boy ‘roid rager at third, and a desperate hope that Teixeira learns how to hit again.

Boston 4 – New York 0

Game, Set, and Match!    For this week at least…

The GOAT Flu

There is an epidemic killing what is left of my respect for sports journalism and reporting. Let’s call it The GOAT Flu.

When a sports fan, reporter, or anylist comes down with GOAT flu they typically first lose perspective on what they are talking about.  They develop long term amnesia and cannot remember anything that happened more than a few years back.    Next they develop an irrational love-affair for the first thing they see.  It’s a lot like on cartoons when someone drinks a love potion and chases everything around with hearts for eye-balls.  The final result is the victim going off on irrational tangents that are not based on any reality and thus eliminating what may be left of his or her respectability.

You can find cases of GOAT flu everywhere.  (See: Zenyatta)

I read one today on Fanhouse.  A writer went on an on deeming that Cam Newton’s season is not just good, but The Greatest of All-Time (G.O.A.T) in college football.  He compares Cam Newton to watching Montana in the 80’s and Dan Marino. He says this season is better than any college season of O.J., Tebow, or Barry Sanders.  Classic case of GOAT flu.

I won’t go as far as saying Newton’s season is not good.  No, it’s great.  Truly amazing.  But remember after 6 weeks of this season Denard Robinson in Michigan was being named the Heisman Trophy run-away winner?   Well, with only the bowl games left Robinson has more rushing yards and only 85 fewer passing yards.  Yes, Newton has more TDs, but if Robinson didn’t play on a team with absolutely no defense and won more games he could be the Heisman favorite.   My point is you could argue that Newton didn’t even have the best season this year, not to mention all time.

For argument sake, I will concede he had the best season this year.  But is it greater than the 1988 season Barry Sanders put up?  His NCAA record 2,628 rushing yards is more yards than Newton threw for this year.  He had a ridiculous 37 rushing TDs, a punt return TD, and a kick return for a TD.  What’s more is Sanders played back when many fewer players left college for a big payday in the NFL so the competition, one would think, was much better.

Everyone wants to say “what I saw was the greatest”, or “I was there”.   That’s why Newton gets these high praises.  In 1988 there was no 24/7 sports outlet with 6 channels showing highlights of every play in every game.  When O.J. was running at USC every game was not nationally televised.  And unless you bought a ticket in 1924 to witness Red Grange you never saw the Galloping Ghost play.   Just because we are all watching Newton play now does not make it greater or better.  It just makes it more current.

Before the G.O.A.T label gets assigned to anything, please just show some integrity and perspective. Think not just about what you yourself have seen, but what has happened before TV and before radio and even before any of us were born.  All-Time didn’t start when ESPN came on the air.  All-Time started long before any of us were even alive. 

Bowled Over!

Now that the BCS Championship game is settled the complaining and chirping about h0ow god-awful the BSC system is can stop.   But why stop the complain-train early.  NCAA Football is covered in absurdity.  It showers in stupidity.   It bathes in baffonery!

Case in point:  Bowl games.   All 95 of them (or so it seems).  Anyone with a .500 record is in one! 
To make my point, let's play a game:  Real Bowl...Fake Bowl.
10 Questions and begin...
1. Beef'O' Brady Bowl
2. Disney Bowl
3. San Deigo Credit Union Bowl
4. The Pepsi Bowl
5. The Kellogg's Bowl
6. Chick-fil-A Bowl
7. Texas Bowl
8.  Little Ceasar's Bowl
9. TicketCity Bowl
10. The Oops-I-Crapped-My-Pants Bowl

It may seem crazy, but on these 6 are real!  
1. Real.   Not even sure what a Beef 'O'Brady is, but good luck to So. Miss and Lousiville.
2. Fake
3. Real.  I know!  No surpise that San Deigo State is playing in it too.
4. Fake
5. Fake
6. Real.  Gotta sell alot of chicken to pony up that kind of sponsorship cash.
7. Real, but no Texas teams are playing in it.
8.  I didn't even know that Little Ceasar's was still in business...but they are and they have a bowl.  Real.
9. Again, not sure who TicketCity is, but it's a real bowl game.
10.  Oh I wish this was real, but alas, it's fake.

The 'Why' List

A weekly look at things that make no sense in the world of sports.

-          Why is it not a bigger deal that the NHL Executive VP, who mind you is in charge of suspensions and fines, openly blasts Bruins center Mark Savard as a faker and never punished Matt Cooke, (a repeat cheap-shot offender) when he knocked Savard out for the season last year?  Imagine if Roger Goodell had called James Harrison a no-good thug before fining the bejesus out of him for questionable hits.  It would be the lead story on SportCenter for weeks.  Where is the outrage?

-          Why are NBA players such cry-babies?  First they complain about every foul call.  Then they protest about how they aren’t allowed to get in officials faces anymore.  Then some are going to Twitter to whine about other players calling them bad names.  Just man-up and play the damn game. For a collection of enormous, athletic dudes they act like a bunch of nancies.

-          Why wouldn’t an NFL team carry two placekickers?  It is the single most specialized position on the field and has a direct impact on your game plan.  Without a kicker you can’t settle for a field goal.  It’s TD or nothing. One would think you could at least teach your punter to chip in a few extra points so a wide receiver or defensive lineman doesn't have to make a fool of himself and cost their team the game.  I’m talking to you Detroit!

-          Why are the Steelers not being criticized more for claiming Hines Ward had a “neck injury” during Sunday night’s game? The only reason they would say that is to hide a concussion and maybe get him back on the field.  That goes against everything the NFL is trying to do to protect players.  It spits right in the eye of the NFL and says “If Ward can’t play with a concussion, fine, we’ll call it something else.”   Shame on the Steelers and shame on the NFL for letting those antics go unnoticed.

-          Why doesn’t some NHL team go ‘old-time-hockey’, Slapshot  style on Sean Avery.  Bring back Olgy Oglethorpe and beat the living daylights out of him for being the cheapest player in the league.  He is an embarrassment to the game and if the league won’t step in…call Olgy! No one outside of New York will miss him.

-          Why wouldn’t the Red Sox make a ridiculous bid to sign free-agent Derek Jeter.  Offer him $30 million a year! Whatever it takes.  It’s a win-win. Either The Yankees pony up way too much in return to keep him, or the Red Sox steal the greatest Yankee since Mickey Mantle.  For Wade Boggs, Roger Clemens, Johnny Damon, and of course The Great Bambino you owe us this one Red Sox. 

Tim Tebow: Unfortunate Expectations

Tebow-mania is rearing its annoying, ugly head in Denver.  After week 10’s 2 TD performance, many Tebow-loving, football-ignorant fans are clamoring for their savior to replace Kyle Orton as quarterback and touting Tim Tebow as the superstar QB of the future. There is just one problem with that.   He’s just not that good.

First, giving Tebow credit where credit is due, let’s put aside his college years.   He was a great college player.  He may be the greatest college QB of all time.  He earned the first Heisman for an underclassman and led his team to multiple championships. He should be in the NCAA Hall-of-Fame with blinking lights around his name.   But, simple put, college is OVER!  It’s time to move on.   You don’t hear people in the office saying, “I know my sales numbers are way down, but back in college I graduated Suma Cum Laude.”   Just like the rest of us, Tebow’s college days are something fun to remember over a few too many beers and a melancholy laugh.  If college meant anything in the professional game Ron Dayne and Eric Crouch would have their busts displayed next to Joe Montana in Canton.

Now little Timmy Tebow is in the NFL. He entered as the most flabbergasting 1^st round pick in recent memory when Denver dropped a 2^nd, 3^rd and 4^th rounder for a back-up QB with a weak arm and bad mechanics, but I digress…

What I see here is Josh McDaniels having a Darth Vader-like rebellion from his training.

Bill Belichick: Josh, my young pad wan, stay the course. Trade the high, over-rated picks to stock up for later rounds. Don’t go to the dark side!”

McDaniels: “But master, Tebow possesses powers I can only dream of. He sells jerseys without ever playing.  He is loved by all and can score me free Rascal Flatts tickets!”

Belichick: “You don’t need his powers. You need linemen to help your pathetic running game.”

McDaniels: “You’re not the boss of me! You can’t tell me what to do.  I’m picking TEBOW!”

And from then on the Denver Broncos have been killing themselves to perpetuate Tebow-mania and that, like the Deathstar, will ultimately blow to pieces.   Here’s why:

1.        Tebow, without ever playing a game sells more jerseys than anyone in the NFL, lands advertisement deals, and is writing an “inspirational” memoir.   This will lead to the “who the heck do you think you are” complex from the veteran players.   Tebow has not proved anything and yet he’s big time.  You don’t see Sam Bradford on TV unless he’s resurrecting a Rams team that was as good as dead after Marshall Faulk and Kurt Warner skipped town.  Ndamukong Suh  hasn’t started his great memoirs yet because he’s busy running away with Defensive ROY.  Tim Tebow needs to prove himself on the field before he markets himself off the field. Otherwise he’ll eventually be more trouble than Denver ever expected.

2.       I know what the ‘Te-boneheads’ are saying now, “He has proved himself.  He has 4 TDs already!”

To that I simple say, shut up.  He has three rushing TDs which came from a total of 3 yards rushing.  He has 1 throwing TD that came on a 1 yard bomb in a game that was already decided.  In a true football perspective, he has done nothing.  Yup, I said it.  Nothing!    Has he shown he can drive a team down the field with any success? Nope. Has he proved he can throw down the field with enough arm strength and accuracy to avoid a ball-hawking safety? Not yet. Has he proved anything more than he won’t fumble a 1 yard play designed specifically for him to score A cheap TD? No.  You can keep your 1 yard TDs.  See me when you’ve done something that matters.

3.       Worst of all, I feel Denver is in a Tebow-trap.  Kyle Orton has proved himself as a top 10 NFL QB this season.  If he stays healthy, Tebow doesn’t play. If he plays well next season you have to think Denver would resign him beyond 2011.   When they do, Tebow will continue to not play. So if Tebow doesn’t play then he will not re-sign after his 5 year, multi-million dollar contract is up.  That would mean the Broncos will have traded 3 draft picks and paid over $30 million for a mediocre goal-line back who added no real value to the team.  Nice move. The Broncos are in a lose-lose situation.  The Tebow Trap

So in the wake of Tim Tebow’s magical 2 TD game (2 total yards gained), let’s turn our expectations off of eleven and realize that he may have been a great college QB, but a few goal-line touchdowns does not a career make.  Considering he has never run a “pro-style” offense, his arm strength is questionable, and even in college his mechanics were iffy he is a long shot to even make it on the field for anything other than goal-line situations.  He’s not an NFL quarterback.  He’s a Brian Bosworth-like novelty.

My personal expectations are much lower than most.  I expect that once Denver grows tired of Tebow the TD vulture they will seek out a better back-up option costing much less. Tim Tebow in the NFL will go the way of Ryan Leaf and we’ll find him back in Florida recounting his good ole days with the Gators. 

Tim Tebow is a good person and a great role model for young people, but he is not an NFL Quarterback and even the most fanatical fans need to realize that because that expectation will only lead to disappointment.