Brady Done for Seasons, Career

And so ends the era of dominance in Beantown.

Before moving on to my larger point, ProFootballTalk.com is speculating that there is a chance New England's most beloved star (oh if only Big Papi were less Dominican) could miss all of next year and quite possibly all of 2010. Apparently post surgical knee infections are no joke. You can read about all the gory details here but the long and short of it is this - if the current treatment does not rid Brady's knee of infection, the surgery will have to be performed all over again. With new screws and a new dead guy's ACL. This new surgery could not take place until the infection has been completely cleaned out and the recovery from a second procedure is not nearly as routine as recovery from the first.

I always was a little suspicious about the short timetable on Brady's recovery. He tore both major knee ligaments in the most severe way possible. It takes most players longer than 12 months to recover from an injury like that yet we were to believe it would take the great Tom Brady a mere 8? Now you go throwing this crazy, extremely rare infection (occurs in less than 0.05% of patients) into the mix and we are clearly looking at early 2010 before the knee is 100%, best case scenario.

In just 9 months, the Red Sox and Patriots have choked away chances to cement their place in history. The Patriots lost to an inferior team in a game they took too lightly. The Sox failed to complete an unlikely comeback in a game that was more than winnable. While all this was going on, something was happening that may have gone unnoticed, at least in the City of Champions; everybody else got better.

Ok, that is not totally fair, plenty of teams got worse. However, as we sit almost halfway through an NFL season and as we look ahead to a new Red Sox season some six months away, both teams are staring down the barrel of mediocrity. The Patriots find themselves outside the top 10 for the first time since god knows how when. Above them are teams that couldn't beat their reserves but a few years ago. Teams like Buffalo, Tennessee, New York (Giants), Carolina, and yes, even the Arizona Cardinals.

While the Sox may have finished second in the AL this season, making the playoffs next season is no sure thing. Tampa Bay will be that much better with one more year of experience and plenty of new blood added to the mix. The rest of the AL East will be a dog fight with the Yankees new 300 million dollar payroll and the Blue Jays picking up where they left off 2008. The other divisions on the junior circuit will be no cake walk either. Anaheim is not getting any worse, neither is Texas, Chicago or Minnesota, and Detroit can't possibly suck as much as this past season.

Only time will tell whether these dire predictions come to fruition but facts are facts and I'm no stranger to twisting them to support whatever story I concoct. Whether Tom Terrific ever returns to form remains to be seen. I say no way. Whether the Sox find a way to replace the Manny, Ortiz 1-2 punch remains to be seen. I say forget about it. Whether any New England team can win a championship before I have grandchildren remains to be seen. I say don't count on it.

Reaction to XLII

There is not a whole lot left to say. I feel like the Patriots forgot who they were and who got them to 4 Super Bowls in 7 years. They left the blue collar, workman attitude at home and brought some brash, arrogant, privileged sense of entitlement to Arizona. It reminded me of the scene from Two for the Money where John Anthony shows up to work on Tuesday and makes all his picks for the following week without a drop of research. He then offers to make his picks for two Sundays out on Friday. He was untouchable, he just went 12-0 the prior week and brought untold millions to the firm. What happened to Brandon Lang you thought as he whipped around New York in an AMG, rocking $3000 suits. That was the Patriots for the past two weeks. Well, John Anthony proceeded to get humiliated for the remainder of the season and the Pats ended up blowing the most winnable game in Super Bowl history. It makes me sick and I'm not even that hard of a Pats fan. I admire them, I respect them and since Belichick came to town, I have appreciated them. I'm not sure I can do any of that anymore.

That's all I got. DP's got a little more. From a true non-fan.
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Like I said in my first post I despise both of these teams and after watching the Super Bowl my hatred only grew. Here are a couple things that infuriated/amused me. I will start with the G-MEN:

Far too much credit is being taken away from the Giants d-line and given to Sheli Manning. If not for the defensive line the G-Men wouldn't have been in the game. Eli Manning would not be talked about if a couple of tips went the Pats way. If Asanti "get paid" Samuel made a necessary and easy interception, if Merriweather made an interception on the tip, and if not for David "40yards in the regular season" Tyree making the catch of his career Eli Manning would be thrown under the bus.

This was my greatest fear going into the game and has became true. Yes, Eli did heave up a pass that is in the conversation for the greatest play in Super Bowl history. Yes, The Giants completed the greatest upset in NFL history, but if not for the Giants D-line pressuring Tom terrific the Giants would have hardly been a footnote in history.

Brandon Jacobs Sucks, he should be cut and not spoken about at all ever again.

As for the Pats:

It is really, really relieving that I do not have to hear them being called the greatest team in NFL history.

They trademarked 19-0, HAHAHAHA

Junior Seau STILL doesn't have a ring.

Can everyone smell Randy Moss starting to get disgruntled?

Tom Brady was not terrible. In fact, he did what he needed to do to win the game, but its good to see immortals in the football world get knocked down to size.

Is it me or is "The Genius" Bill Belichick the most Classless human being onthe earth. Him walking off the field is absolutely despicable and very Randy Moss like. Fuck Belichick and his arrogance. I hope he doesn't make it to the play-offs ever again. I find that worse than Eli Manning's draft day stunt.

This will be my last Patriots/ Giants bashing. God I still hate both these teams. (At least Jarod Lorenzen gets a ring)

GO CELTICS -- DP

Perspective of a Non Fan

Since I'm in Arizona for the week covering the Super Bowl festivies (Maxim Party tomorrow night, Penthouse Party on Friday night), I have invited a guest to write some fresh posts to keep content flowing around here. This means I take no blame for any gramatical errors and can't stress enough that none of these opinions are my own. Editing is at a minimum around here - I'm too busy trying to find out what Phoenix did with all the whores since Craig's List shut down the casual encounters for the week. Fucking mormans out here. Who knew.

Hopefully DP will keep posts like these coming and bail me out once and a while.


Going into this weekend’s festivities I have had a hard time deciding who to root for. You see I hate both the Patriots and The Giants so this was my plight. Also, I do not agree with people saying I should not root for anyone, I mean you have to root for someone.

Cons for Pats:

I hate Patriot fans, If you ask any Patriots fan they will say that they were there with them the whole time, but if you think of it were they really? I consider Patriots fans the most fair-weathered fans in the world, maybe even topping the Yankees for worst fans ever.

I hate the Belichick aura. I agree he is a great coach, but don't you think people are a little quick to go to their knees when they think of this guy. Sure you can say "he hasn't had the tools that any other team has" but other than their first Super Bowl victory against the Rams that isn't completely true.

Tom Brady - girls love him and guys want to be him. Fuck that. Up until this year I would have said he was the most overrated QB in the league and that Peyton Manning was indeed a far superior QB. After this season however, I just can't do that, and I would lose all of my credibility if I truly believed that now. He's great and I hate it.

Bulletin material - c'mon at 18-0 is there really a need to start bringing up bulletin material. Plaxico Burress did say his team would win 24-17, who cares, he wants his team to be a Super Bowl champion. Can you blame the guy?

Rodney Harrison, I used to love you when you were on the Chargers, but you lost all credibility in my eyes when you got caught for steroids.

Laurence Maroney (had him), Randy Moss (didn’t have him), Wes Welker (didn't have him), Dante Stallworth (had him) Fantasy football reasons.

Tedy Bruschi - speaking of people getting on their knees and overrating people, this man is by far the worst Linebacker on the team and has been for years and gets all the credit for the defense. It does not make sense how Vrabel and Thomas get completely over-looked to this first class asshole. If the Patriots give up a big play it is due to him.

On the brink of history and the last thing I want to hear is them be called the greatest team for years to come.

Cons for Giants:

To put this in the most non offensive way as possible almost everyone on this team is a GIANT HOMO.

Eli Manning - hated him since he was at Ole Miss, and since his classless draft day debacle I have despised him. There are so many things to hate about Eli - His family, his double stuffed Oreos campaign, his little whiney face every time someone does something bad on offense (usually it is him). He is so over-rated and if not for the Giants D line he would be nowhere close to Super Bowl. He kills the dream that one day Jared Lorenzen, the hefty lefty from Kentucky, will ever play And finally, he just looks like a douche bag.

Tom Coughlin - he looks like an angry ferret, and has a very homosexual smile.

Tiki Barber - he used to play there, nuff said

Michael Strahan - fake sack record, huge gap in his teeth, terrible voice, basically everything about him sucks.

Brandon Jacobs fucked over so many people fantasy wise.

Disrespect Card - we get it Giants, you are an underdog. You do not need to remind everyone, every day on TV. Get over yourselves and focus on the game ahead.

Jets fans - for having their "2nd favorite team" be the Giants. Shows how good of fan you actually are.

Pros of Pats winning the Super Bowl:

Giants fans being unhappy

72 Dolphins who are all bitter old men soon to be rather unhappy.

New York losing again

Seeing Eli never being called a great quarterback for all next season

Eli's moping shoulders.

Pros of Giants Winning:

Seeing Pats fans unhappy

Hearing Pats fans make up excuses about referees, and phantom calls

I’m a Steelers fan and that would be awesome

Hearing the Patriots be called the most over rated team in NFL History

Seeing Amani Toomer win a Super Bowl, and junior Seau not


So after taking this all into consideration, I have to say I will root for the Pats (unless Eli gets hurts and Jared Lorenzen comes in)

With The Seventh Overall Pick...

The New England Patriots select Left Tackle Michael Oher out of Mississippi.

At least they damn well better make this pick. This guy is a freak of nature. He is the next Jonathan Odgen, except 10 times better. I realize the Pats are not in desperate need on the offensive line (like they are at linebacker, safety and QB...you know after Tom retires in February) but it has always been Pioli/Belichick policy to draft the best player on the board. Oher is the best player on the board and there are no close seconds.

Oher started 34 consecutive games over his three seasons with the Rebels and earned All-Southeastern Conference honors each of the past two campaigns, helping pave the way for BenJarvus Green-Ellis' back-to-back 1,000-yard rushing campaigns.

Can you imagine an O-Line consisting of Matt Light at RT, Nick Kaczur at RG, Dan Koppen under Center, Logan Mankins at LG and Oher at LT? Matt Cassel would have the best protection the game has ever seen. And not just for the next year or two, Oher is the type of guy that will make 15 consecutive Pro Bowls.

Am I buying into the hype a little too much on this guy because I read The Blind Side cover to cover in about 6 hours? Probably. But even if that book is only 50% accurate, this guy is the real deal.

If you haven't read it, I would highly recommend it. It is Michael Lewis' best work to date and easily one of the top 3 or 4 sports books ever written.

Quick Hits From Buffalo

Its Tuesday afternoon and only now am I beginning to recover from a hedonistic voyage to the armpit of New York. I've heard plenty of stories but never expected Buffalo to be such a shithole. Their economic plight in the 21st century rivals that of Detroit or Cleveland. You would think they would be happy the eight weekends a year when the Bills play at Ralph Wilson and out of town guests come up and dump their hard earned dollars at local establishments. It would only make sense right? Not even a little bit. Logic is in short supply, probably as a result of the city's proximity to Canada.

Here are some more thoughts and observations from the weekend.

• Ralph Wilson Stadium is a great venue. Say what you will about the city or the state for that matter, but the stadium is a hell of a place to watch football. Not a bad seat in the house. Compare that to Gillette where you need oxygen if you get stuck high enough up in the 300's. There's also something about bench seating that you just can't beat.
• There are two types of Bills fans - Most are scumbag locals who would fight a girl if she was wearing a Brady jersey (don't laugh, this came inches away from happening) while the remaining minority are Canadians sick of the single A CFL product. The Canadians are a little light in the loafers, but much more friendly to deal with.
• The trip from Boston to Buffalo is god awful. 8 hours of pure misery.
• When somebody tells you to hit the strip clubs in Canada, go to the strip clubs in Canada. They are only a half hour away and you might actually get to see some nudity. In Buffalo, the girls are required to wear band-aids over their nips. They are like flesh toned pasties.
• Speaking of the strip clubs, I've come to the conclusion that I have a real hard time distinguishing where the strip club ends and reality resumes. Honestly, it sometimes takes a good two days before it sinks in that you can't actually lear at anything with breasts and 20 dollars won't get you a private showing somewhere out back.
• As for the game, well we all saw what happened there. Give the Bills credit, they played it close for the first 7 minutes.