I'm talking to you Ables, Alan and Geiser.
So, the big headline-grabbing NFL news recently has centered around the fact the St. Louis Rams will be without cornerback Eric Bassey for the entire season because of a knee injury suffered last week.
Beyond that, there isn't much going on in the NFL lately.
Except for that pesky Brett Favre story, of course.
The Brett Favre saga is sort of like a B-rated horror flick, you know, when the bad guy just will not die at the end of the movie no matter how many times he gets shot in the head or stabbed in the heart. Whatever. I'm reasonably certain this move makes my old high school friend, and die-hard Viking fan, Jenny Bachelder extremely happy.
As well it should, because here's the thing.
Say what you will about Brett Favre the person; Lord knows there's plenty to be said. But, the fact of the matter is that with a healthy Brett Favre under center the Minnesota Vikings are the best team in the NFC and the reasons for this are plenty.
The Vikings won 10 games last season largely with a quarterback who once gave himself a concussion after head-butting a wall!
A defense that allowed the fewest rushing yards per game a season ago accompanies a potent offensive attack that doesn't need a Hall of Fame quarterback to be successful because it features the best running back in the game.
Furthermore, the addition of Percy Harvin as a change-of-pace guy adds another wrinkle to an offense that scored 28 points or more in a game seven times last season. Finally, there's Favre who's usually good for two or three howtheheckdidhedothat?! plays a game.
My point, of course, is the Vikes don't need Favre to be in the "best team in the NFC" conversation. However, the fact they were able to sign him, in my opinion, ends the whole damn conversation.
Now, for those out there just spit out their coffee reading the idiocy I just published, I have a question for you:
If a Brett Favre-led Vikings team is not the best club in the NFC, who is?
The aforementioned "best team in the NFC" conversation probably focuses on teams like the Eagles, or Cowboys, or Giants or Bears or Packers or maybe even the incumbent Arizona Cardinals.
All those teams have major question marks as the season looms. This is not to suggest the Vikings do not have looming questions, too; but as far as I can tell, that list of questions is much shorter than most.
I suppose the Vikings had to settle for Favre after the Eagles scooped up Michael Vick last week.
The Philadelphia Inquirer greeted the Michael Vick signing with a headline last Friday that read "Hide Your Dogs!", a headline that I find to be both journalistically irresponsible and borderline libelous. I understand what Vick did was terrible, but that doesn't mean he should be treated like a second-class citizen and it doesn't mean he should be prevented from playing football in the NFL.
I overheard one person say last week that because she loved dogs, she could never support Vick's return to pro football.
Look, I love strippers, but that doesn't mean I believe Pacman Jones should be kicked out of the league, either, which brings us to the part of this Michael Vick conversation that just irritates the hell out of me.
All this false indignation over Vick makes me want to kick something really, really hard; it's not that Vick committed a crime, it's not even that the crime was committed by Michael Vick, it's the novelty of the crime itself that has everyone's panties all wet.If Vick had mugged a stripper or beat his girlfriend like a normal famous athlete than we would not be having this conversation, trust me.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not defending what Michael Vick did, but what I am saying is that Vick absolutely, positively, unequivocally paid his debt to society and is now a free man and if he wants to pursue a career in the National Football League he should be allowed to do so.
Andohbytheway, the Philadelphia Eagles are significantly better with Michael Vick than without him. In fact, I'd contend the Vick signing makes the Eagles one of the two or three best teams in the NFC and certainly the favorites to emerge from the NFC East.
I'll leave with you this tiny anecdote before I bid you a fantastic Friday.
I had tickets to yesterday's afternoon matinee at Great American Ballpark between the Redlegs and the San Francisco Giants. I elected not to make the trek to GABP largely because I had better things to do with my time than watch my favorite baseball team cap off another pitiful homestand with, yet another, humiliating performance; additionally, Judge Mathis is on at two o'clock.
As it turned out Aaron Harang pitched a gem and centerfielder Drew Stubbs, in just his second career start, belted a walk-off homerun off the foul pole in left field in the 10th inning to procure a 2-1 Reds win in 10 innings; sometimes sports are positively ironic.
No comments:
Post a Comment