NFL Needs Less "Merry Time" After Games

Oh it is the Holiday season now, isn't it? Everyone you see this time of year is a bit happier with a more positive outlook on life, the world and their fellow man. I will always advocate this type of approach to life throughout the year; after all isn't the world a better place when we're happier and nicer to one another? However, one thing you won't catch this guy being a fan of is the frolicking that goes on at the conclusion of every NFL game these days.

Back in the 1980s or so, it seemed that the atmosphere after a professional football game ended began to change. I mean if one thinks back to just the previous decade, it was difficult for the Cowboys Roger Staubach and Washington's Chris Hamburger to muster a post-game handshake as they had a total disdain for one another. In the 1980s though, Reggie White began to make it acceptable to have both teams players (those who chose to participate) take a knee and do a little post game prayer. Since I believe in a deity myself, you will never catch me frowning on a short post game prayer.

As with any good thing, it slowly morphs into something beyond what it was originally intended to be thus from post-game prayer we got post-game chats between players. You know the old "how's the wife and kids?", "did you see that movie", "I just got a new BMW which is faster than your Mercedes"...the type of conversations that all spoiled, young, millionaires like to have with one another after work.

After this, we get to the new millennium and the NFL of today. After a game today, you have players from one team asking a player or players from another team for autographs. You don't believe me; go to Google and type in something like "Tashard Choice asking Michael Vick for an autograph". That's right, after his Dallas Cowboys lost a hard fought 30-27 game to their bitter rivals, the Philadelphia Eagles; Mr. Choice decided that he wanted Eagles quarterback Michael Vick to autograph his gloves. The vibration you are feeling right now is Tom Landry spinning in his grave!

This is just one example, it happens virtually every week, after just about every game. If one pays attention they can witness combatants on the field, coming to the center of the field all smiles regardless of the outcome of the game. I guess I can't blame these guys when I think about it; if I was 25 years old, strong as an ox and making $5mm per year to do my job- the operative word is job- then I guess I would smile when work was over too.

Sadly, as we age sports lose the innocence that they held for us in our childhood and we begin to realize that for many professional athletes it is a job, period. I know one thing is for certain around NFL stadiums on Sunday afternoons, there is far more angst and frustration for the fans when their team loses a game than there is for a player. Perhaps the reality of the preceding statement isn't true but as the old saying goes, "perception is reality", I suggest Commissioner Goodell explain this concept to his employees.

Cowboys Need Wizard of OZ More Than New Coach

Anyone who watched part of Sunday Night’s Dallas Cowboy game vs. the Green Bay Packers (unless you’re a Packer fan or into self abuse you surely didn’t watch the whole game) realizes that the Dallas Cowboys have no heart. When the team arrives at the training complex on Tuesday (payday in the NFL) they should collect those checks wearing masks and holding guns because they are stealing! More than a new coach (which they need), more than more talent (which every team regardless of standing can use); the Cowboys need the Wizard of OZ who can hopefully grace these men with a heart.

The utter lack of professionalism and pride that the Cowboys displayed the past two and a half games, climaxing with a primetime performance on Sunday Night that has to have Tom Landry rolling in his grave, hasn’t been seen in the NFL for quite some time. The word “quit” is often thrown around a lot in sports but if you want a real example of a team quitting, watch the film of the Cowboys game with Packers on Sunday night. From Mike Jenkins watching a guy run by him into the end zone without even attempting to tackle him to Alan Ball and Gerald Sensabaugh arguing in the end zone over who’s fault it was for a touchdown pass to Miles Austin doing a disappearing act from the first play of the game; this performance was an utter embarrassment for Jerry Jones’ franchise.

At this point, there is no point in dissecting Xs and Os regarding the Cowboys because the problem goes well beyond that. There are many, many teams with less physical talent than the Cowboys in today’s NFL BUT winning in any sports is about so much more than talent. Winning is about character, selflessness, professionalism and heart among other things, this group of Dallas Cowboys are devoid of those characteristics to a man.

What’s most astonishing to this observer (fan) is that not one guy on this team gets up in other teammate’s faces and says “enough, these guys are kicking our butts up and down the field”. Instead this team sits on the bench with their heads hung, probably thinking about their off-season golf plans, hunting trips and parties with Kim Kardashian. Since the Wizard of OZ won’t be arriving this season with a heart, I have a more pragmatic suggestion for Cowboy fans, stop watching, stop buying the gear and stop showing up at games. If you want to facilitate change the only thing that can get Jerry Jones’ attention is his pocketbook.

In the interim, as Terrell Owens would say, “get your popcorn ready” because the Cowboys trip to New York next week should be a football folly that can be replayed on ESPN Classic as an Instant Classic because we should expect more of the same until the culture changes in Big D.

Random Thoughts to Start November

I was watching the NFL results on Sunday and saw the highlights (lowlights) of the Cowboys game, if Wade Phillips can’t get fired after that then I suspect he may have pictures of Jerry Jones in a compromising situation.

The Texas Longhorns are a mess this season at 4-4 coming off back to back home losses to Iowa St. and this past week to Baylor. If prior to the season someone told you that Texas would lose both of those contests at home this season, you would think that person didn’t follow college football. Maybe it’s something in the water in North and Central Texas this year with the performance of the Cowboys and the Longhorns?

The news for Texas sports got worse last night as the San Francisco Giants won the franchise’s first World Series since moving to the Bay Area. The last Giants title occurred in 1954 when they were still playing in the Polo Grounds with Willie Mays in centerfield. The Giants pitching was dominating but it’s still hard to believe a team with that line-up won a World Series. None the less, a tip of the cap to the 2010 World Champion San Francisco Giants from E.

The Vikings release Randy Moss in less than a month after trading a third-round draft pick in 2011 to New England. And we wonder why New England is good year after year; as the saying goes “there is an ass for every seat”.

My USC Trojans were the latest victim of the Oregon Ducks spread offense. USC actually led the game 32-29 in the middle of the 3^rd quarter and ended up losing 53-32! Oregon scored points like they were playing basketball, playing basketball at Duke or North Carolina that is- has anybody watched an Oregon basketball game recently? If you did then you know that the football team may end up averaging more points per game than the basketball team this year which speaks volumes on both.

Wonder if the line of suitors for Cliff Lee will shorten a bit after watching the Giants beat him twice in the World Series? Lee is still one of the top 10 pitchers in baseball no doubt but $20mm per is a lot of cabbage and if Lee is anything less than one of the top 10 pitchers in baseball after he gets his contract your franchise is hamstrung by the deal. I am sure the Yankees will outbid themselves for his services.

Is Brian Kelly really an upgrade at Notre Dame? You want to talk about having a bad week. A young man was killed in a tragedy last week while filming football practice on Kelly's watch- what an awful example of poor judgment by an adult! The football coach controls everything in the program so that's on Kelly. What did Kelly hope to accomplish by practicing in 51 MPH wind gusts and why would you let someone risk their life trying to tape the practice? Then on Saturday, playing Tulsa (the smallest school in D-IA football) and trailing 28-27 with 35 seconds left and the ball on the Tulsa 19 yard line, Kelly dials up a pass play into the endzone that was intercepted. The caveat here is that A.) the Notre Dame place kicker had made 18 straight FG attempts and B.) after the game Kelly told reporters to “get used to it” saying that he will call the same type of play again if confronted with that situation in the future. This may be true but he may not be calling the play for Notre Dame as it’s hard to imagine Kelly lasting very long at the school.

Finally election day is today, my predictions the Republicans pick up 60 seats in the House, 9 seats in the Senate and sometime during the evening Bush will be blamed for all the Democrats troubles.

Catch you all soon…..

Phillies Offense Goes on Halladay- May Need More Than a Doc

Ryan Howard stared back at the umpire wondering how he could call a 3-2 pitch right down the middle of the plate with 2-out in the bottom of the 9^th could be called a strike. Howard looked like Mickey Rivers trying to work a walk in 1978 rather than one of the most feared power hitters in the game; it was as though Howard was wishing he could walk so he didn’t have to be “the man”. Matter of fact, many of the Phillies looked befuddled and bewildered against the Giants pitching as San Francisco eliminated the 2-time defending NL Champions in 6 games sending the Phillies into a winter of questions.

The Phillies prided themselves on developing their own players while winning the 2008 World Series largely with a group of homegrown talent including Howard, Utley, Rollins and pitching star Cole Hamels. As is the case with winning it can become addictive thus the Phillies spent much of the past two-years gutting their farm system in search of the next World title.

Unfortunately for the Phils, destiny was not on their side and instead of heading into 2011 with a 2^nd World Championship in 3-years; they are left with $143mm of committed payroll for next year. Due to their bloated payroll there is a fairly good chance that All-Star RF Jayson Werth will leave via free agency and be replaced by the organization’s best prospect, Dominic Brown. This will leave an already imbalanced left-handed lineup even more imbalanced and susceptible to left-handed pitching. (Bruce Bochey exposed that weakness in the NLCS)

While Cole Hamels hadn’t even approached his pitching prime, the Phils have two star pitchers making more than $32 mm annually combined in Halladay and Oswalt who are approaching their mid-30s. The Phillies also have age in left-field with Raul Ibanez and at 3B with Placido Palanco. In other words, there are needs to be addressed but no immediate help coming from below; why is that?

In the summer of 2009 in their pursuit of Cliff Lee, the Phillies traded a lot of good prospects to Cleveland, this in and of itself was not a bad thing because Lee propelled the Phils to the NL Title. However in their quest for Roy Halladay last off-season, the Phillies traded many of their best prospects to Toronto. Then, rather than holding onto Lee for 2010 and then allowing him to walk after this season thereby getting two sandwich picks between the first and second round of the draft in return; the Phillies traded Lee to Seattle to restock their farm system. The basket of prospects returned from Seattle for Lee was nowhere near the quality that was sent to Toronto for Halladay.

In the summer of 2010, going for the title this year, the Phillies then traded another boatload of picks to Houston for Roy Oswalt and assumed the last two-years of his bloated contract in the process. What does all this mean? Well, what it means to me is that next year the Phillies will contend for the NL East title once again but the organization has a lot of mending to do down on the farm as they have gutted a lot of their system over the past two-years. Couple the preceding, with the $143mm payroll for 2011 already committed to and in place along with the aging cast of core players, and it’s not a stretch to see the Phillies slide back toward mediocrity in 2012 and beyond- a place the organization should be quite comfortable with given their 125 year history.

Chargers and Cowboys- All Too Familiar

I just got done watching the San Diego Chargers turn the ball over four times and still have a chance at a 45 yard field goal to tie the game vs. New England which would have sent the contest into overtime. However, as poor teams do, the Chargers were called for a false start which added 5 yards to the attempt which Kris Brown proceeded to miss wide right by the width of a football thus San Diego is now 2-5.

As usual the Chargers out gained the opponent, which is as sure a thing as Lindsey Lohan abusing drugs, but they lost the two most important statistics in football, the turnover battle (0-4) and the scoreboard (20-23). This game got me to thinking about all the commonality between the San Diego Chargers and the Dallas Cowboys thus I thought I would review it with you.

Each team has a Pro Bowl quarterback, Phillip Rivers and Tony Romo, each team has a capable set of running backs, each team has perennial Pro Bowl Tight Ends, Antonio Gates and Jason Witten, game breaking WRs- that’s a check and very talented defenses. Hell, the Cowboys probably have the game’s best defensive player in DeMarcus Ware, their All-Pro Linebacker.

After going through the litany above, one must be wondering how is San Diego 2-5 and Dallas 1-4 staring 1-5 squarely in the eye tomorrow night vs. the NY Giants? The answer to the preceding is quite simple; the biggest commonality between these teams which renders all the talent above relatively useless is that each has a weak head coach that would be an excellent coordinator but neither is a leader of men. Norv Turner, in San Diego, cut his teeth with Jimmy Johnson’s Cowboys dynasty of the 90s as an offensive coordinator. Turner is one of the most creative offensive minds in the game; he’s also a pushover that allows his team to make dumb mistake after dumb mistake without consequences. San Diego has had one of the league’s most talented teams for the past five or six years yet every year they come up just a bit short.

Wade Phillips heads the Cowboys and like Turner, he is a great coordinator- only he is a defensive guru. Matter of fact, when he was in San Diego with Turner’s predecessor Marty Schottenheimer, Phillips put together one of the best defenses in the league but again the Cowboys continually fall short of expectations despite having a roster littered with Pro Bowlers and All-Pros. Like their cousins in San Diego, Dallas usually does themselves in with penalties and turnovers at the worst of times. Like the Chargers there really isn’t any consequences for the players thus they continue to make the same mistakes and wonder why they “have such bad luck” as I read a quote from Marcus Spears in this week’s paper.

Luck doesn’t go around looking for stumble bums as legendary Texas coach Darryl Royal once said; you make your own luck or bad luck as is the case with these franchises. In a league where the games are close every week and the talent is fairly distributed throughout the league, one cannot underestimate the importance of a great coach, not only a solid X and O guy but a leader of men. The Chargers and Cowboys lack this element and will continue to fall short of their expectations until they change this.

As a Cowboys fan, I have more confidence in San Diego hiring a good coach because owner Alex Spanos is solid and GM A.J. Smith is one of the most shrewd executives in the game. The Cowboys are so organizationally dysfunctional right now with the “everything revolves around me” world of Jerry Jones that they make the Menendez family look like the Brady Bunch. With Wade Phillips on his way out after this season, I would be less suprised if Jerry Jones hired China Phillips before I ever see Bill Cowher patrolling the Dallas sideline.

10-22-10 Free MLB Pick

Over 9 - NY Yankees at Texas

I have no idea who is going to win game 6 tonight in this series but I do believe that both teams will light up the scoreboard. Phil Hughes has been awful lately for the Yankees and I am not a big believer in Colby Lewis, Texas' starter. Take the over 9 in this game.

Prediction: Texas 7 Ny Yankees 5

TV's Funniest Reality Show

Did you ever find a TV show that you can’t get enough of whether it be a drama, a reality series or a comedy? I have found one that airs every Sunday, sometimes Monday, for about 3-hours; it’s a reality based comedy known as the 2010 Dallas Cowboys.

In last week’s episode, the Cowboys played at home vs. Tennessee, our heroes from Dallas had a QB throw for more than 350 yards, a running back top the 100 yard mark, a WR caught 169 yards of passes, the NFL’s best defensive player DeMarcus Ware recorded 2 sacks and they outgained the evil foe from Tennessee by over 200 yards as they amassed 500+ yards of offense. This is pretty good right? Well the Cowboys lost that game, 34-27.

In this week’s episode the Cowboys took the show to Minnesota and outgained the Vikings 314-188 yards, recorded 3 sacks to 0 for Minnesota yet they lost 24-21. Matter of fact, the Cowboys records stands at 1-4 despite outgaining all 5 of their opponents this season. You may ask how does that happen?

It happens when you have an undisciplined team headed by an egomaniacal owner who hires a head coach that acts more like a nanny than a professional football coach. Admittedly I was wrong to even defend Jerry Jones with friends of mine. You heard it there I said it, I was wrong. Jerry Jones could be the best owner in the NFL but he will never achieve that title as long as he wants to be GM of the Cowboys while continuing to usurp authority from his head coach. Where have you ever seen the owner of a team being quoted immediately after a game in the locker-room other than when the owner’s team has just captured the league championship? Well, this event happens weekly in Dallas with Jerry Jones and his postgame remarks.

The problem with most egomaniacs is that it’s never about the team as much as it is about them. Sure, if the team does well that’s great but what’s more important to the egomaniac is them getting their “due” for what is happening and their own glorification. It is this very problem which ironically keeps Jerry Jones from achieving his ultimate goal of bringing another World Title to Dallas for his Cowboys.

The preceding then leads the owner to hire a head coach, Wade Phillips, who is a solid football man but not a leader of men. (Yes, I apologize to friends to whom I previously defended Wade Phillips with) Phillips makes losing too comfortable so much so that DE Marcus Spears recently commented that “it was more uncomfortable around here after a win with Parcells than it is after a loss with Wade”. Hint: that’s not a good thing!

In the Tennessee game former Pro Bowl Guard Leonard Davis was benched for poor play. To his credit after the game Davis admitted that he basically stunk and should have been benched but not wanting his player to “feel bad”, Phillips immediately came to the rescue to say that Davis would be right back in the starting line-up vs. Minnesota because “he’s a Pro Bowl player”. What does it say about a coach who can’t even let a player criticize himself?

The Cowboys are in the top 3 in the NFL in penalties right there with Detroit and Oakland which is never a good thing. This version of the Dallas Cowboys is a broken mess that spent too much time this off-season dreaming of playing the Super Bowl in their own stadium rather than looking for ways to improve as individuals and as a team, they have nobody to blame but themselves and their owner with the bigger than Texas-size ego.

Whether you like the Cowboys or not, you have to watch this circus and laugh because it’s funny. Jerry Jones fretting in his luxury box as the game comes down to the wire knowing that somewhere along the line his offensive coordinator will dial up a dumb play or his QB will throw a key interception. His coach, looking like Captain Kangaroo (my apologies for insulting the Captain) prancing around on the sidelines as if he just found out that they cancelled the postgame meal. None the less, it makes for fun every Sunday even for a fan like me as I try to enjoy the laugh otherwise I would cry.