Week four wrap
I've officially turned on the Tony Kornheiser Monday Night Football experiment. It has been four weeks now, and Kornheiser's gone from boring to unequivocally annoying.
He doesn't even try to be the clever, manic Kornheiser found in print and on his other television gig. Instead he's taken it upon himself (I can only hope he isn't being told to act this way) to be Mr. Sentimental and bring the "human" element to the broadcast booth.
Last week it meant making me hate the city of New Orleans. Last night it meant talking about what a great, tragic competitor Brett Farve is, and how Donnovan McNabb has something to prove because of the T.O. thing. And by talking about, I mean repeating what I just wrote over and over in a self-important, slightly nasal voice that starts to drill into the ears when it's not being funny.
The game itself was sluggish throughout the first half. Both teams were unexpectedly without their starting running backs and both offenses did a poor job adjusting. Surprisingly, Farve looked as sharp as anyone out there. Granted, all he was allowed to do was throw five to ten yard slant passes.
Which analyst Joe Theismann pointed out Farve can deliver from any arm angle and doesn't need to set his feet to do so. It's a impressive skill, and if his receivers were able to catch slant passes thrown at 100 miles per hour the Packers would be onto something.
Theismann has become the unexpected hero of the Monday Night Football booth. Yes he's still smug and could be a lot more efficient with his words but he actually knows something about football. Kornheiser and play-by-play man Mike Tirico have yet to present evidence they know anything about football. But they do know gumbo and cheese steaks!
The second half ushered in the Eagle romp most had been expecting from the opening kickoff. Farve abandoned the slant passing about one possession into the third quarter. Then, prompted by a Kornheiser rant about his greatness, Farve threw the worst interception I've ever seen.
His receiver had a step and a half on the defender with no one behind him, but Farve decided to gun the ball at the lagging defender rather than loft it to the wide open guy on his own team. Or at least that's what I thought I saw -- it almost seems impossible this could have happened when I think about it now. If McNabb had thrown that interception I would have disowned him and then enthusiastically supported all calls to "waterboard" the long-time Eagle quarterback.
He doesn't even try to be the clever, manic Kornheiser found in print and on his other television gig. Instead he's taken it upon himself (I can only hope he isn't being told to act this way) to be Mr. Sentimental and bring the "human" element to the broadcast booth.
Last week it meant making me hate the city of New Orleans. Last night it meant talking about what a great, tragic competitor Brett Farve is, and how Donnovan McNabb has something to prove because of the T.O. thing. And by talking about, I mean repeating what I just wrote over and over in a self-important, slightly nasal voice that starts to drill into the ears when it's not being funny.
The game itself was sluggish throughout the first half. Both teams were unexpectedly without their starting running backs and both offenses did a poor job adjusting. Surprisingly, Farve looked as sharp as anyone out there. Granted, all he was allowed to do was throw five to ten yard slant passes.
Which analyst Joe Theismann pointed out Farve can deliver from any arm angle and doesn't need to set his feet to do so. It's a impressive skill, and if his receivers were able to catch slant passes thrown at 100 miles per hour the Packers would be onto something.
Theismann has become the unexpected hero of the Monday Night Football booth. Yes he's still smug and could be a lot more efficient with his words but he actually knows something about football. Kornheiser and play-by-play man Mike Tirico have yet to present evidence they know anything about football. But they do know gumbo and cheese steaks!
The second half ushered in the Eagle romp most had been expecting from the opening kickoff. Farve abandoned the slant passing about one possession into the third quarter. Then, prompted by a Kornheiser rant about his greatness, Farve threw the worst interception I've ever seen.
His receiver had a step and a half on the defender with no one behind him, but Farve decided to gun the ball at the lagging defender rather than loft it to the wide open guy on his own team. Or at least that's what I thought I saw -- it almost seems impossible this could have happened when I think about it now. If McNabb had thrown that interception I would have disowned him and then enthusiastically supported all calls to "waterboard" the long-time Eagle quarterback.
Farve spent the rest of the game doing irreparable damage to his legacy and the concept of the forward pass. Before, mercifully, leaving the game with a slight head injury.
Right before Kornheiser praised him for never getting hurt.
Picks -- They weren't as bad as Kornheiser or his boy Farve, but 6-8 isn't even performing at a Theismann level. My head is still slightly above the water at 22-21-1 for the season.
