Random Cranky Old Man Type Thoughts

Ok, back in the groove after a few days of minor updates due to the inconsiderate interruptions of real life.

And now some random thoughts...the refuge of the columnist/blogger with no new ideas that could be fleshed out into a longer column:

• Jason Whitlock writes in this column about the media speculation around Sean Taylor and inclusion of his sordid past in writing about his death. If you read Whitlock, you know where this is going, which is why I read him. He tells the truth as he sees it from an objective perspective of someone with credibility. It's very refreshing when he does this. It's a great read because, although I disagree with the comparison of a "black KKK" to the actual "white KKK", he does not roll his opinion up into a "black man is always the victim" mentality that makes others (hello Scoop Jackson) unreadable. Along with Jason Whitlock, ESPN.com's Jemele Hill is a great writer with fresh perspective. And it has everything to do with them cutting through the hyperbole to give real perspective, and not some rabble-rousing attempt at solidarity with their culture above all else. And that ends my serious note for the day.

• I'm very happy to have Troy Brown back. Since Randy Moss looks like he might sit down on the field the next time Wes Welker gets more than 5 passes in a game, it will be good to have Troy also running in the slot to put pressure on the front seven not to blitz or try to keep Moss jammed at the line of scrimmage. But I think he'll end up playing defensive back on more snaps than wide receiver. But this is it, the swan song for the Troy Brown era and I've loved every minute of it.

• The Patriots are going to do some kind of Drew Bledsoe day right? Is it too soon? Are they worried he might come out of retirement and pull a Testaverde after they do it?

• If it's Thursday, it must be time for the media to scoff at all the points made earlier in the week. Today we have "no one created a blueprint" as the main scoffing point. Mostly it's the color guys and radio guys doing this though because everyone else is focused on the exciting Ultimate Warrior vs Ultimate Warrior Junior matchup tonight on a station I don't get.

• Speaking of the NFL network, I got almost daily emails over the summer from the NFL asking me to call my cable company to complain about not getting the NFL network standard. Are you kidding me? I hate the cable company as much as every one else, but for a league that is a financial juggernaut to ask me to complain because a network that just shows Eisen, Mariucci, and Sanders repeating shows over and over for 6 months out of the year, with a couple of games sprinkled in, is crying that they won't accept their outrageously expensive fees, is just insane.

• It's nice to see all of the national media members that have written columns about how injury depleted the Patriots are. Oh wait, I forgot that's just the Colts. No one is mentioning it because they keep winning. Morris, Maroney, Seymour, Colvin, Green, Watson, Wilson, and more I'm sure I'm forgetting have missed significant time this year. Hopefully Reuben Frank will take up the standard and write a column about this for SI.com. By the way, Reuben Frank. Sounds like something you'd order from the Sausage Guy outside Fenway.

• Dale, where is my gambling column? Everybody is waiting.

• I am sick of the Patriots on prime time. Speaking of MNF, Mike Tirico is one of the most boring people alive (and that new radio show for espn.com is nap inducing). Couldn't they replace him with Michael Wilbon, who already has a great rapport with Jaws and Kornheiser, has a more interesting range in his voice, and is opinionated enough to be interesting but not so much that he'll scare off ESPN Mouse executives?

• Two people I hate more and more every time I see and hear them: Sports Center's Neil Everett who is the Bania to Dan Patrick's Seinfeld, is the most obnoxious person to get highlights from. His schtick is old, boring, and way too forced. Stuart Scott is what Michael irvin would be if he had taken qualudes. Time to retire the boo-yeah Stuart.

• If Mike Reiss doesn't get hired by the Patriots scouting department in the next couple of years, I hope he jumps to ESPN to do Scouts Inc stuff. Because he's great and Scouts Inc is just not. You expect to read Scouts Inc. analysis and be dazzled with insight and accuracy, but they're just not. They just throw some stats in that they hadn't seen printed elsewhere, along with a lot of them that had, and say the same things everyone else says. You learn something new from Mike Reiss every single day. The Boston Herald doesn't have an equivalent to him, and neither does ESPN (Matt Mosley's Hashmarks is terrible). I hope he stays doing what he's doing now, but he should have a lot of opportunities (not for television though, he's got a bill simmons-like voice that doesn't translate).

• On an unrelated topic, this has been a terrible year for television, but the show "Life" is one of the best shows I've seen in years. So of course they never market it and put it on at 10pm on Wednesdays. But next week they have it on after Heroes on Monday which should hopefully help get it an audience. By the way, I hate cop shows of all kinds, but this one is fantastic and actually original. Heroes has been marginal, Bionic Woman is Alias if Jennifer Garner was the mother from Gilmore Girls, and reality tv jumped the shark way too long ago. The best television at this point is the Sunrise Earth show on Discovery Channel in the mornings where they just set a camera down somewhere in the world and let it film for two hours.

• Best Case Scenario involving Johan Santana: 1. he goes to the NL, 2. the Red Sox trade for him even giving up Jacoby, and 3. he stays where he is and signs an extension. If it comes down to the Red Sox getting him but have to give up Ellsbury and Bucholtz, it's still better than him going to the Yankees and forcing Drew, Ortiz, Ellsbury, and Varitek having to go lefty vs lefty against him 5-6 times per year and in the playoffs. I love watching Ellsbury and Bucholtz will be a solid #2 in a couple of years, but we're talking about the best left hander in the game potentially going to new york, or joining Becket and Daisuke as the big three which would destroy everyone in the playoffs. Remember that there is no one else even remotely close to Santana available.

• Unless it's a storied QB, is there any worse cliche'd non-story than a player returning to face his old team in the NFL? Adalius Thomas was good, but he was on an 11-man defense with more than a couple of people who were better than him and will be in the hall of fame. It's not quite the same as Johnny Damon returning to Fenway or K.G. facing the Timberwolves. He won't even be able to tell if they're cheering or booing him. I think the only non-QB's that warrant such a topic would be T.O. playing in Philly or Moss playing in Oakland.
  

• Since Ron Jaworski said that Randy Moss took some plays off on Monday night, you can be sure that every media person will be focused completely on him and have their columns already half-written. Every receiver takes a play off here and there. Running down the field as Moss did on 71 or 73 snaps and only getting the ball thrown to him 10-12 times will make you do that once in a while.

• I don't think the Ravens will score more than 10 points on Monday night, but if they do, we are in for some scary playoff games because the old men in the middle look tired. I haven't heard Mike Vrabel's name much the last two games either. It's not difficult for a 34+ year old to start strong, but to finish strong is very tough (just go back to the AFC Championship last year). If there is a blueprint to take from the Eagles game it's that spreading your offense out to force the old men into coverage will wear them down over the course of the game.
  

• One other thing on Mike Reiss. Do you think the rest of the local writers hate him a little more each time he posts a blog entry with quotes that would make a column by them obsolete for the following day? Instead they have to go with great topics like "Maroney Biding his Time."
  

• The marathon Sports Guy chat yesterday was disappointing. He's lost his fastball in the last few months. He won't take on Gregg Easterbrook for some reason (though he's taken on other page 2 people there in the past). He won't say anything even remotely controversial anymore and he doesn't do ramblings which were always his best columns. Now he just references reality shows only teenage girls watch, and talks about being a father, which for the 18-35 crowd is boring as hell. So when he said yesterday that if people read his old Digital City columns, they'd think they weren't as good as they remembered, he is wrong, because you can compare them to the stuff he writes now, and it's not even close. Very sad. I think he could start his own site and make at least the same money he makes now. It's not like we care about the sport/celebrity access he gets, so why not take the shackles off and write whatever you like? You have a built-in national audience now that would make your site huge. You could also bring in other columnists that are either outspoken or just plain good and create an alternative to ESPN.com, SI.com, MSNBC.com, Sportingnews.com, and CBSportsline.com that wouldn't have to worry about offending people from the network.

• I'm realizing now that I sound like a cranky old man in this post so I'll stop now.

Picks tomorrow, my friend Dale blows off doing a gambling column to keep his all-time streak alive, and some thoughts on the Cowboys/Packers game that I won't be able to watch.

Public Service Announcement for Massachusetts residents: Remember to go home and spank your kids now while it's still legal to do so. Reasoning with your children will make them appreciate you more and certainly won't lead to them walking all over you as teenagers. I actually heard someone on a radio show call in and say that they never spanked their kids, but their 13 or 14 year old threatens to call DSS every time they try to ground him or prevent him from going out to hang with his friends.

The wussification of the world continues. Massachusetts could upstage California soon. How will San Francisco respond? Outlaw the word "no" for use with children?