Two things happened over the course of the week that struck a note with me.
The first situation with Thomas Jones and Brett Favre….. Thomas went on a radio station and criticized Favre for turning the ball over too many times down the stretch. He also went on to imply Favre should have been benched, and hinted that he does not want Brett back on the team next year.
Do I have a problem with any of this? Absolutely not. Thomas Jones has a right to his opinion, and did the honorable thing and said this in the open, instead of acting as an “anonymous source” to bash a team mate.
The second story that struck a chord was Larry Fitzgerald being accused of domestic violence just days before the biggest game of his career. Not only was Saturday’s game the biggest day of Larry’s career, but it was also Arizona’s first home playoff game since the 1950s. Whether or not the allegations were true is anyone’s guess, but I was pretty shocked to see the media not touch this story with a ten foot pole.
I stepped back and asked myself, what would the media have done if Terrell Owens was the center of either one of these stories? They would have ripped him to shreds, called him a scumbag wife-beating-coward-who-cant-stop-throwing-his-quarterback-under-the-bus. Can you imagine the outrage on “NFL Live” if T.O. slapped a woman a week before the NFL playoffs started…. I can just hear Trey Wingo now… “he just doesn’t care about his team! he’s only thinking about himself!”
But of course, T.O. had nothing to do with this stuff…. so it doesn’t matter right?
The way the media fastens itself to his teat and suckles away all year.
Peyton Manning won his third MVP award today, receiving 32 of 50 votes which easily gave him the honor. The biggest determining factor in Peyton winning seems to be how he struggled from a offseason knee injury and dug the Colts out of an early season slump to finish 12-4. Manning did a great job in 2008, but I believe it pales in comparison to Chad Pennington of the Miami Dolphins.
This is the same Chad Pennington who’s career was all but dead last year, the same Chad Pennington who “couldn’t throw 20 yards down the field” according to critics. He joined the Miami Dolphins roughly one month before the season started, learned an entirely new offense and led a previously 1-15 team to the 3rd seed in the AFC. Do you realize how difficult it is to join a team right before the preseason starts as a quarterback and still achieve success?
This isn’t about stats, it’s about a guy leading a hopeless team to the promised land when nobody had faith that it could be done. There’s another thing about this situation that boils my blood, it’s being widely reported that Peyton Manning joins Brett Favre as the only men to win the MVP 3 times, conveniently leaving out Randall Cunningham. They’re so desperate to kiss Peyton’s ass they can’t even bother to get their facts straight.
Disgusting.
I’m rooting against Indianapolis for the entire duration of the playoffs, I’m a vindictive bastard I can’t help it.
Thomas Jones appeared on ESPN’s ‘First Take’ to discuss his recent comments about Brett Favre hurting the team with his string of interceptions late in the season. In the video you’ll hear Dana Jacobson repeatedly ask Jones “would you like Brett Favre back on the team”, and Jones continually replies with “it’s not my decision”…. which basically means NO.
At this point, Brett Favre is going to retire or request a release from the team….. hopefully he’ll just retire.
We’re only a week away from the most important election of our generation, but you can practice your fingers a little bit with this drastically less important event.
It’s about that time folks, the 2008 season is halfway over and NFL.com is now accepting ballots for this year’s Pro Bowl squad. Click Here to head over and cast your ballot. I know nobody actually watches the game, so I have more fun picking players than anything else associated with this game.
Here’s who I support to make the squad.
AFC Quarterbacks: Brett Favre - For this guy to come in 4 weeks before the start of the season and perform the way he has with a new team… It’s pretty amazing. Jay Cutler - Their defense may be absolute crap, but Cutler and Marshall have been downright scary this year. Chad Pennington – This is my dark horse pick to make the squad, Chad’s been completing around 70% of his passes thusfar and has completely revitalized his career. Parcells sure knows how to work old quarterbacks doesn’t he?
I caught this excellent post over on Sports On My Mind that asks why ESPN purposely decided not to cover a story that paints Brett Favre in a bad light. In case you aren’t familiar with the news this week, Favre has been accused of calling the Detroit Lions coaches and giving them insider info about the Green Bay Packers offense.
Instead of putting the story on their site immediately like they do with everything else, ESPN didn’t bother covering it.
Just to give you a frame of reference, SOMM says ESPN has posted 24 Pacman Jones stories this week. Hell, they even had a story about Marcus Vick’s legal troubles…. talk about scraping the bottom of the barrell for material.
Why is ESPN protecting Favre?
Has the story not been included just because FOX’s Jay Glazer broke the news?
Two things happened over the course of the week that struck a note with me.
The way the media fastens itself to his teat and suckles away all year.