Week 4 Picks

Last week: 5-9-2 Season: 5-9-2

First off, i could care less about the games this week other than Phillies-Nats and Eagles-Giants. But for kicks, here's my picks.

Oakland (+4) vs. MIAMI
I still think Oakland is ok, and even though Miami could well win this game (they have to win at least once, right?), I don't think it will be by more than 3.

Houston (-2.5) vs ATLANTA
Revenge game for Matt Schaub. And Houston is legit.

CLEVELAND (+4) vs Baltimore
I think the Browns could definitely win this game. They're at home, they despise the Ravens, and Baltimore really isn't all that good this year.

Bears (-3) vs LIONS
After watching Detroit last week, they really play no defense. I think with Griese tossing (I'm hoping to bring that term to QBs in football), the Bears should be able to put enough points to win this one easily.

VIKINGS (+2) vs Packers
I know the Packers are good, and Favre has gotten over that Metrodome mediocrity he used to have. Still, though, I think the Packers might be a little flat after that win over San Diego and the Vikings can shut down their offense and make it a low scoring game.

COWBOYS (-13) vs Rams
I despise the Cowboys, but they are damn good this year and the Rams are just atrocious. Brian Leonard will also be starting at running back for St. Louis, which may well be the first white starting back since Travis Jervey somehow got on the field for Green Bay. That usually spells disaster.

BILLS (+3.5) vs Jets
I only picked the Bills since I was on the fence about this game, and in doubt I'll go with the home team, especially if they're getting points. I'm starting to get off the Jets bandwagon after a nice year-long ride.

PANTHERS (-3) vs Bucs
I have no statistical evidence for this because I don't feel like looking this up on espn.com, but it feels like the Panthers always win this game.

49ERS (+2) vs Seahawks
I'm still not sure that Seattle is good enough to win a road division game against a decent team. Also, I can never pick a team with two die-hard Bush supporters.

Steelers(-6) vs CARDS
Arizona is a little bit too popular of a pick in this game. Even though this game wreaks of a good team flying across the country to play a bad one and laying an egg, I'll still put my money on Willie Parker making enough plays to win this game. Whether it's by 6, I don't know, but I'll take it.

CHARGERS (-12) vs Chiefs
San Diego has to get right soon. They should get up for this game since it's against a rival, and KC is god awful.

COLTS (-10 ) vs Broncos

Eagles (-3) vs GIANTS

BENGALS (+7.5) vs Patriots

the phillies have a magic number

While the mets remain about as clutch as Billy Wagner, thanks to Ryan Howard, J-Roll and the best game Cole Hamels has ever thrown in his young life, your national league east leading (!) philadelphia phillies have a magic number of two.

Bring it home Jimmy.

week 4 picks.

Sugar Shane Mosley! Say it ain’t so! Onto the picks …


BMore (-4.5) at CLEVELAND
Why I’m confident: Jamal Lewis said publicly that he has more gaps to run through in Cleveland than he ever had with the Ravens. Now I’m not Jamal Lewis, who for accounts is a pretty tough guy (see: Jail, 2000 yards), but if I was I wouldn’t want to upset God’s linebacker and his murderous teammates.

Why I’m hesitant: The ravens have been showing a tendency to let teams hang around, and they haven’t put together one complete game together.

MIAMI (-3.5) over Oak
Why I’m confident: Joey Porter guaranteed me that Miami would win, ts the Dante Culpepper bowl! Emotions will run high, Miami is making Oakland wear black, thinking that it ill fry them, Miami always plays better in the beginning of the year (knowing that this team may actually get worse is a terrifying thought).

Why I’m hesitant: Zach Thomas isn’t cleared medically yet (but expects to play), the weather is only supposed to be in the high-70s/low 80s, Oakland can still play D, which gives them one more competent unit than the Dolphins,

Bears (-3) at DETRIOT
Why I’m confident: I’ve been arguing this for years … Detroit was founded as a French city, its proper pronunciation is Dey-twa (like Chris Benoit’s last name), can we start a movement to fix this wrong while at the same time infuriating the entire city? I hope so. Also, Chicago is way better.

Why I’m hesitant: the Griese switch was overdue for reasons that every sportswriter in America echoed last year, but on a team with a secondary this bad it seems like the type of game Grossman would totally have gone off in. Intra-division game.

Houston (-3) at ATL
Why I’m confident: Matt Schaub bowl. Texans seem good, falcons seem bad.

Why I’m hesitant: I start with an anecdote. After DeAngelo Hall’s miserable performance last week (67 yards in penalties, sideline confrontation with his own coach) the team was strongly considering suspending him for a game (to which he said something along the lines of “I would welcome it”). Anyway, the hot rumor going around the league is that they opted to not publicly discipline him because his own team handled it behind closed doors. We’re not talking about a “players only meeting” in the typical sense though … rumor has it several veterans actually took Hall behind closed doors and literally kicked his ass. Seems like the type of amazing story that could right a ship.

Green Bay (-1.5) at MINNY
Why I’m confident: I hate how everyone keeps talking about how Farve has such a bad overall record at Minny (he does) but keeps on neglecting that he’s won 3 out of the last 4 four there, which seems equally relevant. Minnesota’s best quality is their ability to stop the run. The fact that the Packers never run (11 rushing attempts last Sunday!) would seem to nullify that advantage.

Why I’m hesitant: Farve does stink there, Minnesota can stop the run. Packers are the NFL’s youngest team (strange but true) and they’re playing in a rivalry game.

Jets (-3) at BUF
Why I’m confident: the Trent Edwards era is upon us, Buffalo is last in total offense AND last in totally defense.

Why I’m hesitant: I’ve picked the road team in 4 out of 5 games so far AND I’ve picked every favorite, neither of which is good signs (then again, neither is the Trent Edwards era, I’m pretty confident here)

St. Louis (+12.5) at FUCK THE COWBOYS
Why I’m confident: fuck the cowboys

Why I’m hesitant: Steven Jackson is out, three of their lineman are out, Bulger is has two cracked ribs but is still playing, Dallas has looked good and St. Louis awful.

CAROLINA (+2.5) over Tampa Bay
Why I’m confident: I just can’t keep picking every road team? Real-life Julius Peppers (hereinafter “RFJP”) doesn’t have a sack yet, but James’ Madden-team Julius Peppers (“JMTJP”) has like 17, which means RFJP is totally due.

Why I’m hesitant: I like Tampa and this line seems wrong. The Panthers are expected to wait until Sunday to announce their starting QB (note, this also doubles as a “why I’m confient” … when the decision is between Jake Delhomme and David Carr I just can’t imagine it being a huge distraction)

Seattle (-1) at SANFRAN
Why I’m confident: both of these teams seem like they should be 2-2, if Seattle wants the division a statement game would be nice.

Why I’m hesitant: Shaun Alexander spells his name stupidly and has a broken hand, SF swept them last week.

SD (-11.5) over Kansas City
Why I’m confident: KC got their big win last week, won’t see too many of them. Tomlinson gets on tract, Rivers can’t be this bad, and Gates continues his pace towards shattering the NFL single season receptions record. Once upon a time the Chargers were really, really good.

Why I’m hesitant: 11.5

ZONA (+6) over Pittsburgh
Why I’m confident: A coordinator always holds a big advantage against his team, and Ari has two of them (Grimm and their polarizing coach).

Why I’m hesitant: The two-headed monster that is Matt Leinhart and Kurt Warner going against a team that has looked legit through three weeks

INDY (-9.5) over Denver
Why I’m confident: Manning owns Denver.

Why I’m hesitant: Indy only beats teams by single digits these days.

Good Guys (-2.5) at NEW YORK FOOTBALL GIANTS
Why I’m confident: Manning still stinks, they can’t play defense, they don’t have a running back, Kevin Curtis has established himself as the premier WR in all of football, Brian Westbrook could play for the Phillies he has so much talent and heart, their QB has never been scrutinized and therefore has not properly developed his game, it’s a prime time game and we love that, Plax is beat up.

Why I’m hesitant: this doesn’t make he hesitant but is a true story: Giants RB Derrick Ward is on pace to catch more passes this season than Tiki Barber ever did. That’s why early season is fun. Seriously though, if we drop this game we stink again. I’m not ready for that.

CINCY (+7) over New England
Why I’m confident: What the hell, I’ll be the one person in America who doesn’t take NE and suffer the points this week.

Why I’m hesitant: logic, common sense, cheating.

great fucking win

NL EAST LEADERING PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES

God, when they announce that tomorrow the place is going to go insane. Something tells me we're a little more excited about our position at the top than our tied-up foes, the free-falling Mets.

NFL picks and Sixers preview on the way, but none of that really matter right now. GO PHILS

Philadelphia and the Battle of Bannockburn

With a week to go in the Phillies season, history is not on our side. Not only are we statistically speaking the biggest losers to ever be allowed to play professional sports, but we’ve also won an incredible amount of games over the last four seasons for a team that never got to play in October during that time. It is nearly impossible to finish with the consecutive seasons the Phillies have had and to never have made the playoffs. You would think Philadelphia would be pessimistic right now, you would think that we know we’re going to find a way to fail – all our teams do, and the Phillies often with the gusto most of the group.

A common criticism of hardcore sports fans is that it is childish to affiliate ourselves with anything so apparently immaterial, consciously contrived and commercially exploitative as a professional sports team. The same way in which we look at tabloid-obsessed women over their love of Brangenlia (I get that one right?) so does much of the free world scoff at us. Those worries – that we are childish, and that in a time of war and global crisis our energy is misplaced – do not seem to bother Philadelphia fans in the least.

What does bothers us is not that our caring – real, deep, serious, emotionative caring – is trivial; but rather it is that our caring always comes back to burn us. We have no fear of the love itself, but do feel that it will inevitably break our hearts. Because of this we have learned to distrust winning, to hate the players, the coaches, and the general managers of the teams who tease us with failed dreams of a chip year in and year out.

This Phillies team has changed that. For the first time in a long time, pennant or no, this season has been a success. We love this team in spite of the fact that they will break our hearts, not just up to the moment when they inevitably will.

In my experience there have been two real stars in Philadelphia that have gotten a pass despite not winning a championship – Dykstra and AI. We blamed Dykstra’s team and AI’s management, but the two individuals were off limits to fans because when they were on the field, when the ball was in play, they didn’t care about their career at all, they cared about making the play.

I remember Lenny doing an interview one day during the 93 summer about how foolish the drag bunt was, how charging at the pitcher mid-pitch was an invitation to get a hand broken and that Larry Bowa – his third base coach at the time and a man who had made the move famous in Philadelphia – was a moron for ever trying it. That weekend – no joke – the phillies needed a baserunner (bottom of the 8th down a run, or something close to it) and Dykstra was up. After seeing a few pitches he had apparently figured out some tell, broke towards the mound during the windup, laid down the drag bunt perfectly and beat it out for a single.

AI stories like that are a dime a dozen. I remember there was an awful snowstorm in the middle of the AI epoch – a blizzard had hit Philly that was bad enough that most players were late arriving, and the organization was threatening to postpone the game. Iverson finally arrived and ran into a Sixers exec on his way to the locker room. The exec stopped him and told him the game might not go on. AI couldn't understand, "we got four guys?" he asked confused, he was told yes, "then lets go!" He ran down the hall, they played the game, and won.

They were both fucking ballplayers, and even though they had obvious physical limitations they cared like we cared, we didn’t have to trust in winning because we trusted in them. It wasn’t that Dykstra didn’t believe what he said about drag bunting – he was always injured and it was a stupid risk – it was that he didn’t care, and because of that we loved them.

Our well known history of turning on players, however, creates a much longer list – Wilt, Sir Charles (who I drank with this weekend, solid guy), McNabb, Jaworski, Lindross, Rolen, even Schmidt could start it – and all those guys are/were legitimate superstars.

This team seems made up of guys out of the Dykstra/AI mold. When the ball is in play, Jimmy, Chase, Utley, Victorino … they don’t care about their careers, they care about making the play. This is a team made up of guys who try to run through a wall with their face for us, a team full of mockers, winners, clutch hitters and fun. If the increasingly less infamous Leyland/Uncle Cholly decision was being made today, Leyland would have a hard time finding ways to gut this team.

So maybe we have an long history of 1 championship in 124 years, and a short one of coming up just short, but AI never had Dykstra. This team may have both.

And if they don’t, I think Philly may understand if our Battle of Bannockburn waits one more year - a luxury McNoww doesn’t not.

13, 12, 56 and questions

I hate to be that guy, but while sunday's game certainly shows the haters that McNabb is back it may (unfortunately) also show that he never left. Rod Marinelli, the lions coach, cut his teeth with Tampa Bay when they were developing the cover two. That system was so effective that it really became ingrained in the coaches that came out of that system (Dungy, Kiffin, Lovie Smith, Marinelli off the top of my head but I feel like I'm missing someone). Marinelli came to that team in the beginning of that, 1996, and stayed in it for 10 years (six as a D-Line coach, four as assistant head coach).

The Tampa two was how he got a name in the NFL, and it gave him a lot of recognition and success. However, its not a good basic defense against this eagles team. The T2 still can be a dominant base D and it has a lot of advantages, but those advantages (ideally forces teams into control gained, can "zone out" excellent individual receivers) are not suited to beat the Birds. The Eagles couldn't get a passing game going in the first two weeks because both GB and Washington pressed our receivers right off the line. Detroit's scheme doesn't allow their corners to bump us against us, which in turn lets our timing-based offense a chance to flourish. If Curtis can get free McNabb can throw to his spot, if not it looks like he's overthrowing WRs and CBs by five yards - which happened a lot the first two weeks.

Look, sunday was a great win, and none of Westbrook's yards can be attributed to a timing offense, but we may want to be a little more tempered before we crown these guys champions.

On the plus side the new york football giants don't play any defense at all - save hoping that the opposing team's running back trips over himself - so we may just be able to keep this up a little longer.

Kevin Kolb: not black enough

So Kolb gets into the action by getting sacked and fumbling on the first drop-back of his pro career then rushed 3 times for negative yards to end the game (and don't tell me nothing about "kneel downs" not counting as "real runs" - nothing is whiter than a kneel down.

Being unable to avoid the rush and negative overall running yards are truly the calling cards of immobile whities. A quarterblack Kolb is not, the McNabb era will continue until Kolb starts to {insert favorite minority stereotype} because McNabb does things that will quell criticism of and from any race – win.

and thats the last I'll have to say about race for at least several minutes ... The Birds are headed to the playoffs and I'm in the midst of writing about why Philadelphia loves this Phillies team. All is good in the world once more.

Vegas' week 3 picks

Because I got the nickname 'vegas' at school, i think it's fair game to use here. Here are my picks for week 3 (HOME team in caps):

- Lions (+6) over EAGLES
This line is absurd. Granted, the Lions haven't beaten anybody this year, but we ACTUALLY haven't beaten anybody. Right now, I don't think we're 6 points better than the Lions, unless Kitna craps the bed and all of our injured studs play. Our defense is old and slow, and just isn't very good anymore, and McNabb is clearly not even close to back yet.

- TEXANS (+6) over Colts
Despite not having seen them play, I like this team. Their defense in underrated (finished 5th in points allowed in '06) and even without Andre Johnson, I think they're good enough to hang in this game and make it close. They did, after all, beat the Colts in a semi-meaningful home game last year.

- Chargers (-5.5) over PACKERS
The Packers are a real bandwagon pick this week for some reason. Maybe it's because the entire national media is on Brett Favre's nuts. The Pack are definitely better than people thought, their defense is legit, but the Chargers have been mediocre so far and I think they bust out of it big this week. I actually like them by a few touchdowns this week.

- CHIEFS (-2.5) over Vikings
Wow, what a mediocre game. Even though the Chiefs are probably a little more awful than th e Vikings, I'm gonna go with the crappy home team over the crappy road team if the line is under 3.

- Bills (+16.5) over PATRIOTS
Tough call, because the Pats should win this game easily. But my gut tells me that 16.5 is still too much, considering that the Pats have been huge home favorites against the Bills the last 2 years and have barely won both times. I think this is a surprisingly close game for a while before the Pats pull away.

- JETS (-3) over Dolphins
Another crapfest. I loved watching the Jets last year (especially Kerry Rhodes; he's a beast) and I don't think they're that bad this year. With Clemens playing, and with Cotchery emerging as a #1, their offense could be ok. I still think they'd be better off using Leon Washington a lot more than they do, which would allow Thomas Jones to get more time at his natural position: benchwarmer.

- STEELERS (-9.5) over 49ers
This is a lot of points, especially given that the Niners D has gotten a little better (but no Manny Lawson could hurt) and that things have been a little too easy for the Steelers so far. But their offense looks great this year, and the Niners aren't gonna score more than 10 or 13, so the Steelers by 10 or 14 looks entirely possible.

-Cardinals (+7.5) over RAVENS
The Ravens covering this hinges on them scoring more than 7 points. And since I think that's far from a certainty, I'll take the points.

- Rams (+4.5) over BUCS
The Bucs usually play well in these home games, but I think they shot their wad last week and Steven Jackson has to go off soon. Since I think the Rams are the better team, I'll take the points here.

- BRONCOS (-3) over Jags
These were supposed to be 2 of the better teams in the AFC this year, and they've both looked atrocious. The Broncos should be 0-2 if the Bills weren't inept and they hadn't gotten lucky with that timeout to ice Janikowski, who is probably the most sure bet in the league to actually get iced by that move, along with Jay Feely and Tony Romo. Then again, the Jags should also be 0-2 since beating the Falcons 13-7 at home qualifies as a loss in my book. I'll just take the home team here.

- Bengals (+3) over SEAHAWKS
The Bengals have to snap out of this right? Maybe not, since their defense blows, but I like them in a shootout here.

- RAIDERS (-3) over Browns
Let down game for Cleveland, and this Oakland defense is much better than Cincy's. Plus, they'll committ to LaMont Jordan and run, unlike the Bengals, which will let the Raiders control this game.

- Panthers (+4) over FALCONS
How many awful games are there this week?

- REDSKINS (-3.5) over Giants
The Giants are bad. Really bad. The combo of a soft defense and Eli Manning spells about 4 wins this year. This won't be one of them.

- Cowboys (+3) over CHICAGO
It pains me to do this, but I think Dallas' offense is even better than people thought it would be, and I'm not sure the Bears have enough offense to take advantage of a weak Dallas D. Unless Devin Hester scores, I like Dallas to win outright.

-SAINTS (-4) over Titans
Monday night in the Dome should be a big advantage for the Saints. Then again, this is Vince Young's first prime-time NFL game, which you know means he'll go off. Not to mention the fact that Doug Pederson would go off against this Saints D. For some reason, though, I still the Saints put together a good game and win this one. The 4 points is the only thing that worries me.

NFL picks, week 3

because I gamble?



Detroit (+6.5) over EAGLES
Our quest for 14-2 will begin with a 6 point victory?

Colts (-6) over TEXANS
When you lose your best player (Andre Johnson) and are playing a top-2 team in the league I’m not picking you.

San Diego (-5) over BRETT FARVE
The Pack have looked good so far, but they don’t even have a mediocre running back and we often forget that the AFC is WAY better than the NFC, this one isn’t going to be close.

MINNY (+2.5) over Kansas city
hey look, I’m ignoring my “always bet on the AFC” maxim I made just one (1) sentence ago! Needless to say I’m going to lose this one

Buffalo (+16.5) over THE CHEATERS
16 and a half? Dear god, no one should be able to cheat that well

STEELERS (-9) over 49ers
Pittsburgh has been demolishing bad teams and despite their 2-0 record the 9ers fit that bill.

TAMPA (-3.5) over DRex’s Rams
The Rams blow.

NYJ (-3) over Miami
Not sure where I read or heard this but recently I came across the realization that Miami has two players on their roster who give you a distinct advantage at their position – Jason Taylor and Zach Thomas – both of these guys were brought in by Jimmy Johnson, four full regimes ago. My takeaway from this isn’t just that Miami stinks, but also that if their 3-22 guys aren’t any good, that lack of scouting/player development probably runs through 23-52 as well. I’ll suffer the 3.

B-MORE (-8) over Arizona
I read that Baltimore has the best tailgating scene in THE WORLD! Also, Pro Football Talk mentioned this week that Larry Fitzgerald wants out of Zona because Wiesenhut’s offense doesn’t suit him. This isn’t important because he’s actually going to leave, or even because he’s disgruntled as a player, but rather because when a new coach manages to push away one of his star players a mere two weeks into his first stint as the head man, well, it makes you think that maybe Tomlin was the right hire after all.
Also, this game strikes me as relevant because of the STD factor. When driving through Baltimore we have a long-standing policy of rolling up the windows of whatever car we’re driving at the moment so not to catch the hiv (which one can only assume is airborne in that city). Now they’re bringing Mr. STD, Matt Leinhart himself in? Could get brutal.

Cincy (+3) over SEATTLE
AFC/NFC thing … plus I read that seattle has the worst tailgaiting in the league (same article), which makes me dislike their team and bet against them

SKINS (-3.5) over The New York Football Giants
Normally when a hard-nosed coach loses a team it becomes quickly obvious and they get rid of him. Tom Coughlin however lost the giants literally years ago (when he changed “5 minutes early is on time” to ”ten minutes early is on time” immediately following their 2005 playoff year where they exceeded all expectations and all you started hearing stories about how all the veterans hate him), drove away his best player (Tiki), and doesn’t even produce winning teams anymore, how he still has a job makes no sense.
That said, trap game, never bet within the NFC east.

RAIDERS (-3) over Browns
Cleveland just shot their load, you can bet the house Oakland isn’t giving up 51 points.

Jaguars (+3) over BRONCOS
Denver is two field goals away from 0-2, Jacksonville is going to be afraid of the Champ and Dre Bly (rightly so) and keep it on the ground, which plays to their talent (Taylor, Jones-Drew, and even Garrard). Jags win, and I’m taking the under (whatever it is).

Carolina (-4) over ATL
Julius Peppers may well personally start the Byron Leftwich era if Joey Harrington hangs onto the ball like he did last week, that young man is bad.

CHI (-3) over Cowboys
Chicago’s tampa two v. TO scares me because they play their corners L/R as opposed to matched up, but I believe that Romo is going to prove to be as shaky as Grossman before everything is said and done

Tennessee (-4.5) over NO
I know its crazy to bet against an 0-2 team playing their home opener in front of an amped up home crowd, but VY just does nothing but win, and I can’t get that fact out of my head.

McNabb finally acting black : Philadelphia angry again

First off, I’m not sure if we can even really have an intelligent conversation about race and sports. My perspective is not one of a black quarterback, which would seemingly be the only perspective which could really be relevant here, and much of what at least I perceive the problem to be is rooted in a real gap in communication between Donovan, the press, the fans, and even some of the other players.

That said, in a narrow context what McNabb said was wrong. Quarterback is by far the most scrutinized position in sports. The axiom “the most popular man in town is the backup quarterback” is more or less a truism, and not because every backup is inherently whiter than the starter. When McNabb was behind Doug Pederson the entire stadium used to chant "McNoww." Rather, QB is the one position in team sports where there can be only one. If you have two stud running backs you can get them onto the field at the game time, or at very least manageably split carries – Ronnie Brown and Cadallac Williams were both top 5 picks coming out of Auburn. Same thing with point guards (Jason Terry and Devin Harris), power forwards (Sheed and Webber), center fielders (our very own Victorino and Rowand) and shortstops (the Yankees added the best shortstop in baseball, A-Rod, despite the fact that they had the second best, Jeter). Point being, in team sports that aren’t football, we can do this all day.

However, in football it does not work. A team cannot just slide one QB out to RB or WR and still be able to utilize their talents.

Further, the QB is more directly involved in football than any other single player in sports, save Pitchers, who usually rotate several per game.

Any two quarterbacks, (McNabb and Kolb work as a case study) can’t both play, which then puts the one who is playing under the microscope.

But while all quarterbacks are criticized in general, the manner in which they are talked about is different – probably far more different than a white sports fan can or does realize. What it seems that McNabb was trying is say is not that black quarterbacks are inherently under more scrutiny – rather that the scrutiny that they are under is very different. McNabb, who obviously is a student of a game, makes good reads and never throws INTs, being labeled as just an athlete can be seen as offensive – the assumption is that his victories have been god-given (what an athletic display!) and his losses have been the byproduct of inferior game-planning (the defense kept McNabb confused all day). He never gets shut down because he’s worse, or even played worse than the other team – rather, they were smarter. When someone says “he takes off when his first read isn’t open” it implies that he can’t wait and read the defense, not that he’s making a predetermined decision to exploit defensive tendencies.

So he’s probably right, we probably shouldn’t boo him, and if he says the questions he gets asked are unique to black QBs well, he should know and good for him for speaking honestly. I don’t really think he’s speaking to me – I don’t care how he wins – but if he is my bad. I’ll promise to stop criticizing when he promises to stop losing.

But still, what is scary to me as an Eagles fan is that McNabb’s clarification wasn’t accurate – he is called a ‘running quarterback’ where Young and Plummer never were – but it was personalized against Philadelphia fans. During MNF Kornheiser remarked that McNabb had said told him “if I get outside of the tackles and run I’ll probably get a standing ovation.” At the time it seemed like an odd comment – defensive against running because he didn’t want to appease the fans – now it seems like more of a judgment; he said 1. he finds it latently racist that people want to label him a running quarterback and 2. Philadelphia runs will boo him if he doesn’t run, i.e. ‘act black.’

Irregardless of what color his skin is, it does seem pretty thin, and once an athlete reveals that we get to him in this city, it opens the floodgates. Its like an alcoholic who despite how much they know their behavior is hurting themselves, they can’t turn a corner until they admit they have a problem. (warning, this metaphor works A LOT better if you believe alcoholism is good) Well, McNabb just admitted that we’re alcohol and now I think he’s going to start seeing all the ways where we’re hurting his life. Smart money says this is the beginning of the end.

4 1/2 month break comes to a shocking conclusion

so admittedly I've been gone way too long, 4 and half months is not an appropriate timeframe between posts.

Anyway, I'm back and better than ever. I'll try to post sometime at least several times a week, I'll have a McNabb post up in an hour or so and will be sure to do NFL lines at some point tomorrow. Who knows what me and Ruben need to argue about, but we'll get you one of those posted over the weekend (if not, I'm blaming him)

quick housecleaning ...

- the truth had an even more eventful summer than 2000, and our blog's namesake turns seven in one week (hard to believe). Anyway the grace period has officially ended and I for one no longer believe that we're offensively inappropriate.
- I was right about the warriors stinking
- Between the suns suspensions, Don-a-gie, another title going to the best big man, Greg Oden's crippling old age, and baseball being relevant again I was to give up on the association ... then the Bucks promised Easy Yi all the asian women they could find and 25 mpg, Starbury decided to wage for on Ron-Ron for the title on New York's craziest, and AK47 demanded a trade to the sixers (that’s what I heard at least). Just when I thought I was out ...

needless to say, I'll be getting a sixers preview up ASAP. I think 65 wins sounds fair.

- minority QBs will continue to be scrutinized this weekend and the eagles begin their trip to 14-2
- the phillies own the mets, the yankees are the good guys for the first time in long time, and baseball's last couple weeks are going to be sick
- Derek Anderson, Philly's hopes of keeping McFadden away from Dallas lie with you.

welcome back loyal reader, let the aimless rambling continue.