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Predictions based on the results of Week 6

The good news for the NFC East: two teams – TWO – will be at .500 after week 6!

The bad news for the NFC East: those two teams will be tied for first place.

The NFC East will be the only division in the NFL whereby the first place teams are not better than .500. On the bright side, the NFC East will finally have more combined wins (seven) than the teams with the best record in the NFL (six)!

The bad news: two teams – TWO – will fall to 0-6.

The good news for the Giants: they will only be three games back of the division leaders.

The good news for the Jaguars: they will totally beat the ridiculous and NFL record-tying 28-point spread that Las Vegas favored the Broncos to win by.

The bad news for the Jaguars: they will still lose by more than two touchdowns.

The good news for the Jaguars: Tim Tebow is avaiiilablllle!

The bad news for the Jaguars: Tim Tebow is available.

In what may be a sign that things they are a-changing in Cincinnati, the Bengals will blow a 14-point fourth-quarter lead to the Bills but still win in overtime.

In what may be a sign that things are not a-changing, the Buccaneers will fall to 0-5 with a loss to the Eagles.

For the third-straight game, the Eagles will have three drives of over three minutes, including their second-longest drive of the season, taking 5:29 in the fourth quarter en route to a field goal. Their longest drive this season: 6:32 against Denver (that also led to a field goal).

Could Chip Kelly finally be learning how to win in the NFL?

Thinking….

Thinking….

After week 6, the combined record of the three teams the Eagles’ will have defeated will be 1-15. But that one win came against Oakland (by Washington), and the Raiders will be 2-4…yeah I wouldn’t hold my breath, Eagles fans.

The Jets will come into week 6 tied for second in the AFC East. The Steelers will come into week 6 dead last in the AFC North. So of course Pittsburgh will defeat New York handily.

Remember when Matt Flynn had that great game with the Packers in 2011, throwing for 480 yards and six touchdowns against Detroit? Since that time, he went to Seattle (where he threw for 68 yards OVER THE ENTIRE 2012 SEASON) and then Oakland (where he threw for 246 yards over two games this season). In fact, he’s been so impressive for the Raiders that they will make the decision to play a concussed* Terrelle Pryor against the Chiefs.

*I’m sure he passed every single concussion test the Raiders gave him with flying colors and was completely and 100-percent healthy for the game.

Pryor will throw three second-half interceptions** as the Chiefs will improve to 6-0.

**I’m sure he passed every single concussion test the Raiders gave him with flying colors and was completely and 100-percent healthy for the game.

The Raiders will cut Flynn, but all is not lost, as he will sign with the Bills, who have a long history of giving fading quarterbacks one more chance (see Leinart, Matt).

The Chiefs’ six wins means they will have already TRIPLED their wins total from a year ago.

In a battle of kinda sorta Super Bowl contenders, the Packers will hold off the Ravens by….and this is crazy…running the ball! Eddie Lacy will become the third GB running back to break the 100-yard plateau this season. It will give the Packers three more 100-yard rushers this season than they had all of 2012. And 2011. And 2010. COMBINED.

In fact, the last time the Packers had three 100-yard rushing games in a season was 2009.

Running the ball! Who knew?!

The Texans will lose their kinda sorts Super Bowl contender status with a home loss to the Rams. Surprisingly, there will be very few “Houston, we have a problem” jokes, even though Houston really does have a problem. In fact, many.

The Patriots, without Wes Welker, Aaron Hernandez, Rob Gronkowski or Danny Amendola, will defeat the Saints in what will so far be the game of the season, scoring a touchdown with seconds remaining in the game.

The reason? Tom Brady’s short hair, of course. “He looks so much better with short hair,” my wife will say.

The 49ers and Seahawks will improve to 4-2 and 5-1, respectively. The Colts, who defeated both San Fran and Seattle, will go into San Diego…and of course lose.

These aren’t your Norv Turner San Diego Chargers anymore.

MOMENT THAT GRINDED MY GEARS ENOUGH TO WRITE ABOUT IT (in letter form)
Dear College Football Playoff…um, people,

Archie Manning. Condoleezza Rice. Ty Willingham.

What do these three people have in common? A week ago, not a whole lot. I mean, Archie Manning played college football, and Ty Willingham coached college football, including the school that Condoleezza Rice attended, and Manning…well maybe Manning voted for Dubya.

Now, however, the three will be a part of the selection committee for the upcoming football playoff, which will begin next season.

Most college football fans have been waiting for a playoff for YEARS, and I think we’re all very excited to see it come to fruition. March Madness is filled with drama and excitement and Adam Morrison’s tears and is probably the greatest three-plus weeks of the sporting year (outside of a year that includes the World Cup). So for college football, arguably the most popular sport this side of the NFL, to have a playoff…well suffice to say it’s going to be a fun couple of weeks.

But before we get to the actual games, we have to pick the four teams to compete. Manning, Rice and Willingham will be a part of that group.

The rest of the group includes Arkansas Athletic Director Jeff Long, Wisconsin AD and former head coach Barry Alvarez, former superintendent of the United States Air Force Academy Lt. Gen. Mike Gould, Southern Cal AD Pat Haden, former NCAA executive vice president Tom Jernstedt, Clemson AD Dan Radakovich, West Virginia AD Oliver Luck, former Nebraska coach and AD Tom Osborne, former BIG EAST commissioner Mike Tranghese and former USA Today college football reporter Steve Wieberg.

Most of these names I don’t mind. You have the big five conferences represented with Long (SEC), Alvarez and Osborne (Big Ten), Haden (Pac 12), Luck (Big 12) and Radakovich (ACC); you have smaller conferences represented in Gould (Mountain West) and Tranghese (American née BIG EAST (and yes I know the BIG EAST is still around but how many times do you really get to use née?)); you have current and former ADs (Alvarez, Long, Osborne and Radakovich); former coaches (Alvarez, Osborne and Willingham) and former players (Haden, Luck and Manning); you have media (Wieberg); you have NCAA (Jernstedt).

My issues are with Manning and Rice. Manning you could make the argument because he played at Ole Miss and was named to the College Football Hall of Fame. But that doesn’t hold a lot of water to me because what has been his involvement with college football since he graduated? He’s been as an analyst on TV and he’s served on the board of the National Football Foundation since 1993, but neither of those qualifications necessarily mean that he’s following all the college football teams closely.

And Rice has minimal qualifications when it comes to college football. Certainly she held an impressive job as Secretary of State, which I’m sure gave her good negotiating skills, so maybe that’s why they picked her? Is it because she’s a fan? I know a lot of fans (I happen to be one), and I don’t think loving college football makes one qualified to pick the four teams that will play for a national championship. Bill Hancock, Executive Director of the BCS, said of Rice that “[she] knows this game, she is a student of this game.” I don’t even know what that means.

Plus, doesn’t it seem strange that Stanford has three representatives on the committee? Rice went to school there and worked there, Willingham coached there and Luck had a son who played there. On the plus side it’s not Notre Dame that college football is over involving.

I guess my issue with picking Manning and Rice to serve on the committee is that it reeks of PR to me. Remember, the BCS is the same organization that in 2005 decided to replace the AP Poll (filled with media members who cover college football for a living) with the Harris Interactive Poll (which has included such college football stalwarts as Terry Bradshaw and Boomer Esiason, guys who talk about the NFL for a living). Sure, Bradshaw and Esiason had name value, sure, but nothing much else when it comes to college football.

But those were the names that the BCS presented to us as proof that the Harris Poll was a viable replacement for the AP Poll. How did the Harris Poll fare, you ask? Well next year college football will have a playoff to replace the BCS. So I guess you could say the Harris Poll fared perfectly well, at least with regards to the destination (just not so much with the journey).

I don’t think, as some have suggested, that one needs to have played college football to serve on the committee. But I do think that one needs to have worked in a college football setting where you’re involved with the day-to-day operations, either as a player or coach, school athletic administrator or conference representative, or media.  Manning has the player part but not much else. Rice has school administrator but not much else.

But what they do have is name recognition, and that sets off the warning bells in my head. Because it reminds me of the Harris Poll, which reminds me of all the issues with the BCS, which reminds me how we finally got to this Playoff in the first place.

Although, if my worries are proved correct, and history is any indication, the College Football Committee will screw up the final four badly enough such that in a few years, we’ll have an eight- or 16-team playoff. Which is what most of the fans want anyway. Viva la BCS!

Predictions based on the results of Week 5

In our ongoing “what team is better than all of the NFC East combined” series, New Orleans, Denver and Kansas City will all have as many wins by themselves (five) as the ENTIRE NFC EAST COMBINED.

The NFC East will be the only division where all four teams have losing records.

Just how bad will the NFC East be? The Giants, at 0-5, will be a mere two games back of the first-place Cowboys (2-3) and Eagles (2-3). The Chiefs will have one more win against NFC East opponents (three) than the best teams in the NFC East will have overall, by themselves (two each).

Meanwhile, in the NFC South, the Saints will end week 5 with a 5-0 record.

The rest of the NFC South will end week 5 with a 2-11 record.

After week 5, the Bengals will remain undefeated at home (3-0) and defeated on the road (0-2).

The standings after week 5 will show what a topsy-turvy season 2013 has been so far.

2012 Final Four team Atlanta: 1-4
2012 Playoff team Washington: 1-3
2012 terrible team Kansas City: 5-0

If Houston is indeed a Super Bowl contender, as many love to say that they eventually will be, what does that say about San Francisco, which will demolish the Texans in week 5, and Seattle, which upended the Texans in week 4?

And if the 49ers and Seahawks are Super Bowl contenders, what will that make the Indianapolis Colts, which will have wins over both of those teams?

After week 5, the Jets will be one game out of first-place in the AFC East. Let that sit in for a minute.

Hey Eagles fans, remember last year’s Coach of the Year, Bruce Arians? He took over as head coach of the Colts while Chuck Pagano was dealing with cancer and led them to a 9-3 record and the playoffs. He is now 3-2…with the ARIZONA CARDINALS.

But no no, I’m sure Chip Kelly will be great for you. Really.

After week 5, the Manning brothers will have combined for 28 touchdowns and 13 interceptions, which is respectable, until you realize that Peyton has 20 of those TDs and only one of those INTs.

The Broncos will outlast the Cowboys in a game where the final score will look like that of a college basketball game.

Tony Romo will prove yet again that he just can’t win. Despite his 506 passing yards and five touchdowns, the only thing people will take away is the takeaway that he gave away with under two minutes remaining.

The 51 points the Broncos will score against the Cowboys will equal the Jacksonville Jaguars’ scoring output of 2013.

Sorry, Giants, Steelers and Bucs – I think the Jags have Downey for Clowney just about sowed up.

MOMENT THAT GRINDED MY GEARS ENOUGH TO WRITE ABOUT IT (in letter form)
Dear Tiki Barber,

My how the mighty have fallen. This might seem like piling on at this point, but it bears repeating what has happened since you left the Giants: the team won two Super Bowls, you were let go from NBC’s Sunday Night in America, you allegedly cheated on your pregnant wife with an NBC intern, you got fired from NBC, you tried to get back into the NFL and failed, you started hawking a company where fans can pay to meet celebrities/athletes, you covered the Howard Stern Show Staff Fantasy Football Draft on SIRIUS/XM, you joined CBS Sports Radio.

But wait there’s more. Your former teammate Michael Strahan is a talk show host on not one, but TWO major networks, including taking over for Regis on ABC – the type of show that I’m sure you expected to be hosting on NBC after you retired. Your brother, who has a Super Bowl ring himself, is even starting his own NFL Analyst career on FOX Sports1.

Why do I bring this up? Well one, you seem like kind of a douche, so it’s fun to knock you. And two, I was thinking about some of the things you would have said about this 0-5 Giants squad if you were still on NBC, and I bet it would go something like this:

“Coach Coughlin is very hard-nosed, and [players don’t] get a lot of time off, [can’t] sit down and rest…and so it was a constant grind — a physical grind…that [takes its toll].”

I’m sorry, you did say something like that. In fact, you said exactly that, except you were talking about yourself.

“Coach Coughlin is very hard-nosed, and I didn’t get a lot of time off, couldn’t
sit down and rest myself, and so it was a constant grind — a physical grind on me that started to take its toll. The grind took its toll on me and really forced me to start thinking about what I wanted to do next. And that’s not a bad thing. That’s a good thing, for me at least. Maybe not for the Giants, because they lose one of their great players, but for me, it is.”

That was your first mistake. To this day, it grinds my gears that you felt the need to bash your former coach right after you retired. Heck, you even went so far as to criticize Eli Manning’s leadership and then in 2010 you said that Coughlin was losing the team. And if I listened to CBS Radio, I’m sure I would hear you saying the same things.

“The best thing that they did was release Josh. Somehow, someway that situation had to end. It had gotten toxic from both sides. Josh was manipulating, everybody felt like Coach was manipulating, but I don’t feel like Greg was that kind of guy. Greg wants what’s best for this team. I think he can get the locker room back. I want to see him get the locker room back.”

That was what your brother Ronde said in response to a question about how Greg Schiano is handling the current situation with the Bucs. Do you hear that? It’s certainly not the sound of someone being thrown under the bus, because that’s what Ronde did NOT do. When you watch Strahan on FOX, and they ask him about the Giants, do you know what he does NOT do? Throw his former coach/teammates under the bus. He might criticize and point out where they need to work on things, but you can do that without being critical. There’s a big, big difference, one that you apparently were too blinded by your own greatness to see.

Predictions based on the results of Week 4

After week four, the NFC East will have four victories between the four teams.

After week four, five teams will have four victories by themselves.

After week four, Kansas City will be one of those 4-0 teams, including three wins against NFC East opponents, which is one win shy of the win total of the entire NFC East.

Cut to the 0-4 Giants chanting, “so you’re saying there’s a chance!”

No.

No there’s not.

Only one NFC East team will win during week four, as the Redskins will get off the schneid with a victory over the Raiders.

Even Mike Shanahan won’t have it in his heart to feel his usual extra happiness at beating the team that once fired him after just a year and four games.

Not to be outdone, the AFC North will also see just one of its teams win a game, and that was only because two of its teams played each other.

If you predicted that the lone AFC North team to win during week 4 would be the Cleveland Browns, then get thee to a lottery.

The Broncos will hang 52 on the Eagles.

No letter for Chip Kelly this week – the Broncos are really, really good. Like, best in the NFL good. Like, so good that their season will most certainly end…with a Manning pick or a Welker drop in a crucial moment late in the fourth quarter of a playoff game.

After week 4, the Eagles will be second in the League in total offense and first in rushing, which is great.

After week 4, the Eagles will be last in the League in opponent’s yards per game and second to last in opponent’s points per game. They will also be second to last in opponent’s passing yards per game and 26th in opponent’s rushing yards per game.

Good thing Philadelphia fans are so forgiving!

In the battle of defeateds, the Vikings will pick up their first win of the season while dropping the Steelers to 0-4.

After the game, Pittsburgh QB Ben Roethlisberger will make the statement, “Right now, you could say we’re the worst team in the League.”

Nice try Ben, but the pollsters aren’t going to rank you below Jacksonville in the Downy for Clowney sweepstakes. The nerve of the guy, trying to sway the voters.

After failing to convince anyone that he supports Josh Freeman, Tampa Bay head coach Greg Schiano will finally realize that he has no other option but make the move to rookie quarterback Mike Glennon.

Here are Freeman’s 2013 game-by-game stats that got him benched:
at New York Jets (L): 15-31, 48.4 CMP%, 210 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT, 67.9 QBR
vs. New Orleans (L): 9-22, 40.9 CMP%, 125 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT, 56.1 QBR
at New England (L): 19-41, 46.3 CMP%, 236 yards, 1 INT, 54.5 QBR

Here is Glennon’s line against the Cardinals:
vs. Arizona (L): 24-43, 55.8 CMP%, 193 yards, 1 TD, 2 INT, 55.7 QBR

See? Totally different.

For the second straight week, the almost but not quite Super Bowl contender Texans will face a real Super Bowl contender.

For the second straight week, the Texans will lose.

Seattle cornerback Richard Sherman’s pick six will tie the game, as the Seahawks will win in overtime. Great. Now there will be NO shutting this guy up.

Thank goodness the Texans will next play….the San Francisco 49ers. Oh. Well.

Pre-prediction of a prediction for the week 5 predictions: for the third straight week, the Texans will lose.

MOMENT THAT GRINDED MY GEARS ENOUGH TO WRITE ABOUT IT (in letter form)
Dear Al Davis,

This is not a letter about something that grinded my gears, it’s a letter of apology. Because I’m sorry, sir. Five years ago, almost to the day, you fired a young up-and-coming coach. You held what we all called a bizarre press conference conducted by an old man whose sanity had obviously gotten off at the last stop. During the conference, you called this coach you just fired “a flat-out liar” and a “professional liar” and that he “conned me like he conned [the media].” You also said that this coach objected to drafting JaMarcus Russell, and we all know how that pick panned out.

Ok, so maybe your sanity had indeed left you at that point, but you were right about one thing: Lane Kiffin had to go, and that’s why you fired him. We all thought you were nuts. You were nuts, but we all thought that you firing Kiffin was just more evidence of your nuttiness. We all thought this was another Mike Shanahan situation: young coach who does decently well, but not well enough to suit you and then you axe him and he goes on to have a successful career. Both Shanahan and Kiffin had improved the Raiders by two wins their first year and each were 1-3 their second season when you decided to fire them. Shanahan went on to a great career with Denver and now Washington. We all assumed the same would happen with Kiffin. Turns out, you were the only one who could see what was going on. After you fired him, he was hired at Tennessee, where he tried to prove that then-Florida head coach Urban Meyer was a cheater (in retrospect, he might have been was right). Then Pete Carroll left USC for Seattle and Kiffin took the Trojans’ gig faster than you could say “NCAA Violations,” even trying to take some of his Tennessee recruits in the process. Kiffin did ok at USC, despite dealing with limits in scholarships due to NCAA sanctions, but not well enough, and he was fired literally hours after a loss to Arizona State.

So Mr. Davis, I’m sorry for doubting you. You obviously saw something in Kiffin that the rest of us did not, something behind that baby face of his that told you he was perhaps not a great coach, and perhaps not a great person. So that was one thing that you were right about in your later years.

Actually, that might have been the only thing you were right about in your later years.

–>

Predictions on NFL Week 3 (based on the results of NFL Week 3

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Predictions on NFL Week 1 based on the results of NFL Week 1

Finally the NFL season will begin! No longer will fans have to read or hear about the perils of the sport and the dangers of concussions – now they will be able to see those perils and dangers, over and over and over again, for 17-straight weeks!

Huzzah!

A number of big games will open the season, and a number of statements will be made.

The Broncos will make the statement that Peyton Manning’s arm is just fine, thank you very much.

The Ravens will make the statement that perhaps in retrospect, Anquan Boldin was a fairly important piece of the offense and worth more than a sixth-round draft choice.

The Ravens receivers – all of them – will total 215 yards on 15 receptions, with one touchdown.

Anquan Boldin – by himself – will total 208 yards on 13 receptions, with one touchdown.

Neither of Baltimore’s sixth-round picks from the 2013 NFL Draft, OL Ryan Jensen (inactive-injury) and DL Kapron Lewis-Moore (Reserve/Non-Football Injury) will play a single down.

The defense that the Ravens were able to rebuild thanks to the $6 million they saved on Boldin’s contract will give up 49 points.

But other than that, the trade will work out perfectly for Baltimore. Eventually.

The Niners will hold off the Packers in a rematch from last year’s playoffs.

The Niners will make the statement that they remain a Super Bowl contender.

The Packers will make the statement that hey, we’re pretty good, but the Niners are excellent, and pretty good is not as good as excellent, even though it’s pretty good.

After the game, Niners tight end Vernon Davis will say that he thanks God everyday for Boldin being on his team.

Now we will know – God isn’t Tim Tebow, He’s Trent Baalke, the 49ers General Manager! Good luck competing against that, rest of the NFL.

The Patriots will make a statement that they don’t need to bring back receivers who accounted for 192 receptions, 2,265 yards and 10 touchdowns last year; they will simply plug in new starters, watch them catch 17 balls for 183 yards and two touchdowns in a win over the Bills, rinse, repeat.

The Bills will make a statement that they are still the Bills, doing Bills-like things with Bills-like frequency. A guess at what coach Doug Marrone will tell his team in the fourth quarter when they will be nursing a 21-17 lead:

“We’re going to stay with our no-huddle offense and snap the ball with 20 seconds remaining on the play clock on every play so that we can give the Patriots as much time as possible to come back and win this game!!”

This will be a lesson for us all, but mostly for the Pittsburgh Steelers: when the artist formerly known as Chris Johnson has more than double the rushing yards than you have as a team, it won’t be a good day for you.

Adrian Peterson’s first carry of the game will be a statement that he absolutely should have been the No. 1 overall pick in every fantasy football draft.

Adrian Peterson’s next 17 carries of the game will be statements that oh crap I shouldn’t have drafted him first overall.

On a personal note, I HATE having the No. 1 overall pick. It’s way too much pressure. I’d rather have No. 2, let some other schlub take Greg Oden first overall so that I can take Kevin Durant.

Eli Manning will kind of match his brother’s offensive output of seven touchdowns, in as much as Eli will have four touchdowns and three interceptions.

I did say “kind of.”

The Chargers, with their new head coach and coaching staff, will build a 28-7 third-quarter lead over the Texans.

The Texans will come all the way back to win, 31-28.

The more things change, the more they stay the same…

MOMENT THAT GRINDED MY GEARS ENOUGH TO WRITE ABOUT IT (in letter form)

Dear Buffalo Bills Head Coach Doug Marrone,

The Patriots not only have a very good offense, they also have a very fast offense. Also, it’s very good. They’ve been using a no-huddle offense for a while now, long before you and Chip Kelly decided to come to the NFL to “innovate” the game. New England led the league in total offense in 2012; led the league in points per game in 2012; finished with a league-best 1,191 total plays from scrimmage, coming thisclose to breaking the all-time mark of 1,200; averaged 74.4 plays per game, best in the league; have Tom Brady as a quarterback.

SO WHY WOULD YOU THINK THAT GIVING THIS TEAM MORE TIME IS A GOOD IDEA?!?!

I understand you have a young team with a rookie starting at qb. Perhaps you felt that this team wasn’t prepared to do anything but the no-huddle, hurry-up offense you’ve been working on. Which is more a knock on you than on your team – you didn’t think that there would come a time where you would have a lead in the fourth quarter and would need to bleed the clock? Did you really think that your offense, plus this young team with its rookie quarterback, would be good enough that you could get first down after first down and touchdown after touchdown?

You will say the right things after the game, that you let the team down, etc. But make sure you use this game for the learning experience that it is – no-huddle, fast-break, hurry-up offenses are great, until they’re not. Then you need the old smashmouth, grind out yards and minutes type of football that wins close games.

I have a confession to make. For years, I have been feeling this…thing. I couldn’t nail down what it was for a long time, but I knew it was there, and I knew it was growing.

Now, I know what it is.

Sympathy for Alex Rodriguez.

I understand that I am in the minority, but I can’t help it. This sympathy was cemented by the raw deal Alex Rodriguez is getting from MLB and the Yankees. He is essentially getting the “third strike” penalty for what theoretically is his first offense, and there’s not a single teammate/coach/team official that is standing up to defend him.

It’s remarkable, really, how deafening the silence is when it comes to those who work with him coming to his defense.

By all accounts, all A-Rod ever wanted was to be the respected and looked up to by fans, teammates, coaches, etc. When it comes down to it, the guy just wanted to be loved. By everyone. Which makes it even sadder that he is probably the most disliked athlete* of all time.

(*not including those who committed murder or any other legitimately criminal act)

The biggest problem with A-Rod was, and always has been, A-Rod. The dude can’t get out of his own way. Everything he says and does seems so calculated that it comes off as phony. Maybe that’s just the way he is (like the sarcastic guy from the old Kids In The Hall sketch). I doubt anyone truly knows the real A-Rod. Heck, for that matter, I’m guessing A-Rod doesn’t even know the real A-Rod.

A-Rod wants to be a leader of men, but he doesn’t know how to lead. He wants to be liked by everyone, but he always ends up doing or saying something stupid that ends friendships.

He joined the Mariners at age 18 and played with Ken Griffey Jr., one of the most well-liked and respected players of all time. Even if you weren’t a fan of Seattle, you were a fan of Junior. What did Junior do better than most players of that time? Hit home runs. During A-Rod’s six years with the Mariners, the Kid knocked the ball out of the park 266 times, or an average of just over 44 per season. A-Rod averaged just under 36 home runs per season in the four full years he played with Griffey, Jr. The most home runs A-Rod hit with Seattle was 42, twice.

But no matter what he did in Seattle, A-Rod would never surpass Junior’s popularity. He even played one year with the Mariners after Griffey went on to Cincinnati, but probably realized that he had to go elsewhere to become The Man. So when Texas came calling with 252 million dollars – and what better way to show a guy he’s wanted/loved than a billion-gazillion bucks – Rodriguez must have seen this as his opportunity to become like Griffey, Jr. Obviously, Texas wanted him (that whole billion-gazillion bucks thing), and if he starts hitting home runs at a prodigious rate, he will be worth the contract and Rangers fans will love him and the rest of baseball and America will come around. Since I’ve never dealt with that level of internal/external pressure, I don’t know if I would take steroids or not, so how can I fault the guy for making that decision?

Three years and three last-place finishes later, A-Rod was reviled by media and fans and at the same time called the best player in baseball. It was during this time that he made seemingly critical comments of Derek Jeter, who had been his good friend, when he told Esquire magazine in 2001 that “Jeter’s been blessed with great talent around him” and “he’s never had to lead.”

From A-Rod’s perspective, the guy whose career-best in home runs was 24 was not a leader. Leaders hit home runs, like Griffey, Jr. So he wasn’t being critical of Jeter, per se, as much as he just didn’t understand what made a leader (or, apparently, how friends are supposed to talk about each other).

When A-Rod went to the Yankees, this was his chance to prove himself to be a leader, to show he could take his team to the World Series and beyond. Sure, he was twice named MVP with New York, sure he received a 10-year, 275-million dollar contract, but name the big play he made in the postseason that proved to be the difference between champs and chumps.

No matter what he did, A-Rod was the chump, Jeter was the champ. Again, the pressure must have been ridiculous. A-Rod so badly wanted to be the best, to be loved, that he felt he needed that extra something* to get there.

(*-steroids. Lots of them.)

A-Rod couldn’t even win off the field. Here he is, married father of two, while Derek Jeter is dating starlet after starlet to little or no criticism…so A-Rod leaves his wife and dates, among others, Madonna and Cameron Diaz. FOR CRYING OUT LOUD, WHAT’S A GUY GOTTA DO TO GET PEOPLE TO LOVE HIM?!?!

What I can’t understand is what did A-Rod (211-game suspension) do that was so different from Ryan Braun (65 game suspension)? Braun had already tested positive for a banned substance, but got off on a technicality. A-Rod previously admitted to using and had tested positive in 2003, when there were no penalties for a positive test at that time. So based on MLB’s rules, shouldn’t A-Rod have been hit with a 50-game suspension? There were rumors that MLB offered A-Rod a 50-game suspension but he turned it down, so perhaps the 211-game ban was MLB’s first offer in what they realized would be a back-and-forth until they came to a mutually agreed upon suspension. But it still seems unfair, and this is coming from someone who has NEVER defended Alex Rodriguez.

On some karmic level A-Rod is probably getting what he deserves. But this seems like a specially designed level of hell for him. He wants to be The Man, but a) when he was The Man his team finished in last-place each year; 2) he played with three of The Men in Griffey, Jr., Jeter and Mariano Rivera without ever figuring out their secret in becoming The Men.

In the end, the guy who just wants to be loved by everyone can’t find a single person (except those he keeps on retainer) to step up to the plate and defend him. That’s gotta sting a little.

Recently, many people have inferred (or said outright), that Nick Saban is the devil. They are wrong, however; he is not the devil, but he did, at one point in his career, work for the devil. And the devil just played his second greatest trick: he signed Tim Tebow to the New England Patriots.

Make no mistake, Bill Belichick did not sign Tebow as a publicity stunt (see Jets, New York). This was a football move, pure and simple. Belichick is always looking for football players, and Tebow is the quintessential football player.

From a football perspective, the move makes sense for both parties. The Patriots get a guy who will do whatever is asked of him, play whatever position is asked of him and work as hard, if not harder, than anyone else. Tebow will be able to learn how to be a better quarterback from Tom Brady and Josh McDaniels, he’ll be able to play a variety of positions while learning the offensive system, and most importantly, he will not be looked at as a savior or the key to the team’s success.

There were many connections prior to Belichick’s signing of Tebow.

One, Belichick has long had an appreciation for everything Urban Meyer, and Tebow is as close to Meyer as Belichick will get in a football player. Tebow knows the Meyer spread option offense inside and out and can help McDaniels and Belichick develop plays within that system.

Two, McDaniels originally drafted Tebow as the head coach of Denver, even moving up to the bottom of the first round to get him. Sadly, McDaniels was never able to complete his project of turning Tebow into a viable NFL quarterback, although his successor, John Fox, was able to use Tebow and a version of the spread option to take the Broncos to the 2011 playoffs, defeat the Pittsburgh Steelers in overtime in the first round before falling to the Patriots.

Three, Belichick has reunited Tebow with his favorite target from their days at Florida: tight end Aaron Hernandez. They played the “goal-line-Tebow-run-up-the-middle-whoops-no-wait-it’s-a-jump-pass” play with the Gators, at least giving the Patriots the option to use it, even just as a decoy, in goal line situations.

Finally, there is precedence of Belichick taking a relatively unused player from an AFC East team and turning him into a key contributor (see Welker, Wes and Woodhead, Danny).

Wes Welker with the Dolphins: 2 seasons, 48.0 rec, 560.5 yds, 0.5 tds
Wes Welker with the Patriots: 6 seasons, 112.0 rec, 1,243.2 yds, 6.2 tds

Danny Woodhead with the Jets: 1 season, 15 runs, 64 yds, 0 tds, 8 rec, 87 yds, 0 tds
Danny Woodhead with the Patriots: 3 seasons, 83.3 runs, 399.7 yds, 3.3 tds, 30.7 rec, 327.3 yds, 4 tds

So if history is any indication, Tebow should be an effective player for the Patriots. Certainly much more effective than he was for the Jets. (Who will face the Patriots on Sept. 12, a Thursday night game to kick off week two – gee I wonder what ESPN First Take will discuss on Sept. 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16…)

Because when it comes to player personnel, Belichick always makes the right decision (see Ochocinco, Chad. Actually, don’t.).

Dear GS,

Now that the NBA season is all about wrapped up (Heat in six), I feel it’s time to come clean about something. I’ve been living a bit of a lie this entire season, and it’s been eating away at me. Not that I’ve lost sleep, or weight, or anything like that – heck, I really don’t even think about it that often. But eating at me nonetheless.

You see, before the season, I was ready to give up on you. I had decided that enough was enough, that I wanted a new team to follow. I wanted a team that cared about my feelings, a team that listened and most important, a team that looked good. I mean won games. I wanted a winner.

I even had my new team picked out. I couldn’t go with the Heat, because, well the Decision notwithstanding, it’s just too much fun to root against them (and get disappointed when they succeed). So I went with the team that couldn’t handle the Heat and had to get out of the kitchen – the Oklahoma City Thunder. What a team! Young, good looking talented, plays hard…and it couldn’t be considered band-wagon jumping because they lost in the finals. To be a band-wagon jumper means you are jumping on the wagon of the winner, and the Thunder were the losers (those are the rules, I didn’t make ’em up).

To be fair, you shouldn’t be surprised – I left the Knicks for you! In 2001-02, New York was a shell of its former self, having sent away all of the players I had grown to love (including my favorite player of all time, John Starks, who went to you and, I was delighted to hear from some of your staffers, was a super nice guy). Sure, they had Latrell Sprewell and Allan Houston, but it just wasn’t the same any more, especially after Jeff Van Gundy left midway through the year, probably because of me. Frankly, my fanship (fandom? fanness?) of the Knicks started its downward spiral when I made the mistake of going to a Knicks-Raptors game (I believe in 1999) and discovered that these “blue collar fans” I had heard so much about were nothing more than a bunch of slicked-back hair guys in suits who spent 97.8 percent of the game on their cell phones, and MSG kinda stunk as an arena.

So I was in the market for a new team. It seemed like kismet. I had just started working for you; you had just put together a seemingly excellent draft class of Jason Richardson, Troy Murphy and Gilbert Arenas to team up with a seemingly excellent blend of veterans (Mookie Blaylock, Adonal Foyle, Erick Dampier) and role players (Marc (not Mark) Jackson, Danny Fortson) along with a seemingly star player (Antawn Jamison). The next year you brought in a young, seemingly excellent head coach in Eric Musselman. The crowds always showed up in force and they all seemed genuinely into the games. I was hooked.

But then the losing started. Musselman was canned after two solid, if unspectacular seasons (unwarranted, in my opinion). Seemingly excellent college coach Mike Montgomery was brought in from Stanford and was nowhere near seemingly OR excellent in the NBA, winning 68 games in his two seasons. You re-brought in seemingly Hall of Fame coach Don Nelson, who had an ok season (42-40) with an excellent playoffs run (upset top-seed Dallas in six, lost to Utah in five), followed by a good season (48-34) with a ninth-place finish in the standings, followed by a return to your losing ways, winning just 55 games over the next two seasons, followed by 36 in 2010-11 with new head coach Keith Smart.

So forgive my lack of faith when, before the 2011-12 season, you hired Mark (not Marc) Jackson, who had not one, not two but ZERO years experience coaching, to be your HEAD coach. You drafted Stephen Curry (good) who played the exact same role as Monta Ellis (bad), who never met a shot he didn’t like (worse), even though he was a much poorer shooter than Curry (worst).

So I was ready to move on. I was frustrated with the decisions you had made with coaching, drafting, free agencing…I had had enough. And since I wasn’t band-wagon jumping to the winner, it didn’t make it band-wagon jumping, so my conscience was appeased.

But then something happened. The Oklahoma City Thunder made a move that stunned me – they traded their third-best player for a bunch of role players, because apparently their billionaire owner couldn’t afford his salary (according to many, this particular third-best player looks like me, albeit with a beard and a different skin color. Other than that – we’re like twins). Suddenly it hit me – all NBA teams are the same. None of them really take into account the fans and how they would react to signings, draftings, trade-ings, etc. Which is not to say that teams should use local sports radio callers as part of their decision-making staff – far from it. But why would OKC send off its third-best player the summer after going to the Finals? Did they not care that the fans would be upset about this?

So I decided not to leave you, to give you one more chance and stick it out with you for at least one more year.

And you know what? I’m glad I did. You traded Monta Ellis; you put together a team with size and skill inside (David Lee, Andrew Bogut), youth and athleticism (Harrison Barnes, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green), veteran toughness (Carl Landry, Jarrett Jack) and a seemingly superstar (Curry). They all seem to have bought into Jackson’s coaching, and he does a good job of pushing them to play at least some defense, while allowing them to play the offense that is best suited to their skills. You defeated the Nuggets in the first round of the playoffs and essentially sent the 2013 Coach of the Year packing. You played the Spurs as tough as anyone in the West did, losing in six after they swept the Lakers and before they swept the Grizzlies.

So I’m in. You are fun to watch and I can’t wait to see what this group of good looking players will do next year.

I mean talented. Talented players.