Interesting take on the Fox pregame show by Howie Long (I think it was Howie)

The Fox pregame crew was discussing who they would take now to lead their team between Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers.  There was a split, of course, and it mostly centered around the athleticism of Rodgers and the assumption that all of the mental stuff was pretty much a wash.  Then Howie Long made a great point that I had never considered.  He suggested that Tom Brady was much more willing to have his team run the ball 40 times to win and that Aaron Rodgers was not.  I think I agree with this.  Rodgers is much happier when he is throwing the ball.

Contrary to that idea, however, is the simple fact that Rodgers throws the ball far less than other top QBs.  He is typically in the 8-15 range for pass attempts each year.  This is in stark contrast to Peyton Manning and Drew Brees, who pretty routinely throw the ball 40-50 times per game.  I think I'm going to do a little bit of research and see if this is due to Rodgers typically high YPA numbers, or due to the Packers running the ball more than I appreciate.  However, I do find it interesting that last week was the first time Eddie Lacy carried the ball more than 17 times in a game.  Rodgers has complete authority to audible out of runs.  Hmmm...

Mike Trout in Coors Field 1998-2001

Unlike some military historians (who seem to like to talk about mistakes and what commanders should have done) and the general readers who consume their works, I abhor counterfactual history. Counterfactual history is incapable of accommodating the infinite contingencies that could have effected events had they proceeded in slightly different ways, and there is simply no clean way to project alternative outcomes with any degree of certainty. That's why we try to anchor analysis in what we "know" did happen--it's already messy enough. However, I will make an exception for exercises that try to translate the statistical production of this generation's most transcendent baseball player into the video game atmosphere of turn-of-the-century Coors Field. Holy heck.

Rodgers "vs." Brady

The game this weekend is not Rodgers vs. Brady, but I'm excited to watch the game.  If the Packers are a legit contender, they should be able to win a tough home game.  I'm also excited to see a game with both of these QBs.  They are the two most efficient QBs in terms of interception percentage in NFL history.  Both have done amazing things with offenses that had clear deficiencies (Packers had no running game until last year and a bad defense most years, Patriots have rarely had anything resembling an NFL receivers unit).  This year the Patriots may have their best defense in a decade, and the Packers may have their best overall offensive talent since the mid-90's.  This could be an epic game. I'm very excited and I plan to not get too wrapped up in the result and just enjoy the game.

HoF season

Today marks the beginning of one of my favorite seasons of the year: Hall of Fame debate season. When we can argue about Bert Blyleven and Edgar Martinez and Jeff Bagwell and Curt Schilling and Mike Mussina and Gary Sheffield and Tim Raines. As always, Sports on Earth has a good rundown of the essentials here, and SI's Jay Jaffe has some Burning questions about this year's ballot. While I find Jaffe's commitment to JAWS scores a bit annoying (but hey, it's a stat he developed specifically to evaluate players for the HoF, so it's fair), I love his series of profiles on EACH AND EVERY PLAYER ON THE BALLOT--biographical background, career highlights, total statistical overviews, etc. As he points out, even guys who should be one-and-done on the ballot deserve a retrospective in recognition of their careers.

A proposal, gentlemen: we weigh in on these players. Start with your no-doubters, and then we can move on to more contentious guys. Eventually I think we should get our top 10 listed.

My automatics (as in, I think there should be no debate):
Randy Johnson
Pedro Martinez

Being Faithful

A few months back, I joined a group on facebook called "49ers Faithful." Most of the posts are from "fans" that will just grandize the niners and the players. I am a huge fan but a realistic fan, or any team. I put a post up saying that kaepernick has seem to have regressed this year. His numbers are up to the naked eye, but the intangibles that made him such a viable weapon have seemed to vanish.  Eric this may hurt, but he's single handedly destroyed Green Bay with his legs, this year outside of a few plays that part of his game has decreased dramitically. My post on this groups page was "Kaepernick has overthrown/underthrown/missed a wide open receiver 7 times this game, regression?" I had 53 comments telling me that i'm not faithful, that i'm not a fan, I should leave this group etc etc and it got me thinking...why being a "faithful fan" means I can't criticize a team or a player. Which after calling the people commenting bozo's, shit for brains etc, I had a thought. What am I a fan of? The team? a player? I love Patrick Willis, Gore, Davis but if they left, would I continue to root for them? I would have a hard time saying no. I think with players leaving teams for more money, more publicity and ultimately more exposure, why can't I as a fan, root for players even if they are on a team I ultimately have been "taught" to dislike. I don't like the cowboys, but I'd be hardpressed to say I'm not week in and week out rooting for Demarco Murray and Jason Witten. I used to root against the Packers every single week? Why? Because they always seemed to beat the Niners and Brett Favre was usually the culprit. Now they have a QB who went to a cross town high school in the city I grew up and went to the college I rooted for and is a top 3 or 4 qb in the nfl. Green Bay has Jordy Nelson who went to Texas who I root against every week. So what the hell is going on?? Am I getting soft in my old age? I believe I have an answer. I am not any less faithful because I can hate a player that's on a team I root for. Just as much as I can root/love a player that plays for a team I hate. Just because I cheer on a particular player, does not make me love the team. With players moving all over THEY don't love the name on the front of their jersey, just the name on the back.

Pissed off at Peyton Manning

I'm not the Manning (well, Peyton... Not a big fan of Eli) hater that Brennan is, but he has really pissed me off this year.  First, he calls out a scoreboard operator.  I wish Peyton had to do a menial job like that to make ends meet so he could realize how great he has it.  Second, that choreographed game of keep-away when he broke the touchdown record was ridiculous.  I'm pretty sure Manning was always kind of a diva, but it all came pouring out this year.  The only solace I can take is that the Broncos are folding when it counts and they will likely get knocked out in the first round of the playoffs.

Adrian Peterson

YAY!!! He's closer to returning to the football field! Glory be to the almighty!!! Peterson he beat the living shit out of his 4 year old son can now get his life back and start playing football again, the sport he loves, and put this incident behind him. Thank heavens!!! Peterson has pleaded guilty to a plea bargain and lesser charge of misdemeanor reckless assault and avoid jail time. Isn't that great?!?! Now that my moral compass has been righted I don't feel guilty inserting him back into my starting fantasy lineup.
He learned his lesson right? He still never said he did anything wrong, just somehow found justification in whipping his kid with a tree branch by saying that was how he was punished when he was younger and he turned out just fine. So perfect! Lets move on, I mean those scars that will permanently be on his childs legs will be a constant reminded of how much his dad, cared and loved him, by spending time with him twice a year, but he he has 3 other kids that he's ignored so he should be happy that his dad at least spent time with him.
While most of us would have been in jail, or facing large fines this great football player earned just south of 5 million doing nothing. Through 9 games his team has bled, sweat, hurt and helped eachother doing their jobs while peterson did nothing. He sat around, doing nothing, probably never giving much thought to why he wasn't on the field, why people are angry with him and why he wasn't in jail. Adrian Peterson essentially got paid 5 million for beating his child, oh excuse me for recklessly assaulting his 4 year old.
While I wish A.P. nothing but the worst of fortunes for his sorry excuse of a human being I am so happy for the fans of the Minnesota Vikings for getting their all-pro player back. So happy you can start rooting for him while he inevitably runs for 100 yards on most sundays again. Have fun.