Assuming I somehow get off the ground at O'Hare tomorrow, I'll be sipping coffee (coffee?) and watching the Packers at 9:30 A.M. on my sister's couch in Portland come Turkey Day. Here's hoping some of my grumpiness has worn off by then. Is there a Scrooge-correlate for Thanksgiving? If so, I will now be it. I am the Turkey Monster.
Grumblegobble
It's always nice to see the immediate wave of "Oh sure, we used to do that"s surge through the media after there is a new "scandal" in the NFL. Remember Dennie Green's son claiming that his dad used to pipe noise into the MetrosexualDome back in the day? Now our very own LeRoy Butler opened up his weekly insider Journal-Sentinel 5-Questions piece by joking around about how the team used to have a pool from game to game.
Not that I blame old LeRoy for being honest. The fact is, every
single NFL team does it, and has done it, for 7,000 years. Just like how every single NFL team does extensive "research" on opponents' signals, using (gasp) photographic equipment. I think my real grumpiness comes from any negative fodder showing up, especially superificial fodder like this. Let me have my miracle season. It's not gambling. Anyway, LeRoy, can't you see your boys are busy pretending that it was their uncles' cousins' who were doing the bounties, and that just that dude on the street whose name they don't know was the one who put 'em up to it? I don't want to talk about it.
Gobblegooglegob
The NFL rulebook is, in my mind, officially in crisis. I've once posted about some of the problems the replay system has introduced, and while I wouldn't want to remove it, I think some questions of, uh, football ontology need to be addressed. Cleveland field-goal aside, I think the question of when to blow the whistle needs to be examined. Refs need to be retrained, and everyone needs to be on the same page about the ways in which doubt can and should prevent a ref from allowing a play to stop, as opposed to doubt causing a ref to blow a whistle.
The Packers ended up on the right side of an officiating error during the Panthers game. There's no doubt in my mind they'll end up on the wrong side of it before the season is out.
Gabrumblegob
Jon Kitna needs to be sent out on missionary work somewhere very dangerous. The Big Holy Asshole rose up again this Sunday...this time, instead of re-humiliating one of his coaches in a public forum because he thought it might be a kind of neat joke, he moved on to the tamer tactic of just sounding like a moron again. Immediately following the loss to the Giants, Kitna spouted off about the Lions being better than the Giants. More evidence that those who claim personal relationships with omnipotent deities interested in professional football outcomes are confused on many levels.
I liked Kitna's call to 10 wins at the beginning of the season. The team needed a shot in the ass. He clearly, however, can't understand that motivational speeches, given at the wrong moments, just make you a big fucking idiot.
I like Strahan's reaction.
Also, by the way: I totally agree with Jon on this one. And that is not a double-standard.
Gobbleganglaglab
Profootballtalk, you're kinda cool, and I like the whole We're Here To Take on the Titans of Media vibe you put out, and I like the Emmit criticism, and I like how you managed to make yourself totally rich doing what you love, and I like how you have been finding ways to deal with that, and I like your sense of humor, but one small piece of advice that is not sour grapes, honestly. It's not sour grapes. But listen: when you post about Sprint phones, often, it's kinda hard to not think of you as a big corporate clown, too.
Gobblegugggglleeegag
Lions 29, Packers 20. Not because I don't love my boys. But that damn dome, on this damn day...prove me wrong!
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