SportsGirl

I’m jones-ing today for some good football. I was traveling yesterday so I did not get watch as much football as I was hoping. The game I did watch was the Texans versus the Saints, which was good because the Texans won. But bad because both teams are not what I would call great so the football itself wasn’t all that watchable, save for the Ron Dayne resurgence that I have been waiting for. Then I was in transit to the airport for most of the Cowboys game so I had to listen to it on the radio. I had forgotten how enjoyable it can be to simply listen to a game on the radio. It’s been about 6 years since I had to listen to a game instead of watch and there is a certain attractive quality to “seeing” the game that way. The only thing that ruined it for me was Dan Reeves being one of the broadcasters. Terrible commentator and half the time I can’t understand a word he’s uttering! The few plays I did actually get to watch were the plays in the sequence that led Wade Phillips to call for a 50-some odd yard field goal attempt in the first quarter on the first drive. Seriously, Wade, are you that confident now that you’ll pull a stunt like that? That was like toying with the other team. “Hey, if we miss and turn the ball over around mid-field? No big deal. We’ve got this one in the bag”. Now, I am all for that kind of confidence when deserved. And I think the Boys are on a roll and are probably only going to be seriously challenged when they meet Green Bay in the NFC Championship game. But that seemed like a stupid call. And the Redskins scored on the ensuing possession, most likely because they had a short field!

The one pleasant spot last night was when I powered my phone on, after landing in Dallas again, I got a text message from the ESPN mobile service letting me know the Cowboys beat the Redskins 28-23. That was nice. Knew the outcome before stepping off the plane. Lovely! But there was one problem I had with that game. Isn’t Cowboys-Redskins supposed to be on Thanksgiving day? Isn’t that written in stone somewhere around the ”Do unto others as they would do unto you?” kind of thing? It’s like Packers-Lions. I don’t care if both teams suck, I want to see that game on Thanksgiving day. And I want to see John Madden passing out the turducken after the game. It just needs to be that way. Can someone work on that?

So I’m gearing up for a great week of extended football viewing. Lots of games spread across lots of days. My version of heaven!

Today is a day of shame. Today was the contest between Michigan and Ohio State. This is a game we, as U of M fans, live for each year. Don’t get me wrong, the bowl games are great. But the Ohio State game is equally important, maybe more important in a crappy season where you know the bowl bid won’t be a good one. I knew that OSU would be favored this year. Heck, they have been for the last 5 years. But in this type of rivalry, it doesn’t matter how you’ve played all season. You always have a chance. Or maybe not, as the Michigan players seemed to prove today.

It was an ugly game from the beginning. Cold, rainy, and altogether unpleasant looking. Early in the game OSU quarterback Todd Boeckmann dropped the ball with no one even pressuring him so I was hoping maybe the weather would affect them more than it did us. But really neither team could get any offense going. Mike Hart and Chad Henne played, though I can’t help but wonder if Henne hurt their chances of getting a win more than he helped. What absolutely killed the Wolverines though is Mario Manningham’s multiple dropped passes. But I can’t peg the entire loss on him. Michigan’s defense apparently doesn’t realize that when you go to tackle someone, the goal is to bring them down to the ground! They seem to want to just bump their guy and hope he loses his footing and falls. Forget wrapping your arms around a guy and dragging him down to the ground; today the players seemed more concerned with trying to be Bob freakin Sanders and they just wanted to hit their man and hope they stunned him. Note to U of M defenders: you’re not Bob Sanders! That guy knows how to follow through on a tackle. And if he hits you in the middle of the field, you can be darn sure you’ll drop to the ground. So between the defense forgetting their sole purpose on the field and the offense never finding a rhythm, it was a tough game to watch. The final score was 14-3, Ohio State. Hence the reason I feel shame today. I was even heckled as I headed to the movies later in the day, trying to erase the bad memory of the game. Some guy told us he was sorry for what Michigan endured today, then said Go Bucks! as he was walking away. And all I could do was shake my head because he had every right to do that. I freakin’ hate bragging rights when I don’t own them.

Apparently, I’m not the only one who’s ashamed of today’s outcome. Lloyd Carr has scheduled a press conference for Monday and is expected to announce his retirement. So the speculation will swirl about who his replacement will be. Les Miles? Urban Myer? Perhaps Cam Cameron, who would probably accept a position at Notre Dame rather than staying with the Dolphins. It will remain to be seen.

Meanwhile, LSU won their game, quite handily I might add and Oregon lost theirs. (Note to self…retract your statement in your earlier post where you said Oregon was a better team than LSU) Kansas won, and so did Missouri and as I’m typing this, Oklahoma is getting their butt whooped by Texas Tech, so it looks like the BCS will rank Kansas #2 and Missouri will likely move up to #3. Since those two teams play each other next week, it should be an interesting match up to look forward to. And this hot potato game of contending for the National Championship will continue until the regular season is over. I know the Big Ten won’t represent their conference there, so my support swings to the Big Twelve, since that’s the region I live in. And that leaves me with three words to close this post. Rock. Chalk. Jayhawk, baby. Ok, that was four…

For anyone who has read any of my previous posts, it’s not a secret that I love the Patriots. So it should come as no surprise that I have to weigh in on their pursuit of the perfect season. So many people hate them this season, while I feel more inspired than ever to cheer them on and do so loudly. Love the column posted by my favorite sports writer Bill Simmons where he discusses his unbridled passion for rooting the Pats on even when they’re running up the score on someone. Yes, I know, it’s unsportsman-like, and according to Gregg Easterbrook, the Patriots have no right to be upset that so many people are questioning their ability to win. Sorry, Mr. Easterbrook, but I completely disagree with your Good vs. Evil depiction of the Colts-Pats match-up. Yes, the Patriots were found to have illegally taped the other team’s signals in the Jets game. And yes, I know you believe in some big grassy knoll theory that they’ve been doing this for years, are still doing it, and will probably have secret intel on the outcome of the up-coming elections for President. I, on the other hand, think that they got caught illegally videotaping the Jets sideline and were in possession of materials that weren’t going to be of use to the team until they sat down and reviewed them, so truly there was no competitive advantage gained. Not that I condone or excuse what they did, and I’m not going to get into the “they’re not the only team using this type of tactic” argument, but seriously. We’re talking about them having this material in a game that they were winning without it and the tapes were destroyed before they could use them to game plan for the next meeting with the Jets.

So I don’t view the Patriots as evil. I don’t view them as good either. Great, would be more like it. Dominant. In your face, even. And I love every minute of it. So much of the discussion about this team has been about whether or not they’ll actually pursue the perfect season. Or if they’ll play it safe if they’ve locked up everything for the playoffs, which it seems likely they will. I say they’ll pursue the perfect season, but not because they want the record. They want to win every game just like every team does. And the argument goes something like “once home-field advantage throughout is locked up, why not rest your key guys to make sure they’re fresh for the post season?”. To not rest your guys would be arrogant, unsportsman-like even, or so the argument goes. I would suggest that there’s evidence that the opposite is true. That by resting your guys, or by altering your normal routine in a dramatic way, you’d be ultimately hurting your chances of reaching your ultimate goal, which is without question a win in the Super Bowl.

Look at the last two World Series. One team had their LCS wrapped up well in advance of their eventual competition. The team that finished the LCS early went on to lose the World Series, in ugly fashion I might add. It’s like my dad always says about being in law school. The kids that got straight A’s in college never did as well in law school because they weren’t used to having to work for it. The kids that got B’s and C’s in college did great in law school because they knew how to apply themselves. They already had a routine down of how to juggle all the priorities and get their study time in, etc. It’s the same concept in sports.

And this is the same reason why I’m not bothered when the Pats seem to run up the score. What would you have them do? Stop calling effective plays in favor of allowing their opponent the opportunity to come back and make it a close game? In a league where San Diego can give up almost 500 yards of offense to Minnesota one week and then next week they can pick off Peyton Manning 6 times, I’m not going to try to figure out which teams I can afford to slack off against, and which I can’t. And isn’t that almost more offensive and insulting to a team? “Hey, I know you suck and we’re up 20 points in the first quarter, so I’m just gonna put the ship on autopilot right now and let my guys cruise. You’ve got no chance of winning this thing!” Are you supposed to tell your defense to stop trying to make plays? Or to stop pass rushing quite as effectively just so your offense stays on the sidelines a little longer?

This is why I’m all for what the Patriots are doing right now. You play to win each game. Not to shame your opponents, but to play your best each week for 60 minutes. To give anything less would be disrespectful to the sport and the other teams. And you keep pressing ahead even when you’ve locked everything up because you play to win every game. No one wants to be rusty when the Super Bowl rolls around. And let’s face it, the chances of your guys being “fresh” because they didn’t play for 3 weeks versus being plain ol’ rusty are slim. So I say pursue that perfect season oh proud Patriots. Not to shove it in peoples’ faces, though you know a little bit of that is ok with me because people are blowing this camera-gate thing way out of proportion, but because that’s the way you play the game. To win.

Here it is, another Monday, and we are getting set to wrap up Week 10 in the NFL. I can’t say that I’m particularly jazzed for tonight’s match-up between the 49′ers and the Seahawks, but hey, it’s football, so I’ll be watching. My condolences go out to Mike Nolan and his family at the loss of his father, and hats off to Mike for deciding to coach tonight’s game, even while coping with the grief. I know it will be said a million times tonight, so let me be one of the first, that it’s probably a decision his dad would support.

I stayed up and watched the entire San Diego/Indy game. Most people probably quit in the first half, thinking it was a sloppy, one-sided game. And it was. I’m not going to say that Indy had no business coming that close to winning the game because I actually think the opposite is true; San Diego had no business beating the Colts. It shouldn’t have even been a contest! The Chargers are not the better team. They played better than the Colts last night, but they are not the better team. They are the team that allowed one rookie phenom to gain almost 300 yards by himself against their defense last week. They are the team whose quarterback barely managed 100 yards passing in victory last night, even with a weapon like Antonio Gates at his disposal. So all the talk about Indy “not deserving” to get a win last night is bull to me. They absolutely deserved a win and I’m still shaking my head that they didn’t get it!

One interesting note that I observed while watching the NFL games yesterday. During the Dallas-NY game, one of the Dallas defenders got flagged for unsportsman-like conduct for after he taunted the Giant he had just tackled. I thought it was a little ticky-tacky, but whatever. Just make your tackles and move on and quit jawing on the field. Then I’m watching the Chargers game and Marques Harris makes a tackle and proceeds to literally do a back-flip on the field like he’s going for the Gold at the Olympics. Was there a flag? Nah. You know, to possibly have a slight bit of consistency throughout the officiating crews would be nice. Maybe too much to ask for? Especially when we have things like “inadvertent whistles” happening that can truly affect the outcome of the game. A big thumbs-up to Clint Sessions for knowing what the ref apparently missed–that the ball never hit the ground on that 4th quarter almost-incomplete pass by Rivers and that it was a live football ready to be run back the other way for a touchdown. You could argue that this botched whistle blowing by the officials severely impacted the game. Because with the ball on the SD 7 yard line instead of on their own 20 yard line is a completely different scenario for the Colts. And really if you think about it, Sessions may have run a little harder in that last section of field to try to score if he hadn’t been hearing all the whistles blowing, signaling that the play was dead when it wasn’t. Even Al Michaels was commenting “This is all for show, of course, as the call on the field is that it was an incomplete pass”. Um, no Al, it wasn’t.

I must say, I was crabby watching the first half of the Cowboys game. Too many penalties, not enough catches, not enough explosive running from Barber, etc. And FYI, to Patrick Crayton. When you’re freakin’ untouched by a defender and you’re streaking towards the end zone? Cross the bleeping line into the end zone before you set that ball down. That is hardly a novel concept. You know what, if you want to make a statement by firmly placing the ball on the turf once you’ve scored, fine. But people who want to showboat and high-step it into the end zone, holding the ball out in front of them as they clown around or who want to not cross into the end zone, just extend the ball across the plane and then plant it into the turf? Give me a break. Even when you’re on my team, I’m rooting for you to botch the play and end up getting the ball stripped or have the officials review and tell you the ball didn’t actually break the plane. I am a fan of end zone dances and celebrations. I think it’s a shame that Ocho Cinco can’t perform his any more, though I guess he’d have to score a touch down for my disappointment to really count. But only after you’ve run into the end zone, ball tucked firmly in your arm should you make your “I’m awesome” statement. Is that so hard? Please.

A look ahead to next week reveals that announcers and analysts are already trying to create some hype behind a New England/Buffalo game that, by all accounts, should be a fairly one-sided contest. Wait, wasn’t that what last night’s game was supposed to be? In the NFL today, you just can’t keep it straight on which team is supposed to be crushing which.

Well, I’m a day late, but as promised here is a little college football talk. I’m thoroughly unhappy with the BCS rankings as of this week. I am only focusing on the BCS for this column because it’s the only ranking system that really matters in the end. But truly, my discontent somewhat lies in the general concept of the rankings.

I think this all goes back to the pre-season rankings and the importance placed on them. All of the analysts get together before the season, before a single meaningful snap has occurred, and they rank who they think is going to be good for the upcoming season. I understand that watching teams practice and scrimmage can offer some insight into what they might look like when facing actual opponents. But until the season starts, how can you postulate accurately on who will be good? Look at my beloved Wolverines pre-season ranking. They started the season as the #5 team in the AP rank. As happy as it made me to see that, it looked farcical after the contest with Appalachian State. Even more so after the rout by Oregon…So now Michigan is being punished when compared to other 2-loss teams because they were beaten by an unranked Division I-AA team. I do understand the ramifications of this happening to a traditional powerhouse team like U of M, but if they had started the season at a lower ranking, it probably wouldn’t have quite the impact that it has now. So that leads me to my main contention and that is I’m not sure we should rank college teams, in any ranking system, until at least 6 games into the season.

This is one thing that the BCS gets right. But consider that the BCS formula includes the AP ranking that begins before the season, and once again pre-season rank becomes a factor. Take LSU and Oregon. You could probably land on either side of the fence of the argument over which team is better. My money says Oregon, having watched them both play. LSU has needed last-second victories in too many games for me to believe they’re the #2 team in the country. I suppose this is as appropriate a time as any to state that I believe strongly in margin of victory as a factor in ranking teams. This is one reason why it doesn’t bother me that the Patriots continue to thump their opponents by such a large margin instead of sending in second-string players in the second half. Beating a team by 3 points or 6 points as time is expiring, especially when that team is not ranked, doesn’t impress me. Now, I know, I wrote earlier about the great comeback win that BC engineered over Virginia Tech so you’re probably thinking I sound like a giant hippocrate at this point. But if you re-read that entry, nowhere did I say that BC should have maintained their #2 ranking simply because they won. It took two scores in the final 4 minutes of the game to win but for the first 44 minutes of that contest, BC was dominated. That’s not a hallmark of a #2 team. I’m not saying you can’t trail your opponent at any point in a game and still be considered top-tier, I’m just saying LSU has let too many teams hang around too long for me to give them the edge over Oregon.

I propose that we eliminate pre-season rankings altogether. Let the season start, let the teams start playing their games. Let’s see how they look a few weeks into it. Then, let the BCS formula kick in, and at that point, if the AP ranking is a factor, no biggie. Because the pre-season, artificial ranking has been removed and it’s a clean slate at that point. I just don’t like to see teams have inflated rankings because they were good last season. It’s the same reason I nearly steered my car into on-coming traffic this morning when I heard Phil Simms on Mike and Mike saying that San Diego is one of only a few remaining teams that could challenge Indy or New England. San Diego. Really? The same San Diego that gave up 500+ yards to the Minnesota Vikings? Or maybe the same San Diego that doesn’t remember that LaDainian Tomlinson is one of the greatest players in football right now…They’re a team that could challenge the Pats or the Colts? Pittsburgh I’ll give you. Not San Diego.

Tomorrow I’m going to delve into the Patriots quest for perfection as there is a wealth of discussion occurring on the subject and I feel the need to weigh in.

I have been told in the past that I’m forbidden from blogging about college football on a Monday. That the NFL trumps college any day, especially on Mondays. And to a certain extent, I agree. Between the Pats-Colts game and the Cowboys-Eagles game, there’s plenty of NFL action to discuss. But for anyone wanting to get my thoughts on the BCS mess that I see brewing this season, tune in tomorrow. I’m not pleased with the ranking of LSU at #2 this week.

For now though, let’s delve into the NFL action, shall we? As I said to my boss, who is a devout Browns fan, did you ever think that the Cleveland Browns would be described as an offensive juggernaut? His response of course was “Uh…no”. Who would think that in Week 9 the Browns would be able to rally from a 21-6 deficit against the Seattle Seahawks, a team that most analysts are far too reluctant to label as mediocre, force over-time and then win?! And that just hours before that, the San Diego defense would give up 296 rushing yards to rookie phenom Adrian Peterson? San Diego having defensive issues while Cleveland out-slugs their opponent offensively? Did I miss the message that yesterday was backwards day in the NFL?

But one thing that was not backwards was the Patriots win over the Colts in a game that lived up to the hype for me, though in a different way than I was expecting. That was a tough game for me to watch. Between the questionable officiating (could NE have gotten slapped with a few more bogus pass interference calls while Indy mugged the NE receivers sans flags?) and Brady having a very un-Brady day, I was a nervous wreck. I don’t have too many deeply-held interests in the games I watch. But New England is one of two teams that I can’t watch lose, with U of M being the other team. I have a growing affinity for the Dallas Cowboys, especially with Romo at the helm which I’ll discuss in a second, but if they lose I’ll get over it. With New England losing, I was not a fun person to be around yesterday. Sure it was exciting when Randy Moss reeled in that sick, one-handed catch in the middle of the field and maintained possession without ever securing the ball with his other hand. That man is a freak of nature. Thank God he’s on our team! But watching Dwight Freeney fly around putting pressure on Brady is not my idea of a good time. It wasn’t until the Pats scored in the 4th to bring the score to 17-20 that I started to feel the color return to my cheeks. I started to remember, hey, we’ve imposed our will on all the other teams we’ve played this season, why not on the Colts? Then the strike to Kevin Faulk came with a few minutes to go in the game and now the color in my cheeks was accompanied by a smile. Albeit a tight-lipped smile, but a smile none-the-less. But it wasn’t until the Patriots stopped the Colts on their final possession and got the ball back with about 2 minutes remaining that I actually relaxed. Even as they took a knee to end the game, I was a little tense. What if something happens and Brady drops the ball before his knee goes down and the Colts recover…you never know these days in the NFL. Stranger things, i.e. Antonio Cromarti returning a missed field goal 109 yards for a touchdown, have happened!

Still feeling euphoric from the Patriots win, I settled in to watch the Boys versus the Eagles in what I was hoping would be an entertaining Sunday night game. Considering the Cowboys won in decisive fashion, it was entertaining in that regard. But the Eagles got manhandled, starting with their first play from the line of scrimmage, and sloppy football is rarely fun to watch, even when it’s your team benefiting from the mistakes. The eventual score of 35-17 Cowboys tells the tale. Philly could never really get things going on offense. McNabb was picked off twice, and had the above-mentioned fumble on the first play. Their defense didn’t even manage to sack Tony Romo, which was a first for them. And you just sort of knew when the game started that Philly lacked the pizzazz needed to beat the Cowboys coming off a bye week and Romo coming off his monster contract negotiations. A fresh team and an underdog QB who now needs to prove he’s worth the cash his owner just promised to shell out? Unbeatable unless you bring your A+ game.

So the Eagles fell by the wayside, a fate which I’m hoping more Dallas opponents face in the coming weeks. Now I begin my stewing over what will happen if the Super Bowl is a match-up between the Cowboys and the Patriots. No matter where I watch the game, here in Dallas I’ll be a hated spectator rooting for New England, but would get lambasted even more if I played both sides of the fence and said I didn’t care who won. What’s a SportsGirl to do?

In the last month, I have re-discovered my passion for watching sports. I know, that probably seems like the impossible given that I watch more than half the sports fans I know. But I have forgone watching almost any regular TV if there is a sporting event on, unless that sporting event is something along the lines of University of Louisiana-Lafayette vs. Tulane. It’s made me realize just how entertaining sports can be.

So needless to say, with my re-discovered passion, I’ve been in heaven with all of the sporting events on TV recently. Let’s start with the baseball. My support is squarely behind the Rockies because I’m over all Red Sox fans. (all due apologies to my sister and her husband) I don’t want to hear another announcer use the phrase “shades of 2004″ or talk about Schilling and the sock, etc. I especially hate listening to that chatter because I think the 2007 Red Sox are a better team. Forget all of that “Team of Destiny” crap, this year’s Sox are just freakin’ lights out. Their pitching has been unhittable lately and their bats are on fire. After Game 1 of the World Series, I was seeing “shades of 2006″ when my Tigers got blanked by the Cardinals and everyone wanted to blame it on the time off between their series. But last night’s game I think really spoke to the incredible pitching that the Sox are getting, and also gave me hope that the Rockies could regain some footing when the series heads West. If they lose on Saturday, the Rockies are d-u-n done.

Now, onto my true love, football. It was almost painful to watch the first 55 minutes of the BC-VA Tech football game last night. BC looked inept, and I kept cringing thinking of my father who said last weekend that Matt Ryan should be the lead contender for the Heisman this year. Then the last 5 minutes of the game took place, where Ryan threw for two touchdowns and stunned the home crowd into silence with a last-minute victory.  It was awesome. Just when I was getting disheartened, feeling like none of the top 5 teams really wanted to be there, BC pulls it off. And no, I don’t have any particular affinity for Boston teams, I just like to see good teams win games they’re supposed to win. And BC still falls into “Little Guy” status with me, much more so than VA Tech. It was a great ending to a not-so-easy to watch game, complete with a BC-recovered on-side kick with the announcers saying in the background that the best option is to kick it deep and ask your defense to hold the other team to a 3 and out series. Poetic.

And last of all, we have basketball. I was fortunate enough to attend the Mavs-Bulls pre-season game on Tuesday night. I was stoked for the game for many reasons, not the least of which was the food. I LOVE stadium hot dogs. And nachos…anyways. I was looking so forward to the game–which was a last-second suggestion–and much to my chagrin, someone forgot to mention to the crowd and to the teams that basketball game are supposed to be exciting. Let me start by saying that offensive rebounding seems to be optional in the NBA. No one, and I do mean no one, from the shooting teams appears to care to go for the board on a missed shot. On Tuesday, for every 1 Maverick at the basket “vying” for the rebound, there were 4, count ‘em 4, Bulls trying to pull it down. And the same would happen when the Bulls would shoot. It’s like once the shooting team realizes the shot didn’t go in, they start back down the floor, switching into defensive mode. Annoying! So between the lack of rebounding and just the general feeling of apathy (I know, it was pre-season) between the two teams, the game was less than interesting. Maybe it was the hot dog and bowl full of processed cheese on chips that I inhaled in about 2 minutes that made me feel sleepy. But the play on the court did nothing to revive my interest and we left at half time. Happily. So it was a big disappointment and my only hopeful thought is that maybe Avery Johnson has decided to view the regular season the way my dad looks at cars. They’re just a means of transportation from Point A to Point B, so who cares what you look like when you arrive at Point B. Maybe the Little General realizes that it’s great to have a phenomenal regular season record but if you waste your intensity during the regular season, what do you have left when you make it to Point B, which is the post-season? That’s the solace I’m trying to glean from my basketball outing this week. We’ll see if it works…

All I need is to watch some compelling hockey or soccer and I’ll be a happy camper. For now, I’m enjoying my re-discovered passion and giving my thanks that I don’t have to watch the likes of Desperate Housewives for another season!

There has been a wealth of discussion on whether the Pats are the best team in football or if that designation belongs to the Colts. Enough discussion that it caused Steve Young to practically melt down on Sports Center after the game last night. His point? Why discuss what the impending match up between the two teams will mean when we all know they’ll likely meet again in the AFC title game. All due respect to Steve, as I understand where he’s coming from, but I don’t agree. Emmitt Smith made a great point during what became almost a heated exchange between Stu Scott and Young that the match up in November does mean something because it gives the winning team an edge, especially in the mental game. If you’ve beaten them in the regular season, you have that slight swagger when/if you meet again in the post-season. When you have two teams that are playing at this level, even a minor mental edge can make a huge difference.

So, it will come as no surprise to any of my readers that I think the Patriots have the superior team this season. If you compare the two on both sides of the ball you might think it’s a draw. They both have prolific quarterbacks who are amazingly accurate, with a full compliment of receivers to spread the ball to. They both have defenses with play-makers, though I think New England gets the edge there because they have a number of key guys that make plays (i.e. Tedy Bruschi, Mike Vrable, etc) whereas I think Indy’s main man on D is Bob Sanders. Don’t get me wrong, Bob Sanders is a guy to build an entire D around, but he’s probably the biggest play-maker on the team and the others are simply good.

Then it comes to coaching. Both teams are well-coached but I think NE will have a huge advantage in this department this season. Bill Belichick has something to prove. Bill Simmons of ESPN.com fame has written a great articleabout exactly how Belichick will prove his greatness this season. Because Belichick is a student of the game, of the game’s history and wants to be a part of the game’s legacy. His talent has been questioned so this season will be a 16-week response letter to all the critics. “Dear critics, I’m awesome and belong in the discussion of the best coaches ever. Don’t ever question me again. Sincerely, Bill Belichick” Or something like that…

So all eyes are on the match up in a few weeks, provided neither team succumbs to the trap of losing a gimme game in the meantime. And my money is on the Pats (of course). Because I can’t listen to Colts fans bragging if the Colts win. Too much to handle!

Since last night’s meeting between the Falcons and Giants was somewhat of a bust in terms of viewing pleasure, I wanted to comment on the broadcast team that ESPN selected for this season. You know Mike Tirico has got to be thinking “As hard as it is to admit, Joe Theismann was not the problem last year, Kornheiser was! Who knew?!” Because Mike Tirico is a consummate professional in my opinion. He is a great play-by-play guy who can deftly move from the play on the field, to mixing it up with the color guys, then back to the play on the field. Ron Jaworski makes a good color guy, and really is able to bring his knowledge from his playing days in without sounding like a stereotypical meathead former jock. But then you throw Tony Kornheiser in the mix and the formula develops a bad taste.

I understand that above anything else, Monday Night Football is a broadcast program competing against the likes of the Bachelor and The Big Bang Theory, which is one of the main reasons it was pulled from ABC’s line up and moved to ESPN, where you get more slack for lower ratings. Because of the pressure to keep a large market share, so as to continue to merit the high dollars that advertisers pay, ESPN wants to find lightening in a bottle in the broadcast booth. But I think they’re trying too hard.

Everyone said at the beginning of last season that Tony Kornheiser would be the “Howard Cosell” of the team. He would bring a unique, not always sports-themed, perspective that would liven up the perceived monotony of simple play-by-play and color exchanges. But they’re trying to force a dynamic that isn’t working. And to be fair, they also did this when the telecast was still on network television by thinking that Dennis Miller could be that “catalyst” for thought-provoking discussions. And that might be accurate, except when I’m watching football, I don’t want to listen to a thought-provoking discussion about anything other than whether or not someone was smart for drafting Adrian Peterson in the first round of their fantasy football league. I don’t want to hear someone slam President Bush. I don’t care about some obscure movie reference that they find particularly appropriate for that moment of the game. I want to hear about football. I think the Al Michael’s/John Madden tandem works well in this respect. They’re lively together and I think Michael’s is the best in the business. They play off of each other’s moods well and they keep it interesting. They also keep the discussion centered on football and pretty much nothing else, save for the few promos they have to kick out during the broadcast. Imagine if you threw Jon Stewart into the booth with them. I like Jon Stewart, but how is he relevant to football?

Last night, as with all broadcasts, the MNF crew brought a guest into the booth to provide more unnecessary commentary on all things non-football related. Their guest was Jimmy Kimmel. Kimmel is great on his talk show. Absolutely horrible in the booth. The guys were stepping all over each other vying for air time and meanwhile Tirico was desperately trying to recount what was going on down on the field. Not that there was much, the game was fairly difficult to watch. Sloppy performances on defense and offence from the Dirty Birds and the G-Men weren’t much better. It’s pretty sad when Joey Harrington throws fewer picks than Little Manning and yet Little Manning’s team still wins. But still, I didn’t want to listen to Kimmel detail his flight patterns as he juggles two gigs this week,  hosting both Regis and Kelly and his own show. If I’m watching the game, I want to know things like when Amani Toomer becomes the all-time leading receiver for the Giants. Give me insight on that. Talk about how you think Tiki Barber will react to being replaced. (On that subject, check out this articlefrom Gregg Easterbrook on the subject of records being broken)

So, my advice to the producers and the suits at ESPN? Kick Kornheiser off the broadcast and leave it to Jaws and Tirico. Seriously, test this out. Next week just tell the audience that Kornheiser got sick shortly after taping PTI that day and let’s see the reaction to the broadcast that night. Since something like that might take a week to get spread by word-of-mouth, repeat the experiment the following week and see what it does for ratings. Or float the story the night before that he’ll be out of the booth. Guaranty it will increase viewership, even for a crappy game. Just don’t make me listen to another season of “insight” from Big Tony that just fails to pique my interest.

My immediate thanks to ESPN’s John Clayton for using that phrase in his recounting of yesterday’s Dallas-New England matchup. What a great way to describe the team they’ve assembled up there in Bean Town. And my immediate apologies to the devout Dallas Cowboy fans that are still smarting from the loss and who will think me a traitor for being excited over the Patriots win. But seriously, what football fan isn’t gaga over what the Pats are doing so far this season?! They’ve been amazing and yesterday truly wasn’t even their best game.

Sunday’s game was the kind I like; I honestly would have been happy if either team had won. I obviously love the Patriots because of Brady being a Michigan guy, and also because he was a late-round pick that gives us all hope that the “little guy” or the diamond in the rough can actually make something of himself. But I really do like this Cowboys team, more-so than any team in years past, despite my lack of affection for Wade Phillips. I love Romo (see little guy reference above), I don’t hate TO with the passion I felt last season, and I think this team is going to do some good things this season. But I grew up loving anything U of M; I didn’t grow up loving the Boys. So yesterday’s outcome thrilled me to death!

One thing that killed me from the game? Romo taking a knee with about 30 seconds left at the end of the fourth quarter. I know, there was no prayer of them winning at that point. Even if he threw for a touchdown and they recovered an on-side kick and immediately returned that for a touchdown then recovered another on-side kick…you see where I’m going. But by the same token, the game was done, so what’s the harm in risking an interception by throwing a bomb down the field? Are you going to be more demoralized at that point with an incompletion or a pick? Probably not. But to just give up and take a knee and concede defeat was horrible to me. I want to go down fighting, leaving everything on the field. I just thought the action lacked spirit and sent a message to that team that their coaching staff didn’t care at that point. I know, I know, the risk of injury on every play is real and if you’ve lost the game why continue with the risk. I didn’t like it.

Up next for the Cowboys is Minnesota. I’m back and forth on how I think that game will go. Adrian Peterson is paying huge dividends to any fantasy owner who took a chance and drafted him. However, the Boys did at least stop the Patriots run game, albeit with Sammy Morris and Lawrence Maroney on the sidelines. I think Dallas will bounce back, get their wits about them after two weeks of under-performing.

Next up for New England are the Miami Dolphins. No game is a gimme in my book, but good golly if the Pats don’t win this one it better be because Brady has the first known human strain of the bird flu and Randy Moss, Wes Welker and Dante Stallworth all have double broken legs. Miami is that bad.

If week 2’s game was the Patriots making a statement that they can win without the use of any “visual aids”, this week was their follow-up to that statement to remind us that there is not a stop to their dominance in sight, until possibly Week 9 when they meet Indy. I’m already popping the popcorn for that match-up!