I am constantly amazed at how things can change. Here I was at week
four, enjoying another action packed, stressed out, manic fantasy
season, then it hit me. The silly season, usually reserved for describing
the off season of the NFL, had spilled over to the real season.
The silly season had its usual amount of arrests for weapons charges,
DUI's and other such foolishness; the problem is, it has not exited.
In fact, the first four weeks of this NFL season may have even surpassed
the normal silly season in so many more and interesting ways. A
good place to start is with the lovefest happening down in San Diego.
The Chargers, looking to get into the play-offs, spent $47,000,000
on all-pro receiver David Boston. With Drew Breese in his third
year comfortably at the helm, this appeared to be a match made in
heaven. With LaDainian Tomlinson coming off a pro-bowl appearance,
Boston seemed to be the last piece of the puzzle to improve on a
.500 season, making the Chargers real contenders in the competitive
AFC West division. Boston was all they needed to be a part of the
post season mix, think again.
Boston shows up with a bruise on his heel and claims he can't practice,
but he can play. Marty says no, you practice or you don't play,
so Big Dave plays in the first game racking up a grand total of
20 yards. (Yes 20) As the team heads into week two, Boston is still
complaining about a bruised heel claiming he cannot practice. Once
again the mandate from the coach comes down, "Practice or don't
play." Boston does not practice, nor does he play, nor does
he hang with the team after a 37 to 13 beating by the Broncos. Instead
David leaves the field early, changes before the team hits the locker
room, then proceeds to exit the entire stadium missing what was
surely an inspiring post game speech by Coach Schottenheimer. At
this point it seems no one is happy, but it gets better.
In week three David plays again compiling 96 yards in yet another
loss, 24 to 10, against the offensive juggernaut the Ravens. Time
to kiss and make up so all is well. Not yet! David is late to
a meeting with Marty resulting in a suspension of yet another
game which the Chargers lose in over time to the vaunted Oakland
Raiders. Last we heard, Marty and Dave have finally made up. In
a press conference lasting under one minute Boston stated, "I
want to apologize to the fans for not being able in Sunday's game.
I am anxious to get out on the field this week." There was
no mention of the team or the organization. He has been seen talking
to individuals on the team, but he did not stand up in front of
the team and apologize. According to Schottenheimer, "David
will make his own way with his teammates." The question is
do
the Chargers really need him? With a cast of unknowns catching
the ball the Chargers actually looked good and Breese looked sharp.
It still remains to be seen who the real heel is for the Chargers,
Boston or management. With the Chargers at 0 and 4, it might be
time to give someone the boot.
Related to the Boston/San Diego silliness are the antics of
Bronco coach Mike Shanahan. Instead of traveling with the dark
jerseys for the game with the Chargers as the Broncos agreed to
do, they traveled only with their light colored jerseys. This
forced the Chargers into the dark home colors in nearly 100 degree
heat. No big deal, just a little "light" lie. During
the game Jake Plummer, who was not looking great goes down with
a separated shoulder. Jake does not return from half time, here
the fun begins. Instead of admitting Plummer has a separated shoulder,
Shanahan declares "The Snake" has a concussion. After
the game, it all hits the fan as the deception is discovered.
When asked why he lied, Mike stated he did not want the defense
to know the truth because Jake might have to re-enter the game.
He claimed if the defense knew the nature of the injury they would
attack his main quarterback possibly injuring him more.
Not saying there is no truth in what Shanahan said, but if the
defense knew of any injury they would attack it too. When there
is blood in the water, the sharks will attack. Is a concussion
any worse than a separated shoulder? Not really. Both are injuries
where the player could be down for a lengthy period of time with
but one more blow, so why the lie? The league accepted the ruse
with no fine, despite the fact it is against the league policy
to lie, instead the NFL fined the team for their attire. I am
going to bet the fine really showed the Bronco's head coach who
was in charge. Go figure.
Speaking of head coaches, and I have been, the Niners went and
hired Dennis Erickson during the off-season as theirs. The man
he replaced was Steve Mariucci who had placed the team in the
play-offs more times than most. Mooche's crime for his banishment?
He did not get along with the great one, Bill Walsh, and the offense
was too conservative. There were also questions regarding his
relationship with the one and only Terrell Owens. Thanks goodness
they did not get conservative with their coaching selection. Erickson,
if I remember right, is the guy who left the University of Miami
for Seattle. In his wake were a number of NCAA violations for
which the Miami program paid dearly.
At Seattle he took a team on the rise reducing them to the cellar,
time to move again. This time the destination is lowly Oregon
State who has spent too many years on the bottom of the Pac Ten
conference. He took this program to a certain level of prominence
before the San Francisco call transported him to another state.
Once again, in his wake on the run from Oregon are more NCAA violations
leaving a team who is going to struggle again this year.
Since arriving in the Golden State the Niners have taken a nose
dive to a 2 and 3 record. Along the way the offense has sputtered
while Terrell Owens has muttered. The muttering finally stopped
two weeks ago as Owens exploded verbally at coaches and players
on the bench. Instead of being contrite after the game, like the
organization requested, Owens sounded more like a Bud Light commercial.
He had a point, Terrell can't do everything, I am sure the team
takes full responsibility for the dropped balls along with his
55 yard total performance in their loss to Randy Moss and the
Vikings. In recent interviews Quarterback Jeff Garcia has been
referring to Owens as, "That Individual." How misguided,
Owens is the team. Given the track record of Owens and Erickson,
there should not be much of a team left by the time these two
make for greener pastures. Just a reminder, Owens is in his last
year of a contract with San Francisco.
It is bad enough when players are yelling at coaches or owners
and coaches seem to be in conflict as are Herm Edwards and Jets
owner Woody Johnson, but now the wives are entering the mix. For
the second time in two seasons Brenda Warner, wife of two time
League MVP Kurt, called a radio station to defend the performance
of her husband. "Probably just from the stand point we want
to play, he wants to play, plain and simple." I may be getting
senile, but I can't remember Brenda being on the field of play
at any time during Warner's career, including the Arena League.
Martz has decided, after an opening performance of 63% passing
for 342 yards with one TD and one interception for Warner, to
go with Marc Bulger. There are also concerns regarding the number
of concussions Warner has incurred. Martz has stated the change
may not be permanent, translated; it is. "You just want to
be wanted, like anybody
" continued Mrs. Warner. For
his part, Kurt has not refuted the words of his wife. With regards
to making a move away from St. Louis he said, "I'm starting
to imagine it a little more every day, I think."
With Brenda as a mouth piece, as she was last year during the
"hand injury" phase of his career, Warner does not have
to think, just listen to his wife. I like Kurt Warner and wish
him well, but is having your wife do the talking a sign of leadership?
In this case the Rams may be better off with Bulger who is still
young, appears to be in charge of himself and has been productive
for the team.
If the rhetoric of the season had not reached a zenith yet,
it did with the entry of Rush Limbaugh on ESPN's NFL Countdown.
I have always found "El Rushbo" to be entertaining,
if not accurate in his viewpoints. During the summer he is a constant
companion on my car radio. Limbaugh's insistent, "unrelenting
search of the truth" has provided hours of laughter on long
rides. I may not always find him factual, but I do find him provocative;
so did ESPN. I have always been amazed at his following to which
I give a certain amount of respect.
In his first appearance on the program he railed against the NFL
for their $200,000 fine against the Lions because they violated
the recently enacted "diversity rule" requiring teams
to interview minority coaches when considering an opening. According
to the NFL, the Lions violated this rule in hiring Steve Mariucci
after he was let go by the Forty-Niners. According to Rush, "The
diversity rule requires elaborate charades to be played out in
the public." What struck me as funny is that John Leo wrote
an article called, "Playing Diversity Football" in the
August 11 edition of U.S. News and World Report. I am not accusing
Rush of stealing material, though much of it was the same, I just
found it interesting they would both use the same phrases on the
same subject. There was no comment made on the matter, but the
point was taken; in the case of the Lions no black coach wanted
to apply for the job of head coach of the Lions because the decision
had already been made. The Lions said they had contacted five
black coaches, but none of them wanted to apply for the position
because they knew about Mariucci. Enough said; enter week three.
In his segment Rush stated, with regard to quarterback Donovan
McNabb, "I think what we've had here is a little social concern
in the NFL. The media has been very desirous that a black quarterback
do well." He went on to say McNabb had received credit he
did not deserve and that Donovan was not a bad player but the
defense had carried the team. There was no comment on the set,
but the fallout came later resulting in Rush's resignation from
the program.
In his resignation he claimed the comments were not racial,
but aimed at the liberal media. He also claimed the job as commentator
for NFL Countdown was a, "dream job." In his unrelenting
search for the truth Rush had stated he can win any argument regarding
the liberal press with half his brain tied behind his back, he
must have tied the other half to the commentator's chair on this
day. In an unrelenting search for the truth, perhaps it would
be good to take a close look at exactly what Rush has said, and
what he is really saying by using a little bit of if/then logic
he regularly employs to ferret out the true meaning of "liberal"
statements.
If the job at NFL Countdown was indeed a "dream job"
then Rush is a closet liberal. For years he has ranted against
the likes of Peter Jennings of ABC News. ABC News is owned by
the parent company Disney. In turn, Disney owns ESPN. This could
only mean Rush has always had the dream to be a part of the liberal
media and finally took it after being passed over for the Monday
Night Football opening a few years ago. (ABC hired Dennis Miller,
but that is another mistake for another time) This being the case,
Rush has only been wearing the cloak of a conservative waiting
for a chance to show his true liberal colors. With his vast knowledge
of the liberal media, there is no way he can claim he did not
know what team he was joining when he inked the contract.
In his resignation he clearly states the comments were well
thought out and not racially motivated, he was merely commenting
on the media's role in the NFL. Taking this at face value, the
comments were not racial in nature, but they were not about the
media. Instead the comments were directed towards the Philadelphia
Eagles organization. What he was really saying is that the Eagles,
who play in the city of brotherly love and the first stadium to
have a court and jail for unruly fans, was willing to give into
the media and play a quarterback who was of inferior quality.
In short, the Eagles were willing to give in and be politically
correct at the risk of having a losing season. Does any of this
ring true?
Donovan McNabb has been one of the best quarterbacks in the
league over the last few seasons. He was runner up for MVP in
the year 2000 and rates among the top QB's in anybody's fantasy
draft list. To his credit, Donovan has tried to let the whole
thing go and get on with his season. I have to wish him success.
I did not draft him this season; instead I drafted another politically
correct quarterback, Steve McNair. According to "Rush Logic"
it must have been the media that made me do it.
I would have to disagree with Mr. Limbaugh's assessment of the
situation, "All this has become a tempest that it is because
I must have been right about something." If Rush is right,
it would be the first time in years, I sincerely doubt he is.
The reason there is so much controversy is because he is recognized
as a celebrity and failed to recognize the fact that celebrities
are talked and written about. What he failed to do was think,
but he has failed to do that for years.
So here we sit fantasy fans. It is only week five and a little
less than three fourths of the season lies ahead of us. It is
hard to say what is more entertaining the actions on the field
or the folderol off of the playing surface. I watched the first
few episodes of Playmakers on ESPN and decided the show was so
unreal, so much like a soap opera it really did not warrant much
more of my time. After all there were players scrambling for cocaine
minutes before games, coaches being bullied by owners and players
who were more head cases than real NFL players. I may have to
give that assessment further review. With all of the silliness
going on in the NFL, Playmakers may actually be the next reality
show. What a shame for the NFL for a fantasy program to be truer
than the reality of the game. The NFL arena appears to be a place
where fools rush in, thank goodness we had a fool, Rush, out.
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