Oakland Raiders vs. San Diego Chargers

Sports have always had a way of breaking your heart.  A disappointing season; a painful loss; a favorite player being traded or moving away via free agency.  There are myriad ways it can happen.  And, perhaps because of the way we are wired as humans, we remember those moments far more than we remember the good times.  As a fan of Bay Area teams for most of my life, I've got nothing to complain about - five Super Bowl championships for the 49ers, three World Series championships for the Giants, a similar number for the Athletics and Raiders back when I was a kid and rooted for all the Bay Area teams equally.

And while those were great moments, none of it completely washed out the memory of the 2002 World Series (dear Lord, please don't let him face another batter), the 1983 NFC Championship Game (that was NOT pass interference!), or the 1990 NFC Championship Game (Jeez, Roger Craig, just hold on to the ball, and we win - is that really too much to ask?).  It's not logical, it's not rational - but it is what it is.

But the worst way to break the heart of a sports fan is for an entire team to leave.  Just ask fans of the Brooklyn Dodgers, the Seattle Supersonics, the Los Angeles Rams, the St. Louis Rams, the St. Louis Football Cardinals, the Montreal Expos...

And the Oakland Raiders and San Diego Chargers.



Back in 1980, the Raiders and the Chargers were the two best teams in football.  They played an AFC Championship game that year which was much more memorable than the Super Bowl that was played two weeks later.  There were nine future Hall of Famers on the field that day: Gene Upshaw, Art Shell, Ted Hendricks, Dave Casper, Ray Guy, Dan Fouts, Kellen Winslow, Charlie Joiner, and Fred Dean.  Also on the field that day were two players that won the Heisman Trophy: Jim Plunkett and John Cappaletti.  Pro Bowl players on the field that day included Mark Van Eeghen, Cliff Branch, Bob Chandler, Raymond Chester, John Matuszak, Matt Millen, Lester Hayes, John Jefferson, Louie Kelcher, and Gary Johnson.  The coaches were Tom Flores and Don Coryell.

Two landmark teams.  Two landmark franchises.  And soon, both to be gone, perhaps forever.

The Raiders and the Chargers played a game last night.  The Chargers now play in Los Angeles, but Troy Aikman called them "San Diego" at least once.  And that's only right - because for those who believe in fairness and justice, they will always be the San Diego Chargers.  It may have been the best game of the season, so far.  It was far from perfect.  But it had the atmosphere of the greatest games - an atmosphere that you rarely see in the regular season.  It was glorious.



And, barring a postseason appearance, it was the last prime time game that will ever be played at the Oakland - Alameda County Coliseum.  And that is a shame.  And there is plenty of shame to go around: the families that own the teams, the greed-based mindset that guides the NFL in the 21st Century.  Since there is no fan base for the Chargers in Los Angeles, I doubt that I'm offending anyone by suggesting that L.A. does not deserve this team. And while I'm sure there are many fine, dedicated football fans in Las Vegas, they do not deserve the Raiders.

For me, they will always be the OAKLAND Raiders and the SAN DIEGO Chargers.  Perhaps in my lifetime, they will be again.  After all, it happened once before.  This time, I'm not holding my breath.

Belated Super Bowl Thoughts

As far as Super Bowls go: it was the best of times; it was the worst of times.

The best of times:

Were you not entertained?  It's hard to imagine a more engaging game, from start to finish.  I was wrung out by the end, and my team wasn't anywhere near Minneapolis.  The Eagles put everything on the table, including the legendary call shown on the SI cover at left.  And no one who watched last year's game thought it was over until they saw for certain that the ball made contact with the ground on the Hail Mary.  We had three generations watching together, and I'm pretty sure that until it was proven otherwise, we thought that New England would figure out some way to pull it out at the end.

A Cinderella story for the ages.  The Nick Foles story is why people watch sports in the first place.  As recently as Christmas night, he just plain stunk up the joint, and one reason I can say that with authority is that his poor play cost my fantasy team a championship.  But why would anyone have expected anything more?  I felt good for him after the divisional round victory, just because then he could point to something positive heading towards the future.  But not for one second did I think it was possible for him to perform the way he did in the NFC Championship game and the Super Bowl.  Even under the worst case scenario, in which he accomplishes nothing notable for the remainder of his career, he merits a paragraph (heck, maybe even a chapter) in the NFL History Book.

Tom Brady.  Yeah, I'm tired of him too.  But no one has ever played at a level like this, at an age like this.  It really is quite remarkable.

The worst of times:

The NFL cannot win the battle against brain injuries.  That was illustrated quite well by the play that sent Brandin Cooks packing (warning - not for the faint of heart).



What's scary about this play is that there is absolutely nothing the NFL can do to prevent it, outside of a change to the game so fundamental that it won't be American Football anymore.

As Rodger Sherman noted in The Ringer:

"Cooks spent several minutes motionless on the ground and was almost immediately ruled out for the rest of the game with a head injury.  But Jenkins's hit wasn't dirty: he wasn't head-hunting, and he didn't aim to make contact high on Cooks's body.  Yet he still hit the living hell out of him, and I can't imagine any rule that would make Jenkins's hit illegal that wouldn't essentially outlaw tacking.  The hit on Cooks and his subsequent injury served as a remind that perfectly legal hits can cause the types of terrifying injuries that the NFL claims it can eliminate from the game, and it happened with the largest audience of the year watching."

Malcolm Gladwell is already on record as stating his belief that professional football as we have known it will end at some point during his lifetime.  A few years ago, that seemed like a preposterous statement.  Not so much anymore.

Defense, where art thou?  The statistics all showed that New England's defense wasn't very good, but come on - more yards were gained in this game than ANY GAME IN NFL HISTORY.  I have an old book about the early years of the Super Bowl, and there's a part in it that takes place right before Super Bowl III where some elitist NFL nabob is watching the AFL Championship game with some cronies, and makes the comment, "Gentleman, what we are watching here is Mickey Mouse football."  Well, in that famous game, Joe Namath and Daryl Lamonica threw 96 passes, and the two teams gained a total of 843 yards.  In Super Bowl LII, Tom Brady and Nick Foles threw 91 passes, and the two teams gained a total of 1,151 yards.  Reach your own conclusions.

Cris Collinsworth.  I'm not even sure why, but boy did I find him annoying.

There's probably an entire post in the issue of what the NFL can do to get past the "kneeling before the flag" issues, so we'll save that for another day.

Epic Losses II: Legion of Gloom

This morning's Seattle Times website.

Well, I'm not sure if the adage quite applies, but no doubt you've all heard the saying "live by the sword, die by the sword."  Just two weeks after winning the NFC Championship in the most improbable fashion, a game that certainly qualified as an "epic loss" for the Green Bay Packers, the Seahawks appeared poised to deliver a second consecutive epic loss blow to the New England Patriots when, inexplicably, they turned the sword on themselves, leaving their fans with the rest of their lives to ponder the call that will live in infamy, at least in the Pacific Northwest.

It was as shocking a denouement as could have been imagined - the Patriots taking the lead on a clutch drive led by Tom Brady, and then allowing the Seahawks to move down the field as if they had forgotten the point of the defense was to tackle.  And then, what nearly became the most incredible play in Super Bowl history, a catch by Jermaine Kearse that made what David Tyree did to the Patriots look like child's play.

And then, after a bruising run by Marshawn Lynch (hold that thought), came "the call" - a slant pass, intercepted just inside the goal line.  Game over.

The great baseball writer Bill James once defined "managerial blunder" as an unorthodox move that does not work.  Certainly, a slant pass on the 1-yard line when you have the toughest running back in football in your backfield qualifies as "unorthodox."  And while kudos go to Pete Carroll for being a stand-up guy and taking the heat for the call, there's really no explaining it.  It was a bad call.

And so my sympathies go out to the fans of the Seattle Seahawks - welcome to the "Epic Loss Club."

Super Bowl Prediction

I would have made a different prediction after the Conference Championship games two weeks ago, but after two weeks of suffering through the most desultory Super Bowl build-up in history thanks to "Deflategate," I can't imagine that the Patriots will be able to overcome the distraction from the ridiculous "scandal."

How's that for an analytical basis for a prediction?

I'm no fan of the Seahawks, and frankly I just hope it's a good game (unlike last year).  In the end I think the Seahawks will be energized by their miraculous escape against Green Bay, and I think the Patriots will have lost their edge after two solid weeks of dealing with stories and jokes about properly inflated balls.

Therefore...drum roll please...

Seattle 34, New England 24.

NFL Postscript

Well, it's official - per my question in yesterday's post, it is now clear that the Minnesota Vikings have no idea what they're doing.  Having said that, this time they got it right and made the correct decision.  And it's notable that this time around, the team's statement was signed by the team owners.

So now I guess the remaining question is: what are the 49ers doing with Ray McDonald?  Whatever the NFL's equivalent of "administrative leave with pay" is, seems like it would be a good approach right now.  And if they truly believe he is innocent of the charges that have been leveled against him...well, they'd better be right.

The NFL: What happens now?

You know things are not going well for the NFL when the two words you hear most often during the pre- and post-game shows are not "completed pass," but "due process."  And what has become painfully clear over the last week is that the network-employed NFL talking heads are spectacularly unprepared to deal with issues like spousal and child abuse.  Which shouldn't really be a surprise, since so many of them struggle just to have an intelligent conversation about football.

Abuse of women?  Child abuse? These issues are so big that it really makes you wonder whether predictions in the past from the likes of Malcolm Gladwell - that football is on a slow road to its own destruction - have a chance of becoming reality.  And that's before you even start talking about the long-term issues associated with brain injuries and other physical injuries that are leaving increasing numbers of players disabled (or close to it) and unable to lead normal lives after their retirement.

With respect to long-term impact and potential change, the most significant thing that's happened in the past few days may be the warning from Anheuser-Busch that was made public today:

We are disappointed and increasingly concerned by the recent incidents that have overshadowed this NFL season. We are not yet satisfied with the league’s handling of behaviors that so clearly go against our own company culture and moral code. We have shared our concerns and expectations with the league.

We've heard over and over again since last week that one primary reason the owners would stick with Roger Goodell as Commissioner - even those who might privately question his handling of the Ray Rice matter in particular - is that he has done more than any other commissioner to expand the bottom line.  But if that bottom line is threatened by a company currently dropping a cool billion into the league's coffers, that's bound to make some owners take notice.  And it's also bound to make other companies more likely to make their views known.

It seems to me that Goodell is damaged goods from this point on, and would probably be doing the league a favor by voluntarily stepping down.  Condoleezza Rice has been the name mentioned most often as a potential successor who might lead the league out of the morass, but at this point I'd be happy with anyone with a solid management pedigree who might be capable of looking at these issues in a different light - with a different approach.

And can someone explain to me what the Minnesota Vikings think they are doing?  What happened between Sunday and Monday (aside from a horrific home loss) that changed their approach to the Adrian Peterson issue?  If they believed in due process, why did they inactivate him for Sunday's game?  And if they're truly committed to taking a moral stand, then why did they reinstate him on Monday? It just doesn't make sense.

And at the end of the day, I know that none of this is really going to threaten the NFL's popularity, judging by the numbers from the first two weeks of play.  It hasn't stopped me from watching the games.  But there's got to be a tipping point somewhere, and wherever that is, we've got to be pretty close to it.

The NFL and Ray Rice

"This is going to be a tough one, but there's a lot at stake here.  It seems to me that the NFL needs to make a clear statement that they're encouraging their players to behave and act as responsible human beings, and not simply like brute force giants trained for combat on the field."

I wrote that last November, after the Richie Incognito/Jonathan Martin workplace harassment scandal.

The fact that the NFL did the right thing in that instance makes their failure to do the right thing in the Ray Rice case even more unforgivable.  And the excuse ringing down from on high at NFL headquarters - that the most recent video wasn't made available to NFL "investigators" - just makes things worse.

Ray Rice dragged his unconscious fiancee out of an elevator.  And no one should forget that what was seen in the original video was deemed to be worthy of a two-game suspension. 

So what more did Roger Goodell really need to know/see?  What could possibly have happened in that elevator which would have made what Rice did subject to such a measly penalty?

No, it was only when confronted with a video that evoked memories of Joe Frazier sending a left hook to the jaw of Muhammad Ali that Goodell did "the right thing."  Just like a couple of weeks ago when he did "the right thing" by instituting stronger penalties for domestic violence violations.

But it was already too late to do the right thing.  And just like countless scandals before it, this one will be defined by the reaction of the party in authority as much as by the transgression itself.

I don't mind admitting that I love football.  And there's little doubt in my mind that the vast majority of men who play football are decent and hard working, and in many cases much more than that.  And this just makes me more pissed at the NFL and at Roger Goodell for screwing this up.

This ain't rocket science, Mr. Commissioner.  There's a place for due process, but there's also place for humanity in the game.  And none of the talk on ESPN right now about how you and the Ravens "did the right thing" is going to change that.

Your move.

The Wells Report

Not the Valentine's Day gift the NFL was expecting, I'm sure.

The stark, even somewhat benign title - REPORT TO THE NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE CONCERNING ISSUES OF WORKPLACE CONDUCT AT THE MIAMI DOLPHINS - gives no indication of the report's contents.  But it's probably fair to say that most objective people - whether they are a sports fan or not - will be appalled and disgusted by what they are reading no later than by Page 9, which details the text messages sent to Jonathan Martin by his teammates Richie Incognito, John Jerry and Mike Pouncey.

There will be a powerful counter-attack, which in fact has already started on Twitter.  Some will say, as in a Tweet directed this morning at Peter King, that this will contribute to the "pussification" of America.  In all likelihood, the type of person who would write something like that is the type of person who would spit on an injured player as they were being taken off the field.  As far as I'm concerned, their arguments are easily discounted.  Even in a sport that sometimes seems inhuman, there is room for humanity.  And there is a big difference between what might be called good natured trash talking between friends and teammates, and the abuse that was heaped on Jonathan Martin.

While I've yet to read every word of the report, what I have read (a substantial portion) seems eminently fair and reasonable.  It goes so far as to state that things might have ended differently for all involved, had Martin reported the abuse earlier:

“At the same time, we strongly believe that if Martin had reported the harassment to a coach or front office executive (or even his agent), the team may have been able to address his issues before it was too late. There is no question that the better course of action would have been for Martin to report the abuse. We also agree with the view, expressed by many of Martin’s teammates, that it would have been preferable for Martin’s grievances to be handled inside the Dolphins organization rather than played out in the national news media.”

But one need go only as far as the Executive Summary to get to the heart of the matter:

"In short, the treatment of Martin and others in the Miami Dolphins organization at times was offensive and unacceptable in any environment, including the world professional football players inhabit. A young football player who has the skills to play at the highest level, and who also happens to be quiet and reserved, should have the opportunity to pursue a career in the NFL without being subjected to harassment from his teammates."

And for those who might question Martin's "manhood," the report states:

"Further, Martin's vulnerabilities do not excuse the harassment that was directed at him. That the same taunts might have bounced off a different person is beside the point. Bullies often pick vulnerable victims, but this makes their conduct more, not less, objectionable."

And in one of the most important passages of the Executive Summary, the report acknowledges that context is important:

"We also understand that context matters.  We accept that the communications of young, brash, highly competitive football players often are vulgar and aggressive, and that these players never expected their private communications with each other to be made public.  We did not approach this assignment expecting to discover behavior that society might anticipate in, say, an accounting firm or a law office.  For better or worse, profanity is an accepted fact of life in competitive sports, and professional athletes commonly indulge in conduct inappropriate in other social settings.  We also recognize that good-spirited goading often contributes to team bonding.

"But limits should exist.  Even viewed in context, some of the behavior and language discussed in this Report is inappropriate by any reasonable measure of conduct becoming of a professional athlete - and, based on what he reported, certainly was offensive to Martin."

As much as anyone else, I want the NFL to continue its unprecedented run of success.  I want to be watching football until my dying days, and the thing is, I think most of the young players get what is happening here.  Just like the players at the University of Missouri got that all that really mattered in the case of Michael Sam was whether the guy could play football.  Whether the NFL brass - the league office, the owners, the personnel men (many of whom seem to be stuck in a bygone era that has long past) - get it...well, we'll just have to wait and see.

Just Like the Old Days

So let's see...the last time there was a Super Bowl with as little drama as this one?  That would be January of 2003, Raiders vs. Buccaneers, two jobs ago, two kids still at home, jeez...even two cats ago.  OK, you get the idea - we've been spoiled with an era of competitive Super Bowls that had never happened before, and may never happen again.  Sigh.

Tonight's game was about as thorough an ass-whipping as we've seen in any game between two good teams in quite a while.  And unlike some, it was pretty evident from the first play of the game.  Denver played scared and as if they were unprepared, and Seattle was sharp, hitting hard, and clearly the best team on the field.  If it weren't for some uncharacteristic Pete Carroll conservatism (4th and a foot, and you don't go for it when you have Marshawn Lynch in the backfield?) and some early Russell Wilson jitters, it could have been worse.  

So now the talk of dynasty begins.  We shall see.  Football in the 21st century is a little different than what us old timers became accustomed to back in the dark ages of the 70s and 80s.

Super Prediction

If I believe that Seattle and San Francisco were the two best teams in the league, then it follows that I should pick the Seahawks to win the big one, right?

Of course, there's also that little matter of Peyton Manning, in what could be his last, best chance at the "greatest of all time" title.  I can't think of any other reason that the Broncos would be favored in this game.  Great defenses beat great offenses most of the time, and the Seahawks had the more difficult schedule.  Even with all that, it's hard to pick against Peyton.

But even though I'll be rooting for the Broncos, that's exactly what I'm going to do.  Seattle 23, Denver 20.

Richard Sherman

Because life isn't scheduled around my sports viewing needs, I happened to be in a car driving to the airport during the last two minutes of the NFC Championship game.  So I missed the "interview of infamy" as it was happening, but was able to get caught up fairly quickly when it was obvious from my Twitter feed that something had happened.

What bothers me most about it is that we're now going to have to live and relive the moment for the two weeks leading into the Super Bowl, all the while debating over what it signifies about a) Richard Sherman's character; b) the state of the NFL in 2014; c) the notion of sportsmanship in general; d) the state of race relations in the United States (and the subset of "what does it mean if I root for Peyton Manning and against Richard Sherman"); and e) whatever I'm inadvertently leaving off of this list.

So here are a few random thoughts for the record, while wishing that the game was being played next Sunday instead of on Groundhog Day.  Have at it; judge as you will.

- Bud Grant, the coach of the Minnesota Vikings during the era when they were good at making it to Super Bowls but bad at winning them, once commented to a player after a particularly exuberant touchdown celebration, "try to act like you've been there before."  To this day, it's one of my favorite football quotes.  Today, we live in an era where celebrations take place after virtually every play, regardless of the score and whether the celebrant's team is actually winning the game.  It drives me nuts, and it strikes me as unnecessary.  There's a line, and it may be a fine one, between celebrating and demeaning your opponent, and Sherman crossed it last night.

- In this morning's Monday Morning Quarterback, Sherman has a column that speaks to the issue.  I have a feeling that it will just add more fuel to the fire.  Particularly with these two paragraphs:

"Erin Andrews interviewed me after the game and I yelled what was obvious: If you put a subpar player across from a great one, most of the time you’re going to get one result. As far as Crabtree being a top-20 NFL receiver, you’d have a hard time making that argument to me. There are a lot of receivers playing good ball out there, and Josh Gordon needed 14 games to produce almost double what Crabtree can do in a full season. And Gordon had Brandon Weeden, Brian Hoyer and Jason Campbell playing quarterback."


For all I know, Michael Crabtree is a horrible human being, and perhaps to blame for all of this since he apparently said something to Sherman at an event earlier this year (something that Sherman seems determined not to share).  There's obviously some really bad blood between the two.  I don't like what Sherman wrote here - notwithstanding Jim Harbaugh's comments, Crabtree is no Jerry Rice, but "subpar?"  And let's not forget that he spent most of the season recovering from a severe injury himself.  In any event, I would like to hear Crabtree's point of view about all of this.

But this is the one that bugs me:
 
I threw a choking sign at 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick. Why? Because he decided he was going to try the guy he was avoiding all game, because, I don’t know, he’s probably not paying attention for the game-winning play. C’mon, you’re better than that.

I don't know, it just feels like this one is way over the top. Someone can tell me whether they think this comparison is apt or not, but imagine LeBron James saying something like that about Tim Duncan last June when Duncan missed an easy shot that might have won the NBA title for the Spurs - a shot he'd probably made 99 times out of 100 during his career.  "I threw a choking sign at Tim Duncan.  Why?  Because he got a little too cute and missed a shot that no professional should ever miss, because, I don't know, he's probably not paying attention for the game-winning play.  C'mon, you're better than that."

Kaepernick, needless to say, has far to go to achieve the stature of a Tim Duncan.  But I'm not sure he deserves a comment like that.  He didn't come through when the game was on the line.  But whether you think what Sherman said was an honest appraisal or not, do we really want our best athletes to be rendering judgment in public the way that Sherman did? 

I've read nearly everything Richard Sherman has written this year for MMQB, I'm familiar with his story, and admire his efforts for charity and support for the community.  I think he's a good guy.  Further, I think sideline interviews are among the biggest wastes of time in the history of sports, and have made fun of them on this site on numerous occasions. And finally, this is far from the most serious issue facing the NFL today - there's the question of that $765 million settlement that a judge has just questioned because it may not cover all those who have suffered harm from brain injuries, and the question of whether it is really possible for human beings to be the size of NFL players (and recover from injuries in miraculous timelines) without a steady diet of performance-enhancing drugs?

But it is what it is; this is the issue that will be in front of us for the next two weeks.  And even though I think he's a good guy, I don't think Sherman should get a pass for last night.  A dick move is a dick move, and he was being a dick.  At the very least, it should make next year's games between Seattle and San Francisco really interesting.

Predictions

Well, so much for the New Year's resolution to write more and read more.  Let's just say the first two weeks of "Work 2014" were a little busy.

You'll just have to take my word for it that last week, I would have gone 3 for 4.  The only game I missed was Denver-San Diego; I really thought the Chargers would pull that one out.

So here goes nothing:

Patriots 28, Broncos 24.  I'm not going to root for this outcome, but I've just got this feeling.  It's unfortunate that this game is going to be a referendum on Peyton Manning's career, but if the Broncos lose, that pretty much settles the "Brady vs. Manning" debate over which one is the greatest quarterback of his generation.

49ers 20, Seahawks 17.  I admit that this is little more than wishful thinking - I really have no idea who will win this game.  The 49ers are playing better right now, but overcoming that historic home field advantage will be tough.  If they don't get out of the blocks with a lead, it's probably all over.

We shall see.

The NFL column I've been waiting for

And it's probably not surprising that it appears on Grantland, which over the past year become the one web site that I have to read on a daily basis.  I mean, seriously - it's like this site was invented just for me.  One day the lead story will be on sports, the next day it will be about a movie, and then the day after that you'll read a great piece about music.  I know that some people think Bill Simmons is too clever for his own good, but I'm not one them - for me, he's close to genius (we'll give him a little room to improve).

Titled "Man Up," the column is by Brian Phillips, and it does a fantastic job of eviscerating the mindset that I decried in the piece that I wrote yesterday - the mindset that defends "the code" within the NFL that is apparently more important to some than actually abiding by the law and the standards of human decency.

Please read the whole thing, but in the meantime, here is an excerpt:

There will always be locker-room assholes. They should be curtailed. And when a player says he needs time off for mental reasons — again: in a sport with a suicide problem — it shouldn't spark a national conversation on whether he's soft.

I am here to hurt you, so I'll also say this: You're a warrior, cool. What the hell are you a warrior for? I'm sorry if this makes it sound like I have emotions other than anger — I assure you that I don't — but tell me this: What's the point of being strong if all you stand for is abusing a suffering teammate? Those guys who taught me that when you see a problem, you step up and solve it, all those anonymous sources foaming on about how to be a man — is that what they think "being a man" is? I mean, nothing about protecting someone who's struggling in your big gender equation, then? Nothing about, like, knowing right from wrong?

Here's what I can't stop thinking: There were so many tough men in that Dolphins locker room. The unwritten code of football is that you handle your business in-house. Any one of these men could have said something to stop Incognito and help Martin. Any one of them could have handled it. They're warriors, right? They're paragons of strength. And yeah, there are complex reasons why they didn't. But they didn't.

I know I'm repeating myself, but please go read the whole thing.

Martin, Incognito and...WTF?

The two biggest stories in the NFL this past weekend focused not on the games being played, but rather on two coaches who suffered possibly life-threatening episodes, and the Richie Incognito/Jonathan Martin harassment case in Miami.  I'll comment on the former in a future post, but focus today on the latter.

I've read a ton of material on this case in the past few days - tweets, AP reports, columns, articles, comments from current and former players, comments from readers and fans of the NFL, and so on.  It's bothered me a great deal to see so many players, personnel men and fans lay the blame on Martin, generally for not "manning up," for "not standing up for himself with Incognito," and for the cardinal sin of taking a team issue outside of the locker room.  Andrew Sharp has a well-organized and well-written piece up on Grantland, and I want to focus on a couple of things that he writes because I think they're reasonable assertions, albeit ones that I think are dead wrong.  Writes Sharp, in two separate paragraphs:

Cheering hypercompetitve testosterone junkies on the field and then expecting civility everywhere else seems pretty naive, and judging the actions of Martin and Incognito as if they were two normal civilians is just as big a stretch. Cruelty isn't that unusual in Incognito's workplace, and most professional athletes respond differently than Martin. The guys who say we wouldn't understand are definitely right.

And then, later in the same piece:

There's a disconnect between people who play professional sports and people who watch them, and that gulf is probably a lot wider than we realize. Even if a world full of all-access shows and instant information allows us to know more about athletes and locker rooms than ever before, we may never actually understand any of this. 

Focusing on the first paragraph - yes, I've read my share of stories about how some players (sport doesn't matter) have used fear and harassment to "motivate" their teammates to achieve at a higher level. With some, it has worked, and in some of those cases, it's involved the player being harassed standing up to the bully and telling him, essentially, to go f*ck himself.  The problem I have with this argument is that it strikes me as nonsensical to treat Martin and Incognito as anything except "normal civilians," especially when the matter at hand is one of law.  I don't think you're going to find many football fans clamoring for legislation to set different standards of public behavior for professional athletes.

And here's the problem I have with the second paragraph.  To some degree, I agree that I'm never going to fully understand everything that takes place behind closed doors in a locker room.  I'm sure that there are many things said and done in the spirit of camaraderie that don't pass the smell test of how one is generally expected to behave around and act towards fellow human beings.  But I'm not certain that the professional sports locker room is unique in that regard, and I've yet to hear a reasonable explanation for why locker rooms should be above the law when it comes to workplace harassment.

And in the end, that's what this case is about - workplace harassment - though I understand why it's difficult for people understand why such protections are necessary for grown men who basically have the ability to kick the crap out of 98 or so percent of the general population.  And in a workplace setting, the supervisors, workers and offenders don't get to define what constitutes "harassment" - the victim does. 

It strikes me as odd that - unless I've just missed it - the commissioner has yet to comment on this matter, although given the ongoing investigation I suppose it makes sense.  This is going to be a tough one, but there's a lot at stake here.  It seems to me that the NFL needs to make a clear statement that they're encouraging their players to behave and act as responsible human beings, and not simply like brute force giants trained for combat on the field.

We shall see.

To Be There, Or Not To Be There

New York Jets coach Rex Ryan once again finds himself in the headlines, this time over having chose to attend his son's college football game rather than be with the Jets staff on the day when they were making final decisions on who and who wasn't going to make the team this year.  Some have defended Ryan, others have excoriated him.

It's a tough call.  I understand that football is a billion dollar business, but the amount of time and energy that coaches put into the game (and the business) in the modern era is fairly ridiculous.  There's no way to be certain of this, but it feels sometimes as if coaches are working longer hours than the President of the United States.  Something about that equation feels a little off.  And I'm a strong proponent of carving out family time out of the work schedule, even if I haven't always done the best job of that myself. 

In the end, I think I side more with those who are criticizing Ryan - when decisions surrounding one's livelihood are part of your job description, I think you have a responsibility to look those people in the eye and be the one to let them know that, hard as they may have tried, that they're not part of the organization's future.  But having said that, the issue isn't one that will keep me up late at night.  Ryan has a bit (maybe more than a bit) of the buffoon in him, and there will no doubt be other transgressions this season that far exceed this one.

Play on...nothing to see here, folks.

Divisional Round Predictions

Might as well get on the record early:

New England 38, Houston 21
Denver 30, Baltimore 17
Seattle 27, Atlanta 10
San Francisco 31, Green Bay 28

Houston didn't do much to impress me yesterday, and it's hard to imagine New England losing one at home, not with Tom Brady at the helm.

Frankly, I'm so tired of Ray Lewis at this stage of his career that I'd be predicting a victory for any team that was playing the Ravens next week.  The Broncos had the foundation for a great team last year, and you know, this guy Manning can play a little.

My gut tells me that Seattle is going to run the table.  I was a little surprised when they fell behind 14-0 today, but after that, they made it look fairly easy.  And I hope that RGIII fully recovers, and I hope the Redskins organization is embarrassed about that field.

And then, the 49ers.  At this point, I don't know what to predict.  Can Colin Kaepernick really take the team all the way?  Is Frank Gore healthy?  Is Justin Smith healthy?  But I'll be rooting for them all the way, although I fully expect them to take the lead of that other team in San Francisco, and make it torture for everyone watching.

Plea

"It is making it...hard to watch...every game."

- Mike Tirico

Come on, Roger Goodell.  You've lost.  You may be right, but you've lost.

It's time to take your head out of your arse and make a deal.

Please.

NFL Follies

I've been actively watching the NFL for almost 45 years now, and I don't know that I've ever seen a week like the one we've experienced over the past seven days.

Let's start with the Peyton Manning Sweepstakes Saga. There's a lot about what happened with Manning that makes complete sense, but I have a hard time fathoming the final few developments.

- The 49ers had a wonderful season with a quarterback who had been relegated to the trash heap, and then did everything but say "dude, we would have done it without you" in their apparent pursuit of Manning.

- The Broncos, after months of riding "Timsanity" to the second round of the playoffs, revealed what they really thought about their young, unique quarterback by signing Manning. I guess they thought that 2-3 years of Manning at his almost-prime (if they're lucky) was more valuable than 10-15 years of Tebowmania. And they may be right. Something about it just feels wrong.

- The Jets, after signing Mark Sanchez to a lucrative contract extension, signed Tebow. Yeah, you heard it right - New York, where the latest quarterback controversy is only a hangnail away, now has two prominent quarterbacks under the age of 26. Good luck with that, Jets.

But all that paled against the fines laid down today by Roger Goodell against Saints coaches Sean Payton and Gregg Williams for their roles in the Bounty Controversy. And what a "holy sh*t!" moment it was - Payton, who everyone in the world seems to agree is a great guy in addition to being an outstanding coach, suspended for A YEAR!? Kind of makes you wonder what "indefinite" means in the case of Williams, doesn't it? And don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that Goodell got it wrong. I'm just saying that these are penalties of historic proportion. If I was a Saints player involved in the bounty scheme, I'm not sleeping too well for the next few days, or weeks, or however long it takes Goodell to announce their fate. It could get very ugly for New Orleans all of a sudden.

All in all, I don't think it was one of the NFL's greatest weeks.

Peyton

It is indeed surprising that Peyton Manning will not end his superlative career with the Indianapolis Colts, but I'm not sure that his departure should serve as evidence that all employers are evil and are looking to do nothing but exploit their workers.

That doesn't mean I don't believe that notion - in fact, for reasons that I won't go into here, I have good reason to believe that gratitude and loyalty to employees are not notions that come to some employers easily. But I've always had a little difficulty believing that with professional sports teams, and particularly when it comes to superstar athletes.

In fact, what the Colts are doing, at least from a sports sense, makes absolute sense. It's the same approach that the San Francisco 49ers under the stewardship of Bill Walsh and Eddie DeBartolo took. The 49ers of that era were masters of knowing exactly when to let a player go, and the list of great 49ers of that era who ended their careers with other teams is a long one. Even the greatest quarterback of his (and perhaps any other) era, Joe Montana, ended his career somewhere else. I think the only time the Niners blew it was with Ronnie Lott, who obviously had a little bit left in the tank when he was sent packing.

So while it will be strange to see Peyton in another jersey next fall, I can't blame the Colts for what they did, especially when a commodity like Andrew Luck is on the table. And 25 years from now, what people will remember is Peyton as a Colt - not Peyton with any other team.

Bounty

It should not come as a surprise that the great Joe Posnanski absolutely nails the New Orleans Saints bounty hunters story.

For those who don't care to read it all, here is the powerful conclusion:

And it makes me wonder if the overpowering popularity of pro football has simply made us numb. You know, over the last few years we have seen the past heroes of pro football suffer in agony at the end of their lives. We have watched spectacular athletes deteriorate and be discarded by the sport again and again. We have only begun to learn about how head injuries destroy people.

And now, we have the New Orleans Saints -- perhaps not alone, but the ones dumb enough to get caught -- paying each other extra money to hit opponents so hard, so viciously, so recklessly, that they would be carried off on stretchers. We have a coach, Gregg Williams, who not only oversaw this but put his own money into the pot. We have come to see that other coaches and players were well aware of all this. I fully understand that many people don't care; they are outraged that anyone would care. Which leads me to this question.

Is our love of pro football -- the spectacle, the violence, the thrills and sheer ferocity of it all -- so insatiable that nothing will ever shock or disgust us again?