Monday, October 24

Which brings me to my second point, kids...Don't do crack.


I recently found out that LaDanian asked Lawrence Taylor if he could have his nickname, and Taylor granted it to him. This was the only condition under which I would ever accept this travesty. I still think he should be LD (although a nickname demonstrating some actually creativity would be fantastic).Either way, after Sunday's game his name certainly wasn't anything close to TD.

On the subject of nicknames, here's a chance for Curious George to step in a yield a little presidential power. For a history of one thing that he is actually competent at, check out this great list of Bushy monikers.


Sheldon is the steak to Lito's sizzle.

Darwin may have been the missing piece the last few weeks. He was the stuffing in Jim Johnson's Blitzgiving holiday dinner.

Really weak showing by the 12th man. You could feel the nervous energy in the parking lot before the game, and although the crowd went wild before every time Drew Brees was under center, as soon as took the snap you could feel the air get sucked out of the building followed by a audible sigh of relief. This happened no less than 54 times, and it was brutal every time. It's tough watching your team pass 25 straight times, let leads slip away, and lose to the Cowboys. But there's only 8 home games a year, and the birds need everything we've got. Understand that I am not in any way condemning booing, which is absoultely has its place, but if you aren't booing, you gotta be cheering. It's the middle ground that kills me. This team doesn't owe you one damn thing, and if you take them for granted you need to give your ticket to someone who will get behind them.

The running game. Yeah; what running game. The way I see it, it's fine if you don't want to run the rock. I get the whole "our run is a short pass," and that's all well and good, but here's the thing: you can't do anything in the NFL for 4 straight seasons and be successful anymore. There are 5-10 coaches on every team who are paid to watch tape 18 hours a day, and nothing is getting by these dudes. And once one team figures out how to stop you, everyone knows. Remember our great gameplan from last years Conference championship? Half of our sets were straight from the Atlanta/Chiefs game when KC put them down by 46 points. Notice how the Colts can't complete a deep pass and Peyton has thrown a pick over half his games? Well the league picked up on what Belichick saw: rush 3 and drop 8 into coverage. The NFL is well known as a copycat league, but it also a league where innovators take home the trophy. And don't bother taking the Steelers here, they've run run run their way to exactly one conference title in the Cowher era. What worked yesterday will not work tomorrow. But since Andy is too stubborn to change, let's just hope we have the horses to get through while we have a shot.

Once the fire alarm went off, which the Zebras took as seriously as the Chargers took Donnie's play fakes, this officially became the strangest game I have ever been to. My buddy Mike, who graciously took me to the game, noted that "a helicopter could land on the field and no one would notice." This was soon followed by the dude next to us calling "blocked kick, TD return," and promptly losing every part of his mind. Which was subsequently followed by a brutal replay where we knew we were in the right and couldn't do anything but wait to see if we'd get hosed.

Every coaches' favorite play: U Victory. Take a knee fellas.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

I understand urging the fans to get behind the birds but this team does owe me something, A championship. Every year we hear the same "our goal is to win a championship" rhetoric from donny the coaches and other team leaders. Thats the teams goal that is the fans goal thats what i want to see. Why was the crowd nervous, probably because they should be, we got destroyed by the cowgirls and looked generally terrible. The team owes me and the whole city the play that they are capable of and a championship.

23 said...

Here's the thing. It isn't rhetoric. They really do want to win a championship. It's all they want to do. It's why Donnie spends all summer in Arizona playing tag with Luke Walton. But...he doesn't give a damn about you, and when he plays football, he does it for himself, his family, his kids, and his teammates. I don't mean to single out Donovan, because if there is an athlete who does want to win for the fans, it may very well be him, but as a rule, these guys are looking out for themselves.

If the crowd wants a reason to be nervous, this should be it. We do bring a lot to the table as far as support, but when the Birds do win a championship, it will be because of what they did on the field, not because of what we did in the seats.

(Note: This belief is one of many that I would be thrilled to have disproved).

Anonymous said...

if its whats done on the field that counts then why condemn the fans for not being "fan enough" or lambast the 12th man for not stepping up when under you own admission that doesnt matter, furthermore every fan who buys a ticket deserves to see the players they love play to the utmost of their ability, nobody pays big money to go to the link and see McThrowtomyfeet suck ass

23 said...

Aha. Here's how I get by the break in my logic: While we can only do a few things that have an impact on the game (making teams burn timeouts, cut down on audibles), there is a certain level of fanning that must be maintained in order to protect the home-field advantage.

It's also because I'm kind of a jerk about my unwavering belief that we will win every game.

I do appreciate the argument that a fan has a right to complain especially in the face of ludicrous ticket prices, but you have to understand that athletes do not go on the field with the intention to play up to anything but the highest level possible.

Most of all, I just hate being around the negativity, because I don't see how it can possibly help.

"Whether you think you can or you can't, you're right."

Anonymous said...

care to comment on the arguement that some degree of negativity could foster a "us against the world" mentality that drives players and teamms in this league to go out and perform

23 said...

I gotta feel that in an "us against the world" situation, the fans should still be on the "us" side.

Anonymous said...

Weekend prediction: Eagles get hammered by the Broncos, Giants sneak past the Skins and take sole possession of the lead in the NFC East.