Sports
It's football season so I have to bitch about sports. Sorry.
First, the Raiders suck again. This really isn't a surprise. The surprise is that they suck on offense. I figured they would lose all of their games 45-38 and it would at least be fun. Instead they have become the most one-dimensional ridiculous team in all of football. I actually think the injury to Randy Moss might help them since now they will be forced to include something in their gameplan besides two yard runs straight into the defensive line and 40 yard bombs down the field. I have never in my life played or coached organized football on any level so I have no authority to get into nit-picky second guessing. But even I know by now that the strategy behind the vertical passing game is that the threat that you may go deep at any time opens up the rest of the field because the defense can't cheat up close to the line. But if you ONLY go deep then it makes no difference if they leave the rest of the field open. For fuck's sake if three guys are draped all over Randy Moss then SOMEBODY ELSE MUST BE OPEN!!!! And, on a side note - not that it would have changed last week's massacre, on the play where Moss got hurt someone should point out to the ref that if the defender is hugging the receiver and THEN the ball hits the DEFENDER in the back that's FUCKING PASS INTERFERENCE YOU DRUNKEN SLOB!!!
At least the fucking Patriots are finally falling apart. The problem with the Patriots is that they never have been particularly great. I know they've won three out of four Superbowls but that is because they have been smart - not great. For all the bitching that I do about how stupid football often is the reason I watch it is not to see necessarily smart play. I watch for greatness. I watch for those moments when a team or individual reaches down and in the most brutal physical sense rises above and does something almost magical. The '85 Chicago Bears were great. They dominated every aspect of the game. They just demolished their opponents and did it with a real fire. They played a game against the Raiders that year where the Raiders almost had to resort to sending in their punter to play quarterback because the Bears had knocked out their first two QB's and injured the third (the Raiders had knocked out the Bears starter and injured the second stringer) - it was a slugfest and one of the most memorable games I've ever seen. The Bears overcame in that game due to sheer determination and force of will. They dug down and found something in themselves that most people never even realize they have. For a little while it was more than a game. Watching that was inspiring - obviously since I still remember it twenty years later. The Patriots never inspired anyone. They won by being perfectly average in every way. No kid twenty years from now will be talking about how the Patriots wisely managed the clock with a nice blend of runs and passes that kept their opponent off balance on their way to a game winning field goal. They won their first Superbowl because a) the refs in New England forgot what a fumble was in the playoffs and b)Mike Martz apparently forgot he had Marshall Faulk on his team in the Superbowl. The Patriots played the whole game with a three man line just begging the Rams to run and despite having one of the greatest running backs ever they chose not to. It was smart play but uninspiring. Their second Superbowl they won against the Carolina Panthers who weren't especially good but were leading with a minute left only to have their kicker knock the kickoff out of bounds. Had he kept the ball inbounds the Panthers would have won and we would never have heard the words "Patriots" and "dynasty" in the same sentence. Again, uninspiring. Then last year they barely beat the Eagles who played with their top receiver hobbled and their quarterback throwing up and apparently forgetting how to call plays in the huddle. The Eagles seemed to not notice they were behind and failed to ever start playing a hurry-up offense. Even then they were still in the game until the bitter end when after forcing the Pats to punt they pretended to be going for the block but didn't. This strategy gave them both no chance to block the punt and no chance for a punt return. Indeed, it left them no chance for anything positive whatsoever. Totally stupid play against a team that played decent, smart football. No greatness. No inspiration. Just average and relatively smart. That's all it takes to be a dynasty these days.
Something which is made apparent by watching the fucking Broncos. Jesus Christ!@?# Is nobody in the NFL capable of remembering more than three weeks in the past? This is the third year in a row the Broncos have started 5-1 and the third year in a row they have been the most overrated team in football. All they do is run the football behind the dirtiest bullshit cut-blocking scheme ever invented. Somehow the fucking Colts who never had a defense before this year always figured it out and held them to ten points while throwing for 500 yards and 50 points. It's a one gap cutback every goddamn time and somehow nobody has figured out how to get a linebacker in the fucking hole. Make Jake Plummer beat you because the guy is a fucking basket case and if he ever has to throw the ball more than 20 times a game the Broncos will lose by forty. Plus, everyone thinks they can run on the Broncos because they have last year's Browns defensive line so they keep trying it and failing. The Broncos still can't play pass defense to save their fucking lives and if somebody (maybe Eli Manning this week) starts lighting them up in the passing game their run defense will suddenly develop more holes than a pound of swiss cheese. It's the same thing that happens every year with these guys and then somebody figures out that their new "great" running back is not the reincarnation of Walter Payton, starts stuffing the running game and then Jake Plummer starts throwing three picks a game and fumbling the ball away in his own endzone on the way to a 10-6 record and an early round ass kicking at the hands of the Colts.
That's all for now. I have to work in the morning. I was just up reading some sports site and thought I was about to have an infarction. Now back to real life.
First, the Raiders suck again. This really isn't a surprise. The surprise is that they suck on offense. I figured they would lose all of their games 45-38 and it would at least be fun. Instead they have become the most one-dimensional ridiculous team in all of football. I actually think the injury to Randy Moss might help them since now they will be forced to include something in their gameplan besides two yard runs straight into the defensive line and 40 yard bombs down the field. I have never in my life played or coached organized football on any level so I have no authority to get into nit-picky second guessing. But even I know by now that the strategy behind the vertical passing game is that the threat that you may go deep at any time opens up the rest of the field because the defense can't cheat up close to the line. But if you ONLY go deep then it makes no difference if they leave the rest of the field open. For fuck's sake if three guys are draped all over Randy Moss then SOMEBODY ELSE MUST BE OPEN!!!! And, on a side note - not that it would have changed last week's massacre, on the play where Moss got hurt someone should point out to the ref that if the defender is hugging the receiver and THEN the ball hits the DEFENDER in the back that's FUCKING PASS INTERFERENCE YOU DRUNKEN SLOB!!!
At least the fucking Patriots are finally falling apart. The problem with the Patriots is that they never have been particularly great. I know they've won three out of four Superbowls but that is because they have been smart - not great. For all the bitching that I do about how stupid football often is the reason I watch it is not to see necessarily smart play. I watch for greatness. I watch for those moments when a team or individual reaches down and in the most brutal physical sense rises above and does something almost magical. The '85 Chicago Bears were great. They dominated every aspect of the game. They just demolished their opponents and did it with a real fire. They played a game against the Raiders that year where the Raiders almost had to resort to sending in their punter to play quarterback because the Bears had knocked out their first two QB's and injured the third (the Raiders had knocked out the Bears starter and injured the second stringer) - it was a slugfest and one of the most memorable games I've ever seen. The Bears overcame in that game due to sheer determination and force of will. They dug down and found something in themselves that most people never even realize they have. For a little while it was more than a game. Watching that was inspiring - obviously since I still remember it twenty years later. The Patriots never inspired anyone. They won by being perfectly average in every way. No kid twenty years from now will be talking about how the Patriots wisely managed the clock with a nice blend of runs and passes that kept their opponent off balance on their way to a game winning field goal. They won their first Superbowl because a) the refs in New England forgot what a fumble was in the playoffs and b)Mike Martz apparently forgot he had Marshall Faulk on his team in the Superbowl. The Patriots played the whole game with a three man line just begging the Rams to run and despite having one of the greatest running backs ever they chose not to. It was smart play but uninspiring. Their second Superbowl they won against the Carolina Panthers who weren't especially good but were leading with a minute left only to have their kicker knock the kickoff out of bounds. Had he kept the ball inbounds the Panthers would have won and we would never have heard the words "Patriots" and "dynasty" in the same sentence. Again, uninspiring. Then last year they barely beat the Eagles who played with their top receiver hobbled and their quarterback throwing up and apparently forgetting how to call plays in the huddle. The Eagles seemed to not notice they were behind and failed to ever start playing a hurry-up offense. Even then they were still in the game until the bitter end when after forcing the Pats to punt they pretended to be going for the block but didn't. This strategy gave them both no chance to block the punt and no chance for a punt return. Indeed, it left them no chance for anything positive whatsoever. Totally stupid play against a team that played decent, smart football. No greatness. No inspiration. Just average and relatively smart. That's all it takes to be a dynasty these days.
Something which is made apparent by watching the fucking Broncos. Jesus Christ!@?# Is nobody in the NFL capable of remembering more than three weeks in the past? This is the third year in a row the Broncos have started 5-1 and the third year in a row they have been the most overrated team in football. All they do is run the football behind the dirtiest bullshit cut-blocking scheme ever invented. Somehow the fucking Colts who never had a defense before this year always figured it out and held them to ten points while throwing for 500 yards and 50 points. It's a one gap cutback every goddamn time and somehow nobody has figured out how to get a linebacker in the fucking hole. Make Jake Plummer beat you because the guy is a fucking basket case and if he ever has to throw the ball more than 20 times a game the Broncos will lose by forty. Plus, everyone thinks they can run on the Broncos because they have last year's Browns defensive line so they keep trying it and failing. The Broncos still can't play pass defense to save their fucking lives and if somebody (maybe Eli Manning this week) starts lighting them up in the passing game their run defense will suddenly develop more holes than a pound of swiss cheese. It's the same thing that happens every year with these guys and then somebody figures out that their new "great" running back is not the reincarnation of Walter Payton, starts stuffing the running game and then Jake Plummer starts throwing three picks a game and fumbling the ball away in his own endzone on the way to a 10-6 record and an early round ass kicking at the hands of the Colts.
That's all for now. I have to work in the morning. I was just up reading some sports site and thought I was about to have an infarction. Now back to real life.