Would You Like To Hear Some Numbers, Arizona?

137 yards of total offense. 5 first downs, one of those on a penalty. 0-for-15 on first down.

Let me repeat that. 0-FOR-15 on 3RD DOWN.

Oh, and the most important number, 6. As in, six points, one fewer than the Jets scored.

Ryan Lindley's been the QB for over 10 quarters now. The Cardinals have scored 29 points in that stretch. John Skelton, hardly Tom Brady under center, had lead the Cardinals to 30 points in roughly 5.5 quarters (from the start of the Green Bay game up to his benching). The opposing defenses have scored 21 points since Lindley took over. Keep in mind, that's just them returning his mistakes to the house. It doesn't count the points their offenses scored thanks to improved field position.

What's galling is Rex Ryan was willing to bench Sanchez when it was clear he didn't have it. He turned to Greg McElroy, not because he expected McElroy to be great, but because what the hell, he couldn't be any worse. Lo and behold, McElroy did just enough to lead the Jets on their lone scoring drive.

Meanwhile, Whisenhunt is over there watching Lindley derp his way to a 6-for-20 first half, and he never considers putting Skelton back. Well, he did, but he says the coaching staff was swayed by the things Lindley was saying on the sideline. Swell. Lindley produced a sway in me as well, but it was nausea from his terrible passing.

Did you know that between the games against the Falcons and Jets, the Cardinals are +7 in turnover margin/ Yet they lost both games. Their defense is busting its ass for nothing. If Whisenhunt had kept Skelton in, the Cards win both those games. I'm not saying they would have been pretty, but I'm confident Skelton would have made just enough plays so the defense's hard work wasn't for naught. I can't say they would have won the Rams game, though I figure it would have been considerably closer since I doubt Skelton would have thrown 4 INTs.

Even if they lost that one, consider the overall circumstance. The Cardinals would have followed a 5-game losing streak by winning 2 of 3, both victories on the road no less. Instead, they're on an 8-game losing streak, and Whisenhunt is insisting Lindley gives the team its best chance to win. Which is so absurd as to be hilarious, like a bear on a jet ski. Lindley hasn't thrown a TD yet. His completion percentage is 48.5%, his yards per attempt, 2.2.

Even Skelton, in his rookie year, when he completed only 47.6% of his passes, had 2 TDs to only 2 INTs. he averaged 4.9 yards per attempt. When you're so lousy you make Rookie John Skelton look like Unitas in comparison, the only team you're helping win is whoever plays against you.

And why is LaRod Stephens-Howling the forgotten man on offense? He got one carry and one catch yesterday. How is it that Beanie Wells' return (32 carries for 70 yards the last two weeks, but also 2 TDs) somehow made LaRod the third-stringer behind Wells and William Powell? As Lindley clearly can't get the ball within 5 yards of Fitzgerald, that makes LaRod the best playmaker they have the ball can actually reach.

Way To Screw The Pooch There, Arizona

The Cardinals forced 6 turnovers yesterday. They still lost 23-19, because they totaled less than 200 yards of offense and 7 first downs. Keep in mind, that's less than 200 yards even with LaRod Stephens-Howling rushing for 122 yards on 22 carries. Everyone keeps saying he can't hold up indefinitely as the primary back, but I'm certainly impressed with his attempt.

The passing game was abominable. Skelton started 2 of 7 for 6 yards, and when he missed Fitzgerald in the end zone, Whisenhunt benched him. For rookie Ryan Lindley. Who promptly went 9 of 20 for 64 yards. Oh, and he lost a fumble Atlanta returned for a touchdown. But you know what? It isn't his fault. It's Whisenhunt's.

Why put a rookie QB in, one who has never taken a snap in a regular season game? Against an 8-1 team, in said 8-1 team's stadium? When you're leading 13-0?!

I could understand if this had been like the last meeting between Atlanta and Arizona, when the Falcons lead by 3 TDs at the half. No reason not to try a rookie there (except you'll have to pass, and the Falcons' D will be bringing the house, and perhaps you want the rookie to survive the game). But they were actually winning. The defense was holding. Yes, it might be just a matter of time until Ryan and the Falcons broke through. But they'd have to do it twice to take the lead. While there was still plenty of time (it was the 2nd quarter) for them to do that, there was also plenty of time for Skelton to get it together. He's done this before. Played lousy for 3 quarters, then found his rhythm in the 4th quarter. Look at all the 4th quarter comebacks last year.

Now sometimes he doesn't find a groove. He's just terrible the entire game. But there was at least a chance, based on past history, he'd get it together. What chance was there Lindley wasn't going to be awful? Not much.

But Whisenhunt was making a point about accountability. Skelton played poorly, so he got benched. Swell. Where's Whisenhunt's accountability? Do I, as a Cardinals' fan of 20 years, one who has been willing to show patience with Skelton, get to punch Whisenhunt in groin for his poor decision making? Because it sure seems to me like he cost the team a win because he wanted to make some p.r. move of showing he's as frustrated as the fans are. You know what would make me less frustrated, Whiz? If the team stopped losing.

I have no idea if Skelton will ever amount to anything. I know his interception rate is down considerably from last year, but so is his TD rate, and his completion percentage is basically the same. I also know this was only his 17th NFL start, and the third he hasn't finished, whether because of injury or Whiz yanking him. Is that enough time to know what he's really capable of? I don't know. Skelton was a project when he was drafted, 2 to 3 years away from being ready, according to Whisenhunt himself. Well, this is year 3, so maybe Whisenhunt figures he ought to be "ready" now, whatever that means. I know QBs take time to develop. Sure, some of them, you know almost instantly they're good to go, or conversely, that they aren't. But not all.

Look at Cam Newton. #1 overall pick, he's made a half-season more starts than Skelton, and even after his tremendous rookie year, there are questions. Does he take too many sacks, is he self-centered, is he accurate, do losses bother him too much (which seems like a ridiculous complaint, but some people are ridiculous). Mark Sanchez, Sam Bradford, Christian Ponder, all young QBs, all with more starts than Skelton, all of whom have their good games and their bad. We don't know yet whether any of them will ever be top-flight QBs (though the evidence leans strongly towards "No" on Sanchez).

Maybe that's the answer right there. If they were top-flight QBs, we'd know by now, and since we don't, they aren't. It seems like more of a consistency issue, which feels like something solved with time. I remember years ago, when Marty was still coaching the Chargers, there were complaints he was starting Doug Flutie over Drew Brees (I was annoyed by these at the time, because I'ma Flutie fan, but they're valid complaints). Not because Brees was a super-awesome, all world QB. Because people knew what Flutie was after 70+ starts, but after roughly 30 starts, we weren't sure what Brees was. Seems kind of silly now, to doubt whether Brees could hack it as a starting QB, but there were questions at the time.

I'm not saying Skelton is Brees. There's very little chance of that, though I suppose the possibility exists. The point is, Whisenhunt told us Skelton would need time. I've seen enough flashes out of him I'm willing to give him time. It doesn't mean I don't get frustrated. If you've read these weekly reviews, you know I do. But I don't think we're far enough in his career yet to issue the final verdict. And I don't think there was any need to bench him in a game the Cardinals were still winning.

Week 11 Douses The QB Controversy

People are bailing off the John Skelton bandwagon like it's on fire and headed for a tanker truck. And he did play like shit yesterday in Arizona's 23-7 loss to the 49ers. Skelton's QB rating was 10.5, and he threw 3 INTs. Ouch. Whether it was an injury or ineffectiveness, I'm not sure, but he was replaced in the 2nd half by Rich Bartel, who managed to throw a TD pass to Fitzgerald in the 4th quarter. watch as fans now load onto the "Rich Bartel should start!" bandwagon.

The Cardinals' running game didn't do much, though it seems to be a lack of opportunities. Even if you set aside Chester Taylor's lone carry, which went for 34 yards, Beanie Wells averaged 4.1 yards per carry. As that was only 8 carries, it only totaled 33 yards. Why didn't they run more? They were only down 9-0 at the half, and the 49ers didn't score a TD until halfway through the 3rd quarter. I do not understand why they won't run more on those occasions when it's actually working. If they're worried about Beanie's health, then use Taylor more. The guy has a career 4.1 yards per carry average! And he's a receiving threat out of the backfield! He might not know all the plays, but he ought to know enough of them! Give him the damn ball! I mean, cripes, they lost the time of possession battle nearly 3-1! The offense had the ball for less than 16 minutes! The Cardinals defense is playing better, but you can't put that kind of pressure on them and expect it to end well!

Look at the 49ers. They only average 3.3 yards per carry, but they still ran it 49 times. Even if they weren't having big success, they kept at it. The defense didn't do so well at containing Michael Crabtree, but they at least gave it a good shot on run defense. And the special teams blocked two field goals, so credit to them.

In theory, Kolb will be back for the upcoming game with the Rams. Now that the clamor for Skelton has cooled, it'd be a good time for Kolb to win some games. Maybe try throwing more TDs than INTs. Skelton certainly blew this opportunity to show he's the QB the franchise should throw their weight behind, but that doesn't mean Kolb has demonstrated he's that guy, either. All he has going for him is the team gave him a big contract after trading specifically for him. Whoopededoo.

Weekend Sports Action

Sunday the Arizona Cardinals won their first game of the regular season, while the St. Louis Cardinals swept the Braves to reach a 5-game winning streak.

Of course, the AzCards won while letting Cam Newton throw for 422 yards, and 2 touchdowns Plus he ran, well dived, another one in. Near as I can tell, the Cardinals opted to use their "Don't cover Steve Smith" defense, and he took advantage. I don't know why they keep using that strategy, but it at least it didn't cost them the game for once. This is kind of what I worried about when they trade Rodgers-Cromartie as part of the deal to get Kolb. Then again, their defense was pretty abysmal last year, excluding that game where it pretty much beat the Saints single-handed*, so I guess it couldn't be much worse. Also, it isn't as though any team in the NFC West has the vertical passing game to really take advantage. Either their QBs are weak (49ers, Seahawks), or their receivers are (Rams). Which takes care of 6 games, at least. I hope.

As for the StLCards, they proceeded to use all that momentum from winning their last 2 against Milwaukee and three against Atlanta, to promptly lose to the Pittsburgh Pirates. What a surprise. They're completely incapable of getting any sort of serious run going. OK, that's being too strong. They had been on a good run prior to that game, and they might win tonight. But it's a little irritating they waited until they were so far out of the playoff hunt that they'd need to recreate the Brewers' 26-6 stretch from July 26-August 26 to make the postseason. Plus, they'd need a complete Atlanta collapse, or it still wouldn't be enough.

The truly irritating thing about this is, their improved play seems to be just the excuse LaRussa needs to not give Tyler Greene a chance to show he belongs in the majors. The Cards can claim they're still in it, so they can't give people chances to audition for next year. Greene's been on the major league roster for a week and a half, he hasn't had one single plate appearance. Zero. None. He's been a pinch-runner, near as I can tell, nothing more. Corey Patterson, who has no business on a major league roster, has 5 plate appearances in that same stretch. He's 0-for-5, and has struck out 3 times. Ryan Theriot, who I would truly hope the Cardinals have a) realized is terrible at shortstop, and therefore, b) are not even remotely considering bringing back next year, has 9 PAs this month. He's 0-for-9, though he did draw a walk.

It's not as though either of those two are getting lots of playing time. But every opportunity they receive is one Tyler Green or Adron Chambers (he has 1 PA since being called up) doesn't. Theriot and Patterson bring nothing useful to the team, and bar the path of players who are probably at least as good as them, if not significantly better. If the younger players aren't, well, it'd be nice to see them play so that could be determined now. But as long as the team can claim to be in contention, well, LaRussa isn't going to set lineups with an eye towards next year.

Unfortunately, at this rate the Cards won't fall out of the running soon enough to do any good.

* Not to be confused with the game where Jay Feely beat the Broncos single-handed.

Cardinals Trade Colby Rasmus

Because hell, it's been 8 months since the last time the Cards traded a relatively young player because he didn't fit into their clubhouse. How's that swap of Brendan Ryan for Theriot working out? I'll answer for you, it's sucked.

Anyway, Rasmus is a Blue Jay now. The Blue Jays had acquired Edwin Jackson from the ChiSox, then flipped him to StL along with Marc Rzepczynski, Octavio Dotel, and Corey Patterson from Toronto. Corey Patterson? Don't they have enough terrible ex-Cubs on this fucking roster already? One is bad enough. The Cardinals also sent along Trver Miller, Brian Tallet, and P.J. Walters. Depending on how some of the players acquired perform, the Cards may receive up to 3 minor leaguers from the Jays.

So overall, how did St. Louis do?

They upgraded their rotation for the remainder of the season, but not dramatically so. Jackson won't be more than the #3 starter behind Carpenter and Garcia. In other words, Jackson will be what Jake Westbrook was supposed to have been, if he hadn't been terrible this year. Jackson's been alright for Chicago. Has an ERA+ of 104, but his WHIP is over 1.4. He does have a solid K/BB ratio of 2.49, and K's over 7/9. In theory, all those numbers should improve with the move to the NL and its easier lineups. Potential downside: Jackson's a free agent, so either they'll give him a big, potentially disastrous contract next year, or the Cardinals gave up Rasmus for a 2-month rental and the draft pick they'll get when Jackson leaves in the offseason. Still, it is an undeniable upgrade for the rotation.

With the addition of Dotel, Scrabble, and McClellan moving back to the 'pen now that Jackson's here the relief corps should be improved. Dotel's been pretty solid in about 29 innings. He's surrendering about 2 hits every 3 innings, 1.5 HRs/9, and striking out a batter an inning. And he's not walking too many guys. Rzep's apparently the only trusted lefty in the Jays' pen, as he's logged almost 40 innings this year, albeit in 43 appearances. He'll fit right in with LaRussa's bullpen methods. He allows one HR every 18 innings, has a K/BB ratio of 2.2, and like Dotel, his WHIP is just under 1.1. Not too shabby. Plus, the trade got rid of Miller and Tallet, so addition by addition and addition by subtraction. Dotel's a free agent at the end of the year as well, but he's pitched well enough the Cards could get a draft pick if he goes elsewhere. Then again, they might not want him to go. With Batista and Franklin gone, TLR might feel the 'pen is dangerously low on veteranosity. Or Dotel might retire. Who knows? Scrabble's under team control for another 3 or 4 years, though, so that's good.

Interestingly, Rzep was a starter the previous two seasons, with mixed results. He was OK in 11 '09 starts, but struggled in 12 starts last year, as his WHIP jumped from 1.3 to 1.6, and his hit rate with from 7.5/9 to 10.2/9. It's odd, his K rate is actually lower in the bullpen than it was as a starter, when he was over 8 K/9 both years. Most pitchers K more guys as relievers, since they'll throw fewer pitches and can throw harder. Anyway, I wonder if the Cards will continue shifting him back to starting next year. If he can be even average, he'll be a lot more valuable than as a LOOGY. And other than Garcia, the Cards don't have a lot of LH starting pitching. Haven't really had a lot of it since the early '90s, actually, and most of those guys didn't pan out (Allen Watson and Tom Urbani especially, Rheal Cormier and Donovan Osborne to lesser extents), so more is better.

So the pitching staff should be stronger. Great, because they didn't help the outfield any. Before they could trot out Holliday/Rasmus/Berkman, and Jay could sub anywhere. Now Jay has to start in center, unless LaRussa thinks Patterson can do that. Patterson's been the Jay's starting LF this year, but he was the Cubs starting CF for about 4 years, then two with Baltimore and 1 in Cincy. The numbers vary. Sometimes he's good (he was worth 1.1 wins defensively alone in '06), and sometimes bad (and worth -0.5 the next year). All his value this year is with the glove, but again, that's in LF. Considering TLR was willing to bench Rasmus in favor of Jay, I don't see Jay losing the starting job to Patterson. After all, the Cardinals ought to have seen enough of him to know his limitations (poor plate discipline chief among them).

Then again, they had years to watch Theriot play SS, and still thought he could handle it, so maybe they're blind. Or idiots. I'll have to hope Craig hurries and finishes his rehab stint, then picks up where he left off. At least then they'll have an offensively comptent backup to compliment their apparently defensively comptent new arrival. What it boils down to is, Rasmus being swapped out for Patterson is not an improvment. So that's a minus.

The big issue for me is this does nothing to address the Cards' most glaring hole, the middle infield. Descalso's getting some opportunities at SS, with Greene still in AAA and Punto apparently unable to hold up if he plays short. Descalso's an improvement over Theriot (though I think my dead grandmother would be an upgrade over Tally Ho), but combined with Skip, it still isn't an ideal situation for a pitching staff that relies heavily on groundballs. I don't know whether the team doesn't consider it an issue, or if there's simply nothing out there worth getting, without selling the farm. Then again, the team seems committed to win now, so what do they care about selling the farm?

Short-term, I think this trade improves the team, though not as much as they need. Long-term, I think it's a crap move. The potential draft picks and players to be named later don't impress me because wht are the odds any of them will be the player Rasmus is? Pretty small, I'd bet.

Cardinals Trade Brendan Ryan

I'm in a strange headspace over this Brendan Ryan trade. Intellectually, I know that starting Ryan Theriot at shortstop over Ryan probably doesn't make much difference in how the Cardinals finish. Yeah, Theriot's a worse player. In 2009, Brendan was wroth 3.4 wins above replacement, while Theriot was worth 1. Last year, Boog was worth 0.9, while Tally Ho* was worth -0.8 WAR. That suggests 1.5-2.5 wins difference. The Cardinals already finished 5 games behind the Reds last year, so who cares if they finish 6 or 7 games back this year?

So that's intellectually. Emotionally, I liked Brendan Ryan. He seemed to be having fun, not taking things overly seriously. He was quirky, in a way that didn't seem detrimental to the team from my perspective. It wasn't like he was Milton Bradley, flipping out and attacking fans or umpires. And he was the best defensive shortstop the Cardinals have had since Ozzie. He made the team more entertaining, so his departure makes them less so. That it happened, not because the Cards thought they could get something to improve the team, but because Tony LaRussa is a humorless jackass, makes it worse. And they're replacing with a clearly worse defensive player, so it's a good thing they don't have a pitching coach who preaches getting groundball outs. Oh wait, that's exactly what they have, so this'll be swell.

And don't try and sell me on the idea that Maikel Cleto is some great haul. The guy has been in A-ball for three years. There's at least 6 or 7 righthanded relief pitchers ahead of him in the Cardinals' farm system alone, to say nothing of the three in the major league bullpen (Motte, Boggs, McClellan). I have zero confidence he will ever be of any use to the major league squad whatsoever.

So I've been deprived of watching a player I enjoy play for a team I root for because of LaRussa. Because Bill DeWitt has basically said the managerial job is Tony's for as long as he wants it, which leaves the GM in a situation where Tony clearly seems to have more clout. Certainly, DeWitt hasn't made any similar statements about Mozeliak's job security. Nor should he, since I can't say I love the job he's done. But I think it's stolen any spine he might have had to look at Tony and say "No, I will not trade this player. He's better than the guys you want, so he stays. Period." Tony might not like that, but he's a big boy, so he ought to be able to work with it. I have this vision now of the Cardinals clubhouse as a Dickensian orphanage, or an Industrial Revolution-era coal mine. Gray, glum, bleak, joyless. Anyone who exhibits a spark of cheerful personality must be banished, in favor of raging assholes like Chris Carpenter. Hey, I'm glad Carp's a good pitcher, but he still behaves like an asshole on the field screaming at his temamates, the other team, so on and so on.

Here's the options I'm weighing right now. One, the Cardinals resign Aaron Miles, because Tony must have 3 undersized, scrappy white middle infielders, none of which will have any actual skill. At that point, I renounce the St. Louis Cardinals as my team, at least until Tony LaRussa is gone. I can become a baseball vagabond, in the same way I am with the NBA. Second possible outcome: The Cardinals stink up the joint like it's 2007. They're so bad it drives Tony away. Where he goes, I don't care. Could be back to Oakland, to Baltimore, Acapulco, Luxembourg. Hell would be fine, just so long as he's gone.

Now, the team crashing and burning, and TLR leaving probably also signals the end of Albert Pujols' days with the team. But you know what, in my current mindset, I don't give a shit. They probably can't afford to resign him anyway, and if they do, it's gonna cripple the team's payroll more than likely, and guarantee LaRussa's continued presence. Which would mean the Cardinals would constantly be scraping the bottom of the free agent barrel to fill the roster, since Tony would want his veterans, rather than rely on prospects, and they won't have any money for good free agents. And the whole thing will be a joyless and miserable experience for a fan, so who wants to go through that? So screw it. Let them stink, part of me says, drive the manager and Hall of Fame first basemen and off, and start over.

At this point, I have no excitement for this team. I don't think they'll be fun to watch, whether they win or lose. I'm sick of Tony. I'm sick of his stupid sunglasses, of his bullpen manipulations, of his aversion to younger players in favor of shitty veterans. I'm sick of his crap about keeping things in house, except when it suits him to blast them publicly, thus turning public opinion against them and in his favor. I'm sick of his personality clashes that always end with the player losing. By my count, he's feuded with Ozzie Smith, Ron Gant, Garrett Stephenson, J.D. Drew, Steve Kline, Scott Rolen, Anthony Reyes, Jim Edmonds, Colby Rasmus, and Brendan Ryan. Those are just the ones I know of. These are widely disparate players, and all they have in common - besides bilateral symmetry - is they fought with Tony LaRussa, or were the subject of his ire. Yet he remains, and they go, Colby being the exception. Thus far, and that may only be due to his trying to become a Skip Schumaker-like slap hitter. I hope that's a joke, because if the Cardinals are really trying to make their third best hitter (.859 OPS) hit more like Skip Schumaker (.667 OPS), I may not wait for the Miles' signing to say "Fuck it".

In conclusion, I hate this trade, I'll miss Brendan Ryan, I think Mozeliak's a gutless worm, and I despise Tony LaRussa more than I have since the '96 season when he was at odds with Ozzie. Perhaps he'll be pulled over for another driving while intoxicated, and that can be used as pretext to fire him. It won't work that way, I know; Tony's job would survive it, unfortunately.

* I've been thinking about why the nickname works for me. The British believed their intangibles would carry the day. The spirit, or love for the Queen and the Empire would overcome the fact they were a bunch of dudes on horses charging entrenched Maxim guns emplacements. And the Cardinals somehow believe Theriot's intangibles will overcome the fact he is not a good professional baseball player.

Damn It Arizona

With 5 minutes left, Arizona had a 14 point lead on the Vikings. The Vikings won in overtime.

It'd be false to say I'm surprised. The Cardinals winning surprises me. Losing I'm accustomed to, and the details are irrelevant. I am glad they don't play Buffalo this year, because I could easily see the Bills rolling Arizona on the way to their only victory of the season.

Just because I'm not surprised, doesn't mean I'm not disappointed, or aggravated. I was happy when they had the lead late, and hoped that if they held on, it could propel the team forward. That it did kind of bums me out.

What aggravates me is that 3.5 years in, I'm still not seeing the Cardinals becoming the Steelers West as Whisenhunt supposedly envisioned. He used to explain that they didn't run the football as much as he wanted because Warner was the QB and he liked to throw, he was good at it, and it was working out. Apparently their quarterback was too good for them to run successfully. Well, Warner's retired and they still can't run. They might try more often but the results are for shit. Wells can't stay healthy, Hightower can't hold onto the ball, and either way they averaged 2 yards per carry today. So what, now the QB is too lousy for them to run?

And where is the tough defense? Warner being QB shouldn't have hindered that development, but it's no more present than the running game! Two TDs in less than 5 minutes! To a broken down, egomaniac, piece of shit geezer QB! When the Vikings received the ball in OT (after Arizona's possession ended in failure, naturally) I was completely unsurprised that they immediately marched down the field and kicked the field goal.

Arizona defeats used to mostly depress me, with some anger thrown in, depending on circumstance. Now it's mostly anger. I think I don't want to believe that all their success hinged on Warner, and that without him they're the same old Cardinals I watched for a decade and a half.

Barely Coherent Thoughts On Last Weekend's Games

It's a good thing I'm not a gambler, huh? Those were some poor picks on my part.

I'm most disappointed by Arizona's loss, as you might expect. I really thought they could do better, but half their defense seemed to be injured, and the other half wasn't nearly good enough to stop the Saints. Not sure why they didn't try to run more, especially as the defense fell apart. Keeps Brees off the field, tones down the number of hits Warner takes. Oh well, something for them to keep in mind for next season.

As for the rest, the Jets defense must be even better than I thought. I guess I'll root for them next week. Not that I'm a Jets fan or anything, I'm mostly annoyed with the Colts and their unwillingness to go for the perfect season. I understand they want to keep their best guys healthy, but this is football, a guy can get knocked out at any moment. Remember when the Bengals made the playoffs a few years ago, and Carson Palmer's knee got blown out on his first pass of their first playoff game? The Bengals had managed to keep him upright all season and just like that, he's gone. You can try to protect guys as much as you want, but you never know. Heck, peyton Manning might doze off in a recliner this week, wake up to get a snack, forget to set aside a blanket he's sleeping under, only to trip over it and fracture his pelvis.

OK, that was my grandmother that happened to, and Peyton's hopefully more aware of his surroundings than she is, but there's no telling, so trying to protect them could all be for naught. I think a perfect season is so rare, and so impressive, that if you have the chance, you have to go for it. Then again, I don't have to answer to anyone if that blows up in the team's face.

As for Saints/Vikings, on the one hand, I don't want to root for the Saints, because they knocked Arizona out emphatically, and I tend to hold grudges. On the other hand, you Favre, and I'm not sure I could deal with the hosannas that would be sung for him if he leads this team to a Super Bowl. Certainly Jason Whitlock would never shut up about, and probably use it to call the Packers' GM Ted Thompson a moron for the next 7 years or so. Or until Thompson is shown to have made the right decision, at which point Whitlock will reverse course and pretend he knew Thompson was right all along*. Where was I? Oh yeah, Favre. That's not Favre's fault, but it's still not something I'd be looking forward to having to avoid for several months.

Although, if New Orleans wins, then you have the inevitable stories about the Saints saving New Orleans or something to that effect. I guess I'll root for a Saints/Jets Super Bowl. The Saints, when they're on, are the best offense in the league, and the Jets are the best defense. Immovable object versus irresistible force and all that. Plus, neither of those teams has experienced real playoff success in a long time (or ever, in the Saints' case). I know the Vikings haven't been to a Super Bowl since the 1970s, but that's still better than New Orleans.

* When he still wrote for ESPN, Whitlock penned a column blasting Doug Flutie** and Marty Schottenheimer when they were both in San Diego. He went after Marty for starting Flutie over Brees, and talked about how Marty had made a similar mistake in choosing his QB when he picked Elvis Grbac and let Rich Gannon walk after the '98 season. Except, Whitlock didn't have a problem with that choice back then, going so far as to describe Grbac as a bigger, younger, stronger, faster version of Gannon after the first time Gannon's Raiders played Grbac's Chiefs. But then, five years later, Whitlock's hammering Marty for it, without admitting he was wrong as well? I call bullshit.

** Whitlock's shot at Flutie was that he submarined Rob Johnson's career in Buffalo. See, I thought it was Johnson's inability to stay healthy for more than five minutes that cost him his job. Rob Johnson was the J.D. Drew of NFL QBs. he could be real good when he was on the field, he was just never on the field. Also, if Flutie was the problem in Buffalo, what happened to Rob Johnson in Tampa Bay? Flutie was thousands of miles away, and Jon Gruden was trying to hand the starting job to anyone that wasn't Brad Johnson***, and Rob couldn't even beat out Shaun King. Is that Flutie's fault too, Whitlock?

*** When all Johnson did was QB the team to a Super Bowl. Yeah, their defense deserves most credit, but the run game was 27th in the league, while the passing game was 15th, so the offense fell to Johnson's arm, and all he did was stand in there until the last second, before completing passes and getting leveled.

McGwire-Related Blogging

I probably shouldn't, but I need to get back into the swing of things somehow.

OK, Mark McGwire admitted he used steroids and HGH for about a decade, including the year he hit 70 home runs, which was at the time a major league record. I have a hard time believing anyone is surprised by this, as most people seemed to assume he was guilty and just wanted him to cop to it. 'Course, now that he's done that, many of those folks are jumping all over him, because his apology wasn't contrite enough, didn't go far enough, he raped their childhood, he disrespected the game, and so on. Spare me.

It's been my feeling for the last couple of years that I don't care if players use performance enhancers or not. They want to endanger their health to make themselves more money now, then it's their choice. I'm not assuming every player uses, as I want to give everyone the benefit of the doubt until they either fail a drug test, or admit it themselves, but there's no one in the majors who it would surprise me to learn used PEDs*.

As for the stuff about respecting the game and its fans, is it only steroid use that disrespects the fans? Or did Hank Aaron and Mike Schmidt (and a whole bunch of other players) disrepect the game by taking greenies? Did Gaylord Perry and Whitey Ford disrespect the game by scuffing and otherwise doctoring baseballs? Did the Powers That Be disrespect baseball by not allowing non-whites to play in the majors for decades? If the asnwer is no, then what's so special about steroids that they're the only thing that disrespects the game and its fans. If yes, then has the game ever been respected, at least since the early 1900s? It all starts to sound like those folks who look wistfully back to the 1950s as the good old days, when everything was better, ignoring all the things that were wrong back then.

As for respecting the fans, it's the ballplayer's job to entertain us, correct? To go out there, play hard, and give us a good time. So McGwire takes steroids, he's able to work out more in the offseason, and build up more muscle so that when he hits the ball, he can make it travel farther. And he takes HGH to help himself stay healthy so he can actually be on the field. Isn't that helping him to do a better job entertaining the fans? Is it disrespect because he didn't come out and say back then that hell yeah he was taking steroids so he could get out on the field and hit some dingers?

Dan Shanoff said he was still mad after the admission because back in '98, McGwire demanded our admiration, which is a crock. Wasn't McGwire the one uncomfortable in the spotlight, and it took Sosa's supposed joy to bring Mac out of his shell and get into the spirit of the chase? If you admired McGwire, that was your choice, so go be pissed off at yourself. Seriously, go look at yourself in the mirror, ask yourself why you got suckered in, and if you're still ticked, slap yourself.

I can't remember exactly how I felt back in 1998. There's no denying I felt some excitement about the Chase, since it looked as though I'd get to see a St. Louis Cardinal break baseball's supposedly most hallowed record. Still, that was offset by the fact the team wasn't very good. They won 83 games, but that was largely because their schedule in September pitted them almost entirely against lousy teams like the Expos and Reds. Their rotation was a shambles (Todd Stottlemyre basically carried it on his back up to the All-Star Break), and the bullpen was an even bigger disaster, especially the first four months when Jeff Brantley was closer. The lineup was entirely too focused on power, to the exclusion of speed, for my tastes, as it seemed like everyone was trying to hit home runs like McGwire. The Chase was nice, but it couldn't make up for the Cardinals being bad**.

My dad and I went to one game that year, against the Marlins. We got lucky, as Stottlemyre, the one useful starting pitcher they had at that point, went up against Livan Hernandez, the one useful starting pitcher the Marlins had (this was the year after their first World Series, and subsequent fire sale of all veteran talent). Plus, it's one of the few games Mike Piazza played for Florida, as he was in the process of being traded from the Dodgers to the Mets. It was a game where McGwire hit an estimated 545-foot home run, but more importantly, the Cardinals won behind a complete game from Stottlemyre. I remember my dad and I both being ticked the fans in fron of us were doing the Wave in the 9th, as Stott tried to finish the job, which he did.

That I know for a fact that McGwire was on steroids doesn't take away from the fact I had fun going to the game with my dad, or how hard I rooted for Stottlemyre, or the fact it's the only game I went to that Mike Piazza played in (in one of his 5 games as a Marlin, no less). It's still a good memory. If other people want to destroy their pleasant memories because of what a player did, well that's their call.

I'm sure McGwire confessed now because of his new job as hitting coach for the Cardinals. Does doing it now stave off a media circus at Spring Training, or during the season? Probably not. I imagine sportswriters (annoying wankers) and opposing fans (it's what opposing fans do) will be lining up to take their shots. Does getting this off his chest help McGwire be a better hitting coach? Hell if I know. It might, if only because it won't be weighing on his mind now, and he'll be able to focus on the job at hand.

Should the Cardinals have hired him? I don't know, but I don't have any objections, beyond concerns this will be a distraction for the players. If the team thinks he can help their approach at the plate, and there weren't any better candidates available, then I guess so. It seems wrong to try and turn a blind eye to the whole Steroid Era and its players, like that'll make it go away. It happened, those players are out there, and jsut because they took PEDs doesn't mean they have no insight into the game. Mostly I'm OK with it because I see it as an attempt by LaRussa to rehab the image of an old player of his that he liked. One thing I tend to respect is people who stick by their friends through thick and thin, and I think that's what LaRussa's doing here. That can come back to bite you, and it probably will bite LaRussa, at the very least in terms of his public image, since it'll strengthen the arguments of those who call him a PED enabler, but he seems prepared to take that bullet. Or he thinks he can prove it false with this somehow.

And heck, they (I'm assuming "they" means Catholics) say confession is good for the soul, so if this helps McGwire move forward with his life in general, then great. It would have been better to confess years ago, so it wouldn't have hung over him all this time. Or not do PEDs at all, if using them was going to bother him so much***. But that's how people are. We do things we regret afterwards, but were able to rationalize at the time. I have regrets, you probably do too. Whether they're as important as what McGwire's apparently**** were likely depends on your perspective.

OK, hopefully I've gotten this out of my system, and I'll start talking about the NFL playoffs later in the week. Maybe discuss the Hall of Fame ballot. I know the results came out already, but I mean to go over the ballot and just dicked around too long.

* I used to say there was no one except Jamie Moyer that would surprise me, but thinking about it, PEDs might explain how he's managed to hold together and keep pitching into his mid-40s. Note that I'm not saying he actually does, just that I've reassessed and concluded he wouldn't surprise me, either.

** Which is why I bristled all through that season whenever Sportscenter anchors would imply that while Cub fans were concerned primarily with their team winning, with Sosa's home run totals coming in second, whether the Cards won or not was secondary to the fans, compared to whether Big Mac smashed another one over the fence. I hated that blanket statement, all the more because I probably knew that for some fans, it was true.

*** Like I said, I don't care if the players use PEDs, but they ought to accept the consequences of doing so. I'm thinking more of health concerns, but in this case it also means having scorn heaped upon them by sportswriters and fans. If they don't want to risk dealing with any of that, then they shouldn't take them, and they can risk their performance dipping to the point they lose their job. Which is a lousy way for things to go, but every action produces results, good and bad.

**** I say apparently because you could always argue he doesn't actually regret what he did. I don't have the patience to watch the interview, so I'm not going to judge his sincerity.

Always Frustrating, Arizona Is

Last night's loss to the 49ers is the kind of thing that makes it hard to trust that these Cardinals aren't like all the crappy Cardinals teams I watched in the past. They have games they should win, and they blow them, and thus they can't be an elite team.

I think that's what bothered me the most about the Titans' loss. They had a chance to make a statement, and they failed. The Titans were on a 5-game winning streak, halfway to fulfilling Chris Johnson's promise that they'd run the table, and Arizona had them - Until they let Vince Young march 99 yards to a game-winning touchdown. Contrast that with what the Colts did the next weekend against the Titans. They took a lead early, and after Nate Washington dropped a sure touchdown pass, took control. They squashed the Titans, as they should, because they're the better team. I'm fully believe they would have done the same to the 49ers had they played them on Monday night.

OK, so the Cardinals aren't in the Colts' league. But still, they're better than the 49ers, or they ought to be, and they didn't show it. The 49ers kicked their asses. The Cardinals had another chance to make a statement, to assert their dominance over the NFC West, and the blew it. Badly. The Cardinals seem to play well when people doubt them, like the game against the Vikings, or in last season's playoffs. When they can't draw on that, because they're favored, they crash. It makes me wonder if I shouldn't root for Green Bay to stomp them the last week of the season, in the hopes it causes people to write them off going into the postseason. They might play with that anger again, and hopefully they'd make it through Round 1. After that, they won't be favored against anyone they're like to play, so they'll still have the "disrespect" card at their disposal.

'Course, they have to take care of business against Detroit and St. Louis, so as to get in the postseason first, for any of that to matter. Maybe I should just be concened with that instead.

Already With This Shit?

So yesterday was Opening Day for the St. Louis Cardinals. In a scenario all too similar to last season, the Cardinals took a lead into the 9th, only to see their closer, in this case Jason Motte, blow the lead, and cost them the game. However, that's not the shit I'm referring to above.

No, I'm referring to the boos that apparently rained down from the crowd yesterday, as well as the bitching I'm seeing on the Internet. Really, one game and the sky is fucking falling?

Let's start with the booing. I don't normally care if fans boo. I've done it; I booed the crap out Jeff Brantley throughout the '98 season, because he was terrible. So if you want to boo, then go for it; it's your vocal chords. But on the first day on the season? Isn't that jumping the gun a little bit? I'm pretty sure even when Isringhausen and Juan Encarnacion stank up the joint in April 2006, the fans waited at least a few weeks before they turned on the two of them. I'm positive I didn't start booing Brantley until the end of April, because the "blowing saves" thing kept happening. But for just one save? It's a bit much to me.

Of course, the other downside of the booing is it brings out the annoying Cardinals' fans. The ones who insist we're 'the best fans in baseball', and that means we shouldn't boo. I've already made it clear that I figure people can boo if they wanna (even if I don't agree with it), but can I say I hate this "best fans" tag? It was bad enough when it was national sportswriters saying it (and I hate to admit this, I let that puff my head up a bit), but then the fans started believing the hype, and touting themselves as the best fans in baseball, which is a little fucking presumptuous, don't you think? Plus, it becomes the go-to thing for any fan that doesn't like how other fans are behaving. "Don't boo; we're the best fans in baseball and we shouldn't do that." Or, "Don't leave early", even if the game's running long and that person has work early in the morning. Or, "Don't do the Wave; we're the best fans and we're above that". It actually makes me ashamed to be a Cardinals' fan, because I'm sharing that fandom with these arrogant fuckers.

Then there's the Internet chatterboxes. Goddamn I'm tired of these reactionary twatwaddles. Your rookie closer blew one save? Well, it's all because of that cheap ass owner who wouldn't shell out $30 million or whatever for Brian Fuentes. Of course, these are the same dumpling-brained chucklefucks who, had the Cardinals done just that and Fuentes blew his first save here, would be complaining that the Cardinals wasted all that money on a closer, instead of going out and getting a 2nd baseman. I mean, one fucking game and we're off to ther aces with this, to the extent that people who aren't screaming bloody murder about how tight-fisted the Cardinals are get labeled as 'drinking the kool-aid'.

Yeah, or maybe we're just calmer than you incompetent gasbags. Maybe we recognize this is baseball, not football. That's it's a 162 game season, and anybody can look like shit for one day. I mean, if you want to base your feelings on a personnel move based on one game, then back in 2001 you could have argued that the Cardinals made a mistake using Albert Pujols more than Craig Paquette, since Albert had a stretch from June 29 to July 8 where he went 2-for-33. Holy crap, he must not have been worth a damn, what were the Cardinals thinking using a guy who was so lousy?

Really George Karl, What Were You Expecting?

All I'm going to say about Arizona's loss to the Giants is this: They really need to get that running game going. 23 yards on 15 carries? Might be time to get Edge back on the field.

I didn't see much mention of it, but did anybody notice George Karl's comments about Iverson last week? Karl said that since the trade he was seeing fewer bad plays, fewer wasted possessions with Billups running the show. Apparently Karl was frustrated that Iverson didn't act like a "floor general", which I take to mean a Stocktonesque pass first point guard. Iverson too frequently wouldn't run the play Karl desired, instead choosing to go one-on-one and take a possibly ill-advised shot.

First, let's establish that Karl isn't entirely bagging on Iverson. He feels Iverson will do better in Detroit because they are a veteran team, and Iverson will be able to play 2 guard there*. I'm not clear on how Iverson is going to play 2 guard exactly, 'cause where does that leave Rip Hamilton? Is he at point now? I assume Stuckey is getting point minutes, but you still have the Hamilton/Iverson situation, unless you're going small lineup with Rasheed, Tayshaun, Rip, AI, and Stuckey? Looking at ESPN, they're listing Kwame Brown at center (at least until McDyess re-signs with them next month), so maybe they'd be better off going small. I've wandered off the point I wanted to discuss.

Karl's comments strike me as a coach trying to deflect blame from himself. He wants a guy at point who will run the offense, and not just go one-on-one whenever the mood strikes him. Well, correct me if I'm wrong but didn't the Nuggets trade Andre Miller for Iverson? Wasn't Miller closer to a pure point guard than AI? Miller never struck me as the sort to freelance, so if you wanted someone to run good possessions, why not stick with what you have? Let us say Miller didn't fit the team's needs. If a "floor general" was what you wanted, why trade for Iverson of all people? That would be like a team wanting to improve its team defense and trading for Steve Nash. It's an acquisition at odds with your stated goal.

Really, it's not as if Iverson taking ill-advised shots and trying to do everything himself is a new development. Hasn't this been his style of play his entire career? Why would you expect him to change? Because you're George Karl? Because you have Carmelo Anthony and Kenyon Martin? I don't see Iverson changing his style until his skills diminish to the point he has to (similar to how Gary Payton had to accept reduced roles with the Heat the year they won a ring because he wasn't the Payton who helped lead the Sonics to the Finals anymore), and that hasn't happened yet. Or if it has, Iverson hasn't realized/accepted it yet, which is essentially the same thing for the team.

It strikes me as self-delusional of Karl to act as though it's some big surprise AI would deviate from the offensive game plan from time to time.

* This was according to a commenter on the Philly.com article I found about Karl's comments. They mentioned it as evidence of biased reporting by the paper.

These Close Calls Are Tiring

While I'm certain the people at Monday Night Football, and the general viewing public, enjoyed this week's game as it was, I would have preferred Arizona win in a slightly less heart-threatening manner. Say, a nice 40-3 drubbing.

Still, first rule of Arizona Cardinal fandom is accept every win, no matter how narrow or lucky it may have been*. I've even managed to draw some encouraging things from the game, primarily that they won. Consider it: The Cardinals were at home, against an inferior team, with a chance to make other teams sit up and take notice of them. Historically, the Cardinals lose games like this. They lose to teams that appear to be even worse than them all the time. It's maddening. And while they certainly didn't play well - too many stupid penalties**, they did win, and that's a sign of progress.

You know what I didn't need though? Tirico and Kornheiser bringing up that damn Bears game from 2 years ago. Yeah, thanks for reminding me of how badly they cocked that one up. No really, I want to be reminded of that debacle.

* I am stunned that Mike Martz of all people would call for a fullback dive up the middle from the 2 for the final play. No double reverse? No option play? Not even a fake spike? I'm not complaining, but I am surprised.

** I was so worried they would blow this game, I didn't turn it on until there were 5 minutes left in the game, basically three plays before they scored the go ahead touchdown. This is probably for the best. After a stupid unnecessary roughness penalty that gave the 49ers a first down when it should have been 4th and 2 or 3, they ran a graphic that said the Cardinals had returned two INTs for TDs, only to have them recalled by penalties. Had I actually seen those, I probably would have thrown a footstool through my TV screen. So yes, best that I didn't start watching sooner.

What I Dislike About The MVP Award

First, let us thank the Tampa By rays for saving us from more Boston teams vying for championships. I probably shouldn't hate the Red Sox, but the '04 Cardinals were the best Cardinals team I'd ever seen, and the Sawx made them look like chumps. Then, the media had to spend the next nine months reminding me of that, by constantly talking about the bloody sock, and how they were idiots who didn't know better than to Cowboy Up, and the Curse is broken, and blah, blah, fucking blah. Then they went and signed J.D. Drew and that sealed the deal. "Oh, I have a sprained toe, I'll sit out for a few weeks and you can watch So Taguchi start in right." Hey J.D. do what you think you gotta for your career, but don't expect us to love you for that shit. Not when Ozzie played for a decade with a torn rotator cuff.

Enough of that. MVP award. I think my issue with it comes down to 2 points:

1) There's no solid definition. Each sportswriter gets to decide how they define it. So some guys only conisder players from teams with winning records, so only consider players that went to the playoffs. But wait, if your team makes it into the postseason too easily, that counts against you, because then you didn't play meaningful games in September, which overlooks the fact that the games you won in April count for just as much in the standings and you shouldn't penalize players for doing well all year, as opposed to just at the end of the season. So, some pople vote for basically the best August/September. So voters won't consider closers, some will. Some won't consider any pitchers. Some use stats, some don't. it's just a big clusterfuck, and we have no idea why one player wins it or one doesn't, expect when one of the voters deigns to tell us why they specifically voted, which doesn't help with all the ones that won't say.

Still, I could probably just live with that. It's just a seasonal award, and if it just concerned whether a player got a contract incentive or not, I probably wouldn't care so much. But that brings us to. . .

#2) Use of MVP awards and placing in MVP voting as evidence for making the Hall of Fame. As far as baseball goes, the Hall of Fame ought to be a pretty big deal. In theory, a player who makes it in there is really something special, the creme de la creme. So there's something that strikes me as wrong about a player's entry being argued for or against based on an award handed out by sportswriters. Jim Thome's lack of MVP awards, and his lack of high finishes in the voting has been used as evidence against his getting in. Is Jim Thome a Hall of Famer? I'm not sure, he has the home runs, those his hits total is a bit low, but it seems wrong that because sportswriters didn't perceive him to be outstanding in certain years (even if he was outstanding) that he could be deemed not good enough.

I think if sportswriters would sit down and hash out a set of criteria, then stick to it, that would help. The voting process would actually be understood, and it would seem like such a clustertfuck, and I wouldn't feel so annoyed by the whole thing.

I Am No Longer Too Angry To Discuss Hating The Cowboys

When I first started following the NFL, and foolishly selected the (then Phoenix) Cardinals as "my" team, it was easy to dislike the Cowboys. They were good, Arizona was not. The two teams played twice a year, and Dallas regularly thumped Arizona both times. From the time when I became a fan, Dallas beat the Cardinals 8 times in a row (avg. score: 25-12), and this was in the middle of a streak of 13 victories in a row (Avg. score: 25-12) by Dallas over the Cards. Fortunate then, that San Francisco was good and the Rams weren't, so there was one other matchup more one-sided.

It was so easy to hate them. Dallas won Super Bowls. Arizona could barely finish .500. Dallas was called "America's Team", which their fans loved, but made them despised by fans of lots of other teams, including this fan here. I'm an American, and Dallas sure as hell wasn't my team. There was only one fan base that hated the Cardinals, and that was the one they abandoned in St. Louis. And once the Greatest Show on Turf got going, many fans proclaimed how much happier they were now with their new team. The Cardinals were a joke, an object of derision, mocked by gasbags like Chris Berman about how, every time they would start to show some promise, they 'would remember they were the Cardinals *hur hur hur*' and go back in the tank.

The Cowboys had Troy Aikman, Emmit Smith, who was pretty much guaranteed to get 150 yards on the ground when he played Arizona, Michael Irvin, and eventually that hot dog Deion Sanders, that everybody called the best cornerback in the game, despite the fact he seemed deathly afraid of contact. I once watched him "tackle" Larry Centers (not a large guy by fullback standards), by essentially going into the fetal position as Centers ran towards him. It surprised Centers so much, he tripped over Sanders. Shit, you didn't see Aeneas Williams shying away from physical contact, or failing to help in the running game. In that same game, I watched Aeneas hold Irvin to 82 yards on 5 catches (not one of Aeneas' better results, to be sure, but he was single-covering Irvin), only to watch the rest of the secondary surrender 203 receiving yards to Kevin Williams. Yeah, who? Jimmy Johnson got fed up and left, well Barry Switzer came in and netted the 'Boys another ring (or tricked Neil O'Donnell into throwing it to him).

Meanwhile, after my first year of fandom, the Cardinals fired Joe Bugel, and brought in Buddy Ryan, who declared they had a winner in town. Yeah, 8-8, then 4-12, and you wrecked the offense. Good job Buddy, you offensive coordinator punching dick. In truth, I had it pretty well. My first 4 years as a fan, Arizona went 26-38. The 4 years before that they'd gone 18-46. Still, you need that ray of hope, and after the 8-8 season was followed with 4-12, I was still looking. It came in Week 2 in '97, when Arizona beat Dallas 25-22, behind the immortal Kent Graham. It was the, to steal from Bill Simmons quoting Rocky 4, "the Russian's been cut!" moment. As you might expect, Dallas got revenge later that year, winning 24-6, sacking Jake Plummer (making career start #3) and Kent Graham 9 times. I think I may have to do a post just about stuff I remember about the Cardinals from my time as a fan thus far. The ineptitude of the '97 offensive line will be discussed.

The critical year was '98. Dallas had curb-stomped Arizona 38-10 in Week 1, but it was Week 11 now, Arizona was 5-4, and this game was on the Cardinals' home turf. Sure, with all the Dallas fans, that didn't mean too much, but you hoped it would mean something. It didn't seem like it would early. Dallas was up 28-7 at the half, but Arizona rallied, and at the end of the game sat on Dallas' 2 yard line, down 35-28. The ball was snapped, Plummer dropped back and threw a fade to Rob Moore in the corner. It was a little underthrown, so Moore turned and reached back for it. The cornerback, Kevin Smith, didn't turn around. Made no attempt to play the ball whatsoever. Instead, he opted to grab Moore's arms and hold them down, preventing him from catching the ball. The refs swallowed the whistle, and Arizona lost. I cursed and raved, and hit things, and got chastised by my mother for all of it. My dad, who'd been a Cards' fan until they left StL, and has more than once expressed regret for somehow passing that particular fandom on to me, just looked sad, and understanding.

Where was the flag? I know they say to let the players decide the game, but calling defensive pass interference there actually allows for that. Kevin Smith comitted a penalty, and got away with it. If the refs do their fucking job, the Cards get the ball on the 1 yard line, and gets one more chance, since the game can't end on a defensive penalty. Maybe they score a touchdown, maybe they don't. If they do, maybe they go for two, get it and win, maybe they fail and lose. If they kick the extra point, maybe it misses, or they still lose in OT. But we'll never know because the Cards got hosed. I was sure it was because they were playing the Cowboys (still am sure of that, in fact). I had been jealously hating the Cowboys before, now I just despised them, everything about them. Sanders' douchebag high-stepping (or goose-stepping as I dubbed it) into the end zone, Irvin's repeated run-ins with the law not seeming to harm his career one bit, goddamn Emmit who I was certain was just a product of his O-line, and their half-domed stadium. What was that? Either have a dome or don't, the middle road is for wusses, and I thought there were no wusses in the Great State of Texas. So I stewed over it.

But things occasionally work out, even for the Arizona Cardinals and their fans. Arizona got in the playoffs, by winning their last 3 games, all on field goals, either as the clock expired or in OT, including a 52-yarder the last week. And who did Arizona get in Round 1? Dallas? How lovely. Actually, not so lovely. Even though Dallas appeared to be the weakest division winner, they had still beaten Arizona 11 of the last 12 times the teams played, and this was in Dallas. There was concern. But Arizona won, handily. 20-7, and Dallas didn't get that 7 until the last few minutes of the game. They got dominated. Emmitt didn't get to 100 yards, Irvin (4 catches, 32 yards) got locked down by Aeneas, who picked off two passes Aikman tried to force in there. Deion tried to play hurt and was useless. Plummer made a big pass play by scrambling from the pocket and chucking it downfield as he was being tackled, for about a 30-yard gain to Frank Sanders. They scored their first TD on Jake seeing the blitz, ignoring it, and shovel passing it to Adrian Murrell as planned. It was a glorious game*, though I was sad my dad couldn't let himself enjoy it even a little. After all, he'd never gotten to see them win a playoff game, and he hated Dallas as much as me. It was OK to savor that, wasn't it? But he wouldn't join in on my jumping and cheering.

It didn't matter too much that Minnesota whomped Arizona next week. It certainly wasn't a fun game, but I knew that the Vikes seriously outclassed Arizona (though I think I printed a newsletter in my software class predicting Arizona would win. What's fandom, if not eternal optimism?). Desides, Arizona had beaten Dallas, in front of all their fans, on national TV. Sure, it was a Chan Gailey coached team, not Switzer or ole Jimmy, but I'd take what I could get. Still, I think something was lost at that point. Arizona had slain the dragon that had haunted my fandom. The Cowboys were in descent at this point. Unfortunately, Arizona was not in ascent, for I could have learned to enjoy the Cardinals giving Dallas a little of their own ass-beating medicine. They were in the same division 3 more years before Arizona was moved to the NFC West. They split those 6 games, each team winning all the games played at their stadium. Arizona's wins were close (13-9, 32-31, 17-10), Dallas' were not (35-7, 48-7, 17-3). Still, these weren't the same unbeatable Cowboys anymore, and the hatred cooled.

Since Arizona moved to the NFC West, they've played Dallas 5 times in the regular season (counting last weekend). Some of those games have been mighty ugly, either because Arizona got crushed (all three losses), or because the teams both played really poorly (the offenses at least). The spark wasn't there for me, and I turned my dislike towards other teams. There were the Rams, who were annoying if only because the StL sportswriters seemed to take great pleasure in writing about how the Rams beat the "Deadbirds", as some of them liked to put it. It was annoying enough that when Arizona crushed the Rams 31-7 in 2004, I think I sent Bernie Miklasz a mocking, sarcastic e-mail to celebrate Arizona's victory. There was San Francisco, who even when they were terrible, could somehow always manage to beat Arizona just when Arizona really needed the win.

As for Dallas, well, I enjoyed their failures when Bill Parcells was the coach, since I've always disliked him for some reason. But Wade Phillips is someone I can't really muster the energy to dislike, especially when his own offensive coordinator makes more money than him. Though I guess he did decide to go with Rob Johnson over Flutie in that Music City Miracle game**, but I keep forgetting that. Romo's ridiculously overhyped for a guy that's no playoff games, but he didn't ask for that. T.O.'s a giant pain in the ass, but that just means the Cowboys have to suffer through his antics. While enjoyable for me, it doesn't induce hatred. Ditto for Pacman Jones. Fortunately, you can always count of the refs to pick you up. They hosed the Cardinals out of two fumbles they forced out of Romo, one by invoking the bullshit Tuck Rule, and the other by, well, nobody seems to know. Dockett hit Romo, he fumbled (all replays showed this), the Cardinals fell on it. Ref, who never whistled the ball dead, runs in and says Cowboys' ball. Whisenhunt wants to challenge, the ref says he can't. At no point does the ref bother to explain to us, the paying audience, why it is still Dallas ball, or why Whisenhunt can't challenge the ruling. We're just left in suspense.

I mean, I'm following this game on ostensibly neutral sites like Deadspin (well, I figure it's neutral now that Leitch is a guest blogger, not editor) and Kissing Suzy Kolber. At best, these are sites populated by people who hate Dallas, not Cardinals' fans, and they're screaming bloody murder. Mike Sando, ESPN's NFC West blogger, said Arizona got hosed. At that point, you could have told me that one of the refs hit Warner with a chair while Wade climbed the ladder to grab the championship belt and the only part of that I wouldn't have believed was Wade Phillips climbing a ladder***. That was all it took, and I was back in my "Goddamn Cowboys, in bed with the refs, trying to screw my team over" mode. When Dallas lost because their special teams stank, I jumped for joy. I had figured Arizona was toast once their "Time out as the ball is snapped" let the field goal kicker hit the game-tying kick, because that's how things go for them. They surprised me though, won the game, and the fact I loathe the Cowboys once more makes it all the sweeter.

The Cowboys are in disarray and it feels so right. Everybody sing! (Now watch Brad Johnson lead them to the Super Bowl. I think he'll do it just to remind Gruden that he had a good QB, before he started this ridiculous carousel he had now. And I say that as someone who likes Jeff Garcia).

* I saw a lot of online reaction on Sunday from Cardinals fans along the lines of "I've been a Cardinals fan for 18 years, this was their biggest win ever!" I can't help but think, "Really? A game in Week 6, in Arizona was bigger than the franchise's first playoff vistory in 50 years, over Dallas, on the road no less?" Fans are such idiots sometimes.

** I totally bought into the Flutie magic. Still do. Surest way to know Flutie's good? Merril Hoge, noted imbecile and Vince Young despiser, bad-mouthed him when he was starting ahead of Brees in San Diego. So did Jason Whitlock for that matter, and this is a guy who keeps stumping for Jeff George, 'cause they played together in college or some shit. Note that Drew Brees hadn't shown anything like what he does these days.

*** No, no, it's not a fat joke! See, Wade wouldn't be able to climb it because T.O. would run up and push the ladder over, saying wasn't devoting enough time to get Owens the ball. Or Jason Garrett would have replaced the ladder with an escalator, so Wade could never reach the belt, letting Garrett get it and present it to Mr. Jones. Jerry, not Adam. Pacman would probably hit someone with it. Actually, so might Jerry if Dallas don't get things straightened out****.

**** Fine, it is a fat joke. Happy?

I Am So Incredibly Pissed Off Right Now

I'm sitting here, looking around my current home, for lack of a better word, trying to figure out which of the possessions I have here I could destroy as a way to vent my frustration, without feeling regret later.

It's a lot of things. The weather for the week appears to be planning to suck, which means work will be unpleasant this week. Also, I'm getting annoyed with some of the piddly bullshit we have to deal with at work regarding our work vehicles. I get too close to a tree on a shitty little trail they can't be bothered to expand for easier access, and put a fucking little dent in the side of the truck, a dent so small I wouldn't even bother to get it worked on if it was my own vehicle, and for that I ahve to fill out a fucking accident report sheet.

For some reason, my computer seems to be telling me on a near daily basis that something related to my virus protection is fucking up, demanding I restart my computer frequently. If it isn't the stupid Anti-Spam installing it's most recent update, then telling me that it needs to be reinstalled, while I'm reasonably certain it doesn't serve any useful purpose on my computer, I'm being told I need to verify my subscription, but doing so doesn't remove the desktop warning about my computer not being fully protected. Noooo, I've got to shut down and start up again to take care of that. Why the fuck do I have to do that, you stupid, worthless, electronic piece of shit!

Plus, they just announced Amazing Spider-Girl is getting canceled, and that's got me pissed off, plus I keep seeing stupid ass commentary about it on various online sites, and the people are so imbecilic I want to grab them by the collar and shake them until their neck breaks, just to stem the flow of dumbassery they put out into existence through their keyboards.

I feel so aggravated by the world in general, I can't even do the post I was planning to do here about how glad I was to discover I still don't like the Cowboys, because I'm just in too bad a mood to get into it and have any fun with it. A post about hatred, and I'm too angry to do it. How does that even work?

I can't even play a fucking video game to relax because the game decides there is absolutely no way I'll be beating it today, and it's not really relaxation if it has me gritting my teeth and thinking about ripping the game out of the console and snapping it in half, or throwing the controller through my TV. And punching the wooden bed frame only succeeded in hurting my wrist and pissing me off even more.

I just, part of me just wants to find a pickax, I don't know where, step outside, and simply start smashing all the windows of my car. Maybe put a few "speed holes" in the hood and engine. Maybe I would feel better, and hey! since it's my car, I wouldn't have to file any goddamn accident reports if I don't want to! Suck on that bureaucratic, jackbooted, sacks of wombat offal!

I'm going to try and stop grinding my teeth, maybe go to bed and hope things are better in the morning.

MLB 3/4 Review

Well, a couple of teams are 3/4ths of the way through, and one of them is the Cardinals, so that's good enough for me. Amazingly, both the AL and NL have 8 teams above .500. 4 in the AL East, where the Rays still hold the lead over the Red Sox, while the Yankees are struggling just to keep up. I don't think the Yanks have the pitching to make up the gap on either team, so if things hold the way they are now, we'll at least be free of them in the post-season. The White Sox and the Twins are handing first place in the Central back and forth like the proverbial hot potato, and the Tigers have apparently run out of gas, as they just can't seem to crest .500. On a note of personal interest, Anthony Reyes, traded by the Cardinals in July for a minor league reliever, made his first start for the Indians last weekend, and did pretty well. Granted, it was against the punchless Blue Jays' lineup, but he said he feels more comfortable, so I'm glad for him. The Rangers should be very proud of themselves, with their winning record, but I'd say the AL West is settled, and it's the Angels by a landslide. They're scary right now.

The Phillies, Mets, and Marlins are all within 1.5 games of each other. Maybe Willie Randolph really was the problem with the Mets because they seem to be playing on a different level from the first three months right now. Or maybe it's Pedro, though he hasn't pitched very well. Too bad they let themselves fall so far behind to start with. I suppose my rooting interest is with the Marlins - just as soon as this series with StL is over. Both the D'Backs and the Dodgers are over .500, which is good, though not too good, since it's by a combined 3 games. I guess Manny Ramirez can only do so much. As for the NL Central, well the Cubs haven't quite buried the Brewers yet, though that 4 game sweep a couple weeks ago was a good attempt. Milwaukee's still hanging on to the Wild Card lead, 4 ahead of the Cardinals, who are about two games ahead of Philly, and so on. I think the Cardinals are in the same boat as the Yankees; not enough pitching and too far back to make up the ground. They just can't get anything going consistently. They win one, they lose one. They blow late leads (frequently), they stomp on a pitcher in the first three innings, then fail to do anything after that point (like last night's game). They're terribly frustrating.

Rotation: Things have gotten a tad more unreliable lately. Kyle Lohse's August numbers are much closer to his career numbers than what he did the first 4 months, which is troubling. His walks are up, his groundball rate's down, neither of those being good things. Looper was scuffling a bit there in early July, getting smacked around by the Royals, Phillies, and Padres, but his last four starts have served to lower his ERA from 4.6, to 4.2, and he got his K/9IP up to 4.33. All right! His pitching VORP is up to 19.2 (4th among starting pitchers), and he's added another 6.5 runs with his bat. Wellenmeyer's ERA has settled in at about 4, he's still striking out over 6 per 9 innings, and he's kept his walks down to 2.8/9IP, which is probably the important thing for him. Pineiro's struggled quite a bit, as his ERA has risen from 4.33 at the halfway point, to 4.82 currently, and it was over 5 before his last start. Like most of the starters, he's not striking people out (4.36/9), but not walking people either (2.01/9). The general trends seem to be Lohse trending down, Welly and BLoop trending up, and Piniero going down, with occasional upticks. Oh, and other than Lohse, none of them are averaging 6 innings a start, which worries me, especially given the bullpen.

Besides those 4, there have been several other starters, since Wainwright still hasn't come back, and the Cardinals sounded determined to make him the closer until Chris Perez' recent performance. Now they're strecthing him out to put him back in the rotation. Hurrah. Boggs got three more starts, one good one against the Royals, two curb-stompings at the hands of the Mets. Mulder made one embarrassing start, where he couldn't get out of the first before reinjuring himself, and Jaime Garcia made one OK start. Nothing special, but a far sight better than what Boggs or Parisi provided. Then there's Carpenter. Yes, your 2005 Cy Young winner is back! Maybe. He left his third start with a strained triceps muscle (and has gone back to St. Louis to get checked out - great), so who knows what's going to happen there. Be nice if he was OK, and the Cards could have a true front of the rotation guy (no disrespect to Lohse, but he doesn't qualify). His stuff has looked pretty good, just needs to build some stamina. Fingers crossed.

Bullpen: Look, the bullpen is lousy. The positives are when certain players (Flores) get shipped to the minors, or other players (Izzy) get removed from roles (closer) they are not suited for. As long as you keep McClellan out of the 9th, he does pretty well. He's even 4th among all Cards pitchers in VORP (19.9). He strikes batters out (7.35/9), keeps his walks (2.54) fairly low, so he's a bright spot. Franklin (10.8 VORP) and Springer (13.9) have each had their moments, just not in the 9th. The good news is they each got their walk rates down from where they were 41 games ago. Franklin's down to 3.84, from 4.17, and Springer's at 3.08, compared to 3.8. And they both upped their strikeout rates a little as well. Chris Perez might actually be able to do this closing thing. His walk rate is down under 5 per 9 innings, and he's still striking out almost a batter an inning. So it seems he got his control issues a little better resolved (or it's just a really small sample size of 27.3 innings). Villone's still not being terribly useful.

Catcher: Yadier Molina has a .733 OPS. Hot damn! LaRue's at .667, so they've both dropped a little. It's too bad about Yady's offense, because he was at .748 a couple weeks ago, and that would have been the best for a Cards' starting catcher since Darrell Porter in 1983. Molina's VORP (which doesn't include defense) is 12.3; LaRue's is -0.4. Oh well, he is the backup catcher. Yady's been good for 6 Fielding Runs Above Average (FRAA); LaRue's been good for 1.

Infield: Albert has a 1.067 OPS, but lately he's seemed streaky. He'll have a couple multi-hit games, then go hitless for two or three games. I expect that from Glaus, but what makes Albert scary is how eerily consistent he can be, so it's a little troubling. I wonder if his elbow is bothering him (more than usual), or if it's fatigue (I don't think he's sat out any games in the last 41), or if he's been demoralized by the team's lack of moves at the trade deadline (people always speculate that happens, hell if I know whether it's true or not). His VORP is 64.3 (which puts him 20 runs ahead of any other Cardinals, and he's been good for 5 FRAA. Kennedy's still not drawing walks or hitting for power (OPS of .652, VORP of 0.3), but he's somewhat better than Izturis (.624; though a VORP of 1.6, not sure how that works). On the plus side, both of their Range Factors are well above league average for their positions, though Kennedy has a 0 FRAA, and Izturis has only 2. Not sure how to reconcile those results. Glaus finally decided to hit against the Cubs, which was nice. His Range Factor (2.73) is above average (2.59), and he has an FRAA of 3. His OPS sits at .853, and his VORP is 26.5, which is more than double what it was 41 games ago. You might recall that at that point I compared him to Rolen and found them roughly equal. Well, Rolen's VORP is down to 8.5, compared to Troy's 26.5, so I would say things have changed.

As to the backups, Aaron Miles has a .733 OPS, which surprises the hell out of me. It's almost entirely batting average (.309, .348 OBP, .385 SLG) supported, but I take what I can get. He has a 9.6 VORP, but his Range Factor at 2nd is below average (4.49 vs. 4.82), and he has -1 FRAA. Well, no one ever said Miles was a defensive whiz. Brendan Ryan's sporting a 4.71 Range Factor at SS (4.43 league average), though his FRAA is -4. Sadly, his fielding is the good news. His VORP is -3.9, and his OPS is a horrible .585. Yes, his on-base plus slugging is lower than Albert Pujols' slugging. He was recently sent to the minors, and replaced by the recently signed Felipe Lopez, a guy the Washington Nationals released. His stats with the Nats suggest (OPS .619, VORP -8.1, -5 FRAA, 4.68 Range Factor at 2nd, versus league average of 4.82) he's barely an offensive upgrade on Ryan, and a defensive downgrade, so I can't see the logic, especially when his first start was in left field. I am so sick of Tony using middle infielders in the outfield. Danny Sheaffer, Hector Luna, Shawon Dunston, now Felipe Lopez? Christ.

Outfield: Chris Duncan may very well be done, since he had to have surgery on a herniated neck disc. That sucks, though it probably explains some of his difficulties this year. Ankiel got back in the lineup on Monday, first time he started since July 26. He's sitting at a pretty nice 29.7 VORP, with a .889 OPS. Neither of the fielding metrics I found like him. His Range Factor's below average, and his FRAA is -11. Maybe we can chalk that up to inexperience? Schumaker's at a 17.2 VORP, and a .778 OPS, which means his numbers are still dropping, but honestly, I'm still surprised he's done this well. He might have been struggling to fill in for Rick these last couple of weeks, since he might have been making starts against lefty pitchers, which is not good (OPS of .427 against LHP). Rick's gotten his OPS against LHP up to .735. A far cry from his .957 against RHP, but better than he was doing. He's learning, perhaps. Ludwick had a poor June, but he's done much better in July and August. His VORP is up to 44.9, and his OPS is sitting pretty at .991. Bet the Indians wish they still had him.

Brian Barton's been hurt since the first week of July, but he rejoined the team today, since his minor league rehab stints is almost up. That's good. He's been getting regular ABs in Memphis, so I hope he'll be a big help, and maybe he can get some more at-bats with Duncan out. Other than Ludwick, and now perhaps Ankiel, he's the only OF they've got who can hit lefties, since Mather's rocking a .615 against LHP. Still, Mather's been getting the at-bats in his absence, and while he's shown some nice power, with a .495 slugging thus far and 7 HRs in 107 at-bats. He probably needs to work on his plate discipline (OBP of .315), but he and Barton can probably compliment each other. The slugger that does best against righties, and the speedster that prefers righties. One's a lanky white boy, the other's a dreadlocked African-American with a degree in aeronautical engineering! Together they catch flyballs and fight crime!

I need to rant about LaRussa a bit. See Tony's made some moves I just dislike. The idea behind sending Ryan to the minors to get him more at-bats doesn't sound so bad, except he'll be taking ABs from Tyler Greene, who's also a potential SS for the big league squad, pending his results in AAA. So now Ryan's taking ABs from him. And replacing him with a guy who hasn't hit any better, and fields worse? What's the point? And then there's the use of Lopez as your starting leftfielder. That happened because Tony kept insisting that Rick would be ready to start again, that his abdominal injury would clear up any day now, so there's no need to put him on the 15-day DL, and bring up another outfielder. Except that day he'd be ready to go kept getting pushed back, and so the team wasted a roster spot on a guy who could only pinch hit, couldn't even run for himself (witness Saturday's game against the Cubs, where Rick gets a pinch-hit single, and they immediately send Pineiro out to run for him). That's especially poor management when you're using 13 pitchers, and so your bench is only 4 deep. Then you get a situation like Friday's game against the Cubs.

You've got four outfielders. Oops, Rick can't play in the field yet, so better make it three. Oh wait, Lilly is a lefty, better not use Skip. So that leaves Thudwick, Mather, and. . . hmm. No more outfielders. Well, guess I'll just use this middle infielder. Look, I know Bill James says the corner outfield slots are easier defensively than the middle infield slots, but it really seems like poor planning to have to use a MI as a starting outfielder, because you simply don't have enough outfielders you feel you can use, because you're carrying 13 pitchers and a guy who can't play in the field.

I feel much better.

I'm A Posting, Complaining Machine!

Wow, three posts in four days? That might be a record for me here. For an added treat (or disappointment, depending on your perspective), it's not a sports related post. No sir, this post is about that Burger King Smokehouse Burger commercial.

You may have seen it. Two people are sitting there, enjoying this new sandwich, and a third person comes by, and because the burger is so awesome, what's to know what these people have done to merit such an incredible meal. One person has usually done something impressive, like donating half their paycheck to feed starving children overseas, or discovering a new planet that may have life on it. The other person is usually just hungry. The passerby immediately becomes indignant that this person would eat such a magnificent food stuff, simply because they were hungry, and insults said person before storming off in a huff. In one commercial, I think the passerby actually smacks the person who has offended them.

I get the point, that because of how great this product is, you'd only buy one if you really felt you deserved a treat, but even so, it still annoys the hell out of me. The idea, however absurd, that someone is going to hassle me because I haven't cured cancer, or found a way to quickly improve reproductive success of an endangered species, before eating a fast food burger, just rubs me the wrong way. Probably because I don't like to be disturbed while I'm enjoying food, but also because I don't like having to justify my decisions to complete strangers. If I feel like explaining my choices to you, I will. If I don't feel like it, Fictional Character From A Burger King Commercial, then you can kindly piss off.

Coming sometime this week, the MLB at the 3/4 mark review!

Is It Over? Is It Safe To Watch ESPN?

OK, so now that Favre's been traded, we won't hear anymore about him, right? The reign of terror is over? What? He's playing for a team very near the New York metropolitan area? Aw crap. Hopefully the discussion will at least center on how well he can play this year (as in, was his good 2007 a sign he'd rebounded from a couple of ugly years, or just an aberration as he continues his decline?) and what it means for the Jets. You know, actually football discussion, as opposed to this video tape of Farve getting off the airplane. Who is he, the fucking Pope or something*?

I do look forward to that Ombudsman they have on the ESPN website, LeAnn Schreiber I believe, covering this in her next column. I'm sure she's going to get a lot of e-mails from people sick and tired of being beaten over the head about this stuff.

Maybe this whole situation will teach teams not to push players so hard in the off-season. Players don't get any time to really reflect and think about what lies ahead, because as soon as a team's season is over, the coaches and general manager are already focusing on next year: who'll they'll draft, who they need to resign, who needs to be replaced, etc. A player can't get enough time to really think about it. I don't think anything will change though, because a team is rarely going to be as hesitant to just release a player uncertain about their status as the Packers were with Favre.

Aaron Rodgers is really under the gun now though, huh? He's the guy whose presence convinced the Packers they could go on with Number 4, and the fans are going to be on him from the start. Well, the Farve fans will be, Packers' fans may be more accomodating (one can only hope). Too bad for Rodgers he couldn't have taken over after the '05 season (when Farve threw 29 picks), or even the '06 when Farve's TD/Int ratio was 18/18. Could have eased expectations a bit. And what about Chad Pennington? As I understood it, he was at least in the hunt with Kellen Clemens for the Jets' starting QB job, then Farve comes along and he's out on the streets. Ouch. I'm sure Jeff Garcia's fine with this turn of events though.

* You knew it was getting bad when you turn on Sportscenter in the morning, and they have that little list of what they're talking about now, and the next 7 or so topics, and about 75% of it is Farve-related. Then maybe highlights from 2 baseball games, six more Farve segments, a couple of more baseball games, more Farve. Insane.

Thoughts Midway Through The NBA Finals

Man, that Game 4 was kind of crazy. I checked the score on ESPN's website sometime in the first half, saw "45-21", and figured we might as well write this one off as just another bad road game for the Celtics. Then I go and check the score again some time later and whoops, it's a five point game. What the hell, Lakers? I was happily watching Burn Notice, and now I've got to switch over to the game to see how this plays out, and my remote doesn't work so well anymore, so the button pushing gets a bit aggravating. Still, that was pretty cool how Boston pulled that off*.

After the game was over, I was perusing some of the Internet sports sites, and I started to think about whether the expectations we as fans, and the media as well, put on players is fair. I noted a lot of people after the game proclaiming that all those "Kobe/Jordan" comparisons need to stop right now. After all, Jordan's teams never blew 24-point leads at home in the Finals, though I'm curious what folks will say if Kobe leads his team back to win the Finals, down 3-1, and with such an ugly loss. What I've been thinking about is, was Kobe the one making those comparisons? Was he telling people, "Hey, I'm better than Jordan"? I'm sure he was, at least a little. Choosing 24 as his new number a few seasons ago, when Jordan was 23, certainly seemed significant**, but I'm still not sure who's really been pushing those comparisons. And if it isn't Kobe, is it really fair to dump on him for not living up to comparisons he wasn't making? I know, he's the best player on the team, one of the best in the league (possibly the best), he ran off Shaq*** and Phil****, and so I think it's fair to question why he couldn't help his team hold the lead, or retake the lead once they'd lost it (though, I'm not sure how weak interior defense is Kobe's fault).

Let's use another example, Kevin Garnett. The big rap on KG is that he usually doesn't step up his game in the 4th quarter. Most of the time he plays at the same (extremely high) level he played the first three, sometimes he looks panicked, and every so often he comes up big*****. But the games where he's not taking over on the offensive end outnumber the ones where he does, so he gets Magic Johnson and Charles Barkley dumping on him******, or Skip Bayless calling him Kevin GarNot*******. It raises the question if these people ever watch him play. Garnett likes to distribute the ball, get his teammates involved. Sure, there are times that's not a good idea, but is it worse than Garnett taking a lot more shots, regardless of how many players guard him? Garnett's biggest strength is his defense. if he starts taking more shots, then he probably has less energy for defense, and looking at some of the guys he's had as teammates (Wally, Cassell, Kandy Man, Nesterovic), that probably isn't advisable. Is it the money Garnett makes that causes people to expect him to dominate offensively? Is it that he has always been the most talented player on his teams, and one of the most athletically gifted in the league? I know Garnett tends to take responsibility for these things (such as admitting he needed to be more aggressive attacking Gasol after Game 3, which was true) , but I can't recall him saying he's the best, he should take all the shots, everything should run through him. That isn't the style of player he is, and you'd think that'd be recognized to the point people would stop giving him shit about it.

* I'd prefer to give credit to them for good defense, rather than harp on the Lakers for choking.

** Though didn't Kobe say it represented playing hard all the time, like 24 hours a day, or something to that extent?

*** Though Shaq was the one that demanded a trade, I believe.

**** For a little while, anyway.

***** Game 7 in the 2nd round against the Kings, being the prime example.

****** I would love to see Barkley beat the Spurs or some of those early Nowitzki Mavs' teams with Wally Szczerbiak and Troy Hudson as his two best teammates, or Olowakandi at center. And I'm sure Magic's brand of "no defense" would have done splendidly against the Duncan/Robinson Spurs.

******* Skip, it isn't funny. At all. Nor was it ever funny. You are a feculent sack of regurgitated cud. And you could not get a hit off Randy Johnson, even at this stage in his career, because, if there is hope and love in the world, Big Unit would drill you in the kidneys with the first pitch, and assuming you stepped back in, plant the next one in your ribs, then your knee, feet, elbow, until you got the message.