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Damn, it's already Wednesday again? Mid week, hump day...it must be time for deep thoughts!
As we wade into another week, most of have expressed our thoughts about the games last week. Although I expected the Steelers and Packers to win, what struck me is that both games featured the winners pulling out to a sizeable lead in the first half and then hanging on for a win. Quite honestly, the Bears surprised me. I did not think that they would score without Cutler in the game. But what became immediately obvious is that Todd Collins has no business being on an NFL roster any longer. How on earth was Collins ahead of Haney? If Haney comes in after Cutler was deemed "out", the game might have ended differently. Also, why would Aarron Rodgers force a throw inside the red zone with the first half winding down? Run the ball and then kick a field goal. If the Packers go into half time up 17 to 0, that game was over. The Jets managed a measly field goal in the first half against the Steelers. I had to run a quick errand and when I returned, it looked like the Steelers sent another team out to play the second half. I know that Rex Ryan is an obnoxious ass, but I think he made a grave error in approaching the Steelers game. If you have played the us against the world card to get to the championship game, why in the world would you play nice in preparing for the Steelers? As much as Ryan rubs many of us wrong, his approach must work with his team. The Jets came out very flat and uninspired. The only difference I could tell is that Ryan was talking about how much he "respected" the Steelers. What happened to the personal vendettas? From the look of Ryan at the press conference, I don't think he will make that mistake again. Correct me if I am wrong, but the loss to the Steelers could be a large step for Mark Sanchez. With two championship game losses under his belt, he will be back much better next year. The Jets have offensive firepower when forced to use it. If they ever come out firing, they just might have enough to win the whole deal...as painful as that may be for some. For all his bluster, Rex Ryan is one helluva football coach.
I wasn't a big fan, but the guy knew football. As we know, the apple does not fall far from the tree!
Bounties on players, the body bag game when 11 Redskins were carted off the field or throwing a punch at the OC... Buddy Ryan said what he thought and really did not give a damn what we thought about it. Rex is cut from the same cloth. The difference is that he was given the chance to coach at a much younger age than his dad. I am not convinced that the highly emotional manner that Ryan coaches will last long term. If you think about head coaches that last...they don't throw their head set to the ground if they lose.
What sort of head coaches are built for the long haul?
Fine, but you need an emotional leader to lead a defense, right?
For all of you haters, I have a feeling that next year will be a bad year for you.
I love football. I enjoy the competitive nature that the game requires. But, as a fan I understand the football is just a game. It is great to follow a team, but there is a line that should not be crossed, right? Here is an article that I read today that seemed crazy to me:
From the Chicago Tribune:
John Stone said that when he showed up at work, general manager Jerry Roberts called him over to his office and then ordered him to take off the Packers tie or else he would be fired. Stone said he thought Roberts was joking and went back to work. An hour later, Stone said, Roberts came to the showroom floor and again demanded he take off the tie. When he didn't, he was fired, Stone said.
"I didn't know you could get fired for wearing a tie," said Stone, 34, of Chicago's Roseland neighborhood. "I'm supposed to dress up. I'm a car salesman."
"The Tribune goes on to detail how general manager Jerry Roberts said the dealership had previously done promotions involving the Chicago Bears.
"I don't feel that it was appropriate for him to go directly in contrast with an advertising campaign that we spent a lot of money on," Roberts told WGN reporter Judie Garcia.
Even if the manager's reasons are valid -- and I can understand his concerns about upsetting local customers or running contradictory to an advertising agreement with the Bears -- this still seems like something rational adults should have been able to talk through in about 30 seconds.
I hope Stone lands on his feet at a Packer-friendly dealership somewhere. He did say that he already has an interview with another dealership. And I hope he's replaced at the old dealership by a loyal Bears fan who couldn't sell Caleb Haney a razor."
Perhaps wearing a Packers tie was a bad idea, but c'mon man!
I get that stats are important. But, does it really matter if Mickey Mantle was incorrectly given one too many run? Here is an article from earlier in the week:
Burning question of the day: What's with Roger Maris and all of his numbers that have been awarded or amended — though not necessarily asterisked — after the fact?
Fifteen years ago, the New York Yankees slugger was forced to share the 1961 American League RBI title when an eagle-eyed stats researcher noticed that the Yankee had incorrectly been credited with an RBI during a game on July 5.
The discovery left Maris, who had died 10 years earlier, tied with Baltimore's Jim Gentile at 141 RBI for the season.
But while the obsessive work of SABR made him share that RBI title, it has now allowed Maris to claim another 1961 stats category — in addition to his 61 homers — for himself.
That's because it was recently announced by SABR's Lyle Spatz that Mickey Mantle had been incorrectly awarded a run that was actually scored by Moose Skowron during a doubleheader on Sept. 10. The correction leaves Mantle with 131 runs, one shy of Maris' league-leading 132.
I guess the SABR guys do necessary work, but it seems that when a guy is gone his numbers should be left alone? I am just glad that I don't have to dig through box scores from 50 years ago to try to right a wrong that nobody else notices...
Speaking of righting a wrong! This bit of news came out last week. I had to read the story twice just to make sure that I read it right. Here is the story:
"It was the kind of error in calculations for which a student might get partial credit in calculus, but which would wreck the Hubble telescope. For a period of roughly an hour on Saturday, it cost Bishop Feehan (Mass.) High girls track team a repeat title in the Massachusetts Indoor Track Division 3 State Relays.
Then, when Bishop Feehan coach Paul Powell and others started to look into how they lost the title they were sure they'd retain, they noticed something odd: Race officials had been dishing out points to all top-eight finishers in each event. According to the Boston Globe, Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association regulations call for only the top six finishers to receive points, which meant that all the total scores for the entire meet were erroneous.
The officials sat down and muddled through a little more than an hour of hand calculations, eventually learning that the team which had been crowned as the new Division 3 state champion -- Hopkinton -- was actually the runner-up after all.
"We won last year so we were disappointed thinking we came up short," Bishop Feehan senior Viviana Hanley told the Globe. "But to think that we did good, it's awesome -- it feels a lot better. We all worked really hard."
However, just as quickly as the scoring change handed Bishop Feehan a title, it also took one away. The Shamrocks had been crowned as the boys Division 3 state champion under the initial results, but the revised scoring led to adjustments that moved Bishop Feehan down to 41 total points, exactly one point behind Randolph (Mass.) High.
"We thought that we lost, and last year we came in second and we were mad at ourselves," Randolph senior Godfrey Mbengam told the Globe. "But we won, so it's a big accomplishment -- we're so happy."
As one might expect, the results made for an incredibly topsy-turvy day for both the Bishop Feehan teams, not to mention the state meet officials, who had to hand out two trophies to giddy teenagers, just to take them back an hour later and re-deliver them.
I have never run a track meet, but I think the first thing that I would cover is exactly how the meet will be scored. Top 8 places score? I am not a track guy, but that just does not sound right to me...what a cluster!
For the record, I like the Packers in the Super Bowl. With two weeks to prepare, the defenses will be very tough. I just think that Rogers is too good and that the Packers D is good enough to at least slow the Steelers.
That's all I have for this week. Thanks for stopping by and as always feel free to leave comments.
Here is a bit of Jack Handy for you on your way out:
To me, boxing is like a ballet, except there's no music, no choreography, and the dancers hit each other.
I bet the main reason the police keep people away from a plane crash is they don't want anybody walking in and lying down in the crash stuff, then, when somebody comes up, act like they just woke up and go, "What was THAT?!".
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