Welcome back everyone to sports through the minds of some of the Forum Insyders as only we know how to do so. Bit of a curve ball coming your way this time around as Triggs couldn’t quite make it this week because he’s busy with a wedding and work. Well, that’s what he SAYS, but the Bears did lose this past Sunday and from what I hear, Triggs was sitting in a dark room repeating “Wrecks isn’t Jimmy Mac!†over and over again. Go figure.
So we got a stand-in for him and it’s another one of our beloved Insyders who knows just as much about sports as the rest of us even though he roots for the Carolina Panthers. Ladies and gentlemen…please welcome back Chuckles, myself, and let me introduce Paulie as we have you…
1.) Super Bowl Thoughts?
Paulie: It was a God awful mess of a game. I realize that the weather was crappy, but you’re professionals, please hold on to the ball. Benson going down early really hurt the Bears since they didn’t have the bruiser to wear down the Indy line. I’d go cliché and say that Grossman was Indy’s MVP but that would be an insult to the real MVP’s. And who would they be? Not Manning. Addai and Rhodes should have shared MVP honors. They were the ones shredding that Chicago defense. They did all the work; Peyton just did the 4 yard passes to Addai. But, honestly, there was no way that Manning wasn’t getting the MVP when Indy won the game. They didn’t want to take the chance that he’s never getting another shot at it. Commercials…blah. Half Time show… bathroom break. Prince is cool and all, but they may as well just get Hannah Montana next time they want to go “family friendlyâ€
Chuckles: I didn’t think it was possible to make last year’s game look good…But they pulled it off. At least this year the officiating wasn’t horrible. I don’t think the weather had that much of an influence on the game. The passes that got intercepted were stupid throws and the fumbles occurred on good hits with the helmet right on the ball, or Rex just forgetting to grab the ball on the snap. The commercials were bad. The only real memorable one was Carlos Mencia teaching foreigners how to ask for a Bud Light, and half the people watching the game probably had no idea who Carlos Mencia is so they completely missed the commercials “hidden†humor. I skipped the half-time show completely, Ghost Hunters was on. Bad game, bad commercials, lets get to March Madness already.
Spaulding: Oddly enough I enjoyed it this year. Last year’s Bowl between the Steelers and Hawks bored me to tears and this year’s may have been sloppy, but at least it was enjoyable to watch. I wanted to see the Bears get demolished straight and simple. And even though it wasn’t a blow-out, I still enjoyed watching Lovie Smith’s dumb ass decision to keep Grossman in the game blow up in his face. Seeing my LSU boy Joseph Addai show that the entire season wasn’t a fluke thrilled me to death. I actually was interested in the game from beginning to end and thought it was quite fun. I also enjoyed the halftime show and thought it wasn’t nearly as bad as it could have been. As much as I love Prince though, he just doesn’t scream football to me. Commercials sucked royally, but I could really care less about them.
Awwww man, I missed Ghost Hunters?
2.) Pittsburgh Penguins Staying/Leaving
Chuckles: The Pens HAVE to stay in Pittsburgh. The city would be idiotic to let them leave. They are a young team that is going to be a force for as long they can keep the core together. Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Jordan Staal, Marc Andre Fluery. All under 22. They should be able to win at least 1 Stanley Cup before any of them reach free agency, and if they can keep then all together they should be able to win many more over the years. To let them leave would in the end cost the city the millions of dollars brought in by travelers to the playoffs. That being said, Mellon Arena is a DUMP. And if Kansas City is offering them a new arena with no rent, they’d be stupid not to at least consider it. But they need to stay.
Spaulding: I’m going to be honest and say that I don’t watch much hockey so won’t be able to tell you nearly as much about it as Chuckles, who I know watches it, can. But I’m also going to sound hypocritical here as well and contradict myself by fighting both sides. I would honestly hate to see my local team (Saints, Hornets) leave and go somewhere else like the Saints almost did before last season. But I always find it interesting when a team moves cities and it shakes things up, so I wouldn’t mind seeing the Pens go somewhere else. BUT…for traditions sake, I would also hate to see them leave Pittsburgh. It’s not like a shitty team would be leaving a city that didn’t support them. It’s the frickin Pittsburgh Penguins for God sakes and after all is said and done, they really just need to stay put.
Paulie: I’m kind of in the same boat as Spaulds here on this one. My exposure to hockey was pretty much the Hurricane’s playoff run last year. But I do know that whenever there’s talk of American hockey, there are a few cities that always come up: Detroit, Chicago, New York, and Pittsburgh. To me, not having an NHL team in Pittsburgh would be a bigger void than the perceived one with the lack of an LA team in the NHL. Though, I’m sure if the Pens do end up moving, Bettman will waste no time in trying to get a new team in there.
Chuckles: The reason you hear the cities Detroit, Chicago, New York, and Pittsburgh brought up with hockey all the time is they are 4 of the original 6 teams, along with Boston and Toronto. It would really tarnish the legacy of the league if a team were to leave an “Original 6†city.
3.) Football Hall Of Fame – Deserving Spots?/Snubs?
Paulie: I went into this somewhat on the forums. I thought it was surprising that Tagliabue didn’t make it in on the first shot. And two of the six spots were taken by guys from the seniors committee. Granted, I don’t know all of the nuances involved, but if these guys couldn’t get voted in before they had to go the senior’s route, they really shouldn’t be there. Dent and Tags should have been those two spots. Thurman Thomas and Bruce Matthews were definitely deserving of enshrinement. Michael Irvin (I know because I read Peter King’s weekly masturbatory prose) that HoF voters aren’t supposed to look at the men off the field. But with Irvin, just as it will be with T.O., it’s hard to ignore. The guy was good because of Emmitt Smith and Troy Aikman who were good because they happened to play behind one of the greatest O-Lines ever. But Irvin was an embarrassment to the organization and I, personally, wouldn’t have voted him in.
Chuckles: If Emmitt and Troy were only good because they played behind the greatest O-Line ever and still got in, why shouldn’t Irvin get in too? When you think of the Cowboys and the NFL in general of the 90’s, they are 3 of the first players you think of. Comparing Irvin to T.O. is an insult to him. Irvin was a showboat and he wasn’t the greatest guy off the field, but he had the support of his team. T.O. throws teammates and coaches under the bus so often no one on the team trusts him. Tags should have gotten in, he turned the NFL into the monster industry it is today, but this was a loaded class, and maybe they wanted to enshrine people who actually played the sport well. Matthews was deserving of a spot just because he played and played and played. At a spot that gets beat up more than QB and we all praise Farve for never missing a game. Overall I think they did pretty good; there will always be another year for the Dents and Ray Guys of the league.
Spaulding: All the guys that are going in this year deserve to be in there, so I’m simply going to head straight to the “snubs.†That is of course even though I detest Michael Irvin with every ounce of my being, but anyway. First off is Redskins’ famed wide receiver Art Monk. Not putting that man in the Hall Of Fame as soon as his career ended was a travesty and here it has now been twelve years. I consider him to be one of the best ever and quite possibly only behind Jerry Rice. The other has to be Tags. Tagliabue did any and everything for the NFL and symbolized the league for seventeen years. There is simply no reason imaginable that he was not a first ballot selection. If he doesn’t make it next year it will be an even bigger slap in the face and they might as well have spit on him in the process.
4.) Barry Bonds’ Contract – Worth It or Insane?
Spaulding: I don’t have a local baseball team to watch and I’ve rooted for the Giants since I was six years old and actually got to play a game of checkers with Will “The Thrill†Clark. So I am a bit biased here as in I wanted to see Barry come back more then anything to my boys by the bay…but the contract he signed is a bit out there. Yeah, I know it was denied by the MLB and they’re reworking it, but it just had so many things going on that I lost track. I think it’s rather fair after all is said and done. He’s worth the 15 mill a year and the little stipulation about the Giants being able to void the contract if he gets indicted was brilliant on their part. He may be a whiney bitch and you can hate him if you want, but he is one of the greatest players EVER! And I’m happy knowing he may finish out his masterful career with the Giants.
Paulie: No one is worth $15 million a year. No…One. Not A-Rod. Not Payton. And surely not Bonds. Yeah, he hits the ball hard when he gets pitched to. But he still hasn’t brought anything significant to the Giants in terms of winning. To me, it would be like giving Bret Favre a $15 million contract at this stage in his career. Take that money and build for the future. Separate yourself from him now before everything comes down around him and brings the organization with him.
Chuckles: Fifteen million isn’t even that outrageous anymore. For us mere plebes it’s more than we’ll ever see, but for these athletes it’s just another year of money. The problem MLB had with the contract was player appearances, I don’t know if it had too many or not enough but that’s what their problem with it was. I love the stipulation that the giants can void the contract he Bonds gets indicted, but Bonds agent, Satan…I mean Scott Boras, says that stipulation is unenforceable under the new CBA, but if that’s the case, why risk having it in the contract. If it’s in the contract, and Bonds signs the contract I think it should be full and legal binding and if Bonds gets indicted he should be cut and shouldn’t have the right to protest it. I really can’t see why the Giants want him back. He brings them nothing but bad publicity and even if he does pass Hank Aaron’s mark this year, he’s not going to be celebrated by anyone outside the bay area and Spauld’s house. He’s just going to be looked at with more scrutiny. On the other hand, if anyone else knows what Bonds has done, it would be the Giants, and if they are willing to bring him back under all this scrutiny they must be pretty confident he’s going to come out smelling pretty.
5.) Thoughts on Brett Favre Returning Again
Chuckles: I love it. It gives the Vikings a chance at two more losses, which is two losses closer to getting rid of that bald jackass we call a coach. Farve can still play. He had a pretty good year last year. 18 TD’s and 18 INT’s, but now you add the news of Randy Moss possibly coming to Green Bay. Having another wide receiver with the talent of Moss adds a couple of TD’s and takes away a couple INT’s. With Moss, Donald Driver, and Greg Jennings; the Pack get another running back to complement or replace Ahman Green and you’re looking at a top offense in the league. Farve coming back is a good thing for the Packers, and a good thing for the league.
Spaulding: The only reason you like it is because you want to see Childress get taken out of Minnesota. You just sit back, shut your mouth, and watch your Vikings draft badly come April. I have no problems with Fav-ruh, but I sincerely hope he does not do this every damn year. Ok, last year it was a big, long, drawn out deal, and rightfully so. He was contemplating retirement for the first time and a legacy was coming to an end. YAY, he came back one more year to grace us with his masterful presence again. The year has passed and we will miss Brett Fav…oh he’s thinking about it? Oh he wants to play another year? YAY! Come on man! Either sign a three year deal and retire in one or two if you change your mind; or just go away all together. I don’t want to see this as one of the big stories at season’s end until 2010.
Paulie: I’ve never really bought in to the Favre hoopla. He’s a good QB, yeah. But he’s never really been a SMART QB. He relies too much on his receivers to go and get balls instead of getting the balls to his receivers. But if the man wants to play and the Green Bay management wants it to be for them, more power to them. If they want to continue to retard the future of the team, let them go for it. Even up in the NFC Pop Warner division the Packers will never be better than a 9-7 team again with Favre at the helm. Unfortunately, in the NFC, 9-7 is a stellar record and it won’t be seen as the hindrance that it is.
Doesn’t really matter because my Saints are taking it all the way next year anyway, but that’s another week. Hope you enjoyed this week’s edition of Pardon The Pulse and we shall return next week with more. Who “we†is exactly is beyond me, but someone will be here ranting and raving. There’s a lot going on with the NBA All-Star game approaching, the NFL scouting combine almost upon us, and spring training just around the corner so we’re going to have a lot to talk about leading into the summer. But if there’s something you’d like to see us cover, go ahead and e-mail us below or simply head here in the forums and let us know. Have a good weekend everyone.
