Tuesday Morning Thoughts

The Bears lost and my Fantasy team put up the following points: Hasselback- 4, LT- 3, Ryan Grant-2, Edj James, 5, Chad Johnson-3. Needless to say, I'm really not in the football kind of mood today. So lets just go with 5 thoughts for now.

1. When did the NFL become the Arena League. Cowboys/Eagles, Pack/Lions, Chargers/Broncos, all crazy, high scoring games this week. I guess it makes for great football drama, but to me, I don't think it makes for good football. Football shouldn't be like basketball where you can skip the initial 3 quarters and tune in for the last second possession. Nor should so many points be put on the board by both teams. Maybe I'm old fashioned, by I like my football to be played in the 20s and under. And every once in a while, I love a 45 to 3 like victory. 45-37, just seems like a poorly played big-ten basketball game, with the exception that a big ten basketball game has great defense.

2. Speaking of defense, do NFL teams play defense anymore? Are they fielding their special teams units on defense now? All of sudden, average offenses like San Diego and Denver are playing Brady-Pats like offense. I don't get this. Is it because the NFL doesn't let corners touch WRs anymore? This would make sense. In the last few years we've seen the emergence of the little short speedy WR that can dominate a game. 20 years ago, the little short speedy receiver would have been in the hospital (See Tom Waddle). Or maybe its that offenses are spreading the field (ala college football these days) and taking more chances. Last night the Eagles basically played with 5-6 WRs every play by making Westbrook an extra WR. Finally, maybe defenses just suck.

3. I've said this before (and likely sounding a little Marrioti-ish right now), but I simply don't get the Cowboys are America's team concept. They are fun to watch this year. But, I don't root for them. I root for the Bears. I also suspect that Eagles, Steelers, Lions, Packers, etc fans' root for their own teams as well. To me, unless your from Dallas or Texas (or have some connection to that place), rooting and wearing a Cowboys jersey, just makes you a douche bag. Its like a kid in Iowa sporting his Kobe Lakers' jersey.

4. Fantasy Football has become totally random. And yes, I say this because my team sucks. But its become unpredictable. Jay Cutler and Philip Rivers have outplayed Peyton Manning, Hasselback, Brady and Drew Brees. RB, C. Johnson of Tennessee has outplayed LT. Kurt Warner put up 35 points in my league. And Eddie Royal outscored Braylon Edwards for two straight weeks. Although this is an exaggeration, I feel that I would have probably done just the same, if I drafted my players from a hat on draft day.

5. Sportscasters. I loathe Kornheiser and dislike Cornheiser. I like Jaworski. I love Tommy Waddle on NFL network. I dislike almost everything ESPN. On one last note, during pre-game introductions for last nights' MNF, ESPN employed the following people - Berman, Chris Carter, Tom Jackson, Ditka, Meshawn Jackson, Chris Mortenson, Stuart Scott, Steve Young, and Emmit Smith. Not to mention, Michelle Tafoya and I believe Suzy Colber on the sidelines. Thats 11 football personalities dissecting one football game. Add in the three in the booth and that makes 14. 14 people? Is this really necessary. How about we just cut the following people, Tafoya, Emmit Smith, Ditka, Meshawn, Stuart Scott, Steve Young, and Kornheiser. Thats 7 people, still leaving 7 others to handle the duties. In my opinion, not only would the pre-game and commentary be a lot better, but I also just saved ESPN at least $1.4Million (I assume these guys avg. $200k a year. Just a guess) in salaries. This just makes sense to me.