TDL’s Sports, Wrestling, & Otherwise

One of my buddies runs a keeper league that keeps 4 players per team. It is very hard to improve your team in this league. You have to do some research and grab rookies and guys ready to make The Leap. It also drafts insanely early — we draft before training camp even opens. Fortunately, this league is not for money. This league is usually the first thing to remind me that it’s almost football season. The second thing is the annual over-rating by ESPN of the Philadelphia Eagles. As a complete tangent… the cool thing about this blog is being able to go back and read stuff from last year. I’d like to feature the following quotes:

Giants vs. Bucs: At the end of the day, Garcia’s damn near 40 and the Giants are going to be pressing him on every down. The Bucs have been talking a whole lot this week… and how can you possibly dismiss Eli wanting to throw 1,000 yards on the mug of Ronde Barber? I mean… come on… he can destroy a guy with the exact same DNA….

Giants vs. Cowboys: people seem to forget that Tony Romo isn’t really an all-time quarterback. He’s a decent quarterback who’s had the benefit of having a super-human receiver downfield who manages to pull off at least two “how the frick is he THAT wide open” plays each game. If TO is semi-human, the Giants pass-rush can get through the Cowboys line, and Eli Manning can play like he played last week, the Giants win this game by 3. Final score: 21-17, Wade Phillips’s sanity and dignity.

Giants vs. Packers: And, lest we forget, we are still talking about Brett Favre who, as good as he is, has a terrible tendency to throw horrible passes off his back foot into triple coverage when he’s trying to force plays. [...] The weather is not going to affect the Giants any more or less than it’s going to affect the Packers. The only guy whose played a bitter cold game at Lambeau Field is Brett Favre. The rest of them played a cold snow game last week… 31F and snowy is not remotely the same as bitter, -20F Wind Chill. The Giants, right now, have a better platoon of running backs than the Packers. That’s huge in a game like this. The Giants pass rush, if it gets to Favre, is going to throw him off his rhythm. When he’s off his rhythm, he makes desperate plays.

Giants vs. Patriots: There’s a reason that the Patriots have struggled in close games. Their front is old. That’s their weak spot. If Eli continues to make good decisions and doesn’t force plays, the Giants can wear this Patriot defense out. Can you think of anything more damaging to the Patriots if the Giants win the toss and grind out a huge, long, 80-yard-drive and start battering Junior Seau and Tedy Bruschi? And also: how closely do you think the referees are going to be watching the Patriots for personal fouls in this game? Do you think Vrabel’s going to get away with any leg-whips this time around? I don’t. [...] On the other side of the ball, the Giants defense is as good, if not better, than what the Chargers trotted out there a couple weeks back. The Giants led the league in sacks. In the last game of the season they fell apart in the fourth quarter. If they can stop themselves from doing that, they win. Hands down.

Goddam, I’m good.

It’s no different thus far in 2008. A few days before training camp opens and most of the hype in the division is around the Cowboys and Eagles. Can anyone tell me how the Eagles, year after year, can continue to not improve their team and yet be the gimme 2nd place team in the NFC East behind the beloved, ain’t-won-a-playoff-game-in-a-decade Cowboys? This is the FOURTH year that I’ve been forced to mention that Donovan McNabb’s sell-by date was four years ago. He’s still got no receivers and not much of an offense. The Eagles were not good last year and there’s no reason to think they’ll be any good this year.

As for the media darlings… could you have a more explosive situation than TO, Pacman, and Tank Johnson all in one locker room? This has drama written all over and I pray for three consecutive losses to see if the locker room explodes.

I’m not saying the Cowboys are going to be terrible, I’m not even saying they aren’t the odds on favorite to win the East this year. But could the defending world champions get a little more respect than being listed behind an Eagles team that finished (as I predicted) dead-last in the division last year? I’m somewhat surprised the Redskins and their ability to continually bring in new players and totally underperform aren’t ranked third.

And, to make the point, shows are arguing that the Giants have never made the playoffs in a season which followed a Super Bowl appearance. Two of those appearances were pre-salary cap and the third appearance was a Giants’ team that inexplicably made a run, was subsequently crushed in the Super Bowl, and got mostly disassembled the following year. This year, the Giants are fielding almost exactly the same team as last season. Nothing is a given in the NFL, granted, but you’d think they could get a bit of respect.

Jason Taylor is not going to help the Redskins and the Eagles are still moderately terrible. It’s the Giants wild-card to lose again. But… that’s fine. Let them travel under the radar all season again. I’m fine with that.

It worked out before.