2 comments MMQB Review: We Get the Super Bowl We Deserve Edition

Peter King was celebrating that the participants in the AFC and NFC Championship games were the teams "we" wanted to see play in those games in last week's MMQB. He was also strangely somewhat silent on the officiating during the divisional round weekend. Peter became mystified about the disparate weather conditions experienced throughout the United States and revealed the shocking truth that Tina Fey has comedic talents, which isn't something you expect from a person who had their own comedic sitcom on NBC and was the head writer for "Saturday Night Live." This week Peter talks about the outcomes in the games we all wanted to see which led to the Super Bowl we all wanted to see, somewhat recounts (again) how Peyton came to play for the Broncos and talks about underrated traffic, since that's a thing and all.

“Proud of you, bro,” Cooper Manning called out to Peyton Manning in the Broncos’ locker room Sunday, and a minute or so later, the family gathered around a showered Peyton at his locker. Club employees kept the media from hearing family business. Peyton’s back was to the room, his upper torso bare;

"His lithe body still wet from the quickie shower he took. Manning's hair was wet also, perfectly formed drops of water beading and falling down his face. Manning's torso showed the battle scars of late night Papa John's pizzas and cold Coors Lights. Though it was obvious Manning didn't have time to hit the gym everyday, it's obvious there is muscle and definition in Manning's upper body, just waiting to be brought out by a caring man. Perhaps an older man, perhaps someone who knows what it's like to be in a locker room, but not a member of either team battling for dominance. Perhaps someone who works as a sportswriter and is independently wealthy so he could love Manning for who he is inside, not for the things that bare upper torso does on the field of football battle. Perhaps that man is Peter King of THE MMQB."

I imagine in what little spare time Peter has he writes Peyton Manning fan-fiction softcore porn like this.

My eyes found the scar on the back of Peyton’s neck, the remnant of one of his four surgeries to repair a neck problem that threatened to force him into retirement a couple of years ago.

"Peter could touch the scar, but that would be wrong..or would it be right? Would it show Manning that Peter understands what he's been through or would it remind Manning of a pain, a pain that even Peter couldn't take away in the darkest and coldest nights when huddled by the fire. It's best to ask permission to touch the scar, even though Manning didn't ask permission to work his way into Peter's heart." 

At age 37, in a conference championship game, against Bill Belichick’s team.

“Kinda makes this special,” said dad Archie, standing off to the side.

Kinda.

"If only Archie knew how special this all really felt. Archie would never understand though. Peter somehow felt jealous and angry at the same time that Archie wouldn't understand and yet he still had Peyton's heart."

I saw a family walking in Denver Saturday with the dad and two girls all in orange MANNING 18 jerseys. The guy in front of me at Starbucks Sunday morning had an “OMAHA! OMAHA!” Manning T-shirt on, and I guess you know what that’s about.

"Is Omaha an audible call or a suggestion from Peyton at the possible location of his and Peter's home together once Manning retires? Or was it simply a rendezvous point where they could steal off together into another area of the world? Either way, Peyton's bare upper torso was making Peter's mind run wild. Peter had to control himself."

And now the Super Bowl will get the added boost of Manning trying to win his second Lombardi Trophy, as if a New York/New Jersey Super Bowl needed extra luster. Just as Eli won a title in his brother’s stadium in Indianapolis two years ago, now Peyton will try to win a title in Eli’s stadium in New Jersey.

This has to mean something. If it doesn't, then Peter will make this mean something.

This week, Gase decided to put a play in the game plan that raised eyebrows in the offensive meeting room. The fourth tight end on the team, Virgil Green, had played in 47 games for the Broncos over his three Denver seasons. He’d never run the ball once. In his 48th game, Sunday, Green had a running play in the plan. “Pretty different,” Manning said. “You know, Belichick prepares them for everything. But a run by Virgil Green was not on their hit chart anywhere.

Question. Adam Gase gives Peyton Manning two plays he can run and then Manning chooses the play the Broncos will run. Does this count as offensive coordinating? I understand there are similar situations on other teams where the quarterback has audible capabilities or capabilities to change the play, but if Gase is sending in two plays every time and Manning chooses one, is he really calling the plays or is Manning calling the plays?

As Manning got the call in his helmet from Gase, the offensive coordinator reminded him: “We need about five yards for a field goal here.” Manning went to the line, saw the big gap over right guard, saw the two safeties deep, and paused his cadence. He went to the line and changed the call.

“All week,” Manning said, “[Gase] said, ‘Don’t be afraid to check to the run if you get that look.’ And when he told me we needed five yards to get in field-goal range, he was saying, ‘If you like the look for the run, check to it, and don’t think twice about it.’ Sure enough, the seas kind of parted there.” Gain of 28.

I have to say that, was a really good play call here...no matter who was responsible for it.

Manning liked Gase’s idea. Inside the 5, on an early down, the Patriots were inclined to bring one or more safeties down close to the line. “Not a good look to run the ball,” said Manning. On 1st-and-goal from the 3 midway through the third quarter, Gase called the play—for a run, not a pass. And when Manning got to the line, he saw the safety cheating down, and so Manning changed the play to a pass. “We got the perfect look,” Manning said. Demaryius Thomas pressed cornerback Alfonzo Dennard toward the corner of the end zone, then broke quickly to the post.
Wide open. Touchdown.

See what I am talking about when I ask whether Gase is really being the offensive coordinator for the Broncos. No disrespect to Gase, but it seems like Manning changes a lot of the calls at the line. My point is that it's always good to have Peyton Manning as the quarterback when you are an offensive coordinator.

You want drama with your Super Bowl?

No, I don't want drama, I want an exciting Super Bowl. Peter, you are the one who wants drama so you can write about it.

I’ll give you drama: Peyton Manning trying to win his second world title and change the debate about his legacy in the first, and probably only, Super Bowl ever to be played in the biggest market in America.

Now that IS drama. Let's beat this storyline into the ground to where it begins to overshadow the fact the best offensive football team and the best defensive football are playing in the Super Bowl. I need drama to overshadow the actual Super Bowl being played.

To sum up: Sherman made the clinching play in the Seahawks’ 23-17 win over the Niners. Sherman writes for The MMQB. I am the editor-in-chief of the site. I am 56. I did not like what he did seconds after the game, screaming answers angrily to questions by FOX’s Erin Andrews.

How dare Richard Sherman play a violent game which involves tackling another person and then within two minutes of the game being over not turn into Mr. Rogers! It's horrendous that Sherman can't immediately change his personality after winning the biggest game of his career.

However, I’m not firing Richard Sherman. I’m not muzzling Richard Sherman. I asked him to write for us for the season, and write he shall do.

Plus, whatever Sherman writes for THE MMQB will probably get more pageviews now that he freaked out on live television and we all know that sports websites only care about hits and advertiser's money, integrity or accuracy of the statements the writer is making be damned. Not that Sherman doesn't write accurately or with integrity, but he gets pageviews and that's really all that matters in the end.

Colin Kaepernick. I know about the three turnovers in the last 11 minutes. That cannot happen, and it did, and it cost San Francisco the game. But the touchdown pass he threw is one of the most amazing throws I’ve seen covering football. Running to his right, Kaepernick elevated and, with both feet off the ground, snapped off a perfect spiral, which went 26 yards in he air and landed perfectly in Anquan Boldin’s hands. An amazing throw. A rope. It would have been great if was standing flat-footed.

I realize I'm biased and you guys are probably tired of hearing this stuff, but imagine if Cam Newton (or even another quarterback that Peter didn't hang out with this summer while eating pizza) had committed three turnovers in the last 11 minutes of the NFC Championship game (Peter did name Kaepernick his "Goat of the Week" so that counts for something). Peter stated Newton had to justify his selection as the #1 overall pick and the Panthers franchise quarterback by beating the Saints in a regular season game, but Colin Kaepernick commits three turnovers in one quarter during the NFC Championship game and it's no big fucking deal in the long run, because hey, he threw one really good touchdown pass. Let's just say I don't think Jay Cutler would get this "no big deal" reaction either from Peter if he committed three turnovers in the fourth quarter of the NFC Championship game.

He’ll get better and learn when to take chances and when not to.

Oh, so he's just learning! Fantastic. Other young (and old) quarterbacks are constantly on the clock with Peter, and while I recognize Kaepernick is still learning and has been very good so far in his career, I can't help but think Peter wouldn't be willing to overlook three mistakes in one quarter if a guy like Andy Dalton committed them.

Chancellor made an acrobatic fingertip pick on the ball. “You have to know your job in this defense on every play,” said Thomas. “He’s a great student.” But he’d be nothing without the big stick he carries. In the Super Bowl, the collisions between he and Julius Thomas could be legen

Wait for it...

dary.

There we go.

Spoke to the four head coaches named in the past week and explored with each what I consider their biggest tasks, at least immediately.

Let me guess:

Jim Caldwell: Trading for Peyton Manning.

Jay Gruden: He's just excited about coaching the Raiders.

Ken Whisenhunt: Talk Kurt Warner out of retirement and find eight running backs he can rotate through over two years to replace Chris Johnson after the Titans team releases him.

Mike Zimmer: Figure out how Jay Gruden got a job before he did.

Jim Caldwell, Detroit: Fixing Matthew Stafford.

I can pull up any gamefilm and show you how our footwork drills help you. In a nutshell, the feet and eyes work together. If I’m throwing in a particular direction, my footwork is pointing in the same direction—directly at the target. We’ll work on it with Matthew, and he will do them flawlessly.”

But what about the "Throw it up and hope Calvin Johnson can catch it" play? It doesn't require good footwork, so why work on footwork?

Jay Gruden, Washington: Getting the most out of Robert Griffin III.

For the St. Louis Rams, the 2012 trade of the second pick in the draft—which Washington used to select Griffin—is the gift that keeps on giving. Four starting Rams have come from the deal, and there’s still the second pick in the draft this year remaining.

This is supposed to be about what Jay Gruden needs to do to turn the Redskins around and of course Peter finds a way to shoehorn in a mention that the Rams have a ton of draft picks from the Redskins and have a really bright future. Marvin Demoff, the gift that keeps on giving.

I’m not going to try to turn RG3 into Andy Dalton or Drew Brees. He isn’t them. They’re not him. I would be foolish to try to turn RG3 into a pocket passer. It would be foolish. The way he is as a runner, we have to take advantage of that. He strikes fear into defensive coordinators when he runs outside. I’m going to let him be himself.”

Because "Griffin being Griffin" hasn't caused any problems over his first two seasons in the NFL, has it? Maybe Gruden should teach Griffin to slide or actually give him some offensive weapons to work with.

Ken Whisenhunt, Tennessee: Developing some quarterback, who may not be on the team yet.

“It’s easy to look at that and say we didn’t develop a quarterback,” Whisenhunt said

It's easy to say this because it's true.

“When Kevin got hurt [both in 2011 and ’12] is when we struggled. And after the Super Bowl, we lost Karlos Dansby, Anquan Boldin, Antrel Rolle, Calvin Pace, Antonio Smith and some linemen, and that hurt.

What does losing free agents have to do with developing a quarterback? I can see Whisenhunt saying it was hard to win games after losing these free agents, but what does losing (mostly) defensive free agents have to do with whether Whisenhunt developed a quarterback at Arizona or not? This sounds like a flimsy excuse for Whisenhunt not developing a quarterback in Arizona.

The mistake I made when I look back now was changing guys out—we went through too many—and what results from switching them out a lot is you see things that are open, and the new guy misses the read or makes the wrong check. One of the things I’ve learned is the approach of the quarterback has to be almost the gym-rat kind of approach. I had that with Philip Rivers [as San Diego's offensive coordinator] this year, through the roof. He can’t get enough of it. Push me, push me, coach me. That’s him. That’s exactly what Russell Wilson is. So passionate. You are not gonna keep him from being successful.”

So basically what Whisenhunt learned is that he needs to find an established quarterback to work with so he doesn't have to develop a quarterback.

Too early to tell if Jake Locker is Whisenhunt’s guy.

“I haven’t studied him as much as I need to,” Whisenhunt said. “I have seen good, and I have seen bad. No question he has ability, and I have heard good things about him. The question is, can he harness the ability, and can he be consistent?” That’s been the question about Locker since he was a phenom at the University of Washington.

If consistency has been the big question about Locker for seven years now, maybe the answer is already there.

Mike Zimmer, Minnesota: Building a program.

He learned under Bill Parcells while a defensive assistant in Dallas in Parcells’ last head-coaching stop, and he thinks he can learn today from Bill Belichick.

Oh, so he learned from Bill Parcells. So that means Zimmer is going to start his career off exceptionally well and then coast on his reputation for a few decades while being successful, but not as successful as his reputation makes it seem like he should be?

A quarterback would help. Expect the new offensive coordinator, Norv Turner, to mold a high draft choice into the quarterback of the future, with a veteran like Matt Cassel to back up and start if need be.

Good thing the Vikings haven't spent a first round pick recently on a quarterback or else the fact this quarterback wasn't mentioned at all during this passage would mean that player deserves criticism for not living up to his draft billing, but Peter isn't going to provide criticism because he likes that hypothetical first round draft pick quarterback and Peter will focus on the quarterback the Vikings spent $2 million on in the hopes he could replace the first round draft pick quarterback that doesn't exist. Good thing that didn't happen.

This is sort of what I was talking about earlier when discussing how Peter plays favorites with players. Peter harped all year on how Josh Freeman was a waste of $2 million, but he never once mentioned that Freeman was on the Vikings roster because Christian Ponder wasn't living up to his billing as the 12th pick in the 2011 draft. But yeah, other quarterbacks have to constantly justify their draft position or their ability to be a starter in the NFL to Peter, while he doesn't criticize the 12th pick of the 2011 draft at all, but instead criticizes the quarterback the Vikings bring in to make for the incompetence of Ponder.

Greg Bishop, a well-respected New York Times scribe soon to join Sports Illustrated, is covering the Australian Open for the Times and watched the NFL games Monday morning in Australia. I was curious about how the game is viewed there, and asked Greg to file something about it. Here’s his report from Melbourne:

This sounds riveting, completely necessary and not at all like filler put in MMQB to make the column more bloated. I'm just glad MMQB hasn't turned into an overly-long column that gets away from the original premise where Peter King provided inside information on the past week's NFL games. Including things such as "What does Australia think of the NFL," one page of quotes/Tweets/Peter's thoughts and then another entire page of Peter's thoughts seems like inside information on the past week's NFL games to me and not at all away from the original premise for the column.

I asked two gentlemen who shared a table why they were there. Work, naturally. One was Scott Filion, a New England Patriots fan from New Hampshire. The other was Esan Frederick, from Bermuda. Both left their wives upstairs. They would have watched the games regardless.

“It’s early,” Frederick said.

“Too early to drink,” Filion added.

It's never too early to pregame before a football game. Never.

Andrew Poy, a teacher who moved here recently, sat at my table for the second-half of Broncos-Patriots. He loves the San Francisco 49ers, a team he pledged his loyalty to based on Coach Jim Harbaugh and a steely defense.

(coughs) Bandwagon fan. 

He said the game was growing in popularity here, but hurdles remained, mostly related to the time difference. It is difficult to convince friends to watch football at 5 a.m. on Monday mornings.

“I’ll tell you,” he said, “that Anquan Boldin is the toughest bloke in American football.”

Everyone agrees that Anquan Boldin is the toughest guy in the NFL. Everyone agrees the Ravens should have skimped on improving their defense and kept Boldin around during the 2013 season and then they would have won back-to-back Super Bowls.

Fine Fifteen

Still pointless to do in the offseason and Peter even skimps on explaining why he ranks each team in each spot of the "Fine Fifteen," which only serves to underline the pointlessness of the exercise. 

1. Seattle (15-3)

2. Denver (15-3)

I'm guessing Peter will have these teams arranged in this order this week and then flip-flop them once he picks the Broncos to win the Super Bowl despite the fact no games have been played which would give him no logical reason to flip-flop their spots, though it wouldn't shock me if Peter put Seattle #1 in his Fine Fifteen and then picked the Broncos to win the Super Bowl.

5-9. Carolina (12-5), San Diego (10-8), New Orleans (12-6), Green Bay (8-8-1), Philadelphia (10-7).

10-15. Indianapolis (12-6), Kansas City (11-6), Arizona (10-6), Cincinnati (11-6), Pittsburgh (8-8), Chicago (8-8).

But hey, it killed space and made the column seem longer. So that counts for something, right?

Coach of the Week

Dan Quinn, defensive coordinator, Seattle. All season, Quinn has rotated his defensive front intelligently and gotten players like Michael Bennett to accept different roles than they traditionally played. It paid off with a brutish tour-de-force second half against the Niners. The Seahawks forced three turnovers in the final 11 minutes and swarmed around Colin Kaepernick so much that, watching at home, Peyton Manning had to be thinking, “Can we play six offensive linemen against them in the Super Bowl?”

Or Manning was thinking, "It's a good thing I'm a Hall of Fame quarterback and I'm going to look at ton of tape to see if I can recognize what the Seahawks defense is trying to do and adjust the protections in order to make sure I have time to throw the football."

“Tom Brady owes me his house. I’m the reason why he’s married to who he’s married to. I’m the reasons for a lot of that, because they overturned that call.”

—Oakland safety Charles Woodson, on NFL Network’s GameDay First pregame show Sunday, harkening back fondly to the day 12 years ago when the Tuck Rule helped start the New England run of three Super Bowl wins in four years.

Interesting. It's not like Brady didn't win two other Super Bowls and hasn't appeared in two Super Bowls that he didn't win or else it would seem like Charles Woodson is just sour that the Raiders lost the game partially due to the Tuck Rule. 

I'll spare you the wall of text, but Peter then re-prints comments made by Jim Caldwell at his introductory press conference, which basically reads as a biography.

One of the great descriptions I’ve ever heard about a person is velvet and steel, that an individual should be, particularly guys that play this game, like a piece of steel wrapped in velvet. So, on the field you’ll find a hard-nosed, tough, fast, physical individual. But then out in our community, you’ll see them as caring, as kind, as cordial as you’ll ever see a human being. That’s the combination we’re looking for, civility and toughness.”

—New Detroit coach Jim Caldwell, introducing himself at his first press conference with the Lions.

That, folks, is how you tell people who you are, and the kind of people you want on your team.

Caldwell does realize he is coaching the Lions, right? A football team? It's all well and good to want these types of players, but if these velvet and steel football players can't perform then Caldwell won't be a coach for the Lions for long. My opinion of Jim Caldwell is probably well-known around these parts. I'm sure he'll be great in working with Matthew Stafford and I'm glad he wants cordial players on his team, but at some point he has to coach them. There's where his head coaching track record concerns me.

“Why do they call it Happy Hour when what it is, is people drinking and bitching about their jobs? I never got that.”

—Tight ends coach Mike Pope, formerly of the Giants. He was released from his job last week, as you read in my tribute to him above.

I just liked the quote, and I couldn’t find any other place for it, so here it is.

Except that's a misinformed quote that shows a fundamental misunderstanding of what Happy Hour is outside of the stereotyped Hollywood version of Happy Hour. But yeah, it's a great quote if you enjoy quotes based on Hollywood stereotypes where the person being quoted is more misinformed than insightful. Happy Hour isn't a way for people to drink and bitch about their jobs. It's called Happy Hour because people mingle and talk over drinks. It's just not just raging alcoholics bitching about their job.

Let the record show that, for the $11 million he earned this season from the Seahawks, and for the first-, third- and seventh-round picks the trade cost Seattle, this was Percy Harvin’s 2013 output:

Seattle games: 18.
Harvin games: 2.
Number of Seattle offensive plays: 1,087.
Number of offensive plays for Harvin: 38.
Number of Harvin offensive touches: 5.
Offensive yards by Harvin: 47.
Harvin touchdowns: 0.

But again, Peter spent multiple weeks eviscerating Josh Freeman for being inactive when all it cost the Vikings to obtain him for the season was $2 million and he is now off their payroll. Harvin's lack of production isn't entirely his fault due to injuries, but I still can't figure out how other players escaped Peter's ire with their underproduction, but Freeman was on Peter's radar every week.

Mr. Starwood Preferred Member Travel Notes of the Week

2. The AFC media hotel over the weekend was the classic 122-year-old Brown Palace Hotel. Six presidents have stayed here. And The Beatles. And I thought: I have been here before. I was … 32 years ago, when the now-defunct Rocky Mountain News brought me in for a job interview when I worked in Cincinnati. Very cool place, with a big atrium lobby and a grand staircase up from the lobby to all floors. Thirty-two years. That’s the record between stays at a hotel for me.

BUT DID THE COFFEE IMPROVE OVER THE LAST 32 YEARS! THAT'S ALL THAT MATTERS ISN'T IT?

3. Traffic in Denver is insane. It’s underrated nationally.

Where are these national rankings of traffic in cities? I'd love to know since Denver is underrated in terms of traffic, where are they currently rated and where should the city be rated? I ask because how am I supposed to know if something is underrated if I don't know where it's rated. Otherwise, it just sounds like Peter is using hyperbole and making things up.

It took me 90 minutes at rush hour Friday afternoon to drive 14 miles from the southern ‘burbs of Denver to downtown. Crawled along as though I was on the Garden State Parkway, headed south for the shore, on a July Friday afternoon at 5.

Peter had difficulty driving one time during this past weekend so obviously if the traffic insane during the weekend of the AFC Championship game it has to be insane every other day also. It's so underrated. I think Minneapolis traffic is overrated. I went there one time and there was no traffic on the streets at 4am. So overrated.

“Will never forget loud curse by John Schneider in GB Draft room when Buffalo took Marshawn Lynch ahead of us in ’07. Now he’s got him.”

—@adbrandt, The MMQB’s Andrew Brandt, after Lynch ran for a pinballing touchdown in the NFC title game. Brandt was a Green Bay executive at the time, and Schneider a club scout.

The Packers ended up with Justin Harrell instead.

Ten Things I Think I Think

1. I think this is what I liked about championship weekend:

f. The power of Manning to make the stadium church-like quiet just before any Denver snap. Almost disquieting. If there’s an audible peep, he’ll raise his hands and simmer the loudmouth down.

This is the first and only time this has ever happened. Stunning.

"Manning waved his arms in the air in an attempt to quiet the crowd, but also in an attempt to best the demons Peter knew were inside him. Manning's arms were erect out to the side, showing off his rough but gentle hands, then would fall flaccidly to his side as he barked out another line call as if he were a football dominatrix, lording over everyone else, but also giving an intense feeling in his eyes of longing for you to be a part of him."

i. Robert Ayers, the second draft choice of Josh McDaniels, with a sack of Josh McDaniels’ quarterback.

This must mean something! Peter will immediately think of a narrative.

2. I think this is what I didn’t like about championship weekend:

b. Tom Brady overthrowing Julian Edelman on what could have been a touchdown midway through the first quarter. Good play design, good route by Edelman. Just overthrown.

c. Tom Brady, missing too many deep throws.

It's almost like he's human. I'm sure there are calls in New England to trade Brady, release Brady or give Ryan Mallett a chance to start over Brady next year. 

d. Hated the 3rd-and-20, slip screen to Edelman on the last play of the first quarter—with Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie out briefly.

Because there are so many 3rd-and-20 plays the Patriots should have used in this situation.

g. The archaic policy in the NFL that has only certain plays reviewed. Every play should be reviewable. Too much at stake to see a clear error on the JumboTron and, because some plays cannot be reviewed, you can’t fix it. And don’t say it’ll make the games interminably long. Each team gets two challenges per game, and a third if they win both of the first two. That’s not excessive. It should happen.

I agree with Peter on this one. What was more irritating when talking specifically about the ball that Bowman ripped out of the Seahawks player's hands is that it was obvious Bowman got possession of the football and any official paying attention should have seen this.

3. I think, barring a successful appeal of his $21,000 fine for unnecessary roughness for a hit to the head and neck of a defenseless receiver (Percy Harvin), Saints safety Rafael Bush played the NFC playoff game against Seattle for, well, let’s figure it out. (The NFL shouldn’t rescind or lower the fine, in my opinion; it’s the classic definition of a high hit to a defenseless receiver.) But here’s the balance sheet:

Payment for divisional game: $23,000.
—NFL fine: $21,000.
—Federal tax on $2,000 remaining: $792 (at 39.6 percent of Bush’s salary).
—FICA on $2,000: $153.
—Louisiana state tax on $2,000: $120 (at 6 percent of Bush’s salary).
 
Total fine, taxes: $22,065
Bush’s take-home pay for the game: $935.

First off, $935 isn't bad for a day's work. This is especially true since Bush is getting this money in addition or as a bonus to his yearly salary. I'm starting to believe fines should be a percentage of a player's pay and not a set amount. Because $21,000 for Rafael Bush is much different than $21,000 for a higher paid safety who can absorb that fine better. And yes, I realize all NFL players get paid the same amount for playoff games, but I'm talking in general as it relates to fines during the NFL season.

5. I think if you wondered why Ken Whisenhunt took the Tennessee job instead of Detroit, remember two things: He might not have gotten the Detroit job, and Tennessee was willing to pay him a premium to accept its job Monday instead of waiting for whatever happened in Detroit. “The Lions were still involved in their process,” Whisenhunt told me, “and they felt strongly about coach [Jim] Caldwell, and Tennessee moved quickly.” That’s code for, “I had better take the job with the offer on the table.” Secondly: I’m not convinced Detroit—with a better overall team than Tennessee, and certainly a better quarterback—is a better job. With Aaron Rodgers and Jay Cutler having five more prime seasons (if injury free) apiece, that’s four games every year against a Super Bowl-caliber quarterback. In the AFC South, there’s Andrew Luck, and then only question marks.

The idea a head coach takes a job based on the division rivals and how hard the division may be is silly in this age of NFL parity. Jeff Fisher had the choice between the Rams and the Dolphins a few years ago. He chose the Rams, but now the NFC West is the toughest division in the NFL, while the AFC East has the Patriots and some question marks after that. I don't know why Whisenhunt chose the Titans job over the Lions job, but any coach that chooses a team based on the division that team is in doesn't seem so smart to me. The NFL is known for parity and the AFC South could be strong in two seasons.

9. I think the greatest statement in Inappropriate Parking Lot Behavior History was issued Friday, on the heels of news that Jets tight end Kellen Winslow was cited for public lewdness and possession of synthetic marijuana in New Jersey after a woman in a Target parking lot alleged to police that she saw Winslow with his penis out in the car. His publicist, Denise White, said: “Kellen pulled over to a parking lot to smoke what he thought at the time was a legal substance. He changed his clothes in his vehicle as not to smell like smoke when he returned home. There was absolutely nothing inappropriate that took place, and if there was police would have investigated further and charged Kellen, which they did not....Dom Cosentino of NJ.com reported that two open jars of vaseline were found on the console of his vehicle by police, and when an investigating officer approached the car, “Winslow sprang to an upright position.”

It sounds like Winslow was already in an upright position if you know what I mean. But hey, Winslow is a soldier and a soldier has to do what he has to do when working on the front lines of battle.

10. I think these are my non-football thoughts of the week:

e. Great work by my former colleague, Jeffri Chadiha, now with ESPN, on his E:60 story on Niners linebacker NaVorro Bowman searching for the father he vaguely knew, and the family he never knew existed. Really good story-telling.

Not sure this is a non-football thought since it pertains to a football player.

h. Darren Sharper’s in trouble. The former safety was suspended by NFL Network without pay after being charged with suspicion of rape in California. And Saturday, the New Orleans police said he’s suspected in a sexual assault there. From my experience with Sharper—all good—that’s something I never saw coming.

I'm glad Peter cleared that up. I wouldn't expect Peter to tell us that based on his experience with Darren Sharper he completely expects that Sharper would rape someone.

The Adieu Haiku

Peyton v Sherman.
Big contrast: Erin Andrews
doesn’t fear Manning.

Because Erin Andrews only "fears" big, angry black men. That doesn't sound slightly racist at all coming from Peter. At least Richard Sherman doesn't have a history of mooning people, though in Manning's defense he did have to run extra laps.

3 comments Bill Belichick and Tom Brady Give Howard Bryant a Sad Face

We have already been told by Jarrett Bell that the Patriot Way is over and done. No more. This is all because the Patriots dared to employ Aaron Hernandez, an athlete that every member of the Patriots organization should have seen was a murderer prior to drafting him. Now Howard Bryant is equally disappointed in the Patriots, well actually just Tom Brady and Bill Belichick. He didn't feel neither Belichick or Brady acted appropriately when they found out Aaron Hernandez had been charged with murder. Please remember the Patriots cut Hernandez 30 minutes after he was arrested. The Patriots decided to take on dead cap space and release one of the better tight ends in the NFL in less time than it takes to order a pizza, but that's not enough for Howard Bryant. Bill Belichick was on vacation and didn't rush home to give a statement to the press. Very sad this makes Howard Bryant.

Most days, the sports industrial complex is merely nauseating, with its overheated cliches of leadership and adversity, respect and disrespect; with its inappropriate war analogies routinely transforming both the English language and any sense of perspective into self-indulgent mush.

But not when Howard Bryant has a pedestal to step up on and announce that these cliches of leadership and adversity are now not cliches, but an important part of the foundation of what makes sports and a team so great. These buzz words are cliches sometimes and then not cliches at other times. It depends entirely on the point Bryant wants to prove.

When Aaron Hernandez was charged with murder in June, Bill Belichick and Tom Brady, the public faces of the New England Patriots, initially said nothing.

NOTHING! They said nothing and completely ignored the press's absolute right for an athlete to immediately make a statement and appear before the cameras whenever the press feels this athlete should appear before the cameras and make a statement.

Belichick was on vacation. 

And of course Belichick must immediately stop going on the only vacation he will probably get all year so he can make a statement to the media about how he doesn't want his players to be arrested for murder. That's leadership, people. 

Here was the player he scouted, drafted and rewarded with a $40 million contract being connected to two shootings and three murders, and apparently the coach didn't think it was important enough to return home.

Probably because it wasn't important enough to return home. Robert Kraft, the guy who happens to own the Patriots and therefore is Belichick's boss and the guy who is also responsible for giving Hernandez a paycheck and signing off on a contract extension, made a statement for the team. There was no need for Belchick to come scurrying home from his vacation to appease the media with a statement. If Belichick had come back from vacation in a timely fashion this entire Hernandez ordeal could have been avoided and Odin Lloyd would be alive.

When Brady, general of the red zone, father of three,

No matter how relevant you want to make how many children Tom Brady has, it will continue to be irrelevant.

finally did speak about Hernandez nearly a month later, Bela Lugosi couldn't have made his first public comments sound more inhuman: "I've seen a lot of things over 13 years," the quarterback told Peter King of Sports Illustrated, "and what I have learned is that mental toughness and putting aside personal agendas for what's in the best interest of the team matters most … I have moved on. I'm focusing on the great teammates I have who are committed to helping us win games. The only thing I care about is winning. Nothing is going to ever get in the way of that goal."

What would Howard Bryant have preferred Brady say? I'm not being hypothetical, I want to know what he really would want Brady to say. Howard Bryant never reveals what he would prefer Brady say or how he prefers Brady would act. Does he want Brady to fall down in a mass of tears, cuss out Hernandez for committing murder or start talking about he teaches his three children not to commit murder?

Brady is basically saying "Aaron Hernandez is dead to me and we were told not to comment on his situation. I don't care about him because he isn't on the Patriots team anymore. I only care about the players who are currently on the team."

This is his statement and his teammates aren't going to think he isn't showing leadership because he chooses to not hold a 30 minute press conference on the topic of Aaron Hernandez. The only ones who will judge Brady for not making further comments is the media, and they will judge simply because they want something to talk and write about.

Subsequent Brady comments, after the organization got its story straight, at least allowed that the situation was a "terrible thing," but his first, unscripted words spoke loudest.

And these words said that Tom Brady doesn't care about NFL players who aren't on his team, and because Aaron Hernandez is no longer on the Patriots team, Tom Brady doesn't care about Aaron Hernandez anymore.

In other words, tough break, Odin Whatever-your-name-was, but Tom has game film to watch. He's moved on.

What the hell do you want Tom Brady to do? He didn't kill Odin Whatever-your-name-was. It's not solely up to Tom Brady to show sympathy to Odin Lloyd and Brady's affiliation with Hernandez ends when Hernandez was released as a member of the Patriots. Again, maybe Howard Bryant feels disappointed, but I think he's expecting Tom Brady to be more than he is required to be.

Brady made a teammate's being charged with a murder while also being linked to a drive-by double murder a year earlier sound no different from overcoming Richard Seymour's being traded to the Raiders.

Not to be snide, though this probably will come off snide, but both Hernandez and Seymour are no longer on the Patriots team. It's sort of consistent to treat them the same way if you know the history of how the Patriots operate. They limit outside distractions as much as possible. I am a little confused as to what Howard Bryant wants. He wants Brady and Belichick to be more human, but I'm not sure exactly what that means. Does the fact none of Hernandez's teammates at the University of Florida seemed to come out and show sympathy to the Lloyd family mean they didn't act human? I realize Hernandez last played for the Patriots, but if there is an onus on the Patriots to go above and beyond in indicting Hernandez then there must be some sort of need for every coach or team leader Hernandez has played on a team with to say something. What about Reverend Tebow? Should he have been more vocal considering he not only played with Hernandez (briefly) in New England, but also played with him not-so-briefly at Florida?

On July 24, with Odin Lloyd long buried, Belichick spoke for the first time, and the media, defeated and supplicant, all but tripped over themselves in lauding him for being "forthcoming," "candid" and "heartfelt."

He was relatively candid given how candid Belichick usually is. Everything is relative after all. 

Had it not been so disgusting, it might have been funny. 

I'm not sure "disgusting" is how Belichick's comments should be described given the fact Belichick was commenting on a murder that was committed by Aaron Hernandez. I think "disgusting" is how Hernandez should be described, not how Belichick should be described. 

All the great coach -- this molder of men -- did was finally take a few minutes out of his busy schedule, a month after Lloyd's last breath, to say he felt terrible that a 27-year-old was lowered into the ground too soon, murdered, allegedly, by one of his players. Belichick was praised for acting like a human being.

Belichick doesn't really pride himself on being a "molder of men" and any more than he prides himself on being a molder of a really good gameplan using men he has chosen who thinks can best execute the gameplan. By the time these men hit Belichick's locker room in New England they are already men and much of the molding should have taken place already. 

When the media were done applauding Belichick for doing the least amount possible, it was suggested that the Patriots did not owe the public a response, because it would give the impression that the organization was somehow responsible for Hernandez's alleged crimes.

I don't think the suggestion is that the Patriots didn't owe the public a response, but the suggestion was that the Patriots didn't need to get on their hands and knees while gnashing their teeth at what a grown man has chosen to do to another human being. The Patriots didn't exactly have culpability for Hernandez's actions and they owed the public a statement, much like the one given by Robert Kraft, in response to Hernandez's actions.

Here's the truth: The Patriots do owe the public, because they and every other sports team in America take from the public, profit from the public, sell their name to the public. The Patriots sell their players not just as athletes but as people whose names fans should wear proudly on their backs,

While this is all true, I'm still not sure what kind of apology or statement Howard Bryant was expecting. Robert Kraft had already made a statement and the Patriots made a statement by immediately releasing Hernandez when he was arrested, so I'm not sure a heartfelt plea for the world to forgive the Patriots organization, Brady and Belichick for employing Hernandez would have felt like it had a place in this given situation. It would have seemed odd. 

Teams bathe in the fiction that they value character, can spot it and develop it; yet here, when character actually mattered, the great coach and his legendary quarterback looked as small as a hash mark.

Putting the actions of Hernandez on the Patriots in any way is a major fallacy in logic me thinks. NFL teams do want their players to be virtuous and be good citizens in the community, but when an NFL player screws up and doesn't meet the standards for what his team wants him to be I'm not sure it is a reflection on the team. I think I've written this four times already in this short post, but I would love to know exactly what Howard Bryant wanted Tom Brady and Bill Belichick to say. What would they say to seem more human? I would bet Bryant has no clue what he wanted Brady and Belichick to say, other than not make the statement they ended up making.

Had Hernandez saved a toddler from drowning instead of allegedly putting a bullet into a friend, the Patriots would have claimed him.

Probably. It's not like the Patriots didn't claim Hernandez in this specific situation. They made a statement by immediately releasing Hernandez and Robert Kraft made a statement saying the Patriots were "duped" by Hernandez. If they were asked about Hernandez saving a toddler from drowning I imagine Belichick and Brady would have made a statement about how Hernandez is a great guy and then try to focus on football again. 

But since Brady, who has "moved on," values only victory, then maybe the public should not care about his golf tournaments, charity events and foundations, the image scrubbings that are part of the hero game.

Yes, absolutely. Because Tom Brady didn't give Howard Bryant and the general public the type of response they wanted then anything good for the community that Tom Brady does should be ignored. Look, Brady was being asked questions about Hernandez while at football practice and preparing for the season. Brady cares about moving on in the context of playing football, not in every aspect of his off-the-field life. Don't be willfully ignorant and pretend Brady is talking about moving on in every aspect of his life and throw a temper tantrum about ignoring Brady's charities. 

Here was a coach who talked community while disappearing from it. 

Belichick made a statement and he didn't even really have to do that. The fact Belichick didn't come back from vacation should not be significant. Robert Kraft made a statement as the Patriots owner and that is how it should be. 

And if anyone was surprised that a murder could actually get his attention, maybe Belichick was never a leader in the first place.

I don't think anyone is surprised that a murder got Belichick's attention, so this comment about Belichick possibly not being a leader in the first place doesn't make a lot of sense. Nice concise way to end the column though. Next time something monumental and controversial happens at ESPN I will look to Howard Bryant to provide leadership and provide a statement apologizing or commenting on the topic. If he cared about the ESPN community he would do that.

5 comments Drew Sharp Finds Himself a Boogeyman for the One-and-Done Rule

I know many of you don't like John Calipari. I don't like John Calipari, though I dislike Rick Pitino and anything related to UConn basketball more, and I don't especially like Kentucky. I'm not here to defend Calipari or Kentucky (though maybe I will a bit), but I am getting a bit peeved at Calipari being blamed for the one-and-done rule. He recruits players who want to be one-and-done, that's his niche in the recruiting market, but he has come out and said he doesn't like the rule and prefers a different rule. That's not enough for some people and it leads to lazy journalism when writers blame Calipari for working within the rules. I don't like the rule, but I also am not who is naive enough to believe if John Calipari didn't recruit Marcus Teague, John Wall, DeMarcus Cousins, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist to Kentucky they would all be four year players. The complaint is Calipari has too many one-and-done players on one team. I'm not sure how it is better for college basketball if these players were spread out among different teams. They would still be one-and-done, they just wouldn't be on the same team. Maybe that makes some people feel better about the one-and-done rule.

As I have said like a broken record, the one-done-rule is a rule created and enforced by NBA Dictator David Stern. If you want someone to blame for the one-and-done rule and players leaving college after one year, blame Stern. Dictator Stern and the NBA union created this rule, leaving high school seniors who want to play in the NBA the choice of playing overseas for a year or going to college for one year. Few college basketball fans and coaches seem to like this rule, but there is nothing to be done as long as the NBA doesn't care enough to change it.

I am a fan of the two-and-through rule, but it is clear the NBA has no intention of changing the one-and-done rule...because the NBA cares. The NBA cares about pretending to care about players entering their league and whether they went to college or not. Players coming to the NBA after high school created bad press for the NBA (Eddie Griffin, Eddy Curry...pretty much anyone whose name begins with "Edd-", Sebastian Telfair). Then there were players who exposed the shady underworld of NBA agents who promised them high draft positions only to let these kids down when they got drafted later than expected. Remember these names?

Korleone Young
Leon Smith
Ousmane Cisse
James Lang
Ndudi Ebi
Ricky Sanchez

So rather than continue allowing the world to see the shady agent dealings and improve their public image, the NBA told the NCAA "You keep these players for a year, market them endlessly and THEN they will be ready for the NBA." This had two advantages for the NBA. The first advantage was they got better public relations from pretending to care about their player's education, and the second advantage is it gave the public a chance to see these players on college rosters before they played in the NBA. So Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, and Anthony Davis became a household names with built-in fan bases before the NBA Draft. So not only did the NBA get a chance to enforce a rule on the college basketball establishment where idiot sportswriters would blame the NCAA for the rule, but the NBA got to use the NCAA as a marketing tool for potential NBA players AND the NCAA still gets to use the athlete's image and jersey number to make money for the college. It's a win-win-lose proposition!

This is where John Calipari comes in. He doesn't mind recruiting players who are one-and-done and this makes Drew Sharp of the Detroit Free Press dislike him. This is lazy journalism to look past the creators of the rule and blame those who work within the framework of the rule. That doesn't matter to Sharp, when he has the opportunity to do a hack job he takes advantage of that opportunity. I fail to see the point of rooting against John Calipari (other than for basketball reasons) simply because you don't like how he works within the rules the NBA has set out. I'm not cheering for Kentucky to win, but not because of the makeup of Calipari's roster. Calipari is not a great guy or a demigod, but making him the face of the one-and-done rule ignores those who created and enforce the one-and-done rule (the NBA) in favor of lazily creating an easy villain (John Calipari).

Rooting for John Calipari to finally win a national championship is like cheering for the head of the IRS to get a tax refund.

I would cheer for the head of the IRS (or the "Commissioner" as those who do research would say) to get a tax refund if someone owes him or her a tax refund. Great analogy anyway. It took what 5 seconds to think of this one?

Both institutions feign shock at the villainy attached to them, arguing they're merely following the rules as prescribed.

I don't know much about the IRS Commissioner, it appears he does prescribe rules for the tax code. I do know about John Calipari and he is really following the rules as they are prescribed to him. Calipari in no way has anything to do with the creation or enforcement of the one-and-done rule. It takes a special kind of an idiot to know the NBA created and enforces the one-and-done rule and then blame a Division-I coach for following the rules. This special kind of idiot acknowledges these players that Calipari recruits aren't in college to receive an education, but insists on judging Calipari based on the sham these recruits are attempting to receive an education.

Calipari has had two Final Fours vacated, I can't defend him on those. Overall, for Drew Sharp to pretend Calipari isn't just following the rules is pure idiocy. John Calipari isn't the one who created the one-and-done rule and he isn't the one who enforced the one-and-done rule. He is an easy mark for a lazy sportswriter to blame as a villain because he has no qualms recruiting high school kids who may not want to stay in college for more than one year. Don't hate on Calipari because it is easy to do, hate the system that doesn't allow a high school athlete to go directly to the NBA.

Wherever Calipari has walked during his coaching career, the NCAA has followed right behind, usually with a pooper-scooper.

Well, this is somewhat true. Marcus Camby accepted gifts and money from sports agents ($28,000), which later turned out to be partly money for his brother's groceries. And yes, that is a lot of groceries.

Derrick Rose had someone else complete his SAT and his brother (keep family members away from the basketball team!) traveled with the team for free, which was another violation.

Of course John Calipari wasn't involved with either of these violations, but it is suspected Calipari knew of the violations.

Both programs had their best seasons stripped from history because of serious transgressions under Calipari's watch.

This is true. It is also true Calipari took five UMass teams to the NCAA Tournament, while achieving an Elite Eight that wasn't vacated (what an accomplishment!). Calipari took Memphis to two Elite Eights that weren't vacated and has taken Kentucky to an Elite Eight and two Final Fours in the time he has been at Kentucky. So it is not like Calipari hasn't had other successes as a head coach.

You would think that Kentucky would worry considering the man's track record, but I doubt that Big Blue cares as long as the big victories keep coming.

Kentucky is like every other major NCAA basketball program.

Kentucky is no different than most big programs and fan bases.

I said it first!

Kentucky serves as both the Final Four's biggest star and villain.

Only because Duke isn't in the tournament anymore. Otherwise they would be the villain. Also, here is a dirty little secret about Duke and Coach K...he recruits one-and-done players as well. In fact, Coach K has had two players be one-and-done over the last two seasons and if Duke lands Tony Parker, Shabazz Muhammad or Amile Jefferson over the next coming weeks that could be three or four (depending on scholarships) players who are one-and-done over the past three years. So it isn't like Calipari is the only coach who recruits one-and-done players, it is just he recruits too many one-and-done players. Whatever that means.

How about Harrison Barnes? He only came back for his sophomore year at UNC-Chapel Hill to help extend his "brand" before he goes to the NBA. Is Roy Williams or UNC a villain because they recruited a kid who clearly cared more about his "brand" than getting an education? Of course not.

Why don't people go after Jim Calhoun like they do John Calipari? Is it because he doesn't recruit one-and-done players? Calhoun does recruit one-and-done players. Calhoun has run up a few NCAA violations himself and his players don't have a sufficient academic performance in the eyes of the NCAA. Why not go after Jim Calhoun, especially since he is the spawn of Satan (I have no proof, but I am working on it)? I think lazy sportswriters like Drew Sharp go after Calipari only because of the one-and-done issue, which as I have stated before isn't any of Calipari's doing. Calhoun recruits one-and-done players, but not too many of these players, so he isn't put in the same class as Calipari.

The Wildcats are the most talented, most explosive of the remaining teams. But they also embody what frustrates so many about the maligned future of college basketball.

Talk to the NBA about this issue. They have created and enforced the rules for when high school athletes can enter the NBA Draft. College basketball purists hate the one-and-done rule and create Calipari as the villain because it is much easier to do this than taking the time to understand Calipari plays within the rules set out by the NBA.

Calipari rents freshmen.

Any college basketball team rents their players. Would Drew Sharp rather the school own the players?

He wants a program with a constant revolving door,

You can tell from this quote that Calipari wants a constant revolving door:

“I can’t stand the rule,” Calipari said. “One year is not what this should be about”

Or when he said this:

“It needs to be changed,” Calipari said. “It’s not a good rule.”

Clearly, Calipari loves the one-and-done rule.

a steady parade of McDonald's All-Americas using Lexington as a one-year way station until the NBA Draft rolls around.

Which is how the one-and-done rule has set it up for high school basketball players who don't want to go to the NBA. Calipari has the option of not recruiting players who could be drafted in the NBA Draft, but he doesn't choose this option. Not choosing this option doesn't make him a bad person and it is fine if you don't like his method of recruiting. Just don't make him the villain and try to give him a bad name because you don't like how he recruits. It's his niche in the recruiting market, it doesn't mean we have to like it, but the NBA is the creator of the rule.

Calipari denies being the bad guy. His pat answer is: Don't blame him. Blame the NBA. He's only following the law as it's written.

This is absolutely true. In fact, Calipari has hit the nail on the head when it comes to why the NBA even made the rule.

Calipari said that the NBA will never allow players out of high school to come into the league, because they couldn’t evaluate the talent and blew a lot of money.

These are facts and it is lazy to blatantly ignore these facts in order to have a ready-made villain. I don't like the one-and-done rule, but I have a hard time blaming a head coach who lets the rule work for him.

But it's ridiculous believing one year of playing college ball has made these guys more mature than when they could qualify for the draft a year earlier.

Then complain to the NBA and to the Player's Union. That's the source of the rule.

It has turned the college game into even more of a sham. If you're only to stay for one year, you only have to attend -- or pretend to attend -- classes for one semester.

So if I am following this...Drew Sharp doesn't like the one-and-done rule, he has absolutely no reasoning for why John Calipari is to blame for this one-and-done rule, but he still blindly thinks Calipari is more than following the rules prescribed? Basically, it isn't Calipari's fault, but let's blame him anyway.

The smart policy would be something comparable to what Major League Baseball employs. You're eligible to sign a professional contract immediately following high school, but if you enroll at a college, you must wait until after your junior year before you're once again eligible for the draft.

I don't think that's the smart policy. I think two and through would be plenty. Forcing college basketball players to stay in school for three years would cause players who are 50-50 on whether they want to go to the NBA or college to go to the NBA after high school. That's my belief. Players grow from their freshman to sophomore year and I see no reason why if a player believes he is good enough for the NBA he can't leave after two years of college. I think three years is too many.

History tells us that it's only a question of time before NCAA investigators chase Calipari's scent at Kentucky...Both times Calipari walked away unscathed, leaving for a better opportunity and a fatter paycheck.

Again, this is true. If this is why you want to root against Calipari because of his past and how he recruits then more power to you. I won't be cheering for Calipari, but don't hate him because you don't like the one-and-done rule. Don't look down on him for the violations around his program if you cheer for a major college basketball program. Your naivety to college basketball recruiting is cute and I hope one day the realization that most big-time basketball programs cut corners in one way or another doesn't slap you directly in the face when your school gets suspected of a violation.

Being elusive enough to stay one step ahead of the NCAA posse doesn't make a coach deserving of a national championship -- even if he has corralled the biggest assortment of basketball talent.

Arguable. I still say UNC has the biggest assortment of basketball talent in the NCAA Tournament in terms of depth. Of course they aren't in the NCAA Tournament anymore.

We joke about Calipari staying one step ahead of the NCAA posse, but if he was found to have done any wrongdoing at Memphis or UMass the NCAA could impose sanctions on him if they chose to while he is at Kentucky. The NCAA is all-powerful...except when it comes to forcing the NBA to change the one-and-done rule. Dictator Stern won't allow that rule to change at this present time.

I see a Kentucky-Ohio State final a week from tonight.

Ohio State? The school which since 2007 Greg Oden, B.J. Mullens, Mike Conley, Kosta Koufos, and Daequan Cook enter the draft after their freshman seasons at Ohio State? Thad Matta is everything that is wrong with college basketball for taking on these one-and-done players.

If it means keeping the national championship door shut in Calipari's face, I'll certainly be rooting for that.

Anything to make sure a program that doesn't have a bunch of one-and-done players, so Sharp probably shouldn't cheer for Ohio State. I'm tired of coming off like I'm defending Calipari. I don't like the guy, but he isn't the villain of the one-and-done rule and it is intellectually dishonest to believe he is any way responsible for the implementation and continuing use of the one-and-done rule by the NBA. It's easy to pin the blame to point him out as the villain than it is to take the time to see Dictator Stern and the Player's Union are responsible for the rule. They own it.

8 comments Rick Telander Gets Bored, Does a Hack Job on Jay Cutler

Rick Telander, who I generally find to be a rather pleasant columnist, doesn't like Jay Cutler. Maybe he likes Jay Cutler, but he at the least finds him distasteful in many ways. It appears one of those ways Telander finds Cutler distasteful involves Cutler's mere existence on this planet. Actually I am exaggerating, it is hard to pinpoint exactly what Rick Telander doesn't like about Jay Cutler. Even Telander doesn't know. He just says Cutler is missing "something." This seems sort of vague to me and not the best premise to begin a column that is supposed to be (presumably) substantive. This column basically consists of Rick Telander saying the following:

1. Tom Brady and Eli Manning have "something."

2. Jay Cutler is missing "something."

3. One time an anonymous person in the Bears organization said something negative about Cutler.

4. Jay Cutler is focused too much on Hollywood and isn't nice to the media. This has nothing to do with him being successful, but we are absolutely sure even without any evidence this means his Bears teammates secretly hate him.

5. Sure, Tom Brady is successful and considered "too Hollywood" by some too, but he doesn't count and shouldn't be compared to Jay Cutler because...well, just because.

6. Jay Cutler sucks and will never win a Super Bowl.

Guess who’s in the Super Bowl?

The Giants and the Patriots!

Tom Brady and Eli Manning.

Any surprises there?

Yes, in fact. This is somewhat of a surprise because the Packers nearly went perfect this year and the 49ers were 13-3, yet both teams were defeated by the 9-7 Giants who had a -6 point differential on the season. The Giants struggled for part of the year and had to inch their way into winning the NFC East and the playoffs. So yes, the fact Eli Manning is in the Super Bowl is a bit of a surprise.

Hardly.

Not hardly.

The quarterbacks for the New England Patriots and New York Giants, respectively, will be making their seventh combined Super Bowl appearances (five for Brady, two for Manning), with four victories — and a fifth guaranteed — and three MVP awards between them.

Telander makes it sound like Manning/Brady have three NFL MVP's between them. They have three Super Bowl MVP's between them, not three NFL MVP's between them. You have to make the Super Bowl to win the MVP, so it is hard to knock a quarterback who hasn't made the Super Bowl for not winning the MVP in the Super Bowl.

Four years ago, they faced each other in Super Bowl XLII in Glendale, Ariz. In that game, Manning threw two fourth-quarter touchdown passes to lead the Giants to a 17-14 victory and ruin the Patriots’ perfect season.

This season, the two were at the top of their game. Brady passed for 5,235 yards and 39 touchdowns with 12 interceptions; Manning threw for 4,933 yards and 29 touchdowns with 16 interceptions.

In the playoffs, Brady has a 105.8 passer rating; Manning is at 103.1.

This article is about Jay Cutler by the way. Not Eli Manning and not about Tom Brady, but about Jay Cutler. Then Rick Telander babbles on and on about how well Manning and Brady have played this year and over their career.

For the record, Jay Cutler has a 84.8 passer rating in the playoffs. I think we would agree he is a step below Manning and Brady. Of course, this article isn't about what Cutler can do, but is about what Cutler is missing. That "something" which can't be pinpointed nor sufficiently described by Rick Telander.

But it takes something special to be a Super Bowl quarterback — one with a good chance to win, that is — and besides skill, good luck and a lack of injuries, it has to do with that intangible that simply can be labeled ‘‘Leader.’’

AND JAY CUTLER ISN'T A LEADER BECAUSE HE DOESN'T TALK TO THE MEDIA NICELY AND ONE ANONYMOUS PERSON IN THE BEARS ORGANIZATION DOESN'T LIKE HIM. ALSO, TV STARS...HE DATES THEM!

Whoops...sorry, I think I got to Rick Telander's main point before he did.

There is no question the Bears’ Jay Cutler is the most talented quarterback any of us who is not a senior citizen has seen in this city.

I'm not going to argue over whether Jay Cutler is a leader or not. It is very irrelevant to me if he is really a leader or not, mostly because the only ones who know are in the Bears locker room. I find being seen as a leader often goes hand-in-hand with winning games. A quarterback who wins games has an easier time being a leader. I know the Bears were 7-3 with Cutler as the starting quarterback this year and 1-5 without him. So I know the Bears won games with him as the quarterback.

Fired general manager Jerry Angelo basically staked his career on that premise, and it’s possible his only major flaw was that he didn’t also snag a decent backup to lead the Bears when Cutler got hurt. Hindsight is terrific, isn’t it?

To be fair to Caleb Hanie showed signs he could be that decent backup when playing against the Packers in the 2010 NFC Championship Game in relief of an injured Cutler. Granted, we didn't see Hanie everyday in practice, but I know Hanie looked like he could handle being the backup at the time.

But what’s more troubling is that when compared to quarterbacks such as Brady and Manning — or Rodgers, Brees and maybe even Matthew Stafford, Ben Roethlisberger and others — Cutler seems to lack that extra ‘‘something.’’

Since every quarterback Rick Telander listed there, excluding Matthew Stafford, has a Super Bowl ring...I'm guessing that "something" is a Super Bowl ring. My biggest argument with Telander criticizing Cutler for not having "something" (other than his ability to be smart enough to know for sure what Cutler is missing "something" but not smart enough to know what that "something" is) would be that Ben Roethlisberger struggled as a leader for the Steelers early in his career. Roethlisberger is on Telander's list of players who have "something" that makes them special. Roethisberger didn't exactly have the Steelers locker room on his side when he started his career in Pittsburgh and a few events (the accusations of sexual assault, the motorcycle incident) haven't helped Roethlisberger get the entire Steelers locker room on his side in the past. What did help get them on his side was the Steelers continuing to win games. Roethlisberger has won games and that apparently gives him that "something" he lacks? Is that all it takes?

His lack of media skills and personality are well-known, and that’s fine. But does he have the locker room behind him?

Most quotes I have read about Cutler are complementary towards him. The Bears defensive leader, Brian Urlacher, seems to like Cutler as well, which has to go a long way in the locker room:

"It stinks for us, 'cause he’s having such a great year," Urlacher said. "He’s our leader. He’s a guy we turn to for pretty much everything. It stinks.

"People underestimate how big of a leader he is on this team. He’s everything people think he’s not. He’s a great teammate. He says all the right things at the right time. He gets on guys when he needs to. It’s going to be hard to replace that. They say he pouts. He doesn’t pout. He’s pissed off when things don’t go his way on the field. He gets more criticism than the rest of us. He practices hurt, practices all the time, never complains. The more I’m around him, the more I like him."

That was Urlacher after Cutler got hurt this year. It seems like Urlacher likes Cutler or at least likes him enough to say a lot of nice things about him. So I am guessing Cutler has the locker room and there is more evidence he does have the locker room's respect than evidence he doesn't.

It seems Cutler’s blank-faced nothingness must affect those around him. It certainly has affected certain professional people who have had contact with him and have wanted nothing more than a simple smile or ‘‘hello.’’

He's not personable. Nearly every quarterback acts different in front of the media as compared to how he acts in front of his teammates. This is why writers like Telander say Cutler is missing "something," and that is because they want him to say "hello" to them. They get their feelings hurt Cutler isn't the most personable guy in the world and just assume Cutler acts like this to his teammates as well. That's a big assumption in my book.

‘‘He’s a sh--,’’ says one member of the Bears’ extended staff, a man who wishes to remain anonymous. ‘‘You see him, and he doesn’t even acknowledge your presence.’’

An anonymous quote. People who have enough guts to knock someone publicly, but don't have the balls to do so with their name beside the quote are always the best sources of knowledgeable and accurate information.

If you don’t like unattributed quotes — and I’m not a fan of them myself in most situations —

But in this situation the unattributed quote proves Rick Telander's point of view, so that quote goes directly in the column as empirical evidence of what a little shit Jay Cutler truly is.

simply dismiss that last statement.

It's dismissed. What Cutler is really missing is a good offensive line and some good receivers. Why would we rely on actual football-related items to criticize Cutler though? His personal life and weakly tying his personal life into a perceived inability to be a leader is a better way to criticize Cutler. That on-the-field stuff is so boring to talk about since it doesn't entirely support Telander's point of view.

But Cutler’s disconnect is a trait that has to be dissected because it might be the one thing that will prevent the Bears from achieving the heights of success

See, I dismissed that quote. So there is no disconnect. Therefore any further discussion based on the unattributed quote is irrelevant to me. You can't throw out an unattributed statement, tell us to disregard if we choose to, and then write the rest of the column based on this unattributed statement you admit the reader may or may not find convincing. So there is no disconnect concerning Cutler in my mind.

Does it concern anyone that while sports media members are cranking up their inspection of Brady and Manning, what we get from Cutler is gossip-item stuff suited for People or Us Weekly?

No. Because you are picking and choosing which information you will reveal to the reader.

Here is Tom Brady's US Weekly page.

Here is what a search for Eli Manning on US Weekly's site revealed.

Tom Brady has been heavily featured in US Weekly and People magazine, yet Rick Telander seems to ignore this. US Weekly has a pretty far range when it comes to discussing stories and both Brady and Manning have been a part of the US Weekly crowd in some fashion.

To wit, Cutler and his back-again Hollywood girlfirend, Kristin Cavallari, ‘‘are pregnant,’’

Not sure the words "are pregnant" is supposed to be in quotes. That is unless Kristin Cavallari really isn't pregnant, in which case the jig will be up in just a few months unless she starts to eat a lot of food to gain weight, in which case the public will eventually be tipped off that she wasn't pregnant when she isn't walking around with a newborn child...unless Cavallari steals someone's else's baby and claims it as her own, which I am not entirely sure I would put past her.

There is no wedding news, of course, because that is the Hollywood way.

Jay Cutler is Hollywood. This makes him not a leader. Of course, Tom Brady has a child with a woman he never married, which is only really relevant because Rick Telander is using Tom Brady as the model for what a true leader quarterback looks like. So calling Cutler "Hollywood" and mildly criticizing him for not marrying the mother of his child (yet) doesn't preclude Cutler from being a leader or cause him to lack "something."

Cutler hates publicity, but he is with a woman who lives for it.

Apparently this makes Cutler a hypocrite in some way?

No sportswriter wants to get into anyone else’s love life,

It's the typical, "I don't normally do something like this" statement immediately followed by that person doing something like this. Cue Rick Telander getting into someone else's love life...

but if Cutler is so media-shy, why did he feel it necessary to tweet Monday: ‘‘For the record, I never broke up with Kristin.’’

To get on the record what happened? Does it matter? You say Cutler is media-shy, but that doesn't mean he can't ever converse in some way through the media. He picks and chooses when he talks to the media like every other athlete does.

See, they had a wedding planned for July, and Cutler dumped her — or not. Well, let’s let the Aug. 8, 2011, issue of Life & Style Weekly tell the tale: ‘‘Alone, heartbroken and no longer wearing her magnificent 5.2-carat Asscher-cut diamond engagement ring, Kristin leaned on her good friends Nicky Hilton and Alessandra Ambrosio. Instead of letting her curl up with a pint of ice cream on the couch at home .  .  . the girls convinced Kristin to join them for a night on the town at L.A.’s Beverly Lounge.’’

I know, who cares?

So because Jay Cutler had a broken engagement, he isn't a leader and is missing "something."

And didn’t Brady have a child out of wedlock with an actress named Bridget Moynahan before marrying a Brazilian supermodel?

Yes, he did.

And I feel creepily like a TMZ stringer just bringing that up.

And yet, he did bring it up anyway. Clearly, Rick Telander doesn't feel too much like a TMZ stringer for bringing this up.

But Brady is a freak. And he has matured.

Tom Brady had won his Super Bowls before he "matured" though. So he became a mature, Super Bowl winning quarterback before he made these TMZ mistakes. Also, the whole Brady has "matured" thing is really vague and seems just like a cheap attempt to differentiate between Brady and Cutler, while refusing to acknowledge the idea Cutler's personal life probably has little effect on his professional life.

The Dallas Cowboys’ Tony Romo went down that celeb path awhile back, and it seems he has wised up a bit, too — now that he has been aced out of the playoffs over and over.

So now that Romo has married a beauty pageant queen and the sister of a television star he should win at least four Super Bowls in his career...as soon as he leads the Cowboys back to the playoffs again of course. Let's not forget Cutler led the Bears to the NFC Championship Game last year, while Romo has never helped his team make the NFC Championship Game. I am guessing Rick Telander sees a connection between quarterbacks going away from the celeb path and winning Super Bowls and being a leader. This doesn't explain why Aaron Rodgers has had success in the NFL despite running a path through dating models, actresses, and singers. I'm not sure why he isn't being accused of living the Hollywood life by Rick Telander.

What's funny about Telander indicating Romo is more focused now that he is off the celeb path is I am sure some people could make a reasonable argument that Tony Romo is distracted from his duties as Cowboys quarterback by his love of golf. I don't agree with this argument, but I am sure a cogent argument could be made that he hasn't wised up in terms of focusing on football over golf.

For Cutler, let’s hope for a happy birth and eventual marriage. Or whatever it is that ‘‘Dancing With the Stars’’ stars do.

Cutler was never on "Dancing with the Stars." His girlfriend was. This doesn't mean Cutler is missing that extra "something" as a quarterback. It means nothing. What does mean something is Cutler got injured while the Bears were 7-3 and the Bears did terrible without him. Apparently there is "something" Cutler has which enables the Bears to win games with him as the quarterback.

Maybe they lead you to Super Bowls, you know?

Or not.

So let me get the point of this column straight...Jay Cutler is missing "something," while Rick Telander has no clue exactly what this "something" may be, he does know it means Cutler probably can't lead the Bears to the Super Bowl. While Telander doesn't know what this "something" actually is, he is fairly sure that something deals with Cutler being too "Hollywood" or has to do with his teammates not liking him. Of course there isn't really any proof Cutler is any more distracted compared to other successful quarterbacks, but proof is so overrated. Basically, Rick Telander just doesn't like Jay Cutler. That's what I gained from this.

8 comments Kobe Bryant Needs To Stop Murdering Teenagers

Tim Keown has a great concern. His great concern is that teenagers in Oakland are dying in violent shooting deaths. Kobe Bryant is at fault (naturally) for this occurring. See, Kobe is in the commercial for the new game "Call of Duty: Black Ops" and he is seen shooting a gun in the commercial. It's probably not the best move for Kobe, simply because Kobe shooting a gun doesn't seem to match up with his personality. It is only a commercial after all though. For those teenagers (all three of them) that pattern their life after Kobe and will go shoot someone because they saw Kobe played a violent video game this is a great day. Kobe has now murdered teenagers in Oakland in the opinion of Tim Keown. It's much like how Tiger Woods is going to be responsible for a generation of kids who think it is fine to cheat on their Swedish model wife.

Todd Walker was working in the mortuary Monday, preparing the body of a 14-year-old boy, a kid he'd coached in youth football for five years, for a funeral later this week. Larry Malik Grayson was shot in the head two days after his last freshman football game at Berkeley (Calif.) High School.

This is sad. Let's get that out of the way. I don't condone violence and I can't imagine the pain that must be felt seeing a kid you coached lying on your table. That being said, I can't imagine this kid is dead because another kid was emulating Kobe Bryant shooting a gun in a commercial. "Call of Duty: Kobe Bryant Caps Some Motherfuckers" never made it to production fortunately.

I find it funny that Tim Keown is concerned Kobe will be emulated by kids when he plays a violent video game...if kids were that concerned with emulating Kobe off the court shouldn't we be concerned with how they treat women in hotel rooms or that Kobe's great work ethic may rub off on them? It's not a cheap shot at Kobe, but a real question.

It happened at a friend's house. Somehow a gun appeared and Malik died.

"Somehow a gun appeared..."

I will tell you how the gun appeared. In "Call of Duty" once you beat the Vietnam War level a gun appears in your living room. It's not just an ordinary gun that appears out of thin air once you beat the level, but a fully loaded gun. This gun that appears in a room after this level is defeated. who puts it there? Kobe Bryant. So that's how the gun "appeared" in the room. None of the kids in the room planned on shooting the gun, that would never happen, there was no previous forethought on the part of the kid, he just did it because the gun "appeared" there.

The shooting may have been accidental. The details seem unimportant, but the senselessness isn't and neither is the frequency.

It may have been an accidental shooting or it may not have been. The details of WHY this kid was killed don't matter. The details are only what give the reasoning for the murder. Who needs details and reasons for a murder when you are writing an article trying to tie the reason into Kobe Bryant in a commercial for a violent video game?

Wouldn't the details be super important when accusing Kobe Bryant of perpetuating gun violence?

Too many lives are being lost or changed because of guns. Too many kids -- good kids, kids who play football or baseball or basketball, kids who go to school and try to do right -- are dying on the streets of places like Berkeley and Oakland.

It's sad...yet has nothing to do with sports really.

Walker's heart breaks and his anger rises. As a youth football coach and funeral-home worker, he fights the gun culture and the death culture. He fights the pervasiveness that threatens to turn youth gun violence into just another annoyance of modern life, along the lines of a dropped phone call or a pothole. He tries to use sports to create a positive alternative.

It's a great idea to create sports as a positive alternative. Unfortunately not every youth chooses this alternative.

And then last week, he went home and was watching a game when a new commercial for "Call of Duty: Black Ops" came on his television. Seen through Walker's eyes, the content was bad enough. A woman in high heels, a hotel concierge, a guy in a fast-food worker's outfit -- they're all shooting automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenades in an urban warfare setting.

Not to sound like a self-important talk show host, but this is where the parents come in. A parent can't always watch their child, but they should be able to know enough about them to know they don't own a game that parent doesn't want the child to own.

He was already disgusted, but about halfway through the spot, Walker did a double take: Wait! Wasn't that Kobe Bryant?

Seriously, is that really Kobe Bryant carrying an assault weapon with the word "MAMBA" on the barrel?

Yes it is. The music is "Gimme Shelter" by the Rolling Stones. They are equally to blame for the gun culture. How many times has that song been played during a scene showing a war? Give me their heads on a stick!

Look at the commercial. It is clearly showing a fake war setting. I know all kids may not get this, but these people in the commercial are clearly fighting a fake war against an unknown enemy. Does Tim Keown expect Army enlistments to increase as well because of the commercial? This commercial is no less dangerous to the public than any athlete who does a commercial for fast food or any other high calorie/high fat brand. Obesity is a huge (pardon the pun) issue among youth in America as well.

None of his people, not his wife or his agent or someone in the NBA offices, advised him against this?

"I couldn't believe it was him," Walker says. "What's wrong with him?"

Clearly Kobe doesn't care about any of the kids in Oakland dying of gun violence. Let's look at this logically...are there really kids who think because they see Kobe Bryant with a gun in a commercial for "Call of Duty" that are going to believe it is now fine to go purchase a gun and murder someone? Most likely, these kids will be motivated to go purchase the game. I guess that is the slippery slope Tim Keown is worried about. Once they buy the game they will go shoot someone with a real gun. This never would have happened if Kobe Bryant wasn't in the commercial for the game. That's just a lot of causation to go through in order to blame Kobe. A kid has to see the commercial and want to play the game, which will cause him to think it is fine to shoot someone, and then when he has a chance to do so he will...all because he saw Kobe Bryant in the commercial for "Call of Duty: Black Ops."

Kobe Bryant also sells basketball shoes. We are all aware of the labor issues that go into the manufacturing of basketball shoes overseas. Is he to blame for that as well?

Those responses might be coping mechanisms or a natural defense against the reality of a situation that some deem hopeless, but Walker fights anyway. The glamorization troubles him.

I wonder if it troubles him that he has to be the one to talk to the kids on his team about these issues? I am sure it does, but rather than blame a parent he knows and probably likes for violence, it is easier to blame Kobe Bryant.

And then he sees Kobe shooting an assault weapon on TV, along with Jimmy Kimmel and those other "ordinary" people, including an overweight girl wearing glasses and a revenge-is-mine smile as she fires into a building. (She's apparently in the throes of a self-esteem bump, but it doesn't take much of a leap to see her as a geek settling things with a gun.)

Or she could be a female who is playing a video game about war. Nah, that's too obvious.

At the end of the spot, the tag line -- "There's a soldier in all of us" -- manages to diminish and trivialize the work of real soldiers while sending one of the most irresponsible messages in the history of advertising.

I don't think the game trivializes the work of real soldiers at all. This is just a weak attempt by Tim Keown to feel morally justified at knocking the gun culture of America while still giving credit to soldiers who fight for America overseas. It's like the adage that "guns are bad, unless the right people have them." Unfortunately, you can't differentiate in who should and who does get a gun.

"This is exactly what we're trying to fight," Walker says. "I'm looking at a 14-year-old boy right now who got shot in the head, and then I see Kobe get on TV looking like a damned fool, holding an assault weapon and wearing the same stuff the kids are wearing when they kill somebody. The look on his face -- all smiling and happy. This is the attitude we're trying to get away from. It's OK for him, though, because he's never had to worry about going home to the ghetto. That ain't his world."

So if Allen Iverson or any other NBA player who is on record as having grown up in the "ghetto," was holding a gun in the commercial then it would be perfectly fine because they have enough street cred to be in the commercial? If another NBA player who had a tough upbringing is holding a gun and smiling then there would be no problem because that was his world at one time?

The NBA has a dress code. Break it and get fined. The NBA has a code of conduct. Break it and get fined or suspended. The NBA made an example out of Gilbert Arenas when he brought a gun to work.

He brought a REAL gun to his work, which just happens to be a locker room in an arena owned by an NBA team. If you don't get the difference in Arenas' situation and this Kobe commercial then you probably shouldn't be writing columns about America's gun culture.

Walker asks, "Where's the NBA on this one? What the hell is this guy doing? He needs to explain his reasons for that."

The NBA isn't going to regulate what a player does outside of his job that isn't against the law. The NBA does not have the authority to confiscate a player's legally registered weapons or regulate their lives outside of the NBA...as long as that life stays within the confines of the law.

It is Kobe Bryant. He had to get a tattoo on his arm and call himself "The Black Mamba" to even begin to get some sort of street cred. I don't think this is a guy that kids look up to when it comes to how to live a rough life in the streets. Maybe I'm wrong.

It's well known that Bryant is involved in military charities and feels a kinship with American soldiers. He reportedly trained with actual black ops soldiers to prepare for the commercial. At the game's launch, Bryant helped present a check for $1 million to the Call of Duty Endowment for returning soldiers.

Tim Keown thinks he is still a murderer.

Robert Kotick, the CEO of Activision, which makes "Call of Duty," considers his game a tribute to the military. It's a claim that's undercut by a commercial that makes its "heroes" appear to be regular people using their lunch break to take down a helicopter and fire a few rounds into a building.

So if the commercial featured soldiers that were doing the exact same thing that regular people were doing, then there would be no problem? So the fact American soldiers are idolized and considered in high regard by American citizens, wouldn't that have an impact positively or negatively on a kid's idea that carrying a gun and killing another kid is wrong? I would think if a kid thinks Kobe Bryant carrying a gun makes it fine to shoot another kid then that same kid would see a soldier carrying a gun and also think it is fine to shoot another kid. Sure, maybe kids like Kobe Bryant more, but I would find it hard to believe a kid could be naive to the high esteem American soldiers are held in.

We're trying to send a message that guns aren't the answer, and we've got an NBA player on television shooting that big-ass gun with a stupid-ass look on his face. We can't win."

I can't help but feel like this would make a kid want to buy the game, not commit a murder.

Walker has an idea he knows will never happen. He wants to give Kobe the same tour he gives his young football players.

"I'd like him to come in here and see what I see," Walker says. "The bodies, the tools, the chemicals -- he needs to see it and smell it. He damned sure needs to see it."

So is Todd Walker railing against Kobe Bryant being in a commercial for "Call of Duty" or is he railing against the existence of the very game "Call of Duty?" I wonder because I think it makes more sense to rail against the existence of the game more than Kobe Bryant being in a commercial for the game.

Walker had to get off the phone. He had to go back to work. The Lakers come to Oakland to play the Warriors on Jan. 12.

The offer stands.

Yes, gun violence is terrible. Kobe Bryant in the commercial for "Call of Duty" was almost funny to me. I found it hard to take him seriously as he was shooting the gun because that didn't seem in line with who he is as a person. I don't know if kids will grab a gun and shoot someone because they saw Kobe in this commercial. Most likely, there is another reason a kid would shoot someone, and there is someone else to blame for this happening. It's easier to blame Kobe Bryant than to blame a parent.