Really Quickly...

...I'm swamped at work (I've gotten a pseudo-promotion since the guy I worked for quit last week. Now I have a lot more responsibility but without the benefit of the salary increase, hence the pseudo) and I'm swamped with a project for school that's due in two weeks. Therefore, I don't have a whole lot of time to blog right now. I'll just give you all the stuff that's floating off the top of my head:

1. Terrell Owens: What a dilemma. The Eagles desperately need him on the field because without him, I'm pretty sure they're a 9-7 team at best. The Eagles also desperately need to get rid of him because I'm pretty sure that the locker room is so poisoned with him around that they might be a 7-9 team when he's wearing 81 Green. Total Catch-22 here. As a Giants fan, I'd like the Eagles to trade him for pennies on the dollar (they've got no leverage here) just so the NFC East can go back to full mediocrity throughout. It's no fun when the Eagles go 12-4 and the rest of the NFC East goes 6-10.

2. Yanks: Finished. 5 1/2 games out of the AL East lead is too much for this team. Maybe not for another incarnation of the Yanks but this one clearly doesn't care about playing baseball when the leaves turn brown. How else to explain scoring five runs in three games against Orlando Hernandez, Jose Contreras and Freddy Garcia -- none of them known for being stellar big league pitchers. The biggest problem this team has is Bernie Williams. He's become a flat-out horrible centerfielder (the Yanks lead the league in triples given up, a telling sign of a shitty defensive middle outfielder) and its translated into effortless AB's where he just goes up there and swings at the first pitch, irrespective of the situation. I don't care how many rings he won and how big a part he played in the 1995-2001 dynasty, he's got to go. See ya Bernie. Maybe one day we'll hang up #51 in New Yankee Stadium but for now, please clear out your locker and let yourself out.

3. More T.O.: I'd love to see him get traded to the Falcons. Not because I think that'll make the Falcons a great team but because it'll be funny to see how little patience T.O. will extend to Michael Vick. If T.O. didn't like playing with Jeff Garcia, by all accounts a fine QB in the West Coast system, how will he like playing with a guy that can't read defenses and has shown zero mastery whatsoever of the West Coast playbook. Throw in the fact that Vick operates on the "when in doubt, run" motto and no future hall-of-fame wide receiver with T.O.'s level of patience will want to go to Atlanta.

My opinion is that T.O. needs to end up in Kansas City. KC's receiving corps isn't too impressive and Vermeil loves to throw the ball downfield with all his crazy stunts and gimmicks. KC's got an adequate passer (Green), a great runner (Holmes) and the best tight end (Gonzalez). Sure KC should worry more about their defense but I think that's a place that could make it work for both parties.

Then again, I'm not actually rooting for T.O.'s happiness. If I had my druthers, T.O. ends up back in San Francisco where he can fume about being on a seriously bad team with a rookie QB, a poor offensive line, an up-in-the-air running game and a certain perenially-discriminated population (that he has gone on record as saying that he hates) cheering him on in pink and purple 81 jerseys. That would make for great reality TV too.

4. More Yanks: Joe Torre should not be fired. Brian Cashman should be fired instead. Joe's a fairly lousy field manager but a fairly good manager of people considering the setting and who his employer is. Joe's doing a reasonable job given the fact that Cashman decided to build a pitching staff around Carl Pavano and Jaret Wright, given their injury history. While I wish we could fire Joe because I think there are guys that are better at the X and O stuff (I could spend hours writing about all the tactical things he did wrong last year in the playoffs and in the losses we've suffered since the All-Star break), only I don't think there's anyone in baseball, living or dead, that could get the respect and attention of the players currently in the clubhouse. That's not a dig at guys like Bobby Cox or Tony LaRussa, it's just that I can't see Derek Jeter playing for anyone else.

I can't believe I'm actually saying this out loud but I sort of want this Yankee team to go away forever. I'd rather we stink with rookies and start again. It was more fun 10 years ago not knowing what would happen. Break up this team. Not because they're winning too much but because they don't care about winning enough. Where's the real Jeter? The guy currently playing shortstop and leading off ain't the guy I know. This one's playing like his shit don't stink. Jeet, buddy, you know it kills me to blast you in public but just because you won four titles doesn't mean you don't have to try. You can't hide behind your rings. Either play for the team you're on or ask out. Believe me, though, you don't want to go out there. It's a cruel world and they won't love you like we do.

PS -- I never meant to write this much because, as I said at the top, I really have a lot of other stuff to do. I'll never make it as a real writer, I'm far too verbose...