Sunday, January 21, 2007

On Conference Championship Weeked

The Cinderella Saints lost:
I, for one, am glad. (Quick Disclaimer: I write all that I am about to write about the New Orleans Saints at the risk of sounding unsympathetic to the City of New Orleans and the victims of Katrina, but I assure you this is not my intention.) I appreciate the financial boost that the team returning to the Superdome gave to the community. I'm thrilled that a team that has been an underdog for so long has sort of come of age. My beef has been with the Saints bandwagon. Listen, just because a team's city suffered the formerly mentioned devastation doesn't mean that all Americans with the capacity for compassion must rally around that team. Some one actually told me that since I picked and was rooting for Chicago I had little to no heart. Ouch! I usually enjoy supporting the underdogs (Chicago hasn't been to a Super Bowl since that 1985 season, which was played in the Super Dome by the way), but throughout this entire season it seemed to me an abnormal amount of moral pressure to root for this particular Ella. I'm sorry but my lack of support for the new America's Team has zero correlation to the amount of compassion I feel for those ravaged by a hurricane.

A related note:
The other thing that goaded me about the Saints' Bandwagon was oversight of, in my opinion, a more important storyline. For the first time in the history of American Football two African American coaches will meet in the championship game. Up until last night I hadn't heard a talking head say a single word about the triumph that this scenario entails. Not to mention one of those men being the lowest paid Head Coach in the NFL. But, as Americans we dine on PRESENT tribulation, as a whole we would rather remember and hope for relief from non-sentient calamities we had no control over, rather than remember and repair the devastation we (Americans) were largely responsible for. This may not be Jackie Robinson big, but it's pretty dang big, and as I said before, it had to live in the shadow of America's Team.

Out of the Frying Pan:
While I'm on the Saints I'll say a few things about the Super Human Reggie Bush. If this guy was anything other that the monster the media created he would have been benching it up with the special teams for most of the season. Who else do you ever see a Total Touches stat on? Its simple math: this season Bush rushed for an average of 36 ypg and receives for an average of 47 ypg the ONLY way to make his production seem to be anywhere in the vicinity of respectability is to present those stats in total touches. Add them up and you get 83 ypg (still awful), and if we throw in the 14 ypg punt returning then you almost have a 100 ypg athlete. Holy Crap! How is this guy doing anything but riding pine? Compared to his class of 1st round draft pick RB's he only beats DeAngelo Williams for ypg. Face it supporters; Bush is a poor RB, and a below average WR. All tolled the kid wallows somewhere between blissful mediocrity and all out bust.

The Other Game:
The Patriots were out-classed as well as out played (Colts put up 35 points in the second half). The only shot I saw of Tom Brady after the game was of him power-walking toward the locker room avoiding contact with everyone. I'm sure he was devastated after being found out for exactly what he has always been, a cog in an extremely well coached system (I call it the Terry Bradshaw Complex). Face it, the ball was in his hands to win the game and he threw a pass reminiscent of a 6th round draft pick into double coverage. In his defense, it must have been stressful to know that he had to get all the way to the end zone on this one; field goal range just wouldn't cut it.
Bill Belichick on the other was the picture of class that he always is. He seemed to have a thoughtful exchange with Dungy, but Peyton Manning made it a point to find Bill in the crowd only to be avoided like an ex-girlfriend at a class reunion. He may be a genius, but has the tact of a 3 year old, although a 3 year old is likely to dress slightly more appropriately.