Paging Mr. Jones. You forgot to turn your brain on.

Some not-so shocking stuff from the newswire about the Tennessee Titan's All-Dumb Cornerback Pac-Man Jones. Apparently Jones during All-Star Weekend in Vegas got in trouble again at a nightclub (whenever he gets in trouble you can count on the words club and strippers being part of the story). He used over $80,000 in cash to shower strippers in what he called a "visual effect". Then the guy who's in charge of the strippers starts bagging all the cash and next thing you know a melee breaks out that ends in a shooting. I guess Pac-Man had no intention of tipping that well. He just wanted people to enjoy the sight of lots of cash. In other words he's staying true to what we have come to expect from "Mr. off-season nightmare". Ahh...you can't make up stuff like this.

Bolt Babies

It's amazing how adults can be so childlike at times. And I'm not talking about the innocence of childhood. The Schottenheimer firing in San Diego is another case of grown men acting like 10 year olds. Schottenheimer is fired because of dysfunctionality in his relationship with the General Manager A.J. Smith? What a couple of babies. Don't get me wrong, I'm not sure firing Mr. "Marty Ball" isn't such a bad thing. I mean the man has trouble winning in the post-season. It's a statistical fact. But come on, that ought to be the reason he is fired if any and not because he and the G.M. are immature dipsticks. It's pathetic. Oh well. I really need to get a grip if I'm thinking that maturity is going to become part of professional sports anytime soon.
So are the Chargers screwed next season with all the coaching changes that are coming? Who knows. This is a team that was capable of winning the Super Bowl the past two seasons. Instead they've failed to make the playoffs in 05 and been one and done this past season. Again, perhaps Marty Schottenheimer is a big part of that and a more game savy coach can take them to the next level. We'll see. At anyrate they still have A.J. Smith. And yeah he may be a good judge of talent. But he sure is an ass.

NFL Thoughts: Post-Super Bowl stuff

-Ever read ESPN.com's Tuesday Morning Quarterback? I've just started reading his stuff the past couple of months and although he can get a bit long winded he also can hit the proverbial nail on the head at times. His criticism of the monopoly that Direct TV has on NFL game viewership is right on. Why should I have to pay $200 every year just so I can watch the Ram's games. The NFL is huge but TMQ is right that it would be even bigger if most fans could actually watch the games they wanted on Sunday.

- The past couple of years have been odd in that the Colts and Steelers were two teams that I would have bet money against winning the Super Bowl 3 quarters of the way through the season. The 2005 Steelers looked like they weren't even going to make the playoffs and the 2006 Colts defense was the laughing-stock of the league. Then both teams go on playoff binges and come out Super Bowl champs. Go figure. That tells me that this has become a league where there are no absolutes.

- One note on the Pats/Colts AFC championship game. I have a friend who's a semi-Patriot fan (and yes we're still friends. Come on I'm not that superficial....yet). Anyway, he was whining about the roughing the passer penalty that helped put the Colts closer to the goal line for their winning score. It was barely shown on replay but clearly shows the Patriot defensive player grazing the head of Manning with his hand/arm. Should it have been a penalty considering he barely touched him. I don't think so. Could you call it a penalty based soley on the interpretation of the rule. Absolutely. It's one of those calls that shouldn't be made based on common sense. However the ironic thing about the crying coming from New England fans concerning this is that they are contradicting themselves and showing themselves to be hypocrites. When the Patriots benefited from the "tuck rule" in the 2002 playoff game against the Raiders (you remember the game where Brady essentially fumbles the ball, the Raiders recover, the game is over---but wait the strict interpretation of the rule says Brady was attempting to tuck it and his hand was moving forward, so Ta-Da--Patriots hang onto the ball and ultimately win the game--yeah that game) many New England fans tried to quell the outrage over what common sense said should have been a fumble by saying, "that's the rule--rules are rules". They jumped on the technicality of that rule so fast it made your head spin. So the next time a Patriot fan tries to whine about the roughing the passer penalty against the Colts, just tell them "rules are rules".

NFL Thoughts: The Super Bowl

I'm not sure what was more disappointing, the Super Bowl commercials or the rain that messed up what could have been a good game. Not that I'm complaining about the results. I mean I wanted the Colts to win and they obliged. In fact they put a beat down on what was supposed to be a physically dominating Bears team. It's just that the rain caused it too be much more sloppy than it would have been otherwise and helped mute the Colt offense. The Bears played pretty decent against the pass but they were beat up on the ground pretty good. I just think the Bears miss Brown and Harris like the Colts missed Bob Sanders. And Sanders is one bad dude. The effect of Sanders is probably overstated and a bit of an exaggeration but its weird how the Colts turned into the best smash-mouth team of the post-season after he returned. I'm thinking the entire defense strapped Bob Sanders down, extracted some of his blood and then drank it down with a cookie. Hopefully one of those girl scout cookies that have coconut in them. I love those. Other thoughts:

-I hate squib kicks--they usually give the other team great field position and almost always backfire. But in this game I have to admit the Colts were smart to not kick it back to Devin Hester after he burned them for an opening kick TD. He's scary.

-Manning played pretty well considering the situation. After his first quarter interception he didn't try to do too much. With his defense playing well and knowing that the Bears were doing nothing on offense, he didn't get greedy or crazy. He let Addai, Rhodes and his offensive line kick the Bears defense around. And they did. I liked the idea of the two running backs getting the MVP. A case could be made for the offensive line as well. Manning got the MVP trophy but it was a great team effort that dominated the Bears defense.

-Rex Grossman was in effect a first year starter so it's hard to judge him too harshly this season. Still, the Bears have the team in place for multiple Super Bowl runs right now so their fans and his teammates are not going to have much more patience for some of his poor decisions. He had a great start to the season and then somewhere around mid-season he fell apart. Next year he needs to improve significantly or even the loyal (to a fault) Lovie Smith will be forced to yank him.

-I'm depressed already about the end of the season. And don't tell me the Pro-Bowl is still coming up because that only causes me to use four letter words and eat my fingers off.

-I kept picking the Colts to lose in the post-season and the wins kept coming. I think I've disocovered my strategy for St. Louis next season.--Go Rams 2007!

So I think I'll watch the Super Bowl

There's a little game this weekend I might just have to check out. For the first time since the 2000 season I finally have a team to root for. Not that I haven't had an interest in the big game since then but it's only been an interest in rooting against certain teams. Like the New England Patriots. It's just not as fun rooting agaiinst teams as it is rooting for teams. I've been pulling for the Colts in the AFC for several years now so this is a Super Bowl I can get into. Although it is slightly annoying how everyone I know seems to be rooting for the Colts even though they have no idea who the hell Ben Utecht, Cato June, or Rob Morris is. But that's the Super Bowl. It's a day where many Americans reserve the right to enjoy a football game without knowing what 4th down means or the difference between a punt and a field goal. So whatever.

Who wins this game then? I would love to say the Colts. But Isn't it crazy how almost all the "experts" on the networks and websites, newspapers, etc. are all picking the Colts? I mean this is the Super Bowl for hell's sake. Underdogs often come out on top. Besides which, wasn't it the Bears who 5 weeks into the season seemed like the Super Bowl favorite? Sure Rex Grossman had his struggles (as I've pointed out many times) but the Bears won 13 games and have the type of opportunistic defense which can bail out many mistakes. Plus Grossman can suck for 3 quarters but if he manages to connect on a couple of big plays, the Bears are in business. I just see a lot of advantages for Chicago. Special teams seem big. The Colts have given up a lot of big returns this year so I'm particularly worried about Devin Hester running wild on them. It just seems really weird that the Colts are this favored when prior to the playoffs nobody (including me) gave them a chance to even be here. Now they are a Touchdown favorite?! Did I mention I'm worried.
So even though a Colt victory would be nice for me, my gut says the Bears will make enough big plays to win it.