Good morning brave souls.
Once again, it has been an unreasonably long time since I’ve done this but I’ve had quite a bit on my plate for the last couple months. I’ve officially started my education in the law and I’m also the captain/coach/coordinator/quarterback/cornerback for my flag football team. Ok, that’s only two things but cut me some slack. I have to make time for Paul, Jack, and Evan. But I am digressing. You don’t want to hear about what’s going on in my life (you selfish bastards!). You want to hear about men in little shorts, playing with balls that they throw or kick in a whole, a goal, or sometimes even into the hands of another man (gross).
So where do I begin? Well, if this were an international blog I’d have to start with globes most beloved sport and the World Cup. Everybody loves the soccer and everybody loves the World Cup. People come out of the wood works to pick the team they think is going to go all the way and 9 times out of 10 they can’t even name the goalie. But me, I’m an honest Joe. I mean I’ll keep track of who is moving up in the standings, but I may watch a total of 5 minutes of this dreadfully dry activity over its duration. I’m not going to pretend I like soccer or know anything about it for that much. With that said, I bought an ITALIA World Cup t-shirt because it looks good on me and girls love Italy…I think.
My goodness, I forgot two very important administrative announcements before I started this thing. First I’d like to wish all of the real dads out there a Happy Father’s Day. The concept of a real dad has often been lost in the mush of modern society, but I know that my dad and my Granddaddy Isaac, God rest his soul, are real dads. I’m not speaking to anyone specific, but you know who you are if you are not even trying to handle your business. But I’ll get off of the topic before someone becomes convinced that this is a blog with an agenda. Never.
I also wanted to congratulate the Los Angeles Lakers on winning their second consecutive championship over the Boston Celtics. I have to admit that I was rooting for the Celtics for the majority of the series, but I have a bleeding heart and I can’t help but root for the underdog when my particular teams are not involved. But the Lakers were a younger, more precise, and much bigger team in the end. The Celts fought them tooth and nail all the way to the end, but Kobe’s desire resonated with that entire Lakers team and after trailing in every single quarter of game 7, the Lakers clawed their way back and hopefully earned the respect of an entire nation. I say hopefully because I know some folks are just natural haters anyway. I actually saw a license plate on Friday that said LAKR H8R. Really? Are you such a hater that you advertise your hatefulness on your license plate? Moving right along…
I refuse to acknowledge baseball until something exciting happens. Warmest regards to Stephen Strasburg and Tori Hunter.
In the NFL we are officially in the most boring part of the off season. Most of the OTAs and mini camps are over and now we’re simply waiting for training camp to start (actually, it’s probably just me). Fortunately for me, this time still isn’t as boring as the World Cup and baseball. Burn! Just kidding soccer fans, I’m actually going to watch a whole game today (right...). I think Colin Cowherd said it best on Sportsnation last week: "ESPN televised a game that ended 0-0? That's a financial disaster."
Anyway, despite the inactivity in the league there are plenty of storylines. One of the biggest (literally and figuratively) involves Albert Haynesworth and the Washington Redskins. Most times when there is a dispute with a team, it’s over money. Prince Albert does not have this problem. He received a fat $100 M contract just last off season and just a few weeks ago he went and picked up $21 M from the Redskins facility. So why is Prince Albert upset? Because the new head coach with two Super Bowl rings won’t run the team the way the prince wants. “Wait, you want me to show up for workouts and get in shape? No, thank you.” “Wait, you want me to play in an active defense where I can move around, disrupt the offensive line and make my teammates better? No, thank you.” You see, the prince’s main squabble with the Washington Redskins is the fact that they are running a 3-4 defense. This is a new one. You sign the biggest contract of any defensive player in the history of the NFL and now you want out of town because you think the defense is going to limit you? If you are worth $100 M, then you should be a beast in any defense. Hell, I should be able to put you out there by your lonesome and you should be able to stop the offense. But this guy…
This is the brilliance of Dan Snyder and this is exactly why he brought in Mike Shanahan and Bruce Allen. No more of these horrible contracts, and no more simply throwing money at your problems. I thought Albert Haynesworth was a bad deal last offseason and clearly my opinion hasn’t changed. I say just keep fining him as long as you can. Let him come into training camp and act a fool. If he continues to misbehave, suspend him ala Terrell Owens or Keyshawn Johnson. Keep him home and off of another teams roster. Finally, sue his ass! Take him to court and get that money back. If Ricky Williams had to pay back his signing bonus after leading the league in rushing, carrying the ball around 900 times in two seasons, carrying that weak Miami franchise on his back, and being the only reason the team even made money, then Albert Haynesworth’s little hissy fit should be a piece of cake. After all, he only played about 25% of the defensive snaps. If he played more than 2 downs at a time he literally had to be carried off on a gurney.
This is a warning to teams in the future. Any guy that is willing to step on an opposing players face and is willing to leave a potential Super Bowl champion simply because they weren’t the highest bidder may not be worth the investment. One player doth not make a team.
But what do I know? My flag team is 0-3 right now. There is no justice in this world.
Caio
