Well its starting to be the dog days of summer. Mo is sweating, I get sick and Russel Crowe is throwing the ceremonial phone at the ceremonial hotel worker. We got the NBA Finals around the corner, actually exciting interleague play (I would think anyone who likes baseball a little bit can get a little excited for Yankees v. Cardinals or Cardinals v. Red Sox or Charles Barkley v. LA Dodgers), and for the this football fan the first hint of football fever. Free agent signings are winding down, the draft is in the books and pretty much most off field arrests and accidents have happened (thank you Sean Taylor for showing us the true legacy of the University of Miami). Anyway here's a smattering of the biggest question marks...
1) Joey Harrington - Pressure is on the piano savant from Oregon. Detroit has the offensive tools everywhere except maybe the QB position. Its put up or be benched and play behind playboy dater Jeff Garcia (a fairly ignominious ending).
2) J. P. Losman - Buffalo seemed to be on the cusp of the playoffs last year. Unfortunately their offense was weighed down by the human anchor Drew Bledsoe. I personally don't see Losman doing a worse job than Bledsoe but hey stranger things have happened (see Washington's choice in QBs).
3) Denver - I think my favorite game during next season will be: what the hell was Mike Shanahan thinking? Signing Maurice Clarett? Signing Jerry Rice? Drafting a crazy steriod induced punter? Signing the entire Cleveland Brown's defensiveline? The logic (and frankly sanity) of any of those moves can be questioned and while the Supreme Court has roundedly rejected prior restraint, Shanahan's Raideresque moves will be put under the magnifying glass.
4) The Ricky Williams Story - Ok Ricky the media seems a little hung up on Ricky. So he has his own personal guru. So he travels to India. So he likes smoking. Who of us can honestly say hasn't quit their job and fled the country? I just did it the other day. Nonetheless I think this story will shine a bigger light on the Dolphins new coach: Nick Saban. While everyone seems ready to crown him king of football, I have two words of supposed brilliant college coaches that people expected to do well at the pros: Butch Davis.
And Now My Weekly Risers and Fallers:
Rising
Has to be the entire NL East. Frankly I thought this entire division would be boring. I don't think anyone cared about this division since Vince Coleman held his own personal Fourth of July. Nonetheless the ENTIRE division seems to be within a single series (e.g. within 3 games) of one another. I'm not sure if this can continue but hey if this keeps up into August and September it should be a memorable race.
Falling
New York Yankees. After an impressive May, the Yanquis immediately stumbled onto their face. They're 3-7 in the last 10 games, after being swept by the Royals and then losing two out of three to the Boys Choir of Harlem. I feel Mt. Steinbrenner might be needing a heart transplant or two before this season is over.
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5 comments:
I am most definitely sweating. The city is sweltering in heat and humidity. I hate this weather.
I agree with 99% of your points on the Broncos except for the one on Mo Clarett. He's a big dummy and he brought down a program, the program's coach and AD but he had enough talent to run all over the Big 10 in 2002. Also, I don't put too much stock in combine results or private workouts. Talent and instincts don't always show themselves on a stopwatch. With his talent and Denver's ability to churn out 1000-yard backs on a routine basis, I wouldn't be so quick to bet against Mo Clarett. He may not get his shot this year as a 3rd stringer behind Tatum Bell and the little Quentin guy but by next year, I think he'll be in the mix.
I absolutely agree that Clarett has talent that isn't captured by the stop watch. However Denver did draft someone who hasn't played football in almost two years and hasn't gone through an entire year of football and remained healthy in 4 yrs (he missed games both his freshman year at OSU and his senior year in high school). Clarett has rust and possibly an injury history. I would put drafting him in the risky category. It could look brilliant or it could be a big bust.
Agreed -- Clarett is a risk. However, as a 3rd rounder, it's a risk I would've taken as well.
The countdown to Jeff Garcia will be really interesting. I think ESPN should show the Vegas line on this each week. The schedule makers even placed "Detroit @ Cleveland" after both teams have played 5 games. Obviously, the schedule makers are expecting Garcia to be playing just so they can show Cleveland fans booing the whole time.
I have nothing against Joey Harrington but I'd love it if Garcia's starting against the Browns in the Dawg Pound. I think it would make for great TV to see all of upper Ohio throwing their best insults at Garcia. It would be interesting to see how Coach Romeo plays it -- does he feed into his team's dislike of their former teammate or does he just play chess with Garcia, knowing that Garcia won't handle the pressure and will toss another 0.0 QBR out there under the hostile conditions?
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