Monday, August 24, 2009
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
It happened......
Well, what an early birthday present for me, huh? In his dual role as savior and Anti-Christ, Brett Favre is officially a member of the Minnesota Vikings.
In all these years, I never, ever thought that those words would cross my keyboard, but there they are. Everyone that I've talked to about this since the story developed yesterday afternoon assumed I would have my reaction all sorted out and everything by this point. But that would be a wrong assumption.
To be honest, I thought I was prepared for this to take place, despite the fact that everybody thought the whole situation was over. However, when it comes to Favre, nothing is over until I guess he decides it is.
I wish I had something deeply profound to say about this whole thing. . . but, to be honest, I really don't at the moment. I have a lot of questions that are swirling around my head about this whole ordeal. But let me address the one thing that I know for sure as of right now.
Brad Childress and Zygi Wilf have, in poker terminology, gone all-in with this move. The 2009 season won't end in a middle-of-the-road fashion for the Minnesota Vikings. It's either going to end incredibly well. . . or incredibly bad. The Vikes are either going to the promised land, or Brad Childress is going to be looking for a job come next January and the Vikings will be looking to start the process of rebuilding the franchise around Adrian Peterson.
The Vikings are playing their 49th season of NFL football in 2009. Yours truly has been a fan for 21 of those seasons. I can't think of any season that started with more intrigue than this one, and it's all because of this one move. And, honestly, that's all my mind can come up with at the moment. Rest assured there will be more in the days to come, but for some reason it's taking me an inordinate amount of time to get my head wrapped around this.
In all these years, I never, ever thought that those words would cross my keyboard, but there they are. Everyone that I've talked to about this since the story developed yesterday afternoon assumed I would have my reaction all sorted out and everything by this point. But that would be a wrong assumption.
To be honest, I thought I was prepared for this to take place, despite the fact that everybody thought the whole situation was over. However, when it comes to Favre, nothing is over until I guess he decides it is.
I wish I had something deeply profound to say about this whole thing. . . but, to be honest, I really don't at the moment. I have a lot of questions that are swirling around my head about this whole ordeal. But let me address the one thing that I know for sure as of right now.
Brad Childress and Zygi Wilf have, in poker terminology, gone all-in with this move. The 2009 season won't end in a middle-of-the-road fashion for the Minnesota Vikings. It's either going to end incredibly well. . . or incredibly bad. The Vikes are either going to the promised land, or Brad Childress is going to be looking for a job come next January and the Vikings will be looking to start the process of rebuilding the franchise around Adrian Peterson.
The Vikings are playing their 49th season of NFL football in 2009. Yours truly has been a fan for 21 of those seasons. I can't think of any season that started with more intrigue than this one, and it's all because of this one move. And, honestly, that's all my mind can come up with at the moment. Rest assured there will be more in the days to come, but for some reason it's taking me an inordinate amount of time to get my head wrapped around this.
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Put this "Dog" to sleep
Note to NASCAR: It is time to scrap the Lucky Dog. The Free Pass. The I-just-happened-to-be-in-front-of-Tony Stewart-when-the-caution-flew award. Whatever. Just get rid of it.
I know NASCAR has threatened to put the rule on the chopping block before. After the 2004 season they said they would consider killing it off. But yet it lives and creates just as much confusion as it did when it was instituted.
It is not unheard of for a lap-down car to come back and win or have a great finish, and great drivers certainly don't need a glorified Mickey Mouse rule to make it happen. The rule was created to help discourage racing back to the yellow, but the rule has done nothing but create confusion between drivers, fans and even NASCAR's broadcasters, who refuse to use a standard name for the rule.
Sure, the rule has helped NASCAR's safety initiative, but NASCAR also has the ability to score drivers multiple times per lap. Why have a rule that is designed to prevent racing back to the caution, yet it only affects a solitary car?
Jimmie Johnson may not want to do away with the Lucky Dog. At Pocono yesterday, he was THREE laps down more than halfway through the race, yet since it was a 2.5 mile track and nobody else was a lap down, he was able to get the Lucky Dog each time a caution came out and eventually was able to finish 13th on the lead lap, ahead of 20 other drivers that actually ran all 200 laps, not 197 of them.
With NASCAR's various scoring loops, is the rule even needed?
Even if NASCAR refuses to do away with the rule, can you at least give it a better name than the Free Pass or the Lucky Dog?
To me those two names just mean a gift that was not earned, which is exactly what the rule has represented in the last several years. We get it. The rule stops drivers from racing back to the caution flag. But that very concern was more realistic years ago. Drivers' habits have changed since then. The rule can afford to die without it compromising safety.
I know NASCAR has threatened to put the rule on the chopping block before. After the 2004 season they said they would consider killing it off. But yet it lives and creates just as much confusion as it did when it was instituted.
It is not unheard of for a lap-down car to come back and win or have a great finish, and great drivers certainly don't need a glorified Mickey Mouse rule to make it happen. The rule was created to help discourage racing back to the yellow, but the rule has done nothing but create confusion between drivers, fans and even NASCAR's broadcasters, who refuse to use a standard name for the rule.
Sure, the rule has helped NASCAR's safety initiative, but NASCAR also has the ability to score drivers multiple times per lap. Why have a rule that is designed to prevent racing back to the caution, yet it only affects a solitary car?
Jimmie Johnson may not want to do away with the Lucky Dog. At Pocono yesterday, he was THREE laps down more than halfway through the race, yet since it was a 2.5 mile track and nobody else was a lap down, he was able to get the Lucky Dog each time a caution came out and eventually was able to finish 13th on the lead lap, ahead of 20 other drivers that actually ran all 200 laps, not 197 of them.
With NASCAR's various scoring loops, is the rule even needed?
Even if NASCAR refuses to do away with the rule, can you at least give it a better name than the Free Pass or the Lucky Dog?
To me those two names just mean a gift that was not earned, which is exactly what the rule has represented in the last several years. We get it. The rule stops drivers from racing back to the caution flag. But that very concern was more realistic years ago. Drivers' habits have changed since then. The rule can afford to die without it compromising safety.
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