Trust, is just a five letter word

Cuzzin DVT, in his blog the last Friday, asked us to decide which, if we could only follow one of the major sport teams we call ourselves fans of in our region would it be.

That got me to thinking, I chose the NE Patriots without hesitation,

Doug said he would have chosen the Red Sox if he were me.

But if I were him, I’d move to Boston!

We Pats fans can be arrogant, not unlike Yankees fans I guess. Success breeds arrogance.

Sporting success has a lot to do with sporting fate.

It wasn’t keen acumen when Bill Belicheck drafted the skinny slow kid out of Michigan in the 2000 draft with his sixth round pick at #199. The late Dick Raybine gets credit for that. 32 teams passed over Thomas Brady several times each including the five times Bill Belichick passed him by.

It was that move along with Drew Bledsoe’s bad decision to try to out run Mo Lewis to the sideline. Combine that with the “tuck rule” and you’ve got a dynasty.

The mantra became: in Bill we trust.

Trust, what is trust

Noah Webster says Trust is:

1. Firm reliance on the integrity, ability, or character of a person or thing.

Our nation’s currency says, In God we trust. I do trust God, I’m not so sure about our currency!

Trust in the Lord with all of your heart and lean not to your own understanding says Gods word.

I trust my wife, after 27 years I believe she trusts me

I trust in some of my human abilities, I know when to not trust them.

I trust Shorty to hold me up…most of the time

I know some low level elected officials and kinda trust them as individuals but I no longer have much trust in the Federal government overall.

I trust the military to be ready and able to defend our Nation but I’m not too trusting, given recent events, in the leadership to know when to utilize the military.

This isn’t a thinly veiled political rant so back to sports…

The media, both local and national seem to defer to

“in Bill we trust”, spoken by the masses whenever an otherwise questionable personnel or strategy move is made by Bill Belichick.

Some of the Hoodie’s moves have worked… and some have not

From not giving Drew Bledsoe his starting job back in 2001

cutting Lawyer Malloy before the 2003 season because Lawyer wouldn’t take a pay cut for the good of the team.

Signing Rodney Harrison to replace Lawyer netted consecutive SB’s

 trading Richard Seymour to Oakland for a first round pick (that became Sebastian Vollmer)

To letting Super Bowl MVP Dionne Branch head to Seattle

To signing Bengal’s problem child Corey Dillon and trading for Oakland’s problem child Randy Moss and seemingly over paying for Miami’s all purpose kick returner- slot receiver Wes Welker

To passing on 4^th and 2 from about his own 20 vs the Colts giving Peyton Manning his winning trip to the SB

To signing guys like Ocho Stinko and Albert Hainsworth while not trying to keep Asante Samuel

To trading up and trading down to trading out to trading back again

To letting Wes Welker go to Denver for relatively short money

To taking the oft-injured Rob Gronkowski in the 2^nd round and taking the often in trouble Aaron Hernandez in the 4^th.

For being a nice guy to being a jerk

To being loved in the media by Glen Ordway and being hated by Ron Borges

Loved by Peter King and hated by Charlie Casserly (mutual feelings by the way)

BB usually gets the pass on whatever decisions he makes because in his NFL career as a coordinator and as a head coach he’s been to the SB seven times and come away with five rings. Two as Defensive coordinator of the Giants under Duane Charles Parcells and three as the the HC of the NE Pats.

But…The last of those three was way back in Feb 2005 with a win over the Philadelphia Eagles.

The two he didn’t win, ’07 & ‘11 were by a catch and a drop

It wasn’t BB’s fault that David Tyree’s helmet caught that ball (I still cry when I think about that)

It wasn’t BB’s fault that Welker didn’t. (Giselle still cries when she thinks about that)

Bill is a very private person; some of his off field life does get out.

Bill had his Dad, Steve on the sidelines with him for years and now, after his Dad’s passing he has his son, Steve at his side as part of the coaching staff.

He goes fishing with the likes of Jimmy Johnson and Jon Bon Jovi

He lives on an Island…both figuratively and physically

He has made some head scratching out of the tough guy character moves like

Letting Doug Flutie drop kick his way into the record book and letting Vinny Testeverde throw a TD pass in the only game he played that year to set a record of TD passes in 20 consecutive seasons.

He has a failed marriage; both sides blame the other as they always do in failed marriages. I have a failed one… from way back. Wasn’t my fault either!

Bill is loved and adored by some former players, hated by others, respected by others

Ted Johnson has nothing good to say even blames Bill for his multiple concussions,

Tedy Bruschi loves Bill and credits Bill for his many of his successes in the NFL, Richard Seymour hates him, Asante Samuel, hates him, Tom Brady respects him, Corey Dillion loves him, Lawyer Malloy gives Bill the number one salute, Drew Bledsoe is cordial with Bill but hasn’t sent Bill any of his fine wine from his vineyard. Rodney Harrison loves Bill, Ty Law respects his record. The late Junior Seau loved Bill.

And so it goes.

Did these guys trust him?

With game planning they did.

Should a guy that broke the rules and got caught be trusted? Was his huge fine and knock On his record be considered punishment enough…

Patriots owner Robert Kraft and Belichick talked about the taping incident, with Kraft asking how much it helped on a scale of one to 100. Belichick said, “One.”

 “Then you’re a real schmuck,” Kraft said.

Kraft likes Bill, respects Bill, went way out of his way to hire Bill, pays Bill handsomely, honors Bill’s achievements and his place in NFL and Patriots history but as far as trust…has this been restored? how far he can throw him?

Personally, I don’t really trust in Bill’s integrity and character but I don’t personally have to deal with him, I’m just a fan of the team.

But I do trust in his ability to have his team ready to compete this season.

They will win the AFC East.

Probably finish 12-4 if Brady stays healthy

and maybe get to the AFC Championship game.

Maybe win the AFC championship game

And maybe go to the SB again

And maybe, just maybe win it.

Bill will someday end up in Canton as one of the most successful Head Coaches in NFL history. The best decision Bill could make with the rest of his career is to retire with that  skinny slow QB he once took at #199.

I trust Bill and his agent will make the right call on that decision.

Hello again Gabbers. Happy Wednesday to you. It has been a busy sports week and hopefully we can answer a few questions with a session of deep thoughts.

Dandy Don Meredith and Bullet Bob Hayes were two players that grabbed me as a young football fan. It has been said that "chicks dig the long ball" and Meredith certainly threw plenty of long balls to Bob Hayes. Meredith spent much of his time butting heads with Coach Landry. Landry liked to script the game and was adamant about calling the plays. It is strange to think about now, but  most old time QB's called their own plays. Meredith hated the fact that Landry would not let him call the plays and often would adjust a play during the game. Meredith was tough. Everyone talks about Favre and mentions the consecutive game streak, but he could not hold a candle to the injuries that Meredith played through. Meredith was hospitalized with a punctured lung suffered during a playoff win. He got out of the hospital bed to play in the championship game against Cleveland. The Browns killed the Cowboys and many blamed Meredith for the loss. It is my understanding that Meredith walked into a Dallas restaurant after the loss and the entire restaurant stood up and booed Dandy Don. Of course, nobody outside of the locker room knew how badly Meredith was hurt or how much the loss hurt him. Sadly, this event hastened the end for Meredith. He hung up his spikes and thankfully picked up a microphone. Many years later, I attended SMU and stayed in the same dorm and the same room where Meredith lived. I am sure that the quality and traffic of females was much better when Meredith lived there, but it was fun to talk about anyway.

If you were around during the 70's, you watched Monday Night Football. The trio of Don Meredith, Howard Cosell and Frank Gifford was truly entertaining. Cosell would tangent off with one of his strange ramblings only to have Meredith simply say, "c'mon Howard!" He said exactly what each viewer wanted to say to quiet the pomposity that was Howard Cosell. Each broadcast ended with Meredith singing Willies country classic; Turn Out The Lights. It was great TV with a perfect cast. MNF has never again reached the zenith this trio attained. Now, Don Meredith is gone. Dandy Don was my first football hero. He was the first Dallas star and began a tradition of good QB's in Dallas. I will never forget #17 and the impact he made in my life. RIP Don...

Sorry to those of you that do not care for the Cowboys. But, I suspect even the most ardent of haters have respect for what Don Meredith brought to the NFL.

Respect is something that everyone in the NFL desires. Many have grown weary of Rex Ryan's act. I know that he is a blowhard, but my take is that his desire to "kick the Patriot's ass" was not disrespect, but rather complete respect. I think that Ryan knew that they had won several close games against lesser teams and looked forward to the challenge that he knew the Patriots would present. Because Ryan's brother coached for Bill Belichick, he felt some level of friendship existed. After Monday night, he may reexamine his thinking. Wow, did the Pats put a beat down on the Jets. I suspect that Ryan will approach a game against the Patriots differently next time, but I hope not. I welcome his honesty and willingness to have fun. I am sure that many Pats fans will disagree with this, but Ryan is nothing if not entertaining. Here is something that  is true of today's NFL. You better have experience at the  QB position before you start running your mouth.

From respect to complete lack of respect...Albert Haynesworth.

When a teammate calls you out for missing practice, you know that there is a problem. Philip Daniels went on record that Haynesworth should "man up and toughen up." Haynesworth reportedly missed practice last week due to an "illness". Or was he simply hung over? Whatever the reason, he found himself out of the game last Sunday as the "Rat" simply deactivated Haynesworth before the game. Haynesworth has been terrible this year. 16 tackles and 2.5 sacks are not numbers expected of the highest paid defensive player in the league. Here is what Fat Albert had to say to his team:

“For these people to make up lies to try to make me look bad is ridiculous,” Haynesworth said. “I think they are cowards, and if they have something to say, they should come to my face, not run to the media and try to blast me behind my back.”

“There are some kind of haters or something like that in the organization, that they don’t like me,” he said. “I don’t know if it’s players or coaches. I don’t know who it is. Obviously, there’s somebody who doesn’t like me, which is fine. But when you go out there and start making up lies, I’ve got something to say.” 

Well, today the team had this to say to Haynesworth...take a hike pal, you are done. Of course the NFLPA will appeal the suspension of Haynesworth as the team did not use a tiered discipline approach. I guess when you tell your coach that you will no longer talk to him that you bypass the progressive discipline. What a shame that a player blessed with so much talent is simply too lazy to play football.  Now, that is pathetic.

Did you happen to see the hit on Pittsburgh's Heath Miller? All I can say is that Miller must have a very flexible neck. I could not believe he got up and walked off the field. I looked for a penalty flag, but surprisingly there was not one thrown. Surprising or predictable? According to James Harrison, if he had made the tackle on Miller, there would have been flags from every direction. Does the NFL have it in for Pittsburgh? Here is a sample of Commissioner Goodell's penalty logic: 

A few weeks ago, I introduced a few fans that went to Philly to try to convert Eagles fans into Redskins fans. Although the effort was humorous, it proved unsuccessful. See how Buffalo treats two Miami fans trying to woo them. Here is the link...it is worth a minute to check it out:

http://behindenemylines.yahoo.com/video-miami-ice-23283991 

That's all I have today. Thanks for taking a moment to visit and hopefully you will see something that stirs the need to think deeply.
Now I will leave you with a bit of Jack Handy:

Most people don't realize that large pieces of coral, which have been painted brown and attached to the skull by common wood screws, can make a child look like a deer.
 

To me, boxing is like a ballet, except there's no music, no choreography, and the dancers hit each other.