Too Stupid to be Believed

As a lifelong Philadelphia Eagles fan, Monday was a super fun day.

For starters, Mike Vick is hands down the best quarterback in the NFL. Nobody can even argue it, and even though the guy had six touchdowns yesterday and a passer rating of roughly infinity, he was already the league's best before yesterday's game. Vick came into the Eagles' Monday night romp over the Deadskins with a 125.4 passer rating, the highest in the league, and he's the closest thing to literally unstoppable of any player in the league today. And then he threw four touchdown passes in DC on Monday night. In like five minutes. And he ran for two more, in addition to countless first downs. Basically every time Vick touches the ball, he does whatever the hell he wants. And as I've written here before many times, Vick is for my money the single best feel-good story of the year in the NFL in 2010. Yes what he did to those dogs is truly sick and nothing will ever change that, but Mike Vick is the ultimate example of a guy who in my view more than paid his debt to society, he missed more games than anyone else has ever missed for committing lesser crimes than his, and ultimately the guy who never hurt another human being paid an incredible price compared to what other rich and famous dudes who actually hurt other actual people have paid. And now he's back, and the amazing thing is he is much better right now than he ever was even before being incarcerated for two years. Just incredible.

Secondly, I heard the Eagles just scored another touchdown this morning. I mean, 59 points? Really, Redskins? Really, Mike Shanahan? Any time we can beat the Mehskins, it's a good day, and when you do it in their house it is all the better. And when you run up a 28-0 lead in the first quarter, that's the best of all. For those not well-versed with the intricacies of the NFC East, over my lifetime, it's been the Redskins more than anyone else who have given the Eagles the most trouble. Even when the Eagles were so great under Buddy Ryan in the 1980s, and all through the '90s and the 2000s, we've had comparatively little trouble with the Giants, even as that franchise has had three superbowl winning teams in the past 20 years or so. Despite all that, we've fared well over time against the Giants, but the Redskins have always given us fits. I have more horrible memories of Skins games than any other team for sure, and to come out and roll this team that badly, there are no words to describe how good that feels as a longtime fan of the real Gang Green.

But lastly, by far the most highlarious and enjoyable for me part of Monday wasn't watching Mike Vick's coronation, and it wasn't seeing the Eagles destroy our hated franchise competitor. It was the news that came out just before the game that the Foreskins had signed former Eagles qb Donovan McNabb to a 5-year, $88 million extension, on the heels of far and away his worst season since his rookie year in 1999. I mean, Daniel Snyder, are you trying to embarrass yourself? Are you deliberately attempting to further your image of the spoiled rich kid who throws money at any old fool who somebody once thought might be good at this game? When I first saw this headline, I thought no big deal, this is the NFL, they can put whatever number they want on the contract like $88 million and in the end, as soon as McNabb continues sucking, they'll just cut him. I mean, it's not like they're guaranteeing him a lot of this money, obviously -- not literally less than one game after Mike Shanahan benched his ass heading into the 2-minute drill in a crucial game with his team down by 5 points and needing a touchdown to win, right? Right?

Wrong! $40 million is guaranteed to McNabb under this new contract. So let's see. Last year the team paid $100 million to sign Albert Haynesworth, who has started exactly zero games this season and who isn't even any longer in the team's starting defensive package since he "is just not good enough to play the 4-3 defense". Now this year, their division rivals obviously duped them in landing two draft picks in exchange for trading them an aged Donovan McNabb, while all along they had not one but two qb's on the staff who were already far and away better players at this point in their careers, including one who is hands down the best quarterback in the league, and McNabb is following through with the worst full season of his career, so bad that he needed to get benched for the crucial final drive of the game in the Skins' last outing. And then they guarantee McNabb $40 million over the next five years? This can't be serious, can it? I keep waiting for Daniel Snyder or Mike Shanahan to come out and yell "April Fools!" or something, and yet with every passing minute it just seems more and more likely that the Dreadskins are actually going to be paying this guy $40 million guaranteed, plus as much as another $43 million on top over the next five years, to keep throwing the ball into the ground, throwing more interceptions than touchdowns like this season, and giving his team no chance like he did on Monday after three more turnovers including two pick-6s to help the Eagles on their march towards 60 points on the night.

Could Monday have gone any better for Eagles fans, I ask you?

NFL -- Week 10 Picks

As I mentioned earlier in the week, through Week 9 of the 2010 NFL season, my weekly game picks against the spread sit at an uninspiring 12-13-2. While this certainly could be worse in the wild and wacky NFL, I'm definitely looking to improve these figures over the second half of the season, although in all honesty the second half of 2009 is where my picks really seemed to drop off, so I'm going to need to do much better in this year's second half or else the season is going to be a complete and total disaster in terms of my picks. Still, I'm going to stick with the recent policy of not forcing myself to pick any certain number of games in any given week as I do think that will help me over time to focus my predictions on the games I generally feel the most confident about. Just like last week's Giants-at-Seattle game. Heh heh.

OK so here are my picks for Week 10 of the NFL season:

1. Miami Dolphins +2 vs. Tennessee Titans. In a week chock full of tough games, I really like this pick as I think the better team is getting points, and playing at home to boot. It looks like the Fins will be starting Chad "All He Does Is Win" Pennington at qb this weekend for the first time all season, and the Dolphins are simply not going to 0-8 at home on the year. I know the Titans just added Randy Moss over the past week after the Vikings cut him after Week 8, but I just can't pass up the extra two points for the home team who I would have picked to win this game in any event.

2. Houston Texans +1 at Jacksonville Jaguars. This is a matchup of 4-4 teams, but I've made no bones here about the fact that I think the Texans are a good team, and the Jags are not, overall this season. This is a game where the Texans will find a way to win if they are actually going to try to make a playoff push in 2010. When I look at this objectively, I think the Texans throw the ball better than the Jaguars behind Matt Schaub, and Arian Foster and his nine touchdowns runs the ball better than Maurice Jones-Drew and his one touchdown scamper this season as well. Once again this is a game where I would probably take the Texans as a pickem, but with the added bonus of a push if the Jags win by one point, the value seems definitely tilted a bit on the Texans' side here in my book.

3. St. Louis Rams +6 at San Francisco 49ers. I don't even understand this line, which can often be a harbinger of one of those too-good-to-be-true lines that I love to get burned on, but with the 4-4 and first-place Rams heading to San Fran to play Mike Singletary and his no-math skills, I am surprised this is more than a pickem as it is. The chances of the 49ers scoring many points against the quietly very solid Rams' defense in this game are I think low to begin with, and the NFC West's best offense in the Rams should be able to move the ball against the hapless 49ers defense. Mike Singletary has lost all control of this team, he is a lame duck fool on the sidelines, and his team has got nothing to play for throughout the balance of this season. I'll take the Rams plus a touchdown and do so quickly.

While I do think the Giants' 14-point line at home against the Cowboys in Jason Garrett's first game as head coach is too high, I think even I might have to stay away from that game despite knowing that the Giants have consistently disappointed in games like this during the Tom Coughlin era. I can't believe the Eagles are favored by 3 at the Redskins in Monday night's game, but I do suspect the Eagles will win so I want to stay away from that one as well. And while I do think the Bills will nab their first win of the season at home this weekend against the Lions and their backup quarterback, having to lay three points to pick the only 0-8 team in the NFL is just a personal insult, and I won't do it. So there's your three official picks this week (bank it!), and best of luck to anyone playing this weekend's NFL games.

Bring on the Rants

So the World Series is over. I will admit to feeling a slight twinge as I watched the San Francisco Giants climb all over each other, a feeling that someone else was celebrating something that wasn't theirs, that belonged to my team. But in the end, that's a good thing. I'm from Philadelphia, and to be honest, as sports fans we are incredibly demanding on the micro level, often known for booing our hometown heroes when they fail to come through in a big spot in a given game, but on a macro level, we Philadelphians just have low expectations when it comes to championships. It's not like it's in the water or anything, but it's just a reflection of the historical reality: we haven't won much. When you go 25 years and 100 seasons between the four major U.S. sports between 1983 and 2008 without a single championship for the city to celebrate, when your baseball franchise remains the first and only franchise in all of professional sports to lose 10,000 games, when your basketball team has basically been hanging out in the pooper since the mid 1980s save for a few good years a decade ago under Allen Iverson, you just start to accept it. So yeah, I know the Phillies had the talent to win another World Series this year, and believe me as a long-suffering Philly sports guy I very tangibly feel our failure to nab that elusive World Series title this year while we had the chance and when we had come so close, but I mean, come on. I'm not a New York sports fan. These aren't the Yankees here. My Phillies have just won their fourth consecutive NL East for the first time in franchise history, we went to back-to-back World Series before bowing out to the eventual WS champion in the NLCS this season, and we've got an incredible pitching staff and most of our powerful lineup locked up for at least another year heading into 2012, plus one of the best, most devoted young GMs in the game today.

Try as I might, I just can't get crazy about the Phillies not winning the World Series again in 2010. I felt a twinge all right watching the celebration last night, but that's all it was. This Giants team clearly deserved to win the championship this year. As I wrote all about before the NLCS began, this Giants' staff posted the best team ERA in more than 60 years over the final 8 weeks of the 2010 season, and in the end it was their pitching that dominated, all through the playoffs really. Sure, it's easy for us Philly fans to get mad at Ryan Howard and his 12 strikeouts in the NLCS, or Chase Utley's and Shane Victorino's inability to get a big hit after coming through in the clutch so many times in postseasons past, but the rest of the sports-watching country sees the real reality: these Giants pitchers are fucking good. They made the Philly hitters look bad -- it's what they do. Matt Cain didn't give up a run in the entire postseason for the Giants. 21-year-old Madison Bumgarner pitched 7 shutout innings in a huge spot in the World Series. The Texas Rangers, who led all of MLB with a .276 batting average during the regular season, hit just .190 in the Series overall, with Giants ace Tim Lincecum beating superstar Cliff Lee not one but twice in the span of a week to clinch the championship in 5 games. This Giants team was the best team in the league when it came right down to it this year, and Bruce Bochy and those players deserve a hell of a lot of credit for coming together and peaking at the absolute best possible time, and playing their game despite consistently being picked to lose in the postseason along the way. Congratulations to the fans of the San Francisco Giants, who are celebrating like crazy today after the franchise's first championship in 57 years, and first ever while in the Bay Area.

But there is a lot of other crazy sports news going on out there today, isn't there?

For starters, this Randy Moss stuff is just craziness. Four games after the Minnesota Vikings actually trade away a third-round pick to the Cheatriots to acquire troubled wide receiver Randy Moss, Brad Childress up and cuts the guy after a bad loss to the Cheatriots in which Moss had just one catch for seven yards. Four games? For a third-round draft pick? I'm sorry, but is Brad Childress literally trying to force his owner to fire him? I mean, Chilly was already probably gone after this season -- after all, he is a stone cold jackass and has no control over this team -- but this move simply boggles the mind. Was Moss that much of a cancer in the locker room? Probably. Where hasn't he been? But how you simply cut a guy to waivers after four games when you gave up a 3rd round pick to get him, and when you will likely be on the hook for most of his $6 million salary now as well? That is some fucked up stuff right there. And meanwhile, Moss is quoted as saying he would like to go back to play for the Cheatriots again. Yeah right. For starters, the Cheatriots currently sit with 1 loss and the best record in all of the NFL, which means they are 32nd out of 32 teams on the waiver wire, and IMO Moss is not likely to slip through every other team in the league without being claimed by somebody desperate for some help on offensive in the ultimate win-now league. But even assuming Moss did manage to slip by without any other team in the league claiming him, I say no way he ends up back in a Cheats uniform. You're telling me that Bill Bellichik is going to take back the guy who nearly came to blows with the Cheatriots' offensive coordinator less than a month and a half ago about lack of focus on him on the offense? With his team sitting with the best record in all the league, he's going to welcome back a locker room cancer who's already caused trouble on this very team in this very season and who basically forced a trade after malcontenting his way through the preseason and five regular season games already in 2010? Fat chance, my man Randy. I don't think we'll be seeing you in a New England uni anytime soon, bro. Some bridges you just can't un-burn.

Another great NFL story from this past weekend, in particular for me personally -- is this whole saga with Donovan McNabb and Mike Shanahan in Washington. When the Skins took the ball with under two minutes to go in their game at Detroit on Sunday afternoon, Shanahan shocked the team by benching McNabb in favor of backup Rex Grossman to run the two-minute drill. Immediately following the game, Shanahan candidly told sideline reporters that he benched McNabb due to concerns over McNabb's "competence" with the two-minute offense, but then a day later after persistent questioning, Shanahan has now changed his story to the benching instead being about McNabb's conditioning more than his mental capacity to run the two-minute drill. For my money, it really doesn't matter a whole lot which one of Shanahan's totally different explanations is right, because either way we already know the true reason -- Shanahan doesn't think McNabb is good enough to be in there in that spot. That's it. With the game clearly on the line and his team down by less than 7 with 1:50 to go and needing a touchdown, the Redskins' head coach decided to bench McNabb in favor of a longtime shitty backup who hadn't really taken crucial game snaps in some two years. Whether McNabb's perceived failings were mental or physical doesn't really matter in the end. As I've been pointing out repeatedly during this season after the Eagles traded him away to the Skins -- within the division no less -- the Eagles obviously saw something (or many things) they didn't like in McNabb as the season wore down to a close, and it looks like they were right. And if Shanahan isn't careful (he usually isn't), he will soon get to experience firsthand what a pussywhining McNabb is like as well, another annual occurrence that the fans and the team management just got used to over time in Philadelphia, but which will likely be very poorly received in a new city, especially given McNabb's pace for his worst full season ever as a pro in 2010, including throwing more picks than interceptions and really failing to fully take the reins of the offense yet even through seven games of the regular season. I was always a big McNabb fan in Philly as I've written about here many times, but I won't lie -- I smiled a lil bit when I saw this story, and with every passing day as McNabb comes closer and closer to publicly griping about it, I am enjoying watching the Skins squirm more than little bit.

Oh, and here's another thing in the world of sports that I find utterly ridiculous right now: the BCS. I'm not going on a general rant here about how stupid the whole system is, the impossible to follow formulas, the computer ranking, or the lack of a playoff system or a true national champion which clearly keeps the sport from growing by probably several multiples with every passing year. No, I'm just talking right now about the unbelievable bias in this thing towards the big-conference teams. I mean, this shit is as close to a set-up for the big conference schools as it could ever be. This whole BCS thing, with each of the big conferences exerting some elements of shared control and manipulation, is one of the biggest scams I have ever seen accepted by the American sports-watching public. How many fucking teams have to lose before Boise State is given a chance to play for a national title? Just one chance is all I'm asking for here guys. If they play for a title, and some big-conference team with one loss during the regular season blows them out by 40 points, then I'll shut up. I'll stop complaining about it right away because then I'll know, then we'll all know. But instead, this team has been top-5 all season long. They were top 5 last year, and when given a chance during the regular season last year, they took down a top 10 team. They took down top-5 TCU in their bowl game last year. They started this year in the top 5 again, and they haven't even let anyone get close to them so far this season, including a solid beating of then-top 10 Virginia Tech this year as well. Boise State has played three top 10 teams in the last two seasons and beaten them all, so in the few chances they've been given at a fair shot at the top teams, they've risen to the challenge every single time. It's not their fault if none of the other big conference schools won't schedule a fair home-and-home series to play Boise State during the regular season -- these schools are scared to death of Boise State! They would rather play almost anyone than Boise, so Boise just takes their two shots a year at the big boys and dominates them all, and otherwise totally flattens everyone else in their path. Now this season was supposed to be all about Notre Dame, but they quickly proved that they suck by losing early. Perennial powerhouse Florida dropped a game in the earlygoing as well to lose their shot at a title. USC quickly lost as well to take their NCAA-embargoed self out of the realm of the unbeatens. Overlooking Boise State completely after three early favorites lost games, the BCS controlled solely by the big conferences lifted Ohio State to then the overwhelming favorite early on, until they too lost a shocker a few weeks back. Then it was Alabama leap-frogging Boise State, with all the talking heads on ESPN proclaiming that Nick Saban's team would never lose a game this year and roll on to another national title. Until they lost a couple of weeks ago to South Carolina. After Michigan State and Missouri both lost their undefeated records this past weekend, I figured the case for Boise State could no longer be ignored by the BCS, but then boom! Now it's Auburn -- another big conference school who had hardly been talked about at all until just a couple of weeks ago -- who is the new greatest team in the league this year. And when they lose the SEC championship game to Alabama in a few weeks, then you know what's gonna happen with the BCS, right? Then Alabama with one loss will be back to being ahead of Boise State again. With Ohio State right behind, how much you wanna bet.

Boise State is The Best Team in NCAA Football in 2010. Period. The big schools refuse to ever play them during the regular season except in unfair, highly favorable circumstances to the big school teams. The big conference-controlled BCS then promotes every single undefeated team over Boise State week after week, even switching it up over and over with every passing week as every single team without exception that the big schools have tried to inflate this year have done. This past weekend has now brought it all to a head as the BCS is now forced to start talking about promoting one-loss teams over Boise, who has beaten three top-10 squads in the last two seasons while dominating everyone. It's simple. Boise State is the best team in the league. Yes, they would beat Alabama if they played them right now on a neutral site, and yes they would beat Ohio State as well. Open your eyes and stop believing what the totally and laughably biased BCS is telling you and trying to change on you week after week after week after week. Congratulations to your Boise State Broncos, the real national champions of the 2010 NCAA football season.

NFL Week 3 -- Picks

Boy, just like that it is Friday again, and time for some more NFL picks. I don't know what it was, but I looked at the page last week and those games just jumped right out at me. I ended up going 4-1, but once again even in my one loss (Denver +6 vs Indy), I was basically spot-on in how I thought that game would go, including that Denver kept it close all the way to the end. It wasn't until late midway through the 4th quarter that Indy caused a turnover and went up by more than a touchdown, but Denver played 'em tough just like I thought they would. I'm not trying to take credit for being "mostly right" when I was really wrong, but I'm just making the same point after Week 3 that I made after I went 1-3-1 in Week 2: I'm feeling pretty on top of the teams in the league this year here in the earlygoing, just like I was last year. 5-4-1 over two weeks, but I am just a ball hitting the ground on a replay here, and an extra inch of a step closer to the sideline there, from being a heck of a lot more in the black already for the young season.

So let's try to keep it going this week, shall we? As always, in no particular order, here are the Week 3 NFL picks:

1. Denver Broncos +7 at Tennessee Titans. I don't know what it is about this game -- you guys know I'm a big Vince Young and Jeff Fisher fan if you've been reading these picks for a while now -- but that line just seems awfully big for a Titans team that doesn't always pour on the points. Denver's defense will be stingy as always, and the Titans focus on ball control with Chris Johnson in the backfield such that they tend to cut down on the number of total offensive drives they have in a game. I think the thing that puts this line over the edge for me is Denver quarterback Kyle Orton, who remains one of the most efficient and most productive quarterbacks in the NFL so far in 2010 despite getting very little pub for it. I'll take the points here and expect a close game, probably won by the Titans late.

2. Baltimore Ravens +1 at Pittsburgh Steelers. A week after starting off with two road favorites (both of which won), I'm right back at you this week with two road dogs, in this case with the Ravens who I not only think but expect will win this game outright. Not saying we're going to get a blowout here -- the Steelers remain probably the single best defense in the NFL with Hair Polamalu in there and healthy, and we all saw what the Ravens defense did to Mark Sanchez -- who otherwise has looked pretty darn good this season -- in Week 1. So this is going to be a low-scoring affair, but in the end I have to give the nod to the Ravens' matchup with Charlie Batch, who has had exactly one NFL start since 2006 and has no idea what he is in for this week in Pittsburgh. The Steelers already made their point, they went 3-0 in the first three games of Ben Roethlisberger's four-game suspension, but this week they are going to lose a tight one to the division-rival Ravens. Easy pick, plus a point just to make it feel even better.

3. Indianapolis Colts -9 at Jacksonville Jaguars. Last week I picked my Eagles to run up the score at a very bad Jacksonville's stadium, and we were treated to a quarterback showcase by Mike Vick en route to a 28-3 shellacking of the home team. Peyton Manning is coming to town this week and the line is only 9 points. Yes, it's a big line. But it's going to win. That's another damn easy pick right there.

4. Philadelphia Eagles -6 vs Washington Redskins. Yeah, I had to pick this one, didn't I? I'm not necessarily ready yet to put money on the Eagles to win this year against McNabb in Washington, but this game in Philly, which will be televised almost entirely around the country I think should be a fairly easy win for the Eagles. Mike Vick is on a high right now, he is playing much better football than his counterpart Donovan McNabb in Washington, and most of all, the Redskins look an awful lot like they just kinda sorta might suck balls again this year. Mike Shanahan or not, the Redskins look like the same team Dan Snyder has stared in the face of for as long as most people can remember at this point, and although it's a little too early in the season to be sure of that just yet, the matchup with the Eagles, in Philadelphia, with McNabb returning to the Linc for the first time as an opposing player, and with the reaction the fans in Philadelphia are starting to have to Vick who is in my book the early leader for NFL MVP, it just bodes I think for a solid win out of the Iggles this weekend.

5. San Diego Chargers -9 vs Arizona Cardinals. Don't ask me why I'm picking a team that's had as much trouble scoring the ball as the Chargers have so far in 2010, but at home Phillip Rivers et al are a much stronger force than on the road, and the Cardinals have looked equally worse on the road than they themselves have at home. Hard to put my finger on it, but something about this game smells like a two-touchdown victory to me with the Chargers somewhere around the mid-30s by the final whistle.

Best of luck to every who's playing the games this week. And while McNabb will surely be cheered when he first appears on the field in Philly, I'll be glued to the tv set on Sunday at 4pm with my Redskin-loving brother in law, laughing while McNabb tosses ball after ball hopelessly into the ground in front of his receivers. Finally, after a decade of suffering, I'll get to guffaw at those throws smacking the turf in Philly instead of grimacing at them.

Sports Musings

1. Ron Gardenhire is the best manager in baseball. Year after year after year. The Twins have won what, 6 of the last 9 division titles in the AL Central? And with a clearly small-market team with a generally smaller-market payroll, a team that was discussed for contraction within the past half a decade or so. And they lost Mauer for most of last season and much of this season. Justin Morneau has been gone for much of two straight years as well. Joe Nathan blew out his arm and had Tommy John surgery like two days into the season this year. And yet here they are again, playing it out for the best record in all of baseball. What can you say? Tony LaRussa? Bobby Cox? Lou Piniella? Give me a break -- I'll take Ron Gardenhire any day of the week.

2. What can I say about the Phillies? I mean, obviously all those players read my blog, I've suspected that for a long time, but when I called those guys out right here in this post, apparently I really hit a chord with the team, and I downright motivated the shit out of them. Maybe I should be in coaching. I mean, I read these guys the riot act about not really caring about winning this year on the morning of August 27, and all they've done since that very date is go 22-5 and moved from 2 games back in the NL East to 6 games up and about to clinch their fourth straight NL East title, something that has only been done in the NL East by one other team since expansion in 1969, the Atlanta Braves squad that amazingly won 11 straight divisional titles between 1995 and 2005. One thing is for sure this year with the Phillies -- there have never, even in this franchise's history been higher expectations for the team to obviously walk into the World Series. Not only is Philly the two-time defending NL champions, but we have easily the best starting rotation in the NL if not in all of baseball, and seemingly the best offense in the league as well with everyone starting to hit the ball finally in the last third or quarter of the regular season. Nobody is even seriously considering the possibility of anyone other than the Fightin Phils back in the World Series in a month or two out of the National League, and the big story on this half of the bracket will be how the Phillies handle those expectations of returning to the Series that are higher than any team I can remember in my lifetime.

3. Michael Vick clearly gives the Eagles the best possible chance of winning games this year, seemingly far and away better than the team's chances with Kevin Kolb at the helm. In that sense the switch to Vick is the clear "right" decision. But, the whole story is a tremendous embarrassment to the entire Eagles franchise, from the GM and team president all the way down to the coach. To trade away Donovan McNabb in the offseason and publicly proclaim how the Kevin Kolb era is beginning, and then make a switch after seeing less than one half of Kolb's play this year before switching to someone else? That is just plain laughable, even for Philadelphia sports. That's the kind of thing the Philly fans would do but no one in management is supposed to blatantly embarrass the franchise with such silliness.

4. On the topic of Vick, I the feeling I am left with after watching him sling another 3 touchdown passes and run in a fourth this weekend on the road, is one of happiness. I am actually happy for the guy. I mean, what he did was illegal, and more than that, it was disgusting. But let's not forget, he served a year and a half in jail, suffered a more than two-year suspension from the NFL, and at the end of the day Mike Vick got all this after never hurting another human being. Not excusing his actions, but to my sensibility this is building week by week by week into one of the feel-good stories in the NFL in years, and a great story of comeback and of redemption for a guy who clearly deserves a second chance. When you've got Donte Stallworth killing an actual human being driving drunk and then back on the field 30 days later -- and I could go on and on about examples of guys in the league who have drove drunk, hurt or abused their wives or other friends or family, etc. -- the people who are still on their high horse about what Mike Vick did given the debt he paid just boggle the mind.

5. Memo to the Washington Redskins: How you feelin' now about that McNabb trade? Is McNabb still the man, after last week in overtime and now this week's depressing showing? This was without a doubt the first time in at least three or four seasons this weekend where it was actually clear that the Rams were destroying some other team. Yes the Shanahan-led Redskins clearly suck, but this is the very first sign we've seen that Steve Spagnuolo might actually have a future with this team and in head coaching in general in this league. And cue the bright lights, because Week 4 brings McNabb back "home" to Philadelphia for his return to his old team in the first faceoff between the Skins and Eagles of the 2010 regular season, in what should be this year's version of last year's return of Brett Favre to the confines of Lambeau Field.

Goodbye Donnie Mac

Wow. What a weekend. So much news and very little time to devote to it all these days as things at work have picked up to the sickest degree I can ever recall experiencing. I don't know how much value there is to this anecdotal evidence, but all signs point to business being as brisk right now for my company as it has been at any time in the past couple of years, so you economy-watchers should take that for what you will. Anyways, of all the stuff I have to write about this week (I've got five posts in draft form already half-written, ranging from my 2010 MLB over-unders in team win totals, to another nice tournament score for me, to the NCAA tournament, you name it and I've started a post about it), the biggest and most timely news has got to be my beloved Eagles' surprise trade of Donovan McNabb to the hated Washington Redskins.

Who knew that two weeks back in the middle the 2009 NFL season would end up meaning so much to the Philadelphia Eagles? Remember when Donovan McNabb went down with a broken rib in Week 2 of last year's season, causing him to miss two games heading into the team's bye week? Well, what you may not recall is McNabb's 25-year-old backup Kevin Kolb filling in more than amply in McNabb's absence, going an impressive 55 for 85 in completions, racking up a huge 718 yards passing whole throwing for four touchdowns vs three interceptions in those two starts, becoming the first player to throw for 300+ yards in his first two NFL starts in league history. Well, all that has come to roost now, as not even a year later, McNabb is now gone, traded to a division rival at that, and now it's officially become the Kevin Kolb show in Philadelphia. Eek.

How did this happen? It's business, as usual. McNabb remains under contract for one more season with the Eagles, but next year he will be 34 years old -- especially concerning for a guy who's missed a few games in each of the last few seasons and who has traditionally made so much of his big plays using his athleticism -- and he will become at that time an unrestricted free agent. And McNabb has already made it clear that he wants / expects a long-term deal after next season in order to lead a team's offense going forward. Now the Eagles, ever the spendthrifts, already know they are not going to pay McNabb the likely 15-20 million dollars in guaranteed money that they would be required to pay him next year if his contract talks go similarly to those of the other, say, top 5 or 6 quarterbacks in the league today. So, the thinking goes, if the Eagles are going to lose McNabb after next season for sure, and get nothing in return, then why not trade him today instead, and take back from Washington the 37th pick in the 2010 NFL draft as well as a 3rd or 4th round pick -- let's just say roughly the 100th pick in the 2011 NFL draft.

So that's what it comes down to for Donovan McNabb for Philly, huh? A 37th pick and a future 100th pick in the draft. This still stuns me. After leading the Eagles to five NFC Championship games and five NFC East championships in his 11 years in Philadelphia, during which time he and head coach Andy Reid became the longest-tenured pairing of quarterback and coach in some 20 years, and the 6th-longest tenured pair in history. After being a 6-time pro-bowler, and probably deserving of being there even more than that. During his 11 years in Philly, only the Colts and the Patriots have won more games, and no other team in the NFC. McNabb leaves the Eagles as the all-time franchise leader in completions, attempts, completion percentage, passing yards, passing tds and total wins. And for what? A 37th pick and a future 100th pick in the draft. Sheesh.

The big question right now I think is how will the city of Philadelphia respond to this move? For starters, the fans of Philadelphia -- notoriously difficult to satisfy as they are -- are well aware of all the great stats above about McNabb's career. Almost every seat in the house at the Linc is purchased by a season ticket holder, and those guys are there for every game, and have been there for every game McNabb had started since he was drafted back in 1999 to the boos and jeers of Philly fans who wanted the team to draft resident stoner Ricky Williams. If Kolb comes in and sucks up the joint, those fans are going to be disgusted to a degree worse than I am sure even Eagles management can envision. They know how prolific of an NFL quarterback McNabb has been over the years. Who else has won five NFC East titles in 11 years? Nobody. Ever. He's won a lot of games in this town, and he's had a number of incredible plays that display his unique brand of athleticism:



That being said, the Philly fans are all also painfully aware of McNabb's only one win in five NFC Championship games, including two of those games where the Eagles were the higher seed and I believe three of them where the Eagles were favored to win the game, including in 2009 against the Arizona Cardinals. And let's not forget the one NFC Championship game that McNabb won back in 2004, what happened then? He went to the Superbowl, and promptly barfed through his football mask during the 4th quarter after starting off classically slow and really being largely inaccurate and ineffective during most of the first three quarters of the game. Of course by this point it is common knowledge that the Patriots used cameras to illegally record the Eagles' practices, signal calls and game calls for that game, so obviously that has to be factored in to the equation, but in the end taken with McNabb's overall big game performance, and the fans in Philly I am pretty sure will not have too much trouble with the decision to move in a different direction.

But trading McNabb within the Eagles' division is very telling, and I think this is the point that is going to give Eagles fans the most heartache about this deal. My first thought -- and the one that I still believe, ultimately -- was that this was obviously the best deal the Eagles could find, or why else would they send this guy to a hated division rival? I heard Andy Reid inexplicably state in the press conference on Sunday night that they took great pains to trade McNabb to a team he wanted to play for, and that he was not "willing" to play for Buffalo or Oakland but expressed a willingness to play for Mike Shanahan in DC. If that's what the Eagles did, then they are the biggest chumps of all time. But I doubt it. I think in the end, a 37th pick and a future 100th pick is the best offer the Eagles could get for McNabb at this point in his career. Which is still really amazing to me.

One thing the Eagles have certainly done with this intra-divisional trade is given everybody in their fan base -- those who like McNabb and those who dislike him -- a reason to be unhappy about this deal. And now we will likely get to be reminded of those reasons twice a year for the foreseeable future too.

Catchup

Whoa. A week sure flew by in a hurry. I meant to say something about this in advance, but I have been pretty much out of pocket and not even online much for the past couple of weeks. There are a lot of reasons for this, but the biggest one pretty much includes Hammer Wife and I having another baby a couple of days ago. So I haven't really been working, and I really haven't even been on the grid at all for the most part.

But I've still been keeping in touch with what's going on in the world, and frankly I would've probably had a ton to write about if this had been a normal past week for me. So with that I will leave you today with some random thoughts on the things that have happened in the world of sports since last we spoke. As always, in no particular order.

For starters, Plaxico Burress has got to have the worst big-time lawyer in the world. This guy somehow managed to get two years in real-life prison, out in 20 months for good behavior (fat chance), simply for carrying a weapon into a New York nightclub without it having been registered in New York. Now, the gun was registered in the state Plax purchased it in, mind you, and he had been through the interview process and answered all the questions associated with registration of such a gun, but the law in New York says that all concealed handguns must be registered in the State of New York in order to be possessed in the state.

Now don't get me wrong -- what Plaxico did was bad, and more importantly, it was clearly a crime under the laws of the State of New York. All that law requires is possession of a gun, and that gun not to be registered in New York, and you are guilty of violating the law. Period. And Plax clearly satisfied both elements of this relatively clear crime. Yet Plax's "lawyer to the stars", Ben Brathman, first decided to take the unusual step of Plax testifying as part of the grand jury hearing to determine whether or not Plaxico would be indicted for illegal possession of a handgun. Normally a defendant is not at all involved in the grand jury process, but I guess Ben Brathman thought he might be able to win some leniency from the grand jury in some form by presenting the mitigating circumstances of Plaxico's situation. Unfortunately, all the mitigation in the world doesn't change the fact that Plax carried a gun not registered in New York into a nightclub in New York, and the grand jury quickly voted to indict as seemed obvious to everyone but Plax's big-money lawyer. Brathman's follow-up strategy of talking tough on beating the charges and in plea negotiations with the Manhattan DA also totally failed, as Brathman again tried to deny the fact that violation of New York's unregistered gun law carries a mandatory statutory prison term of 3 1/2 years. So why is the DA going to agree to Plax doing no jail time when it is clear as a bell that Plax violated a state law, and that law clearly stipulates a 3 1/2 year minimum jail term for any violation?

In the end, Plax will serve two years in NY state prison. All because he bought a gun, registered it in the state of purchase, and then carried it with him into a nightclub in New York City one night. He never intended to use the gun and certainly had not intent to harm or injure anyone in any way, and again he had registered the gun he was charged for. And yet he's getting two years in jail.

I certainly hope he didn't pay Benjamin Brathman too much up front for his "expertise". If I'm rich and famous and I'm charged with a crime in the future, I wouldn't even consider talking to Brathman about my case.

Staying in the NFL for a minute, there's always Brett Favre. What can you even say at this point? I mean, clearly he is a selfish, self-centered individual who cannot see what others can see about him. Favre hasn't been a good quarterback for years, literally, and the havoc he has caused for three or four different NFL teams over the past several seasons with his complete unwillingness to decide on his future by any deadlines he or potential suitor teams have set is nearing legendary levels at this point. But you know what? At this point I am through being pissed about Favre and his magical ego tour. I'm actually interested and excited to watch how he plays this year, especially on a team that I consider to be pretty mediocre overall in Minnesota. They're not bad by any means, but Favre has really made his bed at this point, and now the whole country is going to be watching him weekly, with most of them probably rooting for him to fall flat on his pretty face.

And speaking of people who fans will love to hate this year, my Eagles' acquisition of Mike Vick is still in the forefront of my mind. In the end, I think I have a similar feeling to the Vick situation as I do about the whole Favre debacle -- as I have discussed previously, what Vick did is reprehensible to be sure. And I'm still embarrassed as all getout that it's going to be my team -- my Eagles -- who Vick will be suiting up for all through this season. But as I wrote about previously, I don't really have any problem with Vick getting signed by somebody, and in my heart I know Vick deserves the second chance after 23 months in prison and 32+ games suspended if an NFL team is willing to put up with all the shit that will surely go along with employing him. And, as with the Favre situation, at this point I am more excited than anything else about seeing just what the crazy mind of Andy Reid comes up with as far as where and how to play someone of Mike Vick's athletic caliber. Will McNabb and Vick both line up behind the line and make defenders guess who will get the snap from center? Will Vick line up as a wide receiver or tight end as has been rumored of late? Will Vick even have set plays run for him to come out of the backfield with the potential to bust through some holes? There are just a whole lot of ways Vick can be integrated into this offense, and I can foresee people tuning in just to see what the Eagles do next with him on the roster.

Before I go today, I would be remiss if I did not mention Your World Champion Philadelphia Phillies, who have continued trucking along and at this moment sit at a season-high 22 games over .500, thanks in no small part to what has become at this point an indisputably strong starting pitching rotation. The first nice surprise has been Pedro Martinez, although if you've followed P-Mart's career along then I suppose his performance thus far for the Champs hasn't been that out of character. Basically, just as I've been saying here for over a month now, P-Mart has become a decently solid 5- or 6-inning starter. He will probably never sniff the 7th inning again in his major league pitching career, but he's usually good for 5 or 6 innings, getting himself into trouble maybe twice and giving up 2-4 earned runs. But he seems to have sufficient stuff to avoid the big meltdown innings and getting rocked early most of the time, which has been helpful for the Phillies at the bottom of the rotation and hopefully will continue to do so.

But the real story with the Phillies success this year, and in particular in the second half, lies in two other pitchers, both of whom were tangentially involved in the possible trade talks for Roy Halladay just before the trading deadline. First, you've got J.A. Happ, the 26-year-old phenom making his first attempt at being a starter in this, the third season where he made at least one appearance for the major league club. Happ is you recall was required by the Blue Jays as part of any trade for their ace Roy Halladay, and Phillies' GM Ruben Amaro had even offered up Happ as part of a 4-player proposal, which Blue Jays' GM J.P. Ricciardi rejected because it did not also include #1 Phillies pitching prospect Kyle Drabek. Well, the rest is GM legend history as Amaro then opted to keep both Drabek and Happ, and to trade a few other lesser prospects for Indians' starter Cliff Lee instead. More on Lee in a minute, but Happ has continued on being just tremendous since narrowly missing being traded thanks to the Jays' GM being outmaneuvered by Amaro. Since the Phillies kept Happ and acquired Cliff Lee on July 29, J. Happ is 4-0 for the Phils, three of those wins on the road including wins at wildcard-fighting Atlanta and Chicago plus a 7-0 shutout win at home against the wildcard-leading Rockies. In those four starts, Happ has pitched 29.2 innings, or well into the 8th inning on average per start. And in those 29.2 innings? Just one home run and four total runs allowed, for an awesome 1.26 ERA this month. Simply put, the guy has been a total pimp for us and this is why myself and so many other Phillies fans were thrilled with Amaro's move keeping Happ and not giving in to the Blue Jays' ludicrous demands for Halladay instead.

Meanwhile, Cliff Lee's performance since he came to Philly instead of Roy Halladay on July 29 makes J. Happ seem like Mitch "Wild Thing" Williams in the 1993 World Series. If there was any doubt about Ruben Amaro's genius in this, just his first year as a General Manager of a major league baseball team, after letting Pat Burrell and his 12 home runs so far in 2009 go to the Rays and picking up Raul Ibanez in the offseason, picking up an effective Pedro Martinez for peanuts a couple of months back, and then managing to keep both J. Happ and Kyle Drabek in making a big trade before the trading deadline, then what Cliff Lee has done in Philly has got to ice it. Now in five starts for the World Champions, Cliff Lee is 5-0 with a 0.68 ERA. No that's not a typo. Lee has pitched 7, 7, 8, 9 and 9 innings in his five starts so far for the Phils, giving up a total of 26 hits in those 40 innings -- none of them home runs -- and a grand total of three earned runs. In 40 innings. He's also pitched 39 strikeouts compared to just six walks during that time period, so this is a guy with the total package of impeccable control and awesome power across the board. And you know what the best part is? During this same time period (since July 29), Roy Hallday has gone 2-4 with an ERA of 4.40, giving up 8 home runs and allowing opposing batters to hit .324 against him. I knew this whole thing was going to blow up in Ricciardi's face, toying with his ace's emotions like he did by publicly broadcasting his desire to trade the starter to a contender, and then turning down some very powerful offers including top prospects plus guys like J. Happ and leaving Halladay high and dry with a losing team for the second half of the season, but it's good to see someone's ineptitude come home to roost once in a while. But hey I'm not complaining -- Ricciardi's big gaffe was Ruben Amaro's gain, and I have to admit as a Philly sports fan it feels good for once in a long while to be the team that took advantage of someone else's ineptitude instead of the team getting taken advantage of.

OK that's all for now. I may have some more this week but next week on Monday I should be back and better than ever on my regular posting schedule as things begin to return a little bit back to normal in my home and in my life.

Friday Rant

As I look around the world today, I see a whole lot of redonkulousness and have to spew a little bit about some of it here.

First we have OJ back in the headlines after getting together a posse of armed goons and busting in to a hotel room to allegedly steal back some sports paraphanaelia that allegedly belongs rightfully to OJ. I'll believe that when I see the proof. You know, OJ, most of us just call the police when something that is indisputably ours has been stolen from us and you know exactly where the culprits are, in an enclosed room, with the stolen contraband right there with them. I heard a funny quote from a caller on sports radio on Monday night from someone who said "The Niners are 2-0. The Packers are 2-0. The Cowboys are 2-0. And OJ is back in jail. It's like the mid 1990s all over again!" Well said, Jerome from Manhattan.

But that's even not the best part of this story as far as I'm concerned. The part that I love the most is OJ's quote after being arrested and held behind bars without bail while the police sort things out. "I'm O.J. Simpson," the disgraced grid great told The Los Angeles Times yesterday. "How am I going to think that I'm going to rob somebody and get away with it?"

Hmmmmmmm....Now why would OJ ever think he could get away with something like this?

You have gotta love people sometimes. Especially completely out-of-body-no-concept-of-reality loopy psychopaths like OJ Simpson.

And please, if OJ asks any of you readers out there for my address after reading this, just tell them I live in Vegas and respond to the name "poker champ".

OK now let's talk for a minute about another falling former sports star: Isaiah Thomas. Thomas is currently embroiled in a sexual harrassment suit by a former employee of the New York Knicks who claims that Thomas made numerous unwanted sexual advances and comments directed at her, in addition to using a number of racial and sexual epithets and slurs in conversations to her and about her. All this while Thomas has consistently run one of the great sports franchises in America into the ground, making move after move as the GM that failed to pan out, and now recently after taking over as coach and leading the team to yet another dismal, shitty season. The part of this story that I love is this quote from a Newsday article from late Monday / early Tuesday of this week:

"While Thomas stated in the deposition, which took place Dec. 8, 2006, that he didn't direct obscenities at Browne Sanders, he said it would be less offensive for a black man rather than a white man to use such language toward a black woman."

I figure Duggles if nothing else will have a field day with this comment. It refers to the fact that Thomas's accuser has testified that Thomas called her "bitch" and in fact began all his sentences to her with the word. As in "Bitch, I don't care about the fucking fans" and "Bitch I don't care about them white people", etc. But that's ok, according to Thomas, because he's black, and it's acceptable for a black man to repeatedly refer to a black woman as bitch. But if a white man referred to a black woman as bitch repeatedly, Thomas stated in his deposition, "that would clearly violate his own code of conduct."

Hmmmm. I guess after reading that I have just one thing to say to Isaiah Thomas, and I summon all my blackness when I say this: Bitch, you better get your team into the playoffs this year, or bitch you gonna be without a job. Bitch.

While I'm on the topic of sports shittiness, my Philadelphia Eagles shat the bed in a huge way this week on Monday Night Football on ESPN. It is always bad when your team goes on national tv and stinks up the joint like that. One thing is abundantly clear to me now, and this is probably all I'll say about the topic for now, but Donovan McNabb is just not healthy. Period. He had about eight of those we-all-know-you're-injured throws against the hated Redskins, 4 or 5 of them about 5 feet above his intended target, and another 3 or 4 that went straight into the ground nowhere near where any receivers were standing. He seemed to be favoring his front leg from what I saw of the game even when he threw normally and the few times he scrambled a bit, and he blatantly missed wide open receivers on 10- and 15-yard throws including some in the end zone or right near it. McNabb, always one of my favorite players in the NFL, has got to go and go now. That's all there is to it. Like I said before, I don't want him cut or anything necessarily, but we need to get another starter in there right away instead of a half-able DMac. I think we all learned last season how bad we can be with a semi-injured McNabb (1-4 in his last five games last season, plus now 0-2 this year after Miggy's return from leg surgery), and how great we can be as soon as you get a serviceable replacement in there. Now I don't know if this Kevin Kolb dork is the answer in Philadelphia, but while McNabb stays in there in his clearly not healthy state, it's all bad for Philadelphia Eagles fans. The Redskins are still a shit team and they basically played drab football last Monday, don't get me wrong, but this year is starting off All Wrong for the Eagles. God I hate when my NFL team sucks early in the season.

Speaking of the NFL, let's get to this week's picks as I look to the right the ship after an 0-2 debacle last week courtesy of the Bengals' defense and McNabb's injured body parts. This week there is honestly one game that is the single biggest setup line I've ever seen in my entire life. In fact, this line is so goddam stoopid that I had to look it up on like three different sites to see if it is even correct, because if anything it looks to me like the number is right, but the wrong team is favored by that amount. This weekend, the 2-0 Lions are coming in to 0-2 Philadelphia, yes they of the still injured quarterback and the zero offense to speak of. And the zero defense while they're at it. So the undefeated Lions are coming to the Linc to play the winless Eagles, where the Eagles just got embarrassed this past Monday night against the horrid Redskins, and what's the line on the game? Lions favored by how much? 5? 3? Pick'em even? Well, guess what. Somehow the 2-0 Lions are 6.5 point underdogs to the Eagles, totally out of the blue. This is truly the biggest setup line I have ever seen in my entire life. The Lions will almost surely win this game outright, as the matchup of their potent offense against the Eagles embarrassment of a defense should take them well into the 25+ point range, and here they are not only favored to lose to an 0-2 team coming off a shortened week, but they are getting 6.5 points to boot. So here's my thought: clearly, the Eagles are going to cover that 6.5 point spread. Bet the Eagles. I don't know why, I think we are terrible right now with Injuryboy McNabb in there, but one way or the other I say you have to take the Eagles to cover the 6.5 in the dumbestassest line I can ever remember seeing in an NFL game.

For my other pick this week, I like the New York Jets to smush the Miami Dolphins in New Jersey this weekend, so I'm taking them minus the 3 point spread in that one. The Jets have a great coach, a great quarterback coming back in Chad Pennington, and still one of the league's top receivers in Lavernaeus Coles. I'm sure I spelled that name wrong, but whose fault is that, really? Mine? I think not. What kind of name is La-vern-e-us anyways, for a man? Not a good one let me tell you. But I think the Jets bounce back and bounce back nicely this week after two tough losses to top AFC teams in Baltimore and New England. 3 points should be no problem to cover this week.

So to recap, my NFL picks this week are:

1. Philadelphia +6.5 at home over the Lions. Dumbest setup line of the year, it must be a setup.

2. NY Jets -3 over the Dolphins. This one should be a solid Jets win I'm thinking.

One other side item to note: this has been the best season of Major League Baseball in as long as I can remember I think. I can't recall a year with such a good race coming down to the wire in the NL West, NL Central, and the NL and AL East divisions, including two huge potential collapses by the Mets and the Red Sox to now be threatened to lose their divisional leads that both seemed utterly insurmountable for mostly this entire season, including as recently as just a couple weeks ago in each case. In particular, my beloved Phillies have made quite a run at the Mets, as of late Thursday night now just 1.5 games back with I think 9 games to play. The sad thing about all this is -- and you can only really understand what I'm saying here if you've been a lifelong Philadelphia sports fan like I have -- but the real Philly fans already know with 100% certainty how this year's Phillies season ends up shaking out. We'll miss the playoffs, falling just short after making this big run and faking everybody into buying in to the team, into jumping on the bandwagon and really thinking we could sneak into the playoffs as a result. Same as last year, and the same as the year before that. So don't believe the hype about the Phillies making this incredible late playoff push. No way, no how no chance do the Phillies make the playoffs this year. Ask anyone who spent a long portion of their life in Philly, and they'll tell ya. Am I right Al or what?

That's all for today's rant. I busted in 11th place from Thursday night's Riverchasers tournament on full tilt after a great run that ended with me pushing allin on the big blind on a preflop reraise with 44 and getting called by Astin's AK. Hard to complain about that I think, especially since Astin's raise came from the button and double especially since we were 6-handed when it happened, what can you do. On Friday night is the latest Donkament, hosted by Kat, which is the $1 rebuy donxtravanganza at 9pm ET on full tilt (password is "donkarama"), and which as usual I will try to play but I often have issues with the timing on a Friday evening. Otherwise I should be on over the weekend around my usual times, so feel free to stop by and say hello, either on the girly chat or in the poker room chat itself on full tilt. For some reason ftp remains my main online poker stomping ground despite the hideous results I have experienced exclusively there over the past two weeks. Guess that means I choose masochism instead of nihlism, who knows.