It may have taken Peter King way too long to get his MMQB Tuesday Edition mail bag up, but at least we have it now. I am excited to see that it is two pages long as well. I feel so cheated when we get a Tuesday mail bag that is only 1 page long. It's freaking mass email from many people who write in, there have to be at least twenty pages of decent questions to comment on. For every dumbass question he answers on Twitter everyday, I would imagine there is a dumbass question in his mail bag Peter can discuss and answer. After we are finished with Peter, we can talk Robert Horry news...and yes, I said Robert Horry news.
I'll have a few quick hits before completely diving into today's e-mail, but first a cardiologist speaks from the heart:
Sweet Jesus, we start the mail bag off with a pun. If only Peter had started it off with a stupid joke about a proctologist talking out of his ass, then maybe then and only then, could I condone starting off a mail bag with a bad pun.
From Raj Abrol of McLean, Va.: "I read your column every week and enjoy your insight and information. A true break from my otherwise extremely busy day. Speaking as a cardiologist who works seven days a week to take care of the sick patients of this world, I was amused that you think our Sunday "heroes" may work too hard in the offseason.
Apparently our super duper busy cardiologist named "Raj" has enough time to read Peter's marathon column every week. That must be what he is doing while I am waiting in a fucking cold ass backless gown in the check-up room wondering why the hell the only magazines to read are "Ladies Home Journal" and "Highlights."
"I understand that football is an incredibly physically demanding sport. But to imply that playing football seven days in a row in May for these world class athletes is too much to ask is a bit of a stretch. I naturally respect your opinion. But this is "work" for them, just like it is for you and me.
Boring, generic question...and I have no idea how it got published. Let's see what Peter says.
I've heard from a lot of people on this topic, and almost all of you agree with Dr. Abrol, so I understand I'm in the minority. I just think players (and assistant coaches too; don't forget they're losing more and more of their "offseason'' each year) are being asked to do more and more every year, and for what good purpose?
So their team can win more football games and they improve as football players? Or possibly the same reason most other human beings work the entire year, it's their job to do so? I am sensitive to the "offseason is short argument," but fresh off working 2 years at my present job and having 10 days of vacation in my first two years, I am not feeling a whole lot of sympathy for those who get paid more than I do and have their "offseason" being shortened.
I'm not sure four to five months of hard work in the offseason does anything but ensure that you're simply keeping up with the rest of the crowd.
Well then that is what the four or five months of hard work in the offseason does...it helps you keep up with the other teams. Sounds logical to me because without this work a person or team would fall behind the other players and teams. I know it's hot and I know it is tough, but football is becoming a year round sport. That's just how it is.
Several of you asked, and rightfully so, why I didn't ask Rodney Harrison in the lengthy Q&A about his four-game suspension for admitting to using Human Growth Hormone, a substance banned by the NFL. I did ask him, but the responses weren't great, so I didn't include it in Monday's column.
"The responses weren't great?"
What the hell does that mean? It's not like the rest of Harrison's interview was a grab bag of useful facts, it was just him stating that he will take a no-prisoners approach to being a talking head on television. I think what Peter really meant by "the responses weren't great" is "the answers did not shed a positive light on NBC's new analyst so I felt the need to not include those in my MMQB because I never want to publish anything negative about a player I like."
here's what Harrison said when Bob Papa and I asked on our Sirius NFL Radio show if he thought his four-game ban for admitting to HGH use would affect his uphill Hall of Fame candidacy, and whether it should:
"That's really not up to me. I never failed a drug test. I told the truth, the commissioner did the research ... I never used it to enhance my performance. I used it to get myself better at one particular time [to speed his recovery from injury]
That's all he used it for? No big deal then...you know, unless HGH was banned by the NFL, which it is, so then it is a big deal.
"It's funny because a lot people who haven't played the game sit back and decide if you're a Hall of Famer. If you don't know what a football player goes through, if you haven't experienced it, then why should those guys solely have it on their shoulders to decide who goes in the Hall of Fame?
I guess Rodney Harrison is now proposing that football players decide which players make it into the Hall of Fame? The problem is that I would not want football players deciding anything important except how they want to entertain me on a Sunday afternoon. Not all football players are smart but I definitely don't believe they are the most qualified to be voting for the Hall of Fame...of course neither of some of the writers who do, but that is beside the point.
you think NBC doesn't show enough highlights, and you think NBC clogs the show with too many people in the 75-minute window before the Sunday night game. Understandable. Let me tell you a few things about the NBC show.
Again, I don't watch because I can't even emphasize how useless I think pregame shows are. If I wanted to hear idiots talk I would watch ESPN all day. I am not an expert on pregame shows.
Did you know, for instance, that NBC cannot show any highlights until 7:15 p.m.?
That works out well because the SNF game doesn't start until 8:30pm, leaving plenty of time for a 75 minute show. This is not an excuse because this time is already built in by NBC, so it's not like everyone is just sitting around the set for 15 minutes shooting the shit and doing nothing. The show is supposed to start when highlights can be shown.
This in no way answers any complaints people have about showing more highlights. What the problem is for Peter is that if they only showed highlights, then he would not get paid to sit there and give Brett Favre updates.
I believe the tightrope NBC walked was a good one. (Of course, I worked on the show, so I'm not at all impartial.)
That and the fact if they cut the amount of useless shit out of the show, most likely Peter would be one of the first to go.
I like how he says, "worked" on the show. Did Peter King leave the NBC Sunday Night Football Show and I never heard about it?
The aim of the show, I think, is to try to show you what happened and to try to explain why, and to try to hit the newsiest items coming out of the day's games
Brett Favre, the Cowboys, and the popular white quarterback of the week.
Finally, I'll be doing a couple of meet-and-greets while on the NFL camp trail in late July or August. Tweetups, I think they're called. Candidate spots for them, and please let me know which you favor: Albany, N.Y.; State College, Pa., Indianapolis; Denver; Bourbonnais, Ill.; New Orleans; or Kansas City.
I would give anything to go to one of these Tweetups. I am clearly not going because that involves travel and I can't leave my mom's attic for another week because I get sunlight poisoning if I go outside. It happened from sitting on my ass blogging, watching television, and playing chess for the past two months in the attic.
My only question is why someone would want to meet up with Peter. Just to meet him? Clearly no one wants to glean important NFL information out of him, because as he has shown from week to week, he really has none.
One of the things I have against Peter King is that he fails to report accurately and fully on issues that affect the NFL players he likes. He still has not mentioned that Peyton Manning is not extremely happy with the turnover on the Colts coaching staff, he completely left out the HGH issue in regards to Rodney Harrison until someone called him out on it, and he is an incredible apologist for Brett Favre. He is not an NFL reporter or insider, he's an NFL kiss ass. Other than discussions about the labor talks and which person is going to be hired by what network and why, we get little useful NFL news out of him.
Mike Strawser of Cincinnati: Not to blow wind up your skirt [or shorts in your case], but that's why I enjoy reading MMQB -- you think before you write, so we get depth, not surface sheen.''
Mike from Cincinnati, you need to start thinking before you write. What type of depth do we get from week to week with Peter? Again, other than the labor issues and information about network hires, we get no real reporting from him. Three weeks ago we got a report that losing Moore and Mudd from the staff on Indianapolis was not a big deal. It only took 4 more days before that was proven incorrect and there were reports there were major divisions in the Indianapolis camp about the exit of these two. Peter did not comment because he was too busy pimping his Tom Brady article (which was pretty puff piecey) in Sports Illustrated. That doesn't include his one full web page or more of his Ten Things I Think I Think, which are ALL surface sheen and have very little analysis involved in them.
Where's the depth on major player NFL issues from week to week? I don't see them.
John of Chester Springs, Fla: Give me a studio show with four people and one news man. I can get all the rest of the information on the Internet. Having so many people takes away from why we watch the pregame shows in the first place, to get important news about the players and teams we root for, not to hear 50 differing opinions on how good a person is or the other fluff passed as news.
This is exactly why I don't watch pregame shows. Let's see what Peter has to say in response...
Take Fox, for example. I think the weather thing is absurd, but understandable because of the cheesecake factor. I think Jay Glazer is great at uncovering stories. And I think Michael Strahan has added an opinionated presence in the middle of four TV guys with good chemistry. So other than the weather, it's hard to find fault with what Fox does.
How is the cheesecake factor understandable? That's what I hate about pregame shows. The cheesecake factor. I want information and decent analysis, not fluff on the show. I think Glazer is the best in the business, but I can't disagree more about Strahan, from what little I saw last year his addition seemed like an attempt to add a modern ex-player into the mix at FOX. I didn't enjoy him at all and when I do watch a pregame show, I watch FOX so I have a little experience knowing what I am talking about.
Clint Burson of Hamilton, Mont.: "According to your Twitter feed, only four percent or so of your column was about Brett Favre. By my calculations, a little over 10 percent of your column was about baseball. I know you like baseball, but MMQB is about football. Can you cut back baseball coverage to Favre levels?
I think if we calculated the MMQB, we would find out that less than half of the column is useful, relevant information about football. I still think 4% of the column about a retired QB who was barely an average QB by the end of last year is too much. Throw in the aggravating travel note and the information about the coaches going to Iraq, which I don't count as any type of football coverage, and most of the "Ten Things" which are not relevant at all to football during the summer, I would bet actual NFL coverage takes up less than 50% of the space.
I never promised that this column would be all football, and when I come across the Austin Wood stories, or the Chicago Blackhawks-at-their-GM's-father's-funeral stories, I'm going to tell them.
Yes, how dare you be confused by the heading that appears each week that is called "Monday Morning Quarterback," that is completely not football related. Peter never did actually say the column was supposed to be all about football, but considering he covers football for a living, football is in the title, and it can be found under the "Football" heading on CNNSI.com's home page we should all be excused if we assumed it would be mostly football related.
From Neal Cassidy of Houston: "You said North By Northwest is one of your top three all-time films. How can you say that and then not list the other two? It's not a huge deal, but I'll bet thousands of MMQB readers saw that and thought, at least in passing, 'I wonder what the other two are?'"
Or they pointed out correctly like The Casey did, that every movie will turn 50 as long as the world does not end or we eliminate movies from society as a whole.
From Eric DeCosta (Baltimore Ravens' director of player personnel) of Owings Mills, Md.: "Loved the travel note about I-295 in Rhode Island. Same happened to me once on 295. Only I got pulled over for speeding and missed my flight. They need to take the damn sign down.''
I have no sense of direction so I MapQuest absolutely everything. I don't even pay attention to road signs, so that is why I can't understand this. Highways are supposed to be used to bypass small roads so cars can go faster, they are not meant to actually be shorter necessarily from Point A to Point B.
And people, let me tell you something about DeCosta: He's as New England as they come. Born in Taunton, 19 miles from Providence. Educated at Colby in Maine, then at Trinity in Hartford. To think the sign fooled him is giving me hope I'm not a total doofus.
I personally think DeCosta should be more embarrassed that he has this in common with Peter King. It may be making him feel like a total doofus (really? It is 2009 and I don't think doofus is used in any context anymore) to know he made the same mistake that Peter King made.
-Robert Horry seems to think that he should be in the Hall of Fame.
Horry said he's trying to get into the Hall of Fame. Horry said that he doesn't think he'll make it, because people emphasize scoring too much.
People also tend to emphasize being one of the best basketball players of your era too much as well. What's up with that?
I won't even consider scoring when determining whether I think Robert Horry deserves to make the Hall of Fame or not. Here we go, I won't include his career average of 7ppg...
Horry's career numbers. 0.9 blocks per game, 4.8 rebounds per game, 1.6 free throws attempted per game, .425 FG%, 2.1 assists per game, and .341 3pt FG%.
If those numbers don't scream "Hall of Fame!" to you, then you obviously are not a complete and utter moron. 7 rings are awesome, good job. There is no way in hell he deserves to be in the Hall of Fame. No fucking way.
Horry said that he did a lot for his teams that didn't show up in the box score.
Unfortunately the Hall of Fame tends to look at the things that show up in the box score. Numbers that give an indication a player was one of the greatest basketball players of all time and not a key role player on many NBA Championship teams. I can't emphasize enough how stupid I think it would be if he made the Hall of Fame.
Dan asked Horry who he would give the ball for a last-second three-pointer. Horry said he'd take himself first. Then Reggie Miller, Larry Bird and Michael Jordan.
No offense to Robert Horry, because he made several important shots in his career, but he never created his own shot for the last second three point shot, he usually made them because the team left him uncovered, he was in the right place at the right time or the other team was focusing on the actual Hall of Fame worthy players on his team to make sure they did not beat them.
Robert Horry: Great role player on great teams. He hit big shots and was often responsible for helping his team win games but he was never one of the greatest players on his own team nor in the NBA, so he does not in any way deserve to be in the Hall of Fame. That's my take.
His first couple of years in the league I thought Horry had a lot of upside, but he never really lived up to that. He only averaged more then 6 rpg twice in his career. Also, he only averaged more than 32.5 mpg once. If your team doesn't need you on the floor for at least three quarters of the game ever, then you might not be a Hall of Famer. Robert Horry's career was one long case of being in the right place at the right time.
ReplyDeleteApparently the Rockets thought he had upside as well because he got drafted by them in the first round. He was a good player but I don't know how deluded you have to be to believe that Robert Horry actually deserves to make the Hall of Fame.
ReplyDeleteHis reasoning was stupid. He compared himself to Dennis Rodman, though Rodman was an incredibly defender and rebounder and Horry really excelled at not one thing.
He also said the Hall of Fame voters were too stuck on numbers. I don't know what other criteria the voters should use, though I am open to suggestions. How else would you determine the best players of each era without using some sort of numerical system and comparison. It's pretty easy for me. He was a very important role player but he was in no way a Hall of Fame player.
Harrison says the Hall of Fame should be determined by those who played football? He'd never get in, same reason he rarely made the Pro Bowl.
ReplyDeleteGreat point. I think he would actually have a better chance at having the writers vote him in the HoF than the players. I would assume he thought about that. I haven't even looked at his numbers and whether he deserves the HoF or not. I obviously don't give a crap about Pro Bowls made.
ReplyDeleteI think he may start annoying me when he is an announcer...I just have a feeling.
"The responses weren't great?"
ReplyDeleteI think I know what Peter means by this.
AFter Harrison was suspended for the HGH thing, he went on a local radio show for an interview. The interview was going fine until the HGH suspension came up. He didnt flip out or anything, he just went silent and competely dodged the questions. I'm thinking Peter got a similar response and that was his nice way of putting it.
Oh ok, thanks for shedding some light on that Fred. I guess Peter was not censoring anything, he jut did not get a good response.
ReplyDeleteHow about you got the best comment in the history of FJMariotti? I know you are very proud of that honor.
I will have to make up an award here to give to you to compete with their new Hall of Shame and "best comment ever" designation. I will need a few days to think about one. You saw Harrison a little bit, do you think he is Hof worthy?
I keep looking for Peter King at the Yankees-Red Sox game because I think he is there tonight. I will do anything to ignore the fact the Braves are getting shut out.......again.
I was wondering what the heck you were talking about, until I went over to FJM for the first time today and saw the good news.
ReplyDeleteHmm, not really too sure about Harrison. If you want my Nostratrigger prediction, this is what I foresee: He gets in with the Jim Rice fear factor argument. You know years after he retires, there will be many New England writers shelling out stories about how he was the most feared, hard hitting safety the league has ever seen. Which, to be honest, I'm not so sure its that far from the truth. I was friends with a kid from San Diego, and he told me when the Pats got him we were in for a treat, becuase the only reason he watched Chargers football was to watch Harrison lay people out. I dont know if I can hold the HGH thing against him, because if you do that, all your going to have is a HOF filled with kickers, and even they have used (I cant remember his name, I think he used to play for the panthers, then the pats picked him up and waited out his suspension).
Harrison was a hell of a safety, even if he was dirty. I'm not sure if he's HoF quality, but considering that the Football HoF is pretty much the "Skill Players HoF" I'd vote him in as one of the top safeties of the last 20-25 years.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure if Horry got the message, but to make the Basketball HoF it would be helpful if the guy actually played enough to make a difference other then a single shot at the end of the game. Simmons actually did a nice write up on if a player would want a HoF career with no rings, or Horry's career of good player, lots of money, and 7 rings. I thought it was pretty much a no brainer, give me Horry's career.
Good news? Great news! It's a huge honor.
ReplyDeleteI think Harrison probably is one of the hardest hitting safeties of the past couple of years and I wasn't sure about his production because I honestly am not as up on the HoF credentials for football players like I should be. I don't think I would be against him making it if his numbers are pretty good...and if I recall he actually has good numbers from when he was with the Chargers. I think it is unfortunate he only played on the East Coast in the latter parts of his career so he didn't get quite the recognition he should.
Thanks for bringing up Todd Sauerbrun Fred. You are always wanting to bring up players from that cheating ass 2003 Panthers team. We have nothing to be proud of except that, and yet you still have to remind me that 3/5 of the offensive line was connected to PED's and our punter was too. Gee, thanks.
It would not shock me if Steve Smith was on PED's. He already has the roid rage down pat.
I think I would rather have Horry's career as well. He really had some good times. Unfortunately, he still in no way deserves the Hall of Fame. There's no question in my mind he was not good enough.
haha, i was honestly just trying to remember that fucknuts name. I wouldnt feel too bad about it. Its like the Pats and the spygate thing, everyone was doing it, they just got caught.
ReplyDeleteHeres an interesting Harrison stat: He is the only player in NFL history to have 30 career interceptions and 30 career sacks.
I think everyone knew he was on something because every time they showed him on television they mentioned he was so big in the arms. I only have fond memories of him because he threatened the entire Gramatica clan with a beat down and when the Panthers traded him they got a punter who was better than him and a 7th round pick who turned out to be a decent backup in return.
ReplyDeleteThat is an interesting statistic you gave, I wonder if he would have been the first if they had kept the sack total the entire history of the NFL.
Horry, right place, right time. I mean he has 7 rings, but he also was such a garbage player that he could fit into any team he wanted because he didn't cost much. I mean its not like he was the driving force on the Lakers or the Spurs. Those teams could have had me on their team and we would have still won the title. He got to play with 3 of the best centers/power forwards of all time, of course they were going to win.
ReplyDeleteYou average 7 points per game, please shut up already!
Steve Kerr has 5 rings and averaged 5 points per game, get his plaque ready now!!!
I listened to that interview with DP...Horry went on to say that he did other things then just hit big shots...for example he said he played defense. Well thats good, cuz I don't know one player who didn't play defense.
On another topic, has anyone seen SI's main page this morning. You guessed it, Yankees Red Sox garbage! I just like the headline for a column, something about the Red Sox 1 game lead being bigger then what it appears...i laughed. One game is one game, i'm not sure what planet SI lives on. They are up 1 game and the season is 1/3 done...so what? Thats not a very big hole to be in with over 100 games left to play. And the way the Yankees started off this season, I'm suprised they are only 1 game back. What happens if the Yankees win tonight, would the Red Sox still hold a lead over them even though they would be tied?
I love how HORRY putting HIMSELF above Jordan, Bird, and Miller is cited as if that means something.
ReplyDelete"Hey Cutler, who would you want throwing the last pass in a close game: You or Elway."
"Well...uh, I guess I'd want the ball in that situation..."
Horry was an excellent role player on those teams, but he was no star. Now Steve Kerr, I am surprised Horry doesn't think he deserves to make the Hall of Fame also. He did a lot of things on those Bulls teams as well.
ReplyDeleteI read that Horry wanted credit for his defense. That's great and all but everyone plays defense and even if he was an above average defender that doesn't mean he should be in the Hall of Fame. Otherwise Bruce Bowen would start to have a claim to the HoF as well.
I saw SI's front page today and it is all Yankees-Red Sox. They are in a fight for the division lead so I figured it would happen. The Red Sox lead is one game and sadly I have an idea of why the writer thinks it is more than one game...and that is because the Yankees can't seem to beat the Red Sox. I don't think they have a mental advantage over them at this point, so I think the lead is really just one game.
That's a good question. I don't know if the lead would be more than one game if the Yankees some how muster out a win tonight. I think then, it would be tied. Bo Sox advantage is gone at that point...you know in the hypothetical world of that SI.com article.
I mean I'm not stupid, I understand why this person thinks the lead is a lot bigger then it appears. Yes the Yankees cant beat the Sox...but they don't have to in order to win their division. All they have to do is finish with a better record overall then the Sox. I know it helps to beat them, but its not the most important thing. They will beat them tonight, and once again be tied with them. And once again we will get nothing but NY Boston talk about how tight the race is...even though we are still only in June.
ReplyDeleteI'm starting a Kerr for the HoF campaign now.
Chris, are you honestly telling me you would not want the people in this order shooting the last shot?
ReplyDeleteHorry
Jordan
Kobe
I would want Horry shooting that last shot. He is Big Shot Rob!
AJ, I didn't mean to make you sound stupid or anything. I figured you got that but felt the need to mention it anyway. The Yankees could not win a game against the Red Sox and still win the division this year. It would be hard, but you are exactly right about that. People, being MSM, like to make a big deal about the head to head battles though. It gives them a kick to do it.
I think we are going to have to permanently deal with the Boston-New York "race" the entire year, unless the Rays step up.
I am with you on Steve Kerr, let's get it started, as well as a better wikipedia page for FJMorgan.
How about that game Verlander pitched yesterday? Last pitch was at 98 mph...
Verlander is the best pitcher in the AL at this point, maybe even in baseball period. Just check his last 9 starts...amazing. All you really need to do is check out the quotes by the opposing hitters to find out just how good he's throwing. And with Jackson going right behind him, I can't think of better 1-2 starters in the league right now. Can you imigine this team next year when Porcello gets a whole year to learn this year?
ReplyDeleteI still think they need a closer, though I really believe just about anyone can close. But Rodney just scares me a little to much.
I'm glad they sent Larish down, maybe he can learn to stop pulling the ball, but I doubt it. Clete Thomas reminds me so much of Wade Boggs in terms of hitting stroke. I hope he can develop into that type of hitter as well.
They are the team to beat in the AL Central though, thats for sure.
Yeah, Detroit is pretty solid right now with their starting pitching, there is no doubt about that. Porcello is why it pays to draft pitchers regardless of how much money they may want. I bet Chris may have a little discussion with you about the Tigers being the class of the AL Central, he is a White Sox fan.
ReplyDeleteThe Tigers can easily trade for any bullpen help they may need, I would not worry too much about that. If Thomas turned into anything resembling Wade Boggs that would be awesome for Detroit. That's a pretty high standard to hit though.