The Crystal Ball 2014 Hello Again

So how about that Super Bowl, huh? Wow I’m still reeling from it. I think Seattle’s defense is still scoring. Wait, hold on, what do you mean that was months ago? It’s not February? It’s July??? Training camps are starting? What happened, did I fall into a time warp?

Actually after taking the week after the game off, I ran into an escalating series of hardware and software issues more complicated than Peyton Manning’s pre-snap routine. By the time most were resolved, even the draft was over. So I figured, eh, let’s enjoy a little baseball for a while.

But it’s been productive since last we saw each other on a cold New York night. Technology issues aside, I have had a wonderfully relaxing and productive off season. Lots of exercise, career improvement, home improvement, weight loss, and a small vacation have been the highlights of a positively excellent summer thus far. Have you used this football free time to pursue some improvement, or enjoyment as well?

So now rested, relaxed and ready for the NFL season I am. Are you? I doubt it. I bet most of you don’t even know what’s happening across the league. Hmmm, for that matter neither do I. Well let’s remedy that.

I like to use training camp and preseason to try out screwy concepts, and this season will be no different. This year, let’s reacquaint ourselves with the NFL by touring through the league by division to catch up with each team and find out what they did during the off season, what they’re up to now, and maybe even throw in a little football analysis, you know just to mix it up. Sound fun? Yeah, it probably will be for the first few entries. We’ll see what it feels like by mid to late August.

Let’s get started, shall we? And for our first installment, let’s address general league business first.

NFL

General Team News

The ownership ranks became thinner this off season, with Detroit owner William Clay Ford passing away, and Bills owner Ralph Wilson also passing away. The Lions will remain in the Ford family, but the Bills franchise is now for sale. There have been more than a few names attached to the Bills already, including musician and Philadelphia Soul owner Jon Bon Jovi and real estate mogul and professional narcissist Donald Trump. Here’s what I can tell you of what will happen to the Bills in the future.

1)    Trump will not buy the team – Are you kidding? You think Goodell would allow that level of trouble into his back yard? No way.

2)    Toronto will see more Bills – either an expanded northern schedule will come about or even a full move, but the NFL will instruct new Bills ownership to exploit the market north of the border.

3)    Stadium naming – I found it wonderful that Ralph Wilson Stadium was one of the very few left that was not monetized by naming rights. That is guaranteed to come to an end.

Brace yourself good people of Buffalo. Change is coming.

I also enjoyed this little nugget of fun, where the owners were ranked based upon their public image. Number one on this comes as no surprise to yours truly. But I do have three questions.

1)    Does Dan Snyder send a gift basket of thanks to Jimmy Haslam and Jerry Jones, both of whom are so terrible they keep him out of last place?

2)    Will Cleveland EVER catch a break? (Spoiler alert, no.)

3)    In lieu of the NFL’s Ray Rice debacle (more coming in a future installment), if the poll was run again, would Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti fall further down the ranking?

The NFL added some new faces to their coaching ranks. Let’s do a quick rundown and their potential for success.

Lovie Smith – Tampa Bay Buccaneers – Lovie took a year off, rested, regrouped and now finds himself in a positive situation in Tampa with a young team full of potential. He gets some decent quarterback play; he’ll have the most success.

Mike Zimmer – Minnesota Vikings – Nice guy, one everyone rooted for in Cincinnati. But he kept around special teams coach Mike Priefer, and Priefer’s behavior is abhorrent at best, and locker room dividing at worst. And the minimum, the team’s willingness to continue protecting Priefer, and refusing to reveal the results of the investigation brought on by accusations by former punter Chris Kluwe are distractions a team in transition does not need. Not a good start to his career and I do not see success forth coming.

Jim Caldwell – Detroit Lions – Considering what a mess Jim Schwartz was, no way Caldwell can do worse. Actually I think he’ll do better than his last stop in Indianapolis. He’s got a good team, great experience from his time in Baltimore, and a chance to rectify the mistakes he made with the Colts.

Jay Gruden – Washington Snyders – Has any head coach managed to be successful working for Dan “I hate progress” Snyder? No. So what makes anyone think this first time head coach will? More cannon fodder to take the fall in 2-3 years for Snyder’s nonsense.

Ken Whisenhunt – Tennessee Titans – Experienced, successful. Sure I could see this working out. I could also see us finally realizing Whisenhunt is just a mediocre head coach.

Mike Pettine – Cleveland Browns – He took a job that other coaches turned down. So far, all we know is he cannot keep his party animal rookie quarterback on a low profile. He claims Brian Hoyer will be the starting quarterback at the beginning of the season, even though everyone knows if there’s even a chance, Johnny Football will start. His best receiver, and one of his best players, is suspended for the season which seriously hamstrings the team from any potential improvement. And considering how reckless Browns upper management is right now, he could go 6-10 and get fired in January. Yeah this isn’t going to end well.

Bill O’Brien – Houston Texans – He’s a Bill Belichick protégé (strike 1) his top draft pick is a player with a questionable work ethic and drive and if he fails it will set back the team 5 years (strike 2) and he’s proven to be a man who will promise the moon and stars, claim to be all in for the long haul, and urge others to follow him through tough times, but will bolt whenever it becomes convenient to him. (strike 3) I’m looking forward to watching him fail.

Player News

As if we needed any evidence to prove it, the report came out on the Incognito/Martin case. To the surprise of no one, it showed Incognito to be a bully and a thug and a rather large piece of crap. The report blew away all his grandstanding, media massaging and claims of friendship, as well as the last vestiges of Jay Glazer’s journalistic integrity for participating in the white wash. What blew my mind during the off season was Incognito’s complete lack of self-awareness, where he stated he wanted to return to the NFL, and still kept trying to reach out and talk with Martin. What a fool.

Former Saint Darren Sharper is up on multiple charges of rape. If the allegations are true, Sharper kept a sinister life hidden from everyone around him, family, teammates and colleagues. This is a very bizarre story that is only going to get stranger, and much sadder.

Professional thug, former player and all around despicable human being Aaron Hernandez threatened a guard while he is being incarcerated. Can we just call this guy the criminal he is, lock him away and forget about it?

Speaking of Hernandez, his former besties Mike “I like bullying with Richie Incognito” Pouncey and his scumbag brother Maurkice are up to no good again. The thug life loving brothers are being sued over an altercation at a Miami nightclub where the gangsta wannabes were celebrating their birthday. The suit alleges, amongst other things, that Maurkice punched out a woman during the melee. Perhaps the Steeler should trade him to Baltimore where he would fit right in. I’m just waiting for the day where evidence comes out that these two had something to do with some of the criminal activity Hernandez was up to in college. You just know that day is coming. I hope before that happens, the Steelers wise up and get rid of this scumbag.

According to this article, the NFL is not doing enough to monitor and take care of the mental health of its players. No shit.

In slightly more positive news, former Steeler and Cardinal running back Rashard Mendenhall retired at age 26. I say this is positive, because I find Mendenhall a fascinating person who perhaps never quite fit into the world of professional football. I am curious to see what he will do and become now that he is moving on to his life’s work.

Ok now something to make me smile. Ochocinco is playing in the CFL!! Oh those Canadian fans are so lucky! Who dey say gonna beat them Alouettes!

Super Bowl Related Mayhem

So Seattle, a preseason favorite, won the Super Bowl. What does this mean for Super Bowl predictor? It means my theory remains correct, and this Super Bowl was the exception that proves the rule. I hope.

Giants’ owner John Mara stated after the success of the New York/New Jersey Super Bowl that he wants another one. Well of course he does, with the New Jersey sweetheart deals combined with all that extra Super Bowl revenue, how much you think he pocketed? This was a cash cow for a man already swimming in cash.

Philadelphia mayor Michael Nutter says he wants the Super Bowl in Philadelphia. Well that makes sense; New York had it, so now Philly wants it. And as I like to say, Philly is New York with an inferiority complex.

The videographer who recorded the Spygate video is selling his Patriots Super Bowl ring. I guess taking the fall for Bill Belichick doesn’t pay well.

Everything Else

In shaking up their NFL Today program, CBS hired newly retired Tony Gonzalez, and fired long time stalwarts Shannon Sharpe and Dan Marino. Maybe Dan should have sprung for some better Isotoners at last year’s Christmas party.

The league wants to do 4 games in London next season, up from the 3 they’ll do this season. Let’s just move the Jaguars there and get it over with, since that’s where this is heading.

The NFL is in plans to have the draft travel to other NFL cities, instead of just being hosted yearly in New York. Hmmm, do they have the hotel space for such an endeavor in Green Bay?

Fox Sports “journalist” Jay Glazer will introduce former Giant Michael Strahan when he is inducted into the Hall of Fame this summer. Can we make the official designation that Glazer is no longer objective media member with any semblance of journalistic integrity and now is a of a positioned personality and brand who operates as a mouthpiece for the NFL through their media partner Fox Sports? I think it’s time to make that official.

Speaking of Fox, the network further weakened their NFL broadcasting by demoting Pam Oliver to the #2 broadcasting team for her 30^th, and now final, season on the sidelines, and promoted Erin Andrews to the #1 team. Good gravy why? Erin is about as much of a journalist and reporter at this stage of her career as Jay Glazer. Actually, I think she does more commercials than Glazer. Just another media personality growing a brand, and little more.

…and Finally

There has been good buzz about the NFL and the St. Louis Rams taking a step forward with the drafting of Michael Sam, who is working to become the NFL’s first openly gay player. I applaud the team for making this draft, and personally am rooting for Sam to make the team. His inclusion in the NFL would go a long way toward real progress, even if Goodell and his minions seem to be working to roll that progress back in other areas.

But they are not the only ones. Earlier this week NBC analyst and former head coach Tony Dungy spoke on the Sam situation, claiming if he were a head coach, he would not have drafted Sam because he wouldn’t want to deal with it. Dungy later attempted to clarify his statement, saying he felt Sam should have the opportunity to play, but Dungy wouldn’t want to deal with the distraction Sam would cause.

Sadly, this is not true. There was no distraction caused by Sam. No one was even talking about him until Dungy’s comments hit the media. And Dungy has not been shy of dealing with distraction. He championed Michael Vick’s return to the NFL, and calling that situation a distraction would be putting it mildly. Vick’s return was a circus driven by powerful emotions and much vitriol surrounding a man who tortured and killed dogs for his own pleasure. But Dungy felt his redemption was worth the distraction, and he forged ahead as Dungy’s biggest supporter.

Unfortunately, this is Dungy’s personal feelings dictating his professional stance. Dungy would not have drafted Sam because he feels homosexuality is a sin, and Dungy is using his Christian beliefs as a shield to avoid facing this vital issue. And in doing so, Dungy is also missing the parallels of Sam’s struggles blazing a trail to those Dungy himself had to face once upon a time.

Dungy is entitled to his opinion, and he is as free as anyone in this country to express it. But I believe he is wrong. Homosexuality is not a lifestyle, a choice or a sin. It’s who some people are; just as some people are tall, and some are short, some are gay and some are straight. Judgmental people who claim to be devout Christians love to throw the sin word out there when discussing homosexuality. But in their rush to judge and vilify, they conveniently seem to forget the teachings of Jesus, who said we are supposed to love unconditionally and refrain from judgment of others. These are the same tenants that Dungy wanted an angry public to apply to Michael Vick, but apparently Michael Sam does not receive the same consideration, even though all Sam has done is strived to live his life openly and honestly.

It saddens me to think that a man like Dungy, who has shown in his life to be a leader, to reach out to those who are down, to see the best sides of others and to truly try to make the world a better place, be so close minded and judgmental. It's demoralizing and troubling that a man who spent his entire life battling ignorance and discrimination while blazing a path for others to follow and breaking down barriers by spreading enlightenment would now spend time building those exact same kinds of barriers against another discriminated group. Instead of spreading enlightenment, Mr. Dungy is now spreading ignorance.

Tony Dungy was able to achieve all he has in life because a few special people gave him the opportunity to shine. They turned their backs to prejudice, ignorance and hatred and gave Dungy the opening to become the man and leader they saw he could be. It’s a shame that Dungy cannot himself see past his own prejudices to offer that same chance to a man and others like him who are still wrongly discriminated against in our world.