Author: Jason

"My Life as an Irrational Malcontent" The Al Davis Story

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For those of you who don’t know, Al Davis is the owner of the Oakland Raiders.  They are an NFL franchise who play in some “Bay Area” where allegedly, another NFL franchise called the San Francisco 49ers plays.  Today, Al Davis has composed a letter of resignation for his 30-something Head Coach (who he just hired last offseason) to sign.  The coach is Lane Kiffin, former USC Offensive Coordinator.  Kiffin and the Raiders doubled their win total this season as compared to the prior one.  The problem with that is that the Raiders won 2 games that year.  Message to Al Davis: Do the Oakland Raiders and their incredibly loyal fan base a huge favor and get dead.  It will be a great day for the NFL.


Ben Roethlisberger is really grinding my gears.  He’d be wise to just shut up until about August.  Roethlisberger said in some interview somewhere that he wants a tall receiver.  I have mentioned in this spot that Hines Ward is my favorite professional football player.  He catches everything his wildly inaccurate quarterback throws at him.  He blocks like an offensive lineman.  He does everything that is asked of him and is a sure fire first ballot hall of famer five years after he retires.  “Medium Ben” is not a hall of famer, unless the Miami University of Ohio opens up a hall of fame for he and Travis Prentice.

I hate the people of the Washington D.C. metropolitan area.  This was qualified last night when I attended the Capitals/Maple Leafs game and had to endure 10,000 of these people cheering on a terrible hockey team  (Sidebar: The Capitals have one superstar, a capable rookie, and a bunch of morons who can barely skate, never mind play professional hockey).  I got into a fight with some kids who go to Towson University (a shit school somewhere near Baltimore).  I watched students from THE Catholic University of America chant “asshole” at a female Georgetown student in a 2nd intermission college hot dog eating contest.  And then this:  San Francisco’s AT&T Park (and other sporting venues) has a policy that fans are not allowed to go to their seat until there is a break in action.  In baseball, that’s between pitches.  In basketball that’s during one of the 3,046 whistles per quarter.  In football, that’s after ever play.  IN HOCKEY, that’s 6 MINUTES into the second period.  6 MINUTES!!!  I stood for six minutes in the tunnel (of the cheapest of cheap seats) waiting to get to my seat.  I did tell the usher, “This is probably a good reason why you guys have the second lowest attendance ranking in the NHL.  

As far as a game o’ the day, the game was okay and the Caps won 2-1.

Game o’ the Day: Minnesota @ Boston.  (NBA).  You’re probably slightly confused about this.  However, the lowly T-wolves are going to beat the Celtics tonight.  Al Jefferson is going to outplay Kevin Garnett.  Bassy Telfair will go for 13 pts. and 7 assists off the bench.  Ryan Gomes will score at least 15.  Look, picking up Garnett is great for the Celtics in the short-term.  I don’t think they’re going to win a title.  I would love for them to do so.  Garnett is one of the best players of this generation.  However, six years from now, when the Celtics are wallowing in obscurity again, and Big Al is averaging 25 and 13 a game for the playoff level T-Wolves, just remember you read this.  Look at what the Blazers did.  They built up.  The reason why the Celtics “build up” mode never succeeded is because Danny Ainge is inept.  Pierce should have been traded years ago, for more value than they’ll get when they lose him in a few years.  Picking guys like Gerald Green set the Celtics back light years.  Here’s a list of the guys drafted after Gerald Green: Nate Robinson, David Lee, Francisco Garcia, Luther Head, Jarrett Jack, Jason Maxiell, C.J. Miles, Ronny Turiaf, MONTA ELLIS, Louis Williams, and oh, Ryan Gomes.  All of these players are making a significant impact on their current rosters.  So, if the Celtics don’t win a title with this current roster, all of this will be for loss and the Celtics will be in worse shape when they were on Lottery Selection night in May of 07.  Timberwolves win 108-103 in Boston.

"Tickets? You Got Tickets?" The O.J. Mayo Story

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I like that I mention O.J. Mayo’s issues being a, you know, jerk, in yesterday’s blog and what do you know…controversy happens instantaneously.  I will summarize simply: O.J. Mayo, star freshman, who recruited himself to Southern California (telling head coach Tim Floyd, “I’ll call you.”) recently accepted 200 dollar tickets for a Lakers game as a gift from Denver Nuggets Forward and Stop Snitching Enthusiast Carmelo Anthony.  This clearly violates NCAA rules that state that athletes cannot accept gifts that regular students would not have the opportunity to get. $230 dollar LA Lakers tickets from an NBA “star” (I dispute Anthony’s star status) falls under this category.  Now Tim Floyd says that he gave O.J. Mayo the okay to acquire the tickets.  Combine this with the Reggie Bush fiasco and USC is not in good standing with the NCAA currently.


Ron Hunter, however, is in great standing, at least with me.  Hunter is the Head Coach for Indiana University and Purdue University at Indianapolis (IUPUI…yes, that’s a real Division I School).  Tonight, Hunter will coach barefoot to raise awareness for an organization helping to put shoes on the feet of African children.  Hunter had a goal to raise at least 40,000 pairs of shoes by the end of tonight’s game.  He achieved his goal earlier this morning when Converse donated 15,000 pairs of sneakers.  Hunter is incredibly involved in this project and is traveling to Africa with the shoes at the conclusion of IUPUI’s season.  Kudos to Ron Hunter.

Last night had Texas A&M and Baylor playing the longest game (5 overtimes) in Big 12 history.  This game was not on television.  ESPN had to use the web feed for its highlights.  Baylor has had a remarkable turnaround in the last 3 years.  After having one teammate murder another and a coach attempt to cover up that murder, followed by a mass exodus of players transferring out of the school, head coach Scott Drew (son of Homer Drew, brother of Bryce) has done an absolutely remarkable job of lifting the Bears out of the depths of failure.  They won in College Station last night to improve to 17-2.  They will likely make the NCAA tournament.  Kudos to Scott Drew and Baylor University.

No Kudos, however, to Texas A&M.  I would say that the Aggies are the biggest disappointment of the year, having begun it ranked in the top 10 and now having lost 3 consecutive games (to Texas Tech, Kansas State, and Baylor…not exactly potential champions of the NCAA).  Their best victory of the year is against Ohio State.  Or maybe Alabama.  Possibly Oral Roberts.  The point is that they haven’t played anyone and with games against Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas ahead, don’t look for the Aggies to get very far in the postseason.  Losing Acie Law IV, the best player in the history of the program, and head coach Billy Gillespie has hurt this team more than the experts thought.  That tends to happen.  

Someone should tell Rihanna that she is NOT SEXY.

Thanks to the joy of the NBA League Pass Free Preview I got to see my game of the day last night: Portland @ New Orleans.  The Hornets are fantastic.  The Blazers were ending a long road trip last night, so forgive them if they weren’t overly competitive, but the Hornets are outstanding.  Jannero Pargo scored over 20 off the bench last night.  The Hornets already have Chris Paul (who somehow is not going to be an all-star starter, even though he is the MVP of the first half of this season), Tyson Chandler, and David West.  If they can get performances from their supporting cast like last night, then they will win the NBA Championship.  Yes.  I mean it.

Game o’ the Day: Today’s game o’ the day isn’t really a game o’ the day.  However, I’m going, so it will be.  Toronto Maple Leafs @ Washington Capitals.  It’s the final game for both before the all-star break so neither will play hard and I’ll have wasted 20 bucks.  I’ll take the Caps to avenge last night’s loss to the Leafs 3-1.

"Now I’m Ready…" The Brady Quinn Story

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I’m not exactly sure what Brady Quinn is ready for.  Perhaps another season sitting behind Derek Anderson in Cleveland.


Loyal reader Matthew Minton posted that UNH is going to win the America East championship this year.  I respectfully disagree with him.  While I believe that the Wildcats could be a contender in the conference, I look for the University of Maryland at Baltimore County (UMBC) to win the AE and play in the play-in game (also known as the Right to Get Hammered By Kansas Game).

I’ve been watching a lot of the Senior Bowl practice this week on NFL Network.  Wideout Adarius Bowman, who played at Oklahoma St. (whose coach, I understand is a 40 year old man) had a terrible day on Tuesday in practice, but improved a good deal in this morning’s session.  At the quarterback position, no one is wowing me.  Joe Flacco improved this morning.  Colt Brennan looks terrible.  Mike Martz (49ers offensive coordinator) had to teach Colt how to execute a fake pitch, sweep strong side.  He eventually gave up when Brennan was incapable of cutting right after the fake pitch.  The best quarterback so far has been Michigan’s Chad Henne, who, while being slightly undersized, has the best chance at being this year’s 3rd round pick forced into starting time due to injury who is able to capably run an NFL offense.  Brennan just overthrew Harry Douglass by about 180 miles.  He has NO HOPE of being successful in the NFL.

With a 2 week lag before the Super Bowl, and no interest in writing about Tom Brady’s choice of shoe, I am left with the NBA, NHL, and Men’s College Basketball  (I’d write about women’s basketball, but I can sum this season up in one sentence: Tennessee will win the National Title because Candace Parker is the best all-around post player I have seen in women’s basketball).

Yesterday had me talking about the NHL about as much as I care to.  I intend on going to the Capitals/Maple Leafs game tomorrow night, just because.  I might talk about that on Friday if I go.  I’ve never actually been to an NHL game.

There is talk about a Ben Wallace to LA trade that the Lakers apparently don’t want to do.  Message to LA: You’re not going to win the title this year.  DO NOT TRADE FOR BEN WALLACE.  He has proven himself to be a misguided leader in Chicago this year, what with his conflicts with Joakim Noah, who is outplaying AND outhustling the 85 million dollar thief.  Someone needs to explain to me why Ben Wallace makes as much money as he does, based on what he does on the court.

College basketball is of course, my passion from December to April.  I’ve mentioned recently that my final four includes Memphis, Kansas, UCLA, and Tennessee.  Tennessee did lose last night to Kentucky and UCLA has had trouble with athletic swingmen in their 2 losses (to Texas and Southern Cal), but I still feel that, if they can defend (the Vols) and if they stay healthy (the Bruins) these two teams are legit title contenders.

This year has seen the best freshman class in quite some time come to the game.  Chad Ford’s (ESPN NBA columnist) top 5 2008 NBA Draft prospects includes Memphis Freshman Derrick Rose, Kansas State freshman Michael Beasley, USC freshman OJ Mayo, and Indiana freshman Eric Gordon.  Gordon is my favorite of this bunch.  Mayo is an ego-maniac, who will inevitably self-destruct in the NBA.  Beasley is a more under the radar version of Mayo, I feel.  While he did not recruit himself to Kansas State, as Mayo did to USC, Beasley has shown the negative signs of a ballhog in Manhattan (the Smaller one).  Rose is fantastic and would be a great selection by the Heat or Knicks, who are both desperately needing a true point guard.  Gordon, I believe, is the best of the bunch.  While he was at the center of a small controversy, when he withdrew his letter of intent to play for Bruce Weber at the Univ. of Illinois and instead decided to attend Indiana, he’s nowhere near the glory hog that Mayo is.  Gordon is a great scorer who doesn’t need to score 32 a night, like Beasley, to make a difference on the court and he is making a huge difference with the Hooisers.  

Game O’ The Day: Portland Trail Blazers @ New Orleans Hornets.  Instead of airing this highly important Western Conference Game, ESPN will be boring America with the Spurs and the Lakers.  Oh good.  I NEVER get to see those teams, expect on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Sundays on the ESPN, TNT, ABC NBA lineup.  Portland and New Orleans are on a collision course with each other come playoff time.  I have written here that I think the Hornets are one of the NBA’s best and I love what the Blazers have done, remaking their roster from the Jail Blazers of 5 years ago into a team with quality players and people, led by Brandon Roy and LaMarcus Aldridge.  I’ll take the Hornets tonight by 9 over the Blazers.

"I Like Interceptions" the Brett Favre Story

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Sorry that I did not post yesterday.  If you came here and were stricken with mass amounts of disappointment, I do apologize.  Posting on the weekend when Amanda is around is more difficult, because, you know, I’m not trying to do things to pass the time.  However, during the week, I will be a blogging machine.


Sunday’s AFC title game was forgettable at best.  I was obviously off on the score.  Kudos to Phillip Rivers for playing with a torn ACL.  I hope that Marvin Harrison was watching the Chargers/Patriots game.  It’s not being mentioned very much, but Harrison should have been playing, hurt or not, in the Divisional game against San Diego.  I’m not a fan of Phillip Rivers, but kudos.

The real game of the weekend, however, was the classic Giants/Packers game.  This was the best NFL game I saw this season, closely edging out the Patriots/Giants game in Week 17.  You had the classic weather scenario in this game (just look at Tom Coughlin’s cheeks in the postgame conference).  You had the big market team (from New Jersey, no less) against the neighborhood football franchise.  Two of the NFL’s most storied teams.  Two name quarterbacks.  Two very underrated defenses.  All around, just a fantastic game.

The one thing that I took away from this game was how absolutely dominant Plaxico Burress is at receiver.  With one the toughest cover corners in the NFL (Al Harris) on him, Burress caught nearly everything thrown at him, no matter where the ball was thrown to.  I never appreciated Plaxico in Pittsburgh; I’ve always loved Hines Ward and I loved Antwaan Randle El out of the slot.  Burress was always just sort of there.  But watching Burress on Sunday really floored me.  

I hope Tom Brady is wearing the protective boot on his foot for jokes.  

I really don’t intent on talking about hockey very much, but the injury to Penguins star Sidney Crosby not only hurts Pittsburgh’s playoff chances, but really kills the NHL, especially with the all=star game approaching this weekend.  The one thing the NHL doesn’t need now is for their premier attraction, their best player, and their most marketable star to be hurt.  

Game o’ the Day: Despite being unwatchable, because no major or medium level channel is covering the game, the best matchup in sports today will happen in Omaha, Nebraska when Drake and Creighton face off tonight.  Drake has been the story that no one talks about so far this season and are flying way under the national radar.  Creighton is in a down year, but it is a tall task for any MVC team to come into Omaha and beat the Blue Jays.  For tonight only, I take Creighton 68-63 over Drake.

I hope Mercury Morris accidently drinks window cleaner.

If you have any column ideas for me, or if you read my blog and haven’t posted yet, please, post.  

Championship Sunday Quick Picks

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This is a rather quick post, but the Pats/Chargers game starts in two minutes.  Here’s the picks:


New England over San Diego 35-10.  Whether Phillip Rivers or Billy Volek starts is rather unimportant.  The Patriots hate the Chargers more than the Colts and will prove it.

Green Bay over New York 17-13.  Favre will probably lead a late rally to win.  This game will be a classic, even though I don’t really care for either team.  This is the Game o’ the day.

Tomorrow, perhaps some college basketball talk.

Ranking The NFL’s Best Quarterbacks Pt. 3

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Welcome back and congratulations for coming back or congratulations for coming here and exposing yourself to some real quality ramble.  


There will likely be a short installment of MAB tomorrow (Mid-Atlantic Bias) morning.

Some house cleaning:

My game of the day yesterday was not quite a good game.  New Orleans beat Charlotte by nearly 30.  It’s kind of a shame that the city of New Orleans is wasting a great basketball team.  David West is the NBA’s hidden jewel and Chris Paul is just fantastic.  Kudos to Tyson Chandler for becoming a force too.  At this point, I think the Hornets may be in the top 3 in the NBA.

With today’s completion of the list, I’m not going to write as much about the quarterbacks.  I’ll keep it simple:

10. David Garrard (Jacksonville Jaguars)
-He’s coming into his own.  He needs to do it for another year and I’ll be a believer.  One of the best game managers in the NFL.  I never thought I would type or believe that sentence.

9. Ben Roethlisberger (Pittsburgh Steelers)
-Roethlisberger is a choke artist, with great potential.  That’s what I’ve come to conclude from what I’ve seen of him i his career.  Despite this, and a lot of this animosity is due in large part to my adoration of the Steelers, I still have him in the top 10 because he’s at least shown that he can be a capable game manager.

8. Jeff Garcia (Tampa Bay Bucs)
-I’m not a big Garcia fan.  He’s the rich man’s Chad Pennington.  However, he can still get out of trouble with his legs and he doesn’t make stupid mistakes very often.  I’ve never been wowed by Garcia, but you can argue that before Peyton came into his own, Jeff Garcia was the best quarterback in the NFL.

7. Matt Hasselback (Seattle Seahawks)
-Hasselback will always be at this level.  Time will not regard him as one of the best of this generation, but he’s on the cusp really.  He’s just never gotten over the hump.  In a clutch game, he could either choke or come through.  I’d like to see how he could do with a head coach who knows what a clock is, as Mike Holmgren seems to be unaware most of the time.  

6. Tony Romo (Dallas Cowboys)
-I’m quite the Romosexual.  He is one of the most dynamic quarterbacks in the NFL and while he has choked in his only 2 playoff games, remember that one was as a holder on field goal kicks and the other was without any semblance of an offensive line during an entire half of a divisional round football game.  Romo makes plays.

5. Carson Palmer (Cincinnati Bengals)
4. Drew Brees (New Orleans Saints)
-These two can be flip-flopped.  The funny thing is that while they are similar quarterbacks, they are completely dissimilar in size and stature.  Brees is not the ideal size for a quarterback at 6’0”, while Palmer is the ideal 6’5”.  Brees played college football at Purdue, where the only talent he had with him on offense was wideout Taylor Stubbefield.  Palmer played college ball at the glamor school: USC.  However, they both play in toilet bowl cities and both can easily put up 300+ yards every game against any defense.

3. Brett Favre (Green Bay Packers)
-I’ve never liked Brett Favre, but in an era where Drew Brees or Carson Palmer is the fourth most capable NFL QB, even though Favre is a superhero in his head, he’s won a Super Bowl and makes plays that make my head explode.

2. Peyton Manning (Indianapolis Colts)
-He still chokes in big games, but he’s still the most prepared athlete I’ve ever seen.  Manning knows more about his opposition than his coaches do.

1. Tom Brady (New England Patriots)
-C’mon.

Game o’ the day: USC/UCLA.  I’m not sure who the home team is.  It really doesn’t matter.  They play in the same city.  The PAC-10 is the best conference in college basketball.  UCLA wins by 10, late.  

Ranking the NFL’s Best Quarterbacks Pt. 2

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Welcome back.  Thanks to Matthew for commenting.  I welcome anyone who happens to glance at my blog to post; agree, disagree, like me, wish that I would get eaten alive by a pack of saber-tooth tigers, etc.  I will continue to rank the NFL’s most competent QB’s in a moment, but first, some issues.


Scott Kazmir (one of my greatest loves) signed a one year, not quite 4 million dollar deal today with the DEVIL rays.  Kazmir led the AL in strikeouts last season, much to a lot of people’s surprise.  As much as I love Scott Kazmir, the DEVIL rays would be wise to trade him if they do not improve significantly by the end of this coming season.  They are going to lose him soon to free agency.  Do you think the Yankees or Red Sox would spend 4 million bucks a year on a 23 year old stud, who had more strikeouts last year than Johan Santana, Josh Beckett, Daisuke Matsuzaka, or Roy Halladay?

I took the Metro down to the old Navy Yard to see the new National’s ballpark today.  It’s not done yet.  Not even really close.  Season starts in 2 1/2 months.  That should be interesting.  Also, if you like the ghetto, you’ll love the location of the Washington Nationals’ new ballpark.  

It probably bears mentioning that, for now, I live in Washington D.C.  Probably should have mentioned that earlier.

In yesterday’s game of the day, Tennessee had no problem with Vanderbilt, who couldn’t drop a basketball into the state of Tennessee, much less a hoop in Knoxville.

On to the continuation of yesterday’s post:

20. Jason Campbell (Washington Redskins)
-Frankly, I was never very impressed with Campbell at Auburn.  He had two of the best running backs (Ronnie Brown and Carnell Williams) in his backfield and didn’t have to be “the guy.”  He was a decent game manager.  Luckily, before he got hurt, the Redskins have started to lessen their squeeze on his reins.  He doesn’t have a lot of talent to work with in Landover, other than Santana Moss, who is really fast and a head case, and Chris Cooley who is the poor man’s Todd Heap (That’s two Todd Heap mentions in two posts.  I’ll try to keep this going).  Given a weapon or two (preferably not Sean Taylor’s bedside machete) Campbell could be a step above average and possibly a top-ten QB, but he needs to stop making mistakes so often, or he’ll be on the tracks to Kitnaville.

19. Matt Shaub (Houston Texans)
-I have Schaub here, above Derek Anderson, because I think he is a more fundamentally sound quarterback.  I love Schaub’s mechanics.  He’s the right size.  He knows how to run the pro offense.  He did it very well at UVA and should have been the Falcon’s starting quarterback (Yes, over Michael Vick.  Ask Arthur Blank today if he thinks he made a mistake.  Do it.  I dare you too).  Schaub got hurt last year, but I expect bigger things next year.  If Houston can find a running back (I’m going to do a post on the running backs going into the Draft in the coming weeks) in this April’s draft who can move Darius Walker to a specialty situation and not a feature back role (just pretend that Ron Dayne doesn’t actually exist) I think Houston can finally get over the hump.  I take Schaub over the guys behind him because I don’t think he makes the mistakes a lot of these other guys make.  He knows what he is and plays within himself.  

18. Donovan McNabb
-A lot of people will look at this (if a lot of people read my blog) and scream at their computer before they think.  McNabb sucks.  That is it.  He can’t stay healthy.  He tries to be the man and he’s incapable of being the man.  Philadelphia with Jeff Garcia was a much better team than Philadelphia with Donovan McNabb because they had a quarterback who wouldn’t choke and make mistakes in crunch time.  That is McNabb.  For every lateral scramble miraculous first down run, McNabb makes 3 stupid passes into coverage that get either picked off or hit the turf.  He had one remarkable game this year, against the Lions in those hideous yellow and sky blue jerseys that I loved.  The Lions defense had more holes in its secondary in the 2007 season than the levees around New Orleans right before Hurricane Katrina.  Kevin Kolb will be starting on opening day for the Eagles and they’ll be all the better because of it.

17. Chad Pennington (New York Jets)
-I will leave it as simple as this: I don’t think Chad Pennington is a remarkable quarterback.  Over the long term, I would take guys like Schaub, Anderson, and Campbell.  However, for one game, Chad Pennington does not make a ton of mistakes.  He’s a better game manager, game-to-game than half of the NFL’s QBs.  That doesn’t make him good.  His stats indicate otherwise.  However, he gives you a chance on most days.

16. Jay Cutler (Denver Broncos)
-Cutler showed signs of life in the second half of the Broncos’ incredibly disappointing season last year.  He has a great arm.  He has great size.  He has more potential than Matt Leinart, with whom he will always be compared to.  If you can get him to manage the game better, and not try to use his howitzer of an arm all the time, I think you can be successful with him.  However, I still have him close to the bottom half of the NFL’s best.  A good year next year, though, could catapult him up the ladder.

15. Vince Young (Tennessee Titans)
-Death, taxes, and Vince Young wins football games.  These are the certainties of life.  The Tennessee Titans, in my estimation, had the worst offense in the NFL last year.  They have exactly ONE playmaker: Vince Young.  Their running backs (LenDale White and Chris Brown…no, not that one) are, at best 3rd down/specialty backs.  Their wide receivers are embarrassingly bad.  Ben Troupe (tight end) is somehow the best pass-catching option.  The problem with Vince, I believe, has been fixed.  Norm Chow was fired earlier this week.  Chow apparently thought that the Titans drafted the most dynamic ball-carrying quarterback of this or any generation of college football to develop him into the next Stan Humphries.  Do you know what Vince Young should be doing on 2nd and 6 plays?  Running the ball through the defense for 10 yards, not dropping back to throw a wide receiver screen to Bobby Wade or Roydell Williams.  In my offense, Vince Young is the offensive coordinator.  I only have him this low because we haven’t actually seen that he can throw on NFL defenses, because his coaches haven’t let him.  For sheer talent though, he’s in the top half.

14. Marc Bulger (St. Louis Rams)
-I almost forgot that he was an NFL quarterback.  With the exception of last season (because he was feeling a little woozy most of the year) Bulger has been a top-level talent.  Scott Linehan has thrown a bit of a wrench into Bulger’s success, by thinking he could toy with success.  While Mike Martz’s offense was a circus side-show, it was also very successful in St. Louis.  Torry Holt is nearing his end and Isaac Bruce should have retired about 4 years ago.  I still think that Bulger can be very successful, given the chance to throw.  His situation is kind of like Vince Young’s, in that conservative offenses aren’t getting it done in today’s NFL.

13. Phillip Rivers (San Diego Chargers)
12. Eli Manning (New York Giants)
-It’s surprising to me that these two are not more often linked together, as they began their careers by being traded for each other.  Neither was very successful in college, but both have that thing scouts love.  Arm strength (Rivers) and really successful family members (Manning).  Both play for consistently underachieving teams.  Both have had coaches who have ZERO real NFL success as head coaches.  And both, now, find themselves in their respective conference championships.  I have Eli just ahead of Rivers because I think he may have finally learned how to manage an NFL game without completely butchering it.  Rivers, also, needs to tone down the attitude.  The last time I checked, he hasn’t accomplished any success on his own.

11. Kurt Warner (Arizona Cardinals)
-This is not a joke.  I promise.  Remember the 1999 St. Louis Rams?  They were the best offense I had ever seen and may still be, apologies to this year’s Patriots.  Warner’s accuracy could not be matched.  Then, after some success, he fell off the face of the earth and was destined to blow into a question on Stump the Schwab in 10 years.  However, when Nick Lachey, er, Matt Leinart got hurt this year, Warner lifted the Cardinals and led them to a somewhat successful season.  His numbers were very good.  63% completion percentage.  27 touchdowns.  And that was without any semblance of a running game.  I’d start him next year over Leinart if I was the Cardinals and I wanted to, you know, win football games.  I’d also start him if I had that one game I needed to win, because I really think, with an offensive line in front of him, Kurt Warner can get it done.

Game O’ The Day:  (It’s a tad bit difficult to pick a game of the day when all you have is C-Level college basketball, the NBA, and the NHL).  Charlotte Bobcats at New Orleans Hornets (That’s the NBA).  Charlotte has started to come around of late and the Hornets are one of the NBA’s best teams.  I still won’t watch it.

Tomorrow I will have for you the top 10 most competent NFL QBs and a real game of the day.  

Ranking the NFL’s Best Quarterbacks

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Before I begin with the purpose of this post, I shall explain the purpose behind the existence of this blog.


1. The name Mid-Atlantic Bias is obviously a joke, because I hate every professional team in the Greater Washington D.C. area.  
2. I will post every day.  
3. I will only (well…within reason) write about sports.  
4. Every day I will have the Game of the Day.
5. Some posts will be short.
6. I’m doing this because unemployed people in empty apartments need something to do with their time.
…On to Post 1.

I do most of my great thinking in the shower, like Aristotle.  About a week ago I thought, “If I had to win one game, with one quarterback in the NFL, who would I pick?”  The first two are easy.  I then struggled to list 3-5.  I have now reached the point where I have enough time (and enough water to waste) to rank the 32 starting quarterbacks in the NFL.  

For teams that had 2 quarterbacks start 3 or more games in 2007, I will list the quarterback on their roster who I feel is the most competent.  Of course, apologies to Sage Rosenfels.

Again, I have one game to win.  (In Reverse Order):

32. Brodie Croyle (Kansas City Chiefs)
-He was never a great quarterback at the University of Alabama and facing defenses a touch better than the University of Mississippi’s in the NFL, he doesn’t look like he could ever be a successful NFL quarterback.  He’s not excessively mobile.  He doesn’t have the strongest arm.  He’s not as far along as a second round draft pick should be.  

31. Cleo Lemon (Miami Dolphins)
-The name alone screams “Not an NFL Quarterback.”  Then, when you see him play in person, well…that solidifies the hypothesis.  The only advantage that Lemon has over Croyle is that he can run.  Granted, sometimes that is backward 10 yards, but I’ll take him by a smidge over Brodie Croyle.

30. Alex Smith (San Francisco 49ers)
-Alex Smith, lest we all forget, was the Number 1 pick of the ’05 draft.  Seriously.  At the University of Utah, Smith was a system quarterback (Urban Meyer’s spread option), whose top competition was Pitt.  At the time, when Utah beat Pitt in the Fiesta Bowl, a big-to-do was made.  Looking back, that Pitt team was not very good.  Smith has been injury prone and has had a difficult time picking up the 3 different systems thrown at him in San Francisco.  He may lose his job to the similarly inept Shaun Hill come training camp.  Derek Anderson was a 6th round pick in that draft, oh by the way.

29. Matt Moore (Carolina Panthers)
-Who?

28. Rex Grossman (Chicago Bears)
-Too easy.

27, Josh McCown (Oakland Raiders)
-He’ll lose his job to JaMarcus Russell this summer, which is laughable.  Not that McCown is any good, but Russell is the next Alex Smith,who was the next Tim Couch, who…All of these quarterbacks in this chunk, with the exception of Matt Moore, who has some bit of potential, are exactly the same.

26. Tavaris Jackson (Minnesota Vikings)
-I LOOOOOOVE Tavaris Jackson.  This is not a joke.  Seriously.  He’s not being used correctly, much like a quarterback you’ll find a little later in this post.  Jackson needs to be Jackson.  He didn’t get drafted as a pocket quarterback.  In the pocket is where he will continue to make mistakes.  I will let Tavaris run around and make plays as much as he wants.  I just don’t have that much faith in him, despite my love. 

25. Kyle Boller (Baltimore Ravens)
24. Joey Harrington (Atlanta Falcons)
-I’m in the minority here.  I’m actually the only person in the group, however, I still think that both of these guys can be legit NFL QB’s.  Boller has never had an offense around him.  He has a rocket arm, one of the strongest in the NFL and he can run really well.  It’s not his fault that Todd Heap is the best receiver he has played with in the NFL.  As for Harrington, he’s a super intelligent guy.  He’s well spoken.  He’s good-looking.  He plays the piano.  None of that has much to do with the NFL, but he’s got everything you want in a QB.  Also, look at his stats from last year.  He was not bad at all.  

23. Trent Edwards (Buffalo Bills)
– A significant upgrade over J.P. Losman, whose pick set this franchise back years.  Edwards is the richer man’s version of Brodie Croyle.

22. Jon Kitna (Detroit Lions)
-He’ll either throw 3 TDs or 3 INTs.  Or both.  I don’t trust him.

21. Derek Anderson (Cleveland Browns)
-He hasn’t done it long enough to be considered that reliable.  He was very good from week 2 to about 3/4 of the way through the season, until teams had more to watch of him and then he came back down to earth.  Anderson is huge (6’6”) which I usually don’t care about, but it works well for him because he has Braylon Edwards (equally huge) to throw to in the city that should fall into Lake Erie.  

Coming tomorrow: 20-11.  

Today’s Game o’ the Day is Vanderbilt @ Tennessee (Men’s College Basketball).  I have Tennessee as my dark-horse Final Four team (Kansas, UCLA, and Memphis to join them come March).  I love Chris Lofton.  I love their uptempo, take 25+ 3’s a game style.  My only question is their defensive tenacity.  In a weak SEC, I like them to dominate.  (And yes, the SEC is weak.  Auburn, Mississippi State, South Carolina, Georgia, and LSU are terrible.  Florida, Kentucky, and Arkansas are down.  Ole Miss is playing way above their heads, though I love their coach Andy Kennedy (he should have been retained at Cincinnati).  Alabama will be eliminated in the first round of the SEC tournament and will fall off the bubble.  That leaves Tennessee and Vandy; the two best teams in the SEC.  
Tennessee wins tonight 87-80.