1. I hate Bill Belichick. He is a confirmed cheater.
2. I despise Tom Brady – I believe he is one of the most overrated Quarterbacks of all time.
3. I cannot stand being told whom I am supposed to believe in – on any subject – in this one, football, we the people have been told that both the Cowboys (another team I hate) and the Patriots are America’s teams. Screw that crap.

Sunday was the Superbowl. It was a solid game – a real nail biter. There were two plays that made the game great. The first was an amazing throw/reception combination by the Giants that set them into position to win the game. The catch was so spectacular that they needed to review it to make sure that it really even happened and was legal. No joke.

The second play was, I admit this grudgingly, a genius maneuver that ultimately did not pay off by Belichick. Realize I hate this guy. I hate everything about him. That said he made a call, really the only intelligent call any coach could have made, to try to give his team the best shot at a comeback – a call that almost nobody would have thought of. See, I am a football coach, albeit not on the scale of Belichick’s career, and thus I am familiar with the hard decisions, and sometimes off the cuff calls, that a coach faces in game. It is much more difficult than people think – trust me here.

Belichick faced a situation where his team was going to be forced to watch the game clock go down to almost zero, watch what we can only assume would be the game winning kick by the Giants, that would lead to the Patriots losing by exactly one point with time expiring. The game was, in effect, already over. Belichick got this. Hell the only thing that didn’t happen was the rolling credits by the television station that was smart enough to buy up the rights to show the game. The commentators were talking about how the end was inevitable - the Giants had pulled an upset – and poor poor Belichick had to watch it all happen in painful slow motion.

No, Belichick wasn’t going down like that – and he sure as hell wasn’t going to go down with his “Star Quarterback” on the sidelines. During the pre-game hype Brady said that if given the choice he’d rather be on the field, down by a few points, with two minutes left than watching Eli do the comeback. Brady is confident enough that he can comeback, as he has in the past, and more importantly so can Eli – thus he’d rather it be him with the chance of glory instead of being forced to watch another take it from him. Belichick’s solution to the problem at hand was to do just that – get the ball back in the hands of Brady. But how?

The Giants owned the clock, the ball, and just needed to wait it out, kick an auto win field goal, collect a trophy and go home. To do so they would execute two simple run plays where the Running Back is told to hold the ball as if his life depended on it. Take a handoff, hold the ball, run straight ahead. That is what Belichick would tell his Runningback, and he knew that is what the other coach was doing as well. He knew it balls to bones – and so he did the unthinkable – he ordered his defense to simply step out of the way. It was a gamble – let them score. The Giants, after all, were down by two. That meant that if they scored, and went for two, the best they could be is up six points – giving Brady and the evil Patriots a shot at that last minute comeback – the one they had done so many time prior.

In effect, this call, is quite possibly the singularly greatest call by a coach I have ever witnessed. Remember, I hate Belichick, truly. I would love to see him stripped of his titles for cheating. Really. That aside for a moment, just a short moment, I really respected his abilities as a coach. If not for the cheating I could probably even respect the guy. Bravo sir. You made a call that few would think of and even fewer would have the balls to make.

Tragically you still lost.

People either hate him or love him. There doesn’t appear to be a middle ground with him. I think he is proving a point that I have long advocated about the NFL.

The point being that the option can’t work in the NFL.

I truly believe that the option can work in the NFL and that it could work well.

Proof: The wildcat that was popular for a season or 2 was effectively running the option. It was effective.

Tim Tebow right now. He is winning games due to the Broncos effectiveness at running the ball. (Less turnovers/clock control)

If you were to run the option in the NFL you would have to construct your team differently (obviously).

You would need a good defense and a QB that would be able to run the offense.

The reason the option is not run in the NFL is that you can’t have a guy you pay $15-20 million dollars running into 250lb+ LB’s and DE’s every play without him getting hurt sooner or later. But you could pay your first QB $5mil with your 2nd and 3rd string making 3 and 2 mil respectivlely (this is still less than what you would pay your 1 franchise guy – saving money to spend on that defense.) Also you would get first choice of all of these QB’s since you’re the only one in the NFL that runs this offense. So you start with Tim Tebow and back him up with Denard Robinson or Vince Young.

The other reason the option isn’t run in the NFL, is the fact that NFL coaches want to be seen as geniuses and score lots of points. That’s done by spreading the field and running many different formations to make youself look smart.

But if you’re the only team that runs the option in the NFL, teams would have to train SPECIFICALLY for your team. You would be completely different than every other offense in the NFL. Short weeks, teams would only have 3-4 days to plan for you. This would be such an advantage. Some players in the pros might not have ever played against the option with the high school and pro shifting the spread offense.

ANother argument is that the NFL Defenses have such great athletes that they would shut the option down immediately. Well the offense has great athletes too. The US Naval Academies run the option and they definitely have inferior athletes for the most part than the colleges they typically play against. Yet they win more than they lose and the opposing team usually knows the play (there are only so many ways that you can run the option).

So Tim Timbow – run the option and prove all the experts wrong.

I’d like to see a NFL team go all in with it.

Why does any of this matter? The coach is a scumbag. We get that. He should go to prison whereby he gets victimized the rest of his life by his cell mate Biff. We get that. So why is this case in the media? Joe Paterno, that’s why. Coach Peterno is a legend. Actually when legends need something to look up to its Coach Paterno. Wikipedia describes him better than I ever could:

“Joseph Vincent “Joe” Paterno (pronounced /pəˈtɜrnoʊ/; born December 21, 1926) is a former college football coach who was the head coach of the Penn State Nittany Lions for 46 years from 1966 through 2011. Paterno, nicknamed “JoePa,” holds the record for the most victories by an NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) football coach with 409 and is the only FBS coach to reach 400 victories.[1] He coached five undefeated teams that won major bowl games and, in 2007, was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as a coach.”

Like I said – Legend. Turns out coach Peterno is the guy that saw Sandusky diddling boys. The catch here is what Paterno did – he reported what he saw. What is wrong with that? Apparently everything. Paterno told the heads of his university, that oddly enough, by way of contract, is who he was supposed to tell – and they were supposed to handle the situation. What they did instead was ignore the diddling like it never happened. Paterno? Scapegoat later. Why? Apparently he should have told the police. I can’t disagree with that, however, what people are missing here is that contractually, had he gone to the police, he and his family would have been ruined by the same university that he reported the incident to. Right. He had to tell the university or he’d be sued off the Earth. The university decided not to do anything. Paterno’s fault.

So what happened to this case? It started today, then abruptly ended! That is right, Sandusky announced in court that he didn’t want a hearing, instead he wanted a trial. You read that right. The dude doesn’t want a hearing, he wants a trial – where he is the one on trial. What? Yeah. Batshit crazy? Yeah. Paterno? Career over.  University? Hand slapped. Boys, still were diddled, nobody can undo that. Will justice be served? If by justice you mean Sandusky will most likely go to prison where he might be treated the way he treated those boys? Perhaps. Will the boys get relief? Nope.

Meanwhile Paterno, a brokenhearted guy, sits and home wasting away, with a broken hip. Career toast. Legendary status, mostly toast. The college he was the reigning deity over now dismisses him as garbage – why? For following a contractual obligation that never should have existed.

What the hell does this have to do with an Indy Car? Indy cars are cats. They are incredibly fast, agile, and reportedly (I still find this tough to believe btw), if handled correctly, can actually ride upside on the ceiling due to the amount of downward force they exude. They are incredible feats of technological design, and they are just as equally fragile. In effect, if you touch an Indy car wrong, in breaks. If you hit one even slightly it blows apart. That is the price to be the way they are. That is the weird thing about this life – we all pay little prices to do things.

A football player knows that in any play he could be permanently injured for life – paralyzed, even killed. He knew that when he signed up. He gets paid for that danger. A Boxer knows that during any round, receiving any hit, can result in permanent damage, or death. It is what he signed up for. It is actually part of the documentation process – accepting the danger. This happens in many aspects of life. It is not tragic – it is just part of doing the job. Consider coal miners – black lung is something they can get. Deep well drillers – things explode on rigs all the time. It is the nature of the work.

Dan Wheldon died this weekend because of an accident that occurred doing what he loved to do, and made a good living doing it. He knew the cost of that ride. Drivers are taught that. It is not only part of their training, but their lore. They learn about others who have fallen doing what they love. Mr. Wheldon died doing what he loved. Think about that. How often does that actually happen? Yes he died, and that can be perceived as tragic as a life was lost, a man who was loved by many is gone forever. However, he died doing what he felt was his reason for living.

The news, media, and people everywhere are talking about how tragic it was that Dan Wheldon died. I don’t see it that way. A man sitting on a park bench with his children, all three of them being killed by a drunk driver flying off course into a park – that is tragic. They did nothing to be killed in that fashion. They didn’t sign up to be killed by a drunk driver. They weren’t being Professional Bench Sitters where being killed by a drunk driver is a common danger. No, they were just sitting in a park enjoying the weather and each other. Dan Wheldon was in a professional Indy Car race, and he died in that race. Do I wish that on anyone? No. Do I find it sad? Yes. Is it really a surprising tragedy? Not even close.

I still think that the NHL never fully recovered from their debacle. Sure people go to games, but I never hear anyone talk about hockey any more – I mean nobody. I have a dear friend who is a die hard NHL fan and he never talks about it either. I told him the other day that there was going to be an NHL game played here in Kansas City. His reply? “Meh. Who cares.” DIE HARD FAN. What happened? Disenchantment again. I believe that witnessing the greed based meltdown of his beloved sport and borderline religion ruined his love of the game. He still has a certain fondness, just now when he thinks about Hockey one of the first things that happens is that bad taste in his mouth.

So what now of the NBA? Again we are looking at greed. Lots of it. The crux of the argument is that a huge portion of the teams are actually losing money. Think that through. The players association gets 57% of the take from ticket sales, and the owners get 43%. Turns out most of those owners are losing money – some how – to such a degree that several of them implied that losing a season would actually SAVE them money. Apparently the owner proposed a 50/50 split with the players, who flat out rejected it. Understand this – we are talking about a sport where some players make 20 million per season. TWENTY MILLION. Apparently making less than that is just too painful. WTF?

We now live in an age where sports players are glorified to the level of Demigods, and are paid as such, where at the same time those who teach and care for our children daily are having their pay cut yet again. What gets me here is that if teachers were to strike the citizens get upset, the politicians start to cast stones of blame, and eventually everyone tells the teachers to just buck up and take it – and teachers make an average salary of like 37k per year. Meanwhile, professional athletes go on strike because they might not make as many millions as they usually do and the citizens seem to back them up by still buying tickets and going to games. Why?

I say let the NBA strike finish -and then boycott the shit out of the games. You can still watch it on television – in your local bar or at home – just don’t buy a ticket. Show them what it really feels like to lose out on money. Greedy bastards.

I am playing Fantasy Football again. GlazednConfused and I have a team that we manage together. Last year we won the Superbowl, made loads of money, and are at it again this year. The problem with winning the Superbowl is that the next year you get hosed on picks – meaning you go dead last. In reality this isn’t as bad as it sounds as the draft we had was using what is called Snake Pick Format. It looks something like this:

Round 1: Team 1, Team 2, Team 3…. Team 10

Round 2: Team 10, Team 9… Team 1

Round 3: Team 1… Team 10

And so on. The best place to be, in my opinion, is dead center as you get less dead time between picks. The problem with being on the ends is that you get two solid picks in a row and then nothing for a long time. Our picks were tough as that means that we had to get a running back and a quarterback as our first picks – leaving us with lackluster receivers and other QBs and RBs down the road. The real mistake was made when we picked lots of players with the same bye week – so now we lack coverage.

Two games have been played – we lost both – in effect we got beat like a rented mule. Screwed – no kissing. It was bad. Week three we lose half our team to byes. We are basically already done for the season. At the least that will ensure us a better pick spot for next year and it only cost us $40 for that set of mistakes! Thank god we aren’t paying for every loss.

It would have been.

So where are we today? Last night Jerry Jones fired his head coach, mid season, an act that has never before been done in the Big Star, and replaced him with the Offensive Coordinator – one Jason Garrett – a move considered by many to be just plain strange as the players don’t like him and he is responsible for the Offense this year –  an offense that has been lackluster to put it mildly. That’s right! Give the reins of the team over to a guy that helped to make it so poor? More genius work by Jerry.

The list of debacles, injuries and boondoggles on the Cowboys is staggering. The problem, supposedly, started with the Offensive Line – a group of guys now being referred to as old, washed up, and ancient – who were at the beginning of the season were regaled as being experienced enough to handle the youth of the league. Turns out these guys are now being blamed for a series of issues including Tony Romo getting his clavicle snapped like a twig. The offense can’t put points on the board which has somehow lead to the Defense being just to darn depressed to perform. Le Sigh.

The Cowboys are done – put a form in them. Now if only the Patriots would fall apart too – oh wait.. they just lost to a team that never should have beaten them – the Cleveland Browns. Who will be dubbed America’s Team next? I am hoping for a different sport – like table tennis – properly called Ping Pong.

1. It turns out that Banks are not only corrupt bastards who believe that they are above the law but that they are also willing to prove that in grand form. NPR has been talking for the past few weeks about the foreclosure process being seriously FUBAR in America – but oh wait, it gets better! Apparently banks, when asked for notes and titles, can’t actually produce them! Why? They don’t have them and never did. So the question remains – who owns your house?
2. The political race in America is totally out of control! How? This last year Congress passed a law that allows corporations to dump as much cash as they want into the political process. The result? One news station reported showing 24 political ads per hour. Analysis by many political experts showed that many of those ads are false information aimed at disarming the populace. Nice.
3. It turns out that the NFL may not be active next year. Why? Apparently the poor owners who make next to no money at all want the players, and not just the cities the teams are located in, to burden the cost of stadium upgrades. Apparently anyone but the owners themselves really. The players are holding their collective middle fingers in the air and soooooo KABOOM. First it was the NHL, then MLB…..sigh.
4. President Bush is still a douche bag – what of Obama? Better speaker – spends even more money. Bad guy? Who really knows?
5. Driving across country on the I40 is a lot like driving red hot rivets through your scrotum – but less exciting.
6. A discussion I had yesterday revealed to me that the top ten musicians in modern times are all gay. I don’t know how true that is but to all you anti gay people – go to hell. Talent and sexual orientation have nothing to do with each other. You go Elton!
7. Slacker is actually a streaming radio station online – a friend of mine architected it! check it out.
8. A recent study conducted by Caravaggio suggests that nobody reads nor likes Blinkinblogs. I never did like that guy. Son of a #$@%@#!!
9. Things you like to eat kill you. Thing you don’t like to eat kill you. the very act of breathing oxygen in kills you.
10. Lists, like this one, are irritating to read and prove nothing.

Screw you with a rubber duck. Have a nice weekend!

I say all of this because if you ever needed to be inspired this fellow’s recent accomplishment might just do that. He is a quadruple amputee who just swam across the English Channel. Realize that this is very hard to do if you have all your limbs and he did it with none. So really, what are you whining about?

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Who Can A Young Fan Look Up To? It’s Tough

This must be a terrible time for the children of America.  We’ve always been told that our little tykes need to look up to star athletes.  But one way or another, those heroes are either being disgraced or getting injured or just plain disappearing.  At this rate, our nation of worshipful boys and girls will have to turn its lonely eyes away from sports stars to actors, or reality-show people — or even, heaven forbid, to politicians.

It all starts, of course, with Tiger Woods, and we do not have to elaborate on that except to say that now poor Phil Mickelson has arthritis, so golf is down to No. 3.  Only, of course, there is no No. 3.

The networks that bring us golf tournaments are completely discombobulated. They keep showing us Tiger Woods instead of who is actually winning the tournament.  No golf journalists remember how to cover golf the way it was pre-Tiger Woods.  So, as a consequence, not only is Tiger Woods a bad memory we can’t escape, but golf itself has disappeared down a rabbit hole.

Meanwhile, in women’s golf, first Annika Sorenstam, the closest thing to a female Tiger in our time, retired to start a family, and then her successor, Lorena Ochoa, retired to be with her husband — so now the women’s tour doesn’t exist, either.  It’s like Snow White waiting for some tournament to kiss Michelle Wie and finally make her the fairest of them all.

Lance Armstrong is a fading Tinker Bell. Clap, boys and girls, if you’re sucker enough to believe in him.  Ben Roethlisberger, Middle America’s blue-collar quarterback, is suspended for being, well, extremely nasty.  The less said about Roger Clemens, the better.  Too bad for old Roger that he felt obliged to say more.

Michael Phelps actually got beat.  Is that the first leaf of autumn to fall into his pool?  Roger Federer carried tennis on his back.  All of a sudden, he’s just another aging quarterfinalist.  Serena Williams seldom shows up to play, and now she’s really hurt, and can’t play in the U.S. Open.  Usain Bolt, the world’s fastest human ever-ever-ever, got beat, is injured, and his departure from the track is as damaging to the popularity of his sport as it was when Simon left American Idol.

Overnight, LeBron James, who modestly calls himself The Chosen One, went from you’re-so-fine to what-were-you-thinking? — and now everybody outside Miami-Dade County roots against the best player in the game.

Alex Rodriguez hit his 600th home run, and all that did was remind people that the best baseball player of this century is a cheat.

It’s like some evil genius is sitting in some cave, cackling maniacally, as he picks off our poor dear children’s heroes, one by one.  So, please, yes — let’s give a rousing cheer that Brett Favre has once again decided that we need him.  Speaking for the children of America, thank you, Brett, for coming back again; and again; and again.

but seriously…..Jason Whitlock has it right

- this is nothing but an attention grab by Jesse Jackson (What does this guys do anyway?) I’m sure he milk’s African Americans for more money than white folk…..

A Quote? “His feelings of betrayal personify a slave master mentality,” Jackson said in a statement released Sunday. “(Gilbert) sees LeBron as a runaway slave.”

1. Referees are the ultimate judicial force on a Pitch and thus should never be questioned. (what if he is an idiot?)
2. Futbol is based on a clock that never stops and for some reason FIFA thinks adding in instant replay will change the game both in pace and total time. (Hockey uses Instant replay and the clock doesn’t stop.)

What is missed is the idea that there are not enough referees on a Futbol Pitch to begin with (Right now there is one Referee who reportedly runs something like 12 miles in a single match) as well as the fact that if done right the clock will not stop for an Instant Replay Review. Something needs to be done to make the game a bit clearer and a bit more fair. its a sad day when the team that benefited from a bad call even says that it was a bad call – when that happens you just know it.

What can be done?

1. Instant Replay Review of close calls.
2. Extra referees (The NFL? MLB? Anyone?)
3. Keep the game format – non stop clock. Futbol games actually take less time that American football games because the clock never stop even though on paper they are 50% longer.
4. A goal scanner system can tell you succinctly if the ball entered the goal box. Hockey uses one.

In closing – FIFA, please update your system. It is time honored, yes, but should not be locked in time.

To put this in perspective for Americans – A Junior College American Football Team Tied The defending Superbowl Champions – yes, its that amazing. In the USA Americans love underdogs – and the underdogs came through.

Congratulations to New Zealand – Your Goalie, Mark Paston, played like a GOD.