Getting to First Base

The Chiefs/Chargers game wasn’t televised here yesterday, so I didn’t see most of it. But CBS (I think?) switched to coverage of that last :51 of the game, right as Kansas City was down by 7 and pushing to score. They did score a touchdown on a Tyler Thigpen pass to Tony Gonzalez, and I settled in for the overtime that was sure to come after the extra point was kicked.

But then…Thigpen and the rest of the offense stayed on the field. They lined up to go for a two-point conversion to win the game, and it failed. Another loss for those hapless Chiefs.

Some people liked the move - Jason Whitlock defended it in his column, and a majority of KC Star readers said in a poll (on that page) that they would have gone for two, too. Whitlock writes:

The Chiefs’ single mission this season is improvement. As fans, we should have two missions: 1. Improvement; 2. Securing a draft pick high enough to pluck the best quarterback in the 2009 draft (Ball State’s Nate Davis if we’re lucky).

For the third week in a row, the Chiefs demonstrated dramatic improvement without jeopardizing a shot at the league’s No. 1 pick. Only the irrational would argue the Chiefs aren’t making progress.

I agree with Whitlock when he talks about how the Chiefs showed improvement in this game, and KC fans should be encouraged by the performance of all the replacements who have had to take the field this year. And normally I do love aggressive, play-to-win moves, and I like the bullheaded winner’s mentality that drives someone to never settle for playing for a tie.

However.

HOW. EVER.

The 2008 Chiefs are not winners, not so far. They have one win, and seven losses. They’ve been in very few situations where overtime is even a consideration, and when you’re one of the most win-starved teams in the country you should not throw away an opportunity for a non-loss on one play. It’s not fair to the Chiefs and their fans.

Like I said, I like playing to win, but only if you’re a winner. I don’t fault Tom Osborne for going for two in 1983 when his Cornhuskers were looking for a national title. He’s Tom freaking Osborne, and he had Turner Gill under center. That was a football team going for a big title, not one mired in suckitude and a revolving door of no-name replacement players.

Chiefs fans are calling for coach Herm Edwards to be fired, and given how trendy it is to fire NFL coaches these days, they might get their wish yet this season. Given that circumstance, and all the uphill battles the team is facing with their on-field personnel, Edwards should play to not lose, and let the rest sort itself out. This Chiefs team under his leadership hasn’t earned the right to go balls-out and play to win. If they say they’re not struggling, it’s either a lie or a sad heap of denial.

The Chargers were a somewhat superior team on Sunday, and the Chiefs should be applauded for hanging in there as long as they did. But going for two was a fool’s move; it was a bunch of losers trying to act like winners without actually winning anything first.

And don’t get me started on Whitlock’s comments about “not jeopardizing a shot at the league’s No. 1 draft pick.” COME. ON. Bill Simmons made up a name for this loser mentality, and it’s called Fantanking. I hate the thought of ever rooting against your team for any reason. Rationalize it all you want with thoughts of next year’s draft, but to me you’re still just booing your own guys. What’s noble about that?

Besides, there’s no way the Chiefs get next year’s No. 1 draft pick. That would suggest that the Lions win, ever, and we all know that ain’t gonna happen.

I’m not a particular fan of the New England Patriots. I mean, I don’t hate them*, but they’re not my favorite NFL team either. I wasn’t one of the people rejoicing when Tom Brady’s knee went in a direction that knees are not supposed to go during a game against the Chiefs early this season. I think, even if were a Patriot-hater, I’d rather see all their best pieces out on the field. If they win, they’re clearly better (but I can hate on them anyway, for reasons of my choosing). If they lose, then hey - more power to the victor for overpowering the best players New England had to offer.

*my hatred of NFL teams is limited exclusively to the Cowboys, the Raiders, and the Broncos. All other teams are subjected to periods of dislike or utter indifference, but never hate.

Anyway, Tom Brady’s early-season injury isn’t my point at all, because the Patriots have done OK, if a little schizophrenic at times, without him (they’re 4-2, and won handily over the Denver Broncos on Monday).

BUT despite a huge margin of victory, it was a sad night for Pats fans, who saw safety Rodney Harrison suffer a season-ending injury.

I didn’t get to watch a whole lot of NFL action over the weekend because I was spending time with my family, but I did see Harrison go down. Even though he’s not a player I particularly care for, I felt weird seeing that happen to him. I think it was all the talk about how this injury could spell the end of his career. There’s just something sickly surreal about watching a short video clip of football, and knowing the result of that footage is that some guy’s career is over.

It’s hard sometimes to feel sorry for guys whose job is to play a game, especially when people all over America are losing their more real-world jobs as I type this. In rough economic times like this, it’s extra-sickening to see athletes swimming in pools filled with money while the rest of us worry about getting through the day.

But still. I feel for athletes who have to call it quits because of an injury. Retirement should be a choice, and a player should know when he’s suiting up for the last time. Just like anyone else, they should get to know when the end is coming, rather than be surprised by it in front of a national TV audience.

Note: a personal item, if I may. Both my desktop computer and my laptop are on the fritz today. The laptop refuses to connect to the Internet, and the desktop needs either a new video card or a new motherboard. My sudden lack of personal  computers will make blogging (and homework!) a little bit harder than usual this week.

He’s Adam now. Grown up, calmed down, focused on nothing except playing footba– what? Pacman Jones is in trouble again?

I’m still a little surprised that a team as completely image-self-conscious as the Cowboys traded for the troubled cornerback in the first place. The Cowboys, after all, are America’s Team, and if one of their players is involved in a nightclub shooting or smokes pot in his hotel room or shoves around his security guard, well by golly that looks bad for America, not just a football team.

And I really have to wonder how Pacman Adam doesn’t watch himself more closely. He was suspended an ENTIRE SEASON in a league where most suspensions are one- or two-game slaps on the wrist. The Cowboys took him anyway, on the condition that he behave his darn self. Surely Jones must realize that if he keeps screwing up, America’s Team will kick him to the curb and no team would scrape him up from the gutter.

Then again, look at this laundry list compiled by The Tennesseean:

Since the Tennessee Titans drafted cornerback Pacman Jones in 2005 he’s been questioned, named or arrested in connection with at least eight off-field incidents:
• Strip club incident
Where: Atlanta
When: April 2005
What: Jones’ name appeared on the police incident report after a fight broke out in a strip club. The female involved said she had no plans to pursue the case and it was dismissed.

• Hotel incident
Where: Nashville
When: June 2005
What: Security officials at Regal Maxwell House Hotel had trouble getting two of Jones’ friends to clear their room after checkout time. Police arrived, smelled marijuana and found some on a tabletop. Jones was in the room, but one of his friends took full responsibility for the evidence.

• Nightclub arrest
Where: Nashville
When: July 2005
What:Jones was arrested on two counts of misdemeanor assault and a felony count of vandalism after a fight at a Nashville nightclub. Charges were dismissed less than a year later.

• Vehicle confiscation
Where: Nashville
When: April 2006
What: Metro Police said a vehicle registered to Jones was involved in a drug trafficking ring. “Pac Man” was embroidered on the leather seats of a 2004 Cadillac XLR which was confiscated from a friend of Jones. Jones later bought the car back at an auction.

• Shots fired
Where: Nashville
When: April 2006
What: Jones was at the scene where gunshots were fired following an altercation at a Nashville gas station at 1:50 a.m. Police questioned Jones but labeled him only as a witness. The incident occurred just three days after the vehicle confiscation.

• Nightclub arrest
Where: Murfreesboro, Tenn.
When: Aug. 2006
What: Jones was arrested and charged with public drunkenness and disorderly conduct, both misdemeanors, for an incident at Sweetwater Saloon. With six months of good behavior the charges will be dropped, a judge ruled last month.

• Spitting incident
Where: Nashville
When: Oct. 2006
What: Jones was issued a citation for misdemeanor assault after being accused of spitting in the face of a Tennessee State student following a verbal exchange at a downtown nightclub. The charge was dismissed in general sessions court earlier this month.

• Triple shooting
Where: Las Vegas
When: Feb. 2007
What: Jones a plea deal reducing felony charges against to a gross misdemeanor that got him probation in return for his testimony about a strip club triple shooting that left one man paralyzed.

Wow. He must have squirmed out of trouble for a few of the early ones with the “wrong place/wrong time coincidence” excuse, but nobody can be unlucky enough to be coincidentally present for THAT many brushes with the law. He clearly had some behavioral issues to work out. And for a while, it looked like he might have himself figured out. The last item on that list was a long time ago, almost 2 years. It’s what got him his full-season suspension that many thought would be the shameful end of his NFL career.

As he worked his way back to the league’s good graces, he tried hard to show the world he had changed. He figured people would take him more seriously if he dropped the name “Pacman,” a name which had been connected with legal troubles far too many times. “Adam” sounds so much more serious, right? Heck, it’s even Biblical. This latest incident seems to be his first significant trouble since the big nightclub shooting. Has enough time passed to think of this as an isolated and unfortunate blunder for some guy named Adam Jones? Or will Cowboys brass, for fear of their sparkling reputation, be swift to publicly discipline Pacman for betraying the second chance they gave him?

I hope you haven’t put away your dancing shoes, because the media and the Packers and Brett Favre’s phone are still doing the annual “Favre: Staying or Going?” Tango, but this year has an (alleged) twist: Favre has asked Green Bay for his release from the team, freeing him to play somewhere else if he un-retires and if any team is interested.

Ugh. Seriously? What is it about these guys and comebacks? Michael Jordan and Jerry Rice were two of my childhood favorites whose comebacks particularly upset me, and I don’t want to see Favre take the same route.  Sure, there’s the chance that he’d have another 2007, but there’s also a huge chance he’d play like a shell of that Favre, and would be a disgrace to himself.  I pretty much eulogized him when he announced his retirement in March. I figured, foolishly, that this end really was the end. In that post, I yearned for “one last Last Season,” but now that that is a possibility, it’s kind of sad.

If this story is even true - which it might not be; I suspect it could be a “heard it from a guy who heard it from a guy who heard it from Brett’s trainer’s next-door neighbor” kind of story - I think the Packers absolutely should grant Favre his release, for their own sake. Aaron Rodgers has been squashed for enough games by Favre’s trademark inability to quit, and for Green Bay to take Favre back would be a slap in the face that would send Rodgers walking at his first opportunity (which is next season). If the Packers are to build for future success, they have to be willing to do it without #4, because to regain Favre would essentially be to lose Rodgers, and they have no one else groomed to step in at QB.

And all that doesn’t even begin to touch how weird it would be to see ole’ Brett in anything but GB green and gold. To me, Favre and Green Bay are inextricably linked, but now the two might be separated, and I don’t know that I’d be able to stand it. Stand by for updates, I suppose. This dance could drag on forever. Again.